Through the Mirror
By Kordi
Disclaimer: The story Through the Mirror is based on the books Night of the Solstice, Heart of Valor, and The Forbidden Game trilogy by the very talented L.J. Smith. I, in now way, claim to own them.
Prologue
Ceridwen ran out of the small village and into the woods, clutching her books tightly to her chest. Tears streamed down her cheeks in torrents, leaving a trail like the Nile River in her wake. Finally she stopped running and leaned against a tree, her cheeks crimson and her eyes puffy from crying.
Every day had been the same for over fifty years. The other sorcerers and sorceresses never took her seriously because she was a walking catastrophe. Memorizing every book in the library and studying non-stop had done nothing for her. She would try to start a fire and instead it would start to rain.
She was the laughing stock of their world, the poor little sorceress who could never do anything right, the stupid girl who always ruined everything.
She was small, too small. She looked like a child and everyone treated her like one. She stood at 5' 1" and looked extremely common with her light brown hair and brown eyes. At times she had heard others say she looked like a human, and with the way most of her spells turned out she often believed that maybe she was one. Putting her in the land of magic where she could not use hers had been a huge, cruel joke.
After staring off into space for nearly an hour she decided to return to the village. Hopefully those who had seen her most recent catastrophe would have dispersed by now and she would be free to wallow in her own self pity without having to listen to their snide remarks.
She trudged back to village slowly, allowing the breeze to dry the tears that lingered on her cheeks. This was always the hard part, returning back to the town, to her peers, to the scene of the crime. Running was easy, though never fun and never rewarding. Her entire life was spent running, hiding, crying - so much that she had become a master of all three.
She let the door to her small house slam shut behind herself and slumped onto the first piece of furniture she spotted. It was a large black chair with a grey pillow. She leaned over, pulled a throw blanket off of the back of the chair, and wrapped it around herself. Next she swung her feet over the side and leaned her head against the back of it.
Tomorrow she would stand in front of the council and they would decide whether or not she received her first staff. It would have been nice to be optimistic, but she had given up on that long ago. Every year for the past nine years she would stand in front of the council and they would deny her a staff. What would make this year any different?
She shifted slightly and pulled the blanket tighter around her body, staring up at the ceiling, hoping that somehow this year would not be a repeat of the others.
Ceridwen had been unable to sleep. She had been too upset because of the events of the previous day and too uneasy about appearing before the council. She had not been scheduled for evaluation until after lunch, yet she was bathed and dressed before the morning meal.
She had picked at a grapefruit and thrown out her toast without taking a single bite. Her nerves were getting the best of her, making her stomach queasy and her head throb.
Pulling a wine colored cloak out of a chest she draped it over her shoulders, grabbed a single spell book, and headed to the center of town where the council would convene at the great manor.
It was a huge, white building, with large windows and heavy doors. Lilies lined the path from the dirt road up to the front steps. Benches, ponds, waterfalls, and other flowering bushes were spread across the grounds. The serenity of the place almost calmed the butterflies' cart wheeling in Ceridwen's stomach.
Taking a deep breath she walked up the steps and knocked on the door. The wait that was barely two minutes seemed like an eternity to Ceridwen. Finally, the door swung open and she entered.
Inside everything was comprised of white and grey marble - floors, walls, ceilings, and decorations all glistened as the sunlight reflected off of the polished marble. Not one thing had changed in over fifty years.
"You're early," a male voice said suddenly from the far side of the room.
Ceridwen swung around to find she was looking at the Archon. "Yes, well I was," she paused, not wanting to let him know just how nervous she was, and decided to word her answer carefully, "I was excited."
"We may value excitement, but impatience and lies are frowned upon," he told her sternly. After a few moments of silence, he turned around and began walking down a hallway, "Follow me."
Ceridwen took a deep breath before picking up her things and hurrying down the hallway after the Archon. She was confused, he had never been the one to greet her before, and she wasn't sure whether this was a good or bad thing.
"We have devised three tests for you," he explained as Ceridwen followed him, "this year we are testing your ability to control nature."
She nodded and continued to follow, too nervous to speak.
"Here we are," the Archon said as he pushed the glass door open to reveal a beautiful garden where the testing and evaluation would be taking place.
As Ceridwen stepped into the center of the garden and looked out at the entire council she felt the butterflies in her stomach stop fluttering as they were replaced by the sudden feeling of nausea.
"Welcome back," a sorceress with a silver staff spoke, "I trust that you are well and excited about today."
Ceridwen nodded, still unable to speak. She removed her cloak and placed it on top of a stool that stood next to her and then looked up again. She was nervous and her hands shook despite how much she willed them to stop.
A sorcerer stood up from his seat and walked over to a large flowerpot. He pulled from his pocket a small seed, held it up to show Ceridwen, and then patted it gently into the soil. "Your first test is to make the flower grow and blossom. Show us that the plants in nature trust you as a friend and mother."
She walked over to the flowerpot and stared down at it, thinking. Finally she raised her two hands a few inches from the soil and began reciting a spell in a whisper. Everyone waited and watched as a small stem sprouted from the soil and reached for the sun. Ceridwen smiled within her self, pleased at first, but then frowned when she realized the bud would not open.
The flower did not blossom and therefore she failed her first test.
"Do not worry," the Archon told her, no expression on his face. "Ceridwen, you still have two more chances to prove yourself to us."
The sorcerer with the gold staff raised his hand over the flower and it wilted and died. "Your second test is to set the dried remains of that flower on fire."
Again Ceridwen held her hands over the flowerpot, reciting a spell in a small whisper. A single spark flew, followed by a second, and then finally smoke, but no fire surged to life.
She looked up at the members of the council, holding back tears. "It's no use."
"Do not lose heart," the Archon told her.
The sorceress with the silver staff replaced the sorcerer near the flowerpot, and spoke to Ceridwen, "I know you have it in you, but I don't understand why you can't feel it like we can." She looked at the flowerpot and the entire thing caught fire. The flames crept up to the sky, hot and blazing. "Your third and final test is to call on Mother Nature. Make it snow and put the fire out."
Ceridwen didn't want to hold her breath, knowing perfectly well that she was doomed to another year without a staff. Still though, she had to complete the test. She looked up at the sky and then raised her hands. She spoke spells and chants in whispers again as the clouds began to shift and realign themselves.
Was it a miracle? Was Ceridwen really doing it?
The cloud moved closer, covering the bright sun, and stopped just above the garden. All of the council members looked up as large drops of rain splashed onto them. It came down quickly, splashing everywhere, extinguishing the fire, but snow was nowhere in sight.
That was it. She had failed all three tests. She couldn't make a flower grow, she couldn't start a fire, and she couldn't make it snow. She was a failure.
A failure…
The Archon raised his hand and the clouds receded back, allowing the sun to shine through and dry the garden.
Ceridwen looked at him and the other council members, no happiness, no hope, no spark in her eyes.
The Archon looked at each of the council members one at a time, and each of them nodded their heads in agreement. Finally he stood up and spoke to everyone, "Ceridwen, it would be wrong to say that you don't have the ability or the heart to wield magic… but I am accurate when I say that you lack the courage and faith to use it. For a tenth year in a row you have failed the tests we put before you and because of this we cannot offer you a staff."
Ceridwen didn't cry, she knew this was coming. It was the same every year.
The Archon began speaking again and Ceridwen looked at him confused. In the past he had never said anything after that. "You have become a liability because you have the power but are unable to harness it. If this was not a simple test but instead a battle you may very well have lost it for us. Because of this we put it to a unanimous vote, and the council has decided that we are revoking your right to use magic."
Now the tears came, leaving streaks of salty water down her face. She grabbed her cloak and book and ran from the great manor, not stopping or looking back until she reached her home.
The door slammed shut again just like the previous night, and she slumped against it. Wiping her eyes with the sleeve of her dress Ceridwen walked over to the hanger to put her cloak on it and something long and silver fell to the floor. Leaning over she picked it up and turned it over in her hands, examining it. It was the staff of a council member. In her anger she had accidentally grabbed it with her cloak.
She grasped it tight in her hand, growing even more upset knowing that it was something she could never wield legally. She stood up then, still holding the silver staff, and looked into the mirror beside the coat rack. Suddenly it was like a switch was turned to on. She glanced down at the staff in her hand and then back into the mirror. A large grin spread across her face, and she knew how she would prove to everyone that they were wrong about her.