tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19323768657260818052024-03-05T00:35:07.204-05:00The Other Stephen King on WritingThe Other Stephen Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14471972807328125155noreply@blogger.comBlogger625125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1932376865726081805.post-79493860996296466642017-03-19T20:32:00.001-04:002017-03-19T20:32:18.272-04:00Trial of Spirit Chapter 8Author's note: now that the book is out I hope to be able to get updates more quickly, but in the meantime if you like the story please help support an Indie and buy the book:<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/711352" target="_blank">https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/711352</a> <br />
<br />
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<br />
<h1 style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="a08_A_Fathers_Words">A Father's Words</a></h1>
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“They do not exist,” Dad argued.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“How can you say that? I was just talking to them!”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I just said it. They do not exist. I am not certain whether
you had a bad dream, or fell down and knocked yourself out, but the People of
the Earth are fiction. A popular fiction, granted, but they are entirely not
real.”</div>
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I felt like stamping my foot in irritation, but was too
tired. After a full afternoon of being told that three of the four major clans
wanted me banished, and then all night spent talking to and learning about the
strange race of black-skinned elves, I’d run home to find him, Aerona, and Seph
all waiting for me in my room. Seph was worried, of course, while Aerona was
mostly just irritated over having been left without a charge to look over all
night. Dad was—well, he was the king, and he was doing his best to make sure
that I knew it. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Okay, so maybe I knocked myself out and didn’t realize it.
I’ll know more after I sleep a little. Please, may I have some privacy for just
a few short hours to catch up?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Under normal circumstances, my daughter, such a request
would be warmly met by my approval. Unfortunately, it appears that you have
forgotten your promise to begin preparations for your passage to adulthood at
sunrise on this day. Certainly there was no plan on your part to renege on this
important point from the negotiation yesterday, was there?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“No! No, I just—I’m tired, Dad, and want to get some sleep.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Perhaps you should have considered that prior to—”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I know, I know. Okay, look, I’ll put it off. I don’t need a
lecture. Where do I need to go to get the preparations started?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I believe the high priestess herself is awaiting your
arrival in her office. As she has been, since sunrise. I am certain that you
will find her in the most pleasant of moods when you arrive.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I shot Seph a glare as penalty for her snicker, and then I
spun on my heel and marched out of the room toward the castle’s passage to the
cathedral. I resisted my own intense desire to hurry; Sternyface would already
be as angry as she was likely to get, and sprinting through the cathedral to
get to her office quickly would counter everything I’d done to prove myself
worthy of the title of crown princess and its requisite respect. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Well, that, and I really was bone-tired. My legs felt like
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other, while my fear-addled, sleep-deprived brain kept sending irritated
signals to my feet to turn around and run the other way. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Eventually, I made it anyway. I knocked, and after a long,
long wait that was probably only a few dozen seconds in reality, the response
filtered through the door.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Come!”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I opened the door and marched in, wondering what I was in
for.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Please close the door behind you,” made my heart skip a
beat. She’d never had me close the door behind a meeting with just her and me
before. We’d had a few closed-door events with my father present, but not with
just me.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“You’re late. Very late,” she chided me once I’d returned to
my spot in front of her desk.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I went out for a jog last night to clear my head and lost
track of time,” I explained, as unapologetically as I could manage. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Lost track of time?” she asked, giving me a doubtful look.
Obviously, she hadn’t heard the real story. “How do you lose track of sunrise
when you are outside?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I got into a conversation,” I answered, trying to make it
sound like the most natural thing in the world.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“What sort of conversation?” she probed.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I met some dark-skinned elves, who told me the history of
their portion of the race. Dad told me this morning that they don’t exist,
though, so I probably imagined the whole thing while I was busy not noticing
that the sun was rising.” I gave her my sweetest smile to emphasize the level
of sarcasm I was attaching to the statement.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Dark-skinned elves,” she repeated, her mouth dragging the
words out acerbically. “Yes, there is certainly a—constraint—upon your father
and what the king can and cannot say within the castle’s walls.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“So he knows about them?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I am not at liberty to say what the king knows about and
what he does not. I would, however, recommend that you try to use some of the
sense that your birth lineage gave you and avoid introducing topics like that
where they should not be discussed.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“So you know about the dark elves.” I didn’t let it slip
into a question at the end.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
She shrugged, making the gesture into a luxurious show of
ostentation, with a sideways sneer on her face. “What I do or do not know is
not a matter to be questioned by a child, even one as privileged as the crown
princess believes herself to be. You came here to prepare for the hunhymgais.
Now, let us begin.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
By lunchtime I was convinced that the preparation for
hunhymgais was likely to kill me from stopping my breath due to boredom.
Sternyface, who apparently hadn’t gotten over my tardiness or my putting her on
the spot, seemed to delight in droning on about what makes an adult, an adult.
She refused to let me sit through the process, too, so I had to stand, shifting
my weight occasionally as one leg or the other fell as deeply asleep as I
wished that my entire body could. Lunch was brought to me, to be eaten in a
special side room, where the furniture consisted precisely of one small wooden
table and one wooden stool. Apparently Sternyface had “business to attend to,”
in her sparse terminology. The fruit and slices of meat were welcome, though,
since I’d skipped breakfast completely. At least I got to sit down to eat.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After lunch the high priestess announced that lecturing me
was too boring for Her Holiness, and suddenly I was rushed off to a smaller
office where an even more boring set of lectures were delivered by a male
priest with a high-pitched voice and a slight lisp. I was actually glad that he
wouldn’t let me sit, because I’m pretty sure I would’ve fallen right to sleep
given the chance.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“That sounds awful,” Seph comforted me as I told her the
story that evening at the table in the common dining room. I didn’t have to be
seek any privacy, since nobody other than my cousin was willing to sit anywhere
near me. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I nodded and chewed another bite. Finally I asked, “How did
your preparation for hunhymgais go?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“What do you mean?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“You know, when you were getting ready to go for your
ceremony. How many lectures did you have to sit through?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Seph looked incredulous. “None.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“None at all? What did you do to prepare?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I stripped my clothes off.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“And then what?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I stepped in to the portal.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“That’s all?” I couldn’t believe the difference between her
and my experiences so far.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Alyssa, I’m just a regular person. Growing up, I observed
everything that the high priestess and priest have been lecturing you on. So
when the time came, I just did it.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Oh. Wonder how my father’s hunhymgais went.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“About the same as your cousin’s,” my father’s voice
answered from behind, surprising me enough to earn him a jump and a gasp. I’ve
bragged about my spidey-senses, but my father is the one exception I’ve found.
Luckily I had no fear he’d ever sneak up behind me with a dagger, because he’s
the one guy who could actually do it.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Your Majesty,” Seph said with a flourish, and then she kept
eating at his gestured command to do so. She looked a lot like she wanted to
escape, though.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Dad, I get the desire to see me safely through the
hunhymgais, but why all the lectures?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“That is not mine to explain, my daughter.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I’m just—tired,” I said, and unbidden came a yawn to
accompany my pronouncement. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I can imagine. You had a long and exciting night. Perhaps
we could discuss it further in privacy?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I’d like that. Only, not for too long,” I said, yawning again.
It was catching; Seph mirrored the action.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Not for too long,” Dad agreed, and then headed into the
throne room. I said good night to Seph and then followed him in, taking my food
tray and its few remaining bites with me.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“So. Dark elves,” Dad said in English after silently pouring
each of us a whiskey.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I’m a little nervous about drinking that, as exhausted as I
am.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Drink it. Slowly. It’ll help you sleep.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Okay. So there really are dark elves,” I said, unable to
make my voice do anything, accusatory or otherwise. I was impressed with myself
over merely being able to form a coherent sentence. At least, I thought it was
coherent. It was getting harder to speak in English, believe it or not, after
so many months of speaking mostly in the beautiful, complex elf language.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Yes. As your father, I am not very proud of it, but as your
king, I cannot admit to their presence where such admission could be
overheard.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Why not?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“They are—<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">aflan</i>,”
he said. I searched for the meaning of the elf word he used, but couldn’t find
anything. To my confused look, he added, “not—not clean, I believe is the best
translation.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I’m sure they could be clean if you let them into the
castle to take a bath.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Dad grimaced. “It is not a bath-scrubbing sort of clean that
we are talking about, Alyssa. They are wild—untamed—untamable.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What he meant slowly came to me. “Wait—you mean unclean, as
in a caste sort of thing, don’t you? Like what Ghandi saved the Indian people
from, or something.” I was so tired it was just spilling out, and besides, Dad
wouldn’t know the history either. “You’re saying that because they’re
dark-skinned, they don’t have any worth and so they can’t be in your presence.
That’s disgusting. That’s racist.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“No, no, it is not because of their skin color.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“That’s what all racists say.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Alyssa—”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Racist.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“No! That is not it at all. Please listen to me.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Okay, racist.” I was completely, totally disgusted with my
father at that moment.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My father inhaled, his nostrils flaring in agitation, giving
me the cue I needed to stop prodding him. With a measured voice, he said, “The
dark elves refuse to follow our tradition. They use magic freely, wantonly,
repetitively.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“So do I. Are you going to call me unclean, too?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He leaned forward, anger flashing in his eyes brightly
enough that I shrank back a little. “Did you miss the brunt of the conversation
a few days ago? The one where three major clan chieftains were suggesting just
that? You are far from stupid, my daughter, so I can only assume it is your
exhaustion making you speak so illogically.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Oh.” He was right, I guess. Still, it went against every
fiber of my being to ostracize an entire segment of society—one that just
happened to be identified by the color of their skin—over a social more that I
already considered dumb.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I said exactly that, only in a little bit lighter tone than
I’d been using. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He relaxed slightly.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“It has nothing to do with their skin color, Alyssa. Their
presence, their beliefs, run foul to a true elf’s sensitivities and
sensibilities. Remember the boy you met in the village?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Gwyn?” Of course I remembered the boy. It’s not every day
you meet the body double for Legolas, and he had just the sort of impish grin
that I liked staring at.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Yes, that boy. He is trouble, precisely because he has
ingratiated himself and apparently has visited numerous times and at length
with the dark-skinned ones. It has gotten him shunned by his whole village, and
for good reason. Yes, I know you were attracted to him, but to be honest I
would rather you pursue even Keion than that rascal. You have a very real, very
pressing challenge to your future throne mounting, my daughter, and the last
thing you need to do is make your claim worse by raising the specter of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">aflan</i> against you. Please tell me that
you will not again make contact with—those.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Dad, you’re still a racist. You know that?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He looked at me for a long while, just shaking his head in a
tiny side-to-side arc. Finally he replied quietly, “I am obviously not solid on
what the term racist means, my daughter, but I can tell that it is an important
concept to you. For my part I will admit to whatever you accuse me of, in the
name of effectively governing my land. You may see things differently, and that
is fine. You may feel free to violate that tradition once you become queen,
just as you are apparently slated to violate every other tradition that
my—our—people hold dear. But for my sake, and for that of your mother, as well
as the queen and the high priestess, please pretend as though last night did
not happen until you are safely and securely crowned. Even then, I must warn
you, accepting the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">aflan</i> into your
presence and society will likely cost you a large part of your following, if
not the throne itself. Tread with wisdom there, please, my daughter.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I will, Dad,” I said, nodding. “But for now, I just need to
get to bed.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Sleep peacefully, then, and please, no more night runs.”</div>
The Other Stephen Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14471972807328125155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1932376865726081805.post-80157891833680077632017-03-15T07:59:00.000-04:002017-03-15T07:59:03.011-04:00Trial of Spirit Chapter 7<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Captured</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-hansi-font-family: "Courier New";">Others joined us. They came up quietly, but my senses were on
high alert. First there were eight, and then ten, and then an indeterminate
more; that turned out to be about the limit of my ability. They were all
quietly muttering, though, and they didn</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’t sound happy.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Finally I found
enough air in my lungs to speak. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“My father—will rescue
me,” I promised. No, that never seems to be the right thing to say in action
movies, but it was the only thing that came to mind. </span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">A muted bark of
laughter came from the same older woman who</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’d pronounced my
identity. “Rescue you? From what?”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“You said I was captured. Everybody else seems to want to
capture me, and now you have succeeded. Congratulations. But—”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“So why were you chasing young Ilya?”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“I….” It was a good question, one I wasn’t sure whether to
answer honestly. After a moment I decided it really couldn’t get much worse. “I
was curious. I wasn’t expecting anyone to be out in the woods tonight, and she’s—you’re—”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“</span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Groendu</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">” The older woman completed my thought.
Black-skinned. So it was as obvious to them as it was to me.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">I tried to nod
and was happy that my bonds allowed it. With what I hoped was a winning smile,
I said, </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Yes,
that is correct. I have not seen anyone else here who is black-skinned.”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“You have not been raised to fear us.” It was more of a
statement than a question, but I still nodded.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“I was raised in a land called Mississippi, where light-skinned
and dark-skinned people all live in peace and harmony.” Okay, so that was a
huge lie, but I doubted these elves had access to CNN.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">She snorted. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“The
light-skinned people have not yet subjugated the dark-skinned people in your
world? I cannot believe that.” Apparently nobody else could believe it either,
as they all laughed.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“No! They…” I let my voice trail off. Why was I bothering to lie
to these elves? “Okay, so they have, in places, and during times in the past.
And there is tension now, according to the realm-wide news-runners.” So, </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">you</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";"> try communicating the concept of national
TV broadcasts in a several-thousand-year-old elf language. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“But
I, personally, have stood for equality,” I continued, realizing that I was
stretching the truth once again but feeling like it needed to be said. “Why—why
are you all laughing?”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Because, Princess, the idea of one of your type bragging to us
about standing for equality is like the hunter facing the mighty grizzly saying
he has stood for vegetarianism.”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Look, I didn’t even know your people existed until tonight. I
don’t even know your people’s story. I’d love to learn it, though, if you would
just let me get up on my own. And on that I must insist. Either let me up, or
just kill me now, for this is undignified.”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">I was pretty
certain, based on the conversation we</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’d had so far, that they
wouldn’t choose the latter option. I was, after all, the crown princess, and
they knew it, and they seemed to place at least a little importance on that. I
wasn’t sure if they’d let me have the former option, but the call to dignity
was my best guess.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">It worked.
Suddenly the weight holding my limbs to the ground disappeared, and a
dark-skinned hand was thrust from the other side, away from the older woman, to
assist me to my feet. </span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">I took the
assistance and thanked my helper with a flourish that, in elf custom, indicated
equality. He snorted.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“We do not play by silly court rules here, Princess,” the older
woman sniped.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Well, those are all that I know,” I shot back at her. “I would
be happy to learn your rules for showing appreciation for assistance.”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Like this, Princess,” the man who’d helped me up said, and then
he launched into an elaborate process of what would be called patty-cake on
Earth. I paid as much attention as I could, but was glad to finally be able to
read the mood of those around me once again, and thus I picked up on the joke.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“You’ve </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">got</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";"> to be kidding,</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">” I said.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Perhaps a simple shake of the hands?” he offered and held his
right hand out to me. I took it, and he pulled me in for a bear hug. Beside my
ear I could hear his deep voice chortling, while similar laughter sounded
around us. It seemed I was the butt of a very funny joke. Funny, to them,
anyway. But then again, I was alive and probably going to remain that way, and
so I didn’t mind the joke much at all. </span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“So,” I said after detaching myself from the fairly strong grip,
“tell me about what has happened to your people.”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Apparently,
accepting the bear hug was what I needed to do to win over their trust, because
they led me a few miles at a light jog to their little campsite. It barely
qualified as that, with a few primitive lean-tos built into the side of a hill
so that they would be virtually invisible from any distance whatsoever. Even
their campfire was shielded by a pile of stacked logs and branches. I had no
idea we had arrived till we stopped. </span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Artfully hidden, but wouldn’t the king’s rangers know right
where it is?” I asked the older woman, who shook her head.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Look.”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“I don’t see anything. That’s what was so impressive.” </span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">She shook her
head more aggressively, the motion accentuated in the flickering light of the
fire. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“No.
Look, but not with your eyes. Or are the rumors that have reached us untrue?”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">The comment about
rumors clued me in. I reached up and touched Draignerthol, a move that drew
gasps from everyone nearby. I peered around, looking through the eye of the
magical pendant, and suddenly I was nearly giddy from what I</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’d
seen.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“You—you shielded your camp from the rangers. And then—you
shielded the shielding?” I asked, not entirely willing to believe what I’d
seen. “You—you use magic.”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“It is Gaia’s gift to her children,” she explained in the same
tone I’d use to explain to a child that the sky is blue or that a rock is hard.
“We must not squander.”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Flabbergasted, I
turned to face her directly. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Gaia?” I’d heard of Gaia before, of
course. She was some sort of—weird sort of deity that New Agers worshiped on
Earth, I thought. The Earth Mother, Sarah had read when we’d discovered a book
about it in the library. But that was in Mississippi, and in English, and we
were speaking elf here in Kiirajanna, and she’d plainly said Gaia. </span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">She just smiled,
and I shook my head to clear it. Sternyface had taught me absolutely nothing of
true religion, mainly because the elves didn</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’t have one. The titles
priest and priestess had even come to have no religious context at all;
instead, her minions were teachers, healers, scribes, and acolytes. Worship
just wasn’t done. </span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">I</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’d
never been particularly religious, myself, so I hadn’t bothered probing about
it. There were plenty of opportunities the past summer to read histories in the
smaller library at Cysegredig, and I’d loved them, but nothing I read had held
mention of any sort of religion, one way or another. </span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Who—who is this Gaia?” I finally found myself asking.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">The older lady
had been anticipating my question, and now she nodded eagerly. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Yes,
yes. I am not surprised that you have not heard of the Mother. It is good,
though, and right, for our Dragon Queen to hear of it. Come, let us sit by the
fire, where we may talk comfortably.”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“I am not the Dragon Queen yet,” I argued as she led me to the
center of the camp. We sat on plain logs laid out about the warmth of the
bonfire, and I was once again amazed at how hidden the sizable and well-tended
fire was hidden from outside of the little ring.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Perhaps not yet, but you will be. Sooner than you think, I
believe, if I am hearing the Mother’s voice correctly.”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“You can hear her?”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Yes! Yes, of course, and you can, too, if you know what you are
listening for. Sit for a moment, silently. Be at peace, and let your breathing
slow. Listen. Listen closely, for the whisper of the moon and the gentle
breeze. Do you hear it?”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">I did as she
instructed, sitting for long enough that my butt started to hurt from the
roughness of the log. Soon, though, I could sense what she referred to. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Yes,
I think I do.”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“What is she saying to you, my young princess?”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“I—I don’t know. All I hear—sense—feel—is a presence. It’s like
it’s moving, but it’s not.”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">She nodded again,
her face brightening into a huge smile. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Yes! Yes, that is Gaia.
I am glad you did not make anything up, because hearing anything specific the
first time is quite impossible. You will come to know what she is telling you,
the longer that you listen to her. And I am hearing her say that you are worthy
to receive our greatest gift.”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Your greatest gift?” I looked suspiciously; it sounded too much
like an infomercial on Earth’s TV stations.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Yes, absolutely. Our greatest gift. Our lore. Are you prepared
to receive it?”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">It hit me what
she was about to do, and I gasped. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“I would be honored to
receive it.”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">She nodded, once,
and closed her eyes. Slowly, softly, she began to croon a song that spun itself
into a tale of beginnings.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">The <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Pobl</i></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’pridd</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";"> were not of this land</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">But we were of a
land</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">And we were of
all the land</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">And the land was
within us</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">I looked into her
now-open eyes to see a vast pool of emotions. She was proud of her people, the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Pobl</i></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’pridd</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">, which is elf for People of the Soil. It
also means people of the dirt, depending on how you want to interpret it, but I</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’m
sure that all the pride she pumped into her voice when she said it implies the
nicer meaning. She also seemed glad to be telling me the tale, one that clearly
sank to the center of her being and then wrapped that being around the entire
audience of its telling.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">The song
continued in a slow, minor key for a long time. First it told of a faraway
island where elves, beasts, and plants lived in harmony. Then they heard of
neighbors to the west who needed them desperately—heard through Gaia,
apparently, but the how part was glossed over. I thought briefly about all the
other </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“…and
God talked to us” stories I’d heard, wondering if Gaia had spoken with the Pobl’pridd
through a burning bush, or maybe a serpent. But then I realized the story was
moving too fast for me to start thinking such silly stuff, so I pulled my focus
back to follow her lovely alto voice.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">The journey
across the sea was difficult, thanks to the other, opposing, deity, whose name
I had missed while thinking about burning bushes. He was a pretty wicked guy,
though, tossing up storm after storm to prevent the People of the Soil from
doing Gaia</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’s wishes by journeying to Kiirajanna. The people were strong,
and they were strong in Gaia’s gift, which I took to mean magical power,
though, so they made it. Their boats didn’t do so well, though, crashing into
the cliffs on the eastern side of the continent.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">The tenor of the
song changed a little at that point. What had been a slow, moving minor key
quickened and brightened slightly as she sang of meeting the elf princes, of
being shown into the high courts of the land. This was back before Cysegredig
existed, and what it had replaced was, according to the song, a flowing, tall
building sculpted of stunningly white rock that had been sung from the depths
of Gaia herself. </span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">The land was at
war, though, which was why the pace of the song picked up. Battles were raging
across the land even while the people were meeting the greatest of elf queens,
Rhiannon. Attuned to Gaia</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’s body as they were, the people could
sense the tumult, and many wept openly even in front of the queen herself. It
made an impact, apparently; she accepted them immediately into her highest rank
of guardians, soldiers, and even advisors.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">It did not go
well, the song recounted as it slipped back into a slow, mournful key. Rhiannon</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’s
forces were besieged, attacked from all sides, by armies that had joined
together against them in response to the arrival of the dark elves. Every
attempt to broker peace was met with silence, derision, or worse, deceit. Queen
Aleah’la, the last ruler ever anointed by the Pobl’pridd, gave her own life
defending Rhiannon from an assassin’s spell at what became an abrupt ending to
a white binding forgiveness ritual. The people of the soil mourned, and they
fought, for at that point it was as much about vengeance as any thought of
peace on the land.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Aleah</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’la
was strong, and she was kind, and she was filled to effervescence with Gaia’s
gifts, and so on went the dirge, but I tried to pay close attention regardless.
It seemed like she was building up to something. </span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Finally the pace
of the song picked back up, taking on a staccato quality. I could hear the
drums of war in her voice as she spoke of a decade more of battles, of this elf
clan and another bonding together against Rhiannon</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’s
forces and then, upon the eve of victory, turning and battling each other. Gaia’s
hand was felt more than once, as both dark elf and light and even the queen
herself celebrated the noble goddess’s intervention. In one battle a company of
unicorns joined in, using their magic and their horns to get effect. They were,
the song explained, not creatures who could use Gaia’s gift, but rather
creatures wholly created of Gaia’s gift, and there was no killing one without
intervention of the Dark One himself.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">She told of one
battle that floored me. Rhiannon</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’s forces were on the
verge of being defeated by dark sorcery and powerful weapons when suddenly a
flight of wyverns appeared. I barely held back from interrupting her lyric tale
as she spoke of the majestic and intelligent creatures who swooped in and
vigorously protected the elf queen. My own experience with a wyvern had left me
with the sense that they were fairly evil creatures, though, so I had a hard
time matching up her beautiful words with the terrifying images in my head.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">They won—slowly.
The song hit a martial stretch in which she recanted each of the enemy elves</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’
names as they surrendered their forces to the queen. Each time, the song made a
point of telling us how graciously the queen handled their defeat, how they all
received their lives and lands back with only one promise, made over a binding
relic. The oath they took was that never again would their tribes practice the
art of magic against fellow elves.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">As the surrenders
continued and the land returned to peace, the Pobl</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’prinn
became worried. Their foes were willing to give up magic, to walk away from
Gaia’s gift, and the people of the soil started to sense what might come next.
It was not surprising, then, that after the last tribe had laid down its arms
and vowed to leave their powers unused, the queen turned to the council of
elders who had taken up leadership after Aleah’la’s death. </span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Come with me,” she requested, urging them to join her in a
self-imposed banishment on Earth, away from the lure and temptation of magical
energy. They could not, though; the song repeated its initial verse about them
being of the land, and the land being in them, and then it repeated again. That
drove the point home. But the price of their unwillingness to turn their own
backs on Gaia was banishment, and they accepted the judgment without
resistance. Their elders’ last act among their light-skinned brethren was to
assist Rhiannon in breaking all the relics save one—the one I wore around my
neck—and then helping her seal off the portals behind her. </span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">The song went
back to dirge then, its people cast out and wandering alone and their favorite
queens dead and gone. There were several more verses about the split-up, and
the work they</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’d done in the thousands of years since, but the singer seemed
as uninterested in performing those as I was in listening to them.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">My heart was
broken, and not just for the Pobl</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’prinn. The loss to my
own people, those I would be ruling soon enough, was tremendous. I couldn’t
begin to imagine all that they had missed out on, in spite of what I could see
now as efforts to circumvent the ancient oath by using “earth energy” to heal
and to work with the land, and refusing to call it magic. </span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">I understood.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">That understanding
didn</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’t
make it any easier to face, though, I realized as the post-song silence
stretched out. In being the one to bring back magic, I was going to force many
of them to break a whole lot of oaths. </span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">I didn</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’t
see where I had much choice, though.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Part of that
would be positive, I figured. High Priestess Sternyface</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’s
minions had included just a little bit of religious theory from their own
standpoint over the past summer, more as a historical lesson than anything
else. There were no single causes to any of the great elven wars of previous
epochs, of course, but religion seemed to play a central role in all of them,
and the priests had made it their mission to show me how. Thus, they were proud
to be priests over a somewhat atheistic order, if that makes any sense—it didn’t,
at the time, and it still doesn’t. Atheist—</span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">anffyddiwr</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">—was the word they</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’d
used, anyway, but agnostic is closer to the truth. They’re fully willing to
acknowledge that their power over the forces of nature—</span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">not</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";"> magic!—comes from somewhere or someone,
but they don</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’t really want to talk about where, or who, that somewhere or
someone might be. </span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">In other words,
my people are so scared of warfare that they</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’re willing to walk away
from their god—or gods, actually—to prevent it. That made me ashamed. And I
would end that shame, bring back Gaia to a people who needed her the most.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Wow,” I breathed as the enormity of the task ahead of me
finally hit.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">That broke the
spell of silence, anyway. At that point everyone crowded around, insisting on
seeing and, in a couple of brave cases, even touching the relic that I now wore
on a chain around my neck. Their reactions, the faces lit with happiness, made
me feel a bit like a hero in spite of the initial intercultural
standoffishness. </span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“How many of you are there?”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Thousands. Scores of thousands. We are spread out across the
continent, keeping to little camps of no more than what you see here.”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“You communicate?”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Of course. You do not?”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Probably not the same way you do.”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“We let the dragons carry our messages to other camps,” the
bear-hugger volunteered from beside me.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Dragons?” I asked. “That’s funny. I haven’t seen a dragon since
I’ve been here, and I can’t imagine you could hide something that big.”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Elaithim is joking, young one,” the old woman answered me,
using the maternal version of the term for a child, while sending him a glare. “There
have been no dragons since what the history you have studied calls the Third
Epoch.”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“The history I studied didn’t mention dragons in any epoch,
actually.” My interest shot up. “I’ve been told that the Cult of the Wyrm, the
group which is attacking me, is named after dragons, but that dragons haven’t
existed in a long while, that they were all killed off. And there’s nothing
about dragons written in the histories I’ve read so far.”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“That is probably for the best, Alyssa. You have met wyverns, if
what I have heard is correct?”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Wyvern. Just one. It was quite scary, though.”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Indeed. A young dragon is ten times larger than a typical wyvern,
and will double in size every century or so of its incredibly long life, but
that is not the scariest part. Gaia gave them the same gift she gave us, in her
eternal wisdom, and so a dragon can perform any feat you can attempt, and
likely any feat you can imagine, using its arcane ability. It is said that
during the third epoch they controlled the minds of some of the rulers. Your
people slipped back into the use of magic, in fact, to protect themselves from
such powerful beings.”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Interesting. I was told it was in pursuit of power and wealth
that they started using magic again.”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Well, there is some truth to that, to be certain. But when your
only chance for survival is to embrace the powers within you, then you — make
compromises.”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Do dragons still exist, then?”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">She shrugged, a
gesture I realized I could see too well in the glimmering morning light. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“What
evidence do you have that they do not?”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“There haven’t been any attacks in centuries.”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“So because there have been no attacks, there must be no dragons,
because a dragon would have attacked by now. Yes? That is supposition, not
evidence. My ancestors fought and killed the last known dragon several
centuries ago, but if that dragon managed to lay an egg, and that egg hatched,
the offspring would just now be reaching mature state.”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“And where would it be, to have hidden from your people all this
time?”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">She shrugged. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“That
is a good point. Still, we remain vigilant.”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">I looked up and
noticed the fact that I could see the trees and the structures a lot more clearly.
Panic hit first, but then I relaxed back into the sense of ease that the camp
created. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Speaking of vigilant, it is now daylight. I must get back to
the castle.” </span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Yes. You must. Thank you for listening to the tale of my
people. It gives me both great honor and a glimmer of hope for the future that
you have now heard it.”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“It was—it was my pleasure. I will try to come back again, if I
am welcome.”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“You will not find us, Princess. We must continue as we have for
centuries, and you should rejoin your own tribe. We are pleased at the
connection, and hopeful at the future your openness promises, but we remain
wary nonetheless. No matter how popular you may be among your own, not even a
queen can erase centuries of prejudice.”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“I will try, nonetheless.” I promised, and then took off toward
Cysegredig at a lope. A couple of hundred yards away I stopped, briefly, and
turned around to see nothing. There was a slight hill, but of the lean-tos, and
the fire, and any life form, nothing was visible. </span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Shaking my head
in baffled wonderment, I returned to my home.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
The Other Stephen Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14471972807328125155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1932376865726081805.post-30436000151312277872017-03-08T21:40:00.002-05:002017-03-08T21:40:06.059-05:00Trial of Spirit Chapter 6<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">The Run</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-hansi-font-family: "Courier New";">I ran.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">It wasn</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’t
the all-out run of being chased by a bear, not even close. It didn’t even truly
start out as a run. At first it was a quick, stealthy attempt to slip past the
camps of the elves from the east, west, and south. I knew they’d have rangers
with them, so there was no way I could go completely undetected, but I tried to
make my passing as uninteresting as possible while still passing rapidly
through their area.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">They all wanted
to see me gone. I wanted the same, only not in quite the same permanent manner.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">It worked. Soon I
was past the circle of tents, and then I was jogging. </span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">I pushed it
faster. </span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">I didn</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’t
set out for any place in particular. I hadn’t been to all that many places, for
one thing. Back home I’d explored nearly every nook and side street of my
neighborhood before I really knew what I was doing, but the training to become
an elf queen is just a little more arduous than that. I’d managed to explore the
grounds to the south of Cysegredig three times since my arrival, each time with
my father, my cousin, or both. Heck, every time I’d been anywhere on Kiirajanna
it was in the company of someone else, most often several someone-elses. </span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">This time, it was
just me.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">I was alone.
Happily, gloriously, alone.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">I ran, exulting
simply in the silence of being alone.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Thoughts, some
dark and others not, tried to cloud over my mind as they had all day. Each time
they tried to take over, though, I</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’d focus on one of the perfect-coiffed
bushes nearby, or one of the trees, and the thoughts went away. </span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">What did Seph
mean when she said to tell the trees if I needed her? I wondered if I could
test it by telling the nearby elm. I didn</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’t try, though, out of
respect for my newfound—or re-found—self-presence. </span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">It was good to be
with myself, and just with myself.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">I ran.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Before long the
sun disappeared. The shadows were already at their longest when I left the
castle, so the sunset was no surprise. No surprise, but a grand revelation. The
darkness on Kiirajanna is alive. I don</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’t mean like at home,
aurally alive, with owl hoots and animal calls, though those are present in the
elf realm as well. I mean physically alive, ringing and zinging about with a
charged energy as ancient as the realm itself and more powerful than anything
imaginable. </span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">I stopped,
allowing the energy in, letting myself become filled with a sense of
anticipation and awe.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">The energy was
tremendous. I checked to see whether Draignerthol was somehow causing it,
funneling it from wherever the pendant found its well of magical force. The
ancient relic was silent, cool, dark. It was waiting on something. </span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">A gaze upward
confirmed that there was a full moon. That didn</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’t mean anything in the
elf lore I’d studied. Still, I felt connected, somehow. It seemed like the
flowing power that surrounded me was pulsing along to the shimmers of the great
white orb in the sky, though I couldn’t figure out why. Strangely, for me, I
didn’t want to figure it out just then. It felt right, and that was enough.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">I gazed. </span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">It was dark, but
I could see well enough when I relaxed and let my eyes and subconscious work
together.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">There was a tree
nearby. Yes, there are always trees nearby in an elf forest, but this one was
special. It called to me, though of course I know how silly that sounds.
Suddenly, Seph</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’s comment resounded in my head: “tell the trees.” I didn’t
actually need her, but for a few bizarre moments it seemed completely natural
that I would tell the trees—that tree, in particular—anything that needed
saying. It stood strong, and tall, its bark perfectly uniform as it raised its
arms to the darkened sky.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">I reached out
with both hands and touched it, fingers splayed out along the bark ridges.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">I gasped. </span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Maybe, anyway; I
don</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’t
remember whether I actually made a sound or not as the wonderment spread
through me. It felt like I was suddenly split open, turned inside out, becoming
one with the trees just as they were part of me. </span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Walking no longer
made any sense whatsoever. Why would anyone want to change locations when sturdy
roots were available to keep you safe and fed? </span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Wind rippled
gently through my hair, tugging at the branches growing upward and away from my
core. It rippled among my brethren and me as we all stood in its path, rattling
leaves and rapping limbs against one another: an intricate symphony that played
the breeze</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’s energy out. </span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">I understood.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Trees are one—all
of them. Suddenly that was obvious, like saying the night is dark or the
bedrock is hard. While some trees—the ones nearby, I thought?—whispered in the
chill wind of the central region, I could sense the freezing cold as
others—brothers, almost twins, but definitely siblings—gently shook off freshly
fallen snow. I reached down, behind the murmur, and found the bushes there as
well. They weren</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’t nearly as powerful, or capable of
drawing their sustenance from as far down in the soil, or as happy in the wind.
They were the little baby brothers.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Off in the
distance, I heard a surprised, overjoyed shriek. Only, it wasn</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’t
a sound, rather a sensation, and it felt strangely familiar. I opened myself to
the voice, and then I realized what—who?—I was hearing. It was Little
Treebeard, all the way back in my room in the castle. L.T. had sensed me
joining into the meld, entering his world, and was overjoyed. The L.T. in the
pot could only shake his little leaves and smack his branches against whatever
was nearby. The L.T. in the meld danced and cavorted in joy. </span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">In spite of the
miles I</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’d
run, I could almost see him. Her. Suddenly I realized that the gender thing was
a really dumb question. L.T. was both him and her, and neither as well. As I
came to that realization, all the trees around me—smiled. </span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">I smiled.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">That</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’s
how it felt, anyway. The elf smile is one of complete radiant joy, using nearly
every single muscle in the face, but the trees have neither faces nor muscles,
nor did I feel my own facial muscles moving. Still, it was the same internal
sensations: joy, happiness, and for that moment, perfect and total serenity. </span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">It was a
wonderful moment. Beautiful, in fact. I</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’d suddenly realized that
I could commune with the trees pretty much across the entire continent, and
that was amazing. But when I left the castle, I reminded myself, it was for a
run, not for standing with the trees.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">I disconnected.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">I expected it to
be painful to separate from the newfound bond I</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’d created with the
trees. That somehow a part of me I hadn’t known before would be suddenly,
tragically ripped away, never to be whole until I found that unity once again.
At least, that’s how it seems like the sensations should feel. It’s not how
they felt, though. I disconnected, and that was that. The trees were all still
there. I knew—somehow—that they would always be there, if and when I needed
them. And while the long-distance group thing was nice, I didn’t miss it as I
gathered my human senses about me once again.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">A couple of
loping steps later, I stopped again. Curiosity enveloped me, and I knelt slowly
and put both hands on the ground, wondering if I</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’d sense anything
different.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Suddenly, I was
touching the entire world.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">With a gasp, I
raised my hands to collect my thoughts, and then my breath. I checked
Draignerthol for participation or for blame; no, the pendant was still chill to
the touch. </span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">I reached down
and touched the ground again.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">If all the trees
seemed like a tremendous breadth of sensation, it was nothing compared to
pretty much the entire world. The sky was dark, so my eyes saw nothing, yet my
internal vision connected into a seemingly infinite pool of sensations. It was
overwhelming, at least at first.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">By exerting a
little concentration I found it easy to localize. A bug creeped along the
ground a few meters from me. What moved and acted like a snake slithered by on
the other side, which startled me a little. I guess it</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’s
hard to have the people of the west actively worshiping serpents, with a leader
known as Swadda of the Serpent Veils, without acknowledging that there actually
are snakes in the realm. I’d just never really thought about it. </span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Luckily, for me
and for it, I could tell that the creature really was more afraid of me than I
was of a little snake. </span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Off in the
distance, roughly in the same direction as the now-destroyed library, I saw and
acknowledged a dark patch. It wasn</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’t barren, but rather
dark in a malevolent sort of way. It was huge, and it seemed to be growing,
alive even. Dark animals roamed across it in spite of the hour, and that
brought a shudder as I remembered being chased by dire wolves and dire ravens
across the blight. I made a note to check that portion of the continent out
more thoroughly some day, to see if there was anything the rangers of the realm
could do. Granted, they had probably already done all they could do, but
perhaps there was something I could accomplish as queen of the realm.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Once I got there.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">If</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";"> I got there.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">My musings were
interrupted by a shadowy flash across my consciousness. It was faint, as though
something—or someone—was hiding from me, and using the earth itself to do it.
It was close, though, no more than twenty or thirty feet away. It didn</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’t
hold anything like the malevolence of the blight, but it was
anxious—scared?—agitated and perturbed, at least a little? It wasn’t like the
snake, though, nor any other creature. The conscience, the mind—the footprint,
if I can call it that—was too big, too grand, to intelligent. It wasn’t a
creature at all, I realized.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">It had to be an
elf.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Curious to learn
who was watching me, I leaped up and darted toward the spot. I was rewarded
with a gasp and a light thud as whoever it was tripped. We came face to face,
and it was my turn to gasp, loudly, in shock.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">It was a child. A
girl, somewhere between five and eight years old, near as I could tell. But
that wasn</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’t the shocking thing.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">She was clad in
hand-fashioned, primitive clothes. Her tunic looked, in the glow of the moon,
like supple leather, and it was bound together across the tops of the shoulders
and down the sides with crude lashings. On her feet were bound simple leather
flaps folded up and around. Her hair was a mess, all frizzy and jutting out.
But that wasn</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’t the shocking thing either.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">What brought a
shocked gasp to my lips was that she was black.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">I</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’d
seen black people before, growing up in the South. All the comments about
Southern racism aside, though, we kids never really thought much about it. I
had black friends, and my white friends had black friends, and my black friends
had white friends, and we all just sort of ignored both the color of each
others’ skin. At the same time we also ignored—or perhaps we just didn’t
know—how the rest of the world seemed to think we ought to think about it. </span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">But I</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’d
left all that behind. I’d been in Kiirajanna for well over half a year, and I’d
never seen a black elf. I hadn’t noticed that I’d never seen one,
unfortunately, because to be honest I wasn’t looking for any sort of racial
makeup. But now that a definitely dark-skinned elf sat sprawled in front of me,
I couldn’t help but notice. Even Swadda, coming from the desert as she and her
people did, carried her skin as pale as notebook paper. I’d been around
Cysegredig many times with my father, to the point that I figured we’d visited
every village there was to visit, yet not once had we seen a black elf. </span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">I was going to
marvel at my discovery a little while longer, but the little girl decided she</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’d
had enough. She sprang to her feet and turned to run.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Hi! Don’t—go…” I called after her as she took one step and then
disappeared with a </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">pop</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Teleportation</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">! My mind screamed at me that this was
important, but at the moment I was more interested in catching up to the girl
and worrying about the implications later. I snapped my hand about Draignerthol
and pulled upon the pendant</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’s power. With a matching </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">pop</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">, I teleported to right behind her, and
then pressed my long legs into sprinting after.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Pop</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">! </span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">She teleported
away again.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Pop</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">! </span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">I teleported
right after.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">She darted around
a tree and angled slightly away. She was quick, but I had much longer legs and
was pretty sure I could outdistance her in a straightaway. Not that she did
much straight-line running; every time she came close to a tree she darted at
some angle behind it. It was hard to keep up, but not impossible, and I started
to gain on her. She could teleport, but so could I, and with Draignerthol
around my neck I was pretty certain I could keep it up much longer than she
could. </span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Before, back on
Earth, she would</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’ve been nearly impossible to follow in the
darkness of the night, camouflaged as she was by the darkness of her skin and
clothes and the softness of her footpads. Here, though, I didn’t have any
trouble locating her even after a teleport, thanks to Draignerthol’s power.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Pop</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">! </span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">She teleported
just as my fingers neared her shoulder.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Pop</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">! </span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">I teleported
right after without losing stride. Three more long paces, and</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">…</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Slam</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">! </span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">I hit something
solid, something unseen that stretched impossibly rigid between the trees. It
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floor.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">As I lay there
gasping for breath, not sure if I would ever again be either capable of or
interested in rising to my feet, a heavy weight was dropped over my limbs. I
tried wiggling a finger, but couldn</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’t. I twitched my head,
trying to move it from side to side, but it was stuck in a vise as well. I
panicked, trying to get my hand up to touch Draignerthol, to awaken the pendant
and gather in the ancient power that might help me press out of the bonds that
held me down, but the more I twitched the tighter I was held. </span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Finally, not
having any other option, I relaxed. As soon as I did, a face—a black elf</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’s
face, mature this time—popped into view. The eyes in the face examined me
closely, obviously taking in every detail in the dim moonlight. Eventually the
eyes closed and the head nodded. She—I could tell it was a she from her rich,
melodic voice—spoke to someone else I couldn’t see in a heavily accented
version of the elf language. </span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">“Yes,
congratulations be upon us all. We have undoubtedly captured the crown
princess.”</span>The Other Stephen Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14471972807328125155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1932376865726081805.post-90231732177368447782017-02-28T07:22:00.004-05:002017-02-28T07:22:34.562-05:00Trial of Spirit Chapter 5<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Call for Exile</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-hansi-font-family: "Courier New";">The high priestess cleared her throat to do her standard duty as
herald/bailiff. Then she intoned in a loud, clear voice sharp enough that it
should have slashed through Swadda</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’s veils, “We are present
to hear the discussion and receive blessing of the king’s and queen’s combined
wisdom in the situation before us involving the Crown Princess Alyssa,” Naissa
paused momentarily to allow the briefest of glares toward the serpent veil from
which an audible hiss of disgust had shot, “and the accusation before us that
she has, on numerous occasions with wanton disregard for our traditions and
most fundamental beliefs, abused the arcane powers that flow through the land.”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Accusations,” the word slid through Hefin’s teeth. “It is well
known—”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“It is well known that none but the king and queen speak without
being granted leave to do so in their formal court,” Naissa cut him off curtly.
</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Hefin,” my father said, his voice deep and serious. I saw his
knuckles whiten under the tension he was applying to the arms of his throne,
and after a few months being with him an awful lot I noticed that both his eyes
and his nostrils flared. “Glynis. Swadda. Have any of you ever known me to act
unjustly?” The last word shot out, accusatory in its own right. </span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Toward your own daughter?” Swadda hissed.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Toward anyone?” his low-pitched reply thundered through the
room.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">After a long
silence, during which I didn</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’t dare cast a glance around, he continued,
“So which of you were present, or had personal agents present, at the battle
during which the Cult attempted to kill my daughter and her traveling companions
at the library?”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Cut the legal maneuvering, Cadfael,” Hefin barked. The use of
the king’s traditional first name earned him a glare from Naissa, but my father
merely crooked an eyebrow and gestured in a slightly condescending movement. “It
is widely known that your daughter drew upon the forces of magic to set fire to
the library and burn it down around the librarians, whose guilt we have still
not seen evidenced.”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“I must have misunderstood you, Hefin,” my father replied. “Surely
you did not just call me a liar?” His knuckles actually got whiter. I wondered
whether the great golden chair arms or Dad’s hands would win the strength
contest.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“A liar?” Hefin challenged.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“It is—well known—that my men, and at times I, personally,
questioned the few survivors who we captured and in doing so ascertained that
my daughter’s allegations were true regarding their intent. Had you not heard
of that questioning?”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Hefin</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’s
presence, the aura I could sense, shrank a little. I still didn’t dare glance
around for fear of insulting the three who were on my side, but I desperately
wanted to see Hefin’s expression. After a few moments, his voice, shaking ever
so slightly, came back with, “I humbly retract that statement, Cadfael. But the
rest still remains. It is known that she used magic to call about fire.”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Is it? It has been my understanding that the librarians
maintained ill-advised torches that were blazing at the time the library caught
fire.” </span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Dad wasn</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’t
actually twisting the truth very far. I didn’t call down fire in the library. I
wouldn’t have called down fire even if I’d known that I could. It was wind, to
be perfectly honest. This Mississippi girl recalled seeing the aftermath of a
tornado or two and knew the value of a good whirlwind, and so that was what I’d
reached for. Unfortunately for us all, the attackers had brought torches, which
got smashed up against books, and then the wind fanned the flames. </span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">So, no, I am not
a firestarter. Firespreader, maybe. Yes, I do have my faults. And yes, I have
been wanton with occasional magic usage, but not with fire. </span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Not that that
matters a whole lot, when libraries have been burnt to the ground.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“I—” Hefin started to argue, but my father forestalled him with
a hand.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Were you there?”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“No.”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Were any of your agents there?”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“No.”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“There is the matter of the battle in Ganolog,” Glynis purred
dangerously from behind me.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Were you or your agents present to witness the act you accuse
my daughter of?”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“No, but you already knew that, Cadfael. Padrig might be here to
support us, but your daughter’s antics actually led to war between you and his
tribe, if I recall.”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">My father flushed
at that. It was true; I</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’d stepped right into a hornet’s nest of
Cult members and the resulting battle had brought out my temper. Worse, it had
put Dad in a position where he had to invade the land of the northern tribes to
capture a Cult ringleader, thus leading to a war with the entire clan. That it
had been a bloodless war, and was now over, wasn’t my place to bring up since I
still had a gag order on me.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“We could just ask the little girl herself,” Swadda suggested
innocently.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“She would probably just lie to us,” Hefin pointed out. </span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">The anger that
now freely flowed across Dad</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’s face told me that the insult had raised
his blood pressure as much as it had mine, but seeing that helped me hold my
own temper in check.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Those who stand before their king and queen insisting on
honoring custom should, of course, recognize the custom of not requiring
self-incrimination,” the high priestess pointed out, touching the king’s
shoulder subtly but meaningfully. It worked; his grip loosened enough that
color returned to his joints, and he lost the mask of someone who was envisioning
someone else’s insides being ripped out.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Well, there is Prince Keion. He’s not grown too fond of the
girl yet, has he?”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“My son is indisposed at the moment,” the queen replied and shot
Hefin an icy look.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Of course he is. As is your niece, Cadfael?”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">When moments
ticked by without my father gracing the eastern elf lord with a reply, he
growled and continued, </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Look, it doesn’t matter. My clan will not
support her as queen.”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Nor mine,” hissed Glynis.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Nor will mine,” added Swadda. “And if you insist on continuing
with this charade, you will find yourself at war with more than just the
northern elves.”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“War is what it may come to, then?” my father asked, his
already-long face lengthening even further.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Cadfael, you know that we mean you neither harm nor ill will.
It is just that we must be the mouthpieces for our clans, as you yourself have
expected us to be for all these years. You have but to replace your daughter
with Seren, and my clan will be satisfied. Otherwise….” she left the
repercussions hanging.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">I wasn</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’t
surprised to hear the queen’s eldest daughter’s name floated as a better
candidate for queen than I was. I’d suggested it, myself, a few times after I’d
arrived. What surprised me was the queen’s reaction.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“No!” her majesty snarled, leaping to her feet. Keeping her
anger in check with visible effort, she continued, “Swadda, how dare you come
to us demanding what you know to be impossible, hanging your expectation on
tradition while breaking another tradition in so demanding. You </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">know</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";"> that my daughter is off-limits in this
discussion, yet you bring her name anyway. I am shocked and ashamed in what
this discussion has come to.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Into the silence
that followed, Sternyface tried to insert some calming words. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“The
prophecy has long foretold—”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">It was a mistake.
Apparently Swadda</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’s inability to directly confront the queen’s
anger made her even more willing to verbally snap the high priestess’s head
off. “Prophecy! Ha! You and your useless priests and priestesses have spent
centuries preparing us to face the perils of this prophecy, with no thought
given to merely avoiding the outcome from the start. Well, I say it is time for
the people to stop listening to the whine and murmur of our </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">spiritual</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";"> leaders and take action to prevent this
upheaval. Let</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’s nip it in the bud, and if Naissa and her pets get cut in the
process, so be it.”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Prophecy or no prophecy, doesn’t matter to me and mine. What’s
important is that we remove the little whelp from her </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">glorious</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";"> future of having power over us all,</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">”
Hefin added angrily, and suddenly my father was out of his throne, his
expression matching the queen’s. </span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">His hands shook
as he pointed two fingers at the chieftain who</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’s just insulted me. “You
will not speak of my daughter in such a manner,” he growled. To be fair, the
word Hefin, bless his foul heart, had chosen was </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">lesgenau</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">, which carries a whole lot more derogatory connotation than
whelp does. It refers to a depth of weakness and listlessness that cannot
operate without a parental figure over it, and to the elves that</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’s
a very bad thing.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Stop!” I heard my own voice ring out. Suddenly the entire
room—and all of its anger and contempt—was focused directly on me. That’s okay,
I thought; at least now they’ll be vicious </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">to</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";"> me rather than <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">about</i>
me. I allowed myself to turn about, finally taking in the adversaries on all
sides. They were all glaring directly at me, now—Dad looked like he wanted to
rip my tongue out. </span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">I caught the
briefest of twitches on Sternyface</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’s lips, though, and in
that one fleeting moment I got the support I was hoping for.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Penna Hefin,” I said, using the formal address and doing my
best to make my voice come out as a purr. “Last summer you eagerly accepted me,
cheering my coronation and even suggesting that I might consider one of your
sons as a consort. I don’t think I am misremembering that, am I? No, no, let me
finish. I have held my tongue long enough, now I ask you to hear me out,” I
continued, turning the purr into sharpness. “I was your favorite then, and yet
now you call me—I cannot bring my own lips to utter that word around our king
and queen—and why? I have done nothing but act to protect the lives of those I
hold dear. In anyone else, would you not consider that strength? Why is the
situation so different now?”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“It is clear—” Swadda started to interject, but stopped when I
held my palm up to her and shot her a glare. Her eyes grew wide; apparently she
feared I might use Draignerthol to lash out at her. Fine; I didn’t mind her
fear at that moment.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Penna Hefin, I asked a question of you.”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Alyssa,” he started, ignoring my title but at least using my
name instead of the pejoratives he’d been casting about.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“It is the will of my clan.”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“The fear of your clan, it sounds like to me. When have the
eastern clan been so fearful of one little girl?”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“One little girl who threatens to throw us back into civil war,”
Swadda spat.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“I am not the one who stood here in the royal throne room,
threatening war,” I reminded her, and then turned back to my father and the
queen, who had both relaxed slightly. “What Swadda says holds some truth,
however. I am yet a little girl according to elf custom. In fact, technically,
I believe—and I would be glad for your input if I am incorrect, High Priestess
Naissa, you cannot exile one who is but a child, and I am still considered
such. May I suggest, for the benefit of the temper of all here today, that we
put off this discussion until after I have completed the rituals of the
hunhymgais, at which point you can determine what to do with me as an adult, as
is proper? Would your clan consider that acceptable, Penna Hefin? Penna Glynis?
If I begin preparations immediately at sunrise tomorrow?”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">I left Swadda out
of the deal-making on purpose, and I could tell it angered her. She seemed to
be the ringleader, though, so that felt like the right thing to do. I just
hoped it wouldn</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’t backfire later. Still, it got the result
I was looking for as first Hefin and then Glynis nodded.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">I turned back to
the royal pair. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Father. Talaith. I seek your agreement with
my recommendation, and subsequently your leave to begin preparation for the
arduous ceremony I am to undertake.”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Naissa actually
smiled at that. I</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’d used the informal address for the king
and queen to point out my own relative status as a child among them. First my
father, and then the queen, nodded their acquiescence. Swadda spun on her heels
and stormed out, followed closely by Hefin. Glynis remained just long enough
for the other two to exit, and then she whispered quietly to me, “Impressive
turn, that was, but I believe that you are merely putting off the inevitable.”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">I gave her my
best guarded smile, the one that doesn</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’t include every facial
muscle, and she nodded in agreement with my unspoken sentiment. She rapidly
removed herself from the throne room.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Well,” the queen said, collapsing into her throne in an
un-royal manner.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“That was—effective. I fear that what Glynis said will come to
pass, but at least when you return from your hunhymgais, we can be prepared for
the battles to come,” Dad said. Still standing, he met the queen’s and then the
high priestess’s eyes. “I would like some time alone with my daughter, please.”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">The queen nodded
and left. Sternyface followed, but only after a very uncharacteristic smile and
nod my direction. Once the door closed behind them, Dad led me through the
curtain into a hidden lounge that was solely for the use of the king. In fact,
he</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’d
told me that he was the only elf allowed in there, which made me wonder who
filled the ice cube bucket, the first time he brought me in for quiet, private
conversation. It was the only place, it seemed, where he could let his guard
down completely.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“That was impressive indeed, Alyssa,” he said as he tossed a
couple of ice cubes into glasses and covered them with a brownish liquor. </span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“I just got tired of being talked about instead of talked to,” I
argued. I took a sip and then grimaced. “Ooh,” I exhaled. “I don’t think I’ll
ever be used to your whiskey, Dad.”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“That is fine. Children should not drink, anyway,” he said with
a grin.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“I wanted to calm down an escalating argument,” I argued again. “I
didn’t mean to go back to being treated as a child. Are you going to put me in
class with the first graders again?”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Dad chortled, and
I joined in the laughter. When I arrived the priestesses put me into an
intensive class to learn the elf language, and the only one of those available
was full of five-year-olds. It was weird, but since I</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’d
learned elf as a young child I caught up quickly enough and escaped.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“The hunhymgais is difficult, Alyssa. Let us not make light of
that important ritual.”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Not making light, Dad, but so far I’ve faced down a wyvern, a
few different groups of Cult members looking to kill me, and even an angry
Sternyface. I’m not certain how going off by myself to survive for a while
could be much of a comparative challenge.”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“You are probably right, my daughter. At least, I hope it is
thus with all my heart. You will, of course, begin preparations tomorrow, and
that will require most of your time and energy. For tonight, though, you should
relax.”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Well, this is a good start,” I murmured, amazed once again at
how much smoother the second sip of whiskey was than the first. “But why did
the queen object so angrily to the suggestion that Seren would make a better
choice? It’s true, I’d say.”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Hmm.” Dad gave me an appraising stare. “It was probably true
this past summer, but I believe that, as you have already pointed out, you have
earned your tiara since. But to answer your question, I believe that there are
two matters that stirred the queen to anger. First, of course, is the prophecy;
both she and I have a responsibility to uphold the integrity of the priesthood,
which, though we claim tradition to be our savior, is truly the primary agency
that has protected us from civil war all these centuries. To brush off the
validity and import of the prophecy would in turn brush off the authority of
the priesthood. We both believed that to be the worst possible outcome of today’s
discussion. More importantly, though, I suspect she loves her daughter too much
to subject her to ruling through the times to come.”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Oh. I see. And you don’t love me enough to protect me from the
same?” I let my voice lilt up at the end to take the sting out of my words.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Dad chortled
again around another sip. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Daughter…. Alyssa, I love you more than I
love any other being in this entire realm. I hope that you know that. If I
could spare you the turmoil that is to come, I would. Yet I also love this
realm, and I am in firm agreement with both </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Sternyface</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";"> and Talaith that you are the only one
capable of leading it through the dark times to come.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Help me, ‘lyssa One Kenobi, you’re my only hope,” I quipped.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“A movie quotation?” Dad asked, and I nodded. “Well, in this case,
it seems apropos, whatever it meant in the movie. As much as I hate to place
this upon your shoulders, you are the realm’s only hope. Seren, for many
reasons, some of which are likely not apparent to you yet, cannot do what you
must do.” He drained his glass. “And now, might I suggest that you enjoy the
remainder of your evening? The next few days will be challenging.”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“I’m going out for a run,” I announced to Seph and Aerona once I’d
changed out of the court finery and taken my hair down. It sounded like a good
thing to do; I hadn’t been on a run since my arrival in the elf realm. Oh, I’d
run several times, but running because you have to get somewhere fast, or
because a legendary grizzly bear is chasing you, is vastly different from
jogging along just because you can. </span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Okay, let me change to my running clothes. It will only be a—”
Seph started, but I interrupted her with both my voice and my gesture.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“No. Please, I need—I’m not certain what I need, exactly, but I’m
pretty sure it doesn’t involve my cousin and her wolverine and my guard loping
along with me. I’m sorry, Aerona, but I need to go out by myself.”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">I was shocked to
see her nod, and then she grinned. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“I do believe your father
would approve, at this point,” she said, and then she pulled a dagger from one
of her many hiding places and held it out to me. “Please, though, take this
along with that pendant of yours. You never know which might be more useful if
either is needed.”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">I hefted the
knife. It felt—professional. The handle was smooth, its leather turned dark in
stripes from a great deal of handling. The blade, somewhere around eight inches
long, was simple, thin, and looked incredibly sharp on both edges. Even the
point at its tip looked clean and precise. I raised a hand to the blade to test
its sharpness.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Don’t!” she interrupted, and then grabbed the hand that was
apparently headed for a slashing. “Sorry, Princess, but you still have some to
learn about weaponry. You test a blade by flicking your finger sideways across
it, not long ways. A sharp blade will feel—like this,” and she demonstrated and
then gestured for me to copy. I did, flipping the pad of my thumb gently across
the sharpness of the blade and feeling the little </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">ting</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";"> it made on what seemed like a single ridge of molecules. </span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Thank you,” I said, and then looked to slip it under my belt.
Once again Aerona sprang to my rescue, showing me how to fold a scrap of
leather into a pouch to protect the belt, the clothes, and my underlying skin
from the incredibly sharp edges.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">I pulled the
knife Keion gave me for Christmas out of a drawer and showed it to her.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“That is a nice piece of work,” she complimented it. “But it is
intended to go under boots, not those </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">tennie</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";"> things you are so fond of wearing. Keep mine instead for the
time being.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">“If
you need me, tell the trees,” Seph said as I left. Confused, I nodded anyway,
assuming I’d figure out what that ranger mumbo-jumbo meant if I needed to.</span>The Other Stephen Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14471972807328125155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1932376865726081805.post-57397305690806332672017-02-21T07:51:00.001-05:002017-02-21T07:51:24.868-05:00Trial of Spirit Chapter 4Another installment. The whole book is coming much closer!<br />
<br />
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<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">The Audience</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Highness, your presence is requested in the throne room,” the
little servant girl said. It was pretty easy to tell from the way she kept her
eyes glued to the ground, and then how quickly she darted out again, that I
didn’t have a pleasant visit ahead of me. </span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">I sighed.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“You’ll be fine, Princess,” a droll voice carried from the
corner. I glanced over, pushing my eyes as far to the side as they would go
without moving my head in an attempt to cast a dark, meaningful glare at my
guard. It didn’t work; I’m not sure if the failure was due to my inability to
move any of my facial muscles or the old battle-axe’s inability to be glared
at. </span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Thanks, Aerona,” I said through pursed lips, earning me an
affronted gasp from the makeup lady who was trying to cover up my lack of sleep
by intensively pinching and pushing and prodding and smothering the skin on my
face. I wasn’t even certain there was all that much left of it, but I hoped
what was there would be presentable.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">So, apparently,
did the queen, who had insisted on providing me the services of her personal
retinue of makeup and wardrobe artists. It was that insistence, in fact, that
had told me all I needed to know about how the day was going to go.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“I have done all I can,” the makeup artist spat and walked from
the room. Seph raised my spirits a little by visibly giving me a once-over and
raising two fingers in the gesture my human friends would raise two thumbs to
make. </span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Thanks. You coming with, Cousin?”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“No! No, I was not summoned, Alyssa. I wish I could, but—“</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“I know. Well, let’s face the jungle, Aerona.” The two of us
stepped out of the dressing room, me in a resplendent yellow beaded blouse that
came down nearly to my ankles, and her following in her much darker bodyguard
attire. </span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“The word is </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">goeddgwyllt</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">, Princess,</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">” she murmured from
behind me as we made our stately way down the third-floor hall.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Thanks, Aerona,” I said, trying to keep sarcasm out of my
voice, but failing. I didn’t need the grammar lesson when something so
significant was happening just two floors down. Granted, she was right; I’d
used the proper word for jungle and so it didn’t make sense in the elf idiom.
The correct way to get the point across was to suggest facing the crazy
trees—which would, granted, have made a native elf a lot more nervous than
merely facing a jungle like they had in the southern part of the continent. </span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">At least she had
gotten my point.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“You’re welcome, Princess.”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“So how was your vacation?” She and I hadn’t had any time to
chat; she’d been away for the entirety of Yule since I was safely tucked away
at my father’s native village—and since, I suspected, he’d ordered her to take
time off. Otherwise, she’d have continued standing just past my shoulder
glaring at the shadows on my behalf for the entire time. But she’d spun into my
room as the door was closing behind Seph the night before, and as far as I knew
she stood in watch over me all night, just as she had every night since the
ill-fated attack on me during my first few days in Kiirajanna. </span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“I enjoyed it,” was the simple reply.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Did you go home?”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Yes.”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Are you willing to supply me with any details?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In addition to the fact that I was anxious
for anything to take my mind off of the upcoming meeting, I was really
genuinely curious.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“At the moment, such details would be frivolous.”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Thanks,” I grumbled.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Finally the long
walk ended, as it eventually had to. I found myself standing in front of the
doors that were so seldom closed, hoping that they could somehow just remain
that way and it would all just disappear. Only, I knew it wouldn</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’t,
and so I took a deep breath and nodded to Aerona, who pulled one of the doors
wide to let me in.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">I stepped into
the throne room and just barely kept myself from shivering as the temperature
seemed to plummet. My father</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’s eyes met mine briefly, and in that
fleeting microsecond I watched a host of emotions flash by. The first was
genuine surprise; I suppose Aerona’s door-swoosh had been a little bit too
abrupt. It was followed by deep and sustaining love, a dash of pity, a whole
mess of sorrow, and even a little pinch of personal humiliation. </span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Great. I
suppressed a sigh, but only barely.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">The queen, for
her part, wore her own mask of consternation. Her eyes betrayed absolutely
nothing as they flashed over my presence and returned quickly to the assembled
guests around me. She sat easily, entirely regally, on her throne, chin high
and hands relaxed on the arms of the chair. Her face looked like it was ready
to freeze a fireball, but every other detail about what she could have been
thinking was hidden behind a firmly-fixed mask. </span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">I made a mental
note to ask her how she developed that skill.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">The royal pair
were as resplendent as I</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’d ever seen them. Dad was regal in his
darkest black velvet robe complete with purple slashed openings down each arm
and a purple sash under the magnificent golden stag and raven pendant. His hair
was carefully molded into the perfect black mane, swooping around and to the
side like Prince Charming’s—Keion’s—did when the prince flipped it that way.
But Dad was sporting the look on purpose. Similarly, Her Majesty’s hair was up
in a magnificent maze of actual hair and ribbons with pearls and rubies
interspersed every so often. Her luxurious dress was a formal full-length gown
of purple with deep green panels inset across the bodice and down the skirt,
which spilled onto the floor all about her feet. She must, I realized, have
been sitting that way since before the meeting, since there was no way gravity
could’ve placed the hem where it lay. </span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">From her perch
standing between the pair, Sternyface glared at everybody, though she seemed to
take great joy in adding a little extra heat to her glare at me. The High
Priestess Naissa and I had shared a special relationship since I</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’d
arrived in Kiirajanna, new as I was to the elf lifestyle. She was special to me
as one of only two people I’d ever punched in the face, and even more so as the
only one who hadn’t even shown the slightest bit of injury from the incident.
At the same time, I was obviously special to her, thanks to the weaknesses
apparent in my temperament, in my maternal genetic material, in my native state
of Mississippi, and in everything else I happened to be involved with. Still,
my spirits were buoyed as her glare suddenly softened to a look that actually
seemed calming and understanding, if that was even possible from Sternyface
herself, bless her heart. </span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Meanwhile, I
sensed nothing but anger tinged with hatred from both sides of me. I didn</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’t
spare it a glance. I couldn’t; the Queen’s Lady had been extra-firm on that
point both at my coronation ceremony and this morning. At the earlier ceremony
it would have merely been a minor slight to the ruling pair, as everyone in
audience to the king and queen are supposed to pay attention to them and to
them alone. Today, though, it would represent a significant psychological
victory for my new detractors.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">It was okay. I
didn</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’t
need to turn my eyes. My spidey-senses were on maximum overdrive anyway, thanks
to the stress of the moment, and while I’d never been able to sense anything
but location and identity, I found myself at that moment able to discern raw
emotions, too, probably thanks to the intensity of those emotions. Hefin, the
barrel-chested leader of the eastern elves, stood furthest to my left. He stood
calmly and felt the least angry of the bunch. </span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">The faint whiff
of woodsmoke he carried in his tunic was nearly drowned out by the pungent
incense that Swadda of the Serpent Veils exuded. I can never remember the name
for the incense that her tribe, the elves of the western desert, use not only
for ritual blessing and cleansing but also to cover the fact that they don</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’t
take many showers. It was described by the Queen’s Lady, before I’d experienced
it personally, as a strong earthy presence bearing gentle floral and citrus
overtones, but to me it smelled like I was sniffing pine needles and eating an
orange while somebody nuked a microwave full of popcorn into charcoal nearby. </span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Swadda was the
most agitated of the bunch. I didn</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’t need any extra senses
to feel the air jiggle thanks to the quivering angst of the massive veils she
wore. She was furious, and probably more than a little bit scared, and only
barely holding those emotions in check.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">To my right stood
a darkly-brooding elf I</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’d enjoyed meeting last summer. Glynis led
the southern tribes, a loose collective of jungle dwellers who perfectly
personified the Amazonian archetype. The tribes were strongly matriarchal, I
recalled, and — I’m not kidding — ran around in loincloths and leather bikini
tops looking like contestants on a survivalist reality game show back home.
They even applied war paint to their visages when they were looking for a
battle, which was bad news considering I’d caught a glimpse of Glynis’s striped
face on my way in. </span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">That she stood
rigidly wearing an enforced calm scared me the most, if you want the truth. I</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’d
enjoyed meeting her and her tribe mostly because of the pure, simple joy they
brought to most of life’s events. She’d greeted me back then with a genuine
smile and a genuinely pleasant air, and then she eagerly, almost childishly,
dragged me to meet nearly everybody in her camp, grinning widely the whole way.
Every one of her companions invited me down to run through the tree tops with
them, as others had told me that their idiom went. In a private moment
afterward, while she and I were sharing some wonderful southern mead, Glynis
explained to me that it wasn’t just an idiom—the southern elves could literally
run through the treetops, thanks to the thousands of pathways they’d developed.
</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">That was all
before news of the library thing took hold, unfortunately. Now, they were all
here to see me go down, if the queen</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’s kids’ rumor held true.
My senses, unfortunately, were shouting at me that the rumor was pretty much
spot on. I forced that thought from my mind, wrapped my face in a true,
practiced elf-grin using nearly every facial muscle I owned, curtsied with the
most appropriate hand gesture of respect, and greeted the royal pair.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Then my worst
fears gained form and laughed in my face.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
The Other Stephen Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14471972807328125155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1932376865726081805.post-10925942826877104902017-02-13T21:08:00.002-05:002017-02-13T21:08:53.152-05:00Trial of Spirit Chapter 3Still not done, though I've made some headway after the flu ran its course. Here's Chapter 3, though!<br />
<br />
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<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">The Challenge</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“</span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Ych a fi!</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">I spun my head
toward my father, stunned. From what I could see of Seph</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’s
expression in my peripheral view, I could tell she was as shocked as I was. My
dad, the high king of all Kiirajanna, the elf whose speech patterns were always
exorbitantly formal whether in English or his native tongue, had just cursed.
And it wasn’t a nice curse, either; it was the most disgusting of the disgust
phrases that the beautiful elf language has available to it. It involved,
literally, something about an ox and a person, I think, but I’d been taught
never to say the phrase unless I wanted my mouth washed out with soap.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Granted, that
lesson was with the five year olds, but it stuck pretty solidly with me. I
could tell from Seph</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’s mirrored reaction that my memory was
accurate. </span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">I didn</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’t
understand, though. Coming back to the castle for the last couple of ceremonies
related to Yule, we’d just rounded the final corner to make the approach
straight in to the front doors. It was a gorgeous final approach, as always.
Huge expanses of grass mingled amongst the trees, not a single discoloration in
sight despite it being the dead of winter. The only thing out of the ordinary
was a ring of gaily decorated tents arrayed about the main courtyard in front
of the castle, but that, in turn, looked spectacular to me. The vibrant colors
of all the pendants were spectacular, and the variety and decoration of
clothing worn by all the elves gathered about them was also spectacular. </span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">It was, in a
word, spectacular.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">What, then, did
my father find so disgusting?</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Alyssa, Sephaline, get inside and up to your rooms as quickly
as possible,” he growled in English just as the horseless carriage rumbled to a
stop. He punctuated the order with an adamant little gesture down low, below
the edge of the carriage so that it couldn’t be seen by onlookers. Seph
obediently grabbed my arm and rushed us inside and straight up the stairs.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Wait,” I ordered, pulling her to a halt at the first landing. “It
took me a second, but I know those colors. Some of them, anyway. They were here
last summer at my coronation. But why would my father be so put out by seeing
Swadda’s arrival?” Seph shook her head mutely and raised her shoulders in a
shrug of ignorance. But I vividly remembered meeting the </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">penna</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";"> of the western tribe back then, along with
the leaders of the other tribes as well. It had seemed like a great big elf
party, with the huge drums of the eastern clan mixing in with the undulating
song of the southern clan and the weird multi-voice guttural harmony from the
western elves, and a whole lot of dancing and drinking to go with it. They</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’d
all seemed pleased to meet me at the time, too. </span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">What could be
going on now?</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“I am not entirely certain, but it could have something to do
with their stated desire to put your head up on a pike to parade back to their
people,” a slitheringly amused voice cut in from the side. Seph, whose ranger
gift of sensing approaching elves didn’t work in stone structures, jumped in
surprise, but it gave me a little pride to have sensed the royal trio
approaching.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Greetings, Meriel. Glad to see you three made it back safely
from your amser calan festivities. We had a marvelous time; thank you so for
the kindness of asking. Tell me, did you have a chance to stock up on the wine
of nastiness while you were away?” I tossed the queen’s youngest daughter a
smirk.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Of the three,
Meriel showed the most reaction as her eyes squinted ever so slightly and her
lips pressed together. I was proud of myself for advancing in the ability to
read elf expressions as much as I had in less than a year; when I</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’d
arrived her expression would have seemed stolid. Now I could read the anger
right off her eyelid lines, see the speechlessness on her lips, and watch the
anger intensify as a result of her inability to make a comeback.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">After all, I
reckoned, very few had ever sniped back at the Light of Queen Talaith</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’s
Eyes, or whatever the youngest brat was calling herself.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Seren, the
eldest, allowed herself another moment of calm serenity before rolling her eyes
at the antics. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“It is so nice to see the peace of
Christmastime lasted so long before being smashed asunder.” She split her regal
glare between me and her sister. Her point was valid, I had to admit.
Ostensibly to give the queen’s kids a cultural rounding-off with a taste of a
Southern Christmas, Dad had led us back through the portal to Memphis a couple
of days before Christmas Eve, and we’d spent a wonderful Christmas with Momma.
Of course, I and the brats had all decided that the trip was mostly of benefit
to the king himself, and of course we’d had significantly different reactions
to that. Still, the castle in Wales had been alerted of our impending plan, and
so the queen’s kids had been shown pretty much every possible imaginable joy,
right up to a first class flight up to see Times Square in New York City. And,
hey, Momma and I got to go along. And they’d still complained about being asked
to do it. Meriel had, anyway, in a supercilious manner that obviously included
her siblings as complainants.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">The upshot was
that it had actually been harmonizing in a strange, superficially joyful sort
of way. Meriel, the same elf who</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’d just gleefully
described my head on a pike, had actually grinned widely at and along with me
as we watched a huge tree flash its lights at us in Rockefeller Center. Later,
as we sat around the kitchen table and enjoyed Momma’s Christmas morning
breakfast, I finally saw Seren let slip her royal guard on her expression. She
smiled, she laughed, and she even joked. The gift giving had been delightful,
too.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">It had all been beautiful,
if obviously short-lived. But that</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’s another story.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Sarcasm, sister? You are so far above the low-brow humor of the
half-human,” Meriel purred. That made it my turn to glare.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Keion remained
silent. The middle child and only son of Talaith, Keion was a smoldering mass
of testosterone-based sexiness who had even gotten my really selective engines
revved up once. Or, maybe twice. Okay, truth be told, he</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’s
the only member of the male half of the species who ever brought out such a
visceral hunger in me. Problem was, he knew it, and he gloried in the
knowledge, and I knew it, and I hated him for the glory. It was all so
high-school-ish, and yet I found it impossible to keep my heart from leaping
into my throat when I saw him.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">For his part, he
managed to maintain the same perfectly neutral expression that his elder sister
held. I didn</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’t doubt for a second that he was on my side; he’d saved my
head, and my neck, and literally the rest of the body it was attached to, too
many times already for me to question his motives. He’d even sworn personal
allegiance to me in a strange spur-of-the-moment ceremony up in the north under
the incredible northern lights. But those times were all when his sisters weren’t
present, and who could know what he’d decide if he had to choose between us? </span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“So what about you, Prince Keion?” I teased. “Do your toes curl
in excitement at the idea of seeing my head on a pike, too?”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">That earned a
flush and a glare, both at the same time, before he answered with a fair amount
of heat in his voice, </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“I believe, Princess, that my sister was
engaging in hyperbole regarding threat to your physical form. However, the
clans gathered have brought quite a solid argument, in light of all the cursed
magic we have been witness to, that Seren, the well-trained, well-bred daughter
of Talaith herself, would make a demonstrably better choice to succeed her
mother than a gangly Mississippi girl with no royal upbringing whatsoever.”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“I—I see,” I murmured, feeling my control slip away in the
crushing agony that his words brought with them. He was absolutely correct, and
I’d wished for someone else to take the crown in my place many more times than
anybody else knew. None of that mattered, though, when it was him standing
there offering the damning opinion. I bravely wrestled what control I could
back to my face and my spine and my knees, somehow preventing the latter from
buckling. “Well. Thank you for your—opinion, Prince. I shall take that under
advisement, and—now I must seek rest after a long journey back. Sephaline,
would you please retire with me?”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">The two of us
left the trio preening in the stair landing by themselves. I marched slowly,
deliberately, to my room, opened the door, and firmly but quietly shut it after
Seph and Booboo, who had crept up behind us in an impossibly silent way. Then I
slumped onto the bed, suddenly feeling as exhausted as I</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’d
claimed to be.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">I ignored the
excited rattling and the rustling in the corner as long as I could, which wasn</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’t
very long. “Hi, L.T.,” I called out in the sing-song I used to communicate with
my new, strange friend. “We weren’t gone all that long. I trust you were well
tended?” </span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Another rattle,
one I somehow recognized as an affirmative.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Little Treebeard,
or L.T., is a very small tree. He</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’s—or she’s—my best
friend, I guess, though I still hadn’t figured out how to tell the tree’s
gender. Regardless, using </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">it</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";"> seemed wrong. The priests gave me the small potted elm as part
of my lessons to connect to nature, and I</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’d connected after a
long, tough run of effort. While that was a tremendous academic achievement, it
was also the moment the tree latched on to me, and hard. When I went to the
north, I’d only been gone for a couple of days before Dad was forced to send a
squad carrying L.T. after me. </span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">The only
communication the tree and I had was the rattling of L.T.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’s
branches and the sing-song of my voice. In spite of that, the tree had managed
to warn me of an impending attack a couple of times. And I—weird as it sounds,
I kind of enjoyed singing to the little creature, who would occasionally swoosh
his branches in appreciation. Seph, who was more of an animal person, just
watched wide-eyed in wonder at the connection we had.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Some day, Alyssa, you’re going to have to deal with the hold
that boy has over your spirit,” my cousin interrupted gently from the corner. </span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Was it that obvious?” I asked, dreading the answer. I looked up
from where I’d buried my face in my hands and gently wiped the tears that I
hadn’t realized were falling.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“It’s always been that obvious, but just now you seriously
overplayed it. ‘I shall take that under advisement, Prince,’” she mimicked,
though her smile was genuine enough to remove the sting. “Look, it’s obvious
that you care for him, and that he cares for you, too, but seriously, Alyssa.
He’s most likely to become king after your father returns to Mississippi, and
you’re still quite in the running to become queen, no matter how much you wish
differently—yes, that’s obvious, too—and you know that the king and queen
cannot be involved in that way. You also know that he’s already promised. You
need to admit it, and quit torturing yourself over it, and—what’s so funny?”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">She asked the
question in such a piqued way that it made everything seem even funnier.
Suddenly I was guffawing on the bed, rolling around clutching my side. She
started giggling, too. </span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Finally the fit
died down. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“So, what was so funny?” she probed again.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Mississippi. You said it right. That’s the first time since I’ve
been here.”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“I’ve been practicing.”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Why?”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Why do you ask, why?” she asked, confusion spread across her
face.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Nobody on Kiirajanna cares how you pronounce it. It’s just a
state back home.”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“You do. It’s where you were born.”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Well….” She had a point. I’d corrected her every time she’d
mispronounced it because I guess it really was important to me. “I appreciate
it, Cousin,” I said, earning me another radiant smile. Then I took the mood
down a notch with a question, “Do you think that crowd out there is really
after my head?”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“No, of course not. Well, maybe. I’m not sure, Alyssa. Your
father seemed awfully perturbed, and he’s still out there now.”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“True. I’ve never seen him like that.” Granted, I’d only seen
him for a few months of the time I’d been on Kiirajanna, but I couldn’t imagine
it otherwise. Seph nodded confirmation. “So what are we going to do if they
are?”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">She shrugged. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“We’ll
do what we’ve been doing, Alyssa. We’ll figure out a way around it.”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“It may not be that simple, though.”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">She shrugged
again and held me in a stern gaze. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“It may not be that
complicated, actually. You don’t know. You’ve got to stop worrying about what
you don’t have any control over. You’re smart, and you’re already one of the
most powerful elves in the realm. You have powerful people on your side: your
pa, the queen, the high priestess, and me!”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Why would the queen be on my side? It’s in her daughter’s best
interest to be on their side.”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Maybe. I doubt it, since she would not have graced you with the
invitations to tea or anything else if she weren’t on your side. But you’re
still worrying about something you can’t control. Stop it!” She punctuated her
last sentence with a clap on each word.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Okay. I’m tired, anyway. Maybe a night of sleep will help clear
this all up.”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Maybe. Probably! It must.” She nodded decisively and walked
out, the shaggy wolverine padding quietly behind.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
The Other Stephen Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14471972807328125155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1932376865726081805.post-50355740927973566942017-02-04T13:40:00.000-05:002017-02-04T13:40:32.503-05:00Trial of Spirit Chapter 2Author's note: still don't have those pesky revisions done, and still not going to publish till it's perfect. So here's Chapter 2 for your enjoyment!<br />
<br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-hansi-font-family: "Courier New";">My father rounded on us as the door closed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Me, that is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He apparently completely forgot that Seph had
come in too, and rounded on and then focused the brute force of his royal
bearing on me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“What, precisely, did you mean by ‘she can have it,’ Alyssa?”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">I tried to meet
his gaze directly, but it was impossible to shield from the glower.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When my eyes finally settled comfortably on
the tops of his boots, I said, </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“I meant that she can have it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just that. Pure, simple, direct, no strings
attached, give me a marker to color in a dragon on top of her tramp stamp and I’ll
just be heading home to Momma.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Y’all
will have your queen, and the elf lands will be happy, and you can come home to
Mississippi and live with us, and….”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">My voice trailed
off, as I hadn</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’t any idea how I was going to finish that little rant.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’d figured he would jump in and start
yelling.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He didn’t, though, and after a
few seconds of silence I pushed my eyes back up to his face.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">He was crying.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Okay, I admit,
crying is a stretch.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I saw a tear; I
know I did.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Slowly, his hands reached
out and grasped mine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He led me gently
over to the table in the middle of the small home, and together, as one, we
sat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With one hand Dad pushed a tiny
lock of my hair out of my face from where it</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’d fallen.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Finally my
father, the ruler of the entire realm of the elves, spoke, his voice rumbling
out of his chest like the muted thunder of a spring rain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Alyssa…. It — it is not
fair, what Kiirajanna has asked of you, my daughter. I know, because I said the
same thing many years ago in my own training to take the male throne.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The idea of being a ruler, of having
servants, of everyone bowing and saying, ‘Yes, Sire,’ and ‘Your Majesty’ all
the time, is but a siren’s song compared to the reality of the burden of leadership.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You, my daughter, are just starting to step
into that burden, and yet if the prophecy is to be believed — and I have no
doubt that it is — then you have to look forward to the toughest monarchy in
our entire history, all four epochs combined.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It would be absolutely terrifying to an experienced ruler. I can only
imagine how daunting it must be to you.”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“It is, Daddy.” That wasn’t the biggest problem, though.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I figured there was no point beating around
it. “But my real worry, over and above the weight anyone would feel in the
crown on her head, is that this society that I’m destined to lead despises
me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Remember the talk we had last time
we were sitting at this table?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
nodded; right after we’d returned from the disastrous library-burning trip, his
brother had verbally, and strongly, taken me to task over accessing the
forbidden powers of outright, visible, magic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I’d satisfied my uncle, and my father had helped me convince High
Priestess Naissa that I shouldn’t be banished because of it, but the battle of
Ganolog as well as the shunning I’d received in more nearby villages told me
that the people hadn’t followed their lead quite like Dad and I hoped they
would.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Outright attempts on my life had
stopped, granted, but the quiet and secretive whispers and the glares cast my
way were sometimes even worse than that. At least an attack on my life was
overt, and I could see it and deal with it. What had happened up in the
northlands, with the outright challenge not only to my own life but to the leadership
of my father’s most loyal chieftain, terrified me for the future of my reign on
Kiirajanna. There were a group of elves—a large group, it seemed—who were
willing to take up arms against what they viewed as a challenge to their
traditional way of life, and I wasn’t sure if there was anything I could ever
do to convince them that I was not the dire challenge that they imagined.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Heck, sometimes I
couldn</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’t
help wondering if they were right. Would I actually become that challenge?</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Even here, my
father</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’s
own home village, there was a hidden resentment problem.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’d learned enough in my studies on the
history of elf government to suspect that Dad was the most popular king there’d
ever been.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Before my use of magic, that
popularity seemed to rub right off on me, with elders and children alike
flocking to shake the Earth-born princess’s hand, sharing in an alien-feeling
gesture from the exotic and far-off realm of Mississippi. Ever since word of
magic had reached their ears, though, they avoided me entirely, only gathering
around my father when I wasn’t there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">I saw it,
clearly, and it hurt. Just as clearly, it hurt him a little, too. </span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Do not worry, my dear daughter; they are only afraid of what
you represent,” my father’s favorite attempt at comfort sank sloppily. The
logic only went so far. I was afraid of what I represented.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If the prophecy were to be believed—and,
according to everybody who mattered, it was—then I was bound to absolutely,
personally, violently decimate the countryside.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I would lay waste to their customs, divide the elves brother against
brother, and all sorts of other miserable things. “Alyssa” would soon, if
prophecy were to be believed, be the Kiirajanna version of the cursed name “Adolf
Hitler.” Back in the library I’d read all these evil outcomes of my reign and
figured there had to be some way out of it all, but then I managed to fulfill
the first one right then and there by burning the dang building down to the
ground.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A library.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To me, a nearly </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">sacred</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";"> space.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I burned it
completely down, and that I hadn</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’t done it on purpose
didn’t matter much. Then I’d gone and answered other prophecies, like lighting
the sky up with radiance and starting wars among brethren and so on. </span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">It was really
darn depressing, all things considered.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Alyssa, they do not—” Dad started, but I interrupted.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Oh, yes, they do, bless their little hearts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Don’t tell me you don’t see the dark
looks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Don’t tell me you don’t sense
them holding back and away from me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m
going to be the first elf queen to be ruler of a people who don’t want her rule
at all.”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Not the first,” Dad joked. At least, I hoped he was joking.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Right. What, the second?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Hey, I’d studied elf history nearly as thoroughly as he had.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Third, I think, but that is not the point. Do you really believe
that I was Mister Popularity when I was crowned?”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">He had me there. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Well,
yeah. I do, Dad. You’re a pretty cool guy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And you’ve never, that I know of anyway, used magic.”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“You are right, but you cannot keep dwelling on the use of
magic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I know, I know, it has been
forbidden by your High Priestess Sternyface, and by others,” he said, grinning
with me as he used my epithet for Naissa. “And yet, at the same time, it has
been prophesied, and it was done, and there is no possible path from where we
are except forward through time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
gladdens me more than it should, I must admit, that you think I am a pretty
cool guy, but I have not always been labeled so, nor ever by all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is the nature of being in charge that you
garner dislike as you move along.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I
was young, it was even worse.”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“He was an arrogant asshole when he was young, I’ll tell you
what,” his brother, my uncle, chimed in as he moved past the table.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Like some tea?”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Oh, yes,” I breathed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My
uncle was a smith of soft items—leather and wood—by trade, but he also had a
knack with herbology that made his tea incredible.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His concoction would make the saddest sad
happy, and the gladdest glad even happier. And, as I’d learned the hard way in
my first trip to the village, it makes the worst hangover—well, it made it a
little less painfully horrible, a feat that I have come to believe is pretty
much legendary.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“He is right,” Dad nodded as his brother got busy with the
water.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I was—I suppose, an arrogant
asshole when I was young.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And some would
say the same about me even now. That is my point, in matter of fact. You see,
it is the norm for rulers to be regarded as arrogant at first, especially when
they follow behind someone who is popular.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>That is the curse of taking over when things are going well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You cannot adopt the same behavior and
policies as the one who governed before you, or else you are considered weak
and unoriginal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the same time, doing
your own thing marks you as an agent of change, and change is both feared and
rejected whenever it is not seen as absolutely essential, and it is often
feared even then.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That is likely a
significant part of the angst you are picking up on, my lovely daughter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You are already taking over for a very
popular queen, and it is the change you cannot help but bring that they fear.”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“That, and the magic,” I reminded him.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Well, there is that,” he agreed, and then the table grew silent
as we stirred the tea that my uncle had just warmed up for us.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">He finally broke
the tea-infused silence by continuing, </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Alyssa, as difficult and
even painful as it may prove, you must continue to move forward and become the
queen you are destined to be.”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">I ignored my
uncle</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’s
disapproving grunt as I said, “I know, Dad.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I did, really. I knew none of us had a choice, but I didn’t have
anywhere near as much to complain about as he did. Here was a man who’d given
up years of his life to train to be king, and then years of his life to find a
human woman to love and to bear his child as elf custom required, only to be
followed by nearly two decades away from that woman, and the daughter they’d
made, in order to return to his duty as sovereign over his people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sure, I’d hated him for it at first, but we
got past that as I came to understand the burden he was carrying.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now, the only thing that stood between him
and the love of his life—my mother—was for me to put on my big girl panties and
take the throne, and then for his own successor to be appointed and
trained.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If I were to step aside in
someone else’s behalf, bless her heart, custom as well as reality said it would
be years, if ever, before Dad could join Momma full-time at home.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“And no more public outbursts, okay?”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Can’t promise that.” I gave him my most precocious smile, but
he ignored it.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“You must.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For it is that
degree of discipline that is required of a queen, dear.”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Okay, Dad,” I said, getting serious.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I’ll promise, no more public outbursts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now, drink your tea, and I’ll drink mine,
before the water gets cold again.”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Yes, Your Highness,” Dad said with a smile.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I couldn’t quite tell if he was lightly
mocking me or gently deferring to me, but to be honest, I liked it either way.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Maybe her standing among the people will be helped once she has
completed her hunhymgais,” Seph offered from behind the safety of her own cup
of tea.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Dad nodded
tentatively and said, </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“It should, definitely.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I cannot say by how much, but our peoples’
opinions should certainly rise once you become truly one of us, Alyssa.”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Yay.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One corner of my
lip twisted up into my best, most sarcastic, smile.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Into the woods naked go I.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Literally, hunhymgais means “quest for self,”
and it is the rite of passage to adulthood for the elves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I hadn’t had one, of course. In Mississippi
they frown on prepubescent children running off “</span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">nekkid</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";"> as a jaybird</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">” into the woods by themselves. The elves’
quest for maturity, on the other hand, required a young elf to fend for herself
for six weeks—thirty-six long, cold, and probably hungry days—using just her
wits and nothing else, not even clothes—and then return, hopefully with a story
to tell of facing down one or more of her worst fears.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">My worst
fear?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That would be running off into the
woods <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">nekkid</i>, especially in the
wintertime.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That was just not my kind of
thing.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Not naked,” Dad argued, shaking his head.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“A child leaves naked and is expected to
return an adult in whatever attire pleases them—fashioned, of course, by their
own arts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You, on the other hand, come a
bit late to the questing, physically well past your childhood, and I will not
have my daughter, our future queen, run off into the woods with her womanhood
displayed for all to see.”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“But if I don’t do it just like an elf, won’t that diminish the
effect?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Won’t people just gripe that I
didn’t start it naked like everybody else?”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“No. Well, maybe. But I invited the counsel of the High
Priestess before we left, and she informed me that there is precedent for
beginning the hunhymgais clothed, especially insofar as the crown princess is
concerned.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It has always been done, in
fact. We will make sure to inform everyone that you wanted to run off naked
like your brethren but were prevented by tradition.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How is that?”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Great, Dad. Anybody who knows me will believe it when you say
how much I wanted to run off naked like everybody else, or, for that matter,
how I was prevented from doing it by that thing I cherish most—tradition.”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Sarcasm, dear?”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Ya think?”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">My uncle</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’s
snort sounded from the tiny pantry-kitchen combination that was the third room
of the house. When he stopped chortling, he added, “One additional thing to
consider, my brother, is that she cannot leave Draignerthol behind when she
undertakes the quest.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is too precious
a relic, and even under the castle’s own vaunted security it’s too inviting a
target for thieves. She should wear it with her quest, and of course that means
she must wear something to cover it up.”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Right, Dafydd,” Dad said, his eyes going to the lump on my
chest that indicated the hidden presence of the legendary elf pendant. It had
been fashioned in the early days of elf civilization, back when magic was cool,
by some of the most powerful sorcerers in Kiirajanna.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then, when the great priestess-queen Rhiannon
had crossed over to Earth, intending to forever seal herself away from the land
of magic and the elves, she’d taken it with her, and the entire elf race had
assumed the pendant lost to the hands of time and humans. Somehow, thousands of
years later, the striking dragon-shaped pendant had been handed to me by Momma
the night before I crossed back into its original homeland. Its blue gemstone
eyes flared to life when touched by anyone who could wield magic, and it
seriously magnified my own puny grasp on the power. It had protected me from
poison when I didn’t even realize it was doing so, and later I’d pulled enough
power through it to save us in a fall from a cliff, to defeat Padrig’s foes’
sorcery, and yes, to burn the library down. I treasured it and cursed it, both
at the same time.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Can we at least wait till after Yule?” Since we were talking in
English, still, for security, I used the English term. “Like, a few months
after Yule?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I doubt the people would
believe the claim that tradition made me wear an overcoat, too.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In truth, the area of Kiirajanna the castle
was located on was pretty close to the equator, and so it wasn’t all that cold,
but the possibility of being out in real winter weather without overgarments
still terrified the Mississippian in me. </span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Heck, the whole
bit terrified me—all of it, especially the part that involved traveling to the
other three clans to gain their approval, after the little war I</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’d
started with Padrig’s clan. That scared me every bit as much as the hunhymgais
thing. It was just that I didn’t want to die of hypothermia along the way.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">My dad
chuckled.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“No, Alyssa, we do not
specify the timing of hunhymgais to suit ourselves. That is part of the
challenge. You must go when the time is right, once you have marched yourself
into the hearts of the eastern, western, and southern clans, whether that
requires a month, or twelve, to complete.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Besides, you can never know where you will end up, so judging the time
to leave based on the weather pattern near the castle is an exercise that is
entirely useless.”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“What do you mean I never know?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Don’t I just run there?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I hadn’t
gotten too much into the details; all I’d heard so far was “naked,” “alone,” “woods,”
and “six weeks.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That had been quite
enough.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Absolutely not.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We hold
a ceremony, you take a special staff with you, and you step into one of the
ley-gates.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It transports you to wherever
you need to be to successfully complete your quest.”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Earth?” I asked, confused. “Or do they go to random places on
Kiirajanna?” The ley-gates were the system of energy spots used to transport
people from Earth to Kiirajanna and back, as far as I knew.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We’d taken one from Memphis when I’d first
made the transition. There was another used by trappers far to the north that
had both entrance and exit in the same realm, but I’d been led to believe it
was a rare one. That, and it always ended at the same two points, just as the
other I’d taken did.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Dad nodded and
said, </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Maybe
Earth, but most of us, I think, end up going to another location on
Kiirajanna.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At least, I did.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Seph nodded from behind her cup; she’d stayed
on Kiirajanna, too, apparently.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“How do you know it’s Kiirajanna?”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Most elves do not know the difference, I suppose, but those of
us who have made the journey to Earth do, as do you. You recall the emptiness
you felt when you made the trip back to the world in which you were born,
yes?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is less a sensation, and more a
lack of sensation, the lack of awareness of your surroundings that you have
already become accustomed to here.”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Oh, right. Magic,” I said, and then I wished I hadn’t.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dad had sprinkled the term freely through our
first conversation to get me excited about coming back to Kiirajanna,
describing the magical realm of magical creatures and magical elves and magical
this and that, but as soon as I’d crossed over I’d found that using the word
magic was nearly as taboo as the act of using the power itself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They still held that singing the trees to
shape and healing each other, in addition to all their ranger powers, were
somehow different from using magic, but I knew the distinction was fake.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Part of the reason I hated using the word
myself was my frustration that nobody would listen to me about what I already
knew to be true regarding the true nature of magic.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Yes,” Dad said, pursing his lips to make it clear he was not
using the word on purpose.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He rose.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Well, Brother, thank you for the tea. It was
wonderful as usual.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do you believe that
we could get the men of the village together for some wrestling fun?”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">I looked across
the table and caught my cousin</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’s eye; she was as bored with the idea of
watching wrestling as I was.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She rose,
shrugged, and said, “I’m going to head into the woods with Booboo for a while,
Alyssa.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Would you like to come with?”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">I nodded a
lie.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No, I had no desire to walk through
the woods for a while, with or without my cousin and her familiar.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The wolverine still scared me, with his looks
and actions both. He reminded me of a small bear.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’d proven himself an
incredibly powerful, fast, agile, and strong ally, though.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Sometimes he made
me wish that I had my own familiar, one just as powerful, fast, agile, and
strong, but only a little bit cuter and fluffier. My tree didn</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’t
count. As much as I cherished, and was cherished by, Little Treebeard, my
potted elm that I’d somehow found a weird, magical connection with, it was
still just a tree, growing in a pot. Oh, it could make its intentions clear
enough, and loudly, by smacking the walls with its ever-lengthening branches,
but it couldn’t go on vacations with us like Booboo could. I’d had to leave it
in the few remaining palace guards’ care, and, weird as it sounds, I missed the
little guy.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">We stepped out of
the village into the open forest.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
elves loved their forests to look more like well-manicured lawns, and rangers
like my cousin were tasked with keeping everything growing in a neat and
orderly manner.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even the grass grew to a
uniform height and no farther.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It really
was pretty, if you weren</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’t looking for the mangled wildness that a
good Southern old growth forest contained.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I wasn’t, so it was good.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">As we stepped
lightly through the trees, I couldn</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’t help noticing with
pride that my own stride was matching that of the elves more and more every
day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They were very good at passing
through the woods silently, and my cousin, trained as a ranger, was
exceptionally good at it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I’d
arrived I had felt like an elephant compared to her cheetah walk, but even she
occasionally commented on how much more like an elf I was moving.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">As we walked it
started snowing lightly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Strangely, I
didn</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’t
feel all that cold.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then again, I’d
spent much of the winter so far outdoors, with a lot of that in the far
northlands. I figured my body was becoming used to the lower temperature, at
least more than it ever had in Mississippi.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Cousin?”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Hmm?” I could tell from her quietened, serene reply that she
was in her attuned mode. Somehow, out in the woods, I could lightly whisper
something and she’d still hear me, thanks to the same powers she used to know
exactly where I was without looking. I could do it, myself, out to a limited
distance, but her sensitivity was—well, not to overuse the term, but it was
magical.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Gwenda’s not a ranger, is she?”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“No, she’s learning to craft with leather. From my pa, in fact.”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“How does she have a dire wolf as a familiar, then?”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Oh, Cuddles isn’t her familiar. He’s more of a pet.”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“That’s—not what I expected,” I admitted. “In fact, that’s a
little more unnerving than if he’d been a familiar. How does she keep a dire
wolf as a pet?”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Seph shrugged as
though the answer should</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’ve been plain to see all along. “She feeds
him. Same way you keep a tree as a pet, though I’m certainly not one to judge.”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“L.T.’s not a…. So, what does she feed him? Never mind,” I added
quickly, correcting myself based on the glare she shot my direction. Obviously,
whatever you feed a dire wolf to keep it as a pet wasn’t something I would want
to have described to me.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">We walked along
in silence, leaving me to contemplate my upcoming vision quest, whenever that
would be. We still had a couple more days of relaxation and frivolity left in
the holiday for me to worry about it. I planned to spend a few days at some
point out camping with Seph learning all I could about which parts of which
plants were edible, but not knowing which part of the world I</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’d
end up in made that seem mostly useless.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The thought briefly flashed across my mind to ask Seph to start teaching
me a little of what she knew now, but it was Yule, and we weren’t supposed to
do such things at the end-of-the-year celebration.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Yule time was
party time.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">In fact, when we</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’d
arrived, Dad had physically, publicly, symbolically, doffed the crown of the
Elf King in order to just be himself for the one and only true holiday of the
year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I figured it would probably end up
being my absolute favorite holiday once I became queen.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">If</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";"> I became queen.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
The Other Stephen Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14471972807328125155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1932376865726081805.post-4601461006454815822017-02-01T20:04:00.000-05:002017-02-01T20:04:14.069-05:00Chapter 1, Trial of SpiritSo I've been such a slacker that I haven't got Book 3 of Elf Queen of Kiirajanna, Trial of Spirit, done yet. I mean, it's done, but there are lots of edits still to be completed, and I am absolutely not going to put a book out if it's not as close to perfect as I can humanly make it. So mid-February, perhaps?<br />
<br />
To make it up, I hope, here's Chapter 1 to enjoy. Every couple of days I'll post another chapter till the whole thing is ready.<br />
<br />
I’ve always had a thing for dogs, but not when they tower nearly my own height, have long, sharp fangs, and want to kill me.<br />
<br />
Okay, fine, I’ll admit that the dog wasn’t acting much like it wanted to kill me, but it hadn’t been that long since several others that looked just like it had tried very hard, and that was a bit of a challenge to overcome. And to be fair, the dog wasn’t acting much like it didn’t want to kill me, either. I stepped back and raised my hands defensively, one out front to physically stave off the imminent fang-led charge, and the other to my chest, pressing Draignerthol against my skin through the thin fabric of the blouse I wore. I felt the relic’s magical power swell and surge within me, thrilling me with the possibilities. Then, with supreme force of will, I stopped and bottled it up, knowing I’d likely cause a riot if I let it loose in the busy town square.<br />
<br />
“Don’t be scared — Cuddles would never hurt you, Princess,” Gwenda said. She flicked her eyes about before bringing them back to rest on my face, her expression pleading. She licked her lips in a nervous gesture. Apparently meeting the crown princess of Kiirajanna wasn’t something she’d been prepared to do.<br />
<br />
“Cuddles? You named a dire wolf Cuddles?” I was incredulous, myself.<br />
<br />
“Of course. He’s…” Gwenda began to argue, but then she looked over at my cousin, her eyes begging for help.<br />
<br />
Sephaline did help, stepping up to scratch this monster named Cuddles a couple of times behind the ears before turning a kind, peaceful smile my way and gently explaining, “Gwenda, the only experience Alyssa has with dire wolves is from our now-fabled dash across the blight to the library. It’s not surprising that she’s a little bit hesitant to accept Cuddles as a friend. Give her some time, okay?”
<br />
<br />
The dash to the library — that was fabled, alright. Both widespread and fabled, already, just a few months after it had happened. I’d been dead-set on reading the prophecy related to me, and so I’d talked Seph into making the journey. That was when we’d discovered the Cult of the Wyrm, who started out just trying to hold me, but then they decided to kill me.<br />
What a nice welcoming party, right?<br />
<br />
So my answer? Oh, I just — accidentally, I swear! — burned the entire library down, using powers I’d never even dreamed I had. That’s what made the trip fabled. It wasn’t the numerous waves of attacks by dire wolves and ravens we rode through to get there, nor was it the wyvern that Seph had to defeat. No, it was the whole “she used magic!” bit. Fabled, in this case, meant that I couldn’t walk into a normal elf village again without people looking at me sideways, fear filling their eyes over a power they just didn’t understand.<br />
<br />
Seph succeeded in convincing Gwenda that the pet dog thing was a bad idea, and so Gwenda pushed Cuddles away with an order to “go play!” The massive beast thundered off into the nearest tree line, its tongue lolling out to the side like Old Yeller. I shook my head as I watched it run. It made sense that Gwenda, who was abnormally tall for an elf — and elves are tall folk, anyway — would claim something bigger than, say, a Chihuahua, as a pet. <br />
<br />
“So, Alyssa,” Gwenda tried the friendship thing again, “who’s your favorite team in <i>cylchoedd</i>?”<br />
<br />
I had no answer. I’d never even heard of cylchoedd, much less its teams. Well, once, or maybe twice, back when Prince Keion was grumbling over how our trip to the north threatened to make him late in starting cylchoedd practice. But I hadn’t held any desire at the time to discuss the game, the league, or its teams with the guy who was constantly grumbling about it.<br />
<br />
It was a strange way to start a conversation, but to call Gwenda strange would be an understatement. She’d walked up to greet Seph, who I’d been told was her only friend since childhood, wearing a dapper-looking long tunic over embroidered pantaloons. It was the kind of outfit I’d expect to see on fancy days in the castle—only, on a guy. And her shoes! Elves normally wore moccasin-like things that only become fancy in court, and then only by applying a little paint and polish in places to make them shiny. Gwenda, though, sported bright red built-up platforms on her feet, and that just made her abnormal height even more pronounced. <br />
<br />
Because of her friend’s strangeness, I watched my cousin closely for cues. Seph wasn’t much help, though; she just rolled her eyes.<br />
<br />
Cylchoedd — that’s the elf word for hoops. Hoops meant basketball to me, normally. I couldn’t see the elves having any sort of national basketball association, though. I decided to go ahead and bite on the verbal lure. She was, after all, just trying to make conversation.<br />
<br />
“What’s cylchoedd like?”<br />
<br />
Gwenda looked shocked and injured at the same time. “You’ve never seen cylchoedd?” she challenged.<br />
<br />
“No. No, I haven’t. Keep in mind that just a few months ago I was a normal Earth-bound teenager who would’ve thought ‘cylchoedd’ was a strange cough. But I would love to hear all about it,” I finished in my sweetest voice, noting how Seph’s expression was begging me to make nice with her old friend.<br />
<br />
“They probably don’t have any organized sports in the primitive region Alyssa comes from,” Seph said with a wink. “Missikippi, right, Crown Princess?”<br />
<br />
I sighed playfully. “It’s Mississippi, and it’s not that primitive, Cousin. Well, okay, maybe it is in some ways, but we do have our sports teams. No professional ones, of course, but on Earth those only exist in big cities, and anyplace with a population more than a few thousand scares the daylights out of me.” I wasn’t kidding; the trip to Graceland had been fine because I was with Dad, but my friend Sarah had been talking about taking a trip to Chicago after we graduated, and I’d had to tell her there was no way I was going. Absolutely no way at all, in fact. Just the thought of all those people made my skin crawl.<br />
<br />
Then Dad turned that on its head with a trip to New York City over Christmas. Granted, it was a little different being supported by all the crown’s immense wealth, staying in the nicest of hotel rooms, and experiencing the nicest that the city had to offer. It was, I was certain, a completely different experience from what Sarah and I would have had on a tiny budget in Chicago. But the idea of being in a huge crowd of people still scared me. That was one good thing about the crown princess gig, I guess. After all, the biggest city on Kiirajanna was the crown complex at Cysegredig, and it just felt like a large village with a couple of huge buildings in the middle. Ganolog, capital of the north, had seemed bigger, but that was only because its population of a few thousand was all enclosed in a fortress. There were other cities that felt a little different than either Ganolog or Cysegredig, according to my teachers, to the south and the west, and I actually looked forward to journeying there as I sought the clans’ approval. Once the holiday was over, I knew it was coming.<br />
<br />
For the time being, though, I was enjoying the end-of-year holiday, Yule in English but amser calan in elf, in the tiny village where both my father and my cousin had grown up. <br />
<br />
It is a strange holiday, but it does make sense. The name literally means “time period at the renewal of the year.” It works out to be the days left over in the solar year of three hundred sixty-five days, plus a bit more, after the elves’ regular six-day week is cycled through. Nobody, not even the king and queen, can work during that time other than simple tasks of lighting cook fires and such. Everybody pretty much just abandons the massive castle and cathedral complex and goes home.<br />
<br />
A throat cleared, bringing me back to the present. “So how is this cylchoedd played?” I asked.<br />
<br />
“Like that,” Seph said with a shrug and a confused look. I followed her pointed finger with my gaze. Oh, right, of course. Every elf village I’d visited had featured kids by the twos and threes or even by the dozens rolling hoops along the ground with sticks. “Only with some adult rules, like the need to hit each other. That’s usually the one with the hoop, but not always. It’s really fun to watch.”<br />
<br />
Gwenda’s face lit up in the too-big smile that is a standard fixture on elf faces. Seph’s description had made her very happy, it seemed. She said, “I love the Bees. You’ll have to go to a game with me.”<br />
<br />
“Why would you name a sports team after an insect?”<br />
<br />
Seph and Gwenda both looked blankly at me. Oh, right. I was still thinking mostly in English, despite the fact that I was speaking in the elf tongue. Bee isn’t a word in elf. It’s a letter.<br />
<br />
“I mean, a letter. Is there a Ch team?” Yes, Ch is an elf letter; it’s one of my favorites, in fact, because it’s so much fun to say. A good girl, even one everybody regarded as a tomboy like me, would never have hocked up anything in public in Mississippi, but that letter let me do it repeatedly in Kiirajanna.<br />
<br />
“Of course there is,” Seph said, and Gwenda added, “but they suck. They always cheat, and their fans are so obnoxious. Tell me you’ll cheer for the Bs with us.”<br />
<br />
“Okay, I’ll cheer for the Bs with you,” I agreed. What difference did it make, really? <br />
<br />
“No, no, no. She can’t,” Seph told Gwenda, shaking her head. “Remember, she’s the crown princess. Royalty doesn’t choose sides in cylchoedd.”<br />
<br />
Oh, right. It made that difference.<br />
<br />
Gwenda looked disappointed for just a second and then brightened up. “Say, when you’re crowned queen, don’t forget that I’m the one with the dragon birthmark.”<br />
<br />
Well, that got my attention. The prophecies we’d gone to the library to read spoke of someone born with a dragon birthmark. Someone, it seemed, who would turn elf society over onto its head, someone who would bring sorcery back and not in a good way, someone who would somehow involve the now-mythical dragons of old.<br />
<br />
Someone like me, who’d actually been born with a dragon birthmark on my right shoulder blade. I wondered about the thing growing up, but Momma just smiled and shrugged whenever I asked. When Dad waltzed back into my life, he’d proven himself my father by knowing about it. It seemed a big deal to him then, and it was an even bigger deal now that I knew what it meant. <br />
<br />
Yes, I had it, but I really didn’t want it.<br />
<br />
“You have a dragon birthmark?” I asked, ignoring Seph’s look of alarm. My cousin rolled her eyes as her old friend nodded, skipped over to me, and hauled the back of her tunic up for me to see.<br />
<br />
It was a birthmark, for sure. It was kind of cute, too. Sitting right above her hips in the middle of her back as it did, it looked like one of those tribal tattoos people on Earth get. Only…<br />
<br />
A heart. It was a cute elongated heart, not a dragon. I caught Seph’s frantic wiggle of her head, though, and so I chose my words carefully. After all, mirrors weren’t common outside the palace in Kiirajanna, and so how was Gwenda to know that she didn’t have a dragon birthmark?<br />
<br />
“It’s — nice, Gwenda. Very clear. I will most assuredly keep this birthmark in mind when I gain the throne.”<br />
<br />
“Yay!” Gwenda said, letting her tunic fall back down and then bouncing for joy. “It’s my lucky day to have met you, Princess!”<br />
<br />
“Yeah,” I said, not sure what else I could add.<br />
<br />
“And now, I have to go. Chores, Your Highness. I hope to see you upon the morrow,” the weird one said. She slipped me a precarious combination of curtsy and bow, one that her height combined with the platform shoes made grotesque, and then she spun back around to run home. <br />
<br />
Only she didn’t get far. She tripped over her own feet.<br />
<br />
“Oopsie,” she said, and it was even more irritating thanks to the way she raised her high-pitched voice even higher. She must have been nearly seven feet tall and yet she sounded like a pixie. <br />
<br />
She dusted herself off as Seph helped her up.<br />
<br />
“Oopsie, indeed,” Seph said, watching her long-time friend jog away. “That was what everybody called her growing up: Oopsie. It was what we heard her say most often.”<br />
<br />
“She seems nice, bless her heart” I said.<br />
<br />
“She is nice. She’s just a little bit eccentric.” <br />
<br />
Pot, meet kettle, I thought but decided not to say. Seph was the queen of eccentric herself, a ranger whose familiar was a wolverine named Booboo and whose battle cry was eep. But she was the first cousin I’d ever met, and as far as I knew the only one I had, and so that made all the eccentricity okay in my eyes.<br />
<br />
“How come she wears that getup?” I switched to English in case her friend managed to hear.<br />
<br />
“She’s going to be the Dragon Queen, at least so she believes. The Dragon Queen should dress nicely, and wear masculine clothing because the aspect of the dragon is masculine, she says.”<br />
<br />
“The aspect of the dragon is—what? Are dragons masculine?” I was having a hard time separating what sounded like astrology talk from the reality that dragons had once actually existed on Kiirajanna.<br />
<br />
“How should I know? She’s the one who constantly says dragons are still around, thanks to her strange queenly dreams. By this point you know as much as, if not more than, I do about them,” Seph reminded me.<br />
<br />
“Right. I guess. So why the shoes, then?”<br />
<br />
“She wears tall shoes to look down upon her subjects, like a —”<br />
<br />
“A dragon. Right. Makes sense.” It didn’t, not really, but whatever. “Why red?”<br />
<br />
“Dragon, remember?”<br />
<br />
“We don’t know what color dragons were, though.”<br />
<br />
“She does. Or at least she’s convinced herself that she does. Look, now we both know that my old childhood friend is — what’s your word?”<br />
<br />
“Kookoo sums it up pretty nicely.” I added the standard Earth hand gesture, my index finger circling my right ear.<br />
<br />
“Kookoo. Fine,” Seph said, sounding dejected. I realized belatedly that I was, after all, attacking a long-time friend of hers.<br />
<br />
“So does she have, like, a boyfriend? Or is she promised to one from a faraway village like Prince Charming?” I asked, trying to lighten the mood.<br />
<br />
“Um,” Seph stalled, not answering. It was clear I’d hit a nerve.<br />
<br />
“Is she — is she gay?” I’d never thought of the elves being like that, but it didn’t make sense why I wouldn’t have. Nothing wrong with it, certainly, but — well, it just hadn’t occurred to me.<br />
<br />
“Gay?” Seph shook her head in confusion.<br />
<br />
“Sorry,” I continued in English, and then tried in elf after searching for a moment. “<i>Hoyw?</i>” <br />
<br />
If you’re new to elf, the best I can say is that it’s based on Welsh, from Earth. Or, if the history is to be believed, Welsh is based on elf. Whichever is true, it’s a beautiful language. But w’s and y’s are both vowels, which takes some getting used to. The word I’d just said is, phonetically, ho-ee-yoo. <br />
<br />
Seph shook her head, still clearly not comprehending my meaning. Then I remembered the word I’d been taught once in one of my more private lessons.<br />
<br />
“<i>Gyrywgydiwr?</i>” <br />
<br />
As fun as the word is to say—phonetically, goo-roo-goo-dee-oor—it literally means grabber-of-man. That works fine with gay men, though I couldn’t get anything different from my teacher for gay women. But at least Seph finally got it. Her face lit up with horror.<br />
<br />
“No! No, she’s not. Well, maybe. She, um, isn’t certain. Look, that’s not something we talk about.”<br />
<br />
“Ah, okay.” I gave up, chalking it up to repressed elf society.<br />
<br />
“So what’s with the birthmark thing?” I asked in English, trying to venture into more comfortable territory.<br />
<br />
“When she was young, somebody joked with her that she was special, that her birthmark was a dragon. She took it to heart, and nobody’s been willing to break that since. We even go so far as to hide the mirrors when she comes around. She’s convinced that she’s the one with the dragon birthmark.”<br />
<br />
“Well, she can have it.”<br />
<br />
“What?” Seph turned to face me, scandalized.<br />
<br />
“No, really. She can have it. The birthmark, the castle, the crown, everything. I love Kiirajanna, and I love the elves, but—me? Queen? Seph, you saw me in Ganolog. I started a war, Seph. I’m a Mississippi girl. A rabid dog’s got more diplomacy skills than me. I did well in school, and was headed to college at State to study engineering, or something. Now here I am, learning to be all regal and stuff, and—and I burned a library down, Seph. I burned a library down. And not just a library—the library.” Seph’s face clouded over at that; she apparently remembered the scene as vividly as I did, with me standing in the middle of the most ancient, well-stocked, library in the land, my newfound magical powers swirling about me as I threw tendrils of energy this way and that. Oh, yes, we won, Seph and Booboo both survived, and the Cult of the Wyrm was defeated, rounded up, and imprisoned, but all that paled in comparison to what I’d done. I’d used magic, something forbidden to elves for countless centuries, and worse, I’d used it to burn a library down.<br />
<br />
“This conversation should not take place out here in the village commons,” a strong, familiar voice interrupted my rant. Seph and I both turned to face the elf king, who was standing with his hands on his hips casting a royal shadow over the pair of us. His expression made it clear that neither of us had any choice but to follow him.<br />
<br />
“English is rare outside of the royal family, but it is still known throughout the realm, and you must remember that for your own safety as well as that of the crown,” he chided us.<br />
<br />
“Yes, Daddy,” I said meekly as Seph and I let him lead us into her father’s house.The Other Stephen Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14471972807328125155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1932376865726081805.post-51211790914986655052016-10-27T23:21:00.000-04:002016-10-27T23:21:10.872-04:00Five Myths, and One Important Truth, About NaNoWriMoIt's that glorious time of year again! Trees are turning, and fall is falling! Homecomings are homecoming, and little and big kids alike are putting together their scariest costumes.<br />
<br />
How cool is Autumn, right?<br />
<br />
More important, though, we're running rapidly up to my favorite month of the year: National Novel Writing Month, or <a href="http://www.nanowrimo.org/" target="_blank">NaNoWriMo </a>. I'm going to assume that since you made it here, you already know what the NoWri part is all about, so here are five myths, and one important truth, about what happens in November, based on my own several years of wins now. <br />
<br />
<u><b>1. It's scary</b></u><br />
<br />
Yeah, this one's probably true if you let it be, but NaNo doesn't have to be scary. What's there to fear? Carpal tunnel takes a while to set in. Overcaffeinating yourself as some folks do has some deleterious impacts, but that's why we also drink water in November.<br />
<br />
Failure? Is that what you're scared of? Nah, come on. Nearly everybody I know has failed NaNo at least once. That is, of course, everyone who's even attempted it. Truth is, you can't fail it if you don't try it, so let's all go into the effort secure in the knowledge that even if we fail, we're gonna wear that badge proudly.<br />
<br />
Think of it this way: most people fail to write a novel every single day of their lives, and the only big news is that they aren't showing any real progress toward turning that trend around. Us, though? If we fail, we'll at least have written more words than those people, right?<br />
<br />
Drop the fear. Punt it all the way into December. You're going to write. You're going to write a lot. What you write is going to suck, because everybody's first draft always sucks. But by then you'll have accomplished something very few people do, and you'll have a draft to revise, as well. <br />
<u><b><br /></b></u>
<u><b>2. It's hard</b></u><br />
<br />
Yeah, no. I mean, everything's hard. Some days getting out of bed is hard. Drinking enough water is hard for me. But I do it, nearly every day, and you know how I accomplish it? One drink at a time.<br />
<br />
Same approach here. I just read someone else post to the Gospel According to Facebook: "It's hard to write 1667 words a day when you work also." I totally disagree. What's hard is to do anything I don't care to do when I work also. It's hard to get laundry done when I work also. It's hard for me to waste time at a bad movie over the weekend when I work also. It's not hard for me to write, though; in fact, it's hard for me to stop writing to go to work. That's partly because I've written a lot, and I've developed a habit and an enjoyment for the magnificent sport of prose-jockeying. My message? You can, too.<br />
<br />
Back at West Point I became quite a runner. I'd do 10 or 12 miles a day if I had time. It wasn't hard. What was hard was doing other things when I really wanted to be running. I didn't start like that at first, of course. In the beginning I'd do a mile, maybe two. Then I worked up to longer, and then longer. In each case, though, it was by taking one step, and then another, and then another. Running is like that; a few steps add up to a long distance, which over time becomes an enjoyable and healthy habit. <br />
<br />
Treat writing the same way. This is a perfect month to limber up those "muscles," if for no other reason than you get to enjoy the wacky zany activities with everybody else. Hey, you don't have to write 1667 words. Set your goal at 10. Ten words is easy peasy, right? Then do that five times, and then do that 35 times and you've got it.<br />
<br />
How long does it take to write 1667 words? If you say a matter of hours, I'll argue that you're overthinking it. I type upwards of 90 words a minute, and I've literally gotten my 2000 words onto the page in less than half an hour before...and not just once, either. If you don't type that fast, that's okay (though hey, this is a perfect month to practice that, too!). How fast do you type? 40? 1667 words should take you 42 minutes to type at that rate. To go more than an hour for 1667 words you have to type slower than 28 words per minute, and I've seen hunt-and-peck two-finger typists go faster than that.<br />
<br />
"Oh, but I have to think about them first!" No, you don't. Try it. Try imagining the scene you're going to do -- heck, spend 15 minutes doing that. Then type it. Don't think. Literally, don't edit. If you misspell a word, leave it. You can fix it later. Grammar error? Fix it later. Character says something out of character? Fix it later. You're a writer now. Write. Write, for goodness sake.<br />
<br />
Write, for your sake.<br />
<br />
Writing's not hard. Learning to let yourself write is hard. <br />
<br />
<u><b>3. You have to be prepared</b></u><br />
<br />
We always hit this point in late October when people start chickening out. "I only have two characters and a short situation!" So? Write that, then blow something up, and write more. Most of us started our first attempt with less than that, after all.<br />
<br />
Look, if you don't want to write a book, then don't write a book. Find something else to do in November, and I promise I won't judge you for it (much). But if you do want to write a book, there's only one way to start: write the first word. And then, write the next one. And then eight more, and do that five times, and you'll be 50 words into the 1667 goal for the day. And here's the secret for that point: don't stop. Keep going.<br />
<br />
It's going to suck. Stop judging. You may be able to fix it next March, and you may not. At least by that point you'll have confidence. At least by that point you'll have experience. But to get there, you have to learn to turn that part of you completely, totally, utterly off, and just write.<br />
<br />
Write. Don't prepare. Or do prepare, I don't care; the first draft is still going to suck. But don't let not preparing be the same as not writing. Don't fuss and fumble and fume over anything.<br />
<br />
Just...write. <br />
<br />
<u><b>4. You get something for "winning"</b></u><br />
<br />
Know what you get for winning? You get to print out your own certificate. Yay, you. And you get a JPG you can use as your Facebook image to show your friends just how crazy you are. Oh, and you get half off of Scrivener, which is my go-to app for writing these days. That saves about twenty bucks, I think. Worth the whole month, it's not.<br />
<br />
Nope, sorry. You don't win diddly squat when you win NaNoWriMo.<br />
<br />
<u><b>5. You get nothing for "winning"</b></u><br />
<br />
"The only source of knowledge is experience." - Albert Einstein<br />
"Experience is simply the name we give our mistakes." - Oscar Wilde<br />
"Experience is one thing you can't get for nothing." - Oscar Wilde<br />
<br />
You know, while you're busy celebrating on December 1 at your Thank Goodness It's Over party, I'm sure you're going to be terribly, horribly depressed over the diddly squat you didn't win when you verified your >50K word count at the NaNo site. Or maybe it'll be the diddly squat you didn't win when November 30th hit you in the face and you only had 23K words. <br />
<br />
Not.<br />
<br />
You'll have a novel, or at least part of one. And it's nobody else's novel -- it's yours. Yes, it will suck. No, it may not even be fixable. But experience is priceless.And once you build on that experience, as I did, you'll find, as I did, that initial effort is worth punting and doing a deep rewrite on. Or not. But I guarantee you, one way or another, you'll be glad you did it.<br />
<br />
<b>And that leads us to the one Important Truth:</b><br />
<br />
<u><b>It's (totally) worth it.</b></u><br />
<br />
Hey, nobody ever said writing a novel is easy. Nobody ever said running a marathon is easy, either, and yet I've done it. Once. Just once, because I got what I needed out of that one time and I don't feel the need to do it again. Writing a novel, though, is worth doing again, and again, and again.<br />
<br />
First is the experience, which I've already touched on. My first attempted NaNo sucked worse than any prose on the planet has ever sucked before. I'm willing to bet, especially since it can't be called, that Vogon poetry sounds better than my first effort at prose. But it's there, still, and I've wrangled it into a useful plot these ten years later, and sometime in 2017 I hope to craft a viable novel out of it.<br />
<br />
My second novel sucked, too, but after 13 revisions and two professional editors it sucked a whole lot less. I'm actually pretty proud of it. The third sucked, too, and after nearly as many revisions and only a single professional editor, I'm afraid it's not ever going to be my best prose. And...you get the drift. Every novel I've written has taught me something about the craft of writing, though, and so I've gotten significantly better each time. Not that the first drafts don't suck, regardless!<br />
<br />
Second is the novels themselves. Look, folks, it takes a LOT of effort to produce a readable novel. Frankly, anybody who goes into November thinking, "I'm gonna produce a readable novel in this one month" is fooling themselves. I mean, one or two probably do it, granted, but the vast majority of us mere mortals just plain suck at first drafts. For us, we need to spend months after the initial draft doing revision after revision, painstakingly roping the text into something we and others will enjoy reading. That's the part of novel-writing that people never see. I didn't, back when I was getting angry over my favorite author's not publishing books fast enough.<br />
<br />
Editing is hard. Revising is hard. Please know that if you do this NaNo thing you're going to create something that will eat up hundreds, if not thousands, of hours of revision time, if it's even worth that. But one way or another, it's yours, and it's yours forever.<br />
<br />
That's why NaNoWriMo is worth it, to me.<br />
<br />
- TOSKThe Other Stephen Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14471972807328125155noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1932376865726081805.post-51675814779192042392016-09-11T13:07:00.000-04:002016-09-11T13:07:44.857-04:00Five YearsIt's funny; most of my "author bio" entries out there contradict one another, with one claiming to be in Richmond, Virginia, another in Memphis, Tennessee, and later on Mobile, Alabama. I'm thinking that now that we're in Topeka, Kansas, I'm'a just not gonna put that location piece anywhere -- well, but here in this post -- and avoid possibly jinxing us again. That said, we are now, finally, happily, settled in Topeka, and I'm already working furiously on finishing both Novel Three (don't have a formal title yet) for the Elf Queen series and Bacon. That'll make seven novels, in total, that I have written.<br />
<br />
"Have written" is such a different phrase, psychologically, from "am writing," as nearly every writer can probably confirm. When people at my new place of employment find out that I'm an author, their first question is often how many books I "have written."<br />
<br />
Five. That's the answer. I "have written" five novels.<br />
<br />
Wow, that's impressive, they always say.<br />
<br />
It is. Sort of. Impressive, yes. Prolific, no. I look through this blog and realize that I time-stamped my writing career through it.<br />
<br />
Five years.<br />
<br />
I've been writing for five years. One novel per year isn't all that impressive coming from some of the more prolific novelists. Now, before anyone starts offering soothing noises or placating comments, let me say that I'm not judging myself (or anyone else) over it. First, there are plenty of great novelists who don't put out a novel per year. Second, I admit that I've been through some less than positive circumstances along the way. I've had some more than positive circumstances, too, to be honest, and those have often hampered my writing efforts as much as the others. But, you know, life happens, whether we wish it to or not, and for us writers it all gets stored for later in that great big plot-device warehouse up in Schenectady.<br />
<br />
Regardless, it's been one heck of a ride. <br />
<br />
I posted over a year ago that I was back on my feet, that the fam was settled down there on the Alabama Gulf Coast, and that I'd be cheerfully starting my blog posting and other stuff up again.<br />
<br />
Didn't happen.<br />
<br />
I'd like to think now that I'll reverse that. I've got a great job, and a nice place to live, in an absolutely charming little city, now. Maybe it's time to get serious about all this stuff.<br />
<br />
Maybe. No promises, though.<br />
<br />
Right now, it's time to get serious about this novel I'm revising. And then, who knows?<br />
<br />
Y'all have fun! <br />
<br />
- TOSKThe Other Stephen Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14471972807328125155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1932376865726081805.post-73943570560783880682015-10-12T02:11:00.002-04:002015-10-12T02:11:37.228-04:00Gearing back upOkay, so it's been a while. Yes, I know. I actually had to sign back in to my own blog, if you can believe it. "Haven't seen you in a while -- you sure you're who you say you are?" the computer seemed to be saying.<br />
<br />
Sorry.<br />
<br />
Anyway, was in a dark place for a while, and was recovering for longer, but none of that matters anymore. I'm back.<br />
<br />
Did you know that, according to the Chicago Manual of Style (CMOS) you shouldn't follow the em hyphen, which indicates a major break, with a comma or period when it ends a sentence? I didn't either. Hence all the errors in my previously published books that even a pro editor didn't catch.<br />
<br />
It's fixed now. Okay, it's fixed now in Prophecy and in the newest, most awesomest, book Trial of Ice, which was just released this week! Return of the Gods, I'll fix when I get time.<br />
<br />
Still, isn't it exciting? I haven't even blogged for months, and yet now I'm cracking that shell back open. Talk about cool -- at least, for me.<br />
<br />
Looking forward to it.<br />
<br />
So, I've pushed out Book 2 of Elf Queen. Hope you enjoy it. I've also significantly shortened the series in my head, to the point where you should actually see the big bad, bad guy in the next novel. Yay! You also won't see any periods or commas following em dashes, but that's -- well, kind of a grammar nerd sort of yay! <br />
<br />
Meanwhile, I have Life with Bacon, a coming of age story about a farm boy who detests his father's GMO and non-organic practices, story to get out, and at the same time I'm really putting pressure on myself to finish Book 4 of Return of the Gods. Not that there's anything specifically timely about that story, but it's about death and the living's view toward that eventuality, and it's in honor of the real life people who inspired the characters of Phoenix and Birch, who happened to have passed along recently themselves, and so it's kinda important I get that done.<br />
<br />
Thus, no NaNoWriMo for me this year, but I have so many other important projects that I don't figure anyone will mind.<br />
<br />
Y'all have a great start to October!<br />
<br />
- TOSKThe Other Stephen Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14471972807328125155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1932376865726081805.post-63503085274163544752015-06-14T12:29:00.002-04:002015-06-14T17:32:34.032-04:00Contest!Are you up for a contest? <br />
<br />
Those of you who've read Prophecy: Elf Queen of Kiirajanna, thank you! I'm glad so many of you have enjoyed it in the year and a quarter since it's been out.<br />
<br />
Now, about Book 2....<br />
<br />
It's been a whole coming. As I've mentioned before on the blog, I was in a rather dark place emotionally for much of last year, which in turn caused my writing to be pretty dark as well. Thus, once the draft of Book 2 was done and revised, it was -- well, dark. Not at all like the first one. And while darkness is, in fact, coming to Kiirajanna, it's not there yet, nor is Alyssa's tone ever going to go that direction.<br />
<br />
So, yeah. Near-total rewrite.<br />
<br />
And I'm almost done with the editing phase. Yay!<br />
<br />
Here's the thing, then. I need a title.<br />
<br />
The book blurb (which still needs some editing, too -- getting to that!):<br />
<br />
Join Alyssa as she and her band of companions journey to the northern forests of Kiirajanna to seek the endorsement of the mighty chieftain, Padrig, on behalf of his clan. There she's treated to delights only available in the north: frozen fields of ice, moose head stew, a bear encounter, and the northern lights. She also finds the Cult of the Wyrm, who she'd believed to be defeated and destroyed, flourishing and plotting its next attack against her. Will she and her friends be able to escape the trap tightening around them, or will they discover it too late? <br />
<br />
So -- yeah, it's rough, but that's kinda the gist. What do you think? Ideas for a title?<br />
<br />
G'head and post your thoughts about the title in the comments. I can't wait to read them! If I use your idea, I'll send you a free copy of the ebook once it comes out.<br />
<br />
Thanks!<br />
<br />
(PS - as always, if you help me out with the book, you'll also get a mention in the Acknowledgements page) <br />
<br />
- TOSKThe Other Stephen Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14471972807328125155noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1932376865726081805.post-46394437629164647932015-06-02T08:03:00.001-04:002015-06-02T08:21:44.252-04:00A Lesson - GenresHappy June! June 2nd, to be specific. Sometimes I'll type the date into Wikipedia just to see what it comes up with. Happy Decorations Day (honoring veterans) to my Canadian friends! Happy Sack of Rome Day to my -- um -- never mind.<br />
<br />
*ahem*<br />
<br />
The almighty genre. Find one and stick to it, they say. Write the genre you love to read, they say. Don't spread your efforts, your brand, your time too thin, they say.<br />
<br />
They say a lot, whoever they is. But is it useful? In the case of genres, companies stretch their brands all the time, and more or less successfully at that. Take Disney, for example: from movies to amusement parks to cruise ships, with hops in between. Then there's Virgin: music, airlines, banking.<br />
<br />
And who doesn't like Trump vodka on Trump airlines? Oh, wait -- those both failed.<br />
<br />
Trump isn't alone; according to a <a href="http://www.nielsen.com/content/dam/corporate/india/reports/2012/Featured%20Insight_Factors%20for%20Success%20in%20a%20Stretch%20Strategy.pdf" target="_blank">Nielsen report I just read</a>, one out of every two attempts to enter a new product genre ends in failure. Yes, some succeed, and grandly (and profitably) at that. Back to writing, Stephen King's a master of the art of brand-stretching. Robert Gailbraith? Not so much. <br />
<br />
Recently I've thought of trying my own hand at it. Heck, I figured, I've been more or less successful with fantasy now. Not J.K. Rowling successful, mind you, but not bad either. But, see, there's this romance genre over there that's tantalizing. I mean the genre, not the work. It represents the largest customer base out there.<br />
<br />
TV-wise, there's been plenty of action for fantasy, with Game of Thrones and so on. No options envy there, then. Still, I've watched Outlander with my family with interest, in large part because that series successfully bridges fantasy with romance. It's got great characters, and it's a very well executed storyline from a historical perspective.<br />
<br />
Just watched the last episode of the first season, though. Nope. Can't do it. I can't write that stuff.<br />
<br />
Gonna go back to my gods and elves and dragons and so on. They, at least, play nice with each other. Usually, anyway; when they're not playing nice, they're just killing and maybe eating each other.<br />
<br />
No genre-stretching for me....<br />
<br />
- TOSKThe Other Stephen Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14471972807328125155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1932376865726081805.post-76827486833322083052015-05-19T09:56:00.002-04:002015-05-19T09:56:37.410-04:00OverloadI remember hearing a story about how lion taming worked. That fascinated me, honestly. I mean, the idea of going head-to-head with an animal that's heavier than you, faster than you, stronger than you, and -- um, claw-ier than you -- armed with nothing but a chair seemed like it was doomed to end in tragedy. But no, it works, and according to the story, it works because Mr. Lion gets confused. So the story goes, and as I confirmed over at <a href="http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/arts/circus-arts/lion-taming2.htm" target="_blank">HowStuffWorks</a>, the beast, the very King of the Jungle, tries to worry about all four legs of the chair at the same time. When he can't, he just decides that maybe there's easier dinners out there. Like, I don't know, Burger King.<br />
<br />
While it astonishes me that this technique actually works with mighty predatory cats, I've seen it work on humans often. Hey, it even works on me, and here's how. We recently launched my beloved bride's blog on eating with allergies, <a href="http://glutenfreewithheide.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Gluten Free with Heide</a>. (<i>somehow I expected the universe to end when I linked to wordpress.com from blogger.com, but it didn't</i>) At the same time, I'm shifting all my works over to Smashwords in order to enjoy the multi-formatting options over there, but to do so requires significant reformatting. I'm still trying to keep up with this blog, and with my own meager marketing efforts. Meanwhile, I'm refining a couple of short stories to try to sell them to SFWA markets. Then there's the pesky little novels that I'm still trying to get refined to the point that y'all will enjoy reading them.<br />
<br />
And that's an authorpreneur's life. <br />
<br />
Let's see, that's one, two, three -- six chair legs, if I counted correctly. Yep, I'm getting Trained. Only, instead of slinking away to the other side of the circle like Mr. Lion, I open a DOSBox window and play me a round of Empire (an 80's-era strategy game in four colors that takes a good 24 hours to play out on a moderate-sized map). That, and heading over to Facebook, where instead of using my author page to engage readers and potential readers, I sit on my personal page and poke fun at the <strike>hundreds </strike>dozens of people declaring themselves candidates for the next Presidential election.<br />
<br />
...which is all fine, if Facebook were going to pay my rent.<br />
<br />
I'm not the only one. As a career college dean I've seen hundreds of students fall into this trap. "Oh my goodness, I have four things to do, so I can't do any of them!" seems silly when said that way, but remember that it works on the King of the Jungle, too.<br />
<br />
What do you do about it, then? Well, first, recognize that it's happening. If your keyboard is perfectly clean, yet you're cleaning it again anyway, you might be in this trap. If you're engaged in a discussion on Facebook about gay extraterrestrials landing on the moon, and yet you're neither gay, nor an alien, nor from the moon, then you might be in this trap. And if you're in the trap, make a decision to stop it. Facebook, powerful as it may be, has the same little X button at the top that every other window has. Admit to yourself that nobody really cares if you manage to win an Internet debate, were that even possible, nor does anybody care how clean your keyboard or your desk is, and just -- stop.<br />
<br />
Then -- prioritize. What puts you into the trap in the first place is having four (or more) things coming at you with apparently equal force. That's an illusion, though. Some of those are going to be more important than others. Some will take more or less time than others. Pick the most important one. If things are relatively equal in importance, pick the quickest one to get out of the way (hence, in my case, a blog post).<br />
<br />
And then? Just do it. Focus on one leg instead of four (or six, or eight) and knock it away. Celebrate -- yay! And then get to another leg, again based on priorities. And while you're getting all accomplish-y and stuff, try to remember how fun it was when you got into it in the first place, okay?<br />
<br />
Good luck!<br />
<br />
- TOSKThe Other Stephen Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14471972807328125155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1932376865726081805.post-84031852154448517222015-05-05T11:57:00.001-04:002015-05-05T11:57:57.275-04:00From Amazon to SmashwordsI'm excited! <br />
<br />
So excited, in fact, that I'm making my first blog post in over a month. *ahem* Sorry. If I told you about being busy with a new day job, helping my beloved launch her own blog (yay for <a href="http://glutenfreewithheide.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Gluten Free With Heide</a>) and working around the clock (ish) to get Volume 2 of Elf Queen done and ready for you -- well, that would sound like excuses, and I don't like those. So I'll just say mea culpa and move on to....<br />
<br />
I'm excited! (you got that, right?)<br />
<br />
Why? Well, I've been holding on to the promotional deals that Amazon has available through their KDP Select program, to the expense of some of my readers. Specifically, Amazon allows you to use their promotional tools, but you have to, in return, give them exclusive rights to distribute your book. That means it's all about the Kindle, 'bout the Kindle, no Nook, and -- oh, sorry.<br />
<br />
*ahem*<br />
<br />
So bad singing aside, the exclusive deal used to be worth it. The promotional tools used to work well in conjunction with other efforts, and sales were good. But recently they've changed their algorithms, and added some new stuff, and -- not trying to bash them, but it isn't working for me. Granted, my own personal promo plan over the past few months has been pretty skimpy as I've settled into new digs. Still, that notwithstanding, I decided to make a move.<br />
<br />
This past weekend I took the three works that are no longer in KDP Select (Cataclysm, Prophecy, and Undercover Truths/Undercover Lies) and uploaded them into Smashwords. <br />
<br />
Yaaaaaaayyyyyy!!!!!<br />
<br />
Wait -- what's that mean, you're asking? Well, Smashwords in turn uploads -- or crossloads -- or downloads -- or, well, whatever silly direction we wish to indicate -- loads the appropriate version to all appropriate venues. That means those three ebooks will soon be available from B&N online, iTunes, and so on. That, in turn, means that all you Nookies can read them! (sorry, I probably shouldn't have -- well, heck, it's funny)<br />
<br />
It means one other thing, by the way. Amazon makes money from sales of the book, of course, and so books that are set to permanent free aren't welcome. Hey, I have an MBA; I can dig that. But Smashwords does not. Well, they do make money from sales of books, that is, but they are fine with perma-free. <br />
<br />
What's that mean? I set Undercover Truths/Undercover Lies to free. That's not "free till Friday" or "free today only," that's free. Free as the birds. Free as the meat in fresh roadkill.<br />
<br />
Eww.<br />
<br />
But no, seriously, it's free. Go download here: <a href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/539995" target="_blank">https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/539995</a> . It's available in whatever format you wish to read it in. <br />
<br />
And then? Please, go post a review of it somewhere. That's the most awesome-est-est-est gift you can give me, or any author. <br />
<br />
And, I know what you're thinking: "that might work, but how will we get the God of War to wear a tutu?" No, sorry, that was a bad flashback. What you're thinking is: "when will the other two books in the first series be available in all formats as well?" Answer is, they're still under contract with Amazon. One comes out this week, and the other in a couple of months. Sorry for the delay, but I'll get it as soon as I can honestly do it. In the meanwhile, enjoy a double dose of first volumes!<br />
<br />
Thanks, as always, for reading!<br />
<br />
- TOSKThe Other Stephen Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14471972807328125155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1932376865726081805.post-24675372518820166632015-03-27T10:21:00.002-04:002015-03-27T10:21:52.889-04:00Hating the LanguageI have a historical adventure story in my head that I'm a little bit intimidated over writing. It's not the story part; I'm getting used to that. No, it's the language. I mean, I can barely keep up with changes to the mother tongue in my own lifetime; how am I to handle it 400 years ago?<br />
<br />
Now, I grew up in a linguistically unpretentious region in the southern United States. Back home in Mississippi, we might've used a metaphor or two to make ourselves sound cooler'n a.... Um, smarter'n a.... Well, you get the drift. Anyway, that was the extent of our linguistic shenanigans, generally speaking. Words just plain meant what they meant back then.<br />
<br />
Okay, I know what you're thinking, and you're right. There is one rather well-known exception to my previous statement, and it has to do with blessing peoples' hearts when there really isn't any blessing being done to any hearts whatsoever. In fact, it didn't just mean one thing; the phrase could be used to signal all sorts of sentiments. The connotation depended -- and still does -- entirely on usage. For example, the three words at the end of "my cousin's entire mobile home park was taken out by that tornado, bless their hearts," mean something entirely different from the three words at the end of "they found the permanent markers to use in drawing on my kitchen wall, bless their hearts." Same words, different intention, and if you didn't catch it, you're as sharp as a cue ball.<br />
<br />
Back then, though, it should be pointed out that we didn't have an Internet to pass things around, either. When I moved to California to finish high school, they <i>actually </i>thought I was wishing blessings upon their hearts. Now, I did, very quickly, stop contracting "you" and "everyone" into the vernacular "y'all," but that was simply because I didn't enjoy the attention that the shortened, more flexible utterance brought me. Overall, the language was the language.<br />
<br />
Now? Sheesh. The "mother tongue" has spawned some really strange offspring. Thanks in part to the rapidity of dissemination and complete lack of grammar checking on the Internet, linguistics has gotten nuttier than a squirrel turd. I mean, do you remember when <i>literally </i>and <i>figuratively </i>meant opposite things? Recently they literally changed the dictionary definition so that they're the same word, but only if you mean 'em that way. And then there's gay. Used to be that word meant happy, lighthearted, carefree, but my generation was pretty effective at redefining it to refer to someone who is homosexual -- because, um, someone who is homosexual is obviously happy, I -- um, guess. Now, though, it means something completely different. How gay is that, right?<br />
<br />
And what's up with <i>hate</i>? Growing up, to hate meant something fairly specific. You <i>knew </i>if/when you were being hated on. That, though, was before the haters and the haters of haters got hold of it. Now, if you write a law that somebody disagrees with, you're hating. Meanwhile, if you disagree with said law, you're hating. If you disagree with the disagreement--you <i>hater</i>, you! <br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>(that said, let's please leave the actual political stuff to my personal Facebook page)</i></span><br />
<br />
I hate it. Literally.<br />
<br />
- TOSKThe Other Stephen Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14471972807328125155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1932376865726081805.post-59086358150311959542015-03-25T21:51:00.003-04:002015-03-25T21:51:40.402-04:00Origins - SorschaOkay, after starting this Origins series, I absolutely have to write about the most awesome character I've ever created. No, I'm not talking about a Greek/Roman god come to life. Nor am I talking about his wife, who when she finds out the truth refrains from trying to beat his brains in for making her live a lie. And although Seph and Keion are both pretty cool to my opinion, they're still not beautiful-woman-who-can-transform-into-fricking-dragon cool.<br />
<br />
Yes, I'm talking about Sorscha.<br />
<br />
Sorscha the character began as a foil to the poor war god's significant other. As I explained in a previous episode, the introduction of the S.O. went through a deliberate thought process. Of course a god should own a fancy palace, right? And of course he'd have servants maintaining that palace. And the god of war? Depending on the story you read, he either stole the goddess of love from her consort, or had her stolen from him, and so in either case you realize that he's got quite the eye for an attractive female form.<br />
<br />
So yeah, at the end of this line of reasoning was the unassailable conclusion that Matt would have a personal servant who absolutely had to be smoking hot.<br />
<br />
That fact, then, leads down another trail of questions. If the god of war's servant is smoking hot, why should he leave his mansion in the first place? Why bring a human woman back? Why would he not, in the grand cataclysm, just say, "you know, you're awfully awesome, but I have smoking hot back there at my mansion, so sayonara"?<br />
<br />
That, then, led to the requirement that she can't -- well, give him what he needs. No, seriously! Think about this for a moment. If the gods were creating a race of beings who could serve alongside their deified masters and mistresses for a long, long period of time, yet the gods wanted to ensure a continued interest in human affairs, wouldn't the gods then also be smart enough to make those beings asexual? I mean, most, or at least much, of the messiness of human existence falls into the realm of sexual issues, right? Why get involved in that if you can avoid it?<br />
<br />
On top of that, why would you want a race of dragons to be self-propagating? After all, the premise behind the series is that Matt et al created the dinosaurs first, got bored with them for lack of interesting interaction, killed them all off (well, a pair of them did, as explained in Cataclysm), and then created humans. Sort of, anyway. <br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>(Matt et al are actually not powerful enough to create life, but that's not brought up in any of the books so far)</i></span><br />
<br />
No, no, the dinosaurs and the humans were the playthings. The dragons were the servants. Period. One set could self-propagate and dally around with deities and so on, while the other could not.<br />
<br />
So anyways, long story short, I realized that if I were creating a race of long-lived beings who could serve beside their gods/goddesses with maximized serving intent which in turn calls for minimized drama, I'd make them asexual.<br />
<br />
The initial idea, actually, was to make them not only asexual, but also devoid of emotion. Thus they can serve, but they can't do anything more than that. Problem is, the non-emotionality isn't really possible in any reality I imagined. Heck, I can't even imagine living on Vulcan, to be honest, no matter how much I like the worlds of Star Trek and the character Spock. <br />
<br />
The thrakkoni, then, can have emotions -- but -- <i>BUT</i>! As long-lived beings who have been forced to watch their gods and goddesses play the fools, their emotions would of course play out differently. You know, smoother. Wiser. More musical.<br />
<br />
Yes, more musical. Hey, that chapter -- and if you've read <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007ALLJC0/" target="_blank">Cataclysm </a>you know which one -- came out of nowhere. Initially I just wanted Matt to take everybody through some sensory overload set to music to prove how powerful he was. But then as I wrote and experimented with it, it developed and grew, and I ended up having Sorscha sing Mozart, writing it as I was while listening to Mozart. Thus I breathed life into a chapter that I still love.<br />
<br />
Incidentally, the name of the race -- thrakkoni -- comes from an old spelling of dragon. Used to be that th and d were the same character, the thorn thing. It also used to be that doubling up of consonants was just something you did when you felt like it. So, yeah -- thrakkon, and thrakkoni for plurals. I Googled the name to make sure it wasn't already in use, and it wasn't. It is now.<br />
<br />
So all that said, Sorscha ended up taking over a major part in the books as I continued revising. My editor, <a href="http://debraginsberg.com/" target="_blank">Debra Ginsberg</a>, said in the beginning how intrigued she was by Sorscha. By the character's position, she deserves that kind of intrigue, having stood beside the god of war for a very, very long time. She's the one who takes Crystal in while the wife is completely lost. She's the one who helps prepare Crystal for her first trip to Olympus. She's the one who helps not just Crystal but also the twin girls in the second book, while Crystal is going through her quests.<br />
<br />
In fact, were I to write the first few books over, I'd no doubt give Sorscha even bigger parts, even more to do. That's kinda what Debra told me to do, after all, but at the time I didn't really have the skills or knowledge to follow through. The fourth novel, though? Watch out, man. This one's gonna zing Sorscha into the action a lot of a lot, while playing with some of the initial characters and creating some others. <br />
<br />
Oh, and did I mention what an awesome editor Debra is? Go see her page.<br />
<br />
So all that said, hope you enjoyed! <br />
<br />
- TOSKThe Other Stephen Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14471972807328125155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1932376865726081805.post-32988628210383974962015-03-17T12:01:00.000-04:002015-03-17T12:01:01.884-04:00Saint Patrick's DayHappy St. Patty's Day! Pass the beer, would ya?<br />
<br />
I think all major holidays and celebrations have a twisty-curvy bit inside them if you hold them up to the light long enough. Saint Patrick's Day is an example that doesn't require all that much light, to be honest, being the weird sorta-religious, sorta-nationalistic, sorta-besotted global party that it is. <br />
<br />
But hey, when else can ya drink the beer that's green, eh?<br />
<br />
Edna Barth, author of <u>Shamrocks, Harps, and Shillelaghs: The Story of the St. Patrick's Day Symbols</u>, puts it pretty well: "For most Irish-Americans, this holiday is partly religious and partly festive. St. Patrick's Day church services are followed by parades and parties, Irish music, songs, and dances. To other Americans, the festive side is the one that is known the best. <i>Cheerfully noisy, greener than spring itself, the Irish holiday on March 17th is a welcome harbinger of the coming season.</i>"<br />
<br />
Ahh, greener than spring itself -- a great way to describe the festivities, isn't it?<br />
<br />
Growing up, even before I was old enough to enjoy the imbibing, I always loved St. Patty's Day for the greenery, the pinching, the horribad fake Irish accents, and so on. Turning 21 (well, ish) just made it all that much better. And then, I learned that there are people who resent the holiday. What...?<br />
<br />
Yeah, there's more to it. In fact, there's a long history of more to it.<br />
<br />
Saint Patrick, as most people know, became famous for driving all the snakes out of Ireland. Yay! Who wants snakes, anyway, right? Though, hold on a sec -- if you're talking about literal snakes, you have to agree that some are useful to have around. They keep rodent populations under control, for one thing. From a non-religious-metaphoric, non-ophidiophobic (fear of snakes) standpoint, then, why would the guy who de-snaked an island be a hero?<br />
<br />
They weren't literal snakes, though. They couldn't have been. People who have studied fossil records have concluded that there were never snakes in Ireland. The explanation I've read seems legit; way back when, those islands north of continental Europe were way too cold for cold-blooded reptiles. As they warmed and the seas rose, a few snake species were able to migrate over to jolly old England herself, but none made it all the way to the Emerald Isle. So, no snakes in Ireland for Saint Patrick to remove.<br />
<br />
So if Saint Patrick didn't drive out the snakes, what did he drive "into the sea"?<br />
<br />
Druids, the answer goes. His charter mission from the Catholic church, after all, was to convert the pagans to Christianity. That was what he was sent to do. Basically, it was his job, and who better to do it than the bishop who, according to what I've read, actually grew up, up there? <br />
<br />
I can only imagine a similar thing today, with the performance statement saying something like, "Congrats and good job on exceeding goal on pagan-conversion rate. Based on metrics, your annual performance raise will be 4.2%. Advise increasing 401K participation in order to take advantage of new increase to matching funds."<br />
<br />
*ahem*<br />
<br />
So, pagans. Druids, in other words. The pagans in Ireland called their pagan priests druids (well, the Irish dialect version of the word, but you get the idea), and it was those folks who had to convert or leave in order for Saint Patrick to succeed in his mission.<br />
<br />
So why snakes as a metaphor? Well, the story is that the druids used a serpent as their primary symbol, and so "driving the snakes to the sea" is a less-metaphoric-than-usual metaphor for ridding the nation of druids. Right?<br />
<br />
Right, except that I'm struck by one question, that being the case. Why would pagans, a group whose "religion" involves a close attachment to the world around them, choose as their symbol an animal that doesn't exist where they are? It's kinda like how the University of Southern Mississippi chose "Golden Eagles" as their mascot when there isn't an eagle within hundreds of miles of them. Granted, USM has the Internet to look up cool stuff about golden eagles, while the Irish pagans had -- um.... Yeah. So what -- how -- when....?<br />
<br />
Frankly, I don't get it. Except, I have to point out, the poor snake really has gotten short shrift in Christian literature, hasn't it? <br />
<br />
Ah, well. Anyway, that's the religious side of the holiday. Then there's the green side. Which is weird, too, because apparently Saint Patty's color was blue. Oops. But as tensions rose over the past couple of centuries (like they were ever low) between Catholics and Protestants, Irish and non-Irish, and so on, it's said that a great nationalistic wave swept over the holiday. Green is the Irish color, and Saint Patrick's Day is the Irish holiday, and so therefore the holiday's color is green, begorrah!<br />
<br />
All right, so green it is. I like green. But what about all the drinking? Not that I don't like drinking -- far from it -- but why that on a sorta-religious mostly-nationalistic holiday? Well, keep in mind that March 17th happens to fall, no matter when the moon cycle actually phases, somewhere deep within the vast expanse of Lent. To folks like me who aren't Catholic, Lent generally means "hey, time to pretend to give something up for 40 days, and oh, look at all the purple cloth." Many Catholics, however, view Lent in a much more serious light. It's their 40 days to fast, to pray, to abstain, to contemplate -- in short, to really get serious about the whole religious thing. <br />
<br />
However....<br />
<br />
Hey, every deeply serious process needs a moment or two of levity, right? This one is particularly important, too, since it celebrates what can be claimed as a major accomplishment for the Catholic church. Thus, many Catholics lift the Lenten rules just a tad--a wee bit, laddie! Many bishops, from what this non-Catholic writer has heard, even make the lifting of rules official policy, thus creating what is effectively another Fat Tuesday right smack in the middle of the thing. <br />
<br />
Hey, not casting stones here. It's a celebration. Humans need celebration. Ancient pagans recognized that, creating as they did the four solar and four mid-season holidays spaced out so nicely through the year. The Catholic church agreed, doing much the same and even adopting many of the same time frames. <br />
<br />
No, no aspersion intended. Quite the opposite, actually. I love Saint Patty's Day, myself. <br />
<br />
It's just -- interesting. Ain't it?<br />
<br />
Enjoy the celebration! (just consume your green beer safely, and no driving afterward, okay?)<br />
<br />
- TOSKThe Other Stephen Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14471972807328125155noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1932376865726081805.post-63821858207683597192015-03-09T09:41:00.000-04:002015-03-09T09:41:39.274-04:00The Dragon Queen Needs A BreakHey, y'all!<br />
<br />
I've been so happy to be getting my writing life back in order. If you didn't notice, I managed to kick-start the blogging efforts once again (yay, blog!) and I've been working toward getting some of these Works in Progress off of my "To Be Completed" list. Part of that has included my excited announcements and notices that The Dragon Queen, Book 2, is coming right along and will be out soon.<br />
<br />
So, yeah.... Scratch that bit.<br />
<br />
No, don't worry, I'm not <i>not </i>going to get the book out. It's not the end of the series; I love the story and the characters too much for that. It's just that what I've got isn't working. I mean, last time I did this with Book 1, I spent hours reading aloud to the family, then I went and spent hours revising based on that reading, and then later they'd beg me for more reading. This time, with Book 2, I've spent hours reading aloud to the family, and they haven't asked me for any more, and I also haven't gotten to the revising yet, days later. <br />
<br />
"It's not bad," my beloved bride (with whom I celebrated our fifth anniversary yesterday--yay, us!) said. The cool thing is how honest she can be when it comes to my work, and I appreciate that. "It's not bad" is actually pretty good, coming from her. It's just not -- well, it's not good. <br />
<br />
I'm not even considering putting "not bad" anywhere close to my beta readers. Sorry. Thus, it's back to blank pages for this one. Oh, I'll keep some of what I've got, but I'm gearing up for my first large-scale rewrite since Cataclysm. <br />
<br />
Again, it's not bad. The plot lines, both main and sub-plots, have been pretty well thickened in, and it's a story line that I think everyone will like. I've got an overwhelmingly pleasant array of characters, some returning from the first installment and others brand new. It's not a problem, then, with the plot arc, or with the characterization, or with the scenes.<br />
<br />
It's the tone.<br />
<br />
Dragon Queen is told from the point of view of an 18-year-old girl. She's jaunty, she's naive, she's snarky. It's supposed to read in a fun, fun way. Oh, it'll have dark points in the story, coming soon -- y'all have no idea of the level of evil I'm planning on putting her and her subject elves through later in the series -- but not yet. Not in Book 2, at least; she's still just figuring out the depth of the resistance against her. In Book 2 she's supposed to sound like the same person she was in Book 1. Even later in the series she'll sound like a stressed-out, almost-defeated version of the person she was in Book 1. <br />
<br />
Problem was, I wasn't the same person writing this manuscript as I was for Book 1. Or, to be accurate, I was the same person, but I wasn't in the same place, either physically or mentally. I'd gone from having a day job and a house and a community that I loved to--well, kind of the opposite of that. Some day, perhaps, I'll tell the full story of what we went through while I wrote Book 2, but now isn't the time, so you'll have to just take my word for it that my mind was in a dark, dark place. Thus, my writing has a dark, dark tone that might make Poe proud. It's not jaunty at all. It's not snarky at all. In fact, when the humor comes, when it comes at all, it's mean and biting, not snarky.<br />
<br />
I realized in the reading aloud that all my characters sounded like Prince Charming on a bad day, in fact. <br />
<br />
So--yeah, Alyssa needs a break. I'm gonna work on another project for a few weeks while I follow my beloved's advice and re-read Book 1, and then it'll be back to Scrivener for me. <br />
<br />
Sorry for the delay, but the end result will be worth it!<br />
<br />
- TOSKThe Other Stephen Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14471972807328125155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1932376865726081805.post-43917443041975905732015-03-03T13:36:00.001-05:002015-03-03T13:36:29.157-05:00Origins - Matthew and CrystalI've been asked quite a few times where the story of Matthew and Crystal (main characters in Return of the Gods) came from.<br />
<br />
First, I must admit that I daydream. I'm not alone, as the <u>Secret Life of Walter Mitty</u> (the book, not the movie) shows. I don't do it as much anymore now that I'm happily ensconced in both a family and a career that I adore, but over the years I've imagined myself a lottery winner, a captain of industry, a ninja, and many other things. Other things, including a god. I mean, who wouldn't think it cool to one day up and tell your boss, "I'm outta here now, going back to doing what I do best--being worshipped"?<br />
<br />
Along the way, I started wondering what might happen should the god of my imaginings have a wife or girlfriend. Would he take her along to--wherever he lives (which in turn brings up the question of where a god might live)? If he offered, how would she likely respond? If she went along to his palace in the sky, or on Olympus, or wherever it was, how would she fare? Gods have servants, right? What if his personal servant was a stunningly beautiful female--how would his girlfriend/wife react then? <br />
<br />
(is this starting to sound familiar?)<br />
<br />
Meanwhile, many years ago I toured the Biltmore Mansion and saw a magnificent tapestry that depicted the interesting love triangle between Ares, Aphrodite, and Hephaestus. In that story the latter two were married and the god of war stole the goddess of love away from the god of hammer-time. Hmm--interesting story, that. It's not the only version, of course; Greek myths, like most mythologies, have some variations in the telling. Still, I wondered, would gods and goddesses really wed, or become consorts, or whatever you wish to call a pairing up? How might an immortal being speak the words "till death do us part"? What would happen, then, when they sleep around on each other?<br />
<br />
At some point I realized that the wife/girlfriend was more interesting than the guy in my original story. Guy tells boss "Seeya, I'm outie!" and then tells girlfriend/wife "you're coming with!" and then goes back to being a deity.... Meh. Not much interesting stuff there. <br />
<br />
Her side, though: normal housewife (who's certainly not just average; she was, after all, chosen by a god) gets swept out of her normal life with her normal kids to a fantasy world, by said god -- hey, not just <i>any</i> old god, but let's make him the god of war. Yeah, now we're talking. Ares, after all, wasn't exactly everybody's favorite deity. He was known for being a tough guy to live with, after all. I mean, the Greeks often built the temples to Ares way out away from their towns, as a way to say, "please stay out there and protect us, but -- well, you know, kinda stay out there, if you don't mind, um, away from our women." <br />
<br />
Yeah, Ares. He was arrogant, he was brash, he was immature at times. In short, he was all those qualities that are great in the swordmaster fighting by your side but might kinda take some getting used to in a lifemate. He'd hide them just fine in a normal, civilized role, but give him back his mojo and see the battle glory in his eyes. <br />
<br />
Now, Mars was seen a little bit different. That's unsurprising, really, since his role in the pantheon -- warfare -- was seen a little bit differently by the Romans than by the Greeks. So how, I wondered, should I tie him into other notable pantheons? A little bit of artistic license and suddenly he became the mischievous one -- not playfully and sometimes disobediently mischievous like Loki/Hermes, but selfishly so instead. The Norse legends uphold him as a glorified god of justice because, well, he helped write those legends. And so it began.<br />
<br />
Thus was the main story behind Cataclysm: Return of the Gods born. In hindsight, I probably should've titled it differently, as the cataclysm is just the vehicle I used to kick the story off. The main plot, as I'm sure you already know from reading it, is about Crystal, the wife of the god of war (who is for the most part modeled after my own dear beloved bride) and how she deals with all of the loss in the cataclysm as well as the <i>kinda </i>major surprise that she's married to the immortal guy who's the ex-hubster of the goddess of love. "Oh, sure," she says inside. "Forgot to mention something, Matt?"<br />
<br />
To add some extra-special spice to the story I decided that the goddess of love would be wanting her old fling back. Come to think of it, I don't think I ever said why, but then again, that's a story for another Origins post.<br />
<br />
Hope you enjoyed!<br />
<br />
- TOSK<br />
<br />
(PS--you did already know that from your reading, didn't you? If you haven't, and you'd like to, then head on over to <a href="http://theotherstephenking.com/works.html" target="_blank">my author page</a> and get a copy. And then please do me the favor of recording your thoughts on the book in the form of a review)The Other Stephen Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14471972807328125155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1932376865726081805.post-49044669780283885562015-03-01T13:58:00.003-05:002015-03-01T13:58:48.637-05:00Live Long and ProsperI'll never forget hearing the news that he'd died. I was sitting in the food area of a mall, having just been to a bookstore of all places, and the TV ran the news that he'd passed away.<br />
<br />
No, I'm not talking about the equally devastating news we heard this week about the passing of Leonard Nimoy. That news hit me in the gut, but it wasn't the first time. The instance I'm referring to was in April of 1992, a month before I was to leave the Army and seek my fortune as a civilian, and it was Isaac Asimov who had taken his last breath.<br />
<br />
Both men were inspirations to a bold new world, weren't they? Asimov repeatedly hit the proverbial nail on its proverbial head with his science fiction, but what a lot of people don't realize is how prolific a nonfiction author he was, or how other writings of his made actual science more accessible to many of my generation. I still cherish my copies of <u>Asimov on Astronomy</u> and <u>Asimov on Physics</u>, in fact. In both books the giant of a writer crafted tales of conundrums of the world around us--true tales, in fact--in a scientific yet descriptive manner. He, or more specifically his writing, is, in fact, the reason I went on to study physics as an undergrad.<br />
<br />
I look up to Leonard Nimoy's work similarly. He's best known, of course, for his portrayal of a half-human, half-alien character on that most seminal of sci fi TV shows, Star Trek. The character and its fellows on that serial are arguably part of the foundation (hehe--I worked "Foundation" into this!) of modern science fiction. But much more can be said of his character itself, what with his continual, explicit grappling between the forces of logic and emotion. He was the half-alien with super-human strength and a paralyzing pinch who nevertheless generally set his phaser to stun. Spock really could be said to be the alien who made us reconsider what it means to be human.<br />
<br />
While Spock was his hallmark, his other contributions shouldn't be forgotten. His narration of the Ancient Mysteries series was spellbinding (and is still available on Youtube if you didn't see the shows when they initially came out). Later, Our 20th Century continued to fascinate. Honestly, the man could probably find a way to make a tale about a rock in your back yard entertaining. <br />
<br />
"Live long and prosper" is a phrase we owe to Nimoy, thanks to his portrayal of Spock. Both men did that, really, living past their 70th birthday and, in Nimoy's case, his 80th. Both men gave the world incredible, boundless vision of what the future might become. <br />
<br />
To both, then, I say Rest in Peace, and may our world truly become the magnificent place you saw in your creative vision.<br />
<br />
- TOSKThe Other Stephen Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14471972807328125155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1932376865726081805.post-49367343873116533482015-02-27T12:10:00.003-05:002015-02-27T15:09:11.744-05:00A Letter To MommaThe sleek black Mercedes turned off of the narrow rural road, its freshly-shined tires crunching along the gravel that led up to the unpretentious wooden home. The house's lone occupant opened the front door as the car rolled to a stop. The driver, a tall man in pressed suit and dark shades, rose from the car and entered the house silently, the woman equally silently pressing the front door to behind him. The neighbors would be discussing the visit, she knew. The visits happened nearly every other week now, and each time it was a different gentleman in a different rented luxury sedan, always dressed impeccably. The neighborhood hummed with rumors.<br />
<br />
The woman didn't mind. It amused her. In fact, she relished the part she was able to play in giving the neighborhood a touch of fresh intrigue to stir the otherwise-bored Southern souls. She made a game of it, timing the relaxation of the window curtains up and down the street while the expensive car left her driveway and headed home after the visits. <br />
<br />
This time was different, though. The tall, handsome stranger handed her the usual envelope, but instead of accepting her exchange of letters and leaving immediately as all the rest had done, he stood, waiting. He nodded toward the packet he'd just delivered and, in a clean British accent, said, "My Lady, I was instructed to hold while you read the contents of the letter, which will explain the follow-on errand I must ask your assistance with."<br />
<br />
She grinned. Nobody called her "My Lady." Nobody ever called anybody that, as far as she knew, in down-home rural Mississippi. There were still a host of "Sir" and "Ma'am" politenesses floating about, but the sharp British honorific struck her as especially wonderful.<br />
<br />
The woman turned the envelope over in her hands, reading the outside. She recognized her daughter's handwriting immediately, knowing the neat parallel lines Alyssa had practiced as a child. On the front, it was addressed simply "To Momma" with a much larger "FOR HER EYES ONLY" printed in block letters underneath. She grinned again. Alyssa always filled her writing with little details that mothers cherish but others surrounding her daughter, the new crown princess, might find offensive.<br />
<br />
She tore her eyes away from the handwriting on the outside, remembering that the elf had to stand and wait for her to read what was in the envelope. It was so beautiful, though; she loved receiving the letters, and she usually slowed down while reading them just so that she could enjoy it longer.<br />
<br />
"I'm sorry. Can I offer you a cup of tea while I read this?" she asked as she gently worked the flap open and removed the parchment inside.<br />
<br />
"Much appreciated, my lady, but no."<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Dearest Momma</span>, she read in Alyssa's neat cursive, the phrase bringing a gentle sigh. She'd spent every day since her daughter's birth with the beautiful young girl, and she missed her dearly.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I hope everything is going well there. I miss you like the dickens, I hope you know that I do and I always will. I still have your picture by my bed and hold it close to me every night. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I assume the royal courier is still standing there watching you read this. I asked him to do me a favor and bring me back some comfort food. He said he'd be happy to go shopping for me there on Earth, but the cooks here told me that he wouldn't have any way of knowing what I was after unless you either showed him or just went with him. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I want to make my absolute favorite dishes that you always do so well -- fried okra and catfish. There isn't a word in elf for okra, though, and when I got to asking around I learned that the plant apparently doesn't grow in Kiirajanna. Then, when I asked Seph about catfish, I had to describe what they look like. She just turned her nose up and said eww. I guess those do grow here, but apparently nobody wants to think about eating them. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">They also don't deep fry a whole lot here. By not a whole lot, I really mean nothing. Grease that I can use for frying, they have plenty of, and they also have a weird-tasting flour that is made from ground root, but I need some real flour and some corn meal. I'm sure the courier will have no idea what I'm talking about, too, so would you mind showing him?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Everything else is just fine, Momma. Since I got back from the library and went through all that coronation hoopla, it's gotten a lot quieter. They keep saying that I need to travel around the realm to win each of the four major clan leaders' approval, but I figure they're probably going to wait through the winter since they've already put me through so much this year. My trainers, including old High Priestess Sternyface, are still working me over on history and geography, but I rarely see the queen's kids any more. The two girls I don't mind not running into, but Keion -- well, I'm trying to convince myself I don't mind not running into him either. Oh, Prince Charming is around. I catch him watching me every so often when I'm doing my morning archery practice. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Speaking of that -- you oughtta see what an archer your daughter has become! I didn't believe him at first, but Keion's requirement of 100 arrows a day really has made a difference. Not only can I thwack the arrows pretty much anywhere I want them to be thwacked, now, but I'm even feeling stronger in the pulls. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Dad says hi, and that he misses you. I suppose he probably sends his own love letters, doesn't he? </span><br />
<br />
The woman stopped reading to look toward the master bedroom, imagining as she did that she could see through the wall to the box she still kept hidden away. It contained years worth of letters from her husband, the King of Kiirajanna, and Alyssa had only caught the royal courier once, or maybe twice, delivering them while she was growing up.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">He's a really cool guy, Momma. I mean, besides being King and all. I can see how you and he belong together. He makes a point of spending a little of every day with me. Sometimes we talk about governing, and sometimes about how much he loves the elves. Sometimes he tells me stories of the years with you, and how much he misses them and can't wait to be back there with you again. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Speaking of that, have you ever tried to cross over into Kiirajanna? I know it's fixed to where humans without elf blood can't cross, but here's the thing, Momma. I ran across your picture in a history book. I mean, it wasn't you; it was an ancient elf queen. She looked just like you, though. She was also the one who created the pendant you gave me -- did you know it's got a name? It's called Draignerthol here. I mean, maybe it's a long shot, but there was such a strong resemblance. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Maybe you could come over here and the three of us could all be together?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">That's probably too much to ask for, isn't it? Anyway, I hope this letter finds you well, Momma, and I can't wait to read your next letter to me!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Love,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Alyssa</span><br />
<br />
The woman sighed again and looked up, her eyes meeting the courier's. He smiled tenderly in return, guessing the meaning behind her emotional expression.<br />
<br />
Silently she rose and stepped to the refrigerator. As it happened, she'd just gone shopping, and on a whim she'd bought Alyssa's favorites. Then when she'd gotten them home she'd sobbed over the bags before tossing them into the darkest recesses of the shelves. <br />
<br />
"Here, take these," she offered the courier, handing him the ingredients. She'd never cook them again.<br />
<br />
"Thank you, madam," he replied, holding three crisp hundred dollar bills out. She took them, knowing it would do no good to try to explain pricing and value to a native of Kiirajanna, which had no currency. The Earth-bound side of the elves' holdings was massively wealthy, built up over millennia, according to how he'd explained it to her. It handsomely covered the elf king's bride's expenses, he'd said, and then, later, suitably managed to provide a nice retirement income for the former king and his wife. <br />
<br />
She would want for nothing for the rest of her life. Except, of course, for her daughter's company.<br />
<br />
She found herself in no mood to watch the dance of the window coverings this time as the courier pulled out of the drive and headed back toward the portal to Kiirajanna.<br />
<br />
---------------------------- <br />
<br />
Hope you enjoyed this little bit of fiction! Those who haven't read Dragon Queen yet--this occurs after the first book -- and hey, why haven't you read it yet, hmm? <br />
<br />
Those who have read it, thank you! Please keep your reviews coming, and know that I'm always interested in your feedback on how I can make the stories better to read.<br />
<br />
- TOSKThe Other Stephen Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14471972807328125155noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1932376865726081805.post-2698279475057384192015-02-25T01:31:00.005-05:002015-02-25T01:31:51.908-05:00Origins Part 2: Literary TriosThree's company, right? Everybody loves Los Tres Amigos?<br />
<br />
And then, don't forget Harry, Hermione, and Ron. That's the most recent literary trio I've read, but there have been plenty over the years. <br />
<br />
Let's face it, I spent a lot of time writing Return of the Gods to be a fairly linear, solo Hero's Journey. Yes, I left some of the elements out, more or less on purpose, but that book series tells a story in which Crystal learns and grows and pulls teachers to her side so she can learn some more, and she ends up--well, where she ends up. Part of the journey is taken with others, but that's just part of the journey, and they're just secondary characters. <br />
<br />
(as a quick side note: that's also why I've had the fourth novel of that series on the back burner for so long. Crystal learned what she needed to and got to where she got at the end of the third book. It took a while to come up with a compelling story line to push beyond that, though I've got it now and you can expect to be able to read it sometime, for certain, in 2015, and this time it'll be dedicated to the real-life Phoenix and Birch, who have both unexpectedly passed away in the past extremely sorrowful year. But that's another story.)<br />
<br />
That writing experience then led me into the Elf Queen series wondering who the cast should be. Alyssa, of course, who must bravely face her fate as the beloved and despised Dragon Queen of prophecy. Her father, and her mother, and of course the queen. But who else?<br />
<br />
As my beloved bride Heide and I discussed it, a plan germinated and took hold and built the story that you will now read in Prophecy. It wasn't me, to be honest; Heide deserves this credit. She's the one who pointed out that Harry Potter had been so captivating in large part because we got to watch not one, and not two, but three characters grow up, each within the others' shadows. Of course, Harry is the star of the show; heck, his name is on the book covers. But ask any group of readers who their favorite character was, and you're just as likely to hear the name Ron or Hermione as you are to hear Harry. <br />
<br />
Besides, writing three coming of age stories at the same time, intertwined as one, is a challenge. I like challenges.<br />
<br />
So who to include in the trio? One, of course, was Alyssa, who I'd already characterized out. I'd run a contest early on, and a dear friend of mine had won the right to name a character in my coming book. Sue, my friend, had asked me to name the character Sephaline, after a D&D character she'd played in our tabletop games. To tell the truth I took some pretty dramatic artistic liberties, pulling some of her character Sephaline into the role and adding some of another couple of characters she'd created. I wanted this character to be the equivalent of Ronald Weasley, after all, which meant there had to be a significant amount of charming, bumbling humor there, but Seph also had to have an inner core of competence.<br />
<br />
Anybody who compares Prince Charming--Keion, First Prince of the Realm--to Hermione is getting my original intent dead on. He's supposed to be perfect at everything the elves consider important, at least in his own mind, just as Hermione is perfect at everything the wizarding world considers important. Granted, this is playing out in a male figure instead of a female one, and so I've had to work hard at making him princely arrogant instead of just a jackass. <br />
<br />
And then there's the romantic thing.<br />
<br />
Just like most coming of age stories, nobody in this story really knows how to deal with the whole business of romantic interest. Nobody, that is, except for the Adults in Charge, who in this case are in quite interesting (and fun to write) positions regarding that bit. And trust me, it's only getting started; I have so many plans for interesting things to happen in the future episodes. The cool thing for my position as the author is that I have a trio to play with. The--well, the other cool thing is that it's not the primary plot line; it's got nothing to do with what the Cult of the Wyrm has planned for Alyssa and her reign. It's just a whole lot of fun.<br />
<br />
Anyway, so that's how the trio in Prophecy was invented. If you haven't read that book yet, you'll probably want to get it and read it. Northern Lights, the second part of the story, is coming out very, very soon!<br />
<br />
Enjoy!<br />
<br />
- TOSKThe Other Stephen Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14471972807328125155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1932376865726081805.post-74539912858692309622015-02-22T19:58:00.001-05:002015-03-31T11:37:47.802-04:00Origins - KiirajannaI'm occasionally asked where I come up with stuff, and I often answer sarcastically just because a) it's funny (to me) and b) I like saying the word "<a href="http://theotherstephenkingonwriting.blogspot.com/2011/03/protesting-in-schenectady.html" target="_blank">Schenectady</a>." But the truth is, as so many of us know, ideas are all around us. The problem, really, is to pick the one we wish to write about. Then we write about it, and as the story line is clicking along we make other decisions based on the silly stuff our characters are doing. In the end, what looks like a single plot arc was really a series of more or less considered decisions.<br />
<br />
So all that said, I want to go through a little bit of why I've done what I've done and published in a sort of "Origins" type of series. This first? Why Kiirajanna.<br />
<br />
I've already kind of touched on the overall reasoning behind the Dragon Queen series in several interviews I've been in. The short version is this: we (my family) were at Disney World a few years ago. The kids were off doing something far more energetic than Heide and I had the ability to do, and so we sat and consumed a couple of adult beverages while talking about the future of my writing efforts. We both wanted to see an elf story, because we hadn't read many good ones lately. So--what kind of an elf story?<br />
<br />
I'd already written an alternate history storyline in Return of the Gods, and as much as I enjoyed (and still am enjoying) writing on that line, I wanted something else. As we discussed it, I looked around marveling at what goes into a single day at the Magical Kingdom. It's no secret that there are miles and miles of tunnels underneath, along which the "cast members" travel in order to pop out into public view when/where needed. That got me to thinking about a world behind the world--a shadow place, similar to the Earth but not exactly like it, a world where magic exists. A world, to go further, that is run by elves.<br />
<br />
Now, that's all well and good, but the problem with any story is that you need compelling conflict. That's where I came up with the succession plan the elves have, where half of the new royalty has to come from Earth stock. Genetically it's a brilliant idea, but emotionally and sociologically it would be problematic, as Alyssa rapidly finds out.<br />
<br />
You can't just have one conflict, though, which is why the Cult of the Wyrm was inserted into the story. I won't ruin the plot for any who haven't yet read Prophecy, so I'll just leave it there. The interesting thing about that insertion, though, is that I started at the end. There is a definite, central "villain" in the story, believe me. You don't see him in the first book, nor will you see him in the second book despite seeing significantly more of the conflict he is creating.<br />
<br />
Thus was the primary plot line for Prophecy: Dragon Queen born. In future episodes of this Origins series I plan to discuss other things, like where the characterization ideas came from and why certain things are the way they are. Hey, I find it fun to talk about, and hopefully you find it interesting to read.<br />
<br />
Till then, enjoy!<br />
<br />
- TOSKThe Other Stephen Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14471972807328125155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1932376865726081805.post-35586682160455502092015-02-21T20:11:00.000-05:002015-02-21T20:11:59.288-05:00Dumb Questions--or, What it Means to Be a CreatorWhat does it mean to be a creator?<br />
<br />
I've been a more or less lurking participant in one of the best-known writer resource groups on Facebook for a few years now. To give credit where it's due, that group is <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/smashwordsauthor/" target="_blank">Indie Author Group</a>, which upon this writing time is nearly 9K members strong, and it's the first group I always recommend my friends join when they ask me about writing, whether or not they actually plan to become Indies. Simply put, it's an awesome group of awesomeness.<br />
<br />
That said, I've seen dumb questions there for years.<br />
<br />
I know, I know. I've been a teacher, and now a teacher's teacher, for nigh on two decades now. "There's no such thing as a dumb question!" we thunder at the beginning of every class, in the hopes that our students will be brave enough to venture into that realm we call engagement. It's an important thing to say, even if it's not really, necessarily, technically, always, um, true.<br />
<br />
Yikes.<br />
<br />
So to be perfectly honest, yes, there are indeed dumb questions. And yes, they're much more frequently asked by teachers than by students. So no, if you're a student, don't worry about asking one, just ask what's on your mind.<br />
<br />
But back to the IAG and dumb questions. Yes, there are. I'll be happy to add, though, that the questions are only dumb when taken from the position of experience. In other words, when the new folks ask them, they're really not dumb questions.<br />
<br />
One of those came (back) up the other day. Somebody elsewhere posted a blog about how writers can only consider themselves authors if they meet certain (higher, of course) conditions. Yes, this is complete hokum, because if you actually look up the meaning of the words, they're perfect synonyms. It's just somebody's way of feeling all elite and shiny and stuff.<br />
<br />
Then, more recently, somebody else posted a question that is in the category I was referring to. I'll not name names, nor will I repeat the question, but it was another of the fairly standard breed of "is it acceptable to..." questions about writing. Now, let me be clear: the group wouldn't exist without those questions. We get a lot of them regularly thanks to the number of new authors who join our ranks. To them, they're absolutely not dumb questions.<br />
<br />
To those of us who've done this a while, though --?<br />
<br />
Generally speaking, the answer to any "is it acceptable to violate such-and-such rule" question, for those of us who've done this a while, is that if you have to ask, it's not. Now, I really didn't get that when I started, and so I don't expect new folks now to get it, either. Regardless, no. Just -- no. The rules are there for a reason.<br />
<br />
<i>But wait!</i> you'll exclaim. There are tons of writers who've become famous while breaking the rules of writing. Many of them became famous specifically for breaking the rules, right?<br />
<br />
Yes! Yes, that's right. But they didn't have to <i>ask</i>.<br />
<br />
Look, writing is a craft, an art form. It's something that you learn the basics of, the rules of, early on, and then as you do it, and you read more, and then you write more, and then you read more, and all along you're accepting criticism on what you've written, eventually you might get pretty good at it. At that point, you'll be a craftsman -- er, person. Whatever. You'll be an artist. You'll be a creator.<br />
<br />
The thing is, artists and creators don't ask if it's okay to break a rule. They just do it, because they know when it needs to be done. They know when it needs to be done because they've gone through and followed the rules for long enough to achieve a certain level of mastery, of craftsmanship. <br />
<br />
So, again--if you have to ask whether it's okay for you to break a particular rule, the answer should always be no.<br />
<br />
Enjoy!<br />
<br />
- TOSKThe Other Stephen Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14471972807328125155noreply@blogger.com0