KarraCaz – thanks for illuminating me. Yeah, I'm a bit confused, but I think I get it okay.
Tavia – Sabina's connection to Hears-All? To tell you the truth, I'm still working that out. Don't be surprised if you recognize things from other series' too, though. They won't be big, but some of the ideas with the gifts are going to come from Tortall or someplace. I'm thinking that Hears- All won't actually be an osprey, or at least not originally. Lets just say, he got into a tangle with somebody he shouldn't have. LOL - I think I'm going to have to do something with that. The mental pictures I'm getting are just way too funny.
Disclaimer – Do I have to do this every chapter? Anyway, I don't own anything! I'm completely broke! I have no money! Sue somebody else!
Chapter Two
Sabina peered in the open door to the forge. "Hello Daja," she greeted, "hello Frostpine." Dedicate Frostpine was a large man; his skin dark and thinly veiled with sweat. Daja looked up from where she was pumping the bellows to build up the fire. Dressed in a plain tunic and breeches, she wore her coarse black hair in tight braids to keep it out of her eyes.
Kirk went to step around Sabina, and she slipped in the open door. "Hello," he greeted the two mages. "Could you sell me some materials to repair..." He talked for about five minutes, listing the metal alloys he needed. When he was done, he looked around with a pleasant smile, noting with a sinking heart the blank faces he was getting.
"I'm sorry, but what metals were those? I've never heard of such a metal. Do you have a sample?" Frostpine asked as Sabina gaped and Daja stared.
"Yes," Spock spoke for the first time, handing over a bit of metal. Frostpine frowned, his brow furrowing as he stared down at it.
"I have never seen the like," he said quietly. Daja came over from the bellows to look at it, laying a hand on it. She began to breathe as if she were asleep, closing her eyes briefly as she probed it with her magic. Her dark brown eyes were shocked when she opened them.
"It feels so...odd," she said quietly.
"It seems like a blend of many different types of metal, yet I've never seen such. I don't suppose you know what went in to make this?"
"Yes," Kirk said, looking to Spock, who began to spout them off easily. Daja eyed him, exchanging a glance with Sabina, who shrugged. Frostpine frowned in thought.
"Well, we have most of those metals," Frostpine looked over at Sabina. "Don't you have a lesson with Niko, Abi?"
"Yeah," Sabina glanced at the two strangers she'd brought.
"Ask Lark if it's okay if I come to dinner tonight," he smiled, white teeth flashing in his dark face as he wiped his forehead on a handkerchief.
"Will they be coming to?" Sabina asked before she could remind herself that she didn't want these two anywhere near her cottage. She mentally cursed her tongue, wishing her lips would just stay buttoned when she needed it to.
"We would be honored to join you for dinner," Kirk replied. Maybe we can find out if there's any place else we can buy supplies. We'd better call back to the ship to check in. He wished their ship could at least make it to the next system, but Spock had informed him that it was "illogical" to go any further when the hull could very well give under the strain of going beyond .5 warp speed.
"Okay," Sabina replied, not looking particularly happy about it but scampering off obediently.
Sabina pushed open the door to the Cottage later that day, looking worried. "Lark, have you seen Hears-All anywhere?" she asked, skidding into the weaving room.
"No," Lark looked up from her loom. She had olive skin, her curly black hair cropped to swing just above her shoulders. "You could go ask Rosethorn," Lark smiled gently at this statement. Rosethorn had chosen her name well. Easily as prickly as the thorns she was named after, like the rose bush her outer brusqueness hid a softness inside that only Lark and Briar had experienced. She was known to give all the kids who came under her roof a lecture, that if she ever caught them in her garden, she'd hang them by their ankles in the well.
Briar, the only one to test this theory, had done so by accident and by doing so, Rosethorn had discovered his thread magic. Her excuse, of course, was that she didn't want to poison the water she used on her plants. Of course, Lark knew otherwise. Sabina looked apprehensive at this, however.
"Um, I'm sure he'll turn up," she said quickly. "By the way, Frostpine's coming to dinner, and bringing two sailors with him. They came for supplies to rebuild their ship."
"Okay," Lark went back to her weaving, her hands moving steadily. Sabina sat beside her to watch while she gossiped. "I shall have to set an extra three places, then."
"They're really odd," she started.
"How so?" Lark asked curiously.
"First of all, I don't think Hears-All likes them," Sabina announced as if this were a horrendous crime against them. "And they brought in a metal alloy that not even Frostpine's seen before."
"Did they now?" Larks brow creased slightly. "I wouldn't have thought that possible."
"Me neither, if I hadn't seen it for myself," Sabina got to her feet. "Well, I'm going to go track down Hears-All."
"Be back in time for dinner," Lark called at Sabina's retreating back.
"I will."
Hears-All turned out to be hanging out in the shade of the well. He fluffed his feathers as Sabina came to sit in the shade beside him, rubbing the sunburn on her nose. He started speaking before she even gathered her thoughts.
I don't like them, he informed her. If he'd been human still, Sabina knew he'd be scowling. They smell funny.
"I don't like them either," Sabina, retorted, "they make a chill up my spine every time they pass near. They're so familiar, but it's real creepy because I can't remember where I'd ever seen them before."
Maybe you heard about them back when you lived at your old nest, Hears-All suggested. He was the only one she'd told the details of her past to, and the only one she ever planned on telling. Niko, Lark, and Rosethorn all knew that she'd come from a far away world, but she hadn't told them why like she'd told Hears-All. He was the one who'd comforted her tears of homesickness and loss those first few weeks.
Sometimes she still had dreams of Earth, but they'd faded as the weeks flew past. She'd been living at Discipline Cottage for three months now, ever since Niko had found her living along the a lake in Sotat, living off raw fish and clams Hears-All had helped her learn to catch from the lake. She'd met Hears-All there, in fact. Hears-All seemed to be able to sense the direction her thoughts were going, for he nipped her arm, not to gently.
The past is the past, fledgling, he informed her, sounding peeved. That is where it should stay. You keep brooding on those memories like an old hen over lost eggs, and it's only going to make you heart-sick.
Sabina rubbed her arm. It was red where he'd pinched it. "Hey!" she protested. "You didn't have to bite so hard!"
That wasn't a bite. I barely even nicked you. Trust me, you'd know if I really wanted to bite you.
In reply, she stuck her tongue out impudently at the bird, who did the falcon equivalent of making a face by turning around and flipping his tail feathers at her, whipping back around before she could tug on them. Don't you think about it, fledgling.
"Too late," Sabina giggled at the expression in Hears-All's eyes.
Tavia – Sabina's connection to Hears-All? To tell you the truth, I'm still working that out. Don't be surprised if you recognize things from other series' too, though. They won't be big, but some of the ideas with the gifts are going to come from Tortall or someplace. I'm thinking that Hears- All won't actually be an osprey, or at least not originally. Lets just say, he got into a tangle with somebody he shouldn't have. LOL - I think I'm going to have to do something with that. The mental pictures I'm getting are just way too funny.
Disclaimer – Do I have to do this every chapter? Anyway, I don't own anything! I'm completely broke! I have no money! Sue somebody else!
Chapter Two
Sabina peered in the open door to the forge. "Hello Daja," she greeted, "hello Frostpine." Dedicate Frostpine was a large man; his skin dark and thinly veiled with sweat. Daja looked up from where she was pumping the bellows to build up the fire. Dressed in a plain tunic and breeches, she wore her coarse black hair in tight braids to keep it out of her eyes.
Kirk went to step around Sabina, and she slipped in the open door. "Hello," he greeted the two mages. "Could you sell me some materials to repair..." He talked for about five minutes, listing the metal alloys he needed. When he was done, he looked around with a pleasant smile, noting with a sinking heart the blank faces he was getting.
"I'm sorry, but what metals were those? I've never heard of such a metal. Do you have a sample?" Frostpine asked as Sabina gaped and Daja stared.
"Yes," Spock spoke for the first time, handing over a bit of metal. Frostpine frowned, his brow furrowing as he stared down at it.
"I have never seen the like," he said quietly. Daja came over from the bellows to look at it, laying a hand on it. She began to breathe as if she were asleep, closing her eyes briefly as she probed it with her magic. Her dark brown eyes were shocked when she opened them.
"It feels so...odd," she said quietly.
"It seems like a blend of many different types of metal, yet I've never seen such. I don't suppose you know what went in to make this?"
"Yes," Kirk said, looking to Spock, who began to spout them off easily. Daja eyed him, exchanging a glance with Sabina, who shrugged. Frostpine frowned in thought.
"Well, we have most of those metals," Frostpine looked over at Sabina. "Don't you have a lesson with Niko, Abi?"
"Yeah," Sabina glanced at the two strangers she'd brought.
"Ask Lark if it's okay if I come to dinner tonight," he smiled, white teeth flashing in his dark face as he wiped his forehead on a handkerchief.
"Will they be coming to?" Sabina asked before she could remind herself that she didn't want these two anywhere near her cottage. She mentally cursed her tongue, wishing her lips would just stay buttoned when she needed it to.
"We would be honored to join you for dinner," Kirk replied. Maybe we can find out if there's any place else we can buy supplies. We'd better call back to the ship to check in. He wished their ship could at least make it to the next system, but Spock had informed him that it was "illogical" to go any further when the hull could very well give under the strain of going beyond .5 warp speed.
"Okay," Sabina replied, not looking particularly happy about it but scampering off obediently.
Sabina pushed open the door to the Cottage later that day, looking worried. "Lark, have you seen Hears-All anywhere?" she asked, skidding into the weaving room.
"No," Lark looked up from her loom. She had olive skin, her curly black hair cropped to swing just above her shoulders. "You could go ask Rosethorn," Lark smiled gently at this statement. Rosethorn had chosen her name well. Easily as prickly as the thorns she was named after, like the rose bush her outer brusqueness hid a softness inside that only Lark and Briar had experienced. She was known to give all the kids who came under her roof a lecture, that if she ever caught them in her garden, she'd hang them by their ankles in the well.
Briar, the only one to test this theory, had done so by accident and by doing so, Rosethorn had discovered his thread magic. Her excuse, of course, was that she didn't want to poison the water she used on her plants. Of course, Lark knew otherwise. Sabina looked apprehensive at this, however.
"Um, I'm sure he'll turn up," she said quickly. "By the way, Frostpine's coming to dinner, and bringing two sailors with him. They came for supplies to rebuild their ship."
"Okay," Lark went back to her weaving, her hands moving steadily. Sabina sat beside her to watch while she gossiped. "I shall have to set an extra three places, then."
"They're really odd," she started.
"How so?" Lark asked curiously.
"First of all, I don't think Hears-All likes them," Sabina announced as if this were a horrendous crime against them. "And they brought in a metal alloy that not even Frostpine's seen before."
"Did they now?" Larks brow creased slightly. "I wouldn't have thought that possible."
"Me neither, if I hadn't seen it for myself," Sabina got to her feet. "Well, I'm going to go track down Hears-All."
"Be back in time for dinner," Lark called at Sabina's retreating back.
"I will."
Hears-All turned out to be hanging out in the shade of the well. He fluffed his feathers as Sabina came to sit in the shade beside him, rubbing the sunburn on her nose. He started speaking before she even gathered her thoughts.
I don't like them, he informed her. If he'd been human still, Sabina knew he'd be scowling. They smell funny.
"I don't like them either," Sabina, retorted, "they make a chill up my spine every time they pass near. They're so familiar, but it's real creepy because I can't remember where I'd ever seen them before."
Maybe you heard about them back when you lived at your old nest, Hears-All suggested. He was the only one she'd told the details of her past to, and the only one she ever planned on telling. Niko, Lark, and Rosethorn all knew that she'd come from a far away world, but she hadn't told them why like she'd told Hears-All. He was the one who'd comforted her tears of homesickness and loss those first few weeks.
Sometimes she still had dreams of Earth, but they'd faded as the weeks flew past. She'd been living at Discipline Cottage for three months now, ever since Niko had found her living along the a lake in Sotat, living off raw fish and clams Hears-All had helped her learn to catch from the lake. She'd met Hears-All there, in fact. Hears-All seemed to be able to sense the direction her thoughts were going, for he nipped her arm, not to gently.
The past is the past, fledgling, he informed her, sounding peeved. That is where it should stay. You keep brooding on those memories like an old hen over lost eggs, and it's only going to make you heart-sick.
Sabina rubbed her arm. It was red where he'd pinched it. "Hey!" she protested. "You didn't have to bite so hard!"
That wasn't a bite. I barely even nicked you. Trust me, you'd know if I really wanted to bite you.
In reply, she stuck her tongue out impudently at the bird, who did the falcon equivalent of making a face by turning around and flipping his tail feathers at her, whipping back around before she could tug on them. Don't you think about it, fledgling.
"Too late," Sabina giggled at the expression in Hears-All's eyes.