Essentia

by Ninana Howard

  "Of course, and Thank you both, Very much." They both bow to me. I am really in their debt. If it weren't for Haruspex, I would not know who my parent was and know about these powers of mine.

  Crios says smiling "It was our pleasure, My Lady. It is not every day you get to help a Goddess." Dazna nods her head in agreement. We all sit down and talk a bit longer. Both of them showing me how to use my powers and also showing me how to control them some. After a bit, Crios stood and says "We must be going My Lords, My lady. If you need us again, Aiden knows how to reach us." We all thank them for their help and for the pendants. Then Aiden left to take them home. He will be back, though, because he is staying with us to assist us with everything.

  Chapter Twenty

  Enre

  So, my beautiful goddess has powers. Seeing Terra's face when she burnt me, hurt worse than the burn itself. But I would be lying if I said it didn't scare the hell out of me when it happened. I wasn't scared just for me, though, I was scared for her as well. She was as hot as the sun when I touched her and scalded my hand. I was worried that it was hurting her somehow, but it wasn't, to my relief. I know she was in pain during the ritual. That was evident by her guttural screaming. I wanted to go to her so badly, to help her, but there was nothing I could do without hurting her worse. The Haruspex really did come through with the pendants; I would have never had thought of that. If it wasn't for Crios and Dazna, I don't know what we would have done.

  I can not start to understand what she is feeling right now, scared hurt, angry. I just hold her without saying a word. When she is ready, she will tell me. I do look over to Thegan and ask him “Would you care to go fix us some drinks brother?" He nods his head and takes off towards the kitchen.

  After he is gone, I hear a faint voice asking me "How is your hand?" After all of this, she is still worried about me.

  "My hand is fine My lady. How are you doing?" I ask her. Knowing this is hard on her.

  "Um... I have had better days" she says with a snicker. A curious creature that she is. Then she adds "Do you think if I can learn to control these powers that I could be of some help with all of this." Waving her hands around the room. I know what she is referring to. She means the saving of Aelmere. She has been a part of this the whole time, she just doesn't realize it I guess.

  "You have been helping since you first came into my life. Your powers are just a bonus," she smiled at me and squeezed my hand. She just needed some reassurance. Thegan came back with the drinks, and we thanked him.

  So how is our little Goddess feeling?" He asked her. I am sure all of this has come as a shock to him as well. He is just hiding it.

  "I am alright now. I do need another shower, though." She giggled motioning to her sticky hair. I go to stand up with her, and she put her hand on my chest. "I will manage on my own this time." Another little laugh escaped her lips.

  "Are you sure? Is your leg alright?" I ask her with a concerned tone. I don't want her overdoing it.

  "My leg is fine, all healed up. I will be ok. If I need you, I will holler ok." She said, leaning down to kiss me on the cheek. As she walks away, tiny pink and blue flowers pop up where she has stepped.

  "Amazing." My thoughts making their self-known. Thegan just smiles and nods his head in agreement.

  "So how is she actually holding up?" He asks me. Looking concerned.

  "Very well considering, she asked me a few minutes ago if she could use her powers to help us save Aelmere," I say to him. It's hard to believe that someone could be so selfless.

  "She sure is a tough one, isn't she?” Thegan states. Rather proudly.

  I just smile and say to him "Yes she is." She is not just tough. She is Beautiful and strong. Big hearted, tender and smart beyond her years. She's perfect in every way. And she's mine. I smile to myself, and Thegan nudges me with his elbow. "What’s that smile about Brother?" He asked in a joking tone. Apparently, I have a hard time controlling my emotions when it comes to her. It's written all over my face.

  I just smile bigger and say with a snicker "Nothing brother, nothing at all." It wasn't nothing, and Thegan knew it as well, but he didn't pester me about it. He just smiled at me. After a little bit of silence, I say to him "So Brother what do we do from now?"

  "Well, I don't know really. There is so much that needs to be done." Thegan replied. It seems like our task has gotten more complicated than it was in the beginning. Terra coming into our lives at this point had to be Bohyne’s way of helping us along.

  "Well I believe we need to start with what can be done from here first, that would give her time to get control of her powers," I say. I do not want to rush her off to battle unprepared.

  Thegan nods his head in agreement. "That would be very helpful if we were to run into trouble and I kind of like the flowers everywhere," Thegan says to me. I do too, it’s very refreshing seeing flowers from our world.

  "As do I Brother," I say in return.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  The Box

  A little time passes with idle chatter when I hear her walking down the hallway. When I look over at her, my eyes go wide. She is carrying a wooden box in her hands, and it has light coming from inside of it that can be seen around the carvings on its sides. I say to her " What have you got there My Lady?"

  She looks at me and says “This came to the bookstore the day I met you. I could never get it to open, but a few minutes ago I was moving it out of the way to get some clothes, and it started to glow. I was afraid to open it by myself. So I brought it in here." Me and Thegan both stand up and head over to the kitchen bar.

  She brought the box over and sat it down, and Thegan says to her " Shall we?" She nods her head and lifts the top. A blinding light Flashes for a moment and then dims down to where we can look at the contents. Inside of the box was a parchment and a Delicate crown of silver with dark red gemstones embedded in it, the stone in the center was in the shape of a heart.

  She says "It’s a crown. Why would a crown come to the bookstore?". I pick up the parchment and unfold it carefully. It was a letter... To Terra.

  I look at her and say "It is written to you, My Lady." I hand it to her, but she just looks at it with a confused expression.

  "I cannot read it; would you mind Enre?" she hands it back. It's scripted in Old Aelmereian. Not many people use that language anymore, but me and my brother both studied it growing up.

  I say to her "It will be my pleasure." I clear my throat and start to read it aloud.

  My Dear Bohyne Terra,

  I know you must be confused by everything that is going on

  At this point. Let us explain, you are A Daughter of a Goddess, a very powerful Goddess named Tarna. Though she is gone from us, she gave us this Crown to give to you when you were ready. She did not tell us about the crown, except that it is yours and that you would know what to do when the time was right. We have been watching over you since you were born. Your mother would be proud of you. She said that you would be The Savior of Aelmere one day. That you are the key to everything. Though we cannot interfere in the lives of others, we can be of some help to you as you are of our blood. The bottom of this parchment there is a spell that can be cast by a Haruspex that will give protection or return life. It can only be used once, so please keep it safe and use it wisely. And remember Dear Bohyne Terra, we will be watching, so do your mother and us proud.

  With our Blessings,

  The Gods and Goddess's of Aelmere

  Everyone was silent for a moment. Her mother was Bohyne Tarna, no wonder she is like she is. "Who is Tarna?" she asked quietly.

  Thegan spoke before I could " Bohyne Tarna was the Goddess of Warriors, A beacon to the Brave and Honorable. She bestowed strength and courage to those that were worthy to be called Warrior. There was never a war or battle that she was not involved in. It is said that she would fight alongside her chosen Warriors, with a fierceness that was unmatched by any other. She was the Essence of Bravery and strength its self." I could not hav
e said it better.

  I add as I run my hand over her hair "You are much like her My Lady."

  "I am?" She asks. Fidgeting with the hem of her shirt.

  "Yes, you are," I say in return. Noticing that she has gone silent, I ask her "Are you alright My lady?" This must be hard for her to take in. Especially hearing about her mother.

  She nods her head and mutters “I would have liked to have met her." A small teardrop slides down her cheek, and a take my finger and catch the single drop. Then I pull her to me and hold her close for a few moments. She is warm, but not scalding like before. She must be learning to control the powers better.

  I release her a little and whisper to her " You alright now?" She nods her head and offers me a small smile. Turning back to the box, she looks at the crown inside. Her eyes reflect the shine off the crown. She looks hesitant to touch it, so I pick it up and say to her "A beautiful Crown for a Beautiful Princess." As soon as I place it upon her head, a glowing wind wraps around her and her hair fly’s around. When it settles, her hair has small crystal flowers throughout it and has gotten streaks of silver through it. It is absolutely stunning. She is smiling, and her eyes are watery.

  I ask her " Are you alright?" Worried that something else had happened to her.

  "I could feel her, My mother. She spoke to me. She said 'Trust your heart, it is the key.'" It must have been a spell cast on the crown, a present from her mother.

  I smile at her and tell her "Your hair has changed as well My Princess" she turns her head and pulls her hair over her shoulder, she smiles even bigger.

  "I am beginning to like this Magic stuff." Then we all start laughing. She reaches up and removes the crown from her head. When she does the crystal flowers disappear, but the silver remains there. She places the crown back in the box and shuts the lid. "Do you have somewhere safe I can keep this?" She asks.

  Thegan says "I believe Aiden has a vault we can keep it in. If that is alright My lady".

  "I think you should keep the spell with you My Lady, you never know when you may need it," I say. She nods her head, then she smiles real big. Beautiful creature.

  Before long Aiden returns. When he walks in he looks at Terra and says with a small bow "Silver is a good look on you My lady."

  She laughs and says "You should have seen me a few minutes ago, I was glowing with crystal flowers in my hair."

  "Umm, Did I miss something?" Aiden says. We all bust out laughing and then fill him in on what had just happened. We showed him the crown and asked him about putting it in his vault. Of course, he agreed. His vault had spells on it cast by the Haruspex to protect from theft. We had to go to Norpool anyways to interrogate Ivar's minion, so we decided to go in the morning to do both.

  After we all go to bed, I curl in behind Terra and hold her close, wrapping my arms around her. Running my fingers through her silver streak. She fidgets for a moment before I hear her breathing softly, already asleep. I whisper to her "Goodnight my Beautiful Goddess." I kiss her on the top of her head and then slowly fall to sleep myself.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Terra

  Well, I am back here again. Standing beneath My tree. It has lost over half of the leaves. We need to save it, quickly. If the tree dies, so does Aelmere. The rest of the dream is pretty much the same, storm, wind, sounds of war and Enre standing on the edge of the field. But this time, someone is standing beside him. I suspect that it is Thegan, being the haruspex placed the protection spells on us.

  After finishing up my dream, I slowly wake up. Opening my eyes, I realize that sometime in my sleep I had rolled over to face Enre. He was looking at me with sleepy eyes. I smile at him, and he kisses me on the tip of my nose and runs his hand over my hair then says "Did you sleep well, my Princess?" I love the little names he calls me.

  "Yes, I did. Did you sleep well my Prince?" his face turned a little flush, A sleepy grin on his face.

  "Better than I have in years." Then he pulls me closer to him and kisses me on the lips. My heart sped up, and I felt my face get warm. He then pulled his lips away from mine and whispers to me "So Beautiful," as he runs his fingers through my dark brown and silver hair. "You have made us a Garden My Lady." He says with a smile. I look around, and it seems that I had done just that. There are flowers all over the floor and the walls. It was gorgeous. I let out a little laugh. Enre looks at me and then starts laughing as well.

  After we get out of bed and get dressed, I turn to him and say “We need to save the tree quickly, it has lost over half of its leaves. If it loses all of them Aelmere will be..."

  "You don't have to say it; I know My Dear. We will do what we can to save it soon" Enre says in return.

  We walk into the main room where we find Thegan and Aiden sipping on what smells like coffee. "Mmmm that smell delicious," I say without thinking.

  "Go sit My Lady, I will make you some" Enre says. He heads off to the kitchen, and I have a seat with the others. We talk a little bit about last night's dreams, and I tell them about the condition of the tree. Enre returns with two cups of sweet smelling coffee, he hands one to me and sits down beside me.

  "Thank you," I say to him. He just grins at me. While I sit there drinking my cup of coffee, I can't help but think of all that I have been through in the last few days. It's hard to believe that I am still alive. To be honest, I have never felt this alive in my life. I mean it has had its downsides, but the rest has been amazing. I know that there will be more hard times but, in my heart, I know I will be all right as long as I am with Enre, Thegan, and Aiden.

  "My lady, would you like some more?" Aiden asks, holding out his hand for my empty cup.

  "Oh, no thank you Aiden" I grin at him, and he takes my cup and nods at me. "We will be leaving for Norpool Soon My lady" Thegan says to me. I nod my head to him. Wondering what the day is going to bring.

  Thegan rides with Aiden and I ride with Enre on the way to Norpool. During our trip, I try to concentrate on my emotions to make sure I don't grow flowers in Enre's car. Enre starts snickering at me and says "Why so serious My lady?"

  "Well I didn't think it wise to grow a garden in your beautiful car while we were going down the road, so I have been concentrating," I say to him. It's getting easier to control since the Haruspex gave me some pointer on how to do it.

  "Ahh, I see. A couple flowers wouldn't hurt," he says. Then he puts his hand on my thigh. He is trying to get me flustered. 'Well watch this pretty boy' I say to myself. I start to try and heat my body up. Not enough to hurt him, just enough to startle him. "Oww, hey now," Enre says jerking his hand away. "I guess I deserved that huh" he adds, laughing.

  I laugh with him then say "I am learning how to control them." And I am glad. I would hate to hurt him. Even if it was an accident.

  "I can see that. That's really good Princess," He says to me, flashing a huge smile. Butterflies flutter around in my stomach when he looks at me like that.

  We pull up in front of Norpool, and there were a lot of guards standing at the entrance. One of the Guards opened my door and bows to me and says "This way My Lady." I get out of the car, and Enre joins me. We are escorted into the building. Everyone that works there bows to Enre and me as we pass by them. It feels weird being bowed to, But I guess it is their custom. There is no one at the club but workers being it is still early in the morning.

  "Over here My Lady, My Lord" Aiden says from across the room. When we get over to where Aiden, Thegan and a hoard of guards are standing, I see a man about my age tied to a chair.

  I look at Enre and say “Is that one of the guys that destroyed my house?" and killed my poor Le'ander.

  "Yes, he was with them," Enre says. I instantly start to get mad, and I can feel my skin getting hot. It is getting harder to control my temper. It never uses to be this bad. My other emotions, I have in check. Anger not being one of them.

  Thegan looks at Enre and tells him in a loud voice "You need to calm her down. We don't want her killing him before we can talk to h
im". I guess that was meant for the prisoner to hear. Thegan then moves in front of me, blocking my view of the evil man in the chair who's eyes have gone wide.

  "My Princess, please calm down. We need him for answers. I promise, after we are done, you can talk to him ok." He says. I know he is just saying that to calm me down and scare the prisoner. Somehow his words get through to me. I take a deep breath to calm myself down. He takes his hand and cups my cheek "Well done". Winking at me, he turns back to the prisoner and says “Unless you want her to roast you like a suckling pig, I suggest that you cooperate with us." The prisoner does nothing but stares at us.

  Thegan asks him "How did you know where to find us?" The prisoner looks at him and says nothing. The guys ask the prisoner many questions but never got one answer. A thought popped into my head, I don't know whether it is mine or if it was put there by another. 'Ask him' is what the voice said. What could it hurt?

  I motion for Enre to come over and when he does I tell him "Let me try and ask him." Not mentioning the voice yet. It is still kinda freaking me out.

  "No, he is dangerous My Lady," He says to me. I understand he is only saying that for my protection.

  "You will be right there; I have a feeling that I can get some answers from him." I try to persuade him to let me. He looks at me worriedly.

  But he nods his head and says “Only if I am beside you and you listen to me if I say to stop."

  "Anything you say, my Prince," I say to him with a smile. He just shakes his head at me and grins.

  "Thegan, Aiden, let her try," he says to them. But I can tell by the look on their faces, they are not happy about it. They reluctantly back away from him. I concentrate as much on controlling my powers as I step closer to the prisoner. Enre pulls me a chair over to sit in. When I sit down the man looks at me with a blank expression. I keep saying over and over in my mind ‘, Please let him answer me.'