by C. L. Wilson
«I know it must be true, but part of me finds it so hard to believe. Just look at Fahreeta.» Ellysetta pointed to the sleek golden cat soaring and diving through the skies nearby. «She seems so…sweet and playful, like a kitten.»
As if sensing eyes upon her, Fahreeta gave a series of purring roars and flew in dizzying circles around her mate, Torasul. The great male just eyed his cavorting mate with a long-suffering eye and kept flying. She flew too close once, and he swatted out with one large paw, catching the tip of her right wing. With a yelp, the playful golden beauty went tumbling. She broke her fall and righted herself easily, but the tumble left her fur ruffled and her green eyes shooting sparks. Torasul gave chuffing huffs of tairen laughter and blew smoke.
Fahreeta’s muzzle drew back, baring a mouthful of gleaming white, razor-sharp fangs. She gave a snarl. Her tail whipped through the air like a giant lash. Large, curving claws sprang from her forepaws. She pumped her wings and, with a scream of fury, shot across the sky towards her mate.
Ellysetta gasped and clutched fistfuls of Steli’s white hair, but Torasul only gave his mate an indolent look. Then, with a speed that made Ellysetta gasp again, he folded his wings and drop-rolled straight into his mate’s oncoming attack. Torasul’s wings spread at the last moment to stop his fall before he crashed into Fahreeta, and the two cats came together in a roar of fury, ivory fangs and curved, razor-sharp claws. Limbs tangled. Each tairen’s massive jaw grabbed the other’s neck in a deadly grip. Wings batted the air with ferocious speed, then folded tight. They spun together, dropping through the sky, wings and tails twining together.
“Rain!” Ellysetta cried, terrified the pair would kill each other right before her eyes. “Stop them.”
Steli glanced down at the tumbling pair and sniffed. «Juveniles.»
Just when it looked as though both Torasul and Fahreeta would crash into the earth below, the pair spread their wings and broke apart, soaring in opposite directions, then circling around. They flew upwards, gaining altitude and speed until both were flying alongside Rain and Steli once more.
Fahreeta resumed her purring and prancing through the sky, taking every occasion to rub wing and fur against her mate. Torasul rumbled happily, then returned to his stoic, unflappable calm and kept his wings pumping in steady flight.
«Oh, aiyah,» Rain sang in tones laden with irony. «Sweet and playful. Very like a kitten.»
Celieria ~ Teleon
“Good morning, my sweet kitlings.” Sol Baristani beamed at his young twin daughters as they skipped into the sunny breakfast room in Teleon’s main tower. “Don’t you both look bright as a summer sky?”
Lillis and Lorelle were both wearing cerulean blue frocks covered with white lace pinafores that tied in big bows at the back of their waists. Their mink brown hair bounced in curling ringlets around their shoulders, and circlets of beautiful, aromatic white bellflowers crowned their heads.
“Good morning, Papa!” Lillis sang. “Look what we found!” She held up a bouquet of the same flowers she and Lorelle wore in their hair. “Aren’t they pretty? They bloomed last night all over the garden we planted with Ellie and Lady Marissya.”
Sol made a show of inspecting the delicate white bellflowers. The blooms, each about the size of a baby’s fist, nodded on the half dozen slender green stems clutched in Lillis’s hand. Each deep bloom boasted six starry petals curled back from a pale pink center accented with shimmering, opalescent veins and deep pink stamens. The flowers were stunning, their aroma an entrancing mix of freshness and heady fragrance, like jasmine drenched in a cool spring rain. Laurie would have loved them.
“Those are beautiful, kitling,” Sol agreed, his voice going gruff. “We’ll just put them here in this glass, eh?” He poured water into an empty glass and held it out to Lillis so she could put the flowers in it. He set the makeshift vase in the center of the table. “Very pretty. Now, both of you come sit down and eat before your breakfast gets cold.” As the girls danced past to take their seats, Sol’s eyes widened in dismay. They’d left a crumbling trail of muddy footprints in their wake.
“Girls!” He scowled. “Did you go to the gardens to pick flowers or dance in the mud? Look at the mess you’ve made!”
The twins glanced back. Lillis’s mouth formed an O, but Lorelle only gave a careless shrug. “It’s just dirt, Papa. Kieran can clean it up in half a chime.”
“Oh, can he?” Sol put his hands on his hips. “Kieran may be able to clean with just a weave of magic, but there’s plenty of work for him to do around here without your making more for him. Both of you, take those shoes off at once. Lillis, get a broom and start sweeping. Lorelle, you fetch the mop. And just for your sass, you can clean the breakfast dishes this morning as well.”
“Papa!”
He pointed. “Go.”
The girls pouted and trudged off. Sol frowned after them, shaking his head in dismay. Laurie would be beside herself. The last several weeks of living around magic had clearly spoiled the girls into forgetting the lessons of responsibility and discipline their mother had worked so hard to instill in them. But what was Sol to do? Their lives had changed. Forever. Cling as he might to mortal ways, magic was going to be a daily part of his daughters’ lives, and there was no getting ’round it.
“Good morning, Master Baristani,” Kiel greeted as he and Kieran walked in with Lord Teleos. The two Fey and the border lord had begun breakfasting with the Baristanis each morning before heading off to continue the restoration of Teleon. Not that there was all that much to do anymore. The warriors Rain had sent to accompany Lord Teleon to Orest had worked nonstop for the last seventy-two bells to repair the bulk of the fortress. They and Lord Teleon would be departing for Orest on the morrow.
“Looks like someone’s been walking in the mud this morning,” Kieran said with an eye on the muddy footprints. He lifted his hands and started to spin magic, but Sol stopped him.
“No, please, Kieran. The girls made the mess. I’ve told them they’re to clean it up. I won’t have my children turn into slovenly little pamperlings just because they live amongst the Fey.”
“Kieran.” Kiel spoke his blade brother’s name in a strange, strangled voice, and poked him in the arm. “Kieran, look.” He pointed to the breakfast table.
Kieran turned—and froze. “What is it? What’s wrong?” Both Fey were staring at the bouquet of white flowers on the table, and Sol’s chest squeezed tight. Were the blooms poisonous?
But Kiel was reaching for the bouquet with shaking hands, and Kieran was making no move to stop him. The Water master lifted the bouquet to his face and breathed in deeply.
Even Lord Teleos was staring. “Are those what I think they are?”
“Master Baristani,” Kieran rasped, “where did those flowers come from?”
“The girls brought them in. Why?” Sol was torn between alarm and confusion. The three men were acting as if they’d seen a dead man, but clearly the flowers were not dangerous.
“What’s going on? Did they do something wrong?”
Kieran didn’t answer. Instead, he pivoted on a heel, marched back out into the hallway, and, in a very un-Fey-like manner, shouted, “Lillis! Lorelle!”
The twins came running, mop and broom banging behind.
“What is it? What’s wrong?”
Kieran pointed to the flowers in Kiel’s hand and on their heads. “Where did you find these flowers?”
“Outside.” Lorelle pointed through the arching stone windows to the graceful curving terraced gardens beyond.
“In the gardens we helped Ellie and Lady Marissya plant.”
Lillis beamed. “Aren’t they pretty? There’s lots and lots of them. They must have bloomed in the night.”
«Fey! Ti’jensa! To the gardens! Hurry! Tell me what you see.» Kieran sent the call on the common path, and outside, half a dozen warriors raced for the terraces.
Moments later the cry went up, “It blooms! The white bell blooms!” In voices that rang with ex
citement, they announced their discovery on the common path for all the Fey to hear, «Amarynth, brothers! The white bell blooms in the gardens of Teleon!»
There was a moment of shocked silence; then a shout rose up throughout the keep, a great hurrah that rattled window glass in its panes. “Amarynth blooms! Mioralas! Blessings on this house and all who dwell here!”
“Amarynth?” Sol’s brows drew together in surprise. Many woodcarvers used the six-petaled Amarynth blossom, also called the star flower, as a motif in their carvings, but he had never seen a live bloom. “They’re real?”
“They are indeed, Master Baristani, and they bloom only in the footsteps of a Fey woman bearing young.”
Sol’s eyes went wide. “You mean Ellysetta…my Ellie-girl is—”
“Nei. Not Ellysetta,” Kiel said. “She and Rain are not yet fully united, and truemates do not breed outside the bond. These flowers bloom for Marissya and Dax.”
Kieran had a silly, stunned grin on his face. “I’m going to be a brother. A brother, Kiel. My mela is with child.” Tears filled his eyes.
Kiel smiled. “Mioralas, my friend. I couldn’t be happier for you.” He clapped his hand on Kieran’s back. “You should be the one to tell them. Weave the news now, quickly, before our brothers shout it all the way to Dharsa.”
“Aiyah…aiyah, I will…right now.” He could hardly concentrate. He closed his eyes and pressed the bouquet of Amarynth to his face, careful not to bruise the precious blooms. Weeping, laughing, soaring with joy, he spun the weave. «Mela…gepa…it’s Kieran…. »
The Fading Lands ~ Plains of Corunn
Rain, Ellysetta, and the others were halfway to Dharsa when Kieran’s weave reached them. They’d just stopped to eat and stretch their legs, which was good, because Dax’s legs folded beneath him when he heard his son’s words.
Kieran expanded his initial private weave to include them all as he heaped love and blessings upon his stunned parents. Dax was now sitting on the ground, holding his truemate in his arms. The fierce Fey lord wore a look of such staggering joy and devotion, it made Ellysetta’s throat go tight.
Amarynth bloomed in Teleon. Marissya was with child. Fertility had returned to the Fey.
Rain dropped to his knees beside the shei’dalin and her mate. “Miora felah, Marissya. Miora felah, Dax. Brightest blessings of the gods upon you.”
Laughing and crying at the same time, Marissya enfolded Rain in her arms. “Joy and blessings to us all, kem’maresk, kem’Feyreisen. And joy to the Feyreisa most of all.”
“Me?” Ellysetta blinked in surprise. “But I haven’t done anything.”
The shei’dalin turned a radiant, tear-stained face in Ellysetta’s direction. “Your weave,” she explained. She gave a choked laugh and shook her head. “That awful, inescapable seven-bell weave you spun in Celieria.” Her joyous laughter pealed out, stealing any possible sting from her words. “Ellysetta…little sister…sweet gift from the gods. You wove much more than Spirit that night—and may the gods shower ten lifetimes of blessings on you for it.”
«Steli! Fahreeta, Torasul!» Rain sang the news to his pride-kin, who were chasing tavalree on the plains just to see them run. «Come celebrate and wish us joy. Marissya of the Fey bears young!»
The three tairen joined them swiftly, and Steli bent her head to sniff both Marissya and Dax, then sang a few notes of tairen song. A soft, unevenly pitched and off beat echo rang in Ellysetta’s ears. The white tairen sat back with a satisfied look on her face.
«So that is the scent I smelled,» she declared. She spoke not in tairen song but in plain Feyan, woven on Spirit so Marissya and Dax would be sure to understand. «The Fey-kin bears one of the pride.»
Marissya and Dax both gaped. “I bear what?” Marissya gasped. She splayed one hand across her flat belly; the other clutched Dax like a vise.
“A Tairen Soul?” Rain threw back his head and laughed. He grabbed Ellysetta up and swung her around in circles.
“Shei’tani. Ah, shei’tani, you wondrous woman. This is definitely not how I expected the gods to spin this weave, but I welcome it all the same. A child of the Fey—a Tairen Soul—thanks to you.” He showered her face with kisses.
Dax started laughing. “You know what this means, of course, once word reaches Dharsa? Our women will insist the Feyreisa be fed a steady diet of keflee and pinalle until all the Fading Lands bloom white once more!”
Ellysetta’s eyes went wide. “Oh, no!” Marissya gave a laughing groan. “Gods save us all.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
No moon, sun, or star ever dazzled the night
Like the radiant grace of Ellysetta the Bright.
From “The Star of Chakai,” a warriors’ song of
Ellysetta the Bright
The Fading Lands ~ Dharsa
The remainder of the journey to Dharsa passed rapidly. Spirit weaves carrying exuberant greetings and well wishes continued to pour across the common path. By midday, the wide, rolling grasslands of the Plains of Corunn gave way to graceful swells of densely forested earth that rose and fell like waves on the ocean, all building towards the Shining City.
Constructed entirely of white stone, its many towers capped by gleaming gold spires and domes, Dharsa rose like a jeweled diadem from the rich greenery of the forested hills. The city was built upon a ring of five outer hills, all circling a larger central peak topped by an immense, shining palace. Graceful buildings of incredible beauty and delicacy soared amid lush stands of greenery, terraced gardens, and trees laden with scented blossoms and plump, shining fruit. Water cascaded from breathtaking fountains and artfully arranged cliffs, feeding streams that wound down the hillsides before merging into the wide, shining ribbon of the River Faer. Birds of every shape and color flitted and swooped from tree to tree, filling the sky with a rainbow of dancing colors and song.
Ellysetta had never seen something so perfect, so beautiful. «Rain…oh, Rain…»
The black tairen turned his head, his lavender eyes glowing bright. «Welcome to Dharsa, shei’tani. The shining heart of the Fading Lands.»
Rain dipped his wing and banked left, soaring along the perimeter of the ring of hills. Steli, Fahreeta, and Torasul followed close on his tail, and the four tairen landed in a small clearing where the Fey returning from Celieria City waited with Ellysetta’s lu’tans and the rest of the former rasa.
The warriors were smiling as they had not smiled in years. A palpable aura of joy surrounded them, and they had already buffed their gleaming black leathers and polished their steel to a mirror shine in preparation for their entrance into the city. Waiting Air masters spun Ellysetta, Marissya, and Dax clear of their saddles.
Gaelen was there the moment his sister’s feet touched ground. He caught her in his arms and held her tight. “Mioralas, little sister. Gods’ blessings upon you.” Still holding her tucked against his side, he offered Dax a smile and a hand, which his bond brother clasped warmly. “Te a vo, Dax. My heart sings for you both.” He turned back to his sister, grinning proudly. “A Tairen Soul, no less. I never thought v’En Solande had it in him.”
Dax was too happy to take offense. “Just wait, bond brother. When my son finds his flame, he’ll teach you respect.”
“Some miracles are beyond even a Tairen Soul’s power.” Bel smirked at Gaelen’s narrow-eyed look and added, “Release your sister. There are other Fey who would wish her well.”
While Dax and Marissya accepted the congratulations of the Fey, Earth masters enveloped the pair in swirling threads of power, changing their leathers to rich flowing robes in shades of green and white to celebrate the precious life growing in Marissya’s womb. The hundreds of Fey surrounded her like the treasure she was, and each of the former rasa took a moment to kneel and touch her hand in a way they would never have allowed themselves to do only a few days earlier.
When all had offered Marissya their joy and she had spun a shei’dalin’s blessing on the assembly, the warriors stepped back to form ranks
.
Rain took his place at Ellysetta’s side. He had changed into full ceremonial dress, black leathers, purple-silk-lined black cape, his boots tooled with the scarlet and purple outlines of tairen rampant, Tairen Crown resting upon his brow. Ellysetta, in her plain brown traveling leathers, felt out of place beside the others, but when she asked Rain to weave a more appropriate gown, he smiled mysteriously and nodded towards Bel, saying, “Your lu’tans have prepared something for you.”
Bel stood at the front of the gathered warriors. When all eyes were upon him, he bowed low and said. “It is the custom of the Fey that a shei’dalin who has won the bloodsworn bond of a warrior should wear his blade at all times, both for her protection and as a symbol of the honor in which she holds the warrior’s bond. But three nights ago in Chakai, the Feyreisa proved yet again she was born to set tradition on its head.”
The lu’tans laughed and shouted, “Miora felah ti’Feyreisa!” Bel waited for their shouts to die down before he continued. “Three hundred seventeen Fey bound their souls to the protection of the Feyreisa after her legendary night of healing. Counting Gaelen and me, Ellysetta Feyreisa now claims three hundred nineteen bloodsworn champions. No shei’dalin has ever won the bonds of so many.”
“Nor ever will again!” the lu’tans cried.
White teeth flashed in a brief grin of agreement before Bel once again raised his hands to quiet his exuberant brothers. “This posed quite a challenge, since the Feyreisa clearly could not wear so many blades, yet not to do so would dishonor the bond. We”—he turned to gesture toward the assembled Fey—“the warriors who have bloodsworn ourselves to her service, have devised what we hope is an acceptable solution.”
He gestured to Gaelen, Tajik, Rijonn, and Gil. The four Fey stepped forward, holding Fey’cha belts and a set of studded leathers in shei’dalin red.