Disclaimer: the characters belong to Tamora Pierce as well as Tortall, the plot is based on the "Six Swans" but may be similar to "Daughter of the Forest". -runs out of the door crying- I own nothing…please don't sue me though, -reaches into pocket to find a wallet with moth balls flying out-
A Long WayPrologue (Part 2)
Baby Perfectionist
Kilometres away from Mindelan a young boy with blonde hair cropped short was found sitting in the branches of a sakura tree in the heart of Stone Mountain. Blue eyes the colour of cold ice could be seen contrasting greatly with the soft pink of the petals of cherry blossoms. He glanced at the other boys who were playing in the courtyard and sighed inaudibly with a trace of bitterness.
Flashback
5year old Joren glanced at the other boys playing happily in the courtyard and approached them, "May I play with you?" he asked as politely as possible.
The other boys didn't seem to take a liking to him for they pushed him to the ground and grabbed his shirt collar. A strangled cry rose to his lips as air was cut off from his circulation, his lungs were burning painfully and he felt faint in the head.
"That's what you fine lords deserve." Spat the oldest of the boys.
"What..do…you..mean?" was the rather choky voice which now also had the uncertainty of a child who had just been stripped of his/her own innocence.
"What..do…you..mean?" mocked another boy, "Stupid weakling!" the same boy spat out the word as if it was one of the most vilest words in his vocabulary.
"We don't deserve a young boy like you as our future lord!" with that, the boys left but not without leaving a kick here and there.
"I haven't done anything to any of you! I don't even know any of you!" Joren wasn't going to take crap from a total stranger, much less a lot of total strangers.
"Yah. Whatever, your father doesn't ring a bell does it? He's responsible for the war altogether. If it wasn't for him, my pa would still be here." The whole gang of boys disappeared and it would've appeared as if they had never been there save for Joren on the ground with dark coloured bruises colouring his fair skin.
End of Flashback
Now that he was 10 years old, he understood the concept of the gang of boys. They were simply jealous, or so he was told through the point of his uncle Lord Eric. He glared at them but with a hint of wistfulness for he would exchange most of his possessions to be playing without a care in the world. Without the weight of the responsibilities and the expectations everyone piled upon him.
His once warm, loving and caring blue eyes had taken a turn over the last couple of years. He was no longer able to communicate as carefreely as before, he was no longer able to forgive as easily and he was no longer able to trust anyone who came into his life. The reason was forbidden by the household, never to be spoken aloud-
"Yo Joren! What in the blazes are you doing up there?" Joren's mouth gave an involuntary half smile which he covered up immediately with his mouth and leaned forward slightly but not too much so as to fall.
He glared at the boy who was the closest thing to a friend Joren had. This boy glared right back, his dark brown eyes sparkled as the sun reflected its beams on them and his black hair was sleek from the water.
"What the hell happened to your hair?" asked Joren, except it sounded more like a demand rather than a sudden burst of curiosity, ignoring the question given earlier.
"What? No greeting? That's all the thanks I get for checking up on you?" the dark brown eyes of the other boy were cheerful.
Joren inched forward slightly without noticing and replied in an offhand manner, "Whoever asked you to check up on me anyway? Besides, you never asked for a greeting did you?" as he finished his last sentence, his hands were swept in opposite directions with a flourish and he smirked in triumph for only a minute before he tumbled over the branch and on the concrete.
"Er… hi Joren, hey Nick. Joren, what are you doing on the concrete?" another boy asked as he too joined Nicholas standing near the tree which Joren had just fallen from.
"Hey Liam, our friend Joren here has decided to show us his ability to fly."
Joren scowled at Liam and Nick before retorting, "You don't think I'm on the floor voluntarily? Well, everything's just fine and dandy I'm actually just testing to see how warm this cold hard concrete is so if you don't mind?"
Liam replied just as sarcastically, "I don't mind if you test 'how warm this cold hard concrete is' actually, be my guest!" with that he folded his arms across his chest in a huffy manner. His dark red hair was blown this way and that as he and Joren bantered on but his grey-green eyes couldn't really contain their mirth and so Joren could see the obvious laughter in his eyes as the folds around Liam's eyes' crinkled up.
Nick sighed and stared between Joren and Liam, he offered his hand towards Joren so that Joren could get up but like always Joren refused and scrambled up by himself.
"Why'd you 2 always have to argue like this? It's like, you're trying to test each other." Nick quirked his eyebrows at them.
"How can we test each other when Liam doesn't even know the difference between his left and right foot?" Joren smirked at Liam.
"Nick, you have to understand that Joren here isn't really able to understand what you're saying. I mean, his brain is about the size of a goldfish."
"Why you little…-" Joren stumbled towards Liam but because he still hadn't balanced himself properly on the ground, he fell flat on his face in front of Liam's feet.
"My, my Joren. We do love to test how warm the cold hard concrete is, aye?" Liam smirked back evilly. "Look, who doesn't know the difference between his left and right foot now? When you walk, you have to take one step at a time. You know? Like this." He demonstrated by walking slowly around in circles while Joren was still on the ground.
"You idiot! I can't even see what you're doing so what's the point of you demonstrating?"
"Ah…so you do you need a demonstration then?" taunted Liam's sickly sweet voice.
Joren growled, "Of course not! And stop using that voice, you know you sound like a girl like that? But then again, we all knew that you were a girl in disguise as a boy right Nicholas?"
Nicholas grabbed Joren's hands this time to haul him up instead of taking sides. They would have succeeded if it weren't for the fact that Nick's shoe slipped and so they both slipped back down again with Joren underneath Nick.
Liam surveyed the scene before him and couldn't help it, he burst out in fits of laughter. Laughing so hard that the glares of both Nick and Joren were lost on him and tears started to slowly trickle down on his face.
"Yeah, that's great Liam just laugh at Nick's clumsiness will you?"
"Hey! Excuse me…"
"You're excused!" came 2 pert voices, one was rather strangled and the other was rather breathless due to immense bouts of laughter.
"Let me finish, won't you?" Nick asked impatiently, causing both Liam and Joren to shut up.
"Anyways, as I was saying Joren," he put emphasis on the last word by stretching out the 2 syllables, "I was not the clumsy one. In fact, if you hadn't fallen in the first place then I wouldn't have needed to help you right and so I wouldn't have needed to…-"
"Are you guys even listening?" a scuffle could be heard and Nicholas realised that he was still on the floor listening to Joren attempts to get up.
"Er..Nick? Do you mind getting off of me? You're short and all but you're not exactly underweight." Joren's voice became slightly strained towards the end. Nicholas rolled his eyes and got up, dusting his pants.
Liam took notice of Nick's hair, "Why's your hair all wet?"
"No reason, I just took a swim in the river."
"You idiot! It's the middle of winter." Liam scowled for he did truly care about his friends.
"Yeah, what were you doing swimming in the river?" Joren asked as he too got up still panting rather heavily.
"What kind of question is that?" Nick asked, lost.
"Let me rephrase it for poor Joren, why did you going swimming in the river?" Liam asked, giving a grin directed at Joren who gave him a death glare as well as some rude hand gestures.
"Um…er…well that…you see…well, it's kind of hard to explain…" Joren cut him off, "What's with the 'um's' and 'er's'? or has your use of words gone down too, like Liam?"
"Hey! I take that as an offense." Liam said while stuffing his hands into his pocket.
"Well, of course you would Liam." Came Joren's reasonable voice.
"You guys, cut it. Let's go home, it's getting chilly out here." Nick's voice reflected his gladness that they had switched topics and diverted their attention elsewhere.
Joren and Liam noticed and shared a small smirk, they both pounced on Nick and began firing questions.
"Why? When? Who, if any?" came Liam's cunning questions causing Nick to blush slightly.
"Ah, well spill!" Joren demanded eagerly. "I bet it's something to do with a girl…" was Joren's sly observation.
"I wasn't really…er…swimming?" was Nick's weak lie to defend himself, his brown eyes suddenly brightened. Joren and Liam exchanged wary looks, Nicholas was up to something.
Nick suddenly sped off without a by your leave, Joren and Liam were so surprised that they stood there for a full minute before they began chasing Nick to seek answers to his odd behaviour, his whereabouts and activities from before.
Later that night, after dinner Joren lay in bed. He had never thought too well of the war, but now he really detested it and thought that it was a waste of time. At dinner had been an announcement that half of the Scanran army had been slaughtered by the Tortallans.
To Joren, there was no point of this war. More and more people had been slaughtered but Eric didn't seem to care whilst LadyAlena of Stone Mountain had appeared grave when the news reached the hall of Stone Mountain. Everyone else had tight lips and the dinner had been carried on in a cold manner without all the normal chatter and laughter.
Joren looked up at the stars outside his window and wished in his mind that those few people whom he cared for and loved would be spared from the war and pictured their figure and features in his mind.
His mother had always been there to listen to his problems and had been hurt a lot earlier on but Joren had vowed to himself that he would never let it happen again. He had promised her that he would always protect her.
Liam, his friend since they were both 6. He had been originally from Iron Arms but his parents had died and their wish before they died had been for Liam to be with Lord Buchard and his wife, for they had been really close friends. From the moment Liam stepped down from the carriage, Joren and Liam had claimed some sort of friendship even though they argued half the time.
Joren admired the way Liam was able to remain independent and cocky, always certain of himself. Because Iron Arms had been a small town city on the border of Scanra, Liam didn't have the physical features of the Scanrans and was often teased by the boys from the village but he always stood up for himself well.
Nicholas was a different matter entirely, his mother was a distant cousin of Joren's mother and so when Nick's father died. Nick and his mother had moved into the Stone Mountain house when Nick was 5.
Joren had known Nick ever since they could walk and speak, so they were well attuned to each other's moods. Even though Nick was a distant cousin from Joren's parents, Nick's father had been a Tortallan which was why his features appeared to be mixed.
The only other person whom Joren cared enough for not to get hurt, would be Jason, his godbrother and cousin. His father was Lord Eric even though most of the times, Joren tended to ignore that fact. Lord Eric had always been a bit more than harsh towards Joren, always demanding him do better in one study or another.
Jason was the first person whom he had confided in, all his problems had been solved (figuratively) when he talked to Jason, for Jason had that ability to bring a smile onto anyone's face whenever the situation called for it.
Joren sighed and tried to fall asleep but couldn't, he tossed and turned and finally decided to take a walk near the river. Not really noticing where his feet were taking him, familiar walls and trees and other landmarks blurred in his vision and he arrived at the oak tree next to the lake.
Joren slipped his feet out of the leather shoes and dangled them into the sudden rush of cool water which chilled him from skin to the bone. He shivered but remained there, feeling the slight night breeze across his face and listening to the owls and other creatures make noises each of which were unique in their own way.
He then realized that the coldness had numbed his foot slightly so he took them out and walked a couple of metres till he reached the trunk of the oak and leaned against it. Feeling the solidness, he felt strangely comforted and slowly became lost in his sub-conscious until he finally dozed off.
In his dream, he was at peace there was no Lord Eric demanding him with harsh words, there was no responsibility tying him down. The dream, itself was slightly misty and he couldn't see clearly.
It was like, he was watching something happen from above and realised he was floating with white fluffy clouds in the dark blue sky which Joren calculated to be around dusk.
He saw a blonde haired girl's head bob up and down as if concentrating on something of the utmost importance. The girl looked to be sewing for she had just cut off something which he couldn't see. The girl looked up, only once and Joren felt himself grow self-conscious.
He felt the tug of something grabbing his hair but looked up and saw nothing. He shrugged and ignored it, trying to look back into the girl's eyes but the girl had, in that second turned back towards her subject of focus which Joren could make out to be a human- no wait, a boy. In his opinion, that boy looked to be rather lumpy and undeserving of the girl's attention.
Hey! he scolded himself, What am I thinking? I've finally lost it, Liam's right for the first and probably last time in his life.
The girl seemed to think that something was amiss for she turned her head around to glance at her surroundings and without realizing it, turned her eyes to the place where Joren was. In that split moment, Joren saw her eyes.
Hazel eyes.
Eyes which seemed to show so much yet none at all.
A/N: Thanks for all the support people! I'm sorry, if that chapter was bad because I didn't know what I was doing and I'm sorry for making you guys wait for so long and then update a crappy piece of crap? This chapter was just an intro to Joren's life like the first part of the prologue was for Kel's. Remember to review people! It makes me extremely happy, and then when I'm happy I update quicker! Does anyone know Joren's mum's name? I'm sorry but I don't have the book at the moment.
Anyways, thanks so much to:
Dom's angel- You're my first reviewer! Luv you, it meant so much to me!
queen-of-sapphires- Thanks for the facts and encouraging comments! I'll try to remember them (the facts)
anxioustritip- I'll try to make it good but it'll probably suck but thanks anyways.
Ti-Ti- Hopefully, that was able to show you Joren jokes
elemental-girl- Wow! I am so shocked/surprised/pleased/happy that I am on someone's fave list. I don't think I agree about my writing style though,I don't even have one...but I do luv "Daughter of the Forest". Hopefully, I won't be copying too much from it, please tell me if I do.
DSfan- I'm sorry for not updating sooner and then producing such a crappy chapter. I'll try to do better next time! You see, I really was at camp and then test and assignments came up, but it's not like anyone will believe me and you'll probably think I'm blabbering on so I'll stop there.
dana- I was disappointed too when Tamora Pierce killed him off but he shall remain in my fic for quite a while (i hope), I'll try to continue this fic to the best of my ability but don't kill me if I can't!
lily m.- Thanks for reviewing! I doubt that it was a great start but thanks anyways! Chris and Kel's connection is cool, I'm glad you liked it.
Anon.- You're kidding me right? I'm not a good writer but you have raised my self esteem by heaps! Anyways, thanks for the advice I tried to follow it but if it didn't work I'm really sorry. My story probably won't be a success because I am a crappy writer but thank you so much, I'm happy that you Chris b'coz I like him too.
FountainOfYouth- I was slightly threatened by you so I decided to hurry up and finish it after I read your review! Anyways, thanks for the comment! I'll try to update faster next time, if you review again maybe? hint hint
Dreamer at Heart- HINICOLE!Iposted, no wait---I updated! You better update too or else! No excuses, young lady. A deal is a deal! I'm eagerly awaiting your next chapter! By the way, you're always hypo! (esp. when it's sport! You and Eva!) Your story's so good and it's so grammatically correct and everything. Mine's just stuffed!
lil angel- Hey Samia, I edited the chapter for you on Saturday (basically today) but anyways, if you didn't get it than I'm really sorry. Was it meant to be that short? Anyways, my story is crap. I know it, everyone knows it. They're all just saying it's not to make me feel better.
Mimia91- Hey Jess, you got an account and I got you obssessed with fanfic! By the way, "Jagged Amber" updated and I'm happy. Ok, that doens't make much sense. Anyways, my story is um...rather terrible and I don't know if I can make it funny 'coz it'll just turn out 'lame' as Debbie calls it.
imperfectionist-angel185- Iris! You reviewed! Wow, wasn't expecting it but yeah, how could you say that I'm the mean bumhole! You are! Hmph! Thanks, I know you're trying to make me feel better about my story but it's not good.
The Caged- Believe me Debs, I would've left you alone a long time ago if it weren't for the fact that you'd get lonely, locked up in your tower not getting bothered enough. Anyways, the mother cannot have any detail added though, 'coz she's dead and the siblings---I tried. Anyways, I am not going to abandon this fic!
Luv ya lots
Baby Perfectionist