"A War Across Time- ch.2" by Carla K. Anderson

      “Arian?” I called breathlessly a mark later. My teacher appeared at the door almost instantly, her concern tangible in the air around her. I blinked in surprise.

      “What happened, Willow? Is something wrong?” I nodded.

      “Can I come in? I need to show you something.” Arian stepped aside to let me in, then entered herself and closed the door.

      Once I was sitting at Arian’s small round table, a steaming cup of tea in front of me, I began my story, starting with the gossip I had heard. Arian’s expression never changed, but the air around her reflected something that I knew was astonishment, and when I mentioned that the dragon had called his gift a ‘Dream Pearl,’ she gave a start and grew visibly excited. I finished my story by holding out the Pearl, and Arian peered carefully at it.

      “Willow,” she said after a moment of thought, “I believe that the effect you described is an aura.” Seeing my puzzled look, Arian elaborated. “Auras are intangible forces that reflect a creature’s emotions. They have always existed, but can only be ‘seen’ or sensed by mages and some magical creatures, including dragons. I think that dragons’ Dream Pearls absorb some of their owner’s qualities, so now you, too, can sense auras. In all of the history I know, however, never has a dragon granted such a gift to a human.” I nodded thoughtfully. But why would I have been given such a rare offering?

      In the silence that followed, Arian got up and glanced out the window. “Goodness! It’s gotten late! You’d best run along, dear, or your Aunt will get mad.” I fastened the delicate silver chain around my neck, tucking the Pearl safely under the high collar of my plain tunic, and picked up the basket filled with the food Aunt Celia had sent me to buy.

      “Goodbye, Arian, and thank you!” I set off down the path as Arian stood at the window and waved.

      As I reached the door to my house, my cousin Bella met me outside. I saw enviously that she was already in her formal dress, clean and neat, while I was rather rumpled from a day’s hard work. Of course, I didn’t envy her taste in clothes. If I were wearing a dress that had as low a neck as her ruby-colored silk did I would have been ashamed to appear in public.

      “Where were you, Willow? Xenes will be here in an hour, and Mother needs help in the kitchen.” I bit back several answers before they came out, knowing they would only get me in more trouble, and looked steadily at my cousin instead. To my surprise, her aura was tinged with a strange shadow. “Well?” Bella demanded. I shook my head quickly to clear it, and answered quickly as I went inside,

      “Oh, there were a lot of people in the Square; I suppose everyone’s excited about the General’s arrival.” Bella seemed satisfied, for she let me pass without protest. Once I had handed the market basket to my aunt, who waited in the kitchen, I retreated gratefully to my room.

      After a quick bath, I put the tunic I had been wearing in the laundry and took out of the small closet my only fancy dress— a gown of fine, pale gray cotton lightly embroidered with white silk around the collar. Slightly old fashioned, but attractive nonetheless. Not that I wanted to look nice for a Dragonbane General, but of course Aunt would fuss if I didn’t honor the household. To that I added my prized possession- a white silk sash. Finally I fastened the silver chain back around my neck, making sure the Dream Pearl it supported was well hidden, and pulled back my hair into a single, glossy black braid that fell nearly to my waist. Perhaps it was not as stylish as Bella’s elaborate coils, but it was much more practical.

      When I returned to the dining room, Aunt Celia was waiting. I knew she was looking at me in faint distaste, and I kept my eyes downcast.

      “Willow, put some flowers on the table, and my best silver. The food is in the kitchen, but don’t put it out until Xenes arrives.” I glanced up to say something properly agreeable, but the words froze on my tongue as I concentrated on my aunt’s aura. It was completely covered in a cloying shadow that overwhelmed me with a sense of wrongness. She swept upstairs to dress before I could recover from my surprise, so I pushed the thought from my mind and instead concentrated on bringing out the silver and setting the table before I sought solace in the garden to find some flowers.

      After I’d had some time to calm down, I decided that the best thing would be to see Arian once more after dinner. That settled, I looked down thoughtfully at the garden, then out into the forest that began at the back of Aunt’s house. Just beyond the fringe I spotted several clumps of bright orange blossoms. Their common name was ‘starflower,’ but Arian had told that long ago they were called ‘dragonflames,’ and symbolized immortality. I smiled mischievously, and a sense of irony impelled me to cut these flowers to adorn the table the General would grace tonight. A silent rebuke that no one would understand but me.

      Almost as soon as I had returned, Xenes arrived. Bella paraded down the stairs, golden bracelets chiming together. She had added a golden filigree necklace studded with rubies to her outfit, but it did little to hide what her dress exposed. I opened the door at the General’s knock, my head down modestly. Aunt Celia appeared a moment later as Xenes was still bowing over Bella’s hand. She was in her festival dress, a very matronly, wide-skirted gown of golden velvet, a cascade of creamy lace at her neck. “Shall we go to the table?” she asked sweetly. Xenes bowed to her, also, and with barely a nod for me, took Bella’s arm and led her into the dining room. Aunt followed them, her shadowed aura reflecting annoyance.

      I sat down with a plate of my own as soon as I had served everyone else, but once I got one good look at Xenes, I would have rather eaten in the kitchen. He was sinisterly handsome, in thin leather breeches, and chain mail, mostly covered by his black and silver tunic, but his aura was purely evil. Looking once more at Aunt Celia and Bella, I saw that the shadows in their auras likewise showed the evil in them. The sense of corruption seemed to thicken in the very air of the house, and every nerve in my body strained against remaining. I didn’t linger at the table, and instead rose as soon as I had finished my small helping and silently cleared the table. In the kitchen, I put the dishes in the tub of soapy water and leaned against the counter. Try as I might, I couldn’t block out the sound of voices from the dining room, Bella’s high and affected, Xenes’ a deep answering rumble.

      “So I hear you caught another serpent, my lord.”

      “Yes, but the creature died before we could question it.” Xenes sounded regretful, and I burned with fury. Suddenly coming to a decision, I slipped up to my room, changed hurriedly into a dark cloth tunic, and went out the back door, headed for Arian’s house, running to escape the atmosphere of evil.

      “Arian?” I called once more, softly. My teacher appeared almost instantly at the doorway, her aura tinged with concern.

      “Willow? What is it?” I hurried inside, not even bothering to sit at the table before telling her all I had learned.

      “Should I leave? Run away, somewhere?” I had been raised in Thornsgate, and Celia and Bella the only relations I knew, however unhappy I was with them. Arian’s expression grew thoughtful, then decisive.

      “Willow, the decision is yours, but I need to tell you something before you decide. Your aunt came to Thornsgate a few years after my husband died. Bella was only two years old, and a year before Celia left to find you, the war began to grow more intense. When she returned, I remembered thinking how little she seemed to care that her sister had died, and such disregard she showed you. And in the days following, the cliffs echoed with the sound of dragon voices, as though they were mourning an important loss.” Arian sighed, and her voice grew softer. “I remember your mother. I taught her, and she never mentioned any relatives to me.” I looked up, startled, but Arian only nodded and continued. “Before the war began, she would always wander the cliff tops, watching the dragons fly above her. I believe she might have even talked to one before. I lost track of her when she met your father, and then, before I knew it, Keray was dead, and you were here.”

      “So,” I said slowly, “You don’t think Celia was really my mother’s sister—but then—why would she go to such trouble to adopt me?” Arian rolled her shoulders slightly.

      “That’s the question, isn’t it,” she replied.

      I sat in silence for a moment, rolling the Dream Pearl idly between my fingers as Arian hummed softly, an old country tune I recognized. Once more the fleeting wisp of a melody floated through my mind.

      “Wait…” I said. Arian fell silent. I hummed the few notes that I could remember from the song of a moment ago. “Do you recognize that?” I asked hopefully. Arian shook her head.

      “No, child… I’m sorry.” She looked at me in sympathy, and then her eyes widened. “Willow, look at your pearl!”

      I looked down. The Dream Pearl was glowing.