A/N: I'm Sorry for taking so long to get this back to you all. I really appricaite the reviews and encouragement that I've been getting from all my readers. I would also like to thank my beta SparkyCSI for going through these chapters for me.
I would also warn you that there is also only one or two chapters of Travellers Rest to go before I think it can be finished off. It may take me awhile as RL is really starting to be a pain and I have a severe case of writers block.
Thanks again for Reading, I'll try not to take months for another review.
Draconia
Chapter Sixteen
Tarsha rose from her meditations as she felt a double tap on her shields and walked out of the stables and spotted a small group of people gathering in the field away from well travelled areas. She felt her pulse sped up a little in anticipation at the coming duel.
As soon as she was in range Steph threw her a staff and the others formed a circle around them, marking out their duel ground and four shields snapped into place around them. She calmly spun the staff in her hands as they began to circle each other, taking mental notes of his footing and his eye movements.
"Just the usual today, Tarsha." He warned her softly before they began sparring. She felt her mind steady and her shields settle properly into her foundations and slowly begin to strengthen, with each movement made.
"Amazing." She heard the mages whisper among themselves. "Her shields are now very firmly in place and tripling in strength with every movement."
"Her movements have lost all hesitation, too." Another added. "Over the last week, she has been moving very carefully. There is nothing to even suggest that she was injured, or weakened."
"I wonder if that was apart of the Kyree's training, he has been drilling into her while she is sleeping?" She heard Silverfox muse.
She sped up her movements and the beat of clacking wood sounded like a speeding heart. She spun, kicked out and caught his staff in an up thrust and sent it spinning into the shield.
Steph stepped back and clapped sharply twice and bowed, breathing heavily.
"You are recovering well, Tarsha." He gave her a proud smile. "Your shields?"
"Steady, stable and rising in strength." She bowed in return as she spoke. "Thank you, Mentor."
"You do me proud, Tarsha. Do want another match?" He asked with an impish smile.
"Dagger?" She asked eagerly.
"Very well." He nodded and they both bent and pulled daggers from their boots.
"Hmm, remind me never to sneak up on them." Firesong said dryly. "I think they carry more weapons then Kero."
"Not quite, but they both know how to snap your neck with their bare hands." Kero snorted in reply.
"How good is she with dagger? We aren't going to be needed to stop gushes of blood are we?" Dar'ian asked a little nervously.
"No, very good are they." Alberich shook his head. They quieted down as the daggers sliced through the air and watched as the duellers easily moved, leapt, jumped and cart wheeled out of the line of danger.
Like their last match they ended with daggers at the throat and heart.
"Well done, it won't be long before you'll be able to disarm me in daggers too, but you are leaving your left side open again." He scolded her.
"I gathered that when you kicked me in the ribs." She wheezed, sheathing her blades.
"It's to teach you to keep them covered, yet you never do." He sighed shaking his head. "Six months you've been making this mistake, if it keeps up, I'll stop giving you leeway and take you out with that weakness." He warned.
"Maybe you should, it'll teach me if anything not to do it again." She grinned cheekily at him.
"Brat." He snorted.
"Yes?" She stopped stretching and looked at him innocently. "Did you want something?" Her lips quirked as the mages snorted and Silverfox chuckled as the shields were taken down and she continued on stretching when he just shook his head at her.
"Well?" Steph asked the others.
"I could tell just from her foot work she knows a few mage channelling dances, some are defence, some are offence but most of the steps are for healing magically strained or sick people or places." Firesong replied after studying her for a moment. "Are you sure, your Kyree is a warrior and not a Healer?"
"To be honest no." She shook her head. "He just told me that he is my protector and he'll always be with me."
"Hmm, maybe I should ask Rhis." Firesong's eyes narrowed before turning to Steph. "We checked the ley lines around the city visually and found nothing, sensed nothing. We did as she suggested and asked the Haven Heartstone for permission to check over for damage and found that every ley line in a four day ride by companion from the city has been healed and hidden so they can't be misused." He informed them. "We have to be approved by the Heartstone to be able to use them now." He added dryly.
"Well at least we don't have to worry about strange mages stealing power from us and using it against us." Elspeth shrugged. "We are really all that worried about it."
"So Selenay informed me, as the Companions and all the gifts are still working she saw no reason to worry or panic over it." Starfall nodded. "I agree with her." He turned and looked at Tarsha with a calculating gaze.
"No bushes." Tarsha muttered and Silverfox bit back a chuckle.
"I'm sorry?" Firesong blinked not understanding.
"She mean be blunt and get to the point." Dar'ian chuckled. "If you have something to ask then do so."
"Ah." Starfall nodded. "We sent what we have learnt back to the Clans and those few who know the Trena Dance have tried to copy what Tarsha did to heal the lay lines and failed."
"They didn't get the charge?" Steph blinked in surprise.
"Oh they got it alright, but it always fed into the heartstone instead of the ley lines, no matter how far they were from the stone." Starfall said in defeat. "We know how draining it can be to do the dance and the dangers of doing it." His eyes locked with hers. "But you are well taught, would you be will to do so again?"
"Is there a reason for doing to dance other then the possible healing of the lines?" She asked as she slowly sank down into a sitting position on the ground and the mages settled down around her.
"The lines are in danger of being used by Blood mages that corrupt the magics around them. The ill magics are also warping everything around them into dangerous animals and plants, turning some people feral." Starfall explained in a worried tone. "It wouldn't worry us so much as through time we can do it on our own, over decades but we don't have that long, it is slowly getting worse."
"To use the Trena Dance to it's full effects you must be doing it for pure intentions, to help the innocent and protect them." Tarsha explained slowly.
"The chant." Kero snapped her fingers and Tarsha nodded in agreement.
"What chant?" Firesong frowned.
"When she set off the charge, she was chanting." Kero replied. "'Never an innocent, protect the innocent, ground the power' under her breath." She looked to Tarsha. "That's how you focused most of the power to do what you needed it to do."
"Yes, the rest of my focus was getting the power to my twin's companion." She nodded.
"Can you do it again?" Starfall asked bluntly.
"More then likely yes." She nodded. "The question becomes should I? Just because it is a good idea doesn't mean I should. As it is it is going to take me at least another week to be back to full strength. I doubt I could do more then one Trena dance a month, with out causing serious damage to my channels." She looked up as Yual approached from the stables. "None of the dances were designed to be used more then once or twice in a life time. It causes too much damage to the mage or channel to be done more then that."
:Sharra is correct. The reason the dances fell out of practice is because they were used too often and the mages were dying from the damages done to them from overuse.: Yual joined in and laid at her side. :The Trena is a little different though.:
"Yual?" Tarsha looked down at him in surprise.
:Trena and a number of others that I have been teaching you can be used more then once. But no more then three times a year, with at least three to six months between each use so the body, magic and soul can heal from the strain.: He continued looking at all of them. :The mages who attempted the Trena…were they also healers?:
"They were Healer Adepts." Firesong nodded.
:That is not what I asked. Can you heal a person?:
"No." Firesong frowned.
:That is why they failed. Tarsha has the healing gift. Those who do the Trena must wish to protect the innocent and heal them. Healing the Ley lines is much like healing a person, but not very different from healing magically ill areas. The differences are subtle.: Yual explained with a exasperated sigh.
"I see. It's like you would ask a Healer to fix magic, and you wouldn't as a mage Adept like Firesong and Starfall to heal a person." Elspeth nodded as understanding flooded her eyes. "They both deal with magic but differently. Like the difference between magic and mind magic."
:Yes, very good.: Yual nodded in satisfaction. :But the healer must also either be a channel and taught how to do the dance or also be an adept in order for it to work.: He shook his head.
"None of the healers are trained for this, not even the ones back home." Starfall sighed. "It would take them months if not years to get the dance down enough to even attempt a try."
"Yes it would." Silverfox nodded. "But if Tarsha and Yual could teach them it might go a little faster. If she could do the most urgent areas, then we would have the time to train them."
"Yes but just how many Healers with the mage gift are there or even with the ability to channel?" Dar'ian frowned. "It rare enough to be a mage or a Healer, let alone both."
"Dar'ian has a point." Firesong sighed.
"Just how many urgent areas are there?" Steph asked tilting his head thinking.
"It's where there is a great concentration of magics. Mainly around the clans at the moment." Starfall sighed.
"How many clans?" He asked.
"Six, maybe seven if we count the clan out on the plains." Silverfox replied. "Nine to twelve include those lost clans that are slowly becoming found."
"Tarsha?" Steph looked at her with a raised eyebrow.
"I would have to think about it and then discuss it with Leren and my family." She bit her lip thinking hard.
"Could you let us in on what you are thinking, because I think you lost us?" Kero frowned.
"I could do the dance maybe three times a year, maybe four depending on how much it depleted me. One dance, one clan." She explained. "But I would need Yual and Leren with me to ground me during each dance and it also is a strain on them."
"Leren would need Selenay's permission to go with her as he is a Herald and her lifebonded." Kero nodded as she understood.
"And each dance would protect the clan…how far do you think it would travel?" Starfall asked looking thoughtful.
:Two to eight days travel from the centre point.: Yual replied when Tarsha looked at him for the answer. :Depending on the strength of the Heartstone and the dance.:
"You aren't just a warrior are you?" Starfall gave him a sharp look.
:I am a protector. If that means a warrior then I am a warrior.: He shrugged. :The reason I know so much now is because I have been learning. I have been learning everything I can to keep Sharra safe.:
"Why do you call her Sharra?" Elspeth asked with a frown.
"It's a nickname." Tarsha shrugged. "Just take the T off my name and rearrange the letters and add an R." Yual nodded in agreement and enjoyed the scratching she gave him. "To be honest I am not sure if I am comfortable doing the dance that many times so close together…we won't the know the true effect on me until I've done it at least once."
"True. But would you be willing to do so?" Silverfox inquired.
"I need to think about it. I know this involves more then just me…" She hesitated. "Can you give me at least a week or two to figure out everything?"
"A week and half maybe." Starfall nodded. "We must return to our Vales within two weeks."
"That gives me plenty of time." She nodded and slowly rose from her sitting position and dusted off her pants. "If you will excuse me I have some things I must see to." She nodded to them all and headed back to 'her' stables, deep in thought with Yual right behind her.
"What do you think she will do?" Silverfox asked quietly.
"She will think about it, talk it over with Yual and Leren." Kero shrugged. "If I haven't misjudged her, she will also write to one of her brothers and ask for advice."
"Probably James." Steph nodded in agreement.
"Why James?" Kero frowned.
"He has Foresight. He might not see anything but he might sense something." Steph shrugged. "He hasn't let her down yet, if nothing else he will give her sound advice."
"Do you think that maybe we are asking too much too soon?" Dar'ian asked softly. "She has after just lost her twin, doing the same dance. She is still recovering, even if she did come with us when we left, she still has at least one or two months before she can preform it again."
"We will see if it is too much in time." Starfall sighed. "I think even though it was a tragedy she would rather work then be still."
"She would." Steph nodded in agreement. "But this time I can't even predict what she will do."
"We will just have to wait and see." Elspeth nodded slowly.
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Tarsha sat in the middle of the field as she had done for the last five days since the mages had asked for her help. The sun had set hours ago, leaving only herself and the companions in the field enjoying the cool quiet of the night. She was deep in meditation, unaware to what was going on around her but trusted the companions in the field to summon help if anything did go wrong.
Deep in her mind she was going through everything she had learnt from Yual over the last year or so, while also running her options over and over again.
Yes she could do what they were asking of her. She knew that it would be draining to do each dance to heal the ley lines and hide them from blood mages wanting the power for themselves. She had a feeling that if she asked that Leren would find a way to go with her not matter the cost to himself, as long as he could help her, but she didn't know what the cost do to him. To have to continuously nurse her back to heal after each dance, to get her back to full strength to only have to do it all over again a few months later.
She also knew that there was no way that he could leave her, his loved her with everything he had, after all that's what lifebonded meant but that didn't mean that he didn't have his breaking point or that they couldn't fight.
She could do it but she really didn't know if she should. There was a lot that she could do and knew that she shouldn't do and didn't…but did this fall into that category? It could help hundreds of people and begin to bring the shattered magics back into one whole piece so it could be used reliably once more.
But that also meant that blood mages and the enemies that could still be out there could use them as well.
She sighed deeply as she came out of the trance with a gentle wind tugging at her hair. She looked up into the cloudless night sky still no closer to an answer then she had been hours ago.
"What do I do, Trav?" She whispered as a tear slid down her cheek. "Do I take the risk and heal the magics around the clans? What is the price I am going to have to pay if I do this or if I don't?" Tarsha let out a shuddering breath and slowly rose to her feet picking up the staff she had left beside her and began the training moves Uncle Steph had taught her, still thinking.
She stopped the end of her staff horizontal to her body touching the ground as she felt a faint touch on her shields. Sensing no danger she lowered her shields a little and after a few moments of being bathed in the powerful touch recognised it as the Haven Heartstone.
She blinked a few times as her mind slowly began to grasp what it was trying to tell her. It was answering her question. How it knew what she had asked she had no idea but if what it was telling her was correct then it was something that the Mages needed to know before she agreed to anything.
"Thank you." She whispered and felt the Heartstone caress her mind once more before retreating. She made her way to the palace still turning the new information over in her mind. It wasn't until she was in a corridor some where in the palace that she realised that she didn't know where any one was or if they had all retired for the night.
"Are your alright Tarsha?" She turned at the sound of Talia's voice and saw her Aunt watching her in concern as she stepped out of a room.
"I'm looking for the Hawkbrother rooms." She replied looking up and down the corridor. "I just started walking and just realised I have no idea where they are."
"This way." She followed Talia through a maze of corridors and knocked on a door. "Are you okay?" She asked softly as they waited for some one to open the door.
"Yeah, as good as I can be." Tarsha nodded slightly and turned to the door as a wide awake Silverfox opened the door. "Are the other's still awake?" She inquired.
"They are." He nodded and opened the door wide enough for her to enter.
"I'll be around if you need to talk Tarsha." Talia offered before leaving.
"Is there a problem, Tarsha?" Dar'ian asked from where they were all sitting on cushions around a table.
"I think there might be a slight hitch in your plans if I go through with this." She nodded slowly and took a offered cushion and sank down on to it.
"And what would this 'hitch' be?" Starfall raised an eyebrow.
"I think it would be more a problem for your clans then for me." She said slowly as she took a breath. "I was pondering on what to do and what would happen if I did do as you asked…and well I got an unexpected answer from an unexpected source."
"And that would be?" Firesong asked curiously.
"The Haven Heartstone answered my question." She shrugged a little showing she didn't know how to explain it. "It showed me clearly what would happen to the other Heartstones if I did as you asked." She looked at them all before continuing. "Once this dance is done in this particular way, it will heal the ley lines and heal the fractured magic around the clans so only those keyed into the Heartstone can access the surrounding magic."
"That sound like good news to me, that's what we were hoping for." Firesong frowned. "Why would this be a problem?"
"Because once it is done the Heartstone will not be able to be moved." She sighed. "It will be fused into place much like the one here in Haven. You're clans wouldn't not be able to move on to a new site and bring the old Heartstone and power with you, you would have to start from scratch."
"Ah." Starfall blinked a few times as he absorbed what they had been told. "That would be an inconvenience."
"There is more." Tarsha said hesitantly.
"Go on." Dar'ian nodded.
"From what I got from the Heartstone, I already started a chain reaction when I sent the power burst through the ley lines." She sighed again. "I guess you could say that the other Heartstones have all ready been warned and are preparing themselves for more healing. They can't be moved now, they are all now firmly anchored to where ever they were before I first did the dance."
"So we can't even moved them to where we want them before you get to a clan?" Starfall winced. "There are going to be many annoyed mages out there, I know of at least three clans that are in the middle of preparing a move."
"I got that information as well." Tarsha nodded grimacing. "All the Heartstones are in…I guess you could call it light communication, they know where the other's are, how long they have been there, when they are due to be moved…" She shook her head. "It is all very complicated and I am still trying to understand it myself…but those three clans did manage to get moved before the healing burst hit the resettled stone."
"Well that is one thing at least." Firesong sighed. "Now they are all permeant clans… they can't move on once that area has been cleansed…that is our purpose, our promise to the Goddess."
"Yes it is." Tarsha nodded. "You will just have to start from scratch every time, pooling the magics to make a Heartstone, as you did for Errold's Grove."
"Will each new Heartstone be fixed as well?" Starfall asked frowning.
"I honestly don't know. I do know that with every healing power burst that runs through the Heartstones and ley lines they send a questing burst out to the other stones, communicating…each time that happens…" She broke off frowning trying to find a way to explain it. "I think that each time that happens the other stones get a firm fix on where that stone is, they lock each other into place."
"So what you are saying is that the power burst you sent through the lines nearly three weeks ago, has reached all the Heartstones and now that they are healing they don't want to be moved?" Firesong asked incredulously.
"That's it basically." Tarsha shrugged. "Over the generations magic has become sentient, thus so have the heartstones."
"With each dance the connection to where the heartstone is anchored will get stronger so it can't be moved and the magic will no longer let unknown mages use the magic with in that heartstones reach? Is that correct?" Starfall inquired after a long silence as every one took in what was being said.
"Yes and no." She nodded. "Depending on the age or the magic in the Heartstones it will be able to sense intention. If a strange mage is on your lands and needs it to survive it may let it use some of it's power…say if a Herald need power it would let it…but it wouldn't for a blood mage." She explained a little more clearly.
"I see." Firesong nodded slowly.
"There will also be areas where you can't tame the magics like you have around the clans." Tarsha added, her fingers beginning to tap on the table.
"Why?" Dar'ian frowned.
"Balance." Tarsha shrugged. "Everything must be balanced, dark and light, day and night, life and death, magic and no magic and so on." She explained. "If all the 'good and pure' people controlled all the magics then there would be no balance…it leaves no room for growth and evolution."
"True." Starfall nodded.
"You needed to know this, just as your clans do if they want to continue on this path. If they don't want my healing abilities after this then I do understand. Because the circle isn't complete, any new stones made will be able to be moved, but once I heal the other stones they won't be able to." She warned them. "Right now at this moment you will be able to make new stones and move them about like you are used to doing…but once it goes beyond one stone there will be a full, strong connection between them and the magics will demand that it be completed."
"We will discuss this with the others and let you know the answer with in the next two days." Firesong nodded in thanks.
"It was important that you knew." Tarsha bowed a little in return and left them to their discussions, finally returning to her room that she shared with Leren and crawled into bed and was wrapped comfortably in his arms.
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