The Ninth Star
Summary: An evil enigmatic being known as The Ninth Star was once in a group known as the Nefarious Nine, all of whom were destroyed. The sole survivor of the attack, The Ninth Star takes up residence in a new host, and has now been tracked down to Valestrai, where there are nine powerful magic wielders under investigation. Sofia and company are called in to help question the suspects, but nothing could have prepared them for the outcome when the mystery begins to unravel. *Takes place two years after The Tainted Ten*
Disclaimer: I do not own Sofia the First. The following characters belong to me: Jastin Butterford, Muscles, Malango the Magnanimous (mentioned), Corban, Charlie, Serena, Angel, Shikoba, Alo, the Ninth Star (and other Stars), and several others not mentioned in the other lists. MarionetteJ2X owns Nana, Tanya, and Terra. Mr. Shortman92 owns Christopher Crowley and Amaya. NerdsinaTree owns Captain Nereus. Royal Detective owns Gabriel Sebastian. Allyrwhitney owns Freya. Jettmanas owns Davidius. Creepy-Pasta owns Neoma. Pinkscarlet08 owns Amerie. Theblackraven2.0 owns Malcom "Mac" Woodruff. Also, the "Nefarious Nine" title belongs to NerdsinaTree, as the title was originally supposed to be used in "The Tainted Ten" until we added a tenth character.
A/N: Well... In order to celebrate the holiday season, AND the fact that I'm now officially a Doctoral Candidate (I passed both my written and spoken comps, required to move into my dissertation phase), I figured I'd drop at least one more chapter before December. :) I've been writing ahead, and I'm on chapter 10 of 18 now. At least the break afforded me some time to write! Hope y'all enjoy! The next chapter will drop on December 1.
Chapter 5: Terra
The examination room was set off to the back left of the holding room. It was relatively small, with a single gray chair for the interrogated person, a long table in front of the armchair, and several seats lined behind the table. A few potted plants attempted (poorly) to give the small space a more "welcoming" feeling, and some badly painted canvases hung around the room.
"My children can draw better than this," Greylock pointed out, poking one of the portraits. "My Zinnia especially. My precious girl has a gift."
"We'll keep that in mind next time that we are looking for new artists," Sir Wallison chuckled, gesturing for Terra to sit in the gray chair while the five visitors and Shikoba took their places behind the table. "I will remain with the other eight, Shikoba. Come retrieve me if you should need me."
"I won't bite, Sir Wallison," Terra teased, smirking at the older man before nodding toward Shikoba. "Not hard, anyway."
"That is comforting, Terra. I'm afraid Alo would scarcely allow such a thing anyway." He was satisfied with her disgruntled expression as he left the room.
Vega and Orion pulled out documentation for Terra, passing along copies for the others to preview. After going over the basics of the interrogation, they turned to the woman in question.
Terra was 30 years old from the kingdom of Floria. She was 5'3" with a smaller frame, golden eyes, tanned skin, and a dark blue bob haircut. Some dark circles lined her eyes, a beauty mark settled just beneath the right one, indicating her trouble with sleeping. Her clothing style was similar to a mix of a female pirate and a magic wielder—an interesting mix. Her dark blue dress was framed with a brown upper corset, which fastened behind her neck. An underlayer of a long white sleeved shirt could be seen just between the corset and the upper blue sleeves, which contained gold star-like patterns along the end of the sleeves. A dark brown cape hung off her neck, ending somewhere near her calves. Her dark brown boots covered just to her knees, and the rest of her legs were hidden by blue fabric that matched her dress. Last but not least, a gold chain wrapped around her thin waist, some of the links dangling down her skirt.
She looked like a traveler. At first glance, she didn't seem all that friendly, but of course, speaking with her would prove or disprove that theory relatively quickly.
"So… What would you like to know?" Terra asked. "I'm not the Ninth Star, if that's what you're concerned about."
"We will be the judge of that, Terra," Shikoba reminded her in a calm yet stern manner. "Let us begin with your background. Where are you from?"
"Floria. Born and raised."
Orion nodded. "Tell us about yourself, Ms. Terra."
She smiled, appreciating the Protector's use of a title. "Well… I'm a local florist and healer in my kingdom. People have called me 'Mother Flora' because I can make plants that others have never even seen before."
"You make plants?" Sofia clarified.
"Yeah…" She twirled some of her hair around her finger. "Call it a magical gift, I guess. I actually also own my own greenhouse and live there, and I spend a lot of my day taking care of my plants."
Vega wrote down a few things on her list and nodded. "You mentioned being a healer as well. Can you tell us a bit about that?"
She kicked off her boots and pulled her legs up in the chair, tucked under her dress, and sighed. "Yeah, so, I'm a magical healer on top of a florist. I think I'm pretty good. At least other people have told me that… I've saved the ruler a few times, though he couldn't seem to care less."
"Ungrateful ruler, eh?" Greylock remarked, smirking as she smiled and shrugged. "Relatable."
"I also tend to be on my own a lot. I don't really care for people being too close to me." She gestured between her and the group gathered before her. "This, for example? Wouldn't happen on a daily basis if I could help it."
Cedric grumbled when Sofia grinned and nudged him. "Not a word." He tossed her a playful smile as she giggled before looking at Terra, waiting for her to continue.
"I also sometimes give free medical assistance to those who can't afford our medic. Of course, that gets me into trouble sometimes, because our ruler usually reprimands me for offering something that could be taxed. Evidently, it's not been good for the economy." She yawned, folding her hands into her lap. "I didn't realize helping humanity was less important than swiping their money, but you know, priorities."
Shikoba frowned. It sounded far too familiar, from what she had seen in her travels. So many kingdoms were bogged down in taxes and expectations that they tended to forget that it took a healthy subject body to build and help kingdoms thrive. It was too bad so many rulers were so delusional.
"Anyway, recently, our kingdom has undergone a very bad drought because of our lack of rain all last year, and we lost just about everything. We were able to begin recovery efforts thanks to our neighboring kingdoms, but we've had some issues lately since our ruler is so strict about 'outsiders' interfering. He doesn't seem to want others' resources for some reason. Naturally, our people were livid." She rubbed the back of her neck, sighing heavily. "Can't blame them, of course…"
Sofia leaned forward. "Let me get this straight. Other kingdoms were trying to help you guys, and your ruler turned them away? He's that stubborn?"
"Magnus Part II," Greylock commented, shuffling his papers distractedly.
"If you met the guy, you'd understand just how stupid he can be with his choices." She waved her hand flippantly. "Anyway, because they were so irritated with him, some of our rulers' own advisors turned to me for help. They asked me to help grow new vegetation, which I've done secretly the past few months. What the king doesn't know won't hurt him…"
"Is there anything else you would like to add?" Orion asked kindly, seeing Terra shake her head. "All right, if you would kindly stand over here, we will do our magic test, and you will be released to the holding room once more."
"All right." Terra stood up, walked over to the side where Orion stood, and breathed in deeply. "Is this going to hurt?"
He smiled, shaking his head. "Not at all. Just relax." He held his hand up to her forehead, a pulsing magic emanating from his palm, and then they waited for several moments before the Windwalker lowered his hand. "Thank you, Terra. You can return to the holding room. And please send in Feya next."
"All right." She held the bottom of her dress self-consciously before asking, "Did the magic test tell you anything?"
Orion just smiled as he placed his hand on her shoulder. "Only that you're a genuinely good person, and that you should continue doing good for others."
Terra sighed in relief before exiting the room.
Vega eyed her friend curiously as he sat down next to her. "Was it necessary to get affectionate with the suspect?"
Cedric and Sofia exchanged quick glances, and they even looked toward a grinning Greylock, before eyeing the Protectors curiously.
"I… I wasn't being 'affectionate' with her, Vega… I was trying to be supportive and keep her calm."
Shikoba noticed the mild tension before asking, "And what did your test reveal?"
"She's innocent. Pure magic and goodness flow through her."
"Mm-hmm." Vega wrote a few things on the file before shifting the papers to the next suspect Feya. "I'm sure other things were flowing through her too."
Sofia laughed nervously as Orion blushed a little bit, shuffling his papers. "Anyway… Let's see what will happen with the next person."
The next girl, Feya, walked inside and blinked as Shikoba stepped over to her, gesturing toward the gray seat. She grinned and fluttered up, seeing as she was a fairy, and promptly perched on the back of the chair.
Greylock scratched the back of his neck. "Looks like this should be interesting…"
To be continued
Next Chapter: Feya