A Song of Snow and Ashes

by S.J. Drew

walk out.

  He quickly followed. "I know. But you're bein' so nice."

  "You think so? Well, just wait. My students think I'm a harsh teacher."

  "I don't believe that. I'm sure you don't go easy on 'em, but I don't think you'd be a mean teacher."

  "Well, thank you. I just try to do my best," she replied.

  "So, um, why are you tutorin'?"

  "I love to teach, but it really doesn't pay very much. It pays enough to take care of my rent and food, but I like to have a little extra money. So I tutor. It also keeps me from forgetting what I know. There isn't much call for Arcana around here."

  "So why did you learn it?" he asked as they exited the library.

  "Well, my father is the mayor. He thought it might be useful if he knew someone who knew the language, and I was the lucky choice. It turns out it's not a bad thing to know another language. It frees me to curse in class without my students knowing."

  He laughed. "I can see how that'd be useful."

  She paused. "I'm going home. Where are you going?"

  "I should probably get home too. I've got to cook dinner before Alain wakes up."

  "Oh, that's nice of you, taking care of the chores like that."

  "Well, he does the hard work. It's only fair."

  "Some men might feel it demeaning to do women's work, as it's called."

  "Don't matter what it's called, it's got to be done," he shrugged.

  "That's a very enlightened attitude. I find it quite refreshing. But I do need to go now. I'll see you next time." She started to walk away.

  "Say something!" his mind screamed. "See you next time," he replied lamely, and watched her go. Then he turned and went to his own apartment.

  Eliora finished up her dinner and returned to her cottage. It had been a week since she talked with Aidan. It was clear he realized he had upset her, but seemed at a loss as to what to do about it. He tried to be more encouraging as she started on swordplay, but that was a small comfort. Jomei noticed that she was depressed, but she resisted his gentle offers to talk about what was bothering her. She poured all her energy into learning to fight and learning the language. It kept her from dwelling on her loneliness.

  "Eliora!" came Aidan's voice.

  She was startled out of her reverie. "What? Sorry, hold on," she replied, rubbing her eyes.

  "I've been knocking for five minutes," he said.

  "I was studying. Why are you here?"

  "Because I feel like I ought to do something."

  "About what?"

  "About what I said. It wasn't fair."

  "You were honest. I can't ask for more than that," she replied.

  "Look, can I come in?" he asked with a sigh.

  She opened the door wide and gestured to a chair.

  He took a seat. "I feel like I should say something, or do something. I really hurt your feelings."

  "What would you say? What would you do? You can't change how you feel."

  "Well, maybe I should. So what can I do to make you feel better?"

  She considered this a moment. "Is it worth it to try?" she thought. "Can they really get past this power I've got?" She sighed mentally. "I have to try. I'm so lonely. It hurts being an outcast. It hurts having to shut everything up inside."

  "Is there anything I can do?" he pressed.

  She looked up. "Treat me like a person."

  "Alright. How should I do that?" he asked.

  "Well, what would you do if you met someone new normally?"

  "Introduce myself, find out their name, where they come from. If it was someone my age, I'd ask them join us for cards and games. Spend some time together, see if this person could be a friend. Then go from there."

  "Then why haven't you done that with me?"

  "Because of how you showed up. Because of who you are. Because of what you are," he answered.

  "Well, there's the first problem. I'm not a 'what.' I'm a 'who.' Do you treat clerics differently from other people because they can talk to the gods?"

  "Um, no."

  "Would you treat a mage any differently?"

  "I might."

  "What? Why?"

  "I know my history. There's a big plain between Trevelan and the city-states that used to be fertile farmland until the Mage Wars. Now we call it the Charred Land. The mages scorched the ground, and nothing has grown there in nearly a thousand years," he answered, bitterness in his voice.

  "Oh. I see."

  "What do you see?"

  "You're afraid of me," she answered in a quiet voice.

  "Afraid? Afraid? Don't be silly," he replied. "I'm not afraid of you."

  She glanced up, and the lamp next his head flashed brightly. He jumped. "Yes, you are."

  "That wasn't nice," he snapped, flustered.

  "No, it wasn't. How can I make you not afraid of me?"

  "For starters, don't do things like that."

  "I only did that to prove a point."

  He glared at her a moment, then relented. "This isn't going well, is it?" he sighed.

  "It doesn't seem like it. Maybe I am a 'what' and not a 'who.'" Tears started to well up in her eyes again.

  "Oh, gods, don't cry. Not again. I'm trying to be nice."

  "Then be nice. Let me join your games. I'm not that different, really. I already know chess. Your friends seem to do the same things mine did – talk and play games. We drank coffee and not alcohol, and of course there were more women, but that aside, you have pretty much the same activities," she replied earnestly, blinking back her tears.

  "Really? Well, I guess that's something. Would you like to go play chess with me?"

  "Do you mean it?"

  "Sure."

  She considered this, trying to determine his sincerity. "Alright. I'll play."

  He stood up. "Let's go."

  She followed him to the dining hall. The other young men looked at them curiously, but didn't object when they both sat down at a board.

  "Gold or silver?" he asked, in Northern.

  "Silver. You can go first."

  The game was over in less than half an hour, with Eliora emerging victorious.

  "Damn. How long have you been playing this game?"

  "Since I was four years old."

  "Four?" he sputtered. "Four? I didn't even hear about this game until I was nearly an adult. Is that common for your people?" He re-set the pieces and started another game. It took about the same amount of time, but was punctuated with conversation. Eliora tried to stay in Northern, but there were points where she just switched to the Light language because she didn't have a good enough grasp on Northern to form complex sentences.

  "Yes and no. I was an unusual child. Father didn't teach my siblings until they were about eight. None of them stuck with it very long."

  "Eight is still really young. Good gods. Why teach a child a game as complicated as this?"

  "To build up strategic thinking skills. But as I said, I was unusual. Most children stop playing when they reach their adolescent years."

  "I take it you didn't stop?" he asked dryly, as she took down another soldier.

  "I like the game and always have."

  "Do you play gambling games?"

  "Goodness, no. I'll play cards, but never gamble. I've got no luck."

  "Oh, pity that. I'm good at those games," he replied.

  "I will play if you like, but only for points or something. Not money. Besides, I haven't got any money."

  "That's alright. I'm content to get trounced at chess tonight," he remarked as she took a mage.

  "Would you prefer I go easy on you?" she asked with a touch of a smile.

  "Absolutely not. If I'm going to lose, I'll go down in blaze of glory."

  "I win."

  "That's not a blaze of glory, Aidan," snickered one of other men.

  "Rather pathetic, I'd say," chimed in another.

  "Oh, y
es, then why don't you play her and you do better?" he shot back, but it was clear he wasn't really angry.

  "Gods, no," he replied. "You're the best player here. If she can beat you, I don't stand a chance. And I don't feel like getting humiliated tonight."

  She giggled.

  "So I'm the only one brave enough to play her? I see how it is."

  A tall, blond haired, good-looking young man with intense dark violet eyes and rather dark complexion compared to the other Northern men walked over to the board. "I'll play," he offered.

  She only had a vague idea of who this person was. He seemed to be quiet and serious and generally kept to himself. The group reacted with some surprise to his gesture, and she wasn't sure what to make of that. Aidan didn't seem entirely pleased.

  "You're going to lose," he warned.

  "My name is Davin," he said, holding out his hand.

  She smiled and took his hand. "I'm Eliora. Pleased to meet you."

  The evening passed quickly and Eliora felt she was making good progress with the community. By the time she returned to her cottage, she knew almost every young man's name, and she had won every single game of chess.

  It was Donnan's fourth meeting with Aolani, and he was getting more and more annoyed at himself for not having the courage to ask her out to dinner.

  "Alright, that's the lesson," she said.

  "What? We've got fifteen minutes left."

  "Right." She pulled out a sheet of paper. "And here's that quiz I promised you. You've got ten minutes."

  "What? Oh, alright," he replied, and started the test.

  "Time," she announced, and snatched the paper away.

  "Hey. I wasn't finished," he protested.

  "I warned you that I was a harsh teacher," she replied with a smile. Then she started to grade the test.

  "I wish you'd had given me warnin'. I wasn't ready."

  "You shouldn't make excuses until you know your results. In fact, you shouldn't make excuses even if you did poorly. I'm sure you know how much studying you've done, and how much you need