by C. G. Garcia
“I really don’t think people are bound to forget how I came to be here and who I am,” Allison said unhappily.
“Sure they will,” she insisted. “After the initial excitement of your arrival dies down a bit, a little time passes, and they see for themselves that you aren’t going to grow another head or other such nonsense, you’ll be nothing more than another Lamian mage to them.”
“She’s right,” Aidric cut in with a nod. “It’s as I’ve told you. You just need to allow yourself and us enough time to adjust.”
“And speaking of time,” Raya put in, “if any of us intends on being on time for the celebration, then we had better cease gabbing and get ready. That’s why I came here in the first place, to see if Allison needed any help to prepare herself for her first social engagement here. And Aidric,” her lips stretched up into that same wicked smile she had used earlier, “I hope for the love of Seni that you aren’t going to show yourself in public dressed as you are. I suggest you at least go change your shirt. What would the court say if they saw you now?”
For the first time, Allison noticed that Aidric’s shirt was still damp where she had cried on his chest and heavily wrinkled in several places where she had clung so tightly to him. That’s when she realized how she must have appeared to Raya, though the younger woman was probably too polite to comment on it. Her face was still no doubt stained with tears, her hair likely disheveled beyond belief, and she was dressed in nothing but a robe over her underwear. So much for first impressions, Allison thought with a grimace.
“Why do I suddenly feel as though I’m being pushed out the door on my backside?” Aidric said with a laugh.
“How remarkably perceptive of you,” Raya replied dryly as Aidric took both her hand and Allison’s for a departing kiss and disappeared from the room before Allison could even blink.
“He’s such a charmer,” Raya commented with a warm smile as Allison regarded the other woman curiously.
She felt a bit embarrassed when Raya turned her gaze to her again and caught her staring. “I—I’m sorry,” Allison apologized quickly. “I didn’t mean to stare. It’s just you’re probably as different to me as I am to you, and I guess I couldn’t help it. I hope I haven’t offended you.”
“Oh, pash,” Raya said cheerfully. “I’ve been doing my own fair share of staring as well. After all, it’s not every day one gets to meet a legend.”
“I’m no legend,” Allison insisted, suddenly feeling very awkward. “Just look at me! You know damned well that I’ve been crying. The evidence is still probably visible all over my face as well as on Aidric’s shirt.”
“Care to talk about it?” she asked.
Before she realized she was going to do it, Allison blurted out, “I don’t know how or why this has happened to me. Aidric told me who was likely the one who brought me here, but I’m not sure I’m ready to believe that it was your deity that did it. I’m not sure of anything anymore except that I’m probably never going home. I—”
Allison abruptly cut off what she had been about to say. Why the hell am I telling her all of this? A moment ago, I thought of her as a prospective rival, and now I’m confiding in her as if she’s my best friend!
It had just seemed so natural for her to confide her fears to the young girl. In a way, Raya was a lot like Aidric, confident, strong, so maybe that was why Allison had warmed to the girl as quickly as she did. She wouldn’t at all be surprised if she and Raya really did become good friends over the next few hours.
“Oh, listen to me, babbling on and on about my troubles like an idiot. I’m sure you don’t want to listen to all of that.”
“I don’t mind,” Raya assured her. “I understand how lonely you must feel—here amidst a sea of strangers without any family or friends. Sometimes it helps to talk to someone else who has experienced being in a similar situation. Sel’s told me a little of how you came to be here and what little Aidric has told him about your world. Most of it is almost too incredible to believe.”
“I know how you feel,” Allison said. “When everyone here insisted that magic was real and that I, myself, had the potential to become a powerful mage, I couldn’t believe it was true. I still don’t believe it, really. I feel like I’ve stepped back in time, or more accurately, into the pages of a fantasy novel. I keep thinking that any moment now, I’ll wake up and find that this has just been a horrible nightmare.”
“I can’t even began to imagine everything you must be going through,” Raya said sympathetically. “I wish I could offer a solution that would help you to return to your homeland, but I can’t. What I can offer you is my friendship if you’ll accept it.”
Allison stared at Raya in mute surprise. She hadn’t really expected the other girl to say anything like that so soon, and she didn’t know quite how to respond. She had known Raya for less than an hour, and Raya was already offering her friendship. It made her feel a little ashamed. She really didn’t deserve all the kindness given to her so far.
“I—I don’t know what to say,” Allison admitted softly. “I mean, you hardly know me.”
“I know you well enough,” Raya said firmly. “Trust me, Aidric will be the first to tell you that I don’t offer my friendship lightly. We Hrefnans, by nature, are a solitary lot.”
“I’d very much like for us to be friends,” Allison said with a smile.
“Good,” Raya said, returning the smile. “Now that we’ve broken the ice a bit, let’s see about getting you ready for tonight’s festivities. A robe, although glamorous in the bedroom, wouldn’t be so popular at a courtyard gathering!”
“I agree,” Allison said, feeling relaxed for the first time that day. “Queen Ileanna gave me a dress to wear tonight since I obviously wasn’t given the opportunity to pack when I was so graciously dragged here. Could you possibly help me with my hair, though? I just usually brush it and let it hang wherever it happens to fall. I don’t know the least bit about Lamian hairstyles, and I don’t want to embarrass Aidric or you by looking disheveled.”
Raya’s eyes lit up. “Of course!” she replied eagerly. “By the time I’m finished with you, no handsome young suitor will be able to keep his eyes off you!”
The thought was appalling. “Um, I was kinda hoping to attract as little attention as possible,” Allison explained hastily. “You see, I’m not very good at socializing, and large crowds make me nervous.”
“You’ll do fine,” Raya assured her. “With Aidric as an escort, you don’t need to speak much at all. He’ll speak enough for the both of you! Believe me, once he introduces you to a few people, you’ll start to feel more comfortable, and before you know it, you’ll be having the time of your life. Of all the things the people of Lamia are not, they most certainly make up for it with their celebrations and festivals! Now, enough of my gabbing. You need to be off to the bathing room if you want to be presentable at a decent sand-mark. Everything’ll be ready for you here when you return.”
“Thank you, Raya—for everything,” Allison said sincerely as she headed towards the bathing room in good spirits.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
As she walked down the garden path towards the palace courtyard, her arm snugly intertwined with Aidric’s, Allison fidgeted nervously, suddenly feeling very shy and awkward despite the assurance his presence gave her. In just a few moments, she would face the majority of the kingdom of Lamia for the first time, and no matter how many times she told herself that it wouldn’t be so bad, she could already feel her stomach muscles knotting up with tension as Aidric and she, followed immediately by Raya and Selwyn, crossed the threshold of the arched doorway that separated the indoor garden from the courtyard and into the midst of celebration.
Allison’s senses were immediately overwhelmed as she was suddenly bathed in light and color, greeted by the sounds of lively music and a chorus of a thousand voices. Her eyes widened in wonder as they soaked in the near havoc of activity going on before her, her anxiety instantly forgotten.
&n
bsp; What seemed like thousands of people swarmed aimlessly around the courtyard, each dressed in an elaborate assortment of costumes of various colors and design that seemed, to Allison, to come straight out of medieval Europe. The women were all dressed similar to her, either in elegant, ruffled gowns made of lace and wool or the silk-like material that the queen had identified for her as sholkie, a thread derived from the fibers of the giant leaves of a tree located in the Forest of Peri along the northern borders of Lamia.
Ileanna had explained to her that the only way anyone could depict a noblewoman from a peasant at a celebration or festival was by the material used to make their gowns and the type of stones used in their jewelry.
“Every maiden, no matter how poor or young, owns at least one elegant gown suitable for social events,” Ileanna had said with a laugh, “and unless one looks closely, it’s virtually impossible to tell the peasant from the highborn maiden. Bright Thrones, one could almost believe it’s required by law to own an extravagant celebration gown when listening to a few women speaking of them!”
Allison had regarded her skeptically then, but now that the very mixture of both highborn and peasants confronted her, she surprisingly found that you indeed could not discern between the two classes by a glance alone.
The men, however, were far easier to determine their social status by their clothing. The nobles were dressed far more elaborately than the peasants—in sholkie shirts, breeches, and tights of bright colors and heavily adorned with precious and semi-precious jewels that sparkled brilliantly with their every movement. Long, flowing capes completed the look, some even trailing a few feet behind them.
Allison absently wondered how they managed to keep people from stepping on them. Aidric, thankfully, donned a cape that only reached to his ankles, so she didn’t have to worry about accidentally stepping on it and embarrassing herself.
The peasant men wore similar outfits but without the capes. Nor did their tunics or shirts sport any gems or the elaborate designs of their lords, but despite those small differences, they were just as elegantly dressed as the highborn.
However, the costume-like clothing was not what truly amazed Allison. It was the fact that everyone seemed to be mingling with each other despite the class in which they belonged. She saw several groups of women, containing both peasants and highborn, gossiping and giggling together with none of the superiority or airs that many of the noble class throughout history tended to express while in the presence of peasants.
When she asked Aidric about it, he just looked at her peculiarly, and answered simply, “It has been that way for some time now.”
She waited for him to elaborate, and when it became apparent that he wasn’t going to oblige her, she shrugged and turned her attention from the Lamians to the courtyard itself. She could always ask Raya about it later.
Allison was surprised at how different the courtyard now seemed to her in comparison to the state it had been in only hours before. It seemed as if the servants had converted it into a huge garden of paradise. Strange fern-like plants and flowers in various shades of blue, violet, and rose, resembling honeysuckle blossoms but at the size of basketballs, lined the walls and walkways throughout the yard.
Huge lanterns, burning with the same eerie, green flames that illuminated Aidric’s suite and the palace corridors, hung from lines that were stretched high above from the enclosed walkway leading to King Diryan’s suite to the east and west walls, bathing the courtyard in a faint green glow that somehow gave the scene a dreamlike quality.
“Why are the flames in those lamps green?” she asked Aidric as the four of them headed towards a group of people.
“It’s not true fire,” Aidric explained. “They are mage-flames, fueled by the power of the Mage-field and not by such things as lamp oil. Firestarting will be one of the many things I’ll teach you, and I’ll explain mage-flames to you more thoroughly then. As for now, there are some friends I would like you to meet.”
As Aidric led her deeper into the courtyard and into better light, Allison heard many gasps of shock as the people they passed realized who she was. All conversation around them seemed to cease all at once, and she suddenly felt a thousand eyes burning into her back. She began to feel nervous and awkward again under their scrutiny, and something in the back of her mind, some bit of information, was struggling to emerge—something very important—
“Ignore them, Allison,” Aidric whispered into her mind, distracting her from what she was trying to remember. “Just smile at them, and show them that they have nothing to fear from you.”
Allison nodded, and did her best to smile, if feebly, at all the people they passed. She immediately noticed that some inched away from her when she passed them and tried not to attract her attention to them. Whenever she happened to glance at someone, an intense look of fear flashed across their face, and they hastily tried to lose themselves in the surrounding crowd.
By the time they reached the targeted group of Aidric’s friends, Allison was struggling not to cry. The group of seven immediately stopped talking when they caught sight of her, and most of them gazed at her with widened eyes of shock and fear.
“Oh, for the love of Seni, stop looking at her as if she’s going to strike you dead,” Aidric snapped impatiently. “I know the villagers don’t know any better, but as mages, you should. I brought her over here for introductions, not for you to insult her with your foolish fear.”
Looking sheepish, the man closest to her, a brunet that looked to be about Aidric’s age, took a tentative step towards her and said, “My apologies, Milady Golden Mage. We meant no insult.” He inclined his head slightly. “I am Maldon, of the House Felan.”
“I-I’m Allison,” she stammered shyly.
Her obvious shyness and Maldon’s boldness seemed to cause the other mages to lose most of their initial fear of her, and one by one, they introduced themselves to her. Aidric wore a peculiar half-smile as the mages were introducing themselves to her, and she suspected that he was thought-speaking with them, likely answering all of the questions she knew they must be flinging at him about her.
God, it’s like they’re talking about me behind my back, she thought, annoyed, except it’s worse since they’re standing right in front of me! If they’re so damned curious about me, I wish they would just ask me their questions and not Aidric.
As if reading her mind, the mages suddenly turned to her all at once and bombarded her with questions. What world did she come from? How did she get across the Lamian border undetected? Was her hair really golden? Was it Seni, Himself, who had sent her?
“You asked for it,” Aidric’s amused voice said in her head, “and before you ask, you accidentally thought-spoke me again. We must do something about these little mishaps and soon, but for now, I do believe you have your hands full at the moment with this curious bunch. I would have answered their questions, but since you were so annoyed that they were not asking you—”
“All right, all right, I did ask for it,” Allison sent, struggling not to laugh. “You don’t have to rub my nose in it, though!”
“Then how else shall I amuse myself?”
“I’m sure you’ll think of something.”
She heard ripples of laughter over the surface of her mind as she once again turned her attention to the group of mages to answer their questions as best she could. They continued to play their little question and answer game for perhaps thirty minutes or so before Aidric decided that she had suffered their questions enough and rescued her from them with the excuse of wanting her to meet a few other people.
“There’s a couple of bards I would like you to meet,” Aidric said loudly over the music and voices as they headed towards the center of the courtyard. “They have been singing ballads of your coming since they were old enough to wail in pitch, and they insisted that they had to meet you.”
“Insisted my rump,” Raya said dryly. “It’s more like ‘demanded’ with those two. They probably just want to e
ither grill her for stories of her world to put into their wretched songs or try to court her.”
Was it her imagination, or did Allison suddenly see a flash of what looked like jealousy in Aidric’s eyes? It had come and gone so quickly that she wasn’t entirely sure that she hadn’t just seen what she had wanted to see.
However, if Aidric had been jealous, his voice betrayed nothing. “Too true, barbarian. I’ll have to keep a watchful eye on them.”
“Hey! That’s my wife you’re calling a barbarian,” Selwyn retorted in mock anger. “Say it again, Mage-general, and you might find yourself on your ass again!”
“Aidius, help us all,” Aidric lamented with a grin as Selwyn playfully punched him in the arm while Allison and Raya giggled.
As they reached the center of the courtyard, Allison saw a group of bards, flamboyantly dressed in gold and silver robes of a more flowing, wider design than Aidric’s mage-robes, sitting in the grass and busily playing fiddles, lutes, harps, wooden flutes, and a strange u-shaped reed instrument that emitted a hypnotic, low-pitched sound that was similar to a male bass voice but nothing she had ever heard an instrument produce. She had a sudden image of a group of Gregorian monks chanting in a majestic cathedral.
Before them stood four mages that were busily entertaining the crowd with what appeared to be a laser and light show to Allison but accomplished with magic instead of laser beams. She stared at the glorious spectacle in awe, watching the mages skillfully weave the colorful lines, flashes, and showers of light into various shapes and patterns to the accompaniment of the bards’ music.
Aidric pointed to the young, silver-haired man playing the strange instrument and to the man sitting next to him playing a lute. Allison started when she realized that they were identical twins.
“Those are the two that I want you to meet,” Aidric told her. “The one playing the lyra is Keldan, and the lute player is Aren. Despite the fact that those two were born—or should I say we were cursed—with the largest wagging tongues in all of Lamia, they are quite a remarkable pair. They aren’t simply bards, but bardic-mages. Until they were born, Lamia had not seen a bardic-mage for four centuries.