Disclaimer: *sigh* If you still haven't figured it out, figure it out, fast. Not My World or my ideas, only my plot and some of my characters!
Wizard: Yes, poor Lan indeed. Can't seem to do anything right, can he?
Fireblade K'Chona: *pats Lan* That's why I just call him Lan, that way I don't get all muddled.
PrettyKittyOreo: Working on it ;) Its hard, with school and all!
Jorgeiscool: So no sleep doesn't work for you either? I thought I was the only one with the no sleep=no thinking thing ;)
Lurks in Shadows: :D Thanks!
Lizai: *looks offended* Of course I read Magics Price! Lol . Anyway, glad you're enjoying it.
Hmm, wonder what's happening to Kalira right now? *looks innocent* So, on to the chappy! And yes, he's going to Choose soon, I'm just getting there.
UGH! What is up with me formatting and saving as HTML, then half of my italics disappearing? It's driving me NUTS! *kicks formatting errors* All my MindSpeech is coming out funny!
Chapter 4: Bindings
{A.N} About ten years have passed since the last chapter, in story-time, that is. {/A.N}
A tall brunette of about sixteen was hanging upside down from a tree in front of her house. She had a long streak of white hair by her ear that, for some unknown reason, rejected all attempts to dye it.
In the privacy of her own yard, she had forgone the skirts typical of her peers and put on a pair of comfortable breeches. For some reason, she always thought better hanging upside down.
She had been climbing into that tree and hanging from it almost since she could toddle out into the yard by herself, or so it seemed to her. She swung back and forth, her hair just grazing the ground. At the age of sixteen, as her parents had recently informed her, it was time that she figured out what to do with her life. She could marry, find a husband and bring an advantageous alliance to her family, or she could find a trade to take up, preferably one in which she could bring honor to her clan and name. Preferably, she should do both, and fairly soon.
Not that her parents were bad sorts, really. They were good people, fairly ordinary for guildsmen. They would not pressure her to work with them in the Silversmith's guild, but they would like her to do SOMETHING. Elea, her mother, had given her daughter her height, pretty face and slender form. From her father, Jeron, she had gotten patience, self reliance, and a stubborn, intractable nature to match that of any mule in all of Valdemar.
She was ordinary, she told herself regretfully. She showed no sign of any genius that would let her into the Collegia. She was no singer, she had no talent for Healing and no Companion had Chosen her, although she had listened her entire thirteenth year for the cheerful sound of bridle bells and the tinkling of Companion hooves.
Marriage, well, she didn't really want to be married. Maybe someday if she found someone to her liking, someone who roused in her an absolute yes, rather than the simple shrug or outright disgust that most men elicited, then maybe she would consider it, but until then, the matrimonial path just wasn't for her. Not that she was Shaych, although it had occurred to her that she might be. Her attraction to females was on a friends basis only, of that she was positive.
She swung faster, doing almost-sit-ups against the tree branch, leaves snarling in her long hair. So, it would have to be taking up a trade, then. She wasn't old enough to branch out on her own, and she wasn't too enthusiastic about the 'family business' so it would have to be, well, she wasn't up to that part yet. She honestly couldn't think of a trade she would be good at, much less enjoy taking up.
She heard, as if from very far away, her mother's voice calling "Kel! Kelsin! I know you're up in that tree again, come and get dinner!"
Kel sighed and unhooked her legs from the branch, landing on her back in the soft grass. She got up, brushed the leaves and dirt from her breeches and headed inside to change into something more suitable for dinner.
Sometimes, Kel thought wryly to herself, I wish I had a few siblings. These family dinners all alone with my parents could go from merely uncomfortable to excruciating very fast.
As the servants brought the first course and left, Elea cast a meaningful look at her daughter. "Don't think we don't know what you do in that tree, Kelsin. That's your thinking spot, isn't it? I certainly hope you came up with something worthwhile, wasting your whole day up in that branch instead of doing something productive with yourself."
At Elea's nod of delegation, Kel's father took up the speech that Kel had heard almost daily every day since her sixteenth birthday.
"Now that you are a young woman, you need to make something of yourself. We can't support you forever, you know. You have the skills to find a place in the world, you just need to go and do it."
As he droned on, it took all of Kel's patience to fix her mind on the thought that her parents loved her, were just trying to do what was best for her, and all those other stupid clichéd terms that people say when your parents are being aggravating.
As they lectured, Kel's food lost all appeal. Soon, even the freedom that her parents had allowed her would be gone, lost in the endless round of duties of an adults life. The thought made her feel cold inside. She wasn't ready to be an adult! She felt like she should still have years before she had to take her place in the world!
She set her jaw, grimly determined to make the most of whatever freedom she had left. Tomorrow, she decided, she would leave a note for her parents, and take a walk through the city. She wanted to see it all one last time before she was shackled to a man or to a trade, neither of which she really wanted.
As soon as her parents allowed her to leave the table, which was not until the servants had already begun to clear away the food, she ran eagerly to her room, feeling lighthearted for the first time in months.
This would be a perfect distraction from her parents and from the strange feeling that she had been having for almost a moon. It was almost as though something was going to happen, something odd. She felt this itch, like she had to be somewhere, and not even cantering around the admittedly limited bridle paths of Haven in loops for hours on end made her feel better. In fact, she had almost passed out on the floor upon her return, and the itch had been just the same as ever.
Not that she was a soft city girl or anything, she was no stranger to hard work, but being a saddle all day on a horse going at the fastest speed she was allowed to take it was anything but comfortable.
As soon as Kel got to her room, she flopped down on her bed, staring up at the ceiling, which she had painted blue years before, eyes tracing the horse shaped clouds that embellished it.
She was about to blow out her candle when she realized that her parents would never let her go roaming around the city by herself. She would have to sneak out earlier than they got up. She went down to the kitchen and lurked in the hallways until she spotted one of the servants responsible for helping the Cook prepare breakfast.
She walked up and tapped the girl on the shoulder. She was preparing to ask if she could be woken up around six candlemarks after dawn, when suddenly she heard a voice, as though someone was whispering in her mind.
:Ugh, what does she want NOW? Unlike some people who can just hang from trees all day, I have work to do!:
Kel stepped back in shock, about to deliver a stinging reproof, when she realized that the girl had not spoken at all. She shook her head and, as quietly and politely as she knew how, asked to be awoken early the next morning.
'Am I sick?' Kel wondered. 'What on earth is going on?'
This wasn't the first incident where Kel had heard people "say" things, then realize that their mouths hadn't opened.
Kel shook her head, as if to clear it of whatever was causing these odd incidents, and went up to bed. She had foggy dreams, as always recently, of flames and armies.
When the maid came to wake her up the next morning, Kel sprang out of bed, eager to enjoy her "Day of Freedom." The itch was nearly gone, replaced with a feeling of well being, almost as if she was doing what she had been born to do.
As she walked out the door, for the first time in moons, she began to whistle.