Chapter 5:Whites

Seren stared at the whites on her bed. She found it hard to believe that she had been here for three years. It really hadn't seemed that long. It seemed even more impossible that she could possible have earned her whites already, when she first got here it had felt as though she would never reach them.

A knock on her door brought her back from her thoughts. "Yes?"

A head with fluffy brown hair popped into the room. Hespira. "Seren, I've been waiting for you to come say goodbye for the past hour," her eyes flicked to the whites laying on the bed. She smiled, "You still haven't told me who it is you'll be riding circuit with."

Seren glanced up from where she was checking her bags. "I haven't?" Hespira shook her head. "Oh. I'm supposed to be going with Herald Kyne," she saw Hespira's eyes widen. "What?"

She shook her head, "You get all the luck."

Seren gave her friend a look of complete confusion. "What do you mean? What luck?"

Hespira shook her head again. "Have you not seen Kyne?"

Still confused, "Yeah, I met him. What does that have to do with anything?"

The look Hespira gave her was completely disbelieving. "Seren are you blind?"

"No. Hespira what are you getting at already?"

"Seren, every girl here is in love with him," Hespira rolled her eyes at her.

Seren didn't feel at all enlightened. "So?"

"I give up. I need to get to class now anyway," she gave Seren a hug. "See you in a year," Hespira said sadly.

"It won't seem that long," Seren promised.

"It will," Hespira said stubbornly. "Bye."

"I'll miss you."

Seren watched Hespira leave and sighed. There was no putting it off now. She had to leave. Grabbing her bags she headed down to the stables where Kyne and Lan would be waiting for her.

:Done?: Lan sent as she started down the hall.

:Yes. I'm on my way now.:

:Good.:

They were all waiting and ready when she made it to the stables. Lan and Eldon, Kyne's Companion, stood waiting for their respective Chosen to mount. She paused to watch them for a moment and to wander why Hespira had been saying that stuff. Kyne was tall with brown hair and matching eyes. She guessed people might think he was attractive but she couldn't think of him that way.

"Hi, sorry it took me so long," she apologized walking the rest of the way to them.

Kyne looked up at her. "It's alright, you probably had a lot of goodbyes to say," I didn't reply. "We should be on our way though."

Seren nodded in agreement. Looking over at Lan she spoke through there connection. :I can't believe I'm leaving:

:Why not?: he turned his head to watch her mount.

:Because when I first got here I didn't seem to know anything. Hespira arrived here after me but she knew how to do most everything but fight and ride. Why am I getting my whites before her?:

:Because she is not fully trained in her gift, love. You are.: He started off not waiting for Kyne and Eldon.

:Well it has to be easier to master animal mindspeech than in it is to master fetching.:

:Not truly love. It does depend on the strength of the gift too. But your gift is a lot stronger than Hespira's. You remember what it was Herald Waite told you?:

:Yes, that my gift is the strongest he has seen. That's not the point though, I wanted to know why I was given my whites before Hespira.:

:The simple answer?:

:If there was a simple answer why couldn't you have said it first?: Seren complained. :Yes, the simple answer.:

:Well then the answer is, you were ready.:

:That's not an answer.: she stopped asking after that.

Lan fell silent and to Seren it looked as if Kyne and Eldon were involved in a conversation of their own. Not wanting to interrupt them Seren began to watch as they rode through Haven's roads.

She was used to Haven by now. It still seemed unbelievably big to her but not so daunting. Hespira had managed a few times to drag her out of the Collegium to see the city. Even with that though there were a few parts of the city she hadn't seen. Hespira had wanted to go everywhere, even the backstreets of Haven but Seren and whoever had come with them at those times managed to convince her not to go to any of those places.

Now though they were traveling the areas of merchant homes, strangely Seren was feeling as though she should remember this place. It did seen familiar to her but she knew she had not come here on any of her trips out with Hespira. Seren gave up on remembering why these streets seemed so familiar, if not the houses.

"Kyne?" she asked seeing that he no longer seemed to be talking to Eldon. "Where is it we're going to be riding circuit?"

He glanced over, frowning. "You haven't been told?"

"No," she matched his frown.

"We're riding south, we'll be patrolling along the Karsite border."

Her frowned disappeared. She didn't see the problem with that. The two countries had been at peace for decades now, ever since Queen Selenay had ruled with her consort. The only reason Heralds keep patrol on that border was to be careful, the new ruler of Karse did not seem to like the peace as much as his predecessors.

Lan snorted, he had been listening in on her thoughts. :It seems the history lessons you thought boring have taken hold.:

:Well I never thought they would come in use.: Seren muttered back.

:Well they have and we haven't even left the city yet.:

Annoyed that Lan was right she made a face at the back of his ears. The rest of the ride out of Haven was quite, it was hard to hear much with the people all about yelling back and forth.

"This is where we're staying?" it was an outpost building.

Kyne looked over from where he was unsaddling Eldon and smiled. "Yep, and I'd get used to it if I were you. We'll be staying at buildings like this till the end of our circuit. No inns for us," he smile grew slightly. "And I hope you're a good cook because if I'm forced to do it I'm like to end up poisoning us."

Seren leaned her head against Lan's side and groaned. "I bet we'll be riding in rain too," she heard Lan and Kyne start laughing.