Disclaimer: Nope, don't own, sorry.

This will be the last real chapter of this short-fic. It's a really SHORT short-fic. This chapter is just the same events, but from Sunia's point of view. After this chapter, probably tomorrow or after all the reviews come in for this chapter, I'll publish a short epilogue as chapter three, then that will be the end.

Anyway, thanks for the lovely reviews, they made me very happy.

Wizard: Thankies, here's your update!

Vaches: Thanks! That part was a new addition of mine. It made me sad having to write it, but I thought it made sense.

Tenshi: Thanks! I thought it was much improved, myself.

Fireblade: Thanks a bunch! It was supposed to make you cry Writing it nearly made me cry.

Breezefire: Thanks! Hope you like this chapter too!

Queens Own: Yes, I'm going to write another chapter, one more. I hope you like.

On a different note, the next chapter of Greens is coming soon, I promise! My evil writer's block has conspired with the huge brick wall living in my head to prevent me from writing the next chapter. I'm stuck on the first sentence, but I'm working on it. Hopefully the next chapter will come soon.

Anyway, on with the show!

Chapter 2: Sunia

Sunia pranced in place, showing all of the impetuous, sunny and life-loving nature that her name and easily derived nickname promised.

:What's got you so excited, Sunnie?: Varen, Sunia's best friend among the Companions, asked interestedly. :Not that you aren't always excited, but you seem.: He paused for effect, watching Sunia cavort around the field, chasing random butterflies and trampling the grass. :As I said, you seem especially excited today.:

Sunia nearly burst with excitement, paused a moment for suspense, then couldn't hold her secret in any more. :MY CALL!: She Shouted, nearly deafening every Companion within the Collegium and quite a few humans with a Gift strong enough to reach Companion MindSpeech channels.

Varen laid his ears flat in discomfort, but perked up as the import of Sunia's words hit him.

:Your Call came! That's great! When are you going to go on Search? It could take a long time to find your Chosen, you know.: Varen said, with a slight air of superiority. Of all of their friends, Varen had been the first to Choose, and considered himself the resident expert on Calls and Choosing.

:I can sense that my Chosen is far away. I'm going now! Bye!: Sunia said suddenly, nearly blinding Varen with the dust she kicked up in the wake of her passing.

The wanderlust and longing to be on the road that had been building in Sunia for the past moon suddenly reached a crescendo, filling her up with the need to be on the road, to be moving.

Sunia galloped to the stables, waiting to be tacked up with an air of such distinct impatience that even the stableboys were aware of it.

As she galloped past the gates enclosing the Palace grounds, passing the startled guard, begrudging him even the second it took him to read the name listed in short form on her tack, the Groveborn's MindVoice echoed in her head.

:Sunia?:

:Taver. I'm going now, on my Call! I'm going to find my Chosen!:

:Yes, I can see that, Sunnie. Of course, if you had forgotten, I had told you to tell me BEFORE you left, not on your way out the gate as you suddenly remember that there is still a world outside your Call.: Taver said disapprovingly.

Sunia's MindVoice drooped as she answered.

:I'm sorry, Taver, I must have forgotten.:

:Never mind, Sunnie. I just wanted to wish you the best of Choosings and the brightest of futures for yourself and your Chosen.:

:Thank you Taver.:

Sunia could feel Taver's mental smile as he gently disengaged from their link.

Resolutely, Sunia turned her thoughts outward. She could hardly wait to find out what her Chosen would be like! She knew that he was male; she could feel that from the occasional visions she had of him. She knew he lived far away, in the direction of the Karsite border, and, from what she could feel; he was no adolescent, but an adult in his own right.

Sunia wondered what he would look like. She rather hoped that he would be able to ride, as having to teach a Trainee from scratch would be rather a pain. Sunia would do it if she had do, for His sake, but she would prefer it if he could already ride.

As the days wore on, Sunia's life on the road faded into a comfortable routine. Wake up, find a nice patch of grass, breakfast, gallop on towards where her feelings told her that her Chosen waited, pass through a few villages, maybe scrounge lunch from a helpful villager, find some grass, eat supper, sleep, and start again.

She hated the villages the most. For all that most of their inhabitants would give her snacks, which made a nice change from grass, Sunia knew that they were all watching her.

They were watching, waiting, devouring her with their hungry eyes, hoping that she would stop in front of them, save them from their simple lives, carry them away to a happily ever after.

And that is why she would not Choose them. They were not hers. They would never be hers. They would never be Heralds. They dreamed of being Heralds for glory or power, would never sacrifice life for state the way a Herald must.

Some were able to make the cruel transition from servant of self to servant of the Monarch, but these were not.

Sunia could hardly bear to look into their eyes and refuse them, but she could not insert a bond where there was none.

Unlike most magic, the binding magic that Companions used to bond to their Heralds was only available once, under a certain set of circumstances. A Companion only had the strength to forge that bond once. They got one chance, and then that magic was lost to them forever.

The only exception to this was the Monarch's Own stallion, who had powers above those of ordinary Companions, and could access the magic more than once.

Sunia would know when it was her time to use the portion of that magic that she was allotted.

Sunia spent her days daydreaming of her Chosen. What would he be like? Sunia knew she would love him no matter what he turned out to be, but she could hardly contain her impatience to know.

Sunia was so deeply lost in her thoughts that she did not immediately register that she had reached the Karsite border. The Guards stationed there would not stop a Companion, even, or perhaps especially, one without a Herald.

'He can't be.' She thought to herself. 'My Chosen is a Karsite?'

Sunia couldn't believe it. For a second she had thought her Chosen was a Karsite. How ridiculous! Obviously, someone from Valdemar had gotten stuck behind the border and decided to stay. Sunia would just bring him home and that would be that!

Sunia could not believe that lie for more than an instant, however. In the middle of an unofficial war, any of their people would have been swiftly burned in the great fires of the Sunpriests.

'He is a Karsite.' She thought slowly, trying to work it through. 'I gave my heart to Valdemar's enemy, sight unseen.'

'It does not matter!' She thought rebelliously. 'He is my Chosen, I love him and I would not be Called to him if he were not Heraldic material. I will make the others accept him somehow. He is my love and we will be together.'

She galloped past the astonished guards, so caught up in her rebellion that she didn't notice the group of Karsite soldiers patrolling the woods she was in until she was almost on top of them.

Almost as one, they spotted her and began to pursue. "A demon-horse! After her!" One of the soldiers, clad as a Karsite officer, shouted.

'I think not!' Sunia thought, terrified but keeping her head. She whirled and prepared to lead them on a merry chase in the direction of her Chosen.

It was nearly half a Candlemark before Sunia managed to gain enough distance from her pursuers to head away from the border and closer to her Chosen. When she finally reached the place where all of her instincts told her that her Chosen was, she was ahead of the soldiers by only a few minutes.

She dashed up the hill, and halted. Her nerves, strung taut by the nearness of her Choosing, thrummed recognition.

Her Chosen was there, planting in the field, his back turned. He had sandy blonde hair, rumpled into a mop on the top of his head. He was well muscled and competent looking, wearing the coarse clothes of a peasant.

She walked up to him as quietly as she could, lifting her hooves high in her fanciest gait and bringing them down with the sound of silver bells chiming.

When she was just behind him, she blew on his shoulder, waiting for him to acknowledge her. When he did, it was not with the reaction she craved.

He turned around, swearing in coarse Karsite. His eyes were widened in fear, and he began to move backwards, as though to run away. Sunia could feel the fear striking out from his mind, the thought that she was some sort of hell-demon and she felt for him, but she knew that she had very little time.

She stared into his impossibly blue eyes, reaffirming her Choice to herself. 'Yes, he is the one. This is him.'

She reached out for his mind, expending, for the first and only time, the magic that would allow her to bind them together.

When the subject of Choosing had come up in her classes, she had been disdainful of the clichéd words that nearly every Companion used. Yet now, she intoned them without the slightest sense of irony. They were right.

:Marit, I am no hell-demon. I am a Companion. My name is Sunia. You are my Chosen, and I will never leave you.:

Sunia could feel Marit beginning to lose himself in the song of soul-binding that she was weaving around them. She riffled through his every memory, his every thought was hers, until they were almost less than two people.

She drowned him in the sapphire depths of her eyes, but she felt that she was surely drowning in his eyes as well. Surely they were two that were made for each other.

Yet, at that moment of great intimacy, something of Marit's old self remained.

"NO!" He screamed, hitting out with his voice and his untrained mind. Sunia could feel the terror still rolling off of him, but equally she could feel the growing pressure of the minds of the soldiers that had followed her. She needed to be away before they reached her!

She gently inserted herself into Marit's mind, dulling his fear as much as she could.

:Chosen, I'm sorry, but they are coming. We must be away before they get here.: She said, filled with more regret than she could speak that their bonding had had to begin this way.

Sunia felt as though she was growing up all at once. She had taken the decision upon herself and made it. She would see herself and her Chosen through if she had to drag him to Haven in her teeth! Even if he hated her for it, she would take him with her.

She slipped deeper into his mind, like a swimmer edging into the frigid water of the Terilee in winter. Carefully, causing as little pain as she could, she took control of Marit's mind from him, crying inside at the necessity and at the terror of the portion of his mind that was still aware of what she had done to it.

She forced him to mount, to lean forward and brace himself in the saddle, then she took to her heels, fleeing past the border and to the protection of the guards.

The flight to Haven was an unadulterated nightmare. After the first few yards, she had had to knock Marit out completely, so much did his mind fight her. Then, still newly bonded, she had to use every wile and skill at her command to lose her pursuers while still keeping Marit in the saddle.

When she got to Haven, after nearly a week of hard riding at her fastest pace, eager to get to Haven with her Chosen, she resigned Marit to the care of the Healers and went to the stable to see her friends and get some well-deserved rest. She hadn't had a proper night's sleep for nearly a week.

Sunia was awakened many Candlemarks later by a fresh shriek of terror that coursed it's way down the newly opened Herald Bond, ripping at the tender new passages in Sunia's mind as it made it's way to her.

She winced and bolted out of the stable. She had better be there when Marit woke up, or he would be even more confused and disoriented.

Sunia arranged herself in some bushes outside the window of the room in Healers where Marit was being kept. After a few minutes, Varen snuck up behind her and positioned himself beside her.

:Sunnie! You're back! I missed you! You Chose? What's he like?:

Sunia startled. :Varen! You just scared five years off of my life! He's, well, he's a bit unconventional, but he has the makings of a Herald, for certain.:

:Stop beating around the bush, Sunnie! What did you come back with?:

With a mental cough, Sunia admitted :I seem to have Chosen a Karsite.:

:You Chose a WHAT?: Usually, Varen was extremely even-tempered, but Sunia's announcement had driven him completely over the edge.

:A Karsite. Someone from Karse. And I had a time getting him out, too.:

:Sunia, Sunnie, those are the people that KILL our Heralds, and you are going to make one of them into a Herald?:

:They aren't all like that, Varen. Look.:

She projected into Varen's mind images from Marit's past. Feeding a small stray kitten, taking care of his elderly mother even when she was too feeble to help bring in the harvest.

:Well, I suppose you would not have been Called to him if he would not make a good Herald.:

:I wonder if he's up?:

Sunia peeked through the window in time to see Dean Ayren enter the room and begin talking to Marit. Marit's face was a study in blank incomprehension. Sunia winced.

:Oops, sorry, dear. Forgot to give you the language.: Sunia said, reaching into Marit's mind and making the changes that would allow him to speak and understand Valdemaran as easily as his native Karsite.

Sunia fell into a daydream of life as a partnered Companion. She could already see herself and Marit riding circuit together, being together all the time, and spending the rest of their lives together.

She was jolted out of her daydream by the Dean's voice, saying "Well, Marit, there is a way, I must admit. We do not usually tell this to our Trainees, but your situation is different for several reasons. It is possible for us to break the bond you have with Sunia, your Companion. There is a drawback, though. It will leave you both, well, broken." The Dean said, reluctantly. "Surely you have always felt alone, maybe a little bit lost? If you lose Sunia, now that you have just found her, all of that old pain will return, but ten times greater than it ever was. And there is no going back. If you choose this, we cannot undo what we have done."

'He wants to break our bond?' He can't!' Sunia's first thought was complete and utter disbelief.

But, obviously, he did. Even in mangled Karsite syntax, there are some things that cannot be misinterpreted. "It, do." Is one of them.

The shock rolled through Sunia like a physical blow. She had given everything, brought Marit back from the Karsite border at great personal risk, and all he wanted to do was to leave her.

Marit did not know, and, by the strictest rules governing Companions, Sunia could not tell him that to choose this was to force her to strike her own deathblow. The pain of the broken bond would drive her to the Havens, as it did for every other Companion who lost their Herald.

Dimly, as though through water, Sunia heard the Dean tell Marit to sleep on it, to make sure that he was fully aware of what he was doing.

Varen, in an uncharacteristic display of affection, nuzzled Sunia comfortingly.

:Sunnie, many newly Chosen wish to break the bond, they all change their minds. Marit will too, just give him time.:

:I'm not leaving him.:

:Sunnie, nobody asked you to, yet. Remember, though, what you must do if the time comes.:

Despite Varen's assurances and gentle words, Sunia felt a sense of foreboding.

Even after Marit had drank the Healer's sleeping draught, she did not move from that window. Just in case anything did happen, she wanted to spend as much time as she could with Marit.

As Marit drifted off to sleep, he extended an unconscious mental hand towards Sunia. She grasped it, holding it close, rocking herself to sleep with her Chosen by her side.

The next morning, Sunia awoke to find herself surrounded by other Companions. Not just Varen, but Taver and nearly every other Companion in the field had gathered around to be with Sunia.

This fact filled her with chills. If Marit's desire to have their bond broken was just a passing fantasy, surely the other Companions would not have clustered around her like that.

Sunia firmly banished that thought, admonishing herself to have confidence.

As Dean Ayren entered the room, Sunia could barely stand to look. He asked Marit if he still wanted the bond broken.

Sunia felt a surge of relief. She could feel Marit, and his terror had subsided somewhat. She could feel their bond pulsing healthy and strong, and she could feel his love for her, so hidden that Marit himself was barely aware of it, but surely there.

For a moment, a second, an instant in time. Sunia was sure that Marit would send the Dean away again.

Then she felt it. All the images of Companions from his childhood. All the tales of demons coming back to haunt him. She felt his resolve and hardly dared to breathe as she waited for his answer.

"It, do. Chosen, I have."

Sunia felt as though her soul were shattering into thousands of tiny shards. The gods were cruel. She would be the instrument of her own death, she had no choice.

Every law that had been laid out to the first Groveborn, which Sunia had dutifully recited since childhood, told her what she had to do. Yet, she could not deny herself the chance to appeal one last time.

:Chosen, is this what you want? I love you. I just want you to be happy, but I want you to be happy with me. I know you love me, and you could be happy here if you tried! Are you sure about this, Chosen?: Sunia pleaded.

:Do it.:

:Very well, love.: Pieces of Sunia that she had thought long shattered burst again at his hard reply. She could feel Varen and Taver moving to either side of her, supporting her, lending strength for what she must do.

'Gods help me.' Sunia prayed.

She inserted herself into Marit's mind as gently as she could, imprinting this last moment of their togetherness on her own soul, to treasure for the few remaining days of her life.

Sunia grasped the bond that held them together. How well she remembered forging it, having made it to last to death and beyond.

She knew that prolonging it would not spare her any pain at all, so she grabbed their bond and tugged as hard as she could.

Mercifully, she blacked out after only a few moments of the bleak, empty grayness that was the agony of a broken bond.

When she awoke, all she could feel was Marit's distress and agony. The other Companions had obviously taken her to Companion's field, and they still surrounded her, waiting anxiously for her to wake.

All she could feel was Marit, they no longer had a bond, but she was still consumed by his despair.

As he came closer and closer, obviously looking for her, Varen huddled close to her, lending his support.

Marit looked like she felt. She stared at him, drinking in the sight of her love. Listening to his gentle MindVoice was almost more than she could bear. The deep sadness in it moved her to tears.

:Sunia, Sunia. I love you, I need you. Take me back.: Marit sobbed in apology, dropping to his knees in front of her.

'My love, my love!' Sunia thought. 'I knew this would happen, but I can't do it. We are broken for ever.'

By the strictest codes of Companions, she could no longer even speak to him, so when she whispered a tearful goodbye, it stayed only within her mind and that of the nearest Companions.

She turned her back, nudged by Varen, but not before fixing every nuance of his image in her mind. 'Goodbye, Marit, my love.' She said to herself.

And then she was gone.