by Lexy Wolfe
Storm considered Ash's words. "I am none of these things," she pointed out as they turned to continue towards the Majestic Hall.
Ash smiled inwardly and stated in tones that indicated he would not allow it to be otherwise, "You are my equal, Githalin Swordanzen. And my mother, the Knowing One, wishes you to be here." Storm looked sideways at him, eyebrow arched, but she returned to silence.
As they walked through the long halls of the Magus Academy, Ash was grateful that his Swordanzen companion did not speak Forentan. It was all he could do not to react to some of the derogatory comments directed towards the proud woman walking by his side. As they approached the entrance to the main hall, a cluster of junior masters looked over Storm with openly mocking derision.
"I still do not see why he did not leave the dog with the Dusvet Guardian," one stated blithely in Forentan. "Bringing one of them to stand with him is a mockery of the sanctity of the Academy." The others murmured their agreement, but would not look up to meet Ash's eyes. Boldly ignoring the Illaini Magus, the speaker met Storm's eyes, as if challenging her. Her own gaze was as steady and sharp as those of a bird of prey.
Ash abruptly stopped at the comment, turning a cold gaze on the trio. "Excuse me, Junior Master Zerik Oberlain," he interrupted icily, speaking in trade common for Storm's benefit. "Did you have something to say to me?"
Zerik's lips curled with the faintest of smirks, though he did not dare meet Ash's eyes. "Of course not, Illaini Magus. We were just discussing... pets." Keeping his words in Forenten, his insolent tones bordered insult. "Don't you agree, Illaini Magus, that wild animals make unsuitable pets? They are much more suited for... entertainment?"
Clenching his fist, Ash was about to snap back when he felt a slender, gloved hand on his wrist. "Ash."
Storm's atypical calmness distracted his fury. He looked at the Desanti woman, the rage he felt reflected in his eyes. "Why do you stop me?" he demanded under his breath. "They disrespect Dusvet Guardian Almek with their words. They disrespect you."
"Their words? Their words are the spineless chatter of old women, backed by arrogance they are too weak to act on. Their words are a meaningless waste of air. Why let their words bother you?" Storm replied, her voice quiet, but not so quiet that the trio could not clearly understand her. "You are their Illaini Magus. They are beneath your notice." If Storm took notice of the three junior mages' reactions to her casual dismissal of their self-imagined importance, their hatred of her, she did not show it outwardly.
"As their Illaini Magus, it is my responsibility to ensure they do not bring shame to our people." Storm's words only blunted the immediacy of Ash's intended reaction; he fixed his azure gaze on the trio. "Their disrespect towards you, and by extension me, is obviously evidence of the darkling's continued taint." Two of the mages looked away, Zerik Oberlain averting his gaze from Ash to level it on Storm darkly.
Storm shrugged, waving a casually dismissive hand towards Zerik. "They are as meaningless to me as their words." Ash looked down at her when she put her hand on his upper arm. "Today is an honored ceremony for your people, Illaini Magus Ash Andar. To give the education cowards such as they deserve right now would only extend the darkling's taint of continuing the lack of respect that seems so prevalent." Holding his gaze, she said quietly, "I do not wish to be the cause of such dishonor."
Gritting his teeth, Ash finally straightened, nodding once. "You are right, of course, Githalin Swordanzen Storm il'Thandar." He leveled a cold look on the three, none of whom would meet his gaze. "I will deal with this matter later. You should join the others on the first terrace. You do not belong on this level." Straightening, Ash squared his shoulders and strode into the main chamber.
Storm hung back, allowing Ash to precede her. When he was out of earshot, she turned to level her predator-like stare on Zerik Oberlain. "Do not think because I am ignorant of the words themselves, I do not hear the meaning beneath them, defiler. Next time our paths cross, I may not stay my hand from your insults." She took a step nearer, the three Forenten taking a step back reflexively. "But know this. I will not stay his hand again, either."
"Are you threatening me, savage? What do you think a magicless animal like you could do to me?" Zerik sneered at her.
Storm bared her teeth in a mirthless smile, dropping her hand to her sword hilt. "I could cut you open and let you watch your insides pour out as you die, defiler. I do not think you can speak faster than I can move, and I know you cannot think faster." Zerik's two companions paled, both taking another step away from the shorter but no less menacing woman. Pointedly, she stated, "I have faced your forbidden magicks and survived them. What could any of you possibly do to me when that failed?"
Scowling darkly at the Desanti woman, Zerik hissed, "When I am named to the Edai Tredecima, I will see to it that all of your filth is wiped off the face of the Sundered Lands."
"I would like to see you try," Storm stated tonelessly, merely resting her hand lightly on her sword hilt.
"Storm!" Having noticed that Storm had fallen behind, Ash had turned back. He stopped several paces away, fists clenched and glowering. Storm turned away from the three immediately and rejoined him. Zerik's companions quickly grabbed him by the arms to urge him away. Ash's azure eyes scanned the Swordanzen, as if searching for any hint of harm, a reason to return to the three they had left behind.
Offering only the barest of smiles, Storm shook her head to dismiss his worry. "I am fine."
"If you are certain," Ash finally said quietly. He turned and led Storm to the dais across from the half circle of elegantly carved chairs where the Edai Tredecima sat, the center chair empty save for a ceremonial gold and copper braided cord. Sound echoed from the ceiling of the massive chamber as throngs of people crowded the four stories of balconies that exposed the many corridors encircling the Majestic Hall. The noise was nearly overwhelming in volume.
Storm's smile faltered as her eyes fell on the floor. The hole left by her bloodied sword in the image of the tree had been mended. But the echo of its presence remained as a grey-black discoloration within the rich browns of the inlaid wood. "I do not like it here," she whispered so quietly, Ash almost did not realize she had spoken.
Ash looked at her with sympathy. "It will not be long," he murmured, though he stood nearer to her, giving wary glances to those around and above them. "Storm. I have something for you." He reached into his pocket and took out a small, crystal pendant on a gold chain. Solemnly, he carefully draped it around her neck.
"What is this?" When the pendant settled to rest over her heart, her eyes flew open in shocked surprise, looking around the enormous chamber. "I can understand their words!" Turning towards him, she asked, "This lets me understand your tongue?"
Allowing his thumb to touch her jaw lightly, Ash's heart warmed at the innocent wonder and immense gratitude in her expression. "It will, yes. I remember," he added softly, "what it felt like to be the ignorant outsider. I wish to spare you as much of that as possible." Her cheeks colored slightly as she looked down. Ash could not help but smile at her rarely seen shyness.
An awe-filled hush fell over the room as two young men carried out an ornate box of deep red-brown wood with inset gold and silver designs. Carefully, they rested it on the dais in front of the empty center chair. The upper section of the box was lifted with reverence, revealing a smooth, opalescent stone the size of a man's torso resting on rich indigo velvet fabric. A dull light glowed from the heart of the stone, pulsing slowly like a heartbeat. The noise died into silence as awe filled the crowd.
Ellis rose from his seat to the right of the empty one, wearing robes that matched the material the stone rested on, leaning on an elegantly carved ivory cane. Dressed much like the other eleven members of the Edai Tredecima, only the elaborate silver cord draped around his neck denoted Ellis's position as the council's second. The moment he stood, silence fell over the chamber before he even chimed the ancient bronze bell.
"Children of the Goddess of K
nowledge." Ellis's words carried to the highest balconies, his voice strong and clear despite his advanced years. "We come together in the wake of a great tragedy. A tragedy that, perhaps, we brought onto ourselves." He scanned the hundreds of faces that stared at him, as if fixing each man, woman and child with an implacable look. "For how else could a darkling have dared to walk among us, to hold such influence and sway over us, than because we allowed our pride to blind us to the evil among us?
"The Goddess commands us to learn about the world. Not only so we understand the world around us, but so we can bring understanding to others. So we can be the wisdom that guides all to fulfill their places in the world effectively, thus allowing all to flourish."
Taking a step forward, he shook an impotent fist, his voice harsh. "But in our arrogance, we turned from the benevolent and kind leaders the world would seek out to tyrannical and despised oppressors who are feared, mocked, or even killed. For too long...! We have turned our backs on our Goddess, believing we had outgrown Her and no longer needed our Great Mother's guidance.
"Many claim She had turned Her back on us. But this is not so! It is we who turned our backs on Her!" Intently, he stated, "She knew we would never learn how much we needed Her unless we learned for ourselves. She loved us so much, She allowed us to walk alone, to find our own way as we thought we were ready for. But as any adult child knows, we never outgrow our need for our Mother, just as our Mother will always need us.
"Now, it is time we ask Her forgiveness for our pride and naiveté, and beg for Her wisdom to set our feet back on the road of wisdom and out of the muck we had allowed ourselves to settle for." Looking down, Ellis said sadly, "It has been nearly fifty years since we have heard Her speak to us through the Oracle Stone. Before we can seek to heal our land, heal the broken Edai Tredecima, we must first find Her Voice."
All eyes turned to a side passage where the youngest students of the academy filed out to stand before Ellis and the gleaming stone in a half circle. The murmur of surprise that children, not masters, were to be presented to the Oracle Stone changed to growing excitement when the glow in the heart of the opalescent stone cast a soft circle of illumination around itself.
Storm frowned, glancing around, then back to the stone. "Why is everyone so excited?"
Knowing a childhood of being raised by divine beings made the visible evidence of a god's presence less than awe worthy to the Swordanzen woman, Ash could not help but smile a little. The tension across his shoulders eased at the sight of the glow. "It means that the new Voice of the Oracle is among the children who are being presented to Her. She told me the new Voice exists, but not who." Looking mildly bewildered still, Storm only nodded, going silent again to watch. He reached out to squeeze her arm reassuringly, sensing her growing effort to keep from fidgeting.
One by one, each boy and girl stepped forward to touch the gleaming surface. Each time, the stone darkened in unequivocal denial of the uncertain, sometimes fearful touches. Finally, a bright eyed girl stepped forward boldly. Instead of approaching the stone, she looked towards Ellis. "Hello, Master Ellis!"
Eyes crinkling in amusement, Ellis inclined his head in greeting. "Zoe." He waved a hand. "My dear student, it is not polite to make Her wait."
Quiet laughter rippled through the audience as Zoe grinned cheekily before turning to the Oracle Stone. "Hello, Goddess. I'm Zoe. I'm pleased to meet you, finally." And with that, she put her hand on the face of the stone firmly.
The glow started swelling even before Zoe's palm touched the opalescent surface. Without warning, the Oracle Stone seemed to explode with the brilliance of the sun itself, the girl's surprised cry of pain was drowned out by the shocked cries of those who were momentarily blinded. Reflexively, Ash turned his back and stepped in front of Storm protectively. As the light subsided, all but the Illaini and Githalin were left dazed and confused.
Ignoring all dictates of ceremony, Ellis dropped his cane and knelt by the girl in concern to help her to her feet. "Zoe, child, are you all right?"
Clinging to Ellis's hands, Zoe looked up dazedly as she stood. Lines of gold and copper that echoed the designs on the Stone's box curled around her face and throat and down to the backs of her hands and tops of her bare feet. When she finally spoke, it was with the eerie quality of two voices in one. "We are fine, Se'edai Magus Ellis Avarian. My new Voice is strong, but young."
Ash's jaw dropped, as did many others as the title she addressed Ellis with registered. The silence turned to a multitude of whispers as the shock and amazement spread among the observers. "Ellis?" he whispered.
Ellis blinked. "Me? Great Mother, you want me as your... Se'edai?" He shook his head weakly. "But, Goddess, I am so near the end of my life," he protested weakly, unable to rise from shock. "And there is so much to be done... I would die long before I am even halfway done! Surely there must be another—"
Zoe offered a maternal smile far older than her mere ten years. "My child, do you think I am not aware of your mortality? Or that I cannot ask a boon of the Ancient Triad?" He gasped as the girl put her hands on the old man's cheeks. The Oracle Stone glowed brightly, though not as hotly. The years seemed to fall away from the man like the autumn leaves on the trees. "You are My choice, Ellis Avarian. Now you have the time to serve Me."
The man who staggered to his feet was no longer stooped with age, but a man who appeared to be barely in his thirties. When he turned to look at Ash, it was almost as if they regarded themselves in a mirror. As people noticed the undeniable resemblance, silence fell over the great hall. Ash could feel Storm's stare, but could not turn away from Ellis.
Zoe smiled between the two men, the goddess's voice ringing clearly. "It is time to right the many wrongs that threaten the sanctity of Our land." She stood straight and looked towards those staring down from the balconies. "Our beloved Illaini suffered a lifetime at the mercy of the ill-conceived bigotry that birth equals birthright. While birth may hint at potential greatness, it was never Our intention for birth and political alliances to determine worth. What seemed harmless enough at the time has turned into a poisonous, divisive attitude I will no longer tolerate."
The girl walked towards Ash, taking his hand in hers. When he realized the goddess's intention, it was too late to stop her. "Let all recognize from this day onward that Our Illaini Magus, born in the lost village of Andar, son of Rowen and Gabrielle Avarian, is the grandson of Se'edai Magus Ellis's twin brother Bennu Avarian." More quietly, she said, "And still My son."
A deafening silence fell upon the Majestic Hall. After the words were spoken, Ash glanced around at the eyes that stared at him. He dismissed the wonder and sudden respect for him based on his newfound status as highborn. His attention was for Storm, who stared at him with a look of shock and betrayal. She drew back when he reached out towards her. "Storm," he said, quiet urgency in his voice. "Storm, please.
"You knew." He flinched at the bitter accusation in her voice. "You who spoke of having been without a tribe. Without a family. I can see in your eyes. You knew. You knew you had family!" Her voice dropped to a furious hiss. "You mocked me, saying you understood, that we were alike. There is nothing the same between us!" Grabbing the pendant that allowed her to understand Forentan, she ripped it from her neck and flung it at his feet, smashing it into tiny pieces. "You defilers speak nothing but deception and manipulation."
Ash flinched inwardly at the sharpness of her words, feeling a twinge of guilt at the secret he had kept from her. "Does it matter, Storm?" He kept his hand extended towards her. "I am still the same man I was when I walked in here. None of that has changed."
"I do not know who that man is now," Storm seethed. "I trusted you! I believed you, and you lied to me about being Cursed." She shoved him back when he tried to step near to her. "Nothing has changed? Are there more lies? More deceptions? Is there any truth in this sun-forsaken land? What else have you lied to me about? What else?! That you give a damn about the people I live to protect?"
Eyes bright with emotion, the Swordanzen hissed for his ears alone, "Is it some game to you? Does it amuse you that I trusted you to believe all you said was truth?! I was a fool to believe you were different than those who ripped the life out of Desantiva and left us to die." Seething, she spat an inarticulate epithet and turned her back on him, arms crossed.
"Storm," Ash began, not knowing how to begin to mend this unexpected rift between them. The essence of the contempt in turning her back on him was not lost on the Illaini Magus. Only the most contemptuous enemy would not even be given the token respect of being faced directly. He opened his mouth to speak again when Zoe's voice brought silence to the hall.
"Githalin Swordanzen Storm il'Thandar." The goddess fixed her gaze on the desert woman. When the Desanti met her eyes, Zoe spoke briefly in the Desanti woman's native tongue. The murmur of confusion was drowned as the Desanti woman answered. Storm's eyes had gone wide, then darkened as she responded, her gestures sharp and decidedly negating. Zoe merely stood unmoved, watching Storm calmly through the string of sharp words and threatening motions.
Ash looked between Zoe and Storm, frowning. Zoe enunciated her words very precisely. The Desanti woman pressed her lips together, back stiff, looking away. When Ash tried to touch Storm in reassuring concern, she half raised her hand warningly, but refrained from striking him when he lowered his hand again without touching her.
Zoe regarded the bewildered Forenten in the Hall. "Se'edai Magus Ellis knows the truth. Change does not come easy to my children. It will take many, many years to put Forenta back on the path where we are once more respected for our knowledge, sought for our wisdom. Many more years than he had left to him. With the blessing of the Timeless One, he has been given the years he will need to restore Forenta's balance."
The Edai Magus seated to the left of the empty seat rose, preparing to move to Ellis's now vacated seat. But before she could move more than a step, Zoe moved to block her. "The remaining seat, the seat of the Tredecima's second, will remain empty until a true master stands before Me. One who serves Forenta selflessly before the pettiness that has befallen My children. A mage true to the teachings and to Forenta. A mage that Se'edai Ellis can trust." She regarded several of the remaining Edai Magi with a hard look. "I chose none of you to sit here. Remain worthy, else I will empty all of the seats Myself." She turned towards the Oracle Stone, walking with slow purpose.