Tempering earth, p.8
Tempering Earth, page 8
“How long did I sleep?” I asked, sleep still thick in my voice and wishing I had a really large glass of water right then.
“Nearly eighteen hours, Duxa. Lord Derek has directed us to stay here until the time for the Council tomorrow evening. He would come himself, but feels it would be best to wait until then,” he told me, not quite making eye contact.
I wasn’t all that surprised by how long I’d slept, but was a little concerned with the way he was acting around me. “Is everything okay, Alexander?” He’d been weird with me the day before, but I’d chalked that up to a post-fight weirdness. There still seemed to be something off, though.
“It is not my place to say anything, Duxa.”
“Well, considering that you helped save my bacon yesterday, I think you have the right to say whatever you want.”
He looked at me for a minute before speaking. “I have a question about your behavior during yesterday’s fight. Why did you let Kaylus live?”
My head, which only moments ago had still been a little groggy with sleep, flashed back to my hand, sticky with a dead man’s blood and holding a black spike firmly against Kaylus’ throat. I rubbed my hand on the fabric of my pants, stopping only when I saw Alexander’s eyes soften at the gesture.
He sat down on the bed next to me, not close enough to touch, but like he wanted to comfort me.
“Della,” he started, using my name for the first time that I could think of. “Slaying an enemy during battle is a regrettable thing. I understand that you were ill prepared for that yesterday, but it is sometimes necessary. When you have a foe like Kaylus at your mercy, either kill him or restrain him–and if you restrain him, make sure that you are powerful enough to keep him restrained. You did neither, and that is not something you can allow to happen again.”
“Am I in trouble because I didn’t want to murder two people in one day?”
“You are not so naive to believe what you did yesterday is murder. Mercy has its place, Della. But it is not mercy to let an enemy live so that he can slay one of your allies immediately afterward. If your own life is not important enough to protect in that way, think of your comrades in battle. They will rely on your strength to protect their flanks. Kaylus easily could have killed Dux Neale, Lucas, or myself. We saw that you had him and trusted you to keep him even if that meant dealing another deathblow.”
I knew that killing the Clade the day before wasn’t really murder. It wasn’t even on purpose. But I still felt stained by the deed, and couldn’t imagine voluntarily doing it again. I was ashamed, not only for ending one life, but at how eager I had been to destroy Kaylus. It felt good to have him under my knee, with my spike pressed to his neck. That I could enjoy something so destructive made me feel dirty–taking a life is about as destructive as you get.
He must have seen those feelings on my face. “If you cannot kill, then you must become powerful enough to restrain. Either way, you must learn to eliminate the threat of an enemy or else you will be a liability to your people.”
I realized with surprise that my cheeks were wet. I wanted to rail against what he had said, but I couldn’t forget the fear I had felt when Kaylus had loosed my spike in their direction– or the relief I felt to find them all unharmed when I approached.
“The Clade that Kaylus killed, he was important wasn’t he?”
Finally, he stood up and started pacing with both arms crossed behind his back. “We cannot know, now. It is certain that he would have had some sort of information we would have found useful. It has become increasingly difficult to get any information on the Clades for the past several years. They have gone, for the most part, underground. Even Kaylus has given up his depravity in exchange for remaining inconspicuous.
“I don’t know that I can do that: kill someone. Not on purpose at least.”
He looked at me then, and I could read the disappointment in his eyes. Was this what being Derek’s heir would be like? Letting people down all the time?
“Then it is like I said, become powerful enough to restrain them without killing, or be content with watching your allies fall from the sidelines. You cannot battle unless you are willing to do whatever is necessary to not only stay alive, but to keep the people relying on you safe as well. You have great power, Duxa.”
“And with great power comes great responsibility,” I said, quoting Spiderman. Alexander didn’t get the reference though, and just nodded his head in agreement. I almost laughed, but I just wasn’t in a laughing mood. I still wasn’t sure that I would ever be able to stick a spike through a person’s throat without a second thought, but I committed myself to becoming strong enough to protect the people around me, no matter what that took – and not to melt down if that ended in a few casualties on the opposing side. Most of all, I committed myself to not become the monster I feared lived inside.
Chapter 9
Journal,
I wish I could go back in time and apologize to my mother for all the messes I made when growing up. Connor got into the flour, again. I’m not even sure how he managed it this time, since I put it on the top shelf above the counter since the last time. The only thing I can think of, is he climbed onto the countertop, opened the cabinet door, then knocked the bag of flour down onto the countertop with his abilities. He can’t even stay in the kitchen, where the tile floor would make cleanup a little easier. No, my dear son has to go in the middle of the living room, on our new area rug, and throw handfuls of flour into the air and explode them with his Bending like white fireworks of dust. It took forever to clean up, and I still couldn’t get it all. And I still need to call Toby at work to pick up another bag, since I was planning on making some biscuits with dinner tonight. When I tell him why, I know he’s just going to laugh. This type of thing is only funny to the people that don’t have to clean it up, though. Well, maybe I think it’s a little funny too, but I have forbidden myself from laughing at little Connors antics, since it will only encourage him further.
True to my word to Renie, I tried Reading from the Elements to see if there were any truth to her cards. It’s been so long and I’m so out of practice, that all I received were a few jumbled whispers about my line meeting with darkness, and children of forbidden unions holding the key. That is enough to pique my curiosity on the matter, so I’ve dedicated myself to at least one Reading per day, hopefully to gain some of the skill my mother had with this ability. Not for the first time, I wonder what is whispering to us when we Read from Air. The other elements will show pictures within them, but Air is always a whisper of what was, or is, or will be. But who is doing the whispering?
*****
It was exactly twenty-one days after my anticlimactic Claiming, and I finally had a morning where my entire body didn’t ache. Getting out of the ornately grown bed didn’t feel like torture from Dante’s Inferno, and my knees didn’t shake from weakness on my way to the bathroom. I was even able to crack my face into a smile at the servant, er, family member person who brought me my breakfast every morning. I looked over at the carefully laid out meal on the little table in my room, and while I was hungry, I wasn’t ravenous. I didn’t gulp down the little breakfast shot of ambrose like my life depended on it, and instead was able to enjoy discerning where the energy it was infused with came from in between bites of still warm muffins and sausage.
“Ahem. Epiklayra?” The soft, but clear voice called out from outside my door. A quick look told me it was the same maidservant that had brought my breakfast that morning. She looked about my age, but I learned quite a bit about the Elfennol in my three weeks in Eurybis, and knew that age couldn’t be judged by looks. Mostly because they didn’t age, not really. Not unless you were looking with your True Site, which I had finally mastered the previous day. Now I could Shield or unShield with Spirit energy at will, which meant no more accidental glowing. I’d been working on that skill since my very first day in the training yard, only one day after my Claiming in front of the full council. The lesser families hadn’t been thrilled with the idea of me being the Leoht Epiklayra, which basically just meant heiress or something, but only because I was raised as a human.
The Council told them that I would undergo extensive training to learn about my ancestral roots before I ascended into Derek’s steps, and that’s what I’d been doing ever since. Exactly twenty-one days of exhaustive lessons on history, and technology, and language. Each day had lasted at least twelve hours, and half of those were reserved for lessons on the abilities I gained through my father. Derek, my father, insisted that I had plenty of time to learn everything in the future and that I didn’t need to work myself so hard. But it was way easier for me to cram my head full of bizarre facts about history, and beat my physical and metaphysical self in training, than it was for me to walk around the city. Plus, it kept me from becoming so homesick.
Since moving to North Carolina, I had changed a lot. I’d gone from being a non-entity to being a somebody; not because I was a Deare or Derek’s daughter, but because I’d finally learned some sense of self. Having everybody in the small town I now lived in know my name at first sight had been a huge adjustment to me. But having an entire city know who I was? Have them nod their heads, or do a freaking half-bow as I walked by? Having strangers walk up to me, and be nice just because of who I was? Well, it was too much.
The first few days, I’d tried to ignore it and explore the city a little. It was such a different place. No cars, no electricity, or phones, or television. Instead, there were strangely self-run carriages and chariots, made in impossible designs with impossible materials. I looked around my room, and made note of all the things that had literally been grown or molded from natural things by a very different type of craftsmen.
Most people could make basic objects, like stools or a quick table. But there were carpenters, seamstresses, and whatnot just like the humans had, only they could create the most beautiful things with their energy. Because they had no need for glue, nails, or even seams, things lasted a heck of a lot longer. I learned that even the homes were created by gathering a large pile of materials and melding them all together.
Everything in the city was run by the same energy that flowed through the people. Giant monoliths etched with Runes were placed throughout the stone streets to absorb and send energy to various machines like a gigantic WiFi receiver. People didn’t need phones, because they could transmit their thoughts via the little energy stones that everyone used; I still didn’t have a good grasp on that one, and had only managed to do the most rudimentary of gem-communicating by changing the color of the stones, which was the equivalent to using a beeper when everyone else was texting thoughts and images with their minds.
The boob-tube, though. They didn’t have anything like it. Not unless you counted the almost nightly festivals in some area or other, or the games and plays in the numerous coliseums. Which I didn’t.
It would’ve been an awesome place to just anonymously roam around, discovering cool places and how the locals really act, but there was no “anonymous” for me. The constant barrage of questions, looks, and pointed fingers made me claustrophobic, and having that much attention on me kept me invested in my Elfennol studies. The training yard was equal parts hellish nightmare and strangely satisfying workout. The best thing about it? Everyone was equal there. Nobody cared who I was, or paid me any attention unless it was my turn to be humiliated by the nearly sadistic training master, who could use his Energy like a horse whip. It was his mission to teach me how to control Spirit the way I could the other Elements. The other lessons, about history and whatnot, were a little different. They were one-on-one, with a variety of respected people among the Elfennol, though Alexander made a point of teaching me about my father’s people more often than not. They were even almost interesting, though apparently littered with taboo subjects.
“Epiklayra?” The girl said louder this time, pulling me out of my thoughts.
“Sorry, Helena.” I was glad I remembered her name. “What’s up?”
“Your father would like to see you this morning before you start your activities for the day,” she said in a polite and proper voice.
This was unusual, but only because he requested to see me. Which meant go find him. Usually he’d meet me on my way to the training yard, where I liked to do the morning exercises with some of the soldiers stationed at the Leoht Villa. Sometimes he would even join in on the random physical activities that Spence, the yard master, would assign us. Things like sit-ups or running laps, combined with juggling, lifting, or dragging rounded weights with our energy had quickly given me the type of control that had taken me months to achieve with my other Elements. I actually really looked forward to meeting him each morning.
“Did he say why?”
“No, my lady. Alexander only said to let you know that he is in his office, waiting.”
“Okay, then.” Then I remembered that she would probably stay in the room until dismissal. “Thank you, Helena. I’ll be right out.” Finally, she went to wait outside. Thinking that I would still go to the training yard after meeting with Derek, I got dressed in the typical leather-like pants and matching shirt that would protect most of my body from scrapes in the inevitable case of me tumbling to the ground, and went down the hallway from my room to my father’s office.
He looked up from whatever paper he’d been reading, and smiled at me so happily that I couldn’t help but return it. That was always the best part about seeing him, how happy he was to see me. I was always greeted with that smile, even the times that I knew he was stressed out about something. It was still a little weird with him, and I had no idea what to call him half the time, but he was happy I was around and once upon a time, that was more than I’d ever expected to get from anyone.
“Della, how are you feeling today?” It was always the first thing he asked me, even if he’d seen me already that day. I think he didn’t know how to act, either.
“Great, actually. First time in weeks I don’t want to bathe in IcyHot.” I sprawled myself on a wide couch that lined the wall next to his desk, making him turn his chair to see me.
Judging by the pinch to his eyebrows, the reference had flown over his head, because of course, they don’t have IcyHot in Eurybis. But he was getting better about not getting sidetracked by things like that. “Good, I’m glad. You’ve been working too hard, Della. I think you need to take a day–”
“We’ve been over this!” I sighed, exasperated. “I like the training, it gives me something to do and I don’t want to go out in the city, it’s–”
“Yes, I know that it is overwhelming for you. Once the people get used to you, they won’t react so strongly to your presence.” I doubted that though, since they followed Derek around everywhere. The difference was that he was used to it. I didn’t want to get used to it.
“But, you still need a day off and since your Shielding has finally been perfected, I was thinking that you could go to one of the nearby islands for the day.”
I sat straight up. Humans. I could go be with normal people for the day, with no one knowing my name, and no fear that one of the Elfennol would put a knife in my back. A fear that Derek had repeatedly told me was irrational now that I’d been claimed and accepted by all the lesser families, but it was one I couldn’t shake off.
“Really? By myself?”
“Well, Alexander will be close enough to help in case of an emergency, and you’ll need to keep your Shield up, tell no one who you are, and keep your armlets hidden in case the Clades have human spies nearby, but yes.” He was clearly pleased by my reaction, and his light blue eyes were crinkled at the sides in a smile.
My arms crossed as my hands flew up to touch the armlets that now encircled each forearm. Derek had presented them to me during my Claiming. I had been standing in front of the full Council, sweat pouring from my ‘pits, and being stared at by a couple dozen Elfennol, who were all waiting for my mysterious father to show his face. Of course, when Derek had stood up from his table and walked towards me with a wooden box in his hands, no one seemed to understand that he was my father.
I had wondered, briefly, what would have happened to me if my dad had been someone else; someone that didn’t even show up. If Derek had not come to my house after the Testing, I’d have had no idea who my father was, with no way to contact him and prove that I wasn’t a Clade in time for the full Council. But Derek stood in front of me, opened the box to show two shining, delicate looking armlets inside. They were a more delicate version of the one I usually wore on my bicep, which I’d taken off at Derek’s request, since it would have given away our secret before the time was right. Hammered silver, with a large red gem inlaid in the shape of an equal-armed cross surrounded by a circle, they were just like Derek’s armlets were. Besides the smaller size, inside the red-gem cross was a small silver design of the interlooping triquetra knot that was the Deare insignia, like on the key around my neck. With a collective gasp from our onlookers, Derek had pulled each armlet out of the box, placed them on my forearms, and created a rune-light-symbol thing to glow above me. I’d recognized it as the rune Derek had shown me at my house, the one meaning “daughter,” and with the rune’s light still glowing above me, he’d turned to the Full Council and claimed me as the Epiklayra of the Leoht house, his true daughter and heir. I was then ushered away while the council discussed the new twist in my parentage for a few short minutes before being informed that I had been accepted as Epiklayra–Derek’s heir.
My new armlets felt more a part of me than any other possession. I’d learned to store my own energy in them, and inlaid with the symbols of my mother’s family, and my father’s, they promised a future melding within myself of both sides of my heritage. So, while I was thrilled with the possibility of leaving the city mostly by myself, and having a day off from the weight of an entire society that I still didn’t understand, I didn’t really want to leave my armlets behind; I’d feel naked without them.
