I'm writing this story to practice writing characters as well as dialogue. I realize I still need a lot of practice and experience, so please bare with me. I'm fairly good with world building, but it can take a long time to do well. World building for a novel is also completely pointless if your unable to fill your world with great characters. So I decided to write a story in the Dresdenverse to make sure I have what it takes to create and write successful characters first. And to put on paper a story that has been growing in my mind since the first time I read the Dresden Files. I figured this would allow me to focus on my own original characters and plot, while still having a dynamic yet well established world to work in. None of the original main cast of characters are included in this story, though a couple minor characters will be mentioned or may even make a brief appearances. The only plot points I'm using from the Dresden Files are those that would have major repercussions on the entire world at large. I hope you enjoy!
Spoilers up to Changes
The Dresden Files is copyright Jim Butcher. This story is licensed under the Creative Commons as derivative, noncommercial fiction
Chapter One
Unfortunately, I was bored. It takes a couple hours to get to the festival grounds from my school, and with how magic effects technology, we couldn't even use the jeeps radio to help pass the time. My three friends in the back seat were having a lively conversation, but their current topic held little interest to me. I'd been so pumped up for the festival before we set out, but the hours bumping down this old dirt road were souring my mood. Not even the view outside my window was helping. The lush grassland, trees growing in scattered groves and the sun beginning to set behind the western arm of the mountains. I smiled. Well, maybe it helped a little. It was quite beautiful. A fragment of my friends conversation caught my ear, hard as I tried to tune it out.
"—broken all kinds of records. She's amazing, her first single just came out last week too. That much success in just one week? I'd be astounded if I hadn't heard her sing," said a pretty girl excitedly.
Turning around in my seat to look back at her; I rolled my eyes, and made sure she saw it. She stuck her tongue out at me; crossing her eyes as she rocked her head from side to side. Her short black dreads bounced with her motion. She knows my opinion on pop divas and the like. I don't think they're bad by any means, I just feel they focus too much on being catchy, less on complexity. Give me Brahm, Handel or Beethoven any day. Something that can inspire more than just the desire to shake my butt as fast as I can. When I want to dance, I much prefer the rhythm and whimsy produced by the drums, flutes and vocals of the tribal people. This festival was going to be so much fun. Why did time have to be passing so slowly? If only school was a bit closer to the festival grounds.
I love my school, but I often wonder what it would be like to go to a normal high school. I had a history class today, and I assumed that was pretty standard. My math class was probably normal, I'm sure most kids learn physics. But I know for a fact no normal school has a class on Physics when applied to Evocation. Or Intermediate Potion Making. I'd had both of those classes today, and I'm positive Strong Roots Academy for Wizards is one of the few schools in the world to offer such classes. On second thought, I wouldn't trade Strong Roots for any probably super boring normal school out there. I'd learned so much, even in just a year and a half. Spells, formulae and potion recipes. The properties and application of magical flora and how to identify them. The names, attributes and temperament of lots of different magical creatures. All of it swam through my mind, so much information, so much more to learn. It was exhilarating. And kind of made my head hurt.
Thinking of school, I glanced over at the old man sitting behind the wheel. Great, great, great, great Grandfather looked impressive today. He liked to go full Wizard for celebrations. I had to admit, he pulled it off. Pointy hat and all, though he's too tall to wear that while driving. Its more than just his clothes though. Even while doing something as mundane as driving, his presence demands respect. Not that that stops me from showing him some cheek, but that's just one advantage of being his favorite grand daughter.
I wondered exactly how old he was, he'd never say. I know he founded Strong Roots almost 300 years ago, and has been Headmaster ever since. Before that he was a Warden for years, maybe decades. I wouldn't be surprised if he was nearly 400 years old. He started the school after seeing again and again what was happening to young people; who found themselves with powers no one could explain, and they couldn't control. He told me once that seeing those poor children lose control and be executed for something they couldn't understand broke him. He discarded his role as a Warden, devoting his life to rescuing as many aspiring wizards as he could. I love him for continuing his quest to save and educate young people to this day. I would never have met two of my friends currently sitting in the back seat otherwise. Powerful wizard or not, at the end of the day, he's just a good man. I love him for that, and so much more. He could drive a bit faster though.
Great, great, great, great grandfather, I pondered. Something else to make me different. I couldn't think of another family, wizards or not, with such a large multi-generational household. None with so many born with a talent for magic at least. All because of the responsibility my ancestor took up well over a thousand years ago. It's a story I've been told a hundred times. 'Guardian, protect this Sanctum from mortal hands. Occlude the entrance and let no evil past. Stay true to this task; and so long as you call this Sanctum your home, this blessing will forever endure. Persist in your pledge, and your line shall last till the'—
"Elizabeth Kanti Teargwed," squawked a tiny reproachful voice, causing me to jump in surprise. "Your late." That voice brought me back to myself, clearing my scattered thoughts. Looking to the window, there was an itty-bitty sparrow standing there, his feathers ruffled as he braced himself against the winds passage.
"Peeps," I exclaimed, my voice full of affection. "I haven't seen you in ages." Seeing one of my oldest friends finally brought me out of my dour mood. It also meant we were getting close to the festival. Holding my hand out palm up, the little bird swiftly jumped onto it.
"You know the festival started over an hour ago," said Peeps in mock irritation."All the good foods going to be gone before you get there. You might even miss the stories." He said that last part in such a horrified tone, as if comparing it to the end of the world. I'd almost agree. The stories are by far the best part of the festival.
"Sorry Peeps, you know it takes forever to get here from Strong Roots. And it didn't help that someone was taking their sweet time setting out." The Old Wizard—I call him Gramps or Old Wizard, saves time and breath—gave me a sidelong glance, scowling imperiously.
"Bah! Everyone knows a Wizard is never late, nor is he early. He arrives precisely when he means to." Everyone except me laughed. I knew he'd say that. He always pulls that quote when he's late.
Rolling my eyes, I gave Peeps a pointed look. "You see what I have to deal with? It's amazing we aren't two hours late, since we're running on wizard time." Glancing at the old man, I saw the hint of a smile in the corner of his eye as he returned his gaze to the road. "That said, the suns just now setting, so we should make it in time," I remarked with a glance toward the sun, now only half visible above the western mountains.
"But this is the biggest party of the year," Peeps piped. "The food. The music. The dancing," he exclaimed excitedly, drawing out the last word. He bobbed his head up and down, shuffling his feet and shaking his tail feathers. If you've never seen a tiny bird dance before, your missing out. Its cuter than kittens.
The little bird sprang from my hand, taking flight to circle the cab a few times. Eventually, he landed on the shoulder of a skinny young man sitting behind the drivers seat. Turning around in my seat, I saw the young man push back his shaggy brown hair to reveal an unremarkable face. He had to crane his neck to look at the little bird on his shoulder.
"Hiya Peeps." Cid said. "I trust your Crew is well?"
"They fly straight and true, friend Cid, thanks to you," Peeps declared with a bow.
"Don't be silly Peeps, anyone would have done it. You don't need to keep thanking me. We're friends, right?" The sparrows have great respect for Cid. He found one of their nestlings last year. It had fallen from its nest and broken a wing. Cid took it to his mom who's a vet, and she was able to fix the little one right up. Cid nursed it back to health and returned it a couple weeks later, healthy and whole. Now he has an entire Crew of sparrows who practically worship him.
"You remember Malia and Remi right?" Cid asked, bringing attention to the other two people in the back seat. Both are around the same age as Cid and I.
"Nice to see you again Peeps," Malia said with a little wave.
Peeps peeked past Cid. He gave a chirp that somehow conveyed acknowledgment without actually speaking. Sparrows are shy creatures by nature, even one so bold as Peeps. He hopped from Cid's shoulder, flapping his wings to gain altitude, just making it onto the drivers side head rest. Then he hopped again and glided over to my headrest.
He shuffled around up there for a couple seconds, peering down at them. "Hello Malia. Hello Remi," he said formally, bowing to each in turn. "Clear skies and juicy grubs to you and yours." Turned around in my seat as I was, I couldn't see Remi right behind me, but Malia in the middle had on her radiant smile as always. Her dark brown skin seemed to gleam in the fading light.
"That's very kind of you, Peeps." Remi said in his clear, cool voice. Maybe it was a good thing I couldn't see Remi. For some reason, whenever he smiles at me recently, I can't help blushing. I mean, he is cute. And he's grown at least four inches in the last year. And the strict diet and exercise routine at Strong Roots burned away all the excess weight he'd had when we first met. His jet black hair and those piercing, bright blue eyes... Nothing like my dull green ones. If not for fear of a soul gaze, I could lose myself in those eyes...
I decided to risk a peek, stretching further to look past my seat. He was talking to Peeps, but glanced my way as I entered his view, and there was that smile. Damn! I pulled back, hoping he hadn't seen my pale face turn bright red. This could be trouble. I am way too busy to be worrying about boys right now. But I couldn't deny—at least to myself—that it was certainly an understatement to describe Remi as simply cute. Yup, definitely going to be trouble...
I realized I'd been spacing out for some time, and Malia had a strange questioning look on her face. I swear that girls a mind reader. I shook my head slightly, knowing she would ask me about it later. I glanced at Cid, who was also giving me a strange look. He quickly looked back towards Peeps, an odd frown on his face I'd never seen before. That's weird. Whatever.
Luckily, Peeps chose that moment to hop onto my head.
"Time for me to head back. I'm not missing anymore of the festival. Don't take too long Liz, its not as much fun without you. And drive faster Old Wizard!" With that, he soared off my head, into the darkening night.
The Old Wizard began to grumble mumble, something only very old and crotchety wizards can pull off. I'm pretty sure I heard Peeps name a couple times as he muttered to himself under his breath.
"Liz, are we in Tribal Territory yet?" Malia asked inquisitively.
"Nope, not yet. Not until we cross the border river. The river separates the Scattered Forest from Tribal lands. We shouldn't be far now. You can vaguely see the forest up ahead, looks like its getting close." We all looked ahead, but visibility was poor with the sun barely peaking over the mountains. The forest was just a deeper darkness ahead of us, the glow from the headlights limiting my night vision. Then there it was, revealed in the headlights, an old stone bridge.
"Awesome," I said as we rumbled across it. We drove through the forest in silence, and I could almost feel the excitement in my friends growing. It wasn't long before we emerged onto a wide open plain. We couldn't see far now in complete darkness, but I knew it stretched on for miles. The road took a sharp left, and before us stood a huge gate crafted from large logs. It wasn't anything fancy. Just several vertical logs on each side of the entrance, with two longer horizontal ones across the top. But I wished my friends could see the gate in day light, and the intricate carvings that decorated each log. Sadly, the only light aside from our headlights was a massive orange-red glow illuminating the gate from behind.
Gramps pulled off to the side of the dirt road, and we all quickly—though a bit stiffly—exited the vehicle.
"You kids go on ahead, these old bones need a good stretch." He waved us on and began to do some stretches. I led my friends toward the gate, it's beauty growing with every step.
"What happened to the wall?" Remi asked, looking to either side of the gate.
"Hmm?" I said, his question not registering right away.
"It's a ceremonial gate." We all looked at Cid as we walked together down the road. "That's why there isn't a wall," he continued in a rush. Remi was gazing at him quizzically, obviously still not understanding.
How embarrassing. Cid faster to the uptake than me? But as usual, he'd failed to explain the situation properly.
"What he means is that it isn't a defensive gate. It's not supposed to keep people out. It's ceremonial. It's there to welcome us in," I clarified. "See, there's not even a door." We were close enough now to see the gate in more detail, though the only light was coming from behind it, as if the land beyond were ablaze.
"Wow, those carvings," Malia said in awe, veering to the side to take a closer look as we approached the gate. "The detail. It's a masterpiece. If the entire gate is like this, it must truly be spectac..." she trailed off, her attention no longer on the gate. "U..." she continued; her eyes darted around, trying to take in the entire scene below us at once. "Lar..." she ended in nearly a whisper, her mouth dropping open. We had just made it to the gate. Through its entrance we could finally see what lay beyond.
Watching my friends, I remembered the first time I'd been here. We were standing on the lip of a small crater, ten meters deep and nearly three hundred meters across. It looked like a large flat bottom bowl set into the ground. The festival grounds alone were enough to make ones jaw drop. But I knew there were dozens of bonfires burning down there, with hundreds of people and animals celebrating around them with abandon. Eating, drinking, singing and dancing. Playing games or challenging each other to feats of skill or daring. All scattered around a large circular stage in the exact center of the circular depression. The stage was open so those on it could be seen from all sides. A wooden staircase in front of us led to the bottom; the incline around the edge of the crater just steep enough to make walking up and down it difficult. For us bipedal folks at least.
Turning from the looks of amazement on my friends faces, I took in the scene below. Even knowing what I would see, it took my breath away. I just wasn't used to the sheer amount of people. There were only around fifty people living at Strong Roots, including the teachers. The village outside the Sanctum has a population of less than five hundred, and they rarely all gather together like this. There were nearly a thousand people in the crater, and I loved it!
Turning back to my friends, I was suddenly worried despite the looks on their faces. Malia and Remi had both grown up outside the Sanctum, out in the normal world. The world full of cities, some with populations in the millions! I knew lots even had stadiums where tens of thousands of people could gather to watch a game. Thinking about that always blows my mind. I just hope this wasn't too rustic for them. Except for the large bonfires, there wasn't anything very flashy down there. Some people even seemed to be resting at the moment, probably waiting for the next group of musicians to take the stage. Those might have just been the people who'd been dancing though, since many were still active playing games, or feasting and drinking. Then it dawned on me. While the hundreds of animals down there with the humans wasn't anything special to me, it wouldn't seem normal to Malia and Remi. Even more so seeing as how none of the animals were behaving as you'd expect.
"I know I've been here before, but never when it was like this," Cid said in a hushed tone. "There's so much going on. Have you ever been to a festival this big before Liz?" he asked. I Ignored him, still watching Remi and Malia, who didn't seem to hear him. I was much more interested in their reactions, and still a little nervous.
"That is a lot of animals," Remi said slowly.
"I've never seen anything like it," Malia added. Her eyes widened as she saw something and I followed her gaze. A dozen birds of differing species had just taken flight, soaring up then gliding down to join the celebrations around a different fire.
A noise nearby drew our attention. Down the incline to my left, a group of small mammals was running around, off to the side of the staircase. They were all small, none looked fully grown. I watched as a raccoon caught up to a little pig, touched it, then ran away chattering with laughter. The pig stopped for a second in dismay, then spotted a little fox kit and ran straight for it. It looked like the pig had it cornered; the fox couldn't run away, the stairway was blocking one direction and the incline of the crater blocked the other. The fox suddenly ran straight towards the pig, then veered off to run up the incline at an angle. The pig, trying to cut the fox off up the slope, ran straight up the incline after it. But the fox had chosen its path well and had made it high enough that before the pig could cut it off, it was past. Then it tucked in and rolled down the slope, making a quick escape. The pig stood there for a second, then it too rolled down the slope, snort laughing the whole way down.
"Are those animals... playing... tag?" Remi asked, his voice skeptical.
"Didn't you ever play tag when you were a kid?" I asked with a laugh.
"But..." Malia started to say.
"I know what your thinking," I interrupted. "But these are not ordinary animals. They're all smart, as smart as humans. And they can talk, like Peeps. Gramps called them something once, what was it?" I scrunched my face in concentration, playing with a loose strand of my dark brown hair. "It was something... Anth? Antho..." It was right on the tip of my tongue...
"Anthropomorphs?"
I looked at Cid, scowling at him. "If you'd given me another two seconds I would have remembered that Cid, thank you very much!" Cid glanced down at his feet, looking chagrined. Cid may be my best friend, but I do not need his help. I'm way smarter than he is, and better at magic. Well, mostly.
"Maybe I'm wrong, but doesn't that mean they should look more like people? You know, walk on two legs, have opposable thumbs and all that?"
"That is an excellent question, Malia," said a voice behind me, making me jump.
I turned around to see Gramps. Sneaky old man. "I forgot you were still behind us Gramps. Aren't you supposed to be meeting with the Elders?" I asked.
"I am, I am. But first, I had to see the looks of wonder that only appear on young faces the first time they see such a festival." He smiled at Remi and Malia, who both beamed at him.
"Thanks again for bringing us Headmaster."
"Of course Malia, of course. My pleasure. But now, there seems to be a question still in the air..."
"I can answer sir!" I said quickly. He gave me a nod of accent. "These animals are lesser, or part anthop..." I stumbled on it again. Stupid word. "Anthropomorphs. They have human intellect and emotions, but lack human physical characteristics." I thought about it for a moment. "I guess I've seen some who can pull off human facial expressions. Its actually rather impressive. Oh, and I've heard there are full anthropomorphs," nailed it, "inside the Enchanted Forest. Never seen one though." I said that last part with a meaningful look at the Old Wizard. He just smiled, a twinkle in his eye.
"I couldn't have said it better myself. Well done my dear." He placed a hand on my shoulder, squeezing it affectionately. "Now, I must be off. The Tribal Elders will be awaiting me." His dark silver mane fanned out as he swept down the stairs without another word.
"Lets go," I said, following after him, eager to join the party.
As we reached the end of the stairway, I pointed to the nearest of the bonfires. "You guys will want to start at that fire. Cid knows the drill."
"Why that fire?" Remi asked, looking at me, then at Cid.
"They uh, well, most of the people here don't, they don't speak English." Cid answered. Remi seemed mildly shocked at this, and a bit confused since it didn't really answer his question.
"The people here never leave the Sanctum. And no outsiders besides my family or those we invite can come here. So they have little need to learn our language." I clarified with a shrug. "But a few people from each tribe learn. Many in my family learn their common tongue as well. Gramps is fluent, but I only know a little. That's why you should go there first. Should be a translator waiting."
"Are you not coming with us?" Cid asked cautiously.
"Nope. I told a friend I'd find him as soon as I arrived. But once I do, we'll come looking for you. Shouldn't take too long. C-ya later," I said with a wave and hurried off, into the festival.