by Zora Marie
“Arlen.” Farin set the letter he had been reading aside. “We are going to continue discussions over breakfast. I would like you to warn Rina. I know she’s been through a lot in the last week, but I cannot spare her the time to adjust, not when she’s likely to be at the center of all this.”
“You believe war is coming.”
“It’s been coming for a while, but Rina may be what ignites it. Trazar has been looking for an excuse to pick a fight for a long time.”
“Good morning,” Ash said and set a tray of tea on the edge of Farin’s desk. “Dorn has your cup, Arlen.”
“All right, well, let me know if you need anything else.” Arlen left the study, feeling a little lost as he walked back to his room. It felt like it had been ages since he wasn’t forced to be part of Farin’s every plan and now he wasn’t when it felt like he needed to be the most.
Rina and Dorn sat cross-legged on the couch, staring at each other. She tilted her head to one side in confusion. “So I just imagine building a wall with my emotions?”
“Yes, but you need to build it specifically to keep them in.”
“Like this?”
“Um, sort of. Not bad for your first try.”
“But not good either?” Rina asked, a hint of a smile gracing her features.
“Hey, just because I’m not blocking you doesn’t mean you should go probing.”
“Who said I needed to probe to figure that out?”
“She has a point. Even I could tell that much and you two may as well just be staring at each other as far as I’m concerned.”
She looked over to where Arlen sat in a chair across from them. As he took a cup from the low table between the seats. He took a sip, dread coiling in him at the thought of burdening Rina more than she already was.
“You’ve also known me for ages.” Dorn looked him up and down. “Is everything all right?”
“Yes.” Arlen paused as Rina turned to face him, her hard expression making it clear that she knew he was lying just as much as Dorn did. “No. Farin is concerned that—”
“That I’ll be what causes the war to start,” Rina spoke with a quiet strength that surprised him.
Dorn shook his head. “No, Rina, that’s not—”
“Dorn, I have ears and I’m not as young as you’d like to think I am. Yes, I’m out of my depth here, but I know worry when I feel it.”
“It’s not so much that we worry that you’ll cause the war, but that Lord Trazar will use you being here with us as an excuse. He will want to meet you, to confirm who you are sooner rather than later. We will be discussing plans over breakfast and Farin didn’t want to catch you off guard. He wants you to be aware of what’s going on, especially since you’ll be caught in the middle of all this.”
Rina’s gaze dropped and she wiped the loose hair from her face. “Seems like all I’ve ever been good for is causing problems.” Unlike before, it wasn’t sorrow that colored her words, rather defeat.
“You and me both, but don’t let it get to you. We have to believe that everything happens for a reason, we just haven’t found it yet. Well, I’m going to leave you two to it.” He took his tea, grabbed some fresh clothes, and went to the bathroom.
17
Rina
Rina frowned as she watched Arlen disappear into the bathroom. “Is he all right?” Arlen didn’t just feel concerned to her, he felt lost, as though he was missing something. It was the same feeling she’d felt that morning when she’d gone to the glade.
“He’s fine. He usually has errands to run before breakfast, and it’s got him a little off his game this morning.” Dorn waved his hand. “Now try again.”
Concentrating, she forced her emotions into a wall. It felt weird to manipulate them into something other than another emotion. It felt like the first time she’d had to gut her own kill. This was certainly not as gross as cleaning a kill, but it was just as uncomfortable. Dorn’s presence disappeared from her senses and she stared at the empty space between them, where she imagined her emotional wall to be.
“Well, you’re blocking my emotions from you, but that’s not what you’re supposed to be doing. Try weaving the emotions back in so that they’re not projecting out.”
She could almost imagine little streams of emotion draining out from an almost sponge like wall around her. Every time she stopped the flow of one stream, another one opened. “That’s easier said than done.”
“Try thinking of it as coiling your emotions back into yourself, except you should only bring them back to just inside the wall you made. I know you can do it because you withdrew your emotions yesterday.”
Rina did as Dorn asked. But the moment her emotions were contained within her emotional wall, the wall crumbled.
“Good job. It’ll take practice to learn to hold it.”
“That was… surprisingly easy.”
“I never said the first step would be difficult. I want you to practice building and holding the wall whenever you can. Eventually, you need to be able to keep the wall up without thinking about it.”
“Breakfast is ready,” Fen called from the hall.
The door to the bathroom opened. Toweling his hair, Arlen stopped in the doorway. Water dripped down his face, creating dark patches on the collar of his shirt.
“Did you even use soap?” Dorn asked.
“How about you come smell me and find out? You can dry my hair while you’re at it.”
A flame flickered at Dorn’s fingertips before it skittered across the room, drying Arlen in a flash of soft yellow light.
“Hey, I know I’m hot, but I don’t need to be smoking.” Arlen patted out the flame lingering on his shoulder.
“Tst, no appreciation whatsoever.” The way Dorn passed Arlen reminded Rina of how Amber had passed Fen earlier and she couldn’t help but laugh. Both males turned toward her at once, a smile tugging at their lips. “Well, come on,” Dorn said, “before Ash and Amber eat all the blueberries you helped Fen pick.”
“As though they could eat all of them.”
“Oh, they could,” Arlen said. “They just might regret it later.”
A smile still tugged at her lips as they made it to the dining room. Bowls of fruit, nuts, and another one of those weird cups of syrup covered the table. They were the first ones there, yet Dorn and Arlen headed for the same spots as the dinner before. Dorn held out the chair between theirs for her.
“No. You two sit next to each other. Ash doesn’t bite.”
“You maybe,” Arlen said as Dorn sat down in the seat he’d just offered her.
At first, Rina thought he was joking, but no, his emotions said he was serious. “She bit you?” she asked as she settled in beside Dorn.
“She was little, and it was centuries ago,” Dorn said.
“She almost took my finger off.”
“Did not,” Amber said as she and Ash went around the table, dishing out pancakes. “I would remember it better if I had.”
“For once, we weren’t talking about you, Amber.”
Fen sat and began passing the blueberries and syrup. “So whose secrets do you have to share today?” Fen asked Amber.
She glanced at Arlen before looking back at Fen. “Oh, you know, just the usual talk of doom and gloom this morning, and Earth and Air are setting up another meeting to see if they finally have a matching couple.”
“Matching couple?”
Arlen nodded. “Those two have been trying to find suitable matches for each other for ages, rather than just letting their grandkids find their actual mates. Some families have even gone so far as to lock their daughters away until it’s time to marry.”
Rina frowned. Jake had always threatened to marry her off, but he’d never gotten around to it. She supposed his laziness had helped her in that regard. Because why put effort into marrying off the person who feeds you? She stabbed a piece of fruit from her plate and dragged her attention back to the others.
“Though apparently Lord Trazar a
nd Riker got into a fight yesterday,” Ash added. “They blew a sizable hole into the side of their castle. I couldn’t get any details on what they were arguing about.”
“Of course, you chose the more interesting route, this morning,” Amber huffed.
“Really? Something like that should be the talk of town,” Fen said.
“Perhaps, if Lord Trazar hadn’t put the fear of starlight in all of their slaves. They all made a point of staying out of sight this morning, and those I did see didn’t lift their gazes from the ground. It’ll be a few days before they start talking again.”
“Long enough for him and Riker to spread some bullshit reason to fit their image,” Amber added.
At the grim reminder of a war brewing, Rina started to practice her wall building. She constructed a wall out of her emotions, coiling the tendrils of worry and dread inside it again and again until it held for more than a few breaths. Feeling Farin’s gaze on her, she turned to meet it. His face was blank, but she could feel his concern and curiosity.
“Ash, Fen, I want you two to stay close to home while I’m away.”
“I take it I’m going with you,” Amber said.
“Yes. That won’t be a problem, will it?” Farin asked.
“No. I was just hoping to avoid Watren for a while longer.”
“I need you two to work this out. Both of your abilities would make you a force to be reckoned with if you can get along long enough.”
Amber grumbled something about hating water benders, but Farin ignored it with a bit of hidden amusement. Finished with his plate, Farin pushed back in his chair and stood. Amber fell into step behind him, trailing him from the room.
As Arlen and Dorn began clearing the table, Ash turned to Fen, her emotions spiking with mischief. “So, Fen, want to race to the training field?”
“Sure.”
Light flashed on both sides of the table. Suddenly, a red fox ran from the room with a black panther on its heels.
Watching them go, Rina imagined what it must have been like to grow up here among all of them. Before Tomilin’s back was broken, they had run and played together, but that had been so long ago that she hardly remembered what it had felt like. Picking up her plate, she made her way to the sink.
“I noticed you were practicing during breakfast,” Dorn said as she added her mess to his wash piles.
“Yeah. I know I don’t have much time to learn everything.” She leaned against the counter. “So when do I get to learn how to shift?”
“As soon as we’re done here. You’ll also learn some basic self-defense,” Arlen said.
“When do fae usually learn to shift?”
“Children usually shift their first time shortly after they learn to walk,” Dorn said. “It can take a few years to control when the shift happens but that’s because of age rather than it being difficult.”
“Has anyone my age ever had to learn to shift?”
“I’m honestly not sure. I’m sure someone has.” After putting the last of the dishes in a cabinet, he turned to face her. “Stop worrying. It won’t do you any good.”
“You should learn to take your own advice.” Arlen put his hands on Dorn’s shoulders, rubbing them lightly as he leaned in. “Now, I don’t want to see you until you’ve had a nap. Rina and I will be fine on our own for a while.”
“All right, all right.” Dorn brushed Arlen’s hands away. “Just don’t get into too much trouble without me.”
“Yes, sir.” Arlen gave a mock bow before ushering Rina toward the back door.
Rina paused on the edge of the deck to take in her surroundings. She’d been so distracted lately she hadn’t noted the open grass that led to the pond and over a hill at the far end of the yard, or the row of fruit trees to the left of the house. The blueberry bushes were along the right side of the yard, and beyond it all was forest.
Arlen paused a few feet ahead of her and she jogged to catch up. A faint clang of metal against metal came from somewhere on the far side of the pond. As they crested the hill, she saw Fen and Ash going at each other with swords, their movements like a dance as they clashed and backed away time and again. The graceful viciousness of their movements was enthralling.
Arlen didn’t seem to care when she lingered to watch as he headed for a small shed on the far side of the field. He returned with a couple of daggers, a bow, and a quiver before heading for a path at the far side of the field that led into the woods.
“Let me know when you can no longer feel Dorn. I want him to actually rest instead of trying to block your projections for you.”
“How long do you think I have before Lord Trazar shows up?” Rina wasn’t sure she really wanted to know, but she needed an idea of how long she had.
“Try not to worry about that.” He glanced over at her, his emotions full of warmth. “You’ve spent all of your life worrying. Let me carry your worry for a change.”
“You know I can’t just stop, just like I know you can’t either.” When Dorn’s presence disappeared from around her, she said, “Dorn can’t feel us anymore.”
“Good, there’s a clearing up ahead. We’ll start your training there.”
“So…Fen described shifting as reaching for a power within himself… and it just happens?”
“Yes, but if you’re like Lyra, you’ll have to focus on what you want to turn into. Most children shift the first time when they have a particularly bad tumble while learning to walk. Since you already know how to walk, we’ll have to find another way to trigger the response.”
“Do the circumstances of that first shift effect what they turn into?”
“Not generally. Usually a family bloodline is predisposed to certain forms.”
“So Rye’s animal form was a wolf, too?”
“Yes, and Fen is a panther like his father. As first cousins, Ash and Amber both have fox forms, though Amber also has an eagle form, as does Dorn.”
“How many animal forms do most fae have?”
“One or two. Any more than that and they can usually shift into just about anything.”
“Can Lord Trazar shift into anything?”
“No, but his wife can. Now enough about that. I don’t care what you shift into the first time, so long as we get you to shift, and if I manage to teach you to defend yourself while we’re at it, great.” Arlen passively flipped a dagger in the air and caught it.
“So daggers, I take it?” Rina looked nervously at the blades Arlen had picked up on their way. She used her knife enough to be comfortable with sharp objects, but fighting with a blade was another story.
“Yep. We’ll start with the basics.” He held out one of the daggers hilt first. Taking it, Rina had a feeling that this was the start of a very long day.
18
Fen
Fen summoned a shield of light and shadow, casting it over himself like a shimmering second skin. Fire slammed into it, prodding and testing for weaknesses as he parried Ash’s sword blow. He fought the urge to shiver as it slithered over him. Every time they sparred, Ash used his ticklishness against him. How the magic could be ticklish was beyond him, but it was a weakness in a fight and Ash was determined to train it out of him.
“You’re distracted.” She feinted right and as he reached to counter, she slammed the flat of her blade into his undefended left side. A foot hooked behind his and his back smacked into the dirt, forcing the air from his lungs. He curled to get up, but the tip of Ash’s blade pointed at his chest.
Wheezing, Fen slumped back onto the packed dirt. His ribs ached as he sucked down air. How many times had it been already this morning? Six, seven times? Just once he would like to get a strike in on Ash, but she had definitely earned her place in father’s court and wasn’t afraid to remind him of it. Sometimes it felt like she was a big sister, but mornings like this reminded him that she was the head of Farin’s forces and had fought for that position. As Rye’s second she’d easily stepped into the position seventeen years ago, but she’d still ha
d to prove herself to all the warriors in the court before they’d follow her.
“You keep leaving your left side wide open.” Ash tossed him a water skin and he barely managed to catch it. “You’d think you would stop doing that with as many times as I’ve hit you.”
“Yeah, well, we can’t all be as good with a sword as you are.”
Plopping down beside him, she said, “Spill it. As much as I enjoy picking on you, I don’t actually like hurting you. So, what’s on your mind?”
Groaning, Fen laid back, not caring if he got dirt in his hair. The pinks and oranges of morning had finally faded to a pale blue.
“It’s Rina, isn’t it?”
“And if it is?”
“Then I’d tell you to leave the girl alone. She’s got enough on her plate without you fawning over her.”
“It’s not that.” He glared at Ash.
“Then what is it?”
“It’s just that ever since that first night… You weren’t here to feel her when she—” He shook his head. It wasn’t his fear to talk about. “I just feel like I need to protect her, but I don’t know how.”
“Want to know how to protect her? Get better at defending yourself so the rest of us can worry about saving her ass instead of yours.”
Fen rolled his eyes. She had a point, but that’s not what it felt like he needed to be doing. A flurry of flapping wings had Fen sitting up just in time to be blinded as Jefel and another warrior whose name Fen couldn’t recall appeared. Their heavy builds and sharp features were similar enough to be siblings, but they were cousins if he remembered correctly.
As one they bowed their heads. “Commander.”
“Yes?” Ash asked with a weariness in her tone that had him standing and brushing himself off.
“You asked me to find you when I got word of the girl, and I have.”
“From whom?” Ash asked.
“A spy of the only Lord with more spies than guards.”
