A/N: Wow, it's been over two months since I last updated! First off, a HUGE apology to my reviewers. With school starting and my new job taking up most of my time, I haven't been able to write this and post. My posts may be more sporadic, but I promise you, I will get this story done. Second of all, I hope you like this chapter, and I hope I haven't chased all of you away by not posting for that amazingly long period of time. Please enjoy!
A Whole New World: Chapter 7
"Yasmin," he asked grandly, "will you marry me?"
Yasmin stared in shock, trying to understand what was going on. A crowd had gathered, and she felt all eyes on her. Suddenly, she realized that there were a lot less people than before, and with a sinking heart, she realized her father was right: The Rogue was dying.
Shadow made his way to the front of the crowd, his green eyes widening at the sight of his daughter and this noble. He growled curses low in his throat, and stepped forward, but Nara stopped him, her blue-black eyes wary.
"Wait," she hissed, her gaze on her daughter. "Let her make her own choice." Growling under his breath, Shadow stepped back, his large hand gripping his wife's as he watched in fear and anticipation.
Yasmin glanced at her parents, then back at Gavin, who was waiting so patiently. "Gavin," she started, then trailed off, unsure. Her green eyes flickered between the two, wondering which needed her more. The heart-broken look on her father's face decided it for her, and she leaned towards her suitor.
"I'm sorry," she whispered, aware of the eyes on her. "But I'm needed here." She placed a gently kiss on his cheek and went to stand with her parents, while the onlookers sighed and Shadow squeezed her shoulder in approval.
He leaned down, his green eyes shining with all the love in the world. "That's my girl." Yasmin's heart warmed at the words, but she turned back to Gavin, wondering what he would do.
Oddly, the noble didn't seem heartbroken. He gave her a half-smile. "That's all right, Yasmin." He said slowly, his blue eyes calculating. "I know you're needed with your family." Yasmin nodded, suspicious of his reaction.
A second later, the calculating look was gone, to be replaced be a customary heartbroken expression. He swept her a low bow. "I will return, milady." Before Yasmin could protest, he had turned and was gone, leaving the door of the Dove swinging in his wake. The crowd dispersed, some sighing with envy and some eyeing Yasmin with distrust, unsure of what a gentleman noble would be doing, seeking out a thief.
Yasmin turned to her parents, brushing her black hair out of her face, suddenly feeling more tired than she ever had before. Right on cue, Sprout wandered up, his mouth full, as always, of some tidbit or another.
"What happened?" He asked, looking from his parents to older sister, confused. "What'd I miss?" Sighing, Yasmin shook her head and pushed past her brother; any other time she would have explained it to him, but she was tired, but physically and emotionally. She didn't spot the hurt in his blue-black eyes; she was too busy getting to her room before the tears came.
She curled up on one of the beds in the Dove, making sure the door was shut. The tears pricked at her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. She was confused; on the one hand, she loved Gavin, but on the other, the Rogue was dying, and she was needed.
A knock sounded, and her contemplation was cut short. "Go away," she murmured into her pillow. She wasn't in the mood to talk to her parents. The knock sounded again, and she turned towards the door. "I don't want to talk to anyone right now!" She yelled, wiping at the tears furiously.
"Not even a friend?" Came the quiet reply through the wood. Yasmin sighed, wiped away the last of her tears, and unlocked the door. It swung open to reveal Kiyo, clothed in a loose shirt and breeches, and his amber eyes were sympathetic.
"That was brave of you," he murmured as he perched on the edge of her bed, where she had retreated.
"Then why don't I feel like I did something right?" The girl asked, looking up at him with red-rimmed green eyes.
Kiyo looked doubtful for a moment, and then reached over to pull Yasmin into his arms. "It doesn't feel like it now," he whispered into her hair, "but it will."
Yasmin rested her pounding head against his chest, lulled by his heartbeat. "How can you be so sure?" She whispered back, wanting to believe him.
Kiyo stroked her hair, his own falling into his eyes as he replied softly, almost so she couldn't hear, "Trust me. I know." Yasmin lifted her green gaze to his amber one, and saw the friendship in his gaze, and at that moment, she knew that he spoke that truth.
Nara smiled to herself from where she watched the falcon-turned-man comfort her daughter. Memory surged for a moment; in an instant, she was seeing herself and Shadow curled on the bed together. Smiling secretively, she closed the door softly and returned downstairs.
"Nara, we need to do something about her!"
"Nirav, we can't do anything about it. The only thing that we can do is wait for time to heal her."
Both parents looked up as the person their conversation revolved around walked through the door. Over the course of a month after Gavin's surprise proposal, Yasmin had become a different person. Her green eyes were dull, and her black hair had lost its luster. Her only companion these days was Kiyo; she was even shutting Amadahy out, and that made her half-Elemental friend extremely worried.
Nara's blue-black eyes shone with an idea, and she squeezed her husband's hand in delight as a grin crept over her face. "I'm going to take Yasmin on a trip," she announced quietly, drawing her husband's and daughter's inquisitive glances.
"Where?" Shadow asked, and all Nara did was smile secretively.
"I'll tell you when we get back," she said, trying to keep it a secret from her daughter, but her eyes told Shadow the truth.
He nodded, telling her he understood, and his face was unreadable for a moment. "Be safe." He murmured to her, his green eyes soft. Standing up, Nara kissed him goodbye and motioned for her daughter.
"Ma, where are we going?" Yasmin asked in frustration as the two spurred their horses towards a hill. Her mother was silent, and Yasmin sighed in frustration. She and Nara had gone on an overnight trip, and Nara had refused to tell her where they were going.
Now, in the predawn darkness, they were approaching a hill, and Yasmin had no idea what lay beyond it. Placing a finger to her lips, Nara nodded to the hill. Sighing, Yasmin obediently complied. Her green eyes sparkled with life for the first time in a month as she heard the noise that had haunted her for most of her life: The heart-pounding, beautiful sound of a waterfall.
Grinning now, she booted Smoke into a gallop, eager to see what there was beyond the hill. Slowly as she reached the peak, she gasped in wonder at the sight before her.
Kudarung Falls had changed in the twenty years since Nara had left it, and it was almost recovered from the fire. There were a few blackened spots here and there, and the manor was still in shambles, but the waterfall roared on, the source of life for the fief. The sunrise peeked over the trees, lighting the spray into a dancing rainbow, much as it had that fateful day twenty years ago, when Nara had come home.
Yasmin stared with delight at the waterfall, drinking in the beauty around her. She felt incredible peace; for a moment, it was if she had come home. She glanced at her mother, expecting a smile mirroring the one she wore. To her surprise, silent tears ran down Nara's cheeks, and the smile she sported was small and bittersweet.
"Mama?" Even to her own ears, Yasmin sounded like a frightened child, and Nara turned to her.
"Welcome home," she whispered, urging her mare deeper into the place that held so many memories for her.
Mother and daughter wandered through a grove, Yasmin listening to her mother relate all that had happened prior to her birth, and taking everything in. She now knew why the sound of a waterfall had always soothed her, and she knew where Kele and the others had come from.
Stopping before two trees in question, Nara knelt, lovingly brushing away moss and leaves that littered two worn headstones. Yasmin watched, curious, as her mother revealed two headstones, one slightly larger than the other.
She shivered as she read the inscriptions. The slightly larger one read:
Lord Alexander of Kudarung Falls.
Loving husband, father, and lord of the fief.
He will always be remembered.
Shivering in the morning sunlight, Yasmin turned to the other and crouched down, brushing away so dirt that had collected on the smaller one. This one read:
Master Aidan of Kudarung Falls.
Loving son, his life was cut too short.
May he always be remembered.
With a second shiver, Yasmin realized her younger brother was only eight months old when he died.
"I came back and buried them a few months after you were born." Nara's quiet and grief-stricken voice cut through the silence, and Yasmin looked up to see her mother standing next to her. Wordlessly, she got up and hugged her mother, and they both cried; one for the husband and son she would miss forever, and one for the father and brother she would never know.
When the last of the tears had subsided, Nara looked at her daughter, smiling through her tears. "Let's go home."
Running a hand over the headstones one more time, both women turned away, towards the future.
Riding into the Dove's yard, both were exceptionally quiet, but Yasmin looked more alive than she had in a month. Their comfortable silence was broken when Red, one of Sprout's friends and named for his shock of red hair, came racing into the stable yard.
"Have you seen Sprout?" He asked, his blue eyes wide in a pale face. Nara was immediately alert, knowing one her children could be in trouble.
"When did he leave?" She asked, blue-black eyes sharp.
"This morning." Came the answer.
A copper bullet streaked to Yasmin's side: Kiyo. Shadow's missing too.
"What?" Yasmin shrieked, drawing her mother's stare. "Da's missing too." She informed her mother, who paled.
"We have to go find them," she decided, dismounting and throwing her reins to Red. Nara followed, trying to find out where her husband and son would be.
"Shadow went after Sprout, but he never came back." Red told them, and at that, both women were gone, racing towards the center of Corus.
It was late afternoon, and the market was winding down. Yasmin, Nara, and Kiyo had searched high and low, and were slowly losing hope. Pausing for a moment, Yasmin wiped her sweaty face and pushed her sticky hair back. Her green eyes were feverish and never stopped moving.
Kiyo was puffed up with fear, he sensed something in the shadows, but he didn't know what it was. The crackle of flames caught his sensitive hearing, and he turned in time to see a snake-like tendril of fire magic reach for him.
Yasmin! He screeched in terror, and then everything went black.
Yasmin heard Kiyo's screech, and she spun, looking for the danger. All she heard was the crackling flames, and then something wrapped around her, binding her tightly with heat. Turning her head, she saw that her captor also had her mother. As she struggled, the heat became blinding, and then all she saw was the peaceful blackness of unconsciousness.
A/N: Well, that's a wrap! Cliffy, and I hope you don't all hate me for it! Next chapter, we find out exactly who or what has been plauging Corus for all this time. Stay tuned, and please review!