But Aislin was frozen. Her tears had dried up on the way here, and she’d realized that she’d made a terrible mistake. “No. I want to go home.”
“Fine,” Netra said, a little irritation creeping into her voice. “But first you’re going to tell Liv to her face.” She turned to a servant waiting nearby. “Can you fetch the princess, please?” The man bowed and ran off.
“No, Mama!” Aislin cried. But it was too late. The servant was already gone. “Why did you do that?” she wailed.
“I’m sorry, Aislin, but if you’re going to cancel your plans, you’re going to have to do it face to face.”
“I won’t.” Aislin buried herself in the carriage cushions. Maybe Liv would get the message and go away.
All too soon she heard Liv’s voice telling Netra good morning. Then footsteps as Liv came over to the carriage.
“You’re here!” she cried. “Ooh, I’ve been so excited! I swear I didn’t sleep the whole night. What are you doing? Is this hide and seek? Can I play too?” The carriage shifted as she climbed in and got under one of the cushions. A moment later she said, “But who’s looking for us? Who are we hiding from?” She sat up. “You know what we should do?”
Aislin stayed hidden and didn’t reply. Then the cushion she’d put over her head lifted and there was Liv, leaning in close.
“We should play hide and seek down in the old dungeons underneath the palace. Wouldn’t that be better? It’s dark and scary down there.” She shivered as she said it.
Aislin sat up, her curiosity getting the better of her. “There’s dungeons under the palace?”
“Of course there are,” Liv said casually, as if it were the most normal thing in the world. “What kind of palace doesn’t have a dungeon? Daddy doesn’t use them, but they’re still pretty scary.”
“I’ve never seen a dungeon.”
“Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s go!” Liv jumped out of the carriage and bounded toward the palace. She stopped at the top of the steps and turned back. Aislin was still standing in the door of the carriage uncertainly. “Come on!” Liv yelled and waved.
Aislin looked at her mother, but her mother looked away. “I guess I came all this way,” Aislin said under her breath. “I might as well see.” She climbed down out of the carriage and walked slowly up the steps.
“Later we can go to the fish pond,” Liv said breathlessly, when Aislin caught up to her. A servant opened the palace door and the two girls passed through. “But I can’t go swimming this time or I’m really in trouble. Even Daddy said so and I think he means it. Maybe you can go swimming though. Mommy didn’t say anything about that. I bet it would be okay for you to go. I could watch, even if it will make me feel sad because I can’t swim too. But if you have fun I’m sure I’ll have fun too. I’m so glad you’re here!” So saying she leaned into Aislin, put one arm around her and squeezed her tight. “We’re going to be just like sisters,” she whispered.
Aislin was finding it hard to keep up with the flood of words, and the whirl of emotions she was feeling dizzied her. A few minutes ago she’d been convinced this was all a mistake, that Liv was only pretending to be her friend. Now she didn’t know what to think. It was all very confusing.
She followed Liv through the palace in a daze. It was hard to believe she was here. Had she made a terrible mistake? She looked at the people they passed suspiciously, waiting for one of them to tease her or tell her to leave. But none of them did. They bowed or curtsied to Liv and smiled and nodded at her. None of them bothered her at all.
Was it possible she’d been wrong about Liv?
Aislin didn’t like the dungeons much. They were too small and too dark. She looked at the chains hanging from the wall in one of the cells and tried to imagine what it would be like to be locked down here, but she couldn’t. It seemed too awful. She would go crazy. Liv made ghost noises and rattled the chains. The sound made Aislin’s skin crawl. Then Liv set the lantern down on the floor.
“Watch this,” she said. “Look how big my shadow gets.” She stood so the lantern cast her shadow huge on the wall. Then she held her arms up and made her hands into claws. “All fear me!” she said in a spooky voice. She jumped up and down and made her shadow do a crazy dance.
Aislin was glad when they left and went back outside. She nodded when Liv asked her if she wanted to go to the fish pond. Once there she sat on the edge and put her feet in the water. It made her feel better right away. Liv pulled off her shoes and joined her.
“I can’t stop thinking about what you did last night,” Liv said, “when you called the fish. How did you do that?”
Aislin considered this for a minute. She’d never really thought about how she did it. It was simply something that came naturally. “I don’t know,” she admitted finally. “It’s something I’ve always been able to do. It’s like talking. I just do it.”
“Can you teach me how to do it?”
Aislin shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe. Probably not,” she amended quickly. “Treylen says hardly anyone can do what I do.”
“Who’s Treylen?”
“He’s an old man who lives down by the sea. We lived with him for a while when we first got here.”
“I’d love to go down to the sea with you someday,” Liv said, her eyes shining. “I’ve never been.”
“Not once?” The idea sounded horrifying to Aislin.
“Not a single time. I can see it from on top of the wall, but that’s the closest I’ve ever been. What else can you do? I mean, besides calling fish, which is pretty neat really.”
Aislin looked around, making sure no one else was nearby. In a low voice she said, “I can control the water.”
Liv’s eyes got big. “Really?”
Aislin nodded.
“Show me. You have to show me,” Liv said excitedly.
Aislin put out her hand and moved it side to side. A small wave appeared and rolled across the pond. Liv jumped to her feet.
“That was incredible!” she yelled.
“Not so loud,” Aislin said, letting go of the water. The wave disappeared. “I don’t want anyone to know.”
Liv sat back down. “Why not? If I could do that, I’d tell everybody.”
Aislin got very quiet and refused to answer. Liv took her hand. “What’s wrong? What did I do? I’m sorry. Don’t be mad, Aislin. I didn’t mean it.”
After a minute, Aislin grudgingly said, “It’s okay.”
“Is it something you’re trying to keep a secret? Because if it is, I won’t tell anybody.”
“That’s not it.” Aislin hesitated, afraid to tell the other girl, but at the same time needing to for some reason that she didn’t understand. “They tease me,” she said in a very low voice. “They stare at me. Some of them are afraid of me.”
“No. That’s terrible,” Liv said, leaning against her. “I’d never do that. I promise. And if I hear someone else do it, well, I’ll sock them right in the nose.”
She mimed throwing a punch, which for some reason made Aislin giggle a little. That made Liv laugh too, and she jumped up and started throwing wild punches in every direction. Aislin put her hand over her mouth, laughing, her friend looked so silly.
Liv sat back down, breathing a little hard from the exertion. “Maybe we can go down to the sea one day and you can show me more. Maybe you can even teach me how to swim. Do you think you could?”
“Of course,” Aislin said. And why not? What was easier than swimming?
“Until then I won’t say anything more about what you can do. Not a whisper. It’ll be our little secret. Do you want to go look at the sea? I know where we can get up on the wall and look down on it. Come on.”
Without waiting for an answer, Liv jumped up and hurried off. Aislin hesitated. The pond was nice. But the desire to look at the sea was stronger, and after a moment she took off after the other girl.
The wall on top of the cliffs was only about six feet high. There were some crates stacked up against it, an
d Liv rearranged them so the girls could get up on top of the wall.
“It’s so beautiful,” Liv said, sitting down on top of the wall.
Aislin peered over the edge warily. She knew the cliffs were high, but she’d never realized how high they were before. Not really. It was an awfully long way down, even for a bird, and she was not a bird. She decided to stay well back from the edge.
“I feel like I can see forever up here,” Liv said. “Isn’t it great?”
Aislin discovered that if she looked out to sea instead of down the cliff it wasn’t nearly so scary. Liv was right. She could see a long ways. The sea spread out before them to the horizon, waves gently rolling across its blue-green face. Gulls were visible as white dots, along with the larger pelicans. She could see a pod of dolphins playing near the surface.
After looking for a bit, she located Treylen’s cottage and pointed it out to Liv. “That’s where my friend lives. You can’t see him right now, though.”
“I wish so much we could go down there right now,” Liv said. “But my mom will never agree to it, and I can’t even get my dad to either. I guess I’ll have to keep trying. Maybe if they know I’m with you it will make them feel better.” She dangled her feet over the edge and sighed.
“What are you doing up here?”
The girls looked up and saw Brecken. He was on top of the wall, walking toward them, holding his arms out to either side for balance.
“You know Mom would flip if she saw you up here,” he added as he came up to them.
“Yeah? Well, you’re not supposed to be up here either,” Liv told him.
“She wouldn’t care. I’m practically grown up. I can do what I want.” He crossed his arms and stared down at his sister. His sandy hair had fallen down over his eyes and he shook his head to flip it back. His eyes were a startling blue color that Aislin had never seen before, like the sky before a storm. She stared at them, for some reason unable to look away.
“You’re only fourteen. You’re not that grown up,” Liv retorted. “You’d be in just as much trouble as I would. Besides, you’re standing and we’re only sitting. We’re much safer.”
Brecken’s blue eyes shifted to Aislin. “I see you have your little friend visiting again.”
Aislin wanted to protest. She didn’t like being called little, even if she was. But with him staring at her like that she was having trouble getting the words out. She felt her face get hot and looked away.
“She has a name, you know,” Liv said. “It’s Aislin and you better be nice to her.”
“Aislin.” Brecken said the name slowly, as if it had some deep meaning he was trying to understand. Aislin liked the way he said her name. “I never heard that name before.”
“That’s because there’s no one like her. She’s special.” Liv turned to Aislin. “This is my brother Brecken. He’s a butt most of the time.”
For some reason that made Aislin giggle a little. That started Liv giggling too. Soon both girls were giggling. Brecken shook his head in disgust. “Unbelievable,” he said, and stalked off back the way he’d come, still walking on top of the wall.
╬ ╬ ╬
After that first day the girls got together for several days in a row. They explored the palace and the castle grounds. They played games that Liv dreamed up. It was all very new and exciting for Aislin. It was frightening too, though she wasn’t sure why.
Then one day Aislin knew she had to go back down to the sea again. She’d been too long away. She asked Liv if she wanted to go too, but Liv’s mother didn’t even let her finish the question before saying no, so the next day Aislin went alone.
Randel was waiting for her by the front gates of the estate the next morning. He had a flask of water and a satchel bulging with food. He’d learned early on that it was best to be prepared when he went down to the sea with Aislin. It was almost always a day-long affair.
“So I heard you made a friend,” he said after they passed through the city gates and were following the path that led down to the beach.
“I don’t know,” Aislin said, uncomfortable talking about it. “Maybe.”
“Maybe? What does that mean?”
“It means I don’t know. She’s all right, I guess.”
“You guess?”
“Stop talking about it already,” Aislin said. “You talk too much sometimes.”
Randel laughed. Even when Aislin got angry at him, he hardly ever took it personally. In the years he’d been escorting her around he’d learned a lot about how she was. “I’ve been told I do,” he admitted. “You don’t want to talk about your friend, I’m okay with that. You want to talk about something else?”
“No. I’m in a hurry to get to the sea.”
“Does that mean you want to race? I want to race. I think I can beat you this time.”
Instead of answering, Aislin took off running. He caught up to her pretty quickly, but he didn’t pass her. Instead he made lots of huffing and panting sounds, sounding like he was dying. Aislin knew he was pretending, the same as she knew he was pretending he couldn’t run any faster. It was what he always did when they raced.
When they got to the beach, Randel collapsed on the sand, groaning. Then he pounded on the ground in mock anger. “Why won’t you let me win at least once? Why?”
Aislin left him there and ran into the sea. It felt good to be back in the water again, and for a while she lost herself in it, savoring the feeling of returning home, the feeling of safety and completion. But all too soon she began to feel restless. She found herself missing Liv’s incessant chatter, the silly things she said, the way she threw her head back when she laughed.
Aislin swam back to shore. Treylen was sitting under his favorite tree. Randel was down the beach a way, poking at something on the sand. She flopped down beside Treylen and looked up at the top of the cliffs, hoping to see Liv sitting up there on the wall, looking down at her. She kind of thought she saw Liv, but she couldn’t be sure. It was awfully far away.
“Something’s not right,” she told Treylen. “Something’s missing.”
“Your shoes?” he said, gesturing at her bare feet.
She made an irritated noise. “You know I never wear shoes unless I have to.”
“Is it something inside you then?” he asked.
She thought about it for a moment. “Yeah, I guess so.”
“Like an emptiness?”
She looked at him briefly, surprised. “How did you know?”
Treylen scratched the top of his head before answering. He was mostly bald. He only had a fringe of hair left and it was pure white. “What you’re feeling is called loneliness.”
“No,” Aislin said firmly. “I don’t get lonely.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. I’m positive.”
Treylen had this little smile on his face. Aislin knew that smile exactly. It was the smile he got when he was right about something, and she knew he was right, but she didn’t want to admit it. She didn’t like that smile. Mostly because she hated being wrong.
“Quit it,” she said irritably.
“Loneliness is when you feel sad because you miss someone you care about. There’s nothing wrong with that.”
Aislin shook her head. “She’s only a friend. I don’t really care about her.”
“Really?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. His eyebrows were very bushy.
“You’re doing it still,” she told him crossly. “Stop smiling like that.”
He put on a stern face. “Is this better?”
“No. Now I think you’re making fun of me.”
He looked out to sea. “It’s okay to care about your friend, Aislin.”
Aislin got up and walked down the beach for a while. It didn’t make her feel any better. When she came back Treylen was still there. He had his eyes closed.
“I don’t like it. It’s scary.” She frowned. “That doesn’t make any sense. There’s nothing to be scared about.” She waited for a minute
, and when he didn’t respond she added, “Is there?”
“When those two men chased you, were you scared?” he asked.
“No. Not really.”
“That day when the drunken man came down on the beach and started waving his sword around, were you scared then?”
“No.”
“People don’t scare you.” Treylen still had his eyes closed.
“No.”
“But your friend does.”
“No. No, she doesn’t.”
“You just said she did.”
“Okay, you made your point!” she snapped. “You’re making me mad now.”
“It’s scary to love someone,” he said, opening his eyes and looking at her.
“But why?”
“Because then so many things can go wrong. And if they do, you’ll get hurt.”
Aislin stood up. “Sometimes I think you’re just a crazy old man.”
He nodded. “Sometimes I do too.”
“Why do you have to make things so confusing?”
“It’s how life is,” he said with a sad smile.
“Does it get better when you grow up?”
“Not really.”
“You’re not making me feel better, you know.”
“I know. Why don't you have your friend come down to the sea with you?”
“She can’t. Her mother won’t let her.”
“She’s afraid something bad will happen to her daughter, who she loves very much.”
“So I have to be lonely because she’s scared?”
“It looks like it. For now anyway. At least you still have me. And Randel.”
“It’s not the same.”
“Don’t tell Randel that. You don’t want to hurt his feelings.”
“What about your feelings?” Aislin asked.
“I’m like you. I don’t have any.” But when he said it he had that little smile Aislin found so irritating.
Then his expression grew more serious. “Have you given thought to practicing with Seaforce some more?”
Treylen had first told Aislin about Seaforce a few months before. Seaforce was what Treylen called the raw power that resided in the sea. It was what Aislin used to control the water and create creatures within it. Treylen had been trying ever since to get Aislin to agree to learn more about it, but she’d been resisting.
Sea Born (Chaos and Retribution Book 3) Page 5