“I need to sit in the chair again,” she said, shaking them off and trying to sit up.
“I don’t want you sitting in that chair again if it changes you. I don’t like who you were sitting in the circle and I want the girl I met at the pond back.”
“I’ve told you several times there may be more ways than one that you may lose me,” the girl said, shaking them both off and walking out the bedroom door.
Soryn
Soryn just wanted an afternoon alone with Frog to talk, like they always had. She had gotten to know most of the people traveling with her, but she didn’t think she could confide in them the things she was feeling since she got to Inanos. They kept coming at her at once asking about what happened in the chair and why she was now acting strangely. She didn’t think she could put into words what happened in the chair. The light that poured through her was almost too much for her to handle. It felt both good and frightening at the same time, like she couldn’t control it at first. It was rushing into her so fast and she could hear a ghostly voice whispering in her ear what she was supposed to do.
She couldn’t see anything except images that were flashing before her eyes, showing her how she was supposed to do the things that needed to come. She hadn’t known that Esylle had tried to come to her and thought Joron would have known to stop her after what they saw at the door. After she sat up in bed after she fainted, she smelled death was close and was frightened to see Esylle next to her. She had been able to bring her back, but after seeing that the light nearly killed her mother, she didn’t know what else it could do. She was only shown what to do next, not the full extent of this new gift. If it had nearly killed Esylle by trying to stop it while it was filling her, she didn’t know what would happen if she lost control again. The times she had lost control and nearly burned the men next to her, she had been fighting with everything she had to pull it back in before she left them.
She wasn’t shown what would happen if she lost control with this new gift, nor how to try to control it if she did. Since she woke up, she had been trying to feel nothing at all and to just do what she had been told to do. She was surprised when everyone got upset with her again. It seemed like no matter what she did, she upset them. They were upset with her before they got here when she needed to leave them to calm down and now they were upset with her because she was trying to feel nothing. When she got upset before and needed to leave, they were always telling her to calm herself. Now that she was calmer, they wanted to her to go back to the way she was when they were always angry with her. She didn’t understand.
Whatever the light was, she could feel it leaving her the more she used it. She knew she wasn’t going to be able to stand anymore when it was flowing out of her to change the princes, but that was the last thing she was supposed to do today and knew whatever happened, someone would carry her back to her chambers for her to wake up again. She didn’t know why only these doors had opened when Leodos kicked them, but everything about the room seemed familiar to her, as if she had slept in them before. She didn’t know if they were hers before.
She had almost made it back to the throne, where she needed to sit again, when she realized Esylle had been behind her talking to her while she had been lost in thought. She hadn’t had time to think or process anything since she woke up because of what needed to happen next. Esylle didn’t seem to be frightened of the light inside her now, even though it nearly killed her. She grabbed Soryn’s arm before she could approach the throne.
“At least eat before you sit again. You haven’t eaten since this morning and what you did this morning drained your energy again. I won’t stop you from sitting and I won’t approach you again if the light comes back, but please eat something. If what you need to do takes your energy, I’d feel better if you had food in you. Just because you grew up without a mother doesn’t mean you won’t have one now that we know each other again.”
Soryn didn’t comment. She was coming to care for Esylle now that she was getting to know her and the fact that Esylle nearly died because she thought Soryn was in danger both annoyed and confused her. She liked knowing Esylle was here to protect her and cared for her, but she also wished Esylle would accept that she would have to let her be hurt sometimes. Especially here. Esylle kept saying she didn’t like the way she had been acting since she woke up and didn’t seem to understand that Soryn didn’t think she could continue to learn and sit in that chair if she lost control and killed someone. She still didn’t want to harm anyone and was extremely upset Esylle got hurt by the light.
She needed to get used to being taken care of in this way since she could no longer go home like she wanted. Esylle would have to teach her to rule. She let Esylle lead her to where the kitchens were. She had not been there, but she knew that’s where they were going because everything about this place was familiar. Several of the Farkhi women were there and they fawned on her when they saw her. They didn’t stroke her face like the Therans had. They didn’t touch her, but talked among themselves where she could hear about how nice it was to see the red hair after so long and how pretty it was. One of them mentioned that she should let them paint her face like the Farkhi and how much better it would look than when the Theran had painted her face. She didn’t cut them off, nor interrupt because she needed to get to know them if she was to stay and rule.
When Esylle mentioned food, they all asked what she wanted to eat and mentioned there was a garden with fruits and vegetables that were still edible. They all knew how she ate. They told her the Farkhi didn’t eat like the Theran, but many of their recipes that had been handed down for generations, she could eat. She admitted that she liked the food that Sono had cooked for her while they were traveling and was interested in trying more Farkhi food. Several of the women became excited and left to go to the garden. The ones that stayed still wanted to paint her face and braid her hair. She didn’t know much about the different tribe’s customs because she was never taught, but she sat and allowed them to braid her hair. She was surprised that she liked the way their hands felt in her hair, like when Esylle touched it.
She sat on a chair in the kitchen as two women sat on either side of her, plaiting her hair while the other women came in and started cooking. She wanted to get up and watch them. She knew she wouldn’t be allowed to cook her own meals once she went back to the palace, but she wanted to know how they did it.
By the time the women were done cooking, her hair was hanging in several long braids down her back and they had piled a few of them on the top of her head. They showed her what her reflection looked like in a shiny pot. She was surprised it had made her neck look longer and she looked a little more like Esylle. She didn’t know what her father looked like, but Esylle told her that what didn’t look like her, looked like her father.
She watched Esylle pull several of the women into the corner and began speaking to them in hushed whispers. Even with her enhanced hearing, she couldn’t hear what was being said. Esylle looked like she was plotting something and had a rather mischievous look on her face. Soryn couldn’t imagine what was being said and struggled to hear. Whatever was said, all of the women were excited when they came back to her and began serving food. The women said they would leave them to eat and Soryn asked them to stay and talk. She didn’t want them to think she was above them and she needed to get to know them.
One of the women looked at her slyly over the fennel dish they had prepared. “You and Sono look quite handsome when you are walking together. When he walks with us, he talks of the great love he has for you.”
“I know Sono loves me. The other two do as well. I wanted to leave if I survived so that I didn’t have to choose, but that is not supposed to happen.”
“Are you going to explain what you mean when you keep saying none of these boys will like your choice? At least one is sure to like it if you know. You’ve been talking in riddles since you woke up.”
“I’m not talking about the choice I have to make until I have t
o announce it. You will hate it as well until you get used to it, as will Leodos. I don’t want to hear anything from either of you about it because it has to happen this way. It’s never been done before and you, Leodos, the princes, and the kings will have to get used to it.”
“Did the chair tell you that you would bring peace by marrying a human? That’s been done for ages. None of us would accept that since that is why we are where we are right now.”
“Please don’t ask me about it anymore. I won’t discuss it with you. I’ve eaten like you wanted and now I need to sit in the chair again,” she said, standing up and intending to leave. The Farkhi women wanted to watch and came to follow, but Esylle stopped her.
“You’ve been yourself for the most part since you woke up. Promise me whatever happens to you in that chair, you don’t change again.”
Soryn wished she understood and she knew Esylle better to explain to her why she needed to be the way none of them liked. Instead, she did something she knew would hurt her that she didn’t want to do. She shook her hand loose from her arm. “You’ve known changes were to come when Volaris explained to you who I am.”
As she left Esylle staring sadly at her back, she only hoped this time, the chair gave her answers instead of orders and she would know how she was to act.
Leodos
Leodos had been pacing the bedroom chamber since she let him back in after she spoke to Joron and Esylle in private. They both followed her out, looking quite disturbed, so he never found out what was said. He stayed in the bedroom pacing. He didn’t know if he would even be allowed to be present at whatever the girl intended on doing. Since she changed the other four men, he was the only human left among those who had started this journey. He never thought to ask her to change him because he didn’t know what he would choose. The only change he would like was to be able to be near both Esylle and Lisana when they were upset and he didn’t think she could do that.
Even though he wasn’t sure he would be welcome, he couldn’t stand pacing the bedroom for much longer not knowing what was going on. He left and had entered the corridor from one hallway as Esylle and Lisana were coming from another. Lisana looked cold again and Esylle looked upset. Before he could go to Esylle, Neptis came in from the cold and Sono flew down from the rafters and changed. He didn’t notice the large dog by the throne until Oris changed. He looked at all of them confused. Oris wasn’t supposed to be able to change into a dog and Sono didn’t fly down as an eagle.
Leodos was about to go to Esylle and ask her what happened while he was in the bedroom because the look on Lisana’s face told him she wouldn’t tell him. Before he could, Sono strode over to Lisana, whose hair was now braided like the Farkhi women, and ignored the other three princes while he swept her off her feet to kiss her. Leodos stopped and stared and didn’t know what she would do. Sono told him what she wanted when he pulled them off each other and that she said she was feeling things towards him that confused her. Even if she had certain feelings, Leodos thought she knew better to express affection for him in front of the other two. She didn’t immediately push him away, but she did not return the kiss. He seemed confused when he set her back on her feet and she demanded to know why he had done it.
“You look more like a Farkhi queen now and I wanted to thank you for what you gifted me with earlier today.”
Leodos was close enough to hear her whisper to him to not kiss her in front of the others before she turned her back on all three of them and walked towards the chair again. Leodos was finally able to rush to Esylle and try to ask what happened. He was bewildered when she got close to him and appeared to be smelling him. When she told him he smelled like dusty books and mahogany, she laughed at the confused expression on his face. She buried her face into his chest and told him she liked the way he smelled. She was talking like Lisana when she thought he was a compatible mate and Esylle shouldn’t be able to smell the way she did.
Before he could ask, he heard shouts as the princes were yelling at each other over Sono’s kiss. He worried Lisana would lose control again, but she looked at them all coldly before commanding all over them to stop yelling. The voice she was using now was not her normal, musically airy voice. It was deeper and commanded attention. They all stopped and looked at her, seeming unsure of themselves.
“You will have to learn not to fight each other when this is over. I need to sit again. I would ask that the kings be here to stop my mother, but learning to be Tempris takes time and I think she understands now not to stop what is happening,” she said, turning towards the chair.
Leodos had no idea what she meant learning to be Tempris. Had she managed to give this gift? He knew he couldn’t ask Esylle as she no longer seemed interested in smelling him and stood at the front of the princes wringing her hands. Leodos didn’t think he could watch her be blown back again and looking so small crumpled on the floor. He didn’t think he could sit in bed hoping she didn’t stop breathing and hoping Lisana made it back to the chambers and woke up in time to save her again.
He meant to watch Esylle if she tried to stop her, but the girl was flung back into the chair again and held there by unseen hands. Unlike before, when her eyes glowed an intense white, the white light appeared to form from a carving he had not noticed on the ceiling and strike her directly in the chest. Her entire body tensed and her back arched as the light seemed to flow into her with no end. Like before when she changed the men, he could see the shape of the Myalis flower glowing red where her heart would be. He knew, from their lessons, she didn’t know what this flower looked like and Esylle had told her to make one up. He didn’t know what she had imagined, but the glowing orange flower on her chest was the spiky Myalis flower.
He thought he couldn’t look away from her, but needed to make sure Esylle would not run to her again. He moved to wrap his arms around Esylle’s waist and hoped she wouldn’t burn him. She was warm, but nothing unbearable. She leaned against him.
“Now that it’s stronger here, I know what this light smells like when it makes her faint again. It smells like a husk that once contained something strong and hasn’t for years.”
“When she’s done in that chair, you’re going to need to explain to me what happened after you left and why you smell things like her now. I’m holding you hoping you don’t burn me and run to her again.”
“The chair will make her faint again. While she’s sleeping, I will explain. She can make it so I can’t burn you if you want. She said she hasn’t changed you because you didn’t ask her.”
Leodos didn’t ask any further questions and wondered how long the light would continue to flow into the girl. He wondered how much she could handle before it knocked her unconscious again. The light coming from the carving on the ceiling widened and enveloped the entire throne before it went back where it came from and she was left slumped over in the chair. He saw all three boys go to her and stopped them. He told them she didn’t need to wake up to them arguing over her. He gently picked her up from the chair and started to carry her back to her chambers.
Esylle was finally able to talk and as they walked down the long hallway and into the bedroom, she explained everything that had happened since the girl woke up and everything she had done. He had forgotten, but her name day was coming up. She had been born on the fall equinox and no one could decide if it was a good or bad omen that when she was born, there appeared to be lights falling from the sky.
More had changed in Esylle than just having more gifts. When Leodos placed Lisana in the bed, Esylle laid next to her, but she wasn’t fawning over her. She had seemed to accept the fact that she would wake when she was ready. She twirled a long strand of Lisana’s hair around her finger as she told Leodos she was plotting with the Farkhi women where the girl couldn’t hear, and they would be bringing all of the other tribes together to surprise her with a name day celebration.
“I’ve missed all of them so far and she doesn’t know it’s coming up. She changes when she sits in the ch
air. The girl we know pops through sometimes. I’m hoping to see the girl that finally started laughing and relaxing around us when we surprise her. I’m hoping this shows her we love her the way she is and if it’s not the chair changing who she is, it shows her we just want her to be happy.”
“I’ve only seen a little since she woke up. This coldness is new. I don’t know how much of it is the chair and how much if it is her thinking this is the way she is supposed to be now. I don’t want to say this to you while you are excited about what you have planned, but you know she never does anything she doesn’t want. She may be becoming who she needs to be and who she was before.”
“I don’t want to think that way. You saw how confused and sometimes upset they were that she came this way. She still has parts of me and Rivannus in her. The chair can’t take that away from her. The girl we know pops through when she gets upset. She knows we don’t like it when she acts the way she has since she sat in the chair. Volaris questioned her and the real Lisana popped through and would only say that she needed to be this way. She won’t clarify anything she’s said since she woke up, but she’s said she’s staying and not going back to Idric when this is over.”
Leodos got up and laid against Esylle’s back since the bed was large enough. He buried his face in her hair and told her he was happy to hear she agreed to stay. When he asked the more delicate question, if she had chosen or they would have to choose for her, he was surprised to hear that she knew what choice she had to make, but wouldn’t talk about it. He had no idea what was meant by the fact that no one would like it at first. Surely at least one of those boys would be happy. He also had no idea what was meant that it had never been done before. He pulled Esylle to him and asked he she thought Lisana would change him so he could be near them when they were using their fire. Esylle didn’t know and told him all of the gifts she had given today were done without asking permission.
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