"Elryn: Chapter 6" by Brian D. Saul

I found myself walking aimlessly through the streets of town, eventually stopping in the center square to look around.  It was oddly quiet, empty, and a low blue light filled the area.  As if only to add to the wrongness of the whole scene, there were buildings missing.  I heard the sound of footfalls across the cobbled street and turned to see who it was, rather glad that I didn't seem alone here.  I saw nothing but a vaguely shaped mist as it was whisked away by a sudden breeze, which carried with it a voice.

“All things change...”  It said and missing buildings began to fade into being, it was then I noticed they were structures built after my arrival here.  People slowly began to appear around me, and milled around as though it were just a normal day. “All things come to an end...”  I watched as one by one people and buildings around me began to blur and vanish.  “Remember this little M’len, for things will not always remain as they are.”  By the end of that sentence everything had disappeared leaving me alone in the darkness, save for one thing.  From the corner of my eye I could just barely make out a figure.

I turned my head quickly to look at it before it too vanished.  The speed causing its colors to blur, which then began to intermingle with other colors which were coming into view.  The figure never did fully form in my vision, instead being replaced by the sight of Tyra’s living room.  A...dream?  I sighed out of relief and shook my head slightly.

These dreams were really beginning to get to me, if their intent was to scare me...it was working.  Maybe it was the tone in which the voices had spoken, the vividness of the dreams as a whole, or the way the voice (it was clearly the same as previous nights.) has started to call me ‘little M’len’.  

“I’m a little M’len too.”  I heard a small voice say as a pair of little feet padded their way across the floor.

I snickered a bit as I looked down next to the chair and saw Violet looking up at me with the same happy little smile I’ve already come to expect from her.  Given how hectic things have been as of late her innocence was a very refreshing change of pace.  She did wonders to take my mind off various worries.  “Ahh, but don’t forget Violet, you’re also half...um...” I scratched my head in thought a moment.  Now that I thought about it, I had no idea what Adel’s last name actually was.  She had never mentioned it before and up until now I guess I never actually had a reason to ask.  With a short yawn I got slowly to my feet, the concoction Tyra gave me having worn off many hours ago.  “Speaking of, where is Adel anyway?”

“Mommy and Tyra are out picking flowers.”  Something told me she actually meant herbs but flowers sounded nicer.  I guess I’d have to talk to Tyra later about some more of that tea, or whatever that stuff was.  “OH!”  Violet suddenly shouted as she started digging around in a small pouch she had at her waist, wonder who gave her that.  “Aunt Tyra...grammy Tyra?”  She lowered her head a bit and seemed to look around as if in thought, forgetting her previous path of thought.  Tyra was not technically Adel’s mother, this little detail seemed to have confused her.

“Tyra I’m sure would love to have you as a granddaughter.” I knelt down in front of her and smiled as I ruffled her hair slightly.

She just looked at me with a wide smile and nodded.  “Oh...” Again she resumed digging in that little pouch of hers before producing five vials.  “Tyra told me to give you these.  She said to...um, to...”  She quickly placed the vials in my hand before she turned around and dug a small piece of paper from her pouch as well.  When she was finished reading she spun around, making sure to hide the paper behind her back and resumed what she was saying.  “Add one drop to a full cup of tea or water, it’s really strong stuff.”  She quickly stowed the paper in her pouch and looked up at me with a large proud smile at having completed the task Tyra had given her.  I giggled slightly at the thought, not but a day old and already Tyra had found a willing errand girl.

“See she put the job in good hands, thank you Violet.  Well come on and I’ll make us some tea and see how well this concentrated stuff works, then you can come with me to see the Elders.”

“Yay!  Can you still take me around town if the Elders are here?”  She rather casually asked as we went, not but a few feet from where we started.

“Well of course but wh....”  I looked down at her as I came to a stop.  “Do Tyra and Adel know?”

“Know what?”

“...Didn’t Tyra warn you not to open the door to strange people?”  I asked the little girl, raising my voice just loud enough so whoever was likely hiding in the house could hear me.

She looked thoughtful a moment before answering.  “He didn’t look strange, just really old.”

As she finished her phrase I heard a laugh break out from the kitchen.  “The little one there is nearly as bad as her mother.”  Said Cai as he walked out from the kitchen, a broad smile on his aged face.

“Good morning to you too old man.  So what brings you here so early?”

“I am really glad to see you’re ok, you had us all worried you know.  You also probably know why I’m here.”

“And I can’t thank you enough for what you did Cai.  As you can see though Adel didn’t do anything against the rules...”  I motioned at Violet to emphasize my point, the little girl in turn looked up at him with a toothy grin.  The look on his face though told me he didn’t fully believe that.  “How about you make the tea Violet while me and Cai talk?”

“Ok mommy, mommy was showing me how earlier.”  With that she eagerly skipped off into the kitchen.  Why hadn’t it surprised me that she was already being shown all these things too.

Cai chuckled as he walked further into the room and took a seat in a chair.  “It’s really cute how she calls you both mommy like that, most children of same gender parents don’t do that you know.  But then she’s a cute little thing as a whole, I'd be lying if I said her parentage didn't surprise me.”  He looked towards the kitchen and sighed before continuing.  “That’s not the problem though Elryn and you know it.  Her creation nearly killed you, and as little as is understood about the spell we know it should never come close to that.”

I sighed and sat down, jumping slightly at the sound of a pot clattering loudly to the floor.  “Oops!” I heard Violet call from the kitchen.  I thought about helping her for a moment but she seemed so proud to do these things on her own.  I took a deep breath and sat back in the chair.

“I was hoping you’d put more faith in my words, or that of Adel’s for that matter...  What do the others think of her?”

“The others don’t know about that little girl in there yet...none of the town does actually.  You can imagine my surprise when she answered the door, and more so when I saw her eyes!  Only a child of yours would have eyes that color, and no doubt Adel attributed to the other.”

“Not as surprised as me I bet...”  He looked at me a bit strangely as my voice trailed off, I quickly caught myself and continued before he could question it.  “But I knew the spell would do that to me.  It did it to my mother, her mother before that and I wouldn’t doubt one day it will do the same to Violet.”  The mere thought of the possibility of my own daughter dying in the creation of a child of her own made me feel rather ill for a moment.  Quickly I shook the thought from my head, it would be years before that would even be worth worrying about.  “Just…believe me when I tell you she did nothing wrong Cai, I really can’t explain why it does what it does, just that I knew it was going to happen.”

We both cringed slightly as we heard something else small fall in the kitchen, no other noise so surely Violet was still alright, though I don’t think I had any desire to see the mess she was making.  “So why didn’t you tell anyone?  Blast you girl, you had half the town worried about you again!”  He glanced towards the source of the noise a few seconds before turning an annoyed glare back at me.

“Ahh she’ll be fine, don’t worry Cai.  About that, um…”  I pondered for a few moments if I should tell him the truth or not.  A daughter was surprising enough for him, myself, likely the whole town actually.  How could I explain to him that Adel did it without my knowledge?  Especially when even I didn’t even know for sure how she got it to work, I had never heard of such a thing happening before.  I could only think to blame it on some strange feeling which had been floating around in my head for a few days now, one which seemed to get stronger when I first saw her.  Could that have been the cause of this whole mess?  I sighed a bit at the thought, it was like my mind and body knew something but they didn’t feel like telling me about it.

“Well?”  He asked a bit more insistently.

I shoved my mind back to reality, surely my pause didn’t help my case any.  “Hm?  Oh sorry, have had a lot on my mind these past few days.  Really sorry for worrying everyone so much Cai, it had slipped my mind.  It has been such a part of my family for so long I just didn’t give it a second thought.  Adel had wanted her to be a surprise to Tyra, that was why she wasn’t around to answer anything or tell anyone.  You know as well as I do how fast news travels in this place.”  It wasn’t a complete lie.  Adel had wanted it to be a surprise to Tyra, and gossip did travel as fast as wild fire.

“You do make a good point I guess and even as strange as that sounds…”  He sighed and rubbed his chin thoughtfully.  “I believe you, perhaps against my better judgment but I do.  Even if I didn’t…”  He paused a bit and looked towards the kitchen.  “I don’t think any of us could bring ourselves to deprive a child of a parent.  As long as you and Eryk are alright I guess no permanent harm was done.”

A broad smile crossed my face, I knew he’d understand…or at least partially believe me.  More likely still it was because of violet however.  Neither he nor anyone else here would stand to see a child harmed in any way.  Come to think of it I wondered if she was all right, hadn’t heard much from her in the past few minutes.

“Don’t worry mommy, I’m ok!”  She shouted out in response to my unspoken concern.  “It’s almost ready.”  I snickered softly and breathed a short sigh of relief.  Must say a child able to read her parent's mind was a handy thing.  Most people’s thoughts make much more sense before they’re put into words.  Cai meanwhile was looking at me with an eyebrow raised curiously.

“So I see the little one has something else of her mother's.  Oh don’t give me that confused look now, you know about them as well as I do I’m sure.”  I just smiled knowingly and sat back in the chair.

A few moments later Violet came slowly walking into the room, a tray with three cups in her hands.  She was trying hard to make sure none of it spilled as she walked, but the cups were filled a tad too high so she only succeeded to an extent.  She was doing her best though and that was all one could really ask.  Carefully she set the tray down on the table and handed us each a cup.  I dug one of the vials out of a pocket inside my robe and added a drop to the cup before taking it from her.  She took a seat next to me and sipped her tea quietly, looking at us both expectantly.

“Very good little one, very good.”  Cai said with an approving nod as he drank a bit more of it.

I gave a small grin as I took a sip of mine as well.  Even with the flavor of the stuff in the vials it was very good.  Just as Adel had said, she was a fast learner.  Violet gave me a content smile at the thought and returned to drinking her own.  We all sat relatively quietly for several minutes, only Violet broke the silence now and then with a small yawn, giggle, something of the sort.

“Well I’m sure you and the little one here have a lot to do today so if you don’t mind, I’ll take my leave now.  Thank you again for the tea Violet.”  Cai gave her a small rub on the head as he walked by the sofa towards the door.

“We’ll be out shortly, and Cai…don’t tell anyone yet.”

“Bye bye Cai!”  Violet called after him.

He chuckled softly.  “I’ll give you a bit of time before I tell the others about what happened.”

As he left Violet sat her cup down and hopped down from the sofa, walked over to me, and tugged on my arm a bit.  “Can we go now?  Huh?”

“In a bit, we should at least wait for Tyra and Adel to return.”

She shook her head and tugged a bit more insistently.  “No need, I was just talking to mommy, she knows we’re leaving.  She even gave me a hug.”

I looked down at her confused a moment before the full meaning of her words struck me.  As much as I knew it I couldn’t believe it slipped my mind so often.  With her and Adel’s abilities I guess they didn’t actually need to be near one another to have a conversation.  That would certainly take a bit of getting used to.  I couldn’t help but wonder though, what did a mental hug feel like?  “Oh…well, I guess it’s ok to go then.”  Slowly I got to my feet, took her hand, and headed outside towards town with her.

We didn’t stay hand in hand long, Violet was curious about pretty much everything we passed as we went…even stopped for a few minutes to play with a small Life Sphere as it floated by.  As long as Adel had not lied about them, surely Violet could get the same unique mental feelings from them as she could.  It was likely why it took her so long to finish.  She opened her cupped hands and let it float freely again before she ran over to me and we resumed our slow wanderings.  
I did however make careful note to tell her not to make her abilities known to people.  It wasn’t that I didn’t trust anyone in town, quite the opposite actually but Adel had kept hers a secret for so long I didn’t see any need Violet should go telling people about hers either.  People may react differently to a girl they knew could read their minds and I wouldn’t want anyone to treat her any different from any other young girl.  I sighed as the various thoughts went through my mind.  Not but a day old yet and even I was worrying about what people would think about her, how they’d treat her and so on.  Here of all places, in one of the few towns I could say such a worry was likely completely unfounded.

As expected I again attracted a small crowd as I entered town.  Although this time it was because of the cute little girl dressed in blue that now accompanied me.  The barrage of comments and questions were far too numerous to recount or at the time even answer completely.  Slowly I managed to get enough in edgewise to make the important details known.  That no, she was not the child of myself and Eryk…that question was by far the most common, and most often followed by a disappointed sounding ‘oh’ when I answered it.  Everyone was surprised to learn that Adel was actually the other parent, that such a quiet girl could have helped create such an overly outspoken and energetic child.  Violet was of course quick to stand up and defend her mother, even if no offense was ever actually meant by it it was just simple surprise on the part of everyone.  That little trait was quickly attributed to having to have come from me.  I guess there were worse things they could have blamed me for.

Somewhere among the crowd earlier I had expected to see Eryk but to my disappointment he was not anywhere in sight today.  “Oh he’s with Mommy.”  Violet calmly chimed in at the thought.  By now some time had passed, I was busy showing her around the academy by this point in time.  I was surprised Eryk hadn’t stuck around until I had woken up, perhaps he had something he had to talk to Tyra about.  Violet was assured by a few of the teachers that if she wanted she would be attending classes here one day and that if she showed the potential her parents did she could be one of the strongest mages here.  That was of course not only flattery on their part to myself and Adel but to also raise the girl's spirits.  It was clear she knew it but the sentiment alone seemed to be plenty for her.  Although I had to admit she did show a very healthy interest in all of it.

They were in the middle of classes at the moment so for the most part the halls were empty, what teachers we did speak to were those running errands or who just didn’t have a class at the time.  We took a moment to look out over the island from one of the fifth story windows.  The academy most certainly didn't hold enough students to warrant such a large building but it was apparently built back when such size actually would be useful.  Although it always seemed odd to me to build such a large building with only a small town to accompany it.

“You there!”  A voice called from down the hallway, it sounded vaguely familiar.

As I turned my head to see who it was I could see a smile appear on the figure's face.  “Ahh, the little one armed thing, exactly who I was looking for.”  There was a perverse sense of joy to Vin’s voice, and just when today was going so well too.  I grumbled under my breath, the various expletive related phrases halted even in mid thought, for Violet’s sake.  “For someone so popular you’re awfully hard to find, you know that?”  I clenched my fist and turned towards him fully, even with Violet here if he called me a one armed ‘thing’ again I was going to break his nose.

Violet looked up at me a moment, the emotion on her face hard to make out, but she stuck close to my side so I don’t think she was too fond of him either already.

As he drew closer one interesting feature was easy to make out, a dark ring around his right eye.  It appears I’m not the only one whose bad side he’s already managed to get on.  “Oh it’s you.  Nice eye.”  I said with a sarcastic little smile.  “I’m busy at the moment, what do you want?”

He growled slightly as he walked up and stopped in front of me.  “Yes, who’d have thought a little thing like you would have so many friends here, ah well I’ll get back at her some day.”  Slowly he rubbed at his eye, wonder what he said to have gotten it…more annoying yet, what he said about ME to get it.  He shot Violet a glare as she stood next to me then chuckled a bit.  “Heh, of all the things I had heard about you…a mother was not one of them.  Hopefully you are better at that then magic, wouldn’t want to cost her a limb too.”

Violet looked up and shook her head at me as she held my hand in hers.  It was then I noticed it was shaking.  Everything this punk said just seemed to ooze with hatred.  He at this point deserved a lot more then a broken nose and if he kept it up I just might do it.  “Just get it over with Vin, what do you want?  You aren’t still angry about class, are you?”  I smirked slightly at the look in his eyes.  What it was that annoyed him I wasn’t even entirely sure about, he at least hit the target, I missed entirely and nearly passed out in the process.  “Face it, you need to practice some more.”  He balled his fists and a sneer crossed his lips, I had hit a nerve, good.

“I have had plenty, I refuse to be beaten by some little one armed, purple eyed, freak!”  He practically spit those last few words at me.  I had been called such things on the mainland because of my eyes, (minus the one armed part of course) I had faced the fact long ago that they really were quite unnatural compared to most people…that however by no means meant I was going to stand here and just take his insults.  Especially when he had the gall to do it in front of my daughter!  “Pity I have to do it by the rules or I’d fight you right here and now…”  He said in a slightly more subdued voice.  “Surely you know magical duels are allowed, stricter rules then I’d like but that’s no matter.  I offer a simple proposition for you, a chance to test our skills properly, one on one, decide once and for all who’s better.”

“You arrogant son of a…”  I glanced down subconsciously at Violet and stopped myself from even mentally completing that phrase.  “I have nothing to prove to you or anyone else, if you want to believe yourself better then me, fine, so be it.  Just leave me alone."  I ran my hand slowly over Violet's head.  "I’ve got considerably more important things to do.” The nerve of this punk, like I truly cared who was better around here.  I was here for my own purposes, it didn’t much matter to me who thought who was the strongest.

“Scared huh?  Afraid you may lose the other one?  That I may be better?  Or is it of humiliating yourself in front of that half blind little thing by your side there?”

Before even completely realizing what I was doing I just snapped at the way he had just referred to Violet, my own daughter, as a little ‘thing’ in the same manner he had myself.  My arm swung up and my fist crossed the bridge of his nose.  He stumbled backwards with a grunt, a hand on his broken nose.  “No mommy!”  Violet shouted as she grabbed hold of my waist tightly, the force knocking me off my feet and taking her with me.  As I hit the floor I noticed, just before my hand hit the floor as well, that there was a small glowing ball clenched in my fist.  Upon impact it exploded in a burst of blue light, covering the stone, my hand, and half my arm, in a layer of ice.  Painful didn't even begin to describe the sensation.  Violet reached over and muttered a small chant, just what I couldn't tell...My attention was understandably enough, elsewere at the time.

“You wretched little bitch!”  I heard Vin scream as he lay against the wall.  The ice on my arm gone and warmth again began to return to it, but even that didn't draw my attention away from the things that were running through my mind.  I hadn't even remembered forming the thing, and here I was about to hit Vin with it.  If what it did to my arm was any indication, I'm sure the effects to him would have been much worse depending where I had hit.  The broken nose he deserved, I can't say I feel sorry about that.  But this was the third time in only a few days I've just up and lost it like this, that above everything else worried me.  Worse this time since it nearly escalated past a simple yell, or a smack.

I just quietly got to my feet, not even paying what he said much heed.  I didn’t even immediately notice as Violet slowly walked over to him.  By time I had she was already in front of him and was holding out her hand to him.  Something inside me wanted to run over and pull her away from him but something else stronger trusted her decision.  I didn’t quite know what she was doing but I knew had he intended any harm upon her, she’d know it, and I hoped with everything I had she had the sense not to approach someone who did.

“What?”  He hissed at the little girl, I cringed slightly and started to take a step towards her.

That step was stopped as she just smiled at him and motioned at his nose.  “I can heal it.”

Vin looked at her curiously and rather confused a moment, his nose still bleeding freely despite his efforts.  She let out a small giggle and motioned again with her hand.  With an eyebrow raised he knelt down in front of her, she held her hand over his nose and chanted a spell.  Bloodied as it was he toyed with it a moment quite content that it was indeed healed.  He seemed most confused by the whole ordeal, he probably expected me to hit him but the kindness threw him completely off guard.  He said something quietly to her which I couldn’t quite make out, but judging by the look on her face it seemed as though he had actually thanked her.

Vin sighed slightly as he got to his feet again.  “Your daughter has one redeeming value, she doesn’t take after you it seems.”

I brushed my hand lightly over her head and held her close as Violet walked up next to me again and looked up with a smile.  Yes, her innocence was a refreshing change indeed.  I’d have let him lay there and bleed, but her, she probably found what little ounce of good the punk had stowed away in his mind.  “Just leave me alone…”  I muttered with a sigh and slowly turned to continue down the hallway, my hand on Violet’s shoulder, nudging her forward a bit.

“One match you li…”  He stopped mid sentence and growled under his breath.  “One match and I will, win or lose, leave you be from now on.”

“Promise?”  Violet asked him, her tone hopeful.

“Violet!”  She just looked up with a small grin and a giggle at my reaction.  So young and already plotting against her mother, heh, I’d have probably done the same thing to mine had something like this happened.  “…Fine fine fine.  You talk to the Elders then, you’re the one that wants this not me.”  Although by this point I wanted nothing more but to beat his egotistical behind across the beach.  I nudged Violet lightly then continued down the hallway, she said something to Vin before leaving then ran to catch up to me.

As we both rounded a corner and out of Vin’s sight I slumped against a wall and just let myself slide down it.  With a smile across my face I gave Violet a much deserved hug.  I should have said something to her about it but just what?  She even stopped me from…gods, I don’t even know just what she stopped me from doing.  Shaking some of the numbness from my arm I wished she had used a less painful method, though it worked all the same.  That was yet again I had lost control of my emotions like that.  I could handle the other things this strange illness has been throwing at me, but incidents like this scared me.  Violet again was the first one between us with the sense to say anything.  “Don’t worry mommy, it’s ok.”  I wondered just what ‘it’ she had meant, there we so many of then on my mind right now.

A minute or so passed before she stood up and pulled on the empty sleeve of my robe.  “Can you show me some magic?  I want to see what you’re going to beat him with!”  I snickered a little as I slowly got to my feet.  I couldn’t believe I had let him, and her, actually talk me into this.  Nonetheless I guessed the idea of a magical duel was sort of appealing after all this time.  They were rare occurrences but not completely unheard of, even encouraged during some days of the year.  A little friendly competition could go a long way after all.  This however, this wasn’t necessarily friendly, Vin just had his ego damaged and figured beating me would help.  Bah, I’m far from the strongest in the school, had I both arms I’m sure he’d have never given me a second thought.  I trained for a long time to figure out how to cast magic like this and now meet someone who finds it a threat to his ego, idiot.

“You seem pretty good at it yourself.” I commented, remembering how good a job she had done on Vin’s nose, and my arm.  And more so, what she used on my arm, must have been a healing spell or something of the sort she got from Adel.  All things considered that really was a rather impressive display for someone so young.  Again I couldn’t help but show off a rather proud grin.  “Even I don’t know how I’ll beat him, we’ll both find out shortly.  They’re probably wondering what I’ve done with you, we should be getting you back home soon.”  There was also the fact that I wasn’t even sure how successfully I could use magic now and I didn’t exactly want her around while I practiced incase something went wrong.

“Aww…but I can help you practice!  Mommy says it’s ok, and even Uncle Eryk is coming.”  

"...Uncle Eryk?"

She didn't say anything more, just stared up at me with a pleading look to her eyes, one which I found myself unable to say no to.  Perhaps Eryk was right about that manual thing, had I one surely I’d have expected that look and been able to say no to it easier.  As it was however, I couldn’t.  Had to admit I liked the idea of getting to see Eryk today at least, I’ve missed him, wonder what he had been doing all day.  I kind of felt bad though as I’ve spent the whole day thus far with her and she’s had so little time with Tyra and Adel.

At her insistence we went straight to the beach for a little practice, according to her it would only be a few minutes before Adel and Eryk arrived.  “You’re taking advantage of my newness to this whole motherhood bit aren’t you…”

Violet giggled and nodded vigorously. “Yep!”  I snickered a little and whacked her with the empty sleeve of my robe.  At this rate if I wasn’t careful she’d even have me cooking for her…and I was a terrible cook!  Although I guess she would be the one that needed to be careful with that one.

We looked around the beach a bit after we arrived, the scorch marks marked the area as where Mrs. Kian taught her classes.  Not wanting to make a fool of myself in front of the others in case I screwed up I set to work immediately.  Much to Violet’s delight.  I started off with something small, a simple fire dart, something I was sure even Violet could cast if she wanted to.  As per the last couple of times the casting itself went fine with the exception that again the energy seemed to flow strangely.  This time however my stomach didn’t object loud enough to get in the way.  That stuff Tyra made for me really did work wonders.  The bolt flew straight and true this time, punching through one of Mrs. Kian’s weaker barriers and striking the rock behind it with a small burst of flame.

“Happy now?”  I stood a moment, rather happy with myself at having actually succeeded in casting something.  Curious at the lack of a response I looked down at Violet, who oddly enough was looking at me with her good eye closed.  “...What are you doing?”

She blinked a moment and opened her other eye.  “Why doesn’t my magic do that?”

“Do what?”   I looked at her curiously then down at myself trying to figure out what it was she was looking at. I also again found myself wondering what exactly a pupil less eye sees.

“You know...”  She poked me in the side.  “That.”  Try as I might, no, I had no idea what she was trying to get at.  She hung her head and sighed almost in exasperation.  “Try again.”

I smiled a little as I prepared another small spell, bossy little thing wasn’t she.  Just like last time everything went as normal although I tried a bit more power and aimed for one of the stronger barriers.

“There, that!”  She shouted just as I could feel the energy of the spell gathering.  I immediately halted the spell and again looked at her a bit confused.  “See, see?”

“Sorry Violet, I don’t.”

She threw her hands up in defeat and walked away a few feet, leaving me thoroughly confused.  I called after her but she just seemed to ignore me and went about playing in the sand.  I turned around and tried another small spell, again aiming at one of the stronger barriers.  I looked down at myself with my robe open as the spell was let loose wondering if I could see whatever it was Violet had seen.

A second after I heard the small explosion of the spell I heard the sound of small feat running along with Violet shouting. “Mommy!”  I cringed and shot to attention, my tenseness lessening when I saw Adel walking from among the trees.  That’s right, Adel, also mommy.  I sighed and placed my hand on my forehead, for a moment there I had memories of her shouting and diving on me.  Looking back up I noticed she had Eryk with her as well, eagerly I waved to both of them, quite glad to finally see him today.

Violet practically dove into Adel’s arms as they approached me.  “Showing off for her already Elryn?”  Eryk commented with a grin.

“Hmph, I’ll have you know I had nothing to do with this, it was all her idea.  I had every intention of taking her back to Tyra’s.”  I could only give him an annoyed glare, it was times like this I wish I could fold my arms to complete the look.

“Yeah, mommy wanted to see you, but I wanted to see her magic first.  Sorry...”  She added apologetically.

“Oh really now?”  He said with a wry grin on his face, then turned to Violet and added.  “Ah I’m sure she wanted to just as badly.”  Truth be told I wanted to see him a lot more then I wanted to come here and practice today.

Violet shook her head and responded before I could stop her.  “Nuh uh, she’s been thinking about you all day Uncle Eryk.”  I stared at her  wide eyed a second before wheeling about, I was probably blushing furiously.  Eryk was oddly quiet, but one could easily hear both Violet and Adel giggling.  Heh, yes, a child’s innocence also entails not knowing what her parents want said and want to keep secret.  After a few seconds Violet looked back and forth between the two of us then up at Adel.  “But...”  She sounded a bit confused as she started.  “He also..”

“No dear.”  Adel cut in quietly.  He also what?  I turned around to get a better look at them both.

Violet turned her head and smiled at me.  “He wan..”

“Not another word young lady.”  Adel said a bit more insistently this time.  

“Bu...”  Adel just glared at her and a frown fell across Violet’s face.  He also...what, thinking about me all day?

Violet smiled wide and opened her mouth as though ready to say something but Adel quickly clamped her hand over it so all I heard was a few muffled words.  She then shot me the same scolding glare she had just given Violet.  I couldn’t have held back the smile if I wanted to however, she may not have said it but the look confirmed my thoughts.  It was a good feeling, if even only so I felt less silly doing so with him.  I raised my gaze a bit and looked back up at the others, both Adel and Violet were smiling a bit, but Eryk had an odd sheepish grin on his face and looked away when I met his gaze as though he were looking at something.

“Feeling much better today I see.”  He quickly said as he looked over at the newly scorched rock.

“Yeah, Tyra left me some of what she gave me yesterday.  Still feel strange over all, but much better.”

“Mommy was showing me her magic.” Said Violet as she walked up between us both, Adel following shortly behind her.  With a small grin on her face she looked up at Eryk a moment.  “She’s going to use it to beat Vin.”

Adel remained silent at the news, but then she probably already knew.  I was about to say something to Violet but Eryk beat me to it...except his scoldings were directed at me.  As expected he wasn’t at all pleased to hear it.  Despite how often I tried to reassure him I’d be fine.  Not that anyone could actually get hurt, worst I risked was exhausting myself.  He of course argued his point all the same though.  It wasn’t like I couldn’t understand his worries given what’s happened the past few days, or that I even wanted to do this in the first place...So, how did I wind up winning the argument?
                    
Adel stepped in a short time later and suggested perhaps I call it a day as it was getting late.  She was right of course, I had been on my feet all day and was quite hungry by now, not to mention tired.  Violet got in one last request that I show my magic to Adel, insisting that mine could do something theirs couldn’t and wanting Adel and 'Uncle' Eryk to see it too...I was still at a loss to understand what she meant.  I didn’t really want to, just wanted to get home and rest or something before tomorrow.  Yet, Adel agreed and added in her request too.  Naturally of course Eryk wanted to know what they were talking about, so he too tossed in his vote to just go ahead and try...what harm would one more spell do.  He just had to say that, didn’t he...I’ve seen characters in books say that exact same thing before something truly unpleasant happened to them.

Oddly, as though this whole thing wasn’t odd enough, Adel asked that I concentrate a bit more on the gathered energy, but to be careful how I did it. She almost made it sound like I was new to all this.  Without further hesitation I began casting another spell, trying for something a bit more visually impressive (and powerful).  While still at a loss as to why it felt so strange, I did as asked and concentrated a bit more on the gathering energy.  As I did so it felt like a wave washing over...no, through me.  The feeling very much akin to what I remember before my little power spell went awry, power, and lots of it.  I felt someone grab hold of my arm just as I was about to finish up my spell, effectively disrupting the whole thing.  As I opened my eyes the energy began to disperse, a bit slower then I think it should have though.

"Adel?  What the hells do you think you're doing?"

"Never do that again Elryn.."  She stated a bit quietly, her voice sounding unusually grave.

"Do...what again?  I just did as you told me."  I smiled a bit at the thought.  "And it worked wonderfully, I've never felt that must power in a simple..."

"Never again Elryn, promise me!"  Adel practically demanded as though I had just done something horribly wrong.

"Geez Adel, you'd think I nearly killed myself again, I had complete control over that spell I'll have you kno..."  I trailed off a bit as a wave of dizziness hit me.  I could still feel the energy from the spell dispersing but seemed to feel weaker as it did so, as though it were taking more than I gathered with it.  Eryk was there by my side as I lost my balance, and I could see the worry on his and Violet's face as well, she looked like she wanted to say something, but was shushed by a glance from Adel.  ".... Okay, okay, I won't do that again until I figure out just what's causing it."  I told them with a defeated sigh.  My path of thought diverting away from things as I thought about what it could have been...could it be that my spell actually worked and this was the effect of it?  Maybe I hadn't blown myself up for no reason after all.

"Just going to lay in my arms all day Elryn?"  Eryk asked with a broad smile as he looked down at me, still of course in his arms in the position he caught me in.

"?!  I...no, of course not!"  I shot back to a standing position and turned so the others couldn't see the embarrassment on my face.  "Now come along, I thought we were going to get something to eat?"  I asked the group as I started walking away quickly.

Adel and Violet bid us both good night as they headed back to Tyra's, and myself and Eryk headed to the inn ourselves.  Here I was under the impression they were going to join us too.  Dinner that night was oddly peaceful...I was quite sure people had heard about the silly little duel I was to have with Vin, yet no one said anything.  They just smiled and greeted us as we entered the inn.  Not that I'm complaining of course, a little peace and quiet went a long way after the way these past few days have been going.  The whole night in general was nice and peaceful, we even ended the night with a little stargazing on the mountain.  I must have dozed off somewhere in our discussion as I don't remember all of what was said.  Although...I clearly remembered him laying me on my bed back home, and even the little kiss on the forehead he gave me.  He also said something before I finally dozed off, it didn't sound like I was meant to hear it, but I did all the same.  I slept better that night then I have for a long time now.

***

I awoke with a start the next morning and sat up panting heavily.  As quickly as I awoke memories of the dream faded from my mind.  Even in my sleep Elryn had me worrying about her...for a change it didn’t even seem necessary.  Her health seemed much better yesterday, and now with Violet I doubted she’d take quite so many risks with her magic.  Unless she decided to show off for her, oh gods that was just what I needed on my mind.

Trying to shake the thought from my mind I immediately headed off towards Tyra's to see how they were doing.  Along the way I bumped into Jura, she seemed to be in a hurry so it was hard to get much out of her except where I was to be today.  The work week had technically started the day before, students for the most part alternated school weeks and work, it was essentially how the town kept running as smoothly as it did.  To my surprise she just told me to help Tyra with her herb gathering today, then took off towards Mericks again with just a quick wave.  I was always terrible with herbs...

For the first time in my past few visits I actually got a chance to knock on Tyra's door before it was answered.  “Good morning Eryk.”  Said Adel as she motioned me in.

I gave her a smile as I walked in and towards the living room.  “Morning Adel, is Elryn awake yet?”  I asked hopefully.

She closed the door behind her and headed in after me.  “No, both her and Violet are asleep yet.”

“Oh, and Tyra?”

“Just woke up a few minutes ago, she’ll be down shortly.” Quietly she walked back into the living room and sat down, I followed a short ways behind her.  She gave me a little smile as I sat down as well.  “She looks so peaceful doesn’t she.  After how she reacted yesterday I was worried she wouldn’t accept her...but seeing them like that.”  I hadn’t been there when Elryn initially met Violet, but given how in shock she seemed to be about the matter I could only guess her reaction at first was bad.  That didn’t entirely surprise me though if it really was as unplanned as Elryn had said it was.  I still don't understand how that could be though, it completely goes against the normal workings of the spell.

A slight frown crossed her face and she quickly cut off the obvious question I was about to ask, she apparently wasn’t ready to talk about how she got it to work yet.  She however didn’t cut my words off with quite the response I had expected.  “Good morning Violet.”

Violet smiled and opened her eyes, she giggled a bit and shook her head as though in response to a question.  Adel meanwhile had her arms folded and a small smirk on her face, then made a quick motion with her hand.  The little girl carefully moved herself to the arm of the chair so as not to disturb Elryn then gave her a small hug and kiss on the cheek before hopping down and walking over to us.  Adel let out a rather sudden laugh as Violet climbed up onto the sofa with us, finally breaking the rather strange silence.  “Well?”  I looked at her confused for a moment, had she said something earlier and I just completely missed it?

“I already told you no.”  Adel finally said after a moment, then looked at me with a strange smile on her face.  “And besides I don’t know if Eryk would like that title, it makes him sound old.”

I scratched my head now thoroughly confused, I felt like I had just caught the tail end of a conversation here.  “...Title?  What makes me sound old?”

“Uncle Eryk does not sound old.”  The little girl hmphed and folded her arms in annoyance.  ‘Uncle Eryk’?  Didn’t think it made me sound that old, though I doubt being the friend of her mother exactly counted properly for the term, but it did have an interesting ring to.  “See?  SEE!  He does like it!  Told you so.”  With that she promptly stuck her tongue out at Adel.  

“You mean she can too...?”  I smacked my forehead when the realization actually hit me.  See, now that whole thing made a bit more sense, I actually ‘did’ miss a conversation.  If Adel could read thoughts so effectively I guess it only seemed to reason Violet could too.  They could hold a whole conversation with one another and never speak a word.  Come to think of it I think Elryn mentioned her abilities yesterday and here I went and forgot.

The both of them just got a good laugh out of it at my expense, have to give a guy some credit here, mind reading was new to me.  A child that could actually read her parents mind and vice versa, now that was surely handy.  For us poor normal folk however it was darn confusing.

Adel chuckled a bit as she got off the sofa, Violet following suit.  “Sure Violet, maybe we can have it ready before Tyra comes down.”  Still a smile on her face she turned towards me.  It was nice to see her smile so often, up until recently I had seen her do it so little.  She blushed slightly and quickly turned her head.  “Sorry about that Eryk, I’ll keep my end of conversations normal around you.”  She placed a hand on Violet’s head.  “You too young lady.”  Violet for her part just skipped off into the kitchen giggling, apparently more interested in whatever they were going to do then talking any further.

Elryn stirred in her sleep as the two of them exited the room.  Perhaps stirred was the wrong word, she fidgeted about, a lot.  I wondered if she was having a bad dream, with all the stress the poor girl has been through these past few days it wouldn’t surprise me.  I was rather startled by the feeling of a hand on my shoulder and quickly turned my head to see what it was.

“Little jumpy?”  Tyra said with a snicker.

“Gods Tyra...I didn’t even see you come down.”

“Of course not, you’ve been staring at her the past few minutes.  Glad to see she’s still sleeping soundly, she needs the rest if she’s to get better.”

I hadn’t even realized I was staring until Tyra mentioned it.  She always looked so peaceful asleep, a far cry from what she was like when awake, even when she was as sick as she was now.  Guaranteed that despite what’s happened she’d be up and about the moment she woke up.

She slowly made her way around the sofa and to her usual chair.  “So what have they been up to since you arrived?”

“Hm?  Oh, not much, Violet just woke up a few minutes ago.  I’m not quite sure what they’re up to now...”

In response to that Violet peeked her head out from the doorway and with that little smile she usually had simply said.  “Mommy’s showing me how to make tea.”  I could hear both Tyra and Adel chuckle a bit as she ducked quickly back into the kitchen.

“....I don’t think I’m ever going to get used to that.”  I added as I scratched my head slightly, unable to hold back a quiet laugh of my own.

A broad smile crossed Tyra’s face.  “Reminds me a lot of when I found Adel, she wasn’t much older than Violet is now.  You get used to it eventually, you reacted better when you learned the truth than I did the first time.”  She looked over towards Elryn a moment as she muttered something unintelligible in her sleep.  “But perhaps we can finish this later, I don’t want to wake her.”  She sat back in the chair and folded her arms in her lap, glancing at the kitchen every now and then with a strange little smile across her lips.

I as well just sat quietly for the next couple of minutes, although my gaze occasionally wandered to the sleeping Elryn.  Sleeping soundly as ever, I swear the only thing that slept more soundly than that girl were the dead themselves.  Although watching her fidget around the way she had been the past few minutes made me question that a bit.  Sure she was still asleep, but there was no way of knowing what was going on in whatever dream she was clearly having.  I just hoped whatever it was it wasn’t like what I had been having the past two days.  I couldn’t even remember them clearly and they gave me the creeps.

Both myself and Tyra turned our heads at the sound of a quiet ‘ahem’ from behind us.  In the doorway of the kitchen stood Adel with her arms raised.  At having the attention of both of us she elegantly swept her arms towards the kitchen as if announcing someone, just without the verbal announcement.  Little surprise that she had likely heard Tyra’s note about not wanting to wake Elryn.  Wordlessly, yet very proudly, Violet paraded into the room with a small tray on which sat four small cups.  Adel sat down near Tyra as Violet set the tray on the table and handed out a cup to each of us before taking her seat next to her mother.

“There’s a few things we’re almost out of.”  Adel finally said, if a little quietly, after a few minutes of general silence.  “We should head out soon so we’re finished before it gets too late.”

“I had nearly forgotten about that." Tyra said as she sat down her cup.  "We can leave in a little bit then, would you care to join us Eryk?”

I looked up and over at then both a moment a tad surprised.  Really only came as a surprise since they knew as well as I did that I was never particularly good with herbs.  “Um, well...”  I glanced over at Elryn slightly.  “I guess I could for a bit.  Jura had told me to any way.”  I added quietly, feeling a bit awkward that I was making it sound less like I wanted to and more like an order.  Adel just sort of snickered a little at that last thought.

Violet gathered up the empty cups and gave her mother, well...Adel, a questioning look.  It was still going to take me some time to get used to the idea of Elryn as a mother.  I watched Violet for a moment as she wandered into the kitchen with the tray of empty cups, a slight spring to her step as she went and humming to herself quietly.  Interestingly it sounded like the same tune I had heard Adel humming last night.  Tyra excused herself and followed her into the kitchen, while Adel went up to her room to get a clean dress for Violet.  Apparently Tyra had hung onto the old ones Adel used to wear as a child.

Tyra and Violet came back in a few minutes later, although Violet promptly ran upstairs while Tyra escorted me outside.  “Shouldn’t we wake her first?”  I asked as we made our way outside.

She just shook her head.  “Let her rest a bit longer, she’ll probably have a long day ahead of her.  It’ll just be you and Adel along with me, we figured it best Violet spend the day with Elryn today.”

“Elryn alone with a young, impressionable, girl hm?  I don’t know who to worry for more.”  I understood their reasoning but I just couldn’t help myself.

“Scary thought isn’t it?”   She snickered slightly.  “It really is for the best that Elryn has some time to bond with her.  Now come along, Adel will be with us a little later on.”  She handed me a small pouch and started off into the forest, I of course followed closely behind.  It was around noon by time we set out, the cool breeze more noticeable amidst the trees where less sun filtered through.  We reached one of her little garden areas a short time later.  It was one of several she had planted about the islands, as with the rest of the fields on the islands they carried an enchantment to help them grow better.  The town relied on its fields to provide most of the food for the island so they each carried some pretty hefty enchantments to make sure they grew well and in any weather.  Tyra's were her own doing of course, but used the same idea.

We both spent the next hour or so carefully gathering up what she wanted.  Well...she did most of the gathering, more often than not I could do little but watch as she taught me how to go about it properly.  Only leaves from this one, the stem from that one, what part was good and what was not.  At least I did finally begin to get the hang of what was usable and how to go about gathering it properly.  It was a lot more meticulous and time consuming then I had thought it would be.

And then, just as I thought I had learned the names and such of what was in this patch Tyra got to her feet and dusted herself off.  “All done here, now on to the next one.”

“...Next one?  Isn’t this enough?”  I asked motioning to what we had collected thus far.  Which in all fairness did seem like quite a lot.

“Oh heavens no.  Remember I’ve got a whole town to attend to while the clerics are out, Aruc likes his share too for the cooks.”  She added with a smile.  It had slipped my mind she also supplied the inn with herbs for cooking.

As we proceeded to the next little garden area her pace slowed slightly and she spoke up rather suddenly.  “What do you think of all this Eryk?  You've seemed a bit distracted.”

“Herbalism was never one of my strong points before, so this is all very interesting.”  I told her quietly.   She was as usual, correct.  There was a lot on my mind right now, most of them related to the events of the past few days.  Silly little things I shouldn't be worrying about, but was.  I tried telling myself everything would be okay, she seems to have fully recovered from hers, and Adel's spell, her health was gradually improving, and she was even a....mother.

She chuckled softly.  “No I mean about Elryn and Violet.”

“Oh...  I’m happy for them both.”

“I didn’t ask how you felt for them," she pointed out.  "What do you yourself think of it all?”

I blinked a moment rather unsure how to respond, I didn’t even notice that my pace had slowed to nearly a halt.  In truth I hadn’t thought too much about it in depth...I was happy for Adel and Elryn, but how did I really feel about it?  I guess I just wasn’t sure...

“That’s what I thought.”  She said quietly, interpreting my silence as my answer.  “You two are still as close as ever you know, that little girl doesn’t change anything between you both.  None of this does.”

“I know, I guess...I just need a bit more time to sort it all out myself.  It wasn’t exactly the kind of thing I expected, will just take some time to get used to.”  I replied with a little smile.  “There were a lot of things I expected from Elryn, little about that girl I’m sure could surprise me any more, but this...”  My voice trailed off slightly as I tried to think what else to say, as it was I was having a hard time tossing together anything coherent.

“You were hoping the first child she’d create would be with you, right?”  Tyra slipped in with a slight chuckle.

“Yes now that I think about it..but she has Violet now...”  I idly muttered, not even entirely realizing what it was I said until I had said it.  I stared blankly at Tyra for a moment, she just giggled and I quickly turned my head in embarrassment.  “I..I mean, maybe one day, but we...”

“Yes dear, you’re just friends...you both have been saying that for years now.”  She giggled again and rested her arm on my shoulder, urging me to continue walking.

“But it’s not just that, or not now anymore.”

“Ahh, this is about what I overheard you say to Adel last night?”

“Kind of...”  I trailed off a bit, realizing I had done it again.

“Loves not only blind, it apparently doesn’t pay much attention either.”  She added with a laugh.  I decided then it was best to just remain quiet for a while, my brain was conspiring against me today.  Worse yet I didn’t even know she had heard any of that, I don’t think I’d have said anything if I knew anyone could have heard me.  “Ok dear I’ll drop the matter for a bit.”  I just silently nodded a little and picked up my pace.

I remained fairly silent as we walked to the next garden area and went about our collecting.  The random things running through my mind earlier had turned into a large jumbled mess of thoughts now and I was having trouble making sense of any of them right now.  I tried my best to shake them from my head and concentrate on something different.  There was too much going on right now to worry about silly little things like that.  Elryn had enough things to worry about now, she didn’t need me complicating matters more.  I seemed to be thinking that a lot lately, wasn’t I...

“Tyra?”  I asked as we were on our way to the next patch.  It was already well into the afternoon by now, I had not even realized how long we’ve been out here today.  I wondered how Elryn was faring with Violet...and where Adel was, I had expected her to have joined us by now.  She looked over at me curiously but didn’t immediately say anything.  “There’s something has been bothering me.  It’s about Violet.”

“Go on...”  She rather quietly answered, I think she knew already what I was going to ask.

“Have either of them told you anything else about Violet's creation?  I can’t get it out of my head how surprised Elryn has been about the whole ordeal, that just shouldn’t be right.”

The look that crossed her face told me more then enough.  “Well you’d do good to try, you’re liable to hurt Adel and Violet if you think too much on it.”  Despite the annoyed tone the look in her eyes betrayed her, the same thing had clearly been bothering her too.  She let out a deep sigh and just continued her work with the herbs for a few minutes, I figured in that time it was best to just help and not say anything more.

Stowing the last bit of what she gathered in her pouch she sat back and just stared up into the trees with a long sigh.  “I’m sorry Eryk...”  She said quietly.  “I’ve thought the same thing, and I can see a hurt look in Adel’s eyes every time she picks them up."

“I don’t mean to cause and any trouble by it, honestly.  I’m just trying to understand how it all happened.  It might put my mind at ease a little.”

“I know, I just want to see them happy...I haven’t seen Adel this happy in years.  I honestly don’t think either of them knows just what happened.  It’s a complicated spell and no one's really quite sure about all its workings, but it apparently picked up something in Elryn strong enough to work.”

As curious as I was, seeing the look in her eyes as she talked convinced me maybe it was for the better to just not pry too much.  At least, not yet, there would surely be a time in the future when they’d wish to talk about it more.  “If you don’t mind my asking, how long have you known Adel for anyway?”  I quietly asked, hoping to perhaps take her mind, and maybe mine as well, off the present subject for a little bit.

“Well, I found her when I was about...”  She trailed off slightly and chuckled.  “Let’s just say I’ve known her long enough.  But if you want to know more you really should ask her, it’s not my part to go telling tales about her past.  She was comfortable enough to let you know what she could do but aside from...”

“Go on mom, you can tell him.”  We both jumped, startled by the sudden voice from behind us.  “I’m more a part of their lives now then I think any of us expected, and I already know a lot about them,  it’s only fair they know about me.  You tell it better than me anyway.”

“Oh!  Adel, I didn’t even know you had caught up to us.”  Tyra said a bit sheepishly.

Adel giggled a bit as walked up with a smile on her face and hugged Tyra.  She quietly whispered something in her ear before letting go.  “I’ll be up ahead in the next patch, take your time.”  Adel said before she started off into the forest.

She gave me a small knowing smile as she walked by me and I looked to Tyra as she disappeared into the forest.  “I hope she isn’t upset with me.”

"Sneaky little..."  Tyra for her part just chuckled lightly and shook her head.  “It’s hard to hurt the feelings of someone who knows the true motivations behind what you say.”  Was all she said on the matter.  I guess she was right, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t possible all the same.  “But as everyone knows Adel isn’t my natural daughter, I actually found her abandoned some years back.  Huddled in an alley, curled up in a little ball and doing little but whimpering.  It took me a while to get anything out of her but it seems her parents had just...left her.  I didn’t know for how long but judging from how tattered and dirty her clothes were it seemed like she had been out there for a while.”

“That’s horrible...”  I muttered as I listened to her story.  I guess I had never really thought too much about just how Adel wound up with Tyra, I had always sort of figured she was adopted perhaps.  It never occurred to me that her parents could have just up and left her to fend for herself.

“Isn’t it...how parents could create a child and just abandon her is beyond me.  Suffice it to say I wound up taking her along with me that day, although it was a while before I learned what she could do...or even about her eyes.  When I first found her she kept her eyes closed when she was near me.  Although I’d catch sight of them every now and then from a distance when she didn’t know I was looking,  initially I had thought she was blind.  It was sort of silly really since she seemed to make her way around as well as any sighted person, but at the time that never really occurred to me.”

“I hope you took it a bit better then I did at least...”  I said with a small sheepish smile.  While I hadn’t exactly screamed and ran away when I first saw them up close, it was disturbing the first time none the less.  And knowing what I do now, more so that she knew what I thought, embarrassed didn’t even vaguely describe how I felt about it now.

She chuckled slightly but continued.  “I doubt it.  I was a bit surprised when she did open them finally near me, she was in my lap and we were laughing about something, she had hugged me and when she let go she was staring up at me with those eyes of hers.  From a distance one would think she was simply blind...but even a blind eye has the same structure as a seeing one.  Hers are just, devoid of everything, two small spheres of flawless white.”  She sighed and shook her head a moment before continuing.  I had to admit though that was a rather pretty way to describe her eyes.  “It took me some time to calm her down after the look I likely gave her and the thoughts that must have run through my head.  I must have seemed so horrible back then...”

“You said so yourself though, it’s hard to hurt the feelings of someone who really knows your true thoughts.”

She smiled a little as she got to her feet and dusted herself off.  “Perhaps, but she was still just a child.  I’m not sure why she was left alone, but I think she was afraid I might do the same.  Now come along, it’s getting late and we don’t want to keep her waiting too long.”

As we walked she continued her tale, from just general travels to when Adel first let Tyra know of her abilities.  She apparently didn’t wait all that long to let on about them, but then such trust is easy with someone like Tyra.  It was also shortly after that that Tyra found out Adel really had little control over them, which was the main reason she was always so timid.  It was quite a refreshing surprise to see her true personality once Tyra learned she could help her adoptive daughter block out all the extra noise.  Not all of them however were so nice, she brought up the point of what really strong emotions did to Adel...and while they usually didn’t matter in a small town where the rest of the noise actually helped in that respect, somewhere where there is a strong emotion shared by many was usually unpleasant.  She didn’t go into too much detail on that but a passing note, choosing to stick primarily to the good stuff.  Adel was laughing quietly as we approached one of the last few garden areas.  She smiled and stood up as she saw us.

“What’s so funny?”  Tyra asked as we entered the little clearing, momentarily halting what she was saying to me about how her and Adel came to this island in the first place.  Apparently it had something to do with Jura.  The two of them always did seem rather close.

She snickered a little before speaking.  “Just talking to Violet, seems they’re both having fun.”  She said with a broad smile.  “I’m glad....I was so worried when we left the house.  Yesterday Elryn was so...I just didn’t know what to think.”

Tyra laughed and just hugged Adel.  “You know as well as I do she’s in excellent hands dear.”

“I know, but I can’t help it...  Although, I think I should worry more for Elryn.”  She added with a small grin, then handed Tyra a small basket with what she had collected.  “I’m going to take Eryk for a bit ok?  Think I’ll go see how Violet and Elryn are doing, she told me to bring him too.”  She grabbed my arm and started walking away without even waiting for her verbal reply, or any objection I may have had.  ...Who was I kidding, I wanted to see her too much to even consider objecting.

Tyra waved and put away what Adel had given her and began heading back to the house.  “Have fun!”  She called as we walked away in the opposite direction, towards the beach apparently.  Adel opted to take the long way around instead of cutting right through town, as expected it seemed Violet’s appearance caused quite a commotion and she felt she best avoid it for the time being.

She slowed to a halt as we walked out from among the trees and caught sight of Violet and Elryn on the beach.  Adel snickered a little as the little girl walked away from Elryn, but as she started to apparently cast a spell of some kind a look of complete confusion fell across Adel’s face for a moment.

“What’s wrong?”

“N..nothing, all the commotion back at town must have my eyes playing tricks on me.”  She rubbed at her eyes a moment and continued walking.  Violet charging up to us before I could press the matter any.

I was a bit surprised to see her casting anything at all with how she’s felt lately, although she did seem to be doing much better today.  Figured she was probably here showing off for Violet, but to my surprise the little girl told me, quite adamantly, that it was her idea.  After pressing the matter, she told me something else I didn’t at all expect.  Or maybe, something inside did...I had thought of her most of the day, hells she’s been on my mind more lately than anyone.  So why would I think it so surprising she did too?  And yet, I was too embarrassed to even say anything on the matter.  In fact despite what part of my mind was telling me, I didn’t even move to shush Violet when she clearly started to tell Elryn that same thing about me.  Adel didn’t seem even vaguely as happy at the news as Elryn did, the smile she had....

I turned away quickly and changed the subject as she looked over at me, trying me best to hide my own and the embarrassment that was clearly on my face yet.  That was about the time Violet broke some news I wasn’t nearly as happy to hear.

“You challenged him to a duel?!”  Were the first words out of my mouth, no even Elryn wouldn’t do that in her shape, I had to have heard something wrong.

“I did no such thing!”  She shot back, then lowered her head slightly and looked off towards town.  “...He challenged me...”  She continued, lowering her head a little bit more but with a small smile now across her lips.  “...And after I broke his nose, I had to accept."  Elryn gave Violet a glance as she finished off the sentance.  Violet just looked up and giggled.

I stood speechless a moment, I guess I was glad she didn't instigate it, but that little part about breaking his nose caught me completely off guard.  "You...  What would even make you do such a thing Elryn?"  I had never seen her even vaguely angry enough to strike someone before, none the less break their nose.

"What did you expect me to do after he had the nerve to stand there and insult myself and my daughter?  I...just snapped, I couldn't help it."

A frown fell across my face as I heard that, it was so unlike her.  "Are you sure you're okay Elryn?  Maybe you should take a day to just rest, you've had so little chance to."

"Yes yes, I'm fine, really I am."  She motioned towards the rocks with a large smile.  "But don’t you see Eryk, I can even use my magic now, isn’t it great?!"

"That's not the point Elryn!"  I sighed and calmed myself at the look on her face.

“It’s not like I can actually get hurt you know, exhaustions the worst that might happen, and I’m more careful then that.”

“With how you’ve been lately careful might not be good enough Elryn.  He might not be able to hurt you, but you could wind up hurting yourself.”  After all she's been through I shouldn't be so harsh on her for being so happy she could use her magic at last.  And I guess, all things considered, she seemed happy about this whole ordeal nonetheless.  I've spent the past few days doing nothing but worrying about her, maybe it was time I let up a little.  “Just promise me you’ll be careful, ok?”  I stated quietly with a noteable sigh.

“I’ll be...  Wait, what?”  She looked up at me with what I can only say was complete shock, only for a brief moment though, it was quickly replaced with a smile.  “I’m always careful, you know that.  So you don’t mind after all?”

'Yes Elryn I mind horribly.' Or that’s what I wish I could have said but I couldn’t bring myself to.  Despite her reassuraces, the only things I could think of were the absolute worst case scenarios.  Had this happened before her accident I'd have probably been just as enthusiastic about it as she was, but now and with what's happened the past few days.  I guess it's just had me a bit on edge all around.  It was about then Adel spoke up at last, her and Violet had been unusually quiet through this whole thing so far.

"It's getting late, perhaps we should call it a day."

Violet pulled on her robe a moment to get her attention.  "Wait, I want you to see mommy's magic!  It does something yours and uncle Eryk's doesn't."  Something mine doesn't?  The spell she cast earlier looked like any normal spell to me.  "No really, it does!  Come on mommy, show them."  She said with a tug to Elryn's robe.

"I don't know, I'm really tired."  Elryn responded with a yawn.

"Could you please Elryn?  I'd like to see too." Adel chimed in with a noticeably curious tone to her voice.

I just looked at them a little oddly, wondering what they were talking about.  I was sure everything looked normal  "Eh what harm could one more spell do Elryn, I'm kind of curious to see what they're talking about."

She gave me an odd look, sighed, and looked towards the rocks.

"And Elryn, this time try concentrating on the energy a bit more, but be careful with it."  Adel told her right before she began.  That was a rather odd thing to say, the look on Elryn's face basically said the same thing.

Elryn started casting the spell, it was a rather involved incantation so clearly she was trying for something a bit more powerful, and the fact she had her eyes closed as she casted just confirmed the confidence she had that she wasn't going to miss.  Violet had a large smile on her face as she watched her mother casting the spell.  Adel's however was harder to read, it started out as a smile but quickly faded over the few seconds the spell would take to complete.  Even stranger still she looked like she was squinting just before she reached out and grabbed Elryn's arm.  She demanded to know why but Adel never gave an answer, instead demanding that she never do that again, her voice was more forceful and grave then I ever expected from her.  Elryn started to say something in response to a comment but suddenly wavered, as I ran over and caught her I began to think perhaps Adel's warning was well founded.  Which was why I was glad she agreed to not do so again, even if she included that part about understanding it.

She headed off to town quickly after pulling herself from my arms.  Adel and Violet bid us both good night as we made our way to the inn for a quiet dinner.  If not a little small, whatever Tyra had given her was apparently wearing off and that pretty much killed her appetite.  To make up for the short dinner I suggested we spend a little time stargazing instead, we hadn't done that for a long time now.  She eagerly jumped at the chance.

As we reached the top I took a seat and leaned back, looking up at the sky.  Elryn on the otherhand unceremoniously plopped herself onto the ground next to me and yawned as she looked up with me.  We spoke for a little bit about a lot of nothing and gradually the conversation slowed down as the need to sleep was quickly overtaking us both.

"We should just sleep up here tonight..."  She finally said after a long silence, leaning her head on my arm and letting out a rather long yawn.  "Don't think I've got the energy to make it back to town."

"Guess I'll have to carry you back then."  I mused

She just laid there quietly, oddly enough she didn't protest to that threat.  Roughly ten minutes later I was on the verge of carrying out that threat.  Elryn had been laying here with her eyes closed and nothing else said for some time now, but just as I started to stand she suddenly spoke.  I wasn't actually sure if she was awake or talking in her sleep.  "My arm itches..."  She said rather quietly, a hint of annoyance drifting into her voice.  I didn't even give it a second thought as I reached down ad scratched her arm lightly, given the position she was laying in it would have been impossible to do so herself.  "The other one..." She casually added in the same tired tone

I absentmindedly moved my hand to what remained of her shoulder on that side, and chuckled lightly as I thought she almost actually got me to fall for that.  "Very funny Elryn."

She shifted positions a little before responding, I still wasn't sure if she was awake or not, it wouldn't be the first time I've had a conversation with her in her sleep.  "Annoying thing still hurts sometimes..."  I gently ran my hand over her shoulder and down her side.  She generally remained quiet about things relating to her arm to me.  And this was certainly the first time I ever heard anything like this.  "Reminds me what I no longer have..."  Even with her tone as sleep heavy as it was, the saddness in that last phrase was clear as day.  She never spoke much of her arm, always seemed as though she took its loss amazingly well to me.  I could never shake the feeling that maybe it was just a show she put in so as not to worry me more.

 I put my arms around her and sighed slightly.  "Come on now Elryn, I should get you back to town"  She muttered an unintelligeable response before I moved.  Positioning myself so it was easier to hoist her onto my back, easier to carry her like that than otherwise down the hill.  To further prove she was probably just talking in her sleep, she didn't even put up a fight as I did it.

When we reached Merick's a short time later I let myself in and laid her on her bed before issuing a quiet "Good night." and a light kiss to the forehead.  I sighed a little as I looked at her laying there so peacefully.  "Imagine the gloating we'll hear from people when they find out they've been right..."  I said quietly, more to myself then her.  I nearly fell off the edge of the bed when I heard someone chuckle behind us.

"What are you still doing here so late?"  I asked Jura once we were out of Elryn's room.  Ugh and to think she just heard me say all that.

"Watching the drama between you and your one armed love."  I tried to say something but after what she had just heard, I had no retort that was even halfway believable.  She smiled and continued.  "I was just about to leave for the night when you two came in, took me longer to find what I wanted than I thought...and I still haven't found enough."  She stated with a grumble.

"I'm surprised you found anything at all in this mess.  Need to get some sleep myself, busy day tomorrow I'm sure."  I peered back at Elryn's room and sighed.  "Just hope she doesn't get herself hurt."  Jura gave me a rather puzzled look that asked the obvious question on her mind for her..  "You haven't heard?"

"No, tell me."

"She accepted a duel with that idiot Vin, can you believe it?  I can't believe I didn't put up more of an argument then I did..."

Jure looked at me, her expression a mixture of what I can only figure was shock and anger about something.  "Good night Eryk, I've got a few people to kill."  Was all she said as she ran out the door grumbling things under her breath.  I tried to shake Jura's reaction from my head as I walked home.  Elryn took her place in my mind quite nicely as I layed down for the night.  Silly girl's put me though more worry than anyone deserves to, and yet I still...  My thoughts trailed off as the last bits of consciousness slipped from my grasp.

***

The door to the council room flew open with such noise it may as well have been kicked down.  Jura stomped across the room and slammed a little book on the table, her angry gaze was met by two of the remaining four elders sitting around it.  The others would be glad they had been out when they returned later that evening.  "I can't believe you allowed her to do this, and without even consulting me about it!  She is in absolutely no condition to be using any kind of magic heavily.  Call the whole thing off, right this instant!"

Cai and Sorec both gave her a surprised look as she proceeded to yell at them for the days events,.  "That wasn't what I saw earlier Jura."  If looks could kill there'd have been nothing left of poor Sorec as he spoke up and received her glare.  "Her and the little one, Violet I believe her name is, were practicing quite contentedly down at the beach, and I saw no problems with her."

"Such a cute little girl, isn't she.  None of us saw the harm in it Jura."  Cai said in hopes to try and calm her down a little.  "She has  been recovering from her illness quite nicely these past few days, and seems perfectly strong enough for a little duel."

"Except she's not sick!" Jura shot back.  "I've shown you plenty of evidence that backs up my claim, it's even the reason she's here."

"We're just not sure enough of that Jura, her symptoms could still simply be any number of common illnesses.  And you know as well as I do Merick didn't go looking for her."  Sorec stated rather matter of factly.  "He's just too good a man to have left a girl starving in the streets."

"Need I remind you of what we found while looking through the debris from her spell?"  She replied, seemingly ignoring his points.

"No, and need I remind you none of it was conclusive?  It was such a jumbled mess of runes, and so many of them destroyed, if she hadn't told us we wouldn't even know what she was trying to accomplish."

Cai coughed lightly and broke in before Jura decided to hurt Sorec.  She was a stubborn women and didn't like to admit she might be wrong about anything.  While Sorec was almost just as stubborn, just he relied strictly on what the facts showed him and not wishful thinking, as he put it.  The fact of the matter was, Jura was usually right about these things, and that had him a bit troubled.  Yet he had to stick to what they knew, they'd worry too many people needlessly if they panicked over unconfirmed theories.  "He does have a point Jura, the one you were looking was killed, and there's really not enough left of her little room to be positive of anything."  He cringed at the look she gave him.

"There's no children in town named Violet." Jura said pointedly, growing more agitated over their insistence that she was wrong, and that little tidbit of information just hit her as not even making sense.  She made a point of knowing everyone on the island, presently there were no children on the island.

"Had you not spent all day looking for evidence of wishful thinking, you'd know there now is Jura."

Jura was simply livid after that comment, she struck the table out of anger, grabbed her book, and stormed out of the room, making it a point to slam the door behind her.  "You're really going to get yourself hurt by her one of these days doing things like that."  Cai commented to Sorec as he ran out after her.

"That self centered son of a...  After all this, all we've seen, he still refuses to believe what he can't see!"  She shouted at no one in particular and pitched the little book against the door.  Cai barely ducked out of the way in time.  "And you!  Standing up for him and going on about people that don't exist, what the hells were you thinking Cai?!"

"Calm down Jura, please..."  He said softly.  "I'm just not sure of it, and don't want to worry either Elryn or Eryk more then they probably already are until we know for sure."

"That's fine, I don't want to worry them either, and we need not tell her why we aren't allowing it."  Jura said with a notable sigh, it was easy being angry at Sorec, but Cai was a bit harder.  "But you don't have to go making up stories on me, I wasn't created yesterday!"

"Violet was though..."  He pointed out with a small grin.

"You'd better start making sense old man, or I won't miss next time."  She demanded as she picked another book off a nearby table.

Cai asked her to sit down before he started, then proceeded to tell her everything he knew about Violet, and the circumstances around her creation.  Jura seemed noticeably agitated by it all, although she was smiling quite broadly, there was many other things clearly running through her mind.

"You just proved my point, thank you."  She was dragging him towards the door as she spoke.

"Wha...but how?"

"Just go, I've got work to do."

"And the duel tomorrow?"  He asked just before she closed the door on him.

Jura grumbled something under her breath but realized this wasn't an argument she could win.  "Fine, do as you all please.  But rest assured Cai if she or her child is hurt tomorrow because none of you would listen to me, you'll regret it till the end of your days."  She closed the door before he had a chance to respond, picked up the book she tossed, and seated herself at a small desk to finish up her research with this latest bit of news.