Chapter 2

AN. PRAISES BE TO MY REVIEWERS! Conrad and Elwing Evenstar, (have I spelt that right? Probably not) Thanks sooooo much!

A STUPID LINE! IF U READ MY NEW VERSION OF CHAPTER 1 U WILL FIND THAT I PUT IN LINES BUT THEY DIDN'T SHOW UP SO I'M DOING THIS!

Taenaia stood out amongst the festivities of the summer solstice. Fifteen years old she was the mirror image of her blood mother, Aphrodite, except for her eyes which were the same mismatched pair of green and green-blue-grey. Wearing a long thin dress of silver grey she sat alone at the outdoor feast table. Everyone else was dancing to the lively beat of the orchestra the village had hired. No one dared ask Taenaia the witch to dance, despite the number of boys who wished they were brave enough, and she sat alone as the sun set. No one went near the witch child.

Despite the heat of the summer evening Taenaia's skin was as cold and pale as ice and her golden hair flecked with delicate ice crystals. Without a sound Taenaia stood and wondered of into the forest. Several pairs of eyes did too. She did not care. She was the witches get with the heart of ice, she was the village ice queen. She was above the common village churls that tried to make fun of her origins. She wondered deeper into the trees. They came up with all sorts of ludicrous ideas of who her parents really were, if only they knew, Taenaia thought, If only she really knew. She sighed. But she was above them that was for sure.

She spun around as the village churls she had just been thinking about came crashing after her, lead by two of her half brothers now 16 summers old. They were looking angry. That was bad.

"There she is!" Cried Tabat, one of the twins.

"Get the witch child!" Shouted the other twin, Ecar.

They ran after her. Where was Gie? She wondered, he was normally in the lead, the cause of the problem. She should have been able to out run them, she was stronger, lighter on her feet, and they were drunker than bent door nails, but they had backed her up against the stream. No problem. She thought, and stepped out onto the water. Again, as it had before when she was young, veins of ice spread from the touch and she began to walk away from them. Taenaia stepped off the water onto land again and gasped.

They were cleverer than she had thought. Some of the others had come around the other way and hidden on the other side of the water. They grabbed her as soon as she touched the land, coarse fingers gripping her hard, some in places they had no right to be. Gie, the eldest brother pushed through the others.

"So witch." He spat. "You give your self away with your own actions!"

He grabbed her hair and pulled her head back. She never flinched and her face stayed as cold and serene as ever.

"You think yourself so much better than us don't you!" He said kicking her, angered by her unperturbed face. He grabbed her and threw her to the ground. Suddenly everyone fell around kicking and fighting, their soul aim to hurt the witch. Taenaia did nothing. It angered them most of all the way she took their abuse as if it was nothing.

Gie hit her in the chest. Taenaia flinched slightly, her body had let her down. Seeing this Gie hit her again in the same place then he grabbed her, pulling her in against his chest. He wound his fingers in her hair and savagely ripped her head back over his shoulder. Taenaia bore it well considering how much pain he was putting her through. Gie threw her over his shoulder constantly trying to find more ways to hurt her. She was pummelled and beaten, her dress torn to shreds but she knew they could not kill her. She did not know why or how she knew that she just did. The pain was exquisitely excruciating but not once did she cry out. She was thrown down on her face coughing blood were ever they had brought her. Feet pounded her back. With a sickening crack something broke. It hurt. They rolled her over and the beating began again. They were drunk and did not realise that if she was human she would be close to death.

Vaguely through the fog of pain and blood Taenaia heard the roar. It was a great, angry, full throated roar though she barely heard it as her eyes swam in and out of focus, her mind on the edge of unconsciousness. All of a sudden the pain stopped and she blacked out.

000 (THIS IS A LINE)

Taenaia opened her eyes. Judging by the sun she had been out all night. She sat up, wincing at the pain of a half healed broken rib. She had broken things before and they had healed in half the time of a normal persons but it still hurt. She was wrapped in a blanket in the forest. She squinted as morning light hit her face. There was someone sitting by her.

"Who are you?" She asked with a voice like falling snow. Sea coloured eyes met her gaze.

"My name is Aquilo." He rumbled.

"I'm Taenaia." She said distractedly. "What happened last night?"

"Last night? Last night I simply sat by you. I think you mean the night before that when those village boys were beating you up."

"I've been out for a day and a half?" She asked incredulously. He nodded. "Then I owe you for helping me." She frowned, she did not like the idea of being in debt to someone. Aquilo shrugged.

"Why did you not fight back?" He asked.

"They're just a bunch of idiots. They don't understand me, and what they don't understand they don't like. All the drink was making them think a lot of themselves. They would not have done that had they been sober. I show distain for their futile attempts to hurt me, it angers them more."

"And they take that anger out on you." He said.

"If I were to fight back they would think I was taking them seriously." She said coldly. "I hurt their pride."

"But they did hurt you. You would have died were you human! It seems stupid to me. It does not make sense."

"Don't call me stupid." She said in dangerously cold stones. She stood. As an ice queen she did not get angry. She knew better ways to get at people than that. He stood too as she spoke. He towered over her! Undaunted she continued. "I am not stupid or weak." She paused. "What did you say about me?"

"I said it was stupid not to fight back when you were in so much pain."

"No, you said I was not human didn't you?" She said quietly. She turned away. "Then it's true. My mother has been keeping secrets from me."

"I should say so! She never told you!" The giant exclaimed. Taenaia turned to him with a cold look.

"My mother tells me only what she pleases."

"Then let me tell you!" Aquilo exclaimed angrily. "You mother is bloody Aphrodite!" She gave him one of the looks she was so good at, it was as if she was looking through his head and ten feet out the other side.

"And my father?" She asked coolly.

"Nobody knows! I'm about the only person who knows she even has a daughter! You really should learn how to protect yourself!"

"I do not need to be told what to do by some oaf with so much muscle there seems to have been no space left for a brain. Brains must have been deemed unnecessary when you were born. Was your father a bull and your mother a bear?" She spoke softly and coldly, not caring about the expressions on his face.

"My father is Zeus and my mother is Hera!" He bellowed angrily.

"Temper, temper." She said admonishingly. "Clearly you are lying there, when was the last time Hera and Zeus were on speaking terms?"

"Hera is my mother! She gave birth to me!"

"But is Zeus your father?" She said, cool next to his anger and hurt pride. Aquilo glared daggers at her, unable to answer truthfully. She gave him a cold smile.

"I do not need to lose my temper and shout and strike out to hurt someone. Everyone has some sense of pride, boys like you most of all, and it is so easy to turn it against them. It is one of mans great failings, isn't it sad that Gods have it too?" Aquilo let out a deep breath, fighting his anger under control.

"At least let me teach you some self defence." Said Aquilo. "There are other ways men can defile you and simply bearing it won't work against that sort of person. You're lucky Gie still thinks of you as his sister, even though a hated sister, otherwise things could have been much worse for you."

"Perhaps." She said thoughtfully. "Alright. You teach me how to fight, I'll teach you manners." Aquilo grimaced. "Can you swim Aquilo?" She asked with a sly smile.

000

About a year later.

The sun had not even risen though misty pre-dawn light was paling the sky in the East and a few trickles of purple amber and red were veining the horizon. Taenaia danced elegantly through the trees to the tall rock face where a portion of the mountain side had slipped away years ago to leave a vertical climb. The source of her pool was above the cliff and the stream fell, tinkling with musical laughter, down the centre of the white rock. It was quite a big stream and hidden behind its watery fountains where it reached the ground was a small cave. Spring was coming, then soon after it would be summer. A few sleepy birds were out it herald the coming dawn and all remnants of the winter was melting away.

Prancing along a tiny lip of rock Taenaia slipped around the sheet of water and into the mossy cave. It was Aquilo's sixteenth birthday so he would probably be late but Taenaia had come anyway. Since the day they had met and Aquilo had saved her they had met there to begin her defence lessons. She could now fight with fists, feet, dagger, bow, and even a small amount with borrowed axes, swords and spears though she had little practise with these. She was particularly good at unarmed combat and shooting, they required more skill than muscle, and Aquilo had been teaching her ways to defeat men much heavier and stronger than her.

Taenaia had brought with her her own bows and arrows that she had made with Aquilo's tuition. Sometime soon she would spring on him what she planned teaching him. She smiled. There were many things Aquilo did not know and she planned to try to change that. Taenaia set down her things and wondered out, back to trees. She stared up at the cliff face. There was a small ledge part way up, she wondered if she could climb up there. She put her hand up above her head and found a suitable hand hold. She then began to climb.

The wind whipped up Taenaias shirt and pulled its fingers softly through her golden hair. She was actually enjoying it. Soon she took of her jacket and tied it around her waist. Newly wrought muscles from Aquilo's training rippled in her bare arms as she climbed. She decided to do this more often, she enjoyed the dizzying exhilaration of the fresh air at the great height of the cliff. A while later she slipped onto the ledge half way up the tall cliff. There was somebody already there she saw in surprise. No it was just a tree, she thought. A tree all the way up there?

The 'tree' turned to face her. That decided it. It seemed to be female, it had long flowing silver hair, silver bark like skin, green eyes, and a greenish tinge all over. It was dressed in sliver lichen and silver green lips curved in a smile as it took in the goddess.

"It is a fine morning to be up timeless one." It breathed. It smile grew as it took in Taenaia's confusion. "You have never met one of my kind I see." It spoke like a soft wind in its leafy silver hair. "I am a Silviche. The woods are our children. We live as they do, we have no need for food, simply sunlight and water. The light at sunrise is particularly fine. It is a bit like red wine to you, much finer than water." It turned its beautiful face back towards the colored sky.

"Um," Taenaia began. "Silviche?" Taenaia tried, "You called me a timeless one, what does that mean?"

"It is your immortal heritage, you are an immortal and thought you are pulled ever onwards through the web of life your strand in the pattern will never be cut by the sisters." The being smiled again. "My friends call me Malione, Silviche is just my race. You may call me Malione."

"My name is Taenaia." She said hesitantly, suddenly feeling nervous. "I don't think I've ever really had a friend before."

"Taenaia." Malione extended a willowy hand to her. Taenaia grasped it, the silvery skin feeling strange to her hand. "Humans cannot understand us. In fact, most mortals refuse to believe we exist. You are a timeless one."

Malione turned her face back to the sun. Taenaia did to. Though she could not taste the colored rays that streamed over the horizon, Taenaia admired its beauty. When the last of the vibrant lights died and the sun lit the clear blue sky Malione turned back to Taenaia.

"It will be the spring equinox soon." Malione said. "My people always celebrate it. There is music and dancing, feasting and competitions. Many of us have buds, even some have flowers. It is a wonderful occasion. It is not just the Silviche either, we are joined by wood water nymphs and sprites and allsorts. We hardly ever have Gods coming along." Here Malione glanced almost nervously up at her. "I was wondering if you might come, as my friend?" Taenaia looked up.

"Really?" The Silviche nodded.

"But of course I'm sure you will be doing something else for it…"

"I'd love to! My village holds a festival but it is no fun for me. I just sit alone, no one talks to me, the witch child." A look of almost pity came over Malione's face.

"Is that what they call you? Witches child?" Malione asked quietly. "I would have thought you would have been with the other Gods for the equinox."

"Oh no," Said Taenaia lightly, "They don't even know I exist, except for Aquilo. My mother, Aphrodite, didn't want anyone to know she had a child and I don't know who my father is."

"You must be very sad. Is that why your soul is full of ice? You are the Goddess of Ice I know but it seems to fill your very heart." Malione reached out a hand and stroked Taenaia's cheek. "It hurt you, doesn't it? You will never admit it but you mothers neglect runs deeper than you allow yourself to know." Taenaia turned away angrily.

"I do not care about my slut of a mother. She has no idea of who my father is. She sends people to teach me things, that is enough. I care nothing for her!" Taenaia was angry. Angry at her mother for the hurt she had caused her, angry at herself for allowing herself to be hurt, and angry at Malione for seeing it.

"Taenaia, you said that another knew that you were a Goddess. Aquilo you said. Why doesn't he come to?" Malione paused. "Think about it? If you want to come on the equinox climb up here as the sun is setting, I will find you there."

Taenaia did not turn around where she sat. She wanted to come, she really did. But she was hurt by Malione's pity and understanding. Taenaia turned back. Malione was gone. She would talk to Aquilo. It might actually be a good thing considering what she planned on teaching him.

Taenaia then began to climb back down the cliff. She was about half way down when a sudden cold north wind picked up. She did not mind the cold but the sudden blast was disturbing. There was another great blast of wind and Taenaia found herself plucked off the cliff face. She was falling.

000

AN. This any gud? ive not been bril at updating cos computer was doin funny stuff an ive not been v. well but here's chp 2! Plez plez PLEZ PLEZ R+R!