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~EmiStone
Firebird: I'll work on that.
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Sorry I don't have giant responses like everyone else. Thank you all for reading, but a special thanks to the three people who reviewed, You Rock!
Disclaimer: FANfiction. Man, do I WISH i owned Protector of the Small. But alas, I don't... :~(
Alanna's P.O.V.
What was I supposed to do? I have to stay in Tortall to give Keladry her gifts that was sure, even if I couldn't give them to her sister. I entered Myles' office. He was behind his desk and didn't look overly surprised to see me.
"So, where are you going?" He asked wryly, his eyes twinkling.
"I was hoping that you could tell me." I said, smiling at him.
"Well, Adalia is missing…"
Kel's P.O.V.
I had finally decided that I would take the offer. I just wish that Adalia was here, it wasn't like her to just run away without a thought in her head…
Adalia's P.O.V.
The next day I woke up feeling exalted. We had rented a room in the inn, and Tokomara's bed was empty. I got up and saw a note in Yamani,
'Adalia, I am outside in the practice yards. Come down when you wake up. Time to start Shang training!'
I jumped out of bed and changed into my practice clothes excitedly. I finally made it outside to see Tokomara doing a strange set of stretches that included some Yamani ones. Then she jumped around like an acrobat, fully stretching out all of her muscles. I cleared my throat, feeling awkward, and she whirled around.
"Well, first things first. You will learn stretches. Then we will have some Shang lessons. Then some regular subjects, Shang are not idiots who only know how to fight. If you are to become Shang you have to pass even more courses than knights. Now, do you have the Gift?" She said in Yamani, which I assumed was all we were going to be talking in.
"No, no one in my family does." I replied.
"Good. Learning how to use it would take valuable time away from your studies. Now, I fast-tracked my studies. Yamani training was derived from Shang, you are already at the equivalent of a fourteen year old Shang. You are expected to fast-track too. I'll push you harder than any of the other Shang would even think of pushing anyone. Don't complain, just take it. From now on we are like mother and daughter, OK?" She said, I nodded, and bowed in the Yamani fashion as to a mentor, which was the same word as mother in Yamani.
"I think I should tell you, most of my family calls me Addie. You can call me that if you want." I said hesitantly, although I trusted Tokomara, everything was happening very fast.
"How about Lia?" She asked kindly, with a sense of humor in her eyes. I nodded excitedly.
"OK, then Lia, you can call me Toko. Let's start." The rest of the morning was spent in agonizing stretches, until I could do all of them without Toko's hands supporting me. Then, after lunch we started on Shang lessons.
"The Shang was started by Mithros and the Great Mother Goddess about 10,000 years ago. The legend says that they stopped a traveling man and gave him the power of twenty men. Then they showed him visions about starting an order of people just like him, training them until they had the power of twenty men. Mithros sent him visions of the orders. There was to be Raven, as the first and weakest level, and it continues up from there. The three highest levels are Phoenix, Dragon, and Flame. The Flame is the only position that was made by the Great Mother Goddess, and is the only position limited to one sex: Female. Flames must both do their own ordeal, and the Shang Dragon's. Flame's must also choose an animal name for themselves, in addition to their title. There have only been nine Shang Flames, ever: Wolf, two Phoenixes, two Wildcats, two Unicorns, and two Dragons. The flame is the top position of the Shang, and their leader, of sorts. Something to aim for, as you said you need a goal, and I made a promise that my protégé would do better in ranks than me, which is probably why I never had one… Never mind that! Time for Algebra!" The rest of the night was spent doing the same subjects Pages learn, to a greater extent. Two weeks went by like this, until Toko decided it was time for us to leave.
"We'll go to the Yamani Islands." She said, as we packed. Anne, the matron, waved away all forms of pay, saying that the fact that I had helped in the kitchens paid for my stay, and Toko's fame paid for hers. We left after much hugging. Toko had a horse in the stables, a dappled mare that looked as if she was used for speed rather than real fighting. Toko hopped on and offered me a hand up. I took it and swung myself into the saddle after her. We rode until the town was out of sight, then, with a malicious smile; Toko promptly dumped me off the saddle. I stood there watching her in confusion when she started trotting, with the simple command of, "Run." I groaned and started running after her, hopefully the next town was close!
Alanna's P.O.V.
I went into the inn that was near Mindelan, hoping maybe she had stopped here. The matron, Anne, was wary of me at first, then I smiled at her.
"Hello, I'm looking for a girl. Her name's Adalia, have you perhaps seen her in this area? My husband and I are very anxious to find our daughter…" I said, adding on possible hints of water-works at the end.
"You don't really look like Lia…" Anne hedged uncertainly, telling me all I needed to know of was she here. She was, recently, and for a while. George came up behind me, and apparently he looked enough like Adalia that Anne was assuaged in her fears.
"Oh, she and Tokomara left a while ago. Tokomara said she had some friends in Goatstrack, it's just due west of here." She said smiling.
"Thank you kindly, we'll be going now." George said from behind me, Anne nodded and wished us luck. We went back to the stables in silence, and mounted our horses. We pulled up our hoods and galloped fast towards Goatstrack.
:-)∞ :-)∞ :-)∞ :-)∞ :-)∞ :-)∞ :-)∞ :-)∞
On the way to Goatstrack George suddenly pulled up on his reins and stopped mine too, chuckling quietly to himself. There was a teenage girl running with all her might, yelling profanities in maybe three different languages with the breath she had left, and trying to catch up with a horse. Said horse had a rider who was obviously a woman and was riding backwards and was pretty much doubled over in laughter, only the horse, which obviously knew what it was doing, was keeping her in the saddle.
"Toko! For the Goddess' sake! Let me on the horse! I'm tired and the village is a mile away!" The girl shouted in Yamani, with George translating. When he finished I glanced over at George who was doubled over in laughter now.
"It's actually just over that rise." He said as explanation. I smiled, then thought for a minute.
"Toko? That sounds like Tokomara…" George was instantly on high alert, although it was apparent that Adalia, who I assumed was the girl running after the horse, was going willingly. She suddenly burst out in curses again when they crested the rise and she realized that the town was right in front of her. The woman-Tokomara- was laughing her head off, and I didn't need George to translate to know that she was clearly mocking Adalia. They went all the way out of our view before George and I started again, with a moment of silence to collect our thoughts.
"She was goin' willin'ly." George said, slipping into his common speech. I nodded slowly.
"Do you know anything about a 'Tokomara'?" I asked, figuring that he might not have checked his memory stores for the name yet. He thought for a minute than scratched his head.
"The Shang Phoenix's name is Tokomara." He said, like it was no big deal. I swerved in the saddle and smacked him on the arm; he smiled.
"Anything else?" I sighed.
"Um, nothin' relevant at the moment…" He hedged, I stared at him suspiciously, but he just smiled back at me. I glared at him, but couldn't quite get myself to go into one of my famous rants. I was tired.
"Well, when it comes up. Could you maybe inform me? Lets go." I said, not waiting for him to answer.
Lia's P.O.V.
We got maybe fifty feet from the town before Toko let me on her horse. I was cursing her profusely at this point and was dirty and sweaty to boot. But, once again, Yamani training helped, even though I hadn't done it in a while. We used to be forced to run all over the Islands, with everyone silently laughing at us, well me. At least Toko meant it in good spirit. We got to the inn, there was only one in the town, and went in, after tying Toko's mare, Heart, up outside. The innkeeper was a genial looking man in his forties, with the typical brown hair and brown eyes of Tortall, the room was crowded to the extreme and he was shouting orders everywhere.
"Hello, there." Toko said, catching his attention, "My sister and I would like to book a room?" He blanched.
"Oh, I'm sorry, we have no rooms due to the trade season… Maybe you would like to stay with my sister? Fanche? She is married to the miller and lives right up the road near the woods. You can just tell her Will sent you, she'll set you up." We thanked him profusely, and headed up the road. A white house with green shutters and a genial atmosphere appeared before us some way up the road. A mill was in the back and the house was situated right on the river from which the mill took its power. There were the trees called weeping willows leaning on the river bank, trailing some of their branches in the river peacefully. It looked like the most peaceful place to live that I could ever imagine. Suddenly, two little girls raced outside, followed closely by a stocky woman wearing a sensible blue wool dress. A kerchief of a darker blue held back her long reddish brown hair from her face. As she saw us and came forward I could see that her nose was broad and fleshy, and her lower lip was slightly fuller than the upper. Her sensible brown eyes glinted with amusement at whatever prank her small children had played.
"Hello there. What brings your kind up here?" She said. I looked down and realized that the clothes Toko had bought weren't threadbare in any spots, and weren't patched. They immediately marked us as different, if only marginally.
"We were told to tell you, Will sent us?" Toko said, making it a question in the wake of this formidable woman.
"Ah, Ok then. Right up through here. Hope you don't mind the attic. It has a hearth, so no need to worry about heating. Now, how long will you be staying?" Fanche asked; bustling us along. Toko and I looked at each other, than away.
"We don't know exactly. But, we can pay." Toko replied.
"Well, we'll discuss it after dinner. Right now I need to go wrestle some howler-monkeys." Fanche said with a crooked smile, before leaving. There were two beds in the surprisingly homey attic and there was plenty of space for our belongings, including Toko's giant bag of weapons which she used as a game show piece before practice every morning, before she picked out the weapon and proceeded to torture me with it all day in the name of "learning." My favorite moment was when she was rifling around in it, taunting me, and then stabbed her hand on a short, unsheathed, throwing dagger. I laughed right up until she said that was what we were learning that day, after having it seen to by Anna, who was also a healer.
"Well, this seems like a good place to stay for a while." Toko said, in a manner that desperately seemed offhanded.
"Why?" I asked, wondering if I would finally get a view at her past, and why she hasn't mentioned anything about going to the Yamani Islands past that first anxious proposal. "Is there a reason you left the Yamani Islands? Were you nobility or something? Fiancé? Abusive boyfriend? What?" Toko winced.
"I guess you deserve to know. My last name isn't Seastone. I'm surprised you didn't guess that earlier, it's not exactly a common last name in Yaman." She said hesitantly, trying to change the subject.
"I thought maybe you changed it." I said, "I didn't want to pry. If it's too personal you don't have to tell me. I think that this would be a great place to stay for a while." I was deadly curious, but there were some things better left unsaid, as I knew too well.
"OK." She said with relief, knowing I understood. We were quiet for a time, both of us thinking of our own secrets. Until,
"Wait, you have a secret?" She asked incredulously, apparently putting two and two together.
"Well, yes." I hedged.
"Tell me it." She said firmly, "It's my job as mentor to know." I was a little affronted, I couldn't know her secret but she got to know all of mine?
"I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours." I said, thinking she would back down.
"Ok." She said, not backing down, "You first." I looked down.
"I'm afraid of heights. When I was little my brother, Connal, held me and my sister over the balcony by our feet. I've been terrified ever since." Toko looked surprised.
"So that's where you got the whole protect the little people idea." She said, curious.
"My sister, Kel, is the same. Now, what's yours?" I asked deathly curious.
"The Emperor is my father." She practically shouted, before running out the door so fast my mind couldn't even comprehend it, much less comment.
Dah Dah Dah Duh... Cliffhanger! Review and you will be pulled up and saved from this horrible thing. Don't, and I'm letting you go... All you have to do to be saved is press the little blue button... Which is sometimes purple. And some people think is green. JUST PRESS IT!