Disclaimer: I don't own any of Tamora Pierce's amazing characters.
Alianne's Greatest Fear
Chapter 3
Years later, after the twins, Kyper (Like Hyper) and Sky were presented at court and to their great aunts and uncles, the kingdom of Tortall was finally at peace. Due to their mothers interference and close friendship with their godmother, Queen Dove, the Copper Isles were no longer at war with themselves or Tortall, and the Scanran War was long over.
Sky brushed her long, black hair out of her eyes as she looked over her deceased great-grandfathers land, Olau. She felt and heard Kyper come up behind her and place something onto her lap. When she looked down, she recognized the black leather and gold lettering of her sketchbook. She could almost hear Kyper thinking, Draw something.
She leaned back onto a rock and looked over the horizon. She breathed deeply, took her pencil out of the secret slot in the spine, and began to draw her version of the scene before her.
Meanwhile, Dalinedry, also called Dali, was flying above her beloved siblings, riding the updrafts and enjoying the freedoms of a crow. Although she didn't have to glide, her wings were tired from flying to Olau from Coras, and she had a message to her mother and grandmother from her great uncle King Jonathan, now getting as up there in age as her grandmother.
Dali landed above her brother's head and began to nibble lightly on his ear. He was People, just like their father, sister, and Aunt Daine. Kyper reached up and wrapped his long fingers lightly around his sister, pulling her to eye level.
"Dalinedry! Welcome home, Dear Sister!" Dali always wondered how Kypel always knew that it was her in her crow form. She supposed that it was her brothers wild magic, a magic almost as strong as their Aunt Daine's. Then again, it may also have been that she was the only crow that she knew with the violet eyes of her grandmother.
Sky suddenly shot up. "Dali, would you like to fly with me to see Mother?" She transformed quickly, and looked to Dalinedry. Okay, she was the only crow with violet eyes besides Sky.
They took off through the air with Kyper on their tail feathers. Why the jumpiness, Sky? Kyper's voice was loud in their heads.
Look below you. Sky gestured with one wing feather at the landscape below them.
There were many men scaling the difficult path to the old ruins of Olau. They were cloaked in green and grey, and carrying knives in their teeth, malicious looks on their faces.
They flew as fast as they could to their mother, who was quite literally armed to the teeth. Her hazel eyes sparkled when Dali handed her the note from the King
Battle was coming. They could feel it in their hollow bones.