Author note: Third Chapter of my very first attempt at a Fan Fiction story, please read and review, all comments gratefully accepted. I don't own any of the Broken Sky Characters, nor any of the themes depicted in the Broken Sky series, they belong to Chris Wooding.
Chapter 3
The room was filled with chatting as the group of people exchanged stories and chatted about how life had treated them in general. Kia was talking to Hochi about how she had managed to negotiate with both the Sa'arin and the nomad tribes to form a non-aggression pact; meanwhile Gerdi was talking to Jedda about the unexplored mass of the new lands, including the vast deserts of the southern tip of the continent. But even as these conversations went on Elani wished to address her friends as a whole, she skittered from person to person and soon they had all been quieted and had turned to look at the little girl who now stood in front of them. Over the past 6 winters Elani had grown from small girl into blossoming womanhood and she had shot up to the just short of Kia.
"Well, I have never been much of a speaker," started Elani, "but I would like to take a moment to say to you all that this, so far, has been the best birthday ever, what I mean to say is, its so good to see you all again, especially after the experiences of the wars." She paused for a moment in her speech and looked at the figures assembled before her before starting again, "I know that you Kia, have been exceedingly busy, especially with your new marital 'responsibilities'," Kia blushed at the reference to her marriage, but nodded and let the girl continue, "But you Uncle Hochi, you had nothing to come back to here and moved to build a wyvern stud in the New Dominions, the trip to get back here alone must have put you back enough to buy a prime bull wyvern for your stud... but even though that is the case I am still so glad that you came" again she paused, not knowing what to say next. "Well, as I said earlier I am defiantly not a speech kinda person so why don't we tuck in? I hear that you've all had some pretty wild adventures. Anyone want to share?" motioning to the food at the side of the room and a group of chairs and sofas at the other end of the room.
In the countryside outside Tusani City it was peaceful, the wind rustled the leaves of the trees and shrubs gently and the song of birds filled the air, a stream wound its way around the feet of nanka trees, which were their summer green colour, and ran down to meet the growing river that had flowed gracefully down valley floor and towards the sea. The birds quietened, as a sudden change in air pressure around the stream startled them, and in the blink of an eye three figures were getting their feet wet.
"Whist!" exclaimed Li'ain, "You said that you could keep us from going in the rivers." She quickly extracted herself from the stream and tried frantically to find a spot where she could leave her shoes to dry in the sun. Whist slowly stepped out of the stream grinning, the nanka leaves throwing patterns over the faded tattoos on his chest, meanwhile Blink slowly walked around the clearing, his feet cracking small branches beneath his padded feet. Whist looked over at his companion and gave a small whistle, the dog came bounding over and nuzzled his master, who gave him a small pat on the back.
Li'ain looked at the pair that had been her constant companion for the last 6 winters, together they had travelled throughout both the Dominions and Kiran Taq. Their journeys had not been without their adventures, but for the most part all Li'ain wanted to do was explore the land that she had once ruled and not even cared about. She suddenly snapped out of her memories when she heard a sharp crack of a twig being trodden on.
"What is it?" Li'ain asked quietly as she took out the long, slender sword that she still had from her days in the deserts. Li'ain looked around the clearing and then back at Whist, who with Blink, was now over at the far side of the clearing looking intently through a group of bushes. Taking slow careful steps she made her way over to Whist, who motioned her to be still as they silently looked on.
The group sat down in a circle of comfy chairs, Kia and Jedda began to relate their tales to the group who now focused entirely on the adventures unfolding from the words that they pair spoke. After a while the adventure came to its conclusion and the group dissolved into general conversation. Elani having become deeply enthralled in the re-telling of Kia's adventures stepped out into the garden of her and Peliqua's house. She walked for a while admiring the pretty flowers and landscapes of the garden, but after a while she sat down on a stone bench which was placed in a little alcove surrounded by the closing buds of pink summer blossoms.
"Need to talk?" Asked a voice from just beyond the opening to the secluded area. Elani jumped at the voice, not realising that she had been followed out. Managing to squeak an affirmative Gerdi rounded the corner. Elani studied him as he came closer, his hair was now blue and green instead of the original green. She thought the look suited him as it framed his eyes well. His face had matured as well during the last few winters, gone was the boy who had protected her many a time, in his place now stood a young handsome man. Suddenly aware of what she was doing Elani looked away blushing sheepishly, her mind was reeling from what she had just done but Gerdi either didn't notice or didn't mind people staring at him for long periods.
"So El, how are you really? You looked fine at the party but when you came out here you seemed troubled..." Gerdi left this statement hang between the two of them, Elani looked up at him and gestured to sit beside her.
"I fine Gerdi, really," said the unusually deflated girl, "though to be honest I wished Ryushi had been here to come to my party and relate the wild tales of the wilderness beyond the settlements over there. By the way, why wasn't Ryushi or Calica here, you or Uncle Hochi never really did give me an explanation." This time it was Elani who let the conversation hang, Gerdi squirmed beside her, but in a flash he had settled again.
"Elani," Gerdi started, "Ryushi and Calica, were not here because they had been hiking in the mountains around our settlement for a few weeks when Peliqua's invite came into our stud. I'm sorry Elani..." Gerdi looked at the girl that to him had been, and still was, what innocent meant as he said this. He noticed a small glint in the corner of her eye, and saw it trickle down the side of her well-formed cheekbone. Not wanting to just sit by as she began to cry, Gerdi made sure Hochi was not around and put his hand around the back of Elani's neck and began to reassure her.
It took a moment for Elani to realise that she had begun to cry and even longer to realise that Gerdi now had one of his hands on her shoulder. Not she did the thing that felt most natural at that moment; she fell over onto Gerdi's shoulder and began to cry.
Kia had followed both Elani and Gerdi outside but had heard the girl start to cry and decided to head for the opposite side of the garden. Kia admired the garden a lot as she so rarely saw such greenery in the desert, she had of course done the landscaping as a favour, and as she spread herself into the ground she felt the familiarity of the soil come flooding back to her. So engrossed in exploring the whole of the soil around her, she managed stepped awkwardly on a large fallen branch. It snapped with a resounding crack and Kia stumbled over into the soft grass. "Damn," she said to herself, "should have been more careful." Raising herself from the floor she felt a twinge in her left ankle, she looked at it and noticed that it was bleeding from a gash caused by the snapped branch.
"Here," said a voice, "let me help you with that," came the voice again. Kia looked up to see a woman kneeling down and tending to her ankle, she had dark raven hair, and a face... a face so familiar to her, but she couldn't place it as the woman began to examine the wound. Suddenly she felt an intense pain go straight through her, Kia let out a loud groan as the woman tending her took out a large splinter from the wound, and then she stopped as the pain eased into dull pain leaving her breathless.
"It's a good thing that I got that splinter out, had it been left there for long it could have rotted." Came the voice, that voice, Kia thought, I should know that voice. Then before she could finish her train of thought more pain warped her very insides, and again it was gone as quickly as it had come. Looking down at her ankles she saw that the wound was now scabbed over, and the woman had raised from her knees to come towards Kia's head. "Up you get now, we need to get you inside," she said and four pairs of hands helped her up, 'four?' she thought as her head span. She turned her head just enough to glance at the new arrival who had helped her up. He had tattooed skin and his hair was, from what she could tell, green. Then he looked at her and she clinched it.
"Whist." She growled with distaste.