A Change For the Light

by Heather Maginnis

  Angee pushed her plate away

  "Well, we will just have to see what we can do then, we cannot leave someone to solve a problem not of her making on her own when we were responsible for her being here."

  Stephanie was sat on her bed staring at her hands on her lap.

  How long would it be before the dreaded feeling of the male hormones kicked in, she had noticed the difference when she started the female hormones, it felt natural, like something that was out if sync was in phase again.

  A knock at her door made her start with surprise,she'd been really wrapped up in her own problems.

  She stood up and opened the door, the three young Bards were stood there.

  Angee who seemed to be their leader spoke first as usual,

  "I'm sorry if we've been neglecting you, it's unforgivable I know, but I think we should get down to dealing with what's bothering you", Stephanie was stunned.

  She'd never really had anyone who was really bothered about her and the tears welled up bursting forth and causing Angee and her friends to get very concerned.

  Stephanie sat down on her bed.

  "Do you know what happened when I told my family I was transsexual?, they disowned me."

  The tears were flowing freely now and Angee and Bria sat either side of her while Allia was on her knees holding her hands, this caused the tears to flood out now. In between this Stephanie carried on.

  "I've been unhappy all my life, a string of relationships which ended badly due to my problems with my body feeling wrong. When I finally start to do something, I lose my family, my so called friends either dump me or in one case attacked me.

  Where I worked wasn't understanding either, they could not dismiss me, but they made it so hard to work there I had to leave."

  Angee was getting concerned, Stephanie was getting so distressed and she felt it, she could understand her words, she caught Bria's eye, Bria shook her head and the faint telepathic send came to her, "let her cry she needs this to heal."

  She realised Stephanie had just started speaking through her sobs again.

  "In effect, I'm all alone, no one to care whether I live or die. I sat day after day in my home, every day the same, I had not felt like killing myself,but it was getting harder to see what I had to live for.

  That's why the only regret I have being here is my body reverting and not finishing what I started."

  All three Bards were crying now and hugging Stephanie,

  it was rapidly developing into a really deep emotional event for all of them Angee realised.

  "You had no one at all?".

  Stephanie shook her head. "All I did was go buy food listen to music and go to my appointments with the doctor. I even had to sell things to make ends meet, I was getting desperate."

  They sat there not saying anything for quite a while, the tears had ceased and Stephanie felt like a great weight had been lifted off her shoulders.

  "What sort of work do you do?".

  Stephanie took a necklace out of her bag. "I used to make jewellery, this is a piece I did myself in my spare time."

  Allia examined the finely wrought silver necklace, the scrolling and lattice work was really beautiful.

  "You do excellent work, you should make some more." Stephanie took the necklace back. "Thank you, but it takes certain tools and supplies to make the jewellery and I don't have it with me."

  "That's easily solved, come on lets take a ride to the city nearby."

  Stephanie didn't have chance to think as she was dragged to her feet and pulled through the door by Bria and Angee.

  "just a moment!, let me get my bag!", and she darted back for it.

  Once outside they saw it was a lovely sunny day again, spring had arrived and all the trees showed off their finery, as if in thanks to the Goddess for the touch of her hand.

  Stephanie was riding the same mount she did before, in fact she had grown attached to this horse, and it whinnied when it saw her.

  The three Bards smiled at that, "seems you have your own horse now " Bria observed from her saddle.

  Stephanie smiled and mounted, the few days she'd had to recover were enough and the wracking pain she'd been in when she arrived was gone.

  They rode along with the bird song making every tree seem alive, Stephanie felt good and had a smile on her face, she noticed the others too seemed to be light of heart.

  It must be hard for these young Bards to have such responsibility thrust upon them at such a tender age, that sort of responsibility tended to weigh you down and make you old before your time. 'Listen to me' she thought, barely fifteen years older than the oldest one and sounding like a brooding mother hen, a chuckle escaped her lips.

  Angee turned in her saddle to look at Stephanie, "it's good to see you're feeling better.

  It does no good to feel down all the time, and of course, you enjoy this a lot more, come on, lets give our mounts some exercise" and she spurred her mount to break into a gallop with the other two Bards close behind.

  Stephanie laughed delightedly, " wait for me!".

  They pulled up to a normal canter just short of the city gates, all slightly breathless from their mad dash, all as well with enormous grins on their faces.

  Angee lead the way, "come on lets see what we can find."

  Riding into the city, they were greeted by people in the streets as if they were old friends, none of them had encountered such a friendly reaction before and it was a real treat to find people who were such Bard supporters.

  They dismounted at the central market and went straight to a food stall selling meat pies that smelled heavenly.

  Allia bought pies for all of them and got directions to where a Jeweller's was located.

  "They have their own streets it seems, down that way" she gestured speaking through eating the delicious meat pie.

  The street wasn't hard to find and the shop were all very opulent, they dismounted and did some window browsing, looking at all the jewellery on display,or in some of the cases bypass the stores that had no display due to wanting to draw customers inside to look at their wares.

  Stephanie thought it all looked lovely, but nothing was in the style of the work she did, they selected a small shop that had quite a few silver pieces in the window that Stephanie liked, once inside they saw a timorous old man stood behind the counter.

  He smiled when he saw them, "welcome to my shop"

  he conveyed in a warm tone, "how may I be of service?".

  Angee had the necklace in her hand that Stephanie had shown her, "tell me what you think of this."

  The old man took a few minutes to examine it, he did not say anything while he did but seemed very interested in it.

  "This is superb workmanship, I'll give you three golds for it."

  Angee and the other two Bards looked shocked at that Stephanie thought, she stepped forward. "It's not for sale, but I take it you like it?". He gestured at the necklace, "who could not, the craftsmanship and detail, this was obviously made by a master."

  Stephanie retrieved the necklace from him, "so if you were offered more like this you would buy it?".

  The man seemed eager now, "you know who made this?, I must meet him, maybe we can do business."

  Stephanie put the necklace in her bag, "maybe we can."

  Now the old man looked wary, "are you saying you made this?" disbelief was clear in his tone.

  Stephanie sighed, "yes I did, now, I'm new here and looking for work. If you'd like me to make more jewellery I can do, and I guarantee you will not have seen anything like what I make."

  The old man thought for a moment, "come in the back and make a piece for me, if I like it I will give you all the work you can handle."

  Stephanie had a quick word with the three bards, "this will take a few hours, I'll adapt something he's done, a properly done piece cannot be done in a few hours, what do you want to do, come back for me later or shall I make my own way back?".

  Angee indicated she didn't like the second
option.

  "We'll have a look around town and call back later for you."

  Stephanie turned to the old man, "right, lets get started."

  Angee,Allia and Bria left her too it and decided to have a wander around the city.

  It was nice not to be on the look out for trouble all the time and just relax a bit, maybe do some shopping. The smells of the food shops reminded them they had not eaten for a while. Angee weighed her purse in one hand, the heavy jingle meant they did not have to worry about affording a good meal.

  "lets go over there, it looks like a nice Inn."

  Angee smiled to herself at the name of the Inn, 'The White Bard' sort of appropriate she thought.

  Entering they drew a few looks but nothing special, a man approached them wearing a pristine white apron, always a good sign Angee mused. "Welcome to the White Bard, please, anything you would like, you only have to ask."

  They sat at a table next to a window, the Innkeeper came over himself with a tray of ales, obviously serving girls weren't good enough for Bardic custom.

  "It is always an honour to have Bards frequent my establishment, please if I may ask, what type of Bards are you?".

  Angee smiled and exchanged amused looks with her two sisters, "it seems you know a bit about Bards" Allia stated.

  He smiled with pleasure, " This Inn goes back a thousand years and was named in honour of the last white Bard."

  "Well I'm a blue Bard and my friend her is green", patting Bria's arm. The Innkeeper looked at Angee, " and if I may ask what type of Bard you are?".

  Angee didn't know how she kept a straight face looking at his polite expression, "White."

  All sound stopped, apart from the creak of chairs, " White!, you are a White Bard?". Angee caught his eyes with a firm Gaze,

  "yes."

  He was clearly shocked and the silence grew awkward, till he realised and shook himself.

  "It is indeed a double honour then to have the first White Bard in one thousand years patronise my establishment. Please, how may I serve you?".

  "Well me and my friends are rather hungry, what can you suggest?".

  The Innkeeper waved his hands at them, "just leave it to me" and he was off to the kitchen before they could say anything.

  A serving girl came within minutes carrying a plate with still steaming hot bread, a bowl of butter and three bowls of a meaty soup, which they discovered was a special game soup packed full of meat.

  They had nearly finished that when the serving girl appeared with more ale and the main course, a platter of meats swimming in gravy, there was a choice of lamb,beef and venison.

  Within a minute she was back with potatoes, red roots and some vegetables Angee had never seen before, it all tasted delicious.

  When the serving girl came back, they were all slightly groaning a bit at being so full, she had a fruit concoction with cream, that slid down the throat easily and had a sharp piquant taste. They could barely move after that, so content and full they felt.

  With no inclination to move and no hurry either, they sat there looking out of the window watching the world go by, it was the fading sunlight over the rooftops which made them realise they had better go and see how Stephanie did.

  They stood up and walked over to the innkeeper. "How much do we owe you?" Angie asked.

  "You don't owe me anything you are the first a White Bard to grace this establishment in one thousand years. It is an honour to serve you."

  Angee didn't feel right about this but they knew they had to go find Stephanie so they left without another word.

  Allia and Bria smiled as her as they walked the evening sun through long shadows down the cobbled streets.

  By the time they reached the shop it was going dark, they entered to find the old man and Stephanie deep in conversation.

  "We have a deal then it will be a pleasure to display your work." Stephanie smiled at that. "Well, one thing I can guarantee, no one will have seen the likes of my work before."

  She picked up a small canvas bag "I'll get to work as soon as I get back and you'll have some commissions later this week."

  She hadn't noticed the three Bards, "oh hello, are we off back now then?, I must admit to being rather hungry."

  Angie smiled, "no problem,I bought some pies for you to eat on the way back. We'd better be off before it gets too

  dark to see on the road."

  The weather closed in before they had barely passed through the city gates.

  "We'd better hurry" said Angee, as they pulled their cloaks tightly around them and rode on the strong wind driving the rain into their faces.

  The light was failing rapidly now and it was getting hard to see. They turned up the lane the wind hitting them from the side.

  It seemed as if the very trees themselves were roaring at them. Stephanie's cloak didn't give too much protection she thought.

  But when she rode up to the temple with the others she noticed all of them was soaked and freezing to the bone.

  They dismounted quickly and groom's took their horses while they rushed inside to the wall of the temple. They were all visibly shivering as Angie noticed the Mother abbess talking to a Bard she didn't recognise.

  The Mother abbess looked at them.

  "Go get yourself into a hot bath of warm clothes and I'll order some food prepared for you."

  Once in her room Stephanie stripped out of the soaking clothes and put a simple Grey tunic on and went to have that hot bath she was so looking forward too.

  An hour later after a leisurely soaked in the bath she felt half human again she realised she didn't have a great many clothes they had only provided her with one change so she had to ponder clothes she arrived in.

  The three Bards were already in the refectory when she walked in there were plates of steaming meats, potatoes and hot bread as well as jugs of mulled cider the other smiled at her as she sat down but didn't say anything as they were too busy eating.

  Once she'd eaten a little bit Stephanie noticed Angie was frowning at the state of her clothes.

  Stephanie smiled at her and shrugged, "you only gave me one change of clothes remember, and they are wet through at the moment."

  Angee flushed with embarrassment and looked down at the plate. Stephanie had forgotten how young Angee and two other bards really were compared to her.

  "Don't worry about it, these clothes to fine after all I've worn these sorts of clothes for years now and the start of clothes you wear are cut differently and of a heavier material than I'm used to."

  A reassuring smile beamed at the three Bards.

  After they had finished eating they sat quietly Angee was feeling very comfortable and more than a little sleepy.

  Still, her mind was considering what to do about Stephanie she seemed to be adapting very well but there was still problems to address.

  One thing she had to bring up and was reluctant to was the, now what was the word Stephanie used?, ah yes, medication. Stephanie had been pretty upset about it when she first arrived. Angee had a good idea how she must of felt when she realised how little medication she had. Surely she must be getting extremely low and what would happen when they ran out altogether?.

  None of the green bards she had talked to could offer any helpful suggestions to solve the problem. But now wasn't the time to bring it up, it was getting late now and time for bed. She stood up and stretched as she yawned, " I'm off to bed, I'll see you in the morning, goodnight."

  As she walked to the door she could hear the scraping of chairs and realised the others must be doing the same as she.

  It didn't take her long to snuggle down in her nice warm bed, she was asleep before she knew it.

  She was in the middle of some trees, but they didn't look like any tree she knew, where was she?.

  The air smelled stale to, something unnatural it seemed to her. This place was not one she knew.

  The trees stopped suddenly at a road, but a very strange road indeed. It wasn't dirt and it wasn't c
obbles either, it was some hard grey material. Kneeling down to examine it she could see that it wasn't smooth, well, not smooth like a paving stone anyway.

  A rushing sound seemed to be getting closer looking up at the sky she could see it was almost dawn. The rushing sound was turning into a roar, she looked where the sound was coming from and could see two balls all the fire coming along the road towards her.

  Stepping back to the safety of the trees she stood motionless as this great creature came nearer and nearer. It roared on by her, and was gone, someone touched on the shoulder and she awoke to find herself laying on her bed soaked through with sweat, Allia and Bria's concerned faces looking down at her.

  Over breakfast she recounted her strange dream to her two friends, it was a total puzzle.

  After breakfast Angee suggested they get in some sparring practice, the she was going to talk to Stephanie she would have to wait for her to get up as she did not get up as early as they did.

  Sparring against her two friends was really enjoyable. Once they got into it their feet hardly seemed to touch the ground.

  An hour later Angee fell they'd done enough for today.

  "We don't want to tire ourselves out so let's just keep in practice like this everyday."

  Besides Angee thought to herself I want to find Suse and have a few words with her.

  A wash and brush up didn't take her too long and she set off to find Suse.

  Twenty Seven

  They arrived at the temple which was a lot grander than any other Mol had seen. "We'll go in by a side entrance."

  Mol followed Jaynne to a small door halfway down one side of the temple.

  They walked through the door into a small white washed corridor, the door at the end of the corridor was locked and Jaynne produce a small key out her tunic pockets which made almost inaudible click as she unlocked it. They were in a larger corridor now this light the main temple was also underground and small torches burned along the walls the air had a slightly Smokey atmosphere.

  Mol followed Jaynne halfway down the corridor when she stopped at the door on the right, the door was heavily bound with metal bars securely fixed into the wood. This time Jaynne unlock the door while pressing will like a metal stud in one of the bars. The room was in darkness and she removed a torch from the corridor which gave off an eerie light when they entered the Armory.