Selenay's eyes drooped in the flickering candlelight, but she shook her head briskly in an attempt to force herself awake. She didn't understand it. The parchments clearly stated that Skylar was busy training for combat, adamant in the fact that an unforeseen battle was just over the horizon. Then, scarcely 20 years later, Vanyel, the only surviving Herald-Mage, attends his fatal battle against Leareth. There were records of a discussion that Skylar held with Herald-Mage Savil about the possibility of melding all of her prospective gifts together, and that the result could potentially give her complete control over the minds and bodies of everyone around her. There were detailed theoretical explanations on how exactly that result would come to pass, but Selenay's mind balked short of comprehending them.
"Well they address the practical issue very completely, if confusingly, however, I notice that they conveniently made no notice of the question of morality," Selenay muttered sardonically under her breath. Deciding to have more qualified minds go over the process in more detail later, she put that paper aside and picked up the next one. This was where the confusion started. There was not one more mention of Skylar in all of the historical records. It was as if she disappeared, and everyone forgot that she had ever existed. To the general populace, Skylar is just an odd name. It is only to the royal family and the Queen's Own, in other words the only people with access to the imperial records, that Skylar means something more. Even in these the lapse lasts for about 15 years until King Randale began training his daughter Jisa to become a future queen. Hidden amongst the managerial instructions was a simple poem. Randale told Jisa that when the person who could recite this poem returns to Valdemar, the ruler should trust the individual's judgment implicitly and give the individual any resources he or she needs. That's it. There's no description of the questionable savior or anything else. This continues for generations, the only insinuations of Skylar occur when the crown prince or princess is being taught the invaluable poem. As time passes, there is a subtle change. One year it comes out that this savior is female. Years later a name comes into play. And a scarce 30 years before Selenay herself was taught, the fact that Skylar was a mere 16 years of age was admitted. How these pieces of information were leaked to the rulers Selenay had no idea.
Abruptly switching tactics, Selenay picked up the common syllabus for instructing newly chosen trainees. Hidden among the long and tedious lists of names and dates that some scholar locked in a dusty chamber somewhere decided were important to history, is Skylar. All it said is that she was a close confident and assistant to the legendary Vanyel and his teacher Savil. Her specific contributions were not mentioned, nor was when she left. As was the case for every other mention of her, she was there, then she was gone. And for some reason, no one had ever seemed very interested in finding out why.
Catching herself beginning to nod off once more, Selenay decided to pack it away for the day. She stood, stretching like a cat, and meandered over to the window. Judging by the position of the sun, it was only a candlemark or two past breakfast. She and Talia had worked the entire night through, for the third night in a row. Reminded of her closest friend and confidant, Selenay looked fondly at the top of Talia's head, curled sideways is her chair, fast asleep. Just as she began to lay a gentle hand of Talia's shoulder to wake her, the door was hurled open with a deafening crack. Talia shook awake and nearly tumbled to the ground. Selenay turned in shock to find an angst-ridden Elspeth framed in the doorway. Elspeth wasn't looking at her however.
"Why didn't you come to breakfast a few days ago?! You never break your promises to me. Am I suddenly not important enough, or is it..." Elspeth trailed off in shock when she saw the white, pasty quality of her friends' countenance. In a much subdued voice, she spoke to Talia again. "What is it?" Talia slowly and wordlessly rose to shaking feet. Before anyone could say anything else the ominous drone of the death bell reverberated through the air, rattling the very bones of Talia's being.
"Doesn't bode well at all," Talia croaked, in a voice scratchy and hollow from sleep.
Panting and pink faced from the exhilarating exertion, Skylar and Kavi skidded to a stop at the western edge of companion's field. Skylar gracefully laid herself on Kavi's neck to kiss him briefly between the ears. He impishly flicked his ears at her, the way he would flick off a fly. Laughing, she swung herself down and grabbed either side of his nose.
: I've never talked to anyone like this before. It's a little weird actually. : Skylar giggled nervously.
: Don't worry chosen. You'll get used to it in time ... just like you'll get used to your feelings about Skif. : Skylar's eyes flared open in surprise at the fact that Kavi had brought Skif up. She began talking out loud again in her defensiveness.
"What's there to get used to? I like him, I'll admit that now, but he's not exactly the first boy I've ever fallen for."
: That's right chosen, keep denying it. That's a sure sign of intelligence. : Skylar glared at him. Her tone turned icy.
"I don't know what exactly you're trying to imply here, but whatever if it, it's not true. I feel just the same way about Skif as anyone else." Kavi blinked his eyes slowly, which Skylar had begun to realize was his why of concealing something he found amusing. "What's so funny?" Just as the words finished coming out of her mouth, Skylar had to let out a gasp because cold snow was slowly dripping down the back of her tunic.
"That bad, huh? That same as everybody else?" Skylar turned, grinning at the sound of Skif's voice. He wore the open impish expression that he hadn't had since the trainees had tired of his thievery tricks. Another snowball was slowly melting in his fist. Skylar's eyes narrowed in preparation. Skif's hands flew up defensively. "Hey, no magic! That's not fair!" And before she could collect herself, Skif hurled the second snowball directly at her face. She nimbly ducked and the snowball his Kavi's unexpecting flank. Whinnying in surprise he cantered away.
: Have fun with your little game. And try not to get too wet. It has a tendency to make you crabby. : Ignoring her companion's comment entirely Skylar completely devoted herself to the fight.
"Truce!" Skylar called, out of breath from laughing. Skif watched her with thinly veiled suspicion. Somehow he didn't believe that Skylar would ever call a truce. Glancing around to make sure that all of the trainees had gone in to morning lessons, Skylar walked closer to Skif. Skif put himself on guard. She stopped less than a foot from him, her eyes twinkling with barely suppressed mirth. He was reminded startlingly of the look on the trainees' faces when they had first come out to find a full herald acting like a little. It was not a flattering look to Skif. Without warning she leaned in and kissed him. Skif was in shock, whatever he had suspected from her it was not this. Just as he started to relax, a handful of snow was rubbed into his curls.
"Oh now that was so cheating!" Despite his protests, Skif pulled Skylar closer and kissed her back. Just as the snow was trickling down his neck unpleasantly enough that Skif was considering breaking off the kiss, Skylar jerked away, her eyes glued to the tower in the distance. Two white forms, Kavi and Cymry, were flying toward them just as the death bell began to make its presence known. "Bloody hell," Skif muttered under his breath, running to meet his companion halfway.