Shaking in anticipation, I waited patiently for him to return; but it was taking forever and with each passing second, I could feel my heart pounding against my chest. The door finally opened and the clerical cepan had returned with the results. After signing many forms, the folder in his hands was all I cared about, somewhere in that giant unkempt stack was that one piece of paper that determined my future.
"Congratulations," The cepan flashed me a toothy grin. "You have been assigned your very first Garde. All the details you need to know about him are inside." He opened his folder and pulled out a black envelope, handing it to me before going back to doing whatever task he was doing when I arrived. I stared admiringly at the envelope, clutching it tightly as if it were going to disappear at any moment.
"Well?" my best friend, Cimorene grinned, startling me for a moment. In my excitement, I had nearly forgotten she was right behind me.
We'd grown up together on the same block, always competing against each other from childhood through adulthood. We even joined the Lorien Defense Academy at the same time.
"Are you going to open it or not?" Cimorene had received her first Garde two days before, which she hadn't stopped boasting about; a young girl that wouldn't begin her training for nearly nine years.
They always assigned them when they were too young to train; gave the mentor cepan enough time to get to know their Garde and their families before they attended the academy at age eleven. I had even gone with her on her first visit, the girl she was to mentor was very shy, but really sweet once she was comfortable. I had had to stay back and observe, allowing Cimorene to have the full attention of the young girl; the first meeting between a Garde and their mentor cepan was sacred, a bond that was supposed to last a lifetime.
"I can't." I told her, sensing the disappointment in her face. She had opened her envelope straight away in front of me, but I had made a promise; I never break my promises. "I promised my Dad that I'd open my first one with him."
My father, Rey, had trained many Garde over the years, and I had just moved in with him after finishing my cepan training at the Lorien Defense Academy and graduating. My father had always visited me when I was young and still living with my grandparents but it was nice to live with him now, even if it was only for a little while until I got my own place.
"Okay," Cimorene shrugged, standing up from her seat. I can tell she's disappointed, but doesn't press me any further. "I've got to go and see Thalia again today; they gave me two new identity bands," she told me, pulling one out of her bag to show me before putting it back. "One for me and one for her. They didn't say what it was for, just that I would know when the time came." she shrugged. "It's so bulky though, I'm gonna have to take it off to sleep. I don't know why they made these ones so big when the smaller ones work fine."
"Strange," I muttered, wondering if I would receive the wristband as well. "Maybe I'll get one too. Probably just some fancy upgrade for mentor cepans."
"I'll catch up with you later and then you'll have to tell me what that envelope says. Good luck with your visit," she smiled before walking away, her long blonde hair bouncing with every step.
I had always kinda admired Cimorene, but I could never bring myself to tell her about it. It would kill me to make our perfect friendship awkward. After Cimorene disappears around the corner, I collect my things and make my way towards my home. We lived fairly close to the academy, just a few blocks so it doesn't take me long at all till I'm standing on my front lawn.
"Well, Sukan?" My father, Rey, asked once I had opened the door. He was already sitting at the table waiting for me, two steaming cups sitting at our usual spots at the table. "What were your results?"
"I passed," I grinned wildly, holding up the envelope for him to see.
"I never had a doubt," Rey smiled, taking a sip of his mug and nodding towards the chair for me to take a seat. I practically jump into it, spilling my cup slightly before picking it up, sipping on the warm drink, staring in awe at the envelope in front of me. It was my greatest dream finally coming true. Nothing in the world could ruin this moment for me.
"You want to open it?" I offered the envelope to him, waiting for his response eagerly.
"No," he shook his head. "You have earned this. Go on, meet your Garde." he watched as I tore open the envelope, pulling out the paper that was inside.
There was a picture of a toddler, who couldn't have been more than three, with his first name, Makai, written underneath it. The paper told me his address, coincidentally it was on the same street as Cimorene's Garde. So our Garde's will grow up together, just like we did. How poetic. Maybe we can even train them together sometimes.
"He is a two year old named Makai," I told him excitedly, showing him the paper with all the information. "He lives close, I could easily walk from here. It says that his grandparents are expecting me later this evening. Gosh I really gotta wait nine years before we can train?" My thoughts raced in excitement, imagining the vast legacy possibilities.
"Interesting," My father muttered as he eyed the photo closely.
"What is interesting?" I asked nervously, my protective instinct already kicking in for this child I haven't even met yet. "Is something wrong?"
"No, not at all." he shook his head, handing my back the photo. He paused a moment before he went on. "It's just interesting that you would be assigned the younger brother to my own Garde, Nikio. He's just over a year older than your Garde."
"That is weird." I frowned. "But it will be so fun! This couldn't have worked out better. You'll be able to teach me things while we train them together," I grinned. "Nine years is a long time to wait. It can't come soon enough."
"These nine years are important, the time for you and him to establish a connection. For you to know their family, and be close enough to know everything you will need to train him, to mold him into the best Garde he can be." Rey said seriously.
"I got my assignment just in time for the start of the Quarter Moon celebration tomorrow night." I added. "We can go to celebrate both occasions!"
"Yes of course," he nodded, but there was a look in his eyes that told me that he was concerned about something. A look usually reserved for a tricky new legacy to train; something must really be bothering him.
"What's wrong?" I asked him, "Something is troubling you, Father."
"I must accompany you to visit the Garde children," he told me. "So I can deliver this to Nikio," He pulled out a large identity band, identical to the one that Cimorene had shown me earlier. What's with these new bands? When will I get one?
"What is it for?" I asked him, taking another sip. "Cimorene had one just like it that she also had to deliver to her garde. Is there a bug with the old ones?"
"Cimorene received them?" My father asked in surprise, nearly coughing up his drink as his face cringes. "I'm surprised they assigned one of them to someone so young," he muttered. "Cimorene hasn't even had much training being a mentor cepan."
"One of what? Her garde?" I frowned, trying to make sense of what my father was talking about. "What's that got to do with the new bands? What are you talking about?"
"I'm not supposed to talk about it, I've already said too much." He shook his head, taking a long sip of his drink while he thought for a moment, locking eye contact with me. There was something in his gaze that I couldn't figure out; it scared me. I knew not to pester him any further so we finished our drinks, changing our conversation over to the first Garde that he trained, Axel, who was older than me and still often stopped by to see how Rey was doing.
Time ticked by dreadfully slow until it was finally time to go and meet my Garde. I felt like a child on the first day of school, excitedly waiting to enter a whole new world. In my case, it was being a mentor cepan. It was one thing to read and write about training a garde and a whole other thing actually doing it.
"The first meeting is very important," My father told me as we walked down the street. I could see the house we were going to, it was blue and had a light trim and with every step I took that brought me closer to him, my heart began pounding. What if he hates me? What if I mess up? "Relax," he told me. "Just be yourself and everything will be fine."
"Okay," I nodded, taking a deep breath as we walked up the path to the house. They had a large wooden door with a black curved handle, a winged creature door knocker perched on the side.
"Go ahead," Rey nudged my arm, stepping back off the steps. As I reached for the knocker, the door swung open wide, revealing a frail old woman that reminded me a lot of my own grandmother.
"I've been expecting you," she smiled warmly, flashing us a toothy grin. "I'm a telepath and a seer," she explained, laughing at my surprised expression. "I could feel that Makai was getting his mentor cepan today, and could hear your thoughts as soon as you stepped onto my street." she chuckled. "You needn't worry about Makai," she winked at me. "He likes everyone."
"Okay," I nodded, relaxing a little as she beckoned us inside. Immediately I heard the thumping of footsteps and hollering as two little long haired boys zoomed past us in the hallway, dashing into the kitchen.
"Nikio! Stop chasing your brother!" She hollered, shooting us an apologetic look. "These boys will be the death of me," she groaned when we heard something smash. The two little boys came running back towards us. I recognised the boy from my photograph instantly as he stared at me in wonder.
"Makai did it." Nikio tattled, pointing to his little brother.
"I can read your minds," Their grandmother snorted, rolling her eyes. "Nice try, Nikio. You'll have to do extra chores for lying about breaking that bowl." she shook her head. Nikio grumbled something before noticing us standing there and grinning wildly.
"Rey!" he cheered, forgetting about the trouble he just got in. "You came to visit me again!"
"That's right," My father smiled. "I've actually got something for you, but I'm going to let your grandmother hold onto it, okay?" he talked to him so sweetly, it reminded me of when I was a little kid.
"Why can't I have it?" He frowned, crossing his arms in anger and stomping his small foot on the floor. "You said it's for me. Why does she get it?"
"She'll give it to you when it's time, okay?" Rey reassured him by tussling his brown hair. "There is something that I need to discuss with you," he turned to their grandmother. "I'm sure you might already know my thoughts, but it's very important."
"I see, I did have a vision about this." she nodded, most likely reading his thoughts. I was so distracted watching them that I almost didn't notice the little tug on my shirt. I looked down to see Makai, his big brown eyes staring up at me in wonder.
"Are you my mentor cepan?" he squeaked, but I was too speechless to respond. I couldn't take my eyes off the kid, as creepy as that sounds.
I pictured him as he would be at eleven, when we would first start his training, and as he would be as he grew into his legacies; I couldn't help but smile. I looked at his grandmother, who smiled too, which told me that she had just read my thoughts and saw him grown up too. I finally mustered up enough courage to speak to him.
"That's right, little buddy." I smiled, holding my hand out for his tiny palm to shake. "My name is Sukan, and I'm going to be your mentor cepan."