Anyia had slipped quietly out of the room as Skyfrost was talking, since no one was paying any attention to her, and it seemed the two Dedicates would be getting into a fight pretty soon. Besides, it was starting to sound ridiculous.
“Ha! Like it wasn’t ridiculous enough before.” Anyia mused to herself as her cat walked up to her, licking his lips. “Where’ve you been?! You wouldn’t believe what has just happened to me!”
Then Anyia started to relay the events that had happened once she’d stepped into the Dedicates room. Jasper just stared at her and seemed to be thinking deeply, but Anyia didn’t care if it looked like he was thinking or not. She’d learned that cats have the same expressions on their face whether they had seen a moth, or a bloodthirsty murderer.
Sighing, she went down to the main room, and was told to go to bed by Falita, who, after asking many questions that weren’t answered, got angry and sent her away.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The next morning, Anyia got up and served breakfast in the main hall, while Falita served the people who wanted their food in bed. She didn’t see the Dedicates down there, and Mossflower was sure very noticeable with her long blonde-brown hair and creamy blue eyes, with her grace and height, it would be simple to pick her out in a crowd.
Anyia didn’t worry about them when Falita let her off to go to the fair. She’d always loved them at home, but didn’t get to really be a part of it since she and her family stayed in the noble’s garden when one came. Now she wasn’t to be recognized and she could go anywhere she wished to.
First off, she went off to stare at the merchant’s wares. After looking around for a while, she decided to buy a necklace with a single coin nagging on it, except that the image of the king had been stamped out, and replaced with a rose on one side, and a knight on the other. She had paid two coppers for it, one for the cost, and one for the necklace itself. Now she had three left. Wondering if it was enough to buy some lunch, she wandered over to a group of young nobles it seemed, touring the fair.
She decided to walk fast past them, in case one was to notice her and maybe even recognize her. As she dodged away from them, she saw a ripple of cloth, deep green. Where had she seen that before…
Then she remembered. It was the same color Dedicate Mossflower had been wearing. Not wanting to be told she had magic again, she darted off inside one of the merchant’s stores. After a while, when she was sure Mossflower would’ve gone, she walked with her eyes downcast through the door.
She just stepped outside when Mossflower walked up in front of her and gently held her hand as she said; “You left the room before I could talk to you much, last night. Come, we’ll talk now.”
“I will not talk now. I’m…erm…busy.” Anyia stammered, as she couldn’t think of a way to slip out of her grasp.
“Oh, with what?” Mossflower grinned slyly.
“Uh, to eat lunch.”
“Well then, come eat with me, I know a performance that’s going on down Baker’s Way, we can buy something and eat it there.” Mossflower finished before Anyia could reply and dragged her off to Baker’s Way.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Only when they were sitting down at a wooden table, eating lunch, would Mossflower start to speak to her. She looked very happy on her recovery of Anyia, and Anyia was being extra annoying because of it.
“Alright, now, to the point.” Mossflower began.
“Yes, the point. The point is that I don’t have magic; no one does in my family. And someone would surely have noticed it before. So I have decided that you should not go on about me having it, but I do thank you for buying me lunch, I’ll go now-“ Anyia was cut off when Mossflower grabbed her arm and pushed her back into her seat.
“No, that’s your point. The point is that you have Earth Magic, and it’s a very rare kind, and you need to be taught-“
“Oh, so I get it!,” Anyia started with much more than a hint of sarcasm. “You’re an Earth Mage, so you’re going to take me back to Endless and teach my Earth Magic because I have to fulfill a legend.”
“Right, Anyia. That’s perfect. However did you guess?” Mossflower replied happily, no sarcasm included.
Anyia jumped up and yelled, “I won’t! I won’t go there and do… do that!”
“Yes you will. You’ve no money, and you’ll be better off there. There’s no one stopping you going except yourself. Falita has agreed to let you go, in exchange we’ll send her a servant to help her while hers is away.”
Anyia sighed, but she hadn’t quite given up yet, “How do you know I’m an Earth Mage anyway?”
“Your magic, it’s green.” Mossflower said somewhat awkwardly.
“Riggght. Oh course it is, why wouldn’t it be? And why is it that no one has noticed this magic of mine before?” She asked again, sarcasm filling every word she said.
At this question, Mossflower looked uncertain, “I don’t know exactly, but if we can get someone to look into it… I’m sure it has something to do with how you’re acting, or feeling. Because I can’t see any magic in you at all now, unless I concentrate and look closely.”
Anyia stared at her. She hadn’t given her a perfectly good reason, but she seemed to be convinced that Anyia had magic. For the first time Anyia thought, “Why shouldn’t I go? She’s right, no one is stopping me. And there will never be someone stopping me either.” She bit her lip hard as she remembered her parents and family, her brother the most recent in her mind. Blood swelled into her mouth as she fought back an urge to cry. She swallowed the blood, and finally reached out and took Mossflower’s hand. “Fine then. I’ll go with you.”
Mossflower smiled and said, “Good, we leave right now, I have your things packed, and your cat’s waiting for you in the carriage.”
“Things?” Anyia said, knowing the only thing she had was her cat, Falita had only leant her clothes, expecting her to buy her own once she got money from her.
Mossflower smiled again, “I took the liberty of buying you some skirts and such, since you seem to have lost yours on your way here. Now come along, Skyfrost’s waiting, and he’s not all that patient.”
“I should have known.” Anyia mumbled as Mossflower steered her away from the table and to Endless Circle and a new life.
