Chapter 2

Trividia

I rode hard to get to the lake in half an hour. Stopping for lunch, I let Snow-globe graze as I dangled my bare feet into the water, sitting on a log. Why was Jack so worried? It was only a silly old lady. Well, a silly old lady with a powerful gift. I pondered what could go wrong as I re-packed my shoulder bag and called Snow back from his grazing. I re-mounted and rode at a more relaxed pace, arriving at the mystics clearing in 45 minutes. I looked around at the uncommonly calm place I was standing in. There was a small purple house that was entombed with ivy and surrounded by bushes. The grass was brown and dead circling the house yet green and healthy everywhere else

"Hello? Is anyone home?" Surprisingly, it wasn't me who had said that. The voice was coming from behind the hedge, near the front of the house.

"Pardon?" I said, somewhat freaked out. I mean, they had just taken the words right out of my mouth. Still, I walked closer to the bushes.

"Are you sure you want to come in, girlie? Your rusty hair and tanned skin mean nothing here. There is no crowd to blend into when it all gets to be too much. Your lies are transparent and those knives concealed under your dress will turn blunt if you unsheathe them here. I invite you in, but you must cross into my threshold of your own will, I will not force you. And you must never say that I did not warn you, girlie." An older lady stepped out from behind the shrub. I could tell that she was old, though her hair was night-black to her waist in many braids, her weathered yet pale face was not wrinkled, except for the laugh and worry-lines at the corners of her eyes and on the forehead. Her body also looked young, smooth and white. It was in the way that she carried herself, as though she had seen a thousand sorrows and a million loves. This woman had obviously experienced a lot of life.

I stood there just staring for long minutes before I realized that I was being rude. The mystic didn't seem the least bit perturbed. "Of course I'll come in, Grandmother. Will you not tell me your name? I am Annie, by the way." I tried my best to be polite, this woman held fates plan in her hands. Or wherever she kept it.

She seemed amused of my attempt at respect. "At ease, child. Call me whatever you want, I have many names. Most people find Tividia, or Trivy easy enough to remember." She winked at me and I smiled, gladly walking past the hedges towards the grinning woman.

She opened her door and walked in behind me, light spilled in from the windows before she closed the shutters. She squatted down and lay some kindling down in the fireplace to start a fire. I asked if I could help, but she said no. Placing a few bigger logs in the hearth, Trivy told me to stand back, saying five syllables in a language I had never heard before. Sparks flew from her hands to ignite the kindling and set the logs on fire. I whispered the words of power under my breath. "Salia fretaire." They sounded powerful and full of meaning. Looking down, I saw that blue sparks surrounded my hands, making them warm. I remembered that Trivys sparks had been orange.

"Yes you have it too, my dear. Not the most powerful Present I have ever seen, but it still has potential. That's interesting. We'll talk about all that later. First sit down here at the table and tell me what you came here for,"

The table was placed near the fireplace. The mystic took the seat closest to the hearth, leaving me with my back to the door.

"I'm stuck with my wealthy, upper-class family. They have an incredible amount of pride and scorn against anyone of lower class. Especially my stepsister, Emma. She is a total brat. If she knew that I was in love with the student-hostler, I don't even want to imagine what she'd do. Jack and I don't know what to do. We both love the city and have no desire to leave it, yet getting married is not even an option with our different families. His parents want him to marry Rebecca Brethers, the dairymaid. She's an oldest daughter and her dowry's almost as big as mine. To top it all off, my mother has this crazy idea that my sister and I can marry into royalty. ROYALY! Can you believe it? Anyway, that's why I'm here. For a suggestion on how to marry my beloved." I finished by looking at my hands. Then I thought better and stared strait into her eyes. She smiled.

"Is that the only reason you're here, girlie?" I really wished that shed stop calling me girlie. I was, in fact, almost 17 years old.

"Well, if you could help me find a way to get even with Emma too, that would be nice." I laughed. I felt totally at ease in the presence of the mystic. It was nice, I only ever felt so comfortable around commoners.

"I'll see if the flames have a creative answer, plus I want to see first-hand what you experience." Trivy got up and sat crossed-legged in front of the fire. Throwing orange sparks into the flames, turning them the same color.

The fire sprang up to act out scenes. Suddenly I could see Emma blaming me for loosing her favorite slippers, Jack and I riding together, my mother getting mad at me for wearing a dirt-streaked smock. Dria laughing at me with the gossips. Me, listening to conversations in the city, practicing knife-work with the training-master at dawn, before anyone woke up. Reading after dusk in the library until my candle burned down to the wick. Me, at the age of six, cutting my hair short like and boy and being thrashed by my nanny on my mothers orders. Running away for days at a time and coming home to find that only the servants had noticed I had left. Finally it showed me the look in Jacks eyes as he pleaded with me to be careful, that afternoon, before I had gone to see Trivy.

"Let's see what we can do, missy."

For the next hour we schemed, finally ending with a master plan that would make even the devil giggle with excitement.

I got up to leave, feeling as though I had known her all my life.

" Will you come back to see me? I need to help you train that Present of yours, plus I enjoy your company more than anyone who's come here in the last ten years." She said, stopping me before I got to the door.

"Of coarse! Are there any books I could take with me to study? I'd certainly like to learn more about those words of power. It's so exiting." I gave her an honest grin, I had not lied during the whole time I had been in that house. "By the way, I had fun, you should come to the city, there are a few people I know would really like you too."

Trivys' face got sad and withdrawn. "I do not go to the city anymore. It's too painful seeing all those greedy people, those dead souls, spirits are all but smothered in that place. But I understand your love for it. I once lived there too, that is why I live here, less than two hours ride from Drakenzburg. But leave now, missy, You don't want to worry your Jack too much." She handed me a book from her shelf. I nodded and tucked it into my shoulder bag before I slipped out the door.

Mounting Snow-globe, I noticed he had been unsaddled, groomed and re-saddled. Plus his tack had been polished and he acted well fed and rested. I rode him hard, and did in fact get home in time for dinner.