Banished One
Sarah Robison
Red Wind
A shadow in the night came, and held her. For a moment, she thought it was Rahn, but it wasn't. She saw a lady, and the person who was holding her was tall, and strong. I opened my eyes, and he said,
"Enna, she's awake." The lady walked over, and said, "Poor thing, bring her into the house!" He listened, and set her down on a cot.
"Rahn?" I said before plunging into another deep sleep. All I heard was "Who's Rahn?" I slept well, and woke to the sound of the door opening. An old lady walked into the shack, and came over to the cot by the younger lady.
"Finn, this has happened before, but I think it'd be best if you give up your cot, not mine."
"Shhh, she's sleeping!" The lady named Enna said.
"I sat up, looking around, noticing the cot I was on. I put my shoes on, and said, "I am sorry if I am imposing, I best be going." I had used the Yasidic accent, by mistake.
"So your from Yasid?" Said the older lady. They all had dark hair, like mine, so I said, "I am from the mountains, but my ancestors are from Yasid. Are you Yasidians, or Bayern?"
"I am going to introduce myself as I should've done before." She said turning to me. "I am Gilsa, this is my son Finn, and his wife Enna. We are honored to have you as guest." She smiled, and said, "But, if you are going to live here, you are going to have to earn your keep. Put your talents, and strength to good use. Can't have a lazy body here."" After this, Enna walked to the fire pit, and lit it with her flames.
"You are a fire speaker?" I said amazed.
"Yes, I am." I doused her flames with water, and then re-lit them with my own fire.
"It's nice to know someone else with fire. Do you speak water?" I said anxious to learn more about her.
"No, but I have managed the speech of wind. She brought in cool air, and I understood. We communicated and then Finn said,
"You should meet the yellow lady." Enna stood, and said, "I was supposed to say that Finn darling," she sat down, and said,
"What's that?" She was pointing at the handkerchief I had found in the forest. I pulled it out, and the room fell silent. Gilsa looked at Enna, and Finn walked out of the room.
"Is that yours dear?" She was very serious, and I became afraid.
"No, I didn't steal it, I found it by a stream."
"If I'm not mistaken, that is Isi's," she smiled, and said, "Don't worry, you are not in trouble. This trinket you found belongs to Bayern's Queen, the yellow lady. Her mother gave it to her as a parting gift. She told me of it." I was nervous, and said,
"I'm sorry, I did not know. Maybe we could return it to her. Would you mind letting me meet the yellow lady?" Enna paused in her tracks, and said,
"Are you Selia?"
"Who's Selia?" I asked very softly.
"Oh, you have people speaking, which is rare with this many languages. Selia had the people speaking. She tends to pop up and scare people. You reminded me of her. With this many languages, you should meet Isi. She can help you."
All that day I spent thinking of the yellow lady. A chill went up my spine when a lucky stream of Eastern wind crept through the forest. It seemed to be calling me. I was cautious not to wander too far from the cottage, and to listen to every sound of wind. After a while, I spoke to the birds. They told me about the yellow lady, but all they seemed to utter was long yellow hair, kind, and sweet. This must have been about her, but it did not help. I began to walk back when a new gust of wind came. Robi, meet me in the capitol I am waiting. This was an interesting message, so I ran back to the house.
"Where've you been?" Gilsa asked as soon as I shut the door.
"Oh, I was just wandering the forest." I said which was true.
"Isn't that how you were lost the first time? Don't lose those you are friends with now, or you'll be alone in this world. Learn that from Enna." She was right. I needed to stay with those I am around.
"I was actually catching wind." I said sitting on her cot. She nudged my shoulder, and said,
"What did it tell you?" She knew exactly what I meant. I decided to try some people speaking to get me out of this quandary.
"You are the kindest woman I have ever met… besides my mom." She smiled, and said,
"And don't you forget that Robi!" She is becoming my second mother.
"Tomorrow is market day, but you will need something different to wear. Thankfully this time I don't need to lend my own clothes. Enna will lend you one of her tunics."
Enna and Finn came home before dark. Enna naturally was the life of the party, and was always joking.
"Hey, you there! I heard that Finn is bringing another unknown friend to market day!" She said patting my back.
"Gilsa said that a girl named Enna would lend me some things." Enna shrugged, and said, "Yeah, I've got something for you." She nodded to a trunk, and said, "Take your pick." She walked over to Finn, and said, "Darling, I love you but could you step out a moment?" He nodded, and kissed Enna walking out the door.
"You two make a great couple," I said hoping to make her happy.
"I know right?" She said happily. "Any way, I have this blue one, you can have it, and I don't really like blue. And I have an orange one. Your pick."
"I'll take the blue one." I said grabbing the new dress. (Well, it might not be new, but it was to me.)
"Thank you." I said turning around to change. After I finally put it on, I looked in the rusty mirror. It looked nice on me. It complimented my dark skin, and made my dark hair look pretty.
"I have to say, you look good." Just then Finn came in with some squirrels. He tossed them onto the table, and Gilsa grabbed them, and skinned them.
"Hey, you have nothing important to do, come and finish the stew while I talk to Finn." Gilsa nodded to Finn, and said, "Darling, I need to talk to yah." Finn followed, and Enna said,
"Mothers boy!" Finn smiled, and left.
"I've told that to him ever since I met him and his mother, he always listens to her. Shows you how gentlemanly he really is. If a man treats his mother as if she is queen, you know you've found the right man for you."
Finn came in, his boots muddy from the rain. Enna looked out of the window, sighed, and said,
"We won't be able to go as soon as we planned."
"When do you think the roads will be ready?" I said pouring the stew into three small wooden bowls.
"It depends. Sometimes this kind of storm lasts for days, and other times it lasts over night." Enna sat down at the small table Finn had made her on their anniversary. She traced her fingers on the newly carved wood. All the Robi could think of was the happiness the tree felt, to have a place of honor in their home.
"So, should we be ready in case the storm stops?" I said trying to lighten the mood, and to do good with my people speaking.
"Probably, but we have to wait till Gilsa comes back." Finn said sitting down by Enna, who was at this point very tired.
"Where is she?" I said making conversation.
"She's over at Dota's. Making her rounds. She usually likes to find out how many people are going to market week."
The silence forced out her words, so Robi sat there silent. She thought about her family, what they might be doing, but the wind was hiding the secrets from her. Reaching into her pocket, she pulled the handkerchief from her pocket, gently unfolding it, to look at the lacing. This by far was the nicest thing that ever came into her possession. The gold fringe was nearly gone, and the drop of blood was a faded brown. So this belonged to the yellow lady? I said to myself wondering what she looked like.
"The yellow lady, where was she from originally?" I asked folding the handkerchief, and placing it into my pocket again.
"Her father was the King of Kildenree. She was the crown princess." Finn said very quietly.
"My people were banished by her ancestors. They killed my Great grandmother, Robi. She possessed all of the languages too. Every Robi ever since, they have protected. I almost died, but my father came."
"So, you have all of the languages?" Enna said standing up, and sitting down by me.
"Yes, first I learned animal speech. Then wind and water. I almost died, the wind was so strong, and the water almost drowned me. That summer, Rahn taught me fire speech. Being from Yasid, it came naturally. I learned the small things, then I learned the Red Wind."
"What is red wind?" Finn said, which then made Enna feel cold, if possible. Her brother had died using Red Wind. Leifer.
"Red wind is what Killed Leifer." Enna said making Finn silent.
"I'm sorry for your brother, Enna. Red Wind is hard to master. I fell to the ground my first time, but then again, I was ten. Young ones have the most life, so there is no harm from Red Wind. Do you have fire speech?" I asked Finn, who shook his head.
"The yellow lady does, but I don't think it possible for me to speak fire."