Maria was everything she could hope for in a Second Mother: sharp wit, knowledgeable, inspiring, kind, and oh so gorgeous. She felt prettier just standing near her. And then there was Heather, positively delightful. She was curious about everything and had energy enough for all three of them. Heather all but orbited the elder pair as they walked through the meadow and approached the forest trail on the north end.
The trail quickly merged with a larger paved road that in short order brought them to the edge of town. A small but busy community, the streets were stone lined with little to no animal or cart traffic, but a great deal on foot. The buildings were tidily arranged next to each other, a pleasant mix of stone and timber frame. It seemed the intersection of every street had a fountain of its own with delightful stone displays of animals and fish spraying water. It took no small amount of work to keep Heather’s hands out of all of them.
Soon they arrived at a store specializing in fitted dresses. They spent well over an hour having Dawn trying on a variety of dresses and skirts while the owners carefully marked them where alternations needed to be made. Almost all of them needed some manner of work. At fourteen, her figure was really starting to blossom and she took some pride in the more flattering figure the new outfits provided. With two outfits in hand and half a dozen more to be altered over the next few days, they paid for the wares and made their way back out to the street.
This time they made no effort to stop Heather from playing with the fountain. An hour is a long time for a three-year-old to patiently wait in a store and the distraction suited them all well. Dawn watched Heather while Maria snuck to a nearby store and returned with a handful of kabobs.
As they sat there eating, Dawn saw the most striking young girl she had ever seen go walking down the street. At first she thought it was one of the twins from the house, but even a passing second glance proved otherwise. She was maybe a year or two older than Dawn but already had a striking and shapely figure. Her brilliant orange coat was adorned with two tone rosettes that added beautiful contrast to her already gorgeous shiny coat. Her hair was fiery red and long and straight down her back. The only hair Dawn had ever seen that was longer was Maria’s, and oh, how the hair flowed and bounced with her every movement. If Dawn had any color, she could feel it fading and running away. She suddenly felt even more drab and plain with her solid black coat than ever before. It just wasn’t fair! Adding to her despair was what graced the other girl’s right arm: a boy, about fifteen years or so, elegant in his every movement. He had silver-gray fur with fine black tics; he looked like a snow lynx and moved with such poise and finesse that she felt she had become clumsier just from watching.
“Wipe the drool off your chin, sunshine,” joked Maria.
“I’m sorry, Maria. That couple was just so perfect. If I didn’t feel bland before…”
“Exotic. Exotic is the word you are looking for dear. Why don’t you try and go talk to him? I’m sure he doesn’t bite.”
Dawn wasn’t worried about the boy biting. That girl! Oh she’d give anything to have a coat like that.
“No? Well okay. Let’s finish up and head to the bookstore.”
Dawn nodded and tried to smile. Books. She could deal with books.
A “quick” trip to the bookstore, turned into another hour unto itself. The store was easily four stories tall and filled to the brim with books both old and new. Dawn tried to limit herself to two books, but as the hour wound to a close she found herself with closer to ten. Maria laughed as she glanced through the selection, confirming that none were in the library at home. Dawn sat flustered as she tried to pare down her mountain of books while Maria addressed the owner to determine their prices.
“Oh, these are for Dawn are they?” asked the owner.
“Yes,” replied Maria, more than a little curious how the owner already knew Dawn’s name.
“Llewellyn was by here earlier this morning and arranged for a quite sizable retainer in her name,” she continued. “Those books will hardly put a dent in it.”
Dawn and Maria looked at each other slightly shocked and then laughed. “He is a sneaky one at times,” laughed Maria. “Here, if you can carry them, then you can get them. I’m doing good for myself.”
Dawn beamed as she piled the books on the counter and in short work she had two piles neatly bound in twine for ease of carrying. A quick prod woke the sleeping Heather from her impromptu nap and the three headed out once more.
“So, did you talk to the boy in the bookstore?” teased Maria.
Dawn was confused, “What boy?”
“The boy you saw on the street. He cut in there for a little bit. I could have sworn he was eying you over.”
“That’s not funny, ma’am.”
“I wasn’t joking, and for that matter, I would never joke about something like that to you.”
Dawn forced a smile as they hit the streets again. Something caught her eye towards the end of a side street. As she craned her neck trying to see, Maria took the initiative and led them down the street for a proper view. There at the end of the street, as it gave way to a small clearing under the tall fir trees, stood Llewellyn and a large group of older boys. They all had donned light armor and helmets and stood with well-worn hardwood practice swords in hand as they practiced basic forms. Dawn watched intently. She had never seen anything like it before. There were starships in orbit overhead, and here, basic swordsmanship was the order of the day. Suddenly she thought back to her brief encounter with Llewellyn’s Live Steel sword. It was no ordinary blade that could cut a rifle in half on the long axis. It was all so different than she was used to.
They watched for a while as the group practiced basic drills and then practiced at a slower pace against each other. The drills gave way to one-on-one bouts with Llewellyn. Unsurprisingly, none fared well against him, but he made a point of stressing both what the boys had done right as well as the obvious wrong. Until that one particular boy took his place against Llewellyn.
He was probably no more than fifteen years old but doing quite well for his age. Dawn could just make out his coloring underneath all the protective armor. It was the same boy she had seen on the street with that equally striking young girl. The same silver-gray with fine black tics, she had seen before. He looked like a snow lynx and moved with the grace of one on the prowl. Dawn watched as he smoothly parried an attack from Llewellyn. As Dawn continued to admire the boy’s speed and grace, he turned his head in her direction. Suddenly their eyes met and he froze, staring at her intently. A sharp blow to the top of his head quickly reminded him that the sword play was not yet over, and the boy grimaced as he turned and faced his teacher. Llewellyn half laughed as he politely admonished the boy for becoming distracted.
Dawn grimaced and held her head sympathetically. Even with the padding that certainly had to smart! Now she had done it. She had gone all day without anyone once making a comment about her bland, bland fur and now her freakish display had gotten a boy hurt.
Maria laughed, “It seems you caught that boy’s eye.”
Dawn didn’t share the humor, “I guess I kinda freaked him out… I’m not very normal looking after all.”
Maria cocked an eye at her, “Do you have three heads or horns? No, you don’t! You look like a fine young lady!”
“Maria, you are gorgeous! Like fresh snow. And I’m just…well…”
“You have beautiful blue eyes and an exotic flowing black coat. Mysterious like the night, but a ray of sunshine during the day,” Maria countered.
Dawn nodded and tried to accept the compliment, but it seemed thin to her.
“Looks like we made a day of it,” said Maria, changing the subject. “Shall we head back home?”
“Yes, please,” Dawn brightened slightly, “I’ve a mountain of books to read.”
Chapter 4
“Dawn, get up,” called Maria. “Breakfast is waiting and we need to head into town right quick.”
Dawn growled to herself as she c
limbed out of bed. Town again? They just went yesterday, what was this all about? No way of finding out up here, so she quickly hopped out of bed and made her way to the bathroom. As she brushed her teeth, she glared at the drab girl she saw in the mirror. What a plain and dull coat, and drab hair to match. Oh, how she wished she had a pretty coat, like the girl she saw in town, heck, even just a coat like Ivy would be nice. But no, there she was, plain and drab. Her only comfort was no one was heckling her about her wings. Yet. How long could she keep them secret? Oh! But she had to go and try her wings out. What a mess! Argh! Well at least she had a new dress. Fights with the mirror over, she put on a smile as best she could and made her way downstairs.
Maria was by the stove while Heather was already sitting at the table and was enthusiastically devouring her breakfast. Dawn tried to smile at the little girl’s antics, but just didn’t seem to have the energy. Maria took one look at her and frowned, “Did you not sleep well last night? You look like someone combed your fur backwards.”
“I’ll be alright Maria. I was… I was thinking about things and that can be a bit…”
“Sad,” nodded Maria. “I’m sorry, dear. I understand; things will take time.” She gave Dawn a warm hug and looked her square in the eyes, “If you ever need to talk, you know where to find me.”
“Yes, Maria,” replied Dawn with a feeble smile. “Thank you for trying.”
“You are welcome,” replied Maria with a warm smile. “By the way, your new dress looks quite becoming on you.”
Dawn gave the dress a quick twirl and smiled, “They do very good work. So much different than buying things made by machine.”
“An honest craft pays in honest results.”
Dawn giggled, “Sorry, I kinda get the meaning. It just sounds a little funny.”
“That’s okay, now eat up before it gets cold.”
Dawn nodded and sat at the table across from Heather and finally succumbed to the younger child’s charms and smiled back. The smile felt good in spite of her self-imposed blue funk and it did make breakfast taste better, too. “Why are we going back into town? We were just there yesterday,” Dawn finally asked.
“We need to head to the citadel; one of the gates is not working.”
Dawn cocked her head confused, “Um? Gates?”
Maria wrinkled her nose, “How much do you know of the story of Aurora?”
“You mean the legends of Aurora? The first solid white Taik? Um, the bedtime versions, I guess.”
Maria laughed, “I’d say ‘history’ rather than ‘legend,’ but that is for another day.” Maria sat at the table with the two younger girls. “Aurora was able to open one of the portals, gates as it were. These gates connect the other regions together and permit people and goods to cover long distances just by walking through their thresholds.”
“The humans described them as a stable wormhole or something. I know they were all very curious about them for a whole lot of technical reasons,” Dawn rolled her eyes, “that I never really paid attention to even though I probably should have.”
Maria laughed, “Don’t worry, there won’t be a quiz! I was never much for physics myself either. Anyway, Aurora was able to reopen a closed gate. They don’t know entirely how, but it is a simple fact that she did. That is the important part.”
Dawn was getting confused how all this was important but nodded politely as she tried to follow it all.
“To this day, when a gate starts to become unstable, closing down on its own, Aurorans have always been able to help re-align the gates. I am one of the only adult Aurorans in the village area, so they have asked if I can come down and try to help fix a gate.”
“How?” Dawn was genuinely curious now. “Is there some button you press that others just can’t see?”
Maria smiled. “It’s hard to explain; I’ve only done it twice before. It is very odd feeling. Like the gate is growling at me. Do you understand Father, er, Llewellyn when he growls?”
“You mean the voice that rattles around inside your head, but your ears don’t hear it? That is really weird.”
Maria brightened immediately, “Good! I had hoped you could understand that. As a general rule, only Silvers and High Silvers can growl like that and, outside of themselves, only Aurorans can understand it. It makes my fur feel extra fuzzy that you can understand it too!”
“I’m not a black Auroran. That’s what the doctors said at least…”
Maria blew as raspberry, “Who cares what the doctors say. You are you, that is all that counts. So, are you ready to go?”
Dawn had finished her plate, well mostly. “I guess.”
“Come on, it’ll be fun,” grinned Maria. “On the way back we’ll see if they’ve gotten any of your other dresses done early.”
Dawn smiled, a little bit at least. It was fun getting new clothes, and they were very nice, “That sounds like a great plan.”
With the plates cleared and put away, Maria, Heather and Dawn were soon retracing their steps to the village across the alpine meadow. It was cooler this morning than last, but not quite so cold as to cause a shiver. Dawn silently wished her winter coat hadn’t already blown. Being on starships, it was hard to keep synchronized with the natural order of the home world. The air was fresh and clean and what the air lacked in warmth it made up for in taste and feel; it was wonderful. By the time they had finally made it to town, the fresh air and Heather’s incurable hyperactivity had all but completely erased the last shadows of the early morning grumps from Dawn.
“So the gates are at the citadel? Like the armored tower?” asked Dawn.
“They are in the barbican itself, but yes.” Maria quickly noticed the confused look on Dawn and elaborated, “Oh, barbican is just a fancy name for gatehouse. More or less.”
Dawn giggled, “Fancy the gates being in the gatehouse.”
They crossed to the far edge of town, up a well-traveled road and briefly into the woods before they came across the citadel, a massive stone structure soaring easily five stories overhead with towers in the corners, even higher yet. The entire structure was intricately carved with petroglyphs of bygone ages along with statues and bas-relief engravings covering every square inch of it.
“That is amazing! I’ve never seen anything like it,” remarked Dawn with a sense of awe. She approached the wall and reached out timidly, “Is it okay if I touch it?”
Maria laughed, “By all means. It has stood since the time of the ancients, I think it can survive you.”
Dawn ran her hand over the reliefs as she marveled at the craftsmanship and artistry involved. Everything was so smoothly cut and made perfect use of the natural grain of the stone. Dawn’s mind raced as she looked it over and over again, “Is this for real?”
“Yes, indeed. Why do you ask?”
“There are no seams. No seams anywhere.”
Maria’s eyes brightened. “You have very sharp eyes, Dawn, most people don’t catch that. Yes, indeed, the entire citadel is carved from a single piece of stone, natural to where it lies.” She paused as she wrangled Heather back over to them; the youngster had wandered a bit chasing an elusive butterfly. “We don’t know how they carved it, but they did a fantastic job. So, now that you’ve noticed that, what else is remarkable about it? Think hard, girl.”
Dawn looked over and over the structure from top to bottom, from its tall spires to its intricate filigree. “Um, it’s not weathered. There isn’t even bird poop on it.”
Maria laughed, “Excellent! Fascinating, isn’t it? Two thousand years old at the absolute minimum, most likely ten to twelve thousand years, and yet it looks like it was carved yesterday.”
Dawn was more than a little perplexed, “How is that possible?”
“How do the wormholes work?”
Dawn laughed, “I have no idea. None at all.”
Maria grinned back, “Same thing, no one has a good idea at all. There are twenty-three citadels like this across the Highlands and maybe fifty or so smaller ones.
And no one has a good idea how they work. If you get bored, maybe you can figure it out.”
Dawn laughed. “There have been people a lot smarter than me look into them, I’m sure.”
“Are you now?” asked Maria with a smile. “And were they as inherently curious as you?”
“I’m just a little girl, Maria.”
“No, Dawn. You are a fourteen: you are a young woman. And you are going places. But for now, let’s go see what is up with the gate and see if I can help this time or not. Or if maybe you can.”
“Me?” asked Dawn suddenly very nervous.
“Why not? You can understand the growl of a Silver, you can probably hear the gates too.”
Suddenly Dawn was very nervous, “What if I mess something up?”
“Then I’ll fix it,” replied Maria with a motherly smile. “Come on, let’s meet the gatekeeper and see what is up, at the very least.”
Dawn suddenly had more than her fair share of butterflies in her stomach and she could feel her fur start to stand on end, but she followed Maria and little Heather dutifully. They crossed the front of the structure and approached a small door at the side that opened as they approached. Out stepped an elderly Highlander, silver graced the tips of his fur and his tail needed a good combing but he wore a smile that almost seemed to quell the fear lurking inside of her.
“Good morning, Maria! Oh, and little Heather too! So is this Dawn that I’ve heard about?” asked the old man cheerfully.
Maria smiled broadly, “Good morning, Allrich. Yes indeed. Allrich, this is Dawn. Dawn, this is Allrich. He keeps the gate keys and mans the lanterns.”
“Eh, most of the time I’m just here to make sure people take the right door,” laughed Allrich. “The lamps all but run themselves. Heck, this whole place all but runs itself. Except for today…”
Dawn Page 3