Windance awoke to a loudly
tolling bell somewhere nearby. She sat
up, momentarily confused as to her surroundings. She finally placed together her memories of the past two sun
rises, and glanced around for her packs.
Seeing nothing aside from a neatly folded pile of grey material, she
shrugged and pulled on one of the uniforms, as they turned out to be. At least as Tarin informed her. She had just finished getting dressed when
she heard another knock on her door.
:Come in,: she called,
using Mindspeech. After the previous
evening, she didn’t think that there would be too many in the palace that would
speak her language, and hoped that whoever was there could use Mindspeech as
well.
:Are you decent?: a
familiar Mind-voice asked her. She
recognized the voice easily, even after four years.
Leaping up, she ran to the
door, screaming, in her tongue, “Jerra?!?”.
She opened the door to see the stunned face of her long-lost kin. Jerra stood there, gaping at the previously
closed door. He only shook out of his
shock when she threw her arms around him.
“Windance?” he replied, still
somewhat dazed.
“Keren’sel! It is you, sh’el” she cried
happily. “We never thought we would
ever see you again!” she gazed up at
him, noting the changes that four years had brought upon him. He stood much taller then her own height of
five foot eight, and from the look of him, it was obvious he no longer lived
among trees. He had the muscles of one
accustomed to hard work, not the wiry strength that climbing trees had brought
her kin.
“This is a surprise. I never thought that another one of us would
be Chosen. I was sent here to be your
guide, and I was wondering why they didn’t send someone of your year-group
instead. Now I know. But how did they know?” he asked, babbling
in no order whatsoever.
“Tarin?” she asked, thinking
on her Companion’s comments.
“Who?” Jerra asked, confused.
“My Companion,” she said
proudly. He shook his head in amazement
at that, because he remembered her as being the most assertive in her hatred of
the silver demons, even before he had left.
“This is great. You know, the
Eldest was wondering why you never returned to us, sh’el.” She looked at
questioningly.
He sighed, and motioned for
her to come with him. She obeyed,
closing her door behind her. “It’s
difficult to explain. I did want to
return, but when I arrived, there was still the crisis of the mage-storms to be
dealt with, even if they were over.
There were many Tayledras, and they were very interested in my -our-
home. That was when I decided to say
nothing, in hopes of protecting our voorthayshen from outsiders. There was no way I would let anyone, not
even the best-intentioned of the Taledras Adepts, to disrupt what life we still
had at k’Ren’fa. I would love to
return, but I may never. Being a Herald
is an all-time job, Windance. I cannot
return to the life of the kin now.” He
said nothing about her not returning either, but the implication was there.
They stopped before a large
door, and, from the sounds within, it lead to a fairly large room packed with
people. “Here,” he continued, “I had
better give you some basic Valdemaren, sh’aen. Hold on.” He grabbed her hand, and she felt his mental
touch, feeding her information on a large scale. She gasped, and blinked quickly against the onslaught the power
evoked in her. She almost felt like
retching, or collapsing, but knew that this was not the time for
it. Noting this, Jerra kept hold of her
hand as he pushed the door open, sending her silent support after the mental
sharing.
“I think I will be seeing you
a lot, Windance. If you wish, tell them
we are al’sha, or something, perhaps they will leave it at that. Here, you may as well join your year-mates. I don’t know them, but I’m sure you’ll get
along.” While he had been speaking, he had been guiding her through the busy
hall full of others in Trainee gray. He
motioned to a table full of others, mostly boys, with a few girls. Jerra dropped her hand, pushing her gently
towards the table. They were all
younger then her, but at the sight of her they immediately moved to make room
for her. Jerra waved good-bye, leaving
her to join another table.
“Hi! Finally, another girl. It
seems the boys outnumber us every year. I’m Toryn.” A pretty blonde haired girl
said to her, who was sitting next to her.
Her immediate friendliness attracted people, while others at the table
introduced themselves. Windance tried
to keep track of names, but the amount of them left her confused.
Finally, once the entire table
had introduced themselves, she managed a few words. “Uh, I’m Windance k’Ren’fa.
It’s a pleasure to meet you all.” The lessons in manners the Eldest had
taught her had not made any sense at the time, but she was grateful for them
now.
“Sit down, food’s coming
around!” Someone, who she actually remembered as being Teldin, told her. Startled, Windance realized she had not yet
taken her seat, and quickly sat down.
She did not give any outward show of embarrassment, but she felt it all
the same.
“Here, if you want, I’ll show
you around the classes, and Collegium, later.
That’s probably what the Dean meant when he said Orientation would start
today. You must be the last of the
year-mates.” Toryn told her, mid way through the meal. “So tell me, how did you know Jerra? There’s not many outside his year that know
him at all, you know.” The other girls were avidly watching her, waiting for
the answer.
Windance looked startled, and
asked why she was so interested.
“Because, like she said,
there’s not many that know him well, but there’s plenty who would like
to.” One of the other girls, Fiera,
said.
“Oh. He was like that before too.
Kind of secretive. But he’s
really nice, and gentle. As to how I
know him, he’s my sh’el.” She gave the simple explanation Jerra had
advised, noting that her year-mates accepted it readily. Once she explained the term, that is.
“Sh’el?” some one asked
blankly. Windance thought hard, and
used the simplest definition the term could possibly have.
“Somewhat like a brother,” she
answered dubiously
“Really, lucky!!” someone said
enviously.
“Well, I haven’t seen him for
four years, so I’m not sure hat he’s like now.” Windance shrugged.
“Wait you said brother
right? So you’re related?” Toryn asked her eagerly, ignoring the ‘like’
the older girl had added.
“Yeah, she’s had her eye on
him ever since she got here!” One of the boys said teasingly.
Smiling at Toryn’s blush,
Windance replied, “Yes, he is close. We
all are. If you like, I’ll see if I can
introduce you sometime,” she offered.
“Really?” her newfound friend
asked her.
“No problem. It’s the least I can do, if you’ll help
me. I think I will need it.”