Chapter 10-Regaining Faith
That particular day, Rei was having trouble getting herself to relax so they could continue on with the magik lessons. Jalen was also unusually impatient, but it was mostly because of her restlessness and a disconcerting dream he'd had the night before. Gradually, Rei was able to push aside the feeling of foreboding that had been hanging over her almost since she had awoken because of the extensive training she had gone through starting from age eight.
Just as she had settled on the ground, however, Rei felt rhythmic emanations in the earth, and she straightened up immediately. Jalen's expression changed from annoyed to alarmed when he looked up at her. To his questioning look, she answered, "It feels like some horses are coming towards us. Not too many–maybe only a couple–but..."
His brow crinkled worriedly, and he replied, "I told you yesterday that we're in bandit country now. You'd be amazed how many people have turned to thievery and stealing now that the economy's completely ruined from war; it's on the brink of collapse, and quite a few acres of fertile farmland were ruined when they were used as battlefields. We should move on–quicky."
While she was untying and remounting her horse, Rei was readying herself mentally for a fight in case it should come. She was pretty sure they'd be outnumbered, but she hoped the odds weren't too bad. There were no raiders anywhere near the vicinity of the temple; no one was desperate enough to try and take on nearly an entire regiment of the best warriors in the land. Rei was uncomfortable with the thought that she might have to fight–or even kill–people who were only trying to survive.
They were traveling as rapidly as they could, but Jalen's face was set in tense lines. Rei checked behind her shoulder often while he did not look at all, and finally she said softly, "Jalen, they're about to surround us. They've formed a crescent behind us, and any minute, we'll be confronted by riders in front."
He kept his gaze straight ahead. "If we keep riding, we may be able to avoid conflict this way. Maybe they'll see that we have nothing worth stealing, but we're easy prey–there's only two of us." Jalen didn't sound terribly optimistic, but then he darted a sideways glance at his raven-haired companion and managed to crack a smile. "They didn't count on you presenting such a force on your own, though."
In spite of the gravity of the situation, Reisha felt heat rising in her cheeks. It instantly dissipated when two ragged-looking men burst through the cover of the brush in front of them, clearly intending to cut them off. She glanced at those pursuing them from behind–only two more on horses and the other four without horses. The raiders were short of horses, which meant that they were probably going to attempt to steal theirs.
"Stay on your horse," Jalen muttered under his breath, his eyes meeting hers firmly to make sure she understood, "they won't be aiming to kill or cripple them."
She nodded her understanding but then found herself separated from Jalen as she was ringed by two men on foot. Apparently, the marauders had decided that she, as a woman, provided much less danger than a man did. Rei smiled grimly: they must not have seen the sword, dagger, and bow she carried. She would have to move quickly, however, to help Jalen.
Unsheathing her blade, she knocked the first man hard on the head, and he swayed dizzily. Her second attacker came at her with a growl, and she dodged away from his spear point hastily. Her horse reared up and made free with her hooves while Rei hung on for dear life, all the while thanking Alec mentally–he had been very good with horses and trained many of them to be warhorses at the temple. Her current mount was one of the best he had ever worked with. Unfortunately, she was unused to real combat practice and had reared higher than usual (on uneven ground, as they were just exiting a mountain range), and Rei had very nearly been unseated. As it was, the man she had intended to knock unconscious managed to cut a long slice in her side, and she moved instantly, instinctively, and stabbed him in the shoulder.
Rei favored her right side as she rode towards Jalen, who was being besieged...in her desperation to save him, her training kicked in, and her mind functioned automatically as the circle of raiders closed around them ominously.
****~**~****
When Jalen came to a few hours later, the gathering dusk had wrapped their surroundings in an eerie fog. Grayness billowed around him mistily, and the shadows clumped thickly around the trees. The chilly air permeated their surroundings, and distant objects were dusky boulders to his eyes. There were still a few stray beams of weak yellow sunlight left in the day, and he staggered to his feet. Automatically, his brain presented him with an account of his injuries: several bruises and sore ribs but nothing too serious, except for the cut on his arm. It was crusted over with blood and didn't look too pleasant, and Jalen could only hope that it wouldn't get infected.
The next priority on his slowly-awakening mind was to find Reisha. As he stumbled around their clearing, groggily squinting into the encroaching darkness of the night, he found her horse first–it appeared that his had either run off or been stolen. Jalen's head pounded, and he had to steady himself as a wave of nausea and panic rushed through him.
When he could see without the colors of his vision blurring, his breath caught in his throat as he spotted the object the faithful horse had been standing guard over: Reisha herself. Cursing under his breath, Jalen dropped stiffly to his knees and called her name softly, brushing the long, dark, blood-matted tresses that had come loose away from her face. His heart dropped further when her only response was a weak fluttering of her eyelids, and they didn't lift to reveal her fantastic purple eyes.
He checked her injuries next, and when he discovered the long gash from her shoulder down and another on her side, still bleeding sluggishly, the sense of urgency that washed over him nearly defeated his common sense. Normally he wouldn't have even attempted to move her, but he knew that they–he–had to get help as soon as possible.
She moaned softly as he gathered her carefully in his arms, and Jalen's anxiety eased somewhat as he checked her pulse: she was so strong, he knew she was, and she would make it. He would make her survive, if it came to that. Mounting the horse was even more difficult, but Jalen knew they would make more ground that way. He only hoped that its steady gait wouldn't joggle her too much and that someone who was not a bandit lived in this forsaken, raider-infested valley.
The grey haze seemed to part magically several minutes later, and he glimpsed a tiny house–identifiable by its light–a little further down in the valley. He would have missed the cabin, tucked into the side of the sloping bowl, if there hadn't been a light and if he hadn't been searching so desperately for a trace of civilization. Gently smoothing her hair, Jalen whispered, "Hang on, Reisha, just a little farther. Look, there's a light just up ahead."
She stirred slightly and mumbled something that he couldn't quite catch; he prayed that she wasn't hallucinating. As he leaned down as much as he dared to try and hear her words, a smile broke over his face. The tail end of what she'd said was "...always spotting lights in the nick of time, Jalen Eridian..."
He moved her head, which was cradled on his shoulder, slightly so that she was more comfortable–he hoped. "Let's hope the door warden is a little more receptive to my humble self this time, Reisha. There aren't any more warriors' temples in these mountainous valleys that you know of, are there?" His spirits dampened when she slipped back into unconsciousness, and he rode on grimly, going as fast as he dared to, with her hurt form held tightly in his arms.
****~**~****
Amity looked dully down the list she had made earlier that afternoon of the flora she'd already collected. There were still some elusive berries she still had to find, as well as some roots that were becoming a rarity even here, her secret retreat. The day had seemed so long, and the mountains so empty and lonely. Usually, Ami never felt lonely in her little vale, feeling comforted by the bird calls, animal noises, and the sound of the wind rustling through the trees.
She shivered and tried to refocus her attention on the task at hand. Every few minutes, she glanced at the window expectantly, although she didn't know why. Finally, she dozed off at the table, drifting into clouded dreams...until a furious pounding on the door sounded.
"Open up!! Please!! I need help!!!" were the shouts that issued from outdoors.
Ami's eyes opened wide as she nearly fell out of her chair. The warding spells she had placed around her hollow were powerful, since there tended to be raiders just a few miles away. No one had ever bypassed the spells before. She moved to the door fluidly, half-lamenting the fact that being a healer had made her loathe to ignore those in need. Cautiously, she readied her magik in case she needed it for defense and opened the door a crack.
"Please! I was traveling through with my companion, and we were attacked by the raiders."
She opened the door a bit wider and began to ask the stranger for his name...but the question froze somewhere on its way to her mouth. "Jalen?" she managed to gasp out.
He looked equally taken aback to see her, but he pushed open the door as she moved aside dazedly. It was her...her hair had been dyed from its usual cerulean blue to a black (of course, he remembered abruptly, she would have needed to change her distinctive hair color to make her masquerade as a human plausible)–but blue streaks shone through, and the bones and angles of her face were a little more mature than they'd been when he'd seen her last...but there was no mistaking her for anyone else. "Ami...how?"
Instantly, upon seeing her patient, Ami's attention became focused upon Rei. "Come with me," she beckoned, her mind immediately occupied with drawing up a list of medicines she would need and which kind of bandages would be best after taking a preliminary look at Rei's wounds. "What's her name?" she asked, trying to calm Jalen down.
"What?"
"Her name," she repeated patiently, opening the door to the only other bedroom besides hers' in the little dwelling. "Here, put her down," she ordered quietly.
Drawing a deep breath once he'd set her down, Jalen sighed and replied, "It's Reisha. Reisha Zuriel."
Ami's eyes, the color of the shallows of a lake, opened wide. However, all she said, as she began to strip off Rei's boots, was "I trust that you're well enough to wait in the kitchen?" Her quick blue eyes darted to the large amount of blood on his clothing. "That had better not be yours."
"Most of it's hers. I've just got a little scrape on my arm."
She nodded briefly in return, then bustled out of the room to retrieve the needed items while Jalen stared after her, looking lost. When she returned, her arms full of various bottles and several rolls of bandage, he sprang up to help her immediately. Ami ordered him out a few minutes later, saying that he would be more of a hindrance than a help in his concerned state.
After he had left, she worked quickly and carefully, starting with the slice in Rei's shoulder. When the blood had been washed away and the wound cleaned and bandaged in several layers of clean linen, she proceeded on to the less serious cut in Rei's side. Unfortunately, it had sliced through more muscles, which meant it would take more time for her to heal them.
Once everything looked stabilized to her, she drew up a chair to the side of the bed and grasped Rei's hand as blue rose up out from her own skin to completely encapsulate her before disappearing into her patient's body. Ami had linked with countless people over the years, especially when she'd gone through her healer's training, but none of them had been possessed of the same strength and fibre as Rei. There were strong defenses in Rei's psyche, even though her mind was presently unconscious, and Ami sensed even more formidable, instinctive attacks on the way if she didn't calm her patient down. ‘Reisha...do not worry...I mean you no harm. Rest,' she urged, sending waves of peace and calm over their link.
When she was finished repairing the inner damage, Ami withdrew her magik gently and severed their bond. Rei cried out softly in her sleep, and Ami's eyes flew open as her magik sense jerked in pain. It was a different kind of pain than that felt in her physical self: it had felt so natural to be connected to Rei. The only person she had felt the same sensation with was Zaccheus, and even that had not been exactly the same as this. She bit her lip as her forehead creased in worry, and she touched two fingers to Rei's temple. ‘Relax and sleep now. We will speak later...Reishiara.'
The name had an instantaneous effect on the raven-haired woman, and her breathing became easier and deeper once more. Ami gathered her things, leaving those that she would need later on the spindly-legged table by the bed. She brushed aside a stray tear absentmindedly, not realizing that she was still feeling a deep sense of loss.
****~**~****
Jalen paced until his legs were too tired to go on, and he collapsed in exhaustion in one of the chairs in the kitchen. Everything he had seen seemed very efficient and neat, if not a little cramped. But the fact that everything was tidy, sweet-swelling, and organized in alphabetical order made him smile slightly: Ami hadn't changed as much as he'd thought. He was a little surprised by her take-charge attitude, but he was relieved that living in Arcelia and becoming a full-time healer had resulted in a burst of confidence for her.
But even though he knew her prowess at the healing arts, his mind kept drifting back to Rei. He remembered now that she had gotten so badly wounded trying to help him, and the thought was terrible. Jalen went on struggling with his thoughts restlessly until he was so tired that his head drooped onto the table, resting on his folded arms. And yet, he didn't allow himself sleep. It seemed like hours had passed, but in reality, only one and a half had actually elapsed.
"Jalen," Ami said softly, alerting him of her presence. Once again, she was carrying bandages and salves. Before he could ask, she smiled wanly. "Don't worry. She'll be fine, Jae, after a large amount of rest and a few more healing spells. You, on the other hand, have always had a habit of hiding your injuries. If you please?" She was still smiling, but her eyes told him plainly that she would be hearing no nonsense from him that night.
He extended his arm wearily, and she shook her head disapprovingly when she discovered that she would have to cut off the remainders of his tattered sleeve to see the gash clearly. "I knew you were coming, Jae, but I didn't expect you to turn up like this. Care to fill me in?" she inquired, her tone light as she kept her head bent over her work.
He recounted the events of the past few weeks for her willingly but without much detail: how he had nearly died in a late-winter blizzard, found the warriors' retreat, been nursed back to health (but not by healers superior to her, he assured her. She merely shook her head at his unendingly charming nature), and discovered a warrior trainee who had disliked him from the minute he had collapsed in a sodden heap at her feet.
When Ami heard that his magik had demanded that he take her with him, she looked up at last, in the process of re-threading her needle, and pricked herself. Asked to continue, Jalen described how he'd been teaching her about fire and light globes and detailed the strangeness of her magik. Ami said nothing except to promise him that if Rei was willing, she would continue to teach her what Jalen wanted her to. They did not share a magikal bond that night, as she deemed his injuries capable of healing on their own, given time. It was a good thing, for that night, neither of them were ready to form the complete bond it would have taken for her to heal all of his injuries.
At last, when she was finished, he asked to see Rei, and she led him to her room after ensuring that he would be quiet and not disrupt her sleep. He walked over to her almost on tip-toe, and Ami smiled fondly. If she had been the type to go jumping to wild conclusions, she would have guessed that there was something between them...but of course she wasn't. So she merely kept her fairly-accurate suspicions to herself.
The blond-haired man, meanwhile, was oblivious to her thoughts. He stared down at her for a few minutes, then touched a bruise on her cheekbone gently, assuring himself that she was really all right. After a few minutes, he returned to the doorway where Ami hovered...neither of them noticing Rei's eyelids fluttering.
"I knew you were coming, despite the delay, Jalen. I had a vision...of you and Rei riding together. But you did come." There was an unspoken thank-you hanging in the air, and Ami sighed and continued, "So the time has come...what next?"
"I cannot say," he replied honestly, "I was hoping your magik would tell you."
She smiled tiredly, the gentle smile with its sad edge. It was the only kind he had seen on her face ever since she and Zacch had had their horrendous fight. "It tells me all sorts of irrelevant things...but more strange things have been happening, Jae, and I'm worried." Her normally soft voice had lowered to a whisper, and the anxiety was plain to his ears. Before he could ask questions, she pulled him out of Reisha's room and led him to the one next to it.
Giving her bedroom a cursory glance, she put the lighted lamp she was carrying down on the night table. "Unless you want to sleep in a chair, I'm afraid this will have to do."
"But–"
"Trust me; I don't think I'll be sleeping much, and you need the rest more than I do."
His compelling, azure-blue eyes caught her darker ones as he accused, "Liar. You're always tired after healings."
She shrugged and replied, "I'm used to it." It was a lie: since she was posing as a human, there had been very little opportunity for her to use magik safely, even in Arcelia. "I'll be staying in Reisha's room tonight, and you're wasting my time by arguing."
He still didn't look convinced, but his traitorous legs made him sink down onto the bed anyway. Just as she was disappearing through the open doorway, he called after her, "Wait, Ami." When she turned around expectantly, he asked cautiously, "Are you sure you're all right?"
Ami's bittersweet smile appeared once more, but she sensed his disquiet and confusion and walked over to him. "We'll have a chance to talk soon, Jalen." She reached out, hugged him gently as she would a brother, and left like a translucent shade.
****~**~****
Near dawn, Ami arose to touch Rei's forehead gently with the back of her hand. There was no fever, for which she was thankful, but she was startled when her patient's eyes flickered open. Their intense purple, a little less bright than but just as luminous as they had been in Ami's vision, fixed Ami in place. She reached out a shaking hand, and despite her foreboding, Ami reached out to take it again.
‘Who are you? Where am I? Where's Jalen?' she demanded instantly.
She smiled faintly, and the thought-expression passed through the link much more easily than it should have. ‘Relax, Reisha. My name is Amity Nemosine, and I'm a friend of Jalen's. You're in my house right now. Jalen should be sleeping in the next room, and if he isn't, I'll have his hide tomorrow.' It was incredible that Rei's mind-sending was so strong; Ami would have thought that her injuries would have weakened her substantially. She marveled at her raw potential; Rei was clearly powerful but also untrained. ‘Do you feel pain anywhere?' she queried next.
‘No, not now... Before you changed the bandages and put on the slave, I did, but not anymore.'
‘Then you should be resting now.'
When Ami made to draw herself away, Reisha stopped her. ‘Please–I just wanted to ask you something...before, did you call me...by another name?'
‘I called you Reishiara.'
‘No, that–that's not my name. You must be mistaking me for someone else. My name is Reisha. Reisha Zuriel.'
This time, it was Ami's piercing blue eyes that held her, their usual softness gone. ‘You are Reishiara Zurielis, the sole heir to the Zurielis dynasty. And you are one of those who will save the people from Queen Serenitatis's tyranny.'
She closed her eyes briefly, and a few shining tears squeezed out from under her long, dark lashes, which stood out clearly against her pale skin. ‘How did you know?'
‘You visited the underwater palace of the naiads once with your parents, when we were both very young. It was during the war. Do you remember?'
‘Yes...but...I don't remember meeting you. You were there? How old were you?'
Ami smiled wryly. ‘I have a penchant for remembering names and faces. It happens when you immerse yourself in history and herb-lore for the better part of your life. I was, if I recall correctly, your age at the time. You're eighteen, aren't you? So am I.'
Rei stared hard at the woman before her. Judging by her capable, cool manner and a complete lack of stronger emotion besides faint amusement, she had thought Amity was a few years older than herself. ‘Well...then...why were you in the palace of the naiads?'
‘I was there...because I am a naiad.'
She wracked her mind trying to think of the characteristics of this particular race of magik folk. Ami did fit Jalen's description...she must be the naiad he'd mentioned to her several times...except... ‘But you have two names...'
‘Yes. Even in Arcelia, where the sacred temples are, safety is not guaranteed for one of the folk. No one has ever said straight out that they doubt my humanness, but some of them probably suspect. I work as a healer, and it would be dangerous for me to use magik. I studied herbal medicines instead for some time, and I've barely used my magik.'
Feeling shy for the first time in her life, Rei said, ‘Jalen...he talked about you often. He spoke very highly of you.' When the color rose high in Ami's cheeks, she felt her heart sink slightly, as if having her suspicions confirmed. ‘Earlier tonight...he looked at you with...great fondness. Did you–are you–do you love each other?'
Despite another sad smile, Ami replied firmly, ‘No. Jalen is the best man alive that I know, but...we're just not meant to be. We're merely very old friends.'
Rei was not convinced, but she kept her doubts to herself. She found herself liking the seemingly-unexcitable woman with her shy manner but blaze of sparkling inner light.
‘You should sleep now, Reisha. I'm afraid you'll be staying in bed for quite some time.'
‘Wait,' she said as Ami readied to weave a curtain of sleep around her, ‘will you promise not to tell Jalen who I am?'
‘Why not?'
‘It would change things between us...and I don't want to complicate the situation even more. He would think of me differently if he knew I was a princess.'
Ami smiled gently. ‘Don't worry, Rei. He isn't that type of person. His best friend growing up...was the Prince of the Elves. Jae's quite used to royalty. But if you don't want me to–I won't say a thing to him about it, if you promise to rest now.' Rei acquiesced, and as she drifted into a deep sleep, the naiad looked down at the woman who seemed so different from her but whom she felt a very close connection to. Softly, she spoke aloud, "He may not know now, Reisha, but one day, he'll have to find out."
****~**~****
Seren's eyes were wide and anxious as she glanced over at Darrian, whose sapphire eyes were smoldering dangerously, but she didn't shrink away. They had reached the first elfin cluster of tree-dwellings, and they had already been turned away. The entire kingdom had been in a state of distressed disorder since their prince had left the Palace of the Land Nymphs and not returned to them, and as of yet, there were no clues to his whereabouts.
Because of his concern, the ambassador who had received them was not quite as cordial as he should have been, and his meeting with Darrian had not proceeded smoothly. They were on their way now, and Seren was beginning to feel very worried herself–would none of the folk help them?
The whisper that the human princess was among them had not been passed on beyond the inhabitants of this counterpart to a rural village, but just as they reached the borders of the trees, a young boy who had served as the ambassador's page dropped down from the treetops, looking a little disheveled. "Your highness–I'm sorry my lord could not help you, but rumor has it that a group of magik folk recently defeated a gang of slavers hunting in dryad territory. Their numbers are not bad, and they may be able to help you. They managed to steal the slavers' ship."
"Do you know where they're headed?"
His sunny blonde head bobbed twice, and he said readily, "The land nymphs suspect that one of their almost-royalty's daughters, a cousin to the king, is aboard the ship. She is the Lady Malina, who is engaged to his highness Prince Zaccheus. He may also be with her, since he left around the same time, presumably to chase after her... There is a man accompanying Lady Malina, a human man by the name of Nathair Sidereal. He is a noted scholar among the magik folk, despite his lack of magik, and he has always been interested in a set of prophecy scrolls. And that's all I know, Master McKellan, your highness."
Darrian nodded absently, lost in thought, but his companion smiled brightly at the young elf. "Thank you for your help, but perhaps you should return before you're missed."
He bobbed another bow, leapt up in the twinkling of a star, and disappeared into the green depths of the foliage once more.
"Darrian?" she asked hesitantly.
"What? Oh–I think we should try and intercept those folk, Seren. The folk are reluctant to take strong actions against the queen as of yet, and I suspect they won't unless she declares war again."
Although she was still disconcerted about the thought of attacking her own mother, in a roundabout way, Seren kept quiet on that matter and said, "But the page didn't know where they're headed."
He turned to smile at her suddenly, and the brewing storm dissipated. "Ah, but I do. I have a strong suspicion that they're headed towards Amaranth. My grandfather always told me that anything worth finding would be there...besides love. Then again, he always had strange notions," he muttered, shaking his head nostalgically.
Feeling a headache come on, she pressed her fingers to her temples and tried to think of where Amaranth was. When she couldn't come up with its location, she asked, "Um...where exactly is Amaranth?"
"Oh–sorry, I forgot. Its present-day name is Tiassale. It's north of the capital, west of Arcelia...which is around where we are. It should only take us a couple of days to reach it from here, and if they're sailing up the coast from where the dryads are, we'll get there before they do."
"And we're going to convince them to help us how?"
He smirked slightly. "It's good to hear you've given up your notions of strangers helping out each other out of the goodness of their hearts." She glared at him, and he continued hastily, "All we have to do is find what they want first–the scrolls, I presume–and trade it for their help. Besides, they've already shown an affinity for helping others by rescuing the folk from the slavers."
"But we aren't folk, Darrian," she pointed out.
"My reputation has been preceding me lately. My ancestors on both sides have been folk for a long, long time."
She was almost completely convinced, but she still questioned one last time, "Are you absolutely sure you don't want to try again with the folk?"
"No. Not right now, at least. The land nymphs have always been the closest to humans, and their politics are just as convoluted and corrupt sometimes. The naiads are all the way at the southern tip of the continent, and trying to get passage to the underwater palace will be difficult. The dryads–they practically hide in the core of their forest, and very few of them fought with their fellow folk during the first war Queen Serenitatis waged. And you've seen the situation with the elves; they collapse without their prince."
"I don't blame them. Look at how things are without Kent!" Seren exclaimed.
"And now you've gone missing, too. We'll have to be on the lookout for the queen's forces–most likely, they're searching for us."
Before they dropped the subject, she sighed quietly and told him, "I don't want to be queen, Darrian."
He gave her an odd look. "You won't have to, most likely, if we do the job right and rescue Kent. There is, of course, the problem in talking around your mother, but I'm sure that we can accomplish that." He smiled ferally.
"But what if we can't do it?"
He stopped riding abruptly, and she followed suit a few seconds later, looking up into his face questioningly. "You told me you trusted me before, Seren. You trusted me enough to let me into your memories and your mind. Trust me a little further, like Kent does, and I promise you we'll make it through somehow."
She smiled tentatively, and then the smile became her bright, cheery one once more. "I don't doubt anymore, Darrian."
****~**~****
During the long days they spent together, waiting for Reisha to finish her healing, Ami and Jalen took turns sitting by her to keep her company. It was difficult to keep such an active person as Rei confined to bed rest, but her nurses did their best to keep her attention riveted with interesting stories and anecdotes from their past.
Ami had taken over Rei's magikal instruction, starting to teach her more complex workings while she was resting her physical body, and their links eventually became stronger through this constant association of magik. Reisha discovered that there was more to Ami than her quiet exterior. Although Jalen rarely joined in their magikal workings, his own bonds to both of them strengthened because of their proximity.
Jalen was becoming moody lately, and he and Ami rarely exchanged words. He went off often in the mountains alone, careful to stay within the boundaries of Ami's wards. They had yet to figure out why they had let him and Reisha through in the first place; Ami wouldn't have denied him entrance, but she hadn't set them to specifically allow him entry either. Secretly, Rei admitted to herself that while she was enjoying the female companionship after a prolonged period of isolation from all human beings except Jalen, she was missing his company.
For one thing, Jalen was a paragon of patience...for the most part. Not that Ami was ever impatient or sharp with her, but he'd always had something witty–and usually infuriating–to say, although his jests were never delivered with hurtful intent. Despite his laid-back manner, Rei sensed a steel layer behind his guileless blue eyes. He had flashily-handsome looks, but the deeper charm was less noticeable and much more attractive. She was finding herself drawn to him–but not in a romantic light, of course.
When Rei was finally able to do some light traveling, they planned a return to Arcelia. Ami packaged her precious herbs herself while Jalen and Rei worked on stretching out her wounded muscles, which slowly returned to their original strength and elastic flexibility. At last, Ami locked up the house securely, leaving the wards up to guard her little dwelling. She wasn't sure when she would be back, but the lodging wasn't completely emptied.
Rei was angry to find herself tiring easily; they rested often along the route, but she said little and stayed on her horse for the most part so she wouldn't have to go through the trouble of dismounting and mounting each time they stopped to give her a break. Since there were only two horses (one hers, one Ami's), Jalen and Ami took turns walking. The walker found it easy to keep up at the slow pace they were traveling, and sometimes Ami and Rei rode double. They had to be careful not to overwork the horse as well, and when they finally arrived in Arcelia, Rei was even more agitated to find that her muscles seemed to have turned to water and her bones to wood. All strength had fled her body, and she could only glare down at the blond-haired man in baleful discontent as he took up position by her horse expectantly.
He remained waiting patiently, reaching up to help her down, and she stewed quietly, reconciling herself to the disgrace, all-too-aware of the ill-disguised in his gaze, as well as the tolerant watchfulness in Amity's. At last she was settled in Jalen's arms, and she fell asleep in them as he carried her inside. Rei was unaware of when her head hit the soft pillow and her body sank into the mattress.
As Ami passed by the doorway, heading towards her storage room, she paused just outside the doorway, a smile hovering on her lips and at the corners of her eyes as she watched Jalen pulled the blanket up over Reisha. He straightened abruptly, and his gaze met Ami's. He flushed immediately and mumbled something vague about heading over to the temples. She nodded and continued on her way after cautioning him not to say out too late.
****~**~****
His light-hued eyes passed over the twelve temples of the goddesses, speculatively eyeing the symbols that were etched into the doors of the houses of worship. Lareina, patron of House Divine, was denoted by a crown; Naeva and Norina were the goddesses of evening and light, or dawn, respectively. Their marks were a sunburst and a sunset. Separating them was Kalli, patron of magik. She symbolized energy and was typically viewed as a black goddess, but her insignia was a multicolored globe. Next in line was Silvana, patron of elves, and her sister-goddess Zareh, patron of dryads. Silvana's cipher was a small tree and Zareh's a shield, owing to the protection she provided for the dryads and all travelers alike. Then Cloris and Dalila, goddesses of land nymphs and naiads, had their shrines. Their motifs were two flowers with their stems crossed and a pitcher from which a small rivulet of water issued forth. The twin-goddesses Dea and Deva shared a temple together, their sign being two differently-colored threads intertwined. Their neighbor to the left was Asnee, who controlled the weather. Her image was a minuscule lightning bolt. The patron of House Zurielis was all the way at the other end from Lareina's, looking very quite and empty of worshipers. This goddess was the winged Valencia, whose emblem was a sword.
Jalen entered Silvana Green-Mage's temple at last. Among the elves, of course, she had been the most worshiped goddess. His eyes endeavored to take in his surroundings rapidly, but the candlelight reflecting off of the various gold, bronze, silver, and copper objects blinded him for a moment. When the light spots cleared from his vision, he disregarded the others praying to the statue and the magnificent tapestry behind it, stepping up to take a closer look at the peoples' interpretations of their goddess. He was not quite satisfied with the beautiful image, and he retreated to the back of the main room, which was dimly-lit in contrast to the brightness of the altar.
Sitting down cross-legged, he found that he was unable to return to his previous faith. It had been this way for awhile, ever since he had become an itinerant scholar. Or perhaps his loss of trust in religion had begun at the university: science tended to dispel religion. And yet, those who were truly devout–or merely very closed-minded–were not swayed by the academics' opinions. He feared that he was losing hope and becoming jaded.
Suddenly, a soft swish alerted him of someone else's presence, and he turned to face rustling white robes. The priestess who wore them looked down at him benignly. Her voice was low and clear as she said, "Welcome, stranger. You have the look of those who come here to seek peace and respite."
As he looked up at her, the only thing he managed to say was, "I'm a traveler. My name is Jalen Eridian."
She smiled gently. "And I am Anissa. Many like you, who travel and see much, come here to find themselves again." Priestesses often gave themselves simpler names when they took up their vows, and the name Anissa meant holy or pure.
"Is it possible for that to happen?" he asked in a low voice.
Another radiant smile washed over him. "I would not be fit to be a priestess if I did not believe so. You must be staying with one of the townsfolk here, for the gates have been closed for many hours, and I have not seen you at the temples before."
"Yes–with the healer, Amity Nemosine. Do you know her?"
"She comes here often," Anissa replied, indicating a dark-haired figure exiting the temple. "There has always been much on her mind, but she has chosen not to unburden her thoughts on us–so far."
Scrambling to his feet, Jalen said swiftly, "There is something you reminded me about that I must speak to her of. Thank you..." He trailed off then, unsure of what he wanted to thank her for. There was something about her presence that had made a sense of renewed balance and calm envelop him. Perhaps there was still hope left here, in Arcelia.
The priestess's face remained serene and gracious as he turned to go. Softly, she said with conviction, "We shall speak again, Jalen Eridian."
"I don't know if I'll be coming back," he told her regretfully, glancing anxiously at Ami's disappearing form.
"Silvana looks after her own. You will return when the time is right."
He bowed respectfully and fled into the darkness, deciding it was better to push her words into the back of his mind for the time being. When he had the leisure, he would think over them in greater depth. Catching up to Ami, he called her name softly, and she whirled around. Smiling wryly, he said, "And you were the one telling me I needed to get some sleep. What were you doing?"
She looked startled for a few minutes, and then she sighed deeply and looked skywards. Spreading her hands out, she answered, "Looking for answers. Seeking guidance. Saying goodbye. I'm not as restless as you are, Jalen, and this place has been a good home for me. I don't like not knowing where I'll be or what I'm doing."
He surprised himself by saying, "Sometimes feeling this way is the only way to ascertain that you're still alive."
Ami was also surprised, and she turned her gaze upon him curiously. "Why did you go there tonight?"
"I don't really know." She seemed satisfied with the answer, and he was momentarily relieved...but he felt that there was some part of him that would have liked her to dig deeper rather than let him be. Reisha, he knew, would have pursued anything she wanted to know until he told her. It was funny how he seemed to be comparing her to everyone else in his life. Abruptly, Jalen asked, "Have you heard from Zacch at all?"
Her head snapped up immediately, but she answered in her usual cool, crystalline voice, "No, as a matter of fact, I haven't. Have you?"
"Yes–well–he started to write to me, and we've continued a cautious correspondence. He's been swamped down by all sorts of political and economical affairs; he's practically been running the kingdom alone, because his advisors are whatnot are useless. They cause a lot of his daily problems. He's asked me for advice often, and I've replied as best as I can, but...maybe you should talk to him."
Ami's tone was even icier when she replied, "I don't think so, Jalen."
"But why not? The whole thing was just a big misunderstanding. If you could just work things out–"
"I don't want to work things out, Jalen! I don't want to see him again, and I certainly don't want to speak to him again!" The sharpness brought out in her startled him, and he subsided. Several moments later, she exhaled deeply and said, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to sound so fierce, but...things got out of hand; they were blown out of proportion. It would be too hard and too uncomfortable for us to get on speaking terms, let alone try a relationship again."
"He needs you," was Jalen's eloquent response.
Her eyes were kept downcast, and the night no longer seemed as cool and lovely to her. Would there never be any solace for her? "He's never needed me, Jae, and now that you two are finally getting along again, he'll be fine. I didn't mean to come between you the way I did."
He shrugged, and trying to get rid of the tension in the air, he acquired a lighter tone of voice and remarked, "You know, I think I've finally identified where we should go next. How would you like to see the famous forgotten city of Tiassale?"
"What are you looking for there?"
"The rest of the prophecy. There was a hint I picked up at the warriors' retreat...they have a sizeable library there. We need to find the tail end of the scroll before we can figure out what it is we have to do–unless you don't want to come along. I understand if you don't."
She managed a smile. "Don't be ridiculous, Jalen. We started out together, and you promised you'd find me when the time came. It's my turn to hold up my end of the bargain: we go together, as long as we can."
****~**~****
AN: Sense a convergence here? ^.~ Well, everyone's almost together now (except Kent, but they'll pick him up sometime along the way...poor Kunzite. He's even more neglected than Lita), but not for long, because I'm evil that way. Don't expect them to stay together permanently, because I still have work to do on building up their characters, and I'm still having some trouble figuring out how I want to portray some of them... Next chapter, an interesting reunion occurs, the prophecy is found (of course), and some time on board brings out seriously-needed character interaction.
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