Chapter 6
A few minutes later, a servant showed up at Faug and Valin’s door to show them to the dining hall. It was a massive room that was bathed in a soft, golden light that was supplied by hundreds of candles that somehow hovered from the ceiling unsupported. The table went the length of the entire room, even though there were only a few places set at the far end. Faug wondered why they didn’t just use a different room, or even a different table. It seemed kind of a waste of space to use the massive table when there were only a few people there. Telsiel was sitting at the far end of the room, at the head of the table. He glanced up when the two boys entered, smiled slightly, and beckoned them forward. The brothers approached apprehensively. Even though they technically knew everyone except for the dark-haired girl by Hyan who was most assuredly NOT Shyasha, and the small girl near Dalar who was most definitely NOT Shyasha, it was still kind of intimidating. Every one of the eight or so people present seemed both older than them-except for the girl near Dalar-and had some sort of magic about them.
Vain lanced around the table, seeing how many people he could name. That was Telsiel at the end, and on Telsiel’s right was Dalar. Next to Dalar was a small girl with very dark skin who looked no older than eight. Next to this girl was Hyan, and on Hyan’s right was a slender young woman who could pass for his sister. This was probably Tiba, Valin thought. Next to the maybe-Tiba was a male dwarf. Across from Tiba and Hyan were three more people who looked like elves-one female, two males. By the female elf and the dwarf there were two empty places that had plates but no people in the chairs. Telsiel motioned for Valin and Faug to sit there. As he sat down, Faug noticed there was also a spare seat on Telsiel’s left. He also noticed, with a pang in his stomach, that Shyasha wasn’t there. This made him kind of uncomfortable and very nervous. At least he knew Shyasha. Now all he had to talk to was Valin. And suddenly he wasn’t quite sure he wanted to talk to Valin. In fact, Faug wasn’t quite sure whether he was physically capable of opening his mouth anymore.
Finally, Telsiel spoke. “Quick introduction, just so everyone knows everyone. Just go around the table and say your name. I’m Telsiel.”
“Dalar.”
“Liea.” The small girl’s voice was barely above a whisper.
“Hyan.”
“Tiba.”
“Shangru.” The dwarf had a very gruff, deep voice.
“Valin.”
“Faug.”
“Tayana.” The female elf next to Faug sounded like she could be a singer. “Shya’s mother.”
“Akalu,” said the male elf by Shyasha’s mother. “Shya’s dad.”
“Iluri. I’m just here.”
“Where is Shya, Telsiel?” Tayana asked in her calm, slow voice.
“She’s coming,” Telsiel said. He glanced up again, noticing movement at the top of the staircase to the dining hall. There Shya was. She was the closest thing to beautiful that he could remember.
Faug and Valin hadn’t thought Shyasha was the kind of girl who would willingly put on a dress and let people catch her in it while she was still breathing. They had thought that she was the kind of girl who would roam the forest in male clothing, never showing her face to anyone and remaining a mystery for the rest of her life. She was a tomboy and was always willing to fight, both humans knew that. She would never be fully contained by anything. However, the intricate braiding of her hair and the pastel dress she was wearing were coming frightfully close to be the thing that contained her. However, they noticed she was still barefoot. Nonetheless, Shyasha was NOT, under ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, going to wear formal shoes, too. AT ALL.
"Why is she wearing a dress?" Faug muttered.
"Because this is how life is when you're royal," Valin muttered back.
"She looks tired," Tayana murmured to her husband.
"She hasn't slept for four days," Akalu replied. "She told me-she was the night watch on the road."
"Couldn't that older human do it?" Tayana asked, glancing at Valin. "He looks strong enough."
"Shya was the one that was supposed to be protecting them, they weren't supposed to be protecting her."
"She's the princess. She's the one that's supposed to be protected."
"She never cared about that."
"She never cared about anything."
"She cared about staying alive. And she’s named ‘the shadow warrior’ for a reason. She wasn’t going to be like our other daughters, sitting in a tower or going to balls or whatever in order to get married.”
“Only because you wouldn’t let her.”
“And because I wanted one daughter who could think for herself.”
“Maybe she thinks for herself a little too much.”
“No, she doesn’t.”
“But after what happened-”
“There’s a difference between mistrust of people because you’ve been hurt and independence because you don’t want to be treated like an idiot.”
Thursday, May 7, 2009
laaa
la la la la la.
I'm bored. By the way.....
The fair on Saturday was fun. :) And I went to the library and got this CRAZY AWESOME book by Andy Serkis (who played Gollum in Lord of the Rings) about how they did Gollum, like the animation and stuff like that. And he wasn't just the voice. He was the base for the animation for Gollum. It was crazy awesome how they did it. I don't have the room to say here, partially because I don't remember, but I DO remember that it was crazy cool. I love books like that. They're crazy cool. And crazy awesome. It's more like the content of the books like that that I like, but it I love it. I know I'm weird, but I like those kind of books. Because I act. And I'm interested in that sort of thing. So that's why I love them.
So.........................
Yeah.
Okay.
Done now.
I'm bored. By the way.....
The fair on Saturday was fun. :) And I went to the library and got this CRAZY AWESOME book by Andy Serkis (who played Gollum in Lord of the Rings) about how they did Gollum, like the animation and stuff like that. And he wasn't just the voice. He was the base for the animation for Gollum. It was crazy awesome how they did it. I don't have the room to say here, partially because I don't remember, but I DO remember that it was crazy cool. I love books like that. They're crazy cool. And crazy awesome. It's more like the content of the books like that that I like, but it I love it. I know I'm weird, but I like those kind of books. Because I act. And I'm interested in that sort of thing. So that's why I love them.
So.........................
Yeah.
Okay.
Done now.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
back from auditions
So.
I auditioned.
It wasn't horrid, but.............
It wasn't amazing. I seriously killed the actual singing part of it. I was off key and kind of weak on the high notes. The only decent part was the range test and the sight reading. The sight reading was the best part, to be honest. Because I only killed the end. Which was kind of a nice feeling, only killing one part. But the range was okay. The range part was easy. And the warm ups. But other than that, I failed.
I only auditioned for women's camerata, because, number one, I have absolutely no chance of getting into chamber singers, and number two, I want to take something other than chorus as an elective. And I wanted to be women's camerata more anyway. Chamber Singers is like the elite. Except not.
Okay I have to go to class.
bye.
I auditioned.
It wasn't horrid, but.............
It wasn't amazing. I seriously killed the actual singing part of it. I was off key and kind of weak on the high notes. The only decent part was the range test and the sight reading. The sight reading was the best part, to be honest. Because I only killed the end. Which was kind of a nice feeling, only killing one part. But the range was okay. The range part was easy. And the warm ups. But other than that, I failed.
I only auditioned for women's camerata, because, number one, I have absolutely no chance of getting into chamber singers, and number two, I want to take something other than chorus as an elective. And I wanted to be women's camerata more anyway. Chamber Singers is like the elite. Except not.
Okay I have to go to class.
bye.
auditions.............................
I have to audition soon. For the super-epically-awesome-to-the-extreme choirs at my school. And I am currently FREAKING OUT!!!!!!
Kind of.
I don't know why I'm nervous. The chorus teacher's really nice. I already know him. But still..................... It's nerve-wracking, going in to audition for the higher choirs. You don't know anything for certain. And it's just like, what am I going to do? I don't want it to be like my West Side Story audition. My West Side Story audition was completely and utterly awful. I failed at it miserably. So I don't want it to be like that. I'm nervous. It's in fifteen minutes. EEEKKK! I am going to fail miserably. But I want to be in one of the freaking awesome choirs. I've wanted to since sixth grade. But now the auditions are here, and I'm FREAKING OUT!!!!! Well, I guess that it would have been worse with the other teacher. The old choir teacher was really nice, too, but he was a lot more intense about choir and would only let the best of the best into anything other than the main high school choir. So I guess I could be glad that I'm not auditioning for him. But still. I'm nervous.
I'm leaving now.
Bye.
Kind of.
I don't know why I'm nervous. The chorus teacher's really nice. I already know him. But still..................... It's nerve-wracking, going in to audition for the higher choirs. You don't know anything for certain. And it's just like, what am I going to do? I don't want it to be like my West Side Story audition. My West Side Story audition was completely and utterly awful. I failed at it miserably. So I don't want it to be like that. I'm nervous. It's in fifteen minutes. EEEKKK! I am going to fail miserably. But I want to be in one of the freaking awesome choirs. I've wanted to since sixth grade. But now the auditions are here, and I'm FREAKING OUT!!!!! Well, I guess that it would have been worse with the other teacher. The old choir teacher was really nice, too, but he was a lot more intense about choir and would only let the best of the best into anything other than the main high school choir. So I guess I could be glad that I'm not auditioning for him. But still. I'm nervous.
I'm leaving now.
Bye.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
blah lah la
So anyway........ I learned how to flip someone when they have me in a headlock. No, I can't show you. But I learned how to do it from a guy who was almost twice my size. It is very empowering when I actually did it on him. Yes, I ACTUALLY got out of the headlock and got him onto the ground. I was always sort of intimidated by him, but he turned out to be kind of nice. He reminds me a bit of another adult guy at my dojang who is also really nice. That's what's great about having nice adult guys at your dojang who are willing to help you with combat material-they teach you stuff, and then when you do it on them you know that you can do it on pretty much anyone if you have to because they're probably the biggest people that you're going to end up having to flip over. Except for maybe some really strong guy who goes to McDonald's every day. Or something. I'm thinking of a worst-case scenario here. But now my arms kind of hurt because flipping people over is mostly in the arms, more specifically the shoulders, as are all the one step sparring things for black belts-it's basically learning street fighting. I have to get out of someone holding me somewhere (which was why I was learning to get out of a headlock), flipping someone over (I can't actually remember whether the headlock one was a hold or a flip. It could have counted for either.), get away from a gun pointing at you, a knife about to stab you, and I'm not sure whether this is actually part of what I have to do, but breaks. Like breaking bones type breaks. I'm not sure though. But what's awesome is that I get to basically come up with my own one step sparring. The only annoying thing is that once I come up with the two one steps for each category, I'm stuck with them until my second degree test. Or later. So if I don't want to break my back I'm probably not going to do the headlock one until my second degree. But the headlock one is useful. Also the lapel one, even though that one's kind of hard. Okay, you probably have absolutely no idea what I'm talking about.
I'll shut up now.
The end.
I'll shut up now.
The end.
Part #5 of Shya/ Valin/ Faug
Chapter 5
Shyasha, Valin, and Faug strode across the barren courtyard. Even though it was nearly dusk and the day was cloudy, there was only one light on in an upper window. When they were about halfway across, Dalar came storming out, flanked on either side by the two companions he had had on the road. Shyasha paused and indicated to the two humans to wait for Dalar and his companions to reach them. The younger one had olive skin and wide, curious, dark brown eyes. The older man was pale with amber eyes and a very stoic expression.
“You’re late,” Dalar snapped when he reached Shyasha.
“You’re early,” Shyasha replied smoothly, using that same melodic voice that she had used on the first day that Faug and Valin had met her. “We agreed that the latest we should have gotten here was tomorrow. We saw you on the road the first day out of Ciliar. You were traveling fast. What was wrong?”
“You weren’t there.”
“Neither were you.”
“I told you to protect them when you found them, and then to wait until I arrived before leaving.”
“But you also said that, in the instance that you didn’t show up after 24 hours, I should take them on the road. We left after 24 hours.”
“Why didn’t you stop us on the road?”
“I would have rather flung myself in front of a speeding rhino. It would have had the same effect. Is Tiba here?”
“Yes, she is here. And we were pressed for time. And some of us were more worried than others to get back.” Dalar said this with a glance at the man on his right-the older of the two companions.
Under her hood, Shyasha glanced at him, too, and her eyes lingered there for a moment. Even if he saw it, and she wasn’t sure he did, he gave no hint that he felt her gaze or could interpret its meaning.
“People need to be introduced,” the darker-skinned man said politely.
“Yes,” Dalar agreed. “Hyan, this is Shyasha Rinkari. She goes by Shyasha most of the time and is Shya to her close friends. She won’t take off her hood unless she needs to prove a point. You three, Hyan is a sorcerer. You’ll meet Tiba, who is inside. Hyan, the short human is Faug and the taller one is Valin. And Shyasha, Telsiel says that you’ve met before.” Dalar continued, indicating the man on his right.
“We’ve met,” Shyasha agreed, inclining her head slightly at Telsiel, half in greeting, and half in warning. Telsiel nodded. “Nothing more.” There was something in her voice that made it absolutely clear to Telsiel that if he mentioned any reference to any prior contact whatsoever, Shyasha personally would find out about it, hunt him down, and kill him to death until he died and then strangle him.
“Yes, anyway,” Dalar said. He knew, or rather sensed, what Shyasha was indicating with her tone of voice, and he didn’t want Telsiel to die just yet. “We’re going to leave at dawn, day after tomorrow. Be ready to move. Pack light and don’t pack more than two changes of clothes. There’s a council meeting tomorrow. All of you have to attend. When and where the council will meet will be confirmed at dinner. Till then.” He jerked his head, beckoning them inside, before turning and striding back across the courtyard to the castle. Hyan gave Shyasha a curious glance before turning and following Dalar into the castle. Faug started to follow, but Valin stopped him and murmured, “Wait for her.”
“No, it’s okay,” Shyasha said. “Follow Dalar and Hyan and don’t touch anything unless they say you can. Got it?”
“Yeah,” the two boys agreed and strode off, following the two mages inside. Faug picked up his pace and caught up with Hyan. Shyasha heard Faug start babbling away and asking Hyan questions. Hyan smiled and answered the questions easily. Valin was slower to enter the castle, and hesitated at the door to wait for Shyasha. He was more of an introvert than Faug, so he couldn’t randomly go up to people and start charming them as easily as Faug. He was too shy to talk to Hyan just yet, and he trusted Shyasha more anyway.
Telsiel and Shyasha stood facing each other in the middle of the courtyard. Shyasha glared from under her hood. Telsiel stood back and inclined his head, letting Shyasha go first, but she gestured to let him pass.
“You’re the princess,” he said, as if explaining why he was letting her go first.
“You’re the king,” Shyasha countered, no trace of a joke in neither her voice nor the small bit of mouth that Telsiel could see.
“You’re the female.”
“You’re the one in charge.”
“You’re the guest.”
“You’re the one who knows what’s going on.”
“You’re the one who needs to be shown around.”
“That’s why you go first.”
Watching from the drawbridge, Valin realized just how strange the two looked together, looking at each other, but also how different Telsiel seemed from a few moments ago. Telsiel was tall, middle aged, a king, and a very, very stoic one at that, from Valin’s limited knowledge of him. But now he was more open than he had been before. Instead of being very, very stoic, he was now just plain serious. He didn’t look like a carved statue anymore, but he definitely didn’t look like he was about to burst out laughing or singing. Something similar could have been said for Shyasha.
Eventually, the two turned and moved towards the castle side by side, not exactly best pals, but accepting the fact that they were stuck with each other.
“What was that about?” Valin asked when Shyasha passed him in the door.
“Nothing,” Shyasha said shortly, and Valin knew that, however much he didn’t like it, that was all he was going to get out of her for now.
Seeing the put out look on Valin’s face, Telsiel said, “We had this thing going a while ago. Running joke type thing.”
“Right,” Valin said, not entirely sure whether Telsiel’s tone was actually causal or not. He was curious about the relationship between the two elves, but didn’t want to press the subject, consenting to watch Telsiel’s face as Telsiel’s gaze followed Shyasha down the hall. There was a small flicker of something in his dark eyes, but then the flicker went out.
“You’re Valin.” Telsiel said abruptly, as if almost shaking himself out of a trance. Still, the words were more of a statement than a query of his identity.
“Yeah. Nice to meet you, officially.” They shook hands. “So…you’re the king? I think Shyasha said something about something like that.”
“Yes, I guess you could call me King. How’s Shya been treating you guys? Nothing absolutely horrid, I hope?”
“No, not really. She’s pretty nice, and can be a real laugh at times, but she’d get kind of edgy when Faug got on her nerves. But with Faug, either something’s a joke or it’s not worth his time, so he somehow gets some sort of humor out of it. She never really liked it when he did that, especially when she was in a bad mood, but she was all right, most of the time.” Valin was amazed that he had said all that. He was blabbering, he knew it. He was a tentative introvert who was confronted by a king. This wasn’t his kind of situation.
“Yeah, she has a tendency to be like that,” Telsiel agreed, smiling slightly. Maybe this guy wasn’t so bad, Valin thought.
“But she wasn’t horrid,” Valin said quickly. “Very sarcastic, but not horrible. But she’s kind of unpredictable.”
“I know,” Telsiel agreed. “She can be rather weird. She’s the kind of person that only needs a few days for you to think you know her really well, and then the next month she’ll completely surprise you with some new idea. And it’s really hard to know one thing about her without wanting to know something else.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
“How do you know her?”
“We were friends when we were kids. I was the tailor’s son. She was the princess. She was sick of the conformity of being a princess so she stole clothes from the stable boy and roamed the streets of town. She sometimes came into my father’s shop, and once I was done with my chores we’d play Rangers and Outlaws with all the other kids or go into the forest and roam around with another girl she’d met-Tiba, the sorceress. Whenever we’d do Rangers and Outlaws, Shya would always be the captain of the boy’s side, because she called herself ‘Rinko’ and claimed she was male. Since her hair was short everyone believed her. It suited her personality-she’s not one to confine herself to the norm.”
“When did you find out she was a girl?” Valin wondered as they walked down a hall. “And when did you learn she was the princess?”
“Oh, that was a really funny day,” Telsiel laughed. “We were playing our most aggressive game of Rangers and Outlaws ever, and Shya was captain of the boys’ Ranger crew, because she’d been dubbed ‘Best Ranger’. It was crazy-we were all flinging mud at each other and screaming our heads off and running around, being absolutely crazy and having a whole load of fun. Then her governess comes out of the castle and starts looking for Shya in town, apparently. I didn’t see that part; I was busy creating a huge mud ball to fling at Joen Frump. But then the governess sees the fight and stands there for a while, glaring at all of us, and it sort of gradually died down and everyone stood looking at her. She was in this really fancy dress-it was insane. Then she spotted Shya and hollered, ‘PRINCESS SHYASHA RINKARI!!! GET YOUR LITTLE REAR END OVER HERE RIGHT NOW OR ELSE!!! I DON’T WANT TO EVER SEE YOU LIKE THAT EVER AGAIN!!!’ That was a surprise to all of us, and what was more surprising was when ‘Rinko’ strode forward with his head bowed. We were only ten, and none of us had entered puberty yet, so the difference between boys and girls wasn’t as obvious. But still, most of the guys thought girls-especially girls in the palace and especially the seven princesses-were complete wimps. Most of them were, but not the youngest princess.”
“Did she ever come down to town again?”
“Yes, but not as often. She came down as often as she could, but she wasn’t as willing to hurl mud at Joen Frump or anyone else anymore. She didn’t really come around the shop until we were in our teens-I think that was when her governess left-and by then she had become more refined. She wore a dress, at least. But after the governess found her out, it was never really the same between us. We were still best friends, and we still had adventures, but we weren’t quite as crazy.”
“So how did you become King?”
“Shya only had sisters, no brothers. We had this policy that, if that happened, the youngest girl’s husband would have to rule. The average marrying age was fifteen, but Shya didn’t want to, nor did she show any prospect of being interested before she’d be dubbed a spinster. Her father knew we were friends-he saw her walk to our shop and saw us walk around town too many times to think differently-and he thought I was worth it, so he named me his heir. Shyasha didn’t take it too well, and somehow, a short time later, went clinically blind and ran off into the forest and stayed there. That’s all there really is to the story, and there’s your room.”
They had paused by a door halfway down a corridor on the East Wing.
“One last question,” Valin said.
“Sure.”
“Cerob said the city was attacked by Wylds, and the survivors took refuge in the castle. Where are they?”
“They’re in the West Wing,” Telsiel said shortly. He said this too fast and strongly for Valin to be entirely convinced of the truth of his words.
“Okay. Just wondering.”
“Dinner’s in about an hour. Someone will be around to show you where to go when it’s time.”
“Do I have to dress up?”
“No, but I must warn you that Shyasha might actually be wearing a dress, so she won’t look entirely the same as you’ve probably grown accustomed to.”
“All right. See you then, I guess.”
“Good bye.”
Telsiel turned and strode back up the corridor to the main entrance. Valin went into his room. Faug was already there.
“Where were you?” Faug demanded.
“I was talking to Telsiel,” Valin told him. “Where were you? And how did you get in here?”
“I was talking to Hyan, who said that Shyasha might be forced to dress up, and that we’re supposed to share a room,” Faug replied.
“Telsiel said that she might wear a dress as well,” Valin said. “It would be kind of weird, seeing Shyasha in a dress, wouldn’t it?”
“Yeah, I guess,” Faug said in a bored tone.
“Well, guess what I found out about Shyasha from Telsiel?” Valin said. He was glad of this new insight into Shyasha’s life-he knew it wasn’t right to pry into other people’s relationships, but Shyasha’s past was somehow more interesting the more he heard about it. Like Telsiel had said, you couldn’t know just one thing about her.
“What?” Faug asked eagerly. Apparently he, too, was eager to figure out what exactly happened to her.
Valin spent the next half hour telling Faug everything that he could remember from what Telsiel had told him.
“It’s him,” Faug said when Valin was finished talking. “Telsiel was the guy who Shyasha was in love with.”
“What makes you think that?” Vain asked.
“Well, number one,” Faug began. “She acts all solemn around him.”
“She was all solemn when she first met us,” Valin reminded him.
“Good point,” Faug said. “Anyway, number two. If Shyasha’s dad was willing to name Telsiel his heir, Telsiel must have been up to the court at least once, which means they must have had something going on well enough for Shyasha to take him up to the castle in the first place. Am I right?”
“You’ve got a point,” Valin agreed.
“Number three,” Faug continued. “Telsiel said that when they were teenagers they still hung out and went on adventures, but they weren’t quite as crazy.”
“So what’s your point?” Valin wondered.
“My point,” Faug said. “Is that the adventures could have been of a different kind.”
“Faug, I can’t believe you’re nine years old,” Valin said. “You have a very strange mind, my friend.”
“But am I right?” Faug insisted. “They could have seriously been trying to figure out how to capture the kinetic energy of a running unicorn, couldn’t they?”
“I don’t think that they’d be trying to do exactly that, but it’s a thought,” Valin said, glad that Faug wasn’t thinking about what Valin thought he was thinking about.
Shyasha, Valin, and Faug strode across the barren courtyard. Even though it was nearly dusk and the day was cloudy, there was only one light on in an upper window. When they were about halfway across, Dalar came storming out, flanked on either side by the two companions he had had on the road. Shyasha paused and indicated to the two humans to wait for Dalar and his companions to reach them. The younger one had olive skin and wide, curious, dark brown eyes. The older man was pale with amber eyes and a very stoic expression.
“You’re late,” Dalar snapped when he reached Shyasha.
“You’re early,” Shyasha replied smoothly, using that same melodic voice that she had used on the first day that Faug and Valin had met her. “We agreed that the latest we should have gotten here was tomorrow. We saw you on the road the first day out of Ciliar. You were traveling fast. What was wrong?”
“You weren’t there.”
“Neither were you.”
“I told you to protect them when you found them, and then to wait until I arrived before leaving.”
“But you also said that, in the instance that you didn’t show up after 24 hours, I should take them on the road. We left after 24 hours.”
“Why didn’t you stop us on the road?”
“I would have rather flung myself in front of a speeding rhino. It would have had the same effect. Is Tiba here?”
“Yes, she is here. And we were pressed for time. And some of us were more worried than others to get back.” Dalar said this with a glance at the man on his right-the older of the two companions.
Under her hood, Shyasha glanced at him, too, and her eyes lingered there for a moment. Even if he saw it, and she wasn’t sure he did, he gave no hint that he felt her gaze or could interpret its meaning.
“People need to be introduced,” the darker-skinned man said politely.
“Yes,” Dalar agreed. “Hyan, this is Shyasha Rinkari. She goes by Shyasha most of the time and is Shya to her close friends. She won’t take off her hood unless she needs to prove a point. You three, Hyan is a sorcerer. You’ll meet Tiba, who is inside. Hyan, the short human is Faug and the taller one is Valin. And Shyasha, Telsiel says that you’ve met before.” Dalar continued, indicating the man on his right.
“We’ve met,” Shyasha agreed, inclining her head slightly at Telsiel, half in greeting, and half in warning. Telsiel nodded. “Nothing more.” There was something in her voice that made it absolutely clear to Telsiel that if he mentioned any reference to any prior contact whatsoever, Shyasha personally would find out about it, hunt him down, and kill him to death until he died and then strangle him.
“Yes, anyway,” Dalar said. He knew, or rather sensed, what Shyasha was indicating with her tone of voice, and he didn’t want Telsiel to die just yet. “We’re going to leave at dawn, day after tomorrow. Be ready to move. Pack light and don’t pack more than two changes of clothes. There’s a council meeting tomorrow. All of you have to attend. When and where the council will meet will be confirmed at dinner. Till then.” He jerked his head, beckoning them inside, before turning and striding back across the courtyard to the castle. Hyan gave Shyasha a curious glance before turning and following Dalar into the castle. Faug started to follow, but Valin stopped him and murmured, “Wait for her.”
“No, it’s okay,” Shyasha said. “Follow Dalar and Hyan and don’t touch anything unless they say you can. Got it?”
“Yeah,” the two boys agreed and strode off, following the two mages inside. Faug picked up his pace and caught up with Hyan. Shyasha heard Faug start babbling away and asking Hyan questions. Hyan smiled and answered the questions easily. Valin was slower to enter the castle, and hesitated at the door to wait for Shyasha. He was more of an introvert than Faug, so he couldn’t randomly go up to people and start charming them as easily as Faug. He was too shy to talk to Hyan just yet, and he trusted Shyasha more anyway.
Telsiel and Shyasha stood facing each other in the middle of the courtyard. Shyasha glared from under her hood. Telsiel stood back and inclined his head, letting Shyasha go first, but she gestured to let him pass.
“You’re the princess,” he said, as if explaining why he was letting her go first.
“You’re the king,” Shyasha countered, no trace of a joke in neither her voice nor the small bit of mouth that Telsiel could see.
“You’re the female.”
“You’re the one in charge.”
“You’re the guest.”
“You’re the one who knows what’s going on.”
“You’re the one who needs to be shown around.”
“That’s why you go first.”
Watching from the drawbridge, Valin realized just how strange the two looked together, looking at each other, but also how different Telsiel seemed from a few moments ago. Telsiel was tall, middle aged, a king, and a very, very stoic one at that, from Valin’s limited knowledge of him. But now he was more open than he had been before. Instead of being very, very stoic, he was now just plain serious. He didn’t look like a carved statue anymore, but he definitely didn’t look like he was about to burst out laughing or singing. Something similar could have been said for Shyasha.
Eventually, the two turned and moved towards the castle side by side, not exactly best pals, but accepting the fact that they were stuck with each other.
“What was that about?” Valin asked when Shyasha passed him in the door.
“Nothing,” Shyasha said shortly, and Valin knew that, however much he didn’t like it, that was all he was going to get out of her for now.
Seeing the put out look on Valin’s face, Telsiel said, “We had this thing going a while ago. Running joke type thing.”
“Right,” Valin said, not entirely sure whether Telsiel’s tone was actually causal or not. He was curious about the relationship between the two elves, but didn’t want to press the subject, consenting to watch Telsiel’s face as Telsiel’s gaze followed Shyasha down the hall. There was a small flicker of something in his dark eyes, but then the flicker went out.
“You’re Valin.” Telsiel said abruptly, as if almost shaking himself out of a trance. Still, the words were more of a statement than a query of his identity.
“Yeah. Nice to meet you, officially.” They shook hands. “So…you’re the king? I think Shyasha said something about something like that.”
“Yes, I guess you could call me King. How’s Shya been treating you guys? Nothing absolutely horrid, I hope?”
“No, not really. She’s pretty nice, and can be a real laugh at times, but she’d get kind of edgy when Faug got on her nerves. But with Faug, either something’s a joke or it’s not worth his time, so he somehow gets some sort of humor out of it. She never really liked it when he did that, especially when she was in a bad mood, but she was all right, most of the time.” Valin was amazed that he had said all that. He was blabbering, he knew it. He was a tentative introvert who was confronted by a king. This wasn’t his kind of situation.
“Yeah, she has a tendency to be like that,” Telsiel agreed, smiling slightly. Maybe this guy wasn’t so bad, Valin thought.
“But she wasn’t horrid,” Valin said quickly. “Very sarcastic, but not horrible. But she’s kind of unpredictable.”
“I know,” Telsiel agreed. “She can be rather weird. She’s the kind of person that only needs a few days for you to think you know her really well, and then the next month she’ll completely surprise you with some new idea. And it’s really hard to know one thing about her without wanting to know something else.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
“How do you know her?”
“We were friends when we were kids. I was the tailor’s son. She was the princess. She was sick of the conformity of being a princess so she stole clothes from the stable boy and roamed the streets of town. She sometimes came into my father’s shop, and once I was done with my chores we’d play Rangers and Outlaws with all the other kids or go into the forest and roam around with another girl she’d met-Tiba, the sorceress. Whenever we’d do Rangers and Outlaws, Shya would always be the captain of the boy’s side, because she called herself ‘Rinko’ and claimed she was male. Since her hair was short everyone believed her. It suited her personality-she’s not one to confine herself to the norm.”
“When did you find out she was a girl?” Valin wondered as they walked down a hall. “And when did you learn she was the princess?”
“Oh, that was a really funny day,” Telsiel laughed. “We were playing our most aggressive game of Rangers and Outlaws ever, and Shya was captain of the boys’ Ranger crew, because she’d been dubbed ‘Best Ranger’. It was crazy-we were all flinging mud at each other and screaming our heads off and running around, being absolutely crazy and having a whole load of fun. Then her governess comes out of the castle and starts looking for Shya in town, apparently. I didn’t see that part; I was busy creating a huge mud ball to fling at Joen Frump. But then the governess sees the fight and stands there for a while, glaring at all of us, and it sort of gradually died down and everyone stood looking at her. She was in this really fancy dress-it was insane. Then she spotted Shya and hollered, ‘PRINCESS SHYASHA RINKARI!!! GET YOUR LITTLE REAR END OVER HERE RIGHT NOW OR ELSE!!! I DON’T WANT TO EVER SEE YOU LIKE THAT EVER AGAIN!!!’ That was a surprise to all of us, and what was more surprising was when ‘Rinko’ strode forward with his head bowed. We were only ten, and none of us had entered puberty yet, so the difference between boys and girls wasn’t as obvious. But still, most of the guys thought girls-especially girls in the palace and especially the seven princesses-were complete wimps. Most of them were, but not the youngest princess.”
“Did she ever come down to town again?”
“Yes, but not as often. She came down as often as she could, but she wasn’t as willing to hurl mud at Joen Frump or anyone else anymore. She didn’t really come around the shop until we were in our teens-I think that was when her governess left-and by then she had become more refined. She wore a dress, at least. But after the governess found her out, it was never really the same between us. We were still best friends, and we still had adventures, but we weren’t quite as crazy.”
“So how did you become King?”
“Shya only had sisters, no brothers. We had this policy that, if that happened, the youngest girl’s husband would have to rule. The average marrying age was fifteen, but Shya didn’t want to, nor did she show any prospect of being interested before she’d be dubbed a spinster. Her father knew we were friends-he saw her walk to our shop and saw us walk around town too many times to think differently-and he thought I was worth it, so he named me his heir. Shyasha didn’t take it too well, and somehow, a short time later, went clinically blind and ran off into the forest and stayed there. That’s all there really is to the story, and there’s your room.”
They had paused by a door halfway down a corridor on the East Wing.
“One last question,” Valin said.
“Sure.”
“Cerob said the city was attacked by Wylds, and the survivors took refuge in the castle. Where are they?”
“They’re in the West Wing,” Telsiel said shortly. He said this too fast and strongly for Valin to be entirely convinced of the truth of his words.
“Okay. Just wondering.”
“Dinner’s in about an hour. Someone will be around to show you where to go when it’s time.”
“Do I have to dress up?”
“No, but I must warn you that Shyasha might actually be wearing a dress, so she won’t look entirely the same as you’ve probably grown accustomed to.”
“All right. See you then, I guess.”
“Good bye.”
Telsiel turned and strode back up the corridor to the main entrance. Valin went into his room. Faug was already there.
“Where were you?” Faug demanded.
“I was talking to Telsiel,” Valin told him. “Where were you? And how did you get in here?”
“I was talking to Hyan, who said that Shyasha might be forced to dress up, and that we’re supposed to share a room,” Faug replied.
“Telsiel said that she might wear a dress as well,” Valin said. “It would be kind of weird, seeing Shyasha in a dress, wouldn’t it?”
“Yeah, I guess,” Faug said in a bored tone.
“Well, guess what I found out about Shyasha from Telsiel?” Valin said. He was glad of this new insight into Shyasha’s life-he knew it wasn’t right to pry into other people’s relationships, but Shyasha’s past was somehow more interesting the more he heard about it. Like Telsiel had said, you couldn’t know just one thing about her.
“What?” Faug asked eagerly. Apparently he, too, was eager to figure out what exactly happened to her.
Valin spent the next half hour telling Faug everything that he could remember from what Telsiel had told him.
“It’s him,” Faug said when Valin was finished talking. “Telsiel was the guy who Shyasha was in love with.”
“What makes you think that?” Vain asked.
“Well, number one,” Faug began. “She acts all solemn around him.”
“She was all solemn when she first met us,” Valin reminded him.
“Good point,” Faug said. “Anyway, number two. If Shyasha’s dad was willing to name Telsiel his heir, Telsiel must have been up to the court at least once, which means they must have had something going on well enough for Shyasha to take him up to the castle in the first place. Am I right?”
“You’ve got a point,” Valin agreed.
“Number three,” Faug continued. “Telsiel said that when they were teenagers they still hung out and went on adventures, but they weren’t quite as crazy.”
“So what’s your point?” Valin wondered.
“My point,” Faug said. “Is that the adventures could have been of a different kind.”
“Faug, I can’t believe you’re nine years old,” Valin said. “You have a very strange mind, my friend.”
“But am I right?” Faug insisted. “They could have seriously been trying to figure out how to capture the kinetic energy of a running unicorn, couldn’t they?”
“I don’t think that they’d be trying to do exactly that, but it’s a thought,” Valin said, glad that Faug wasn’t thinking about what Valin thought he was thinking about.
Monday, May 4, 2009
Post Numero 80
:) Post number eighty!! Woot. I have to read Lord of the Rings. And study for history. And read To Kill a Mockingbird. And do homework. Which means I shouldn't be on here right now.
But I am. Because I'm cool like that. Okay I'm leaving right now. I mean it.
Yay!!! Eighty posts!!! WOOT!!! I'm getting better at this.
I think.
Anyway...
It's seven thirty.
Which means I should be doing my homework.
NO, it's NOT seven thirty.
It's seven twenty seven. I have three more minutes, if you don't mind. I like my extra three minutes, if that's all right with you.
OKAY GOING NOW!
But I am. Because I'm cool like that. Okay I'm leaving right now. I mean it.
Yay!!! Eighty posts!!! WOOT!!! I'm getting better at this.
I think.
Anyway...
It's seven thirty.
Which means I should be doing my homework.
NO, it's NOT seven thirty.
It's seven twenty seven. I have three more minutes, if you don't mind. I like my extra three minutes, if that's all right with you.
OKAY GOING NOW!
Why I Can't Wait For Summer
Okay.
I'm back, I know.
So anyway, I can't wait for summer for several reasons.
Reason Number One: NO SCHOOL!!!!!!!!!! I love my amigos dearly, but I am in dire need of some time to chill with my amigos from elementary school and on the swim team.
Reason Number Two: I'm working at the pool. I'm a lifeguard. But my certificates haven't come in yet. Which is really weird. But point is, I'm going to have a JOB and I'm going to get PAID. But honestly, next summer I'm working at the bakery. It seems cooler.
Reason Number Three: I get to see my amigos from summer camp. I have been going to this one summer camp every summer since I was ten. This will be my sixth year going. And my first year as a consulor. So it will be awesome. It's a month-long acting camp that is rather amazing and they put up a show every year at the end of the month. It is rather awesome. And the environment is really nice and everyone is welcomed.
Reason Number Four: Palmico. My venture crew is going sea kayaking near where Blackbeard the pirate was killed. Legend has it that all his stuff is still down there.
Reason Number Five: I LOVE SUMMER STORMS. NOT thunderstorms. SUMMER storms. The ones where it's like seventy degrees out and pouring down rain and you're getting absolutely soaked, but it's not thundering and there's no lightning or anything. I LOVE those. I don't know why. There's just something absolutely awesome about those times. I don't CARE that I'd probably get hypothermia or pneumonia or whatever, but I AM IN LOVE WITH RAINSTORMS IN THE SUMMER.
There was this one time that I was working at the pool last summer-I was the snack bar/ desk person then- and I was working snack bar and there was a dive meet and everyone was eating at the pool and I got no help whatsoever, so I was really stressed. Then they all left and it started raining hard enough for it to be closed. I was working the evening shift, so I would have closed down the snack bar anyway, but as it was pouring down rain, we all got out like two hours early. So I closed down the snack bar and called home and asked my dad for a ride, and he said okay. So then I hang up and it starts raining harder.
Everyone who was working took the trash up about ten or twenty minutes later, by which time my dad would have had plenty of time to get in the car and drive carefully to the pool to give his youngest child a ride home. As much as I love summer storms, I didn't want to get hypothermia or anything because the next day was the summer camp performance, and I was one of the leads and I was the only person who knew any of my lines for my scenes, so I couldn't miss it. So anyway, I waited at the top of the sidewalk from the pool to the parking lot, and I wondered why my dad wasn't there yet. He'd had plenty of time-it only takes about two minutes to get to the pool when there's no traffic, and so it should only take him a maximum of ten or fifteen in the epic pouring rain.
So I call home again.
"Dad, I need a ride," I tell him.
"I know," he says simply.
"As in, like not at eight. Like NOW. The pool's closed," I say in a rather aggressive tone.
"Oh, okay," he says very simply.
So then, even though I enjoy summer storms very much, I still didn't want to get hypothermia so I accepted an offer from one of the assistant managers to wait in his car with a few other kids until their parents came.
So then dad FINALLY comes, even after the desk person's dad, and I think the desk person lives farther away than us. But then again, the desk person's dad knows when his kids need rides.
So that's the end of my story.
The end.
:)
:) :) :)
Okay new post.
I'm back, I know.
So anyway, I can't wait for summer for several reasons.
Reason Number One: NO SCHOOL!!!!!!!!!! I love my amigos dearly, but I am in dire need of some time to chill with my amigos from elementary school and on the swim team.
Reason Number Two: I'm working at the pool. I'm a lifeguard. But my certificates haven't come in yet. Which is really weird. But point is, I'm going to have a JOB and I'm going to get PAID. But honestly, next summer I'm working at the bakery. It seems cooler.
Reason Number Three: I get to see my amigos from summer camp. I have been going to this one summer camp every summer since I was ten. This will be my sixth year going. And my first year as a consulor. So it will be awesome. It's a month-long acting camp that is rather amazing and they put up a show every year at the end of the month. It is rather awesome. And the environment is really nice and everyone is welcomed.
Reason Number Four: Palmico. My venture crew is going sea kayaking near where Blackbeard the pirate was killed. Legend has it that all his stuff is still down there.
Reason Number Five: I LOVE SUMMER STORMS. NOT thunderstorms. SUMMER storms. The ones where it's like seventy degrees out and pouring down rain and you're getting absolutely soaked, but it's not thundering and there's no lightning or anything. I LOVE those. I don't know why. There's just something absolutely awesome about those times. I don't CARE that I'd probably get hypothermia or pneumonia or whatever, but I AM IN LOVE WITH RAINSTORMS IN THE SUMMER.
There was this one time that I was working at the pool last summer-I was the snack bar/ desk person then- and I was working snack bar and there was a dive meet and everyone was eating at the pool and I got no help whatsoever, so I was really stressed. Then they all left and it started raining hard enough for it to be closed. I was working the evening shift, so I would have closed down the snack bar anyway, but as it was pouring down rain, we all got out like two hours early. So I closed down the snack bar and called home and asked my dad for a ride, and he said okay. So then I hang up and it starts raining harder.
Everyone who was working took the trash up about ten or twenty minutes later, by which time my dad would have had plenty of time to get in the car and drive carefully to the pool to give his youngest child a ride home. As much as I love summer storms, I didn't want to get hypothermia or anything because the next day was the summer camp performance, and I was one of the leads and I was the only person who knew any of my lines for my scenes, so I couldn't miss it. So anyway, I waited at the top of the sidewalk from the pool to the parking lot, and I wondered why my dad wasn't there yet. He'd had plenty of time-it only takes about two minutes to get to the pool when there's no traffic, and so it should only take him a maximum of ten or fifteen in the epic pouring rain.
So I call home again.
"Dad, I need a ride," I tell him.
"I know," he says simply.
"As in, like not at eight. Like NOW. The pool's closed," I say in a rather aggressive tone.
"Oh, okay," he says very simply.
So then, even though I enjoy summer storms very much, I still didn't want to get hypothermia so I accepted an offer from one of the assistant managers to wait in his car with a few other kids until their parents came.
So then dad FINALLY comes, even after the desk person's dad, and I think the desk person lives farther away than us. But then again, the desk person's dad knows when his kids need rides.
So that's the end of my story.
The end.
:)
:) :) :)
Okay new post.
again!
I'm going to try to set a record for the most posts done in one month. It's going to be a personal record, mind. There are probably a million people who could do more posts than I can in a month. Like they would post one word in each post. Or something like that. But I'm not going to. Because that is really lame. Like, really really lame. Like almost cheating. Plus it really bugs me when people do that.
Anyway.........................
I'm going to post again. In a new post. So I can get to 128 posts as soon as possible. So I can have a post for every day this year. Today, May 4th, 2009, is the 128th day in the year, by the way. That means we have 237 days left until the end of the year. I can hardly wait. Not. I can't wait for SUMMER is what I can't wait for.
I'm going to do a new post now.
Seriously.
And tell you WHY I can't wait for summer.
Anyway.........................
I'm going to post again. In a new post. So I can get to 128 posts as soon as possible. So I can have a post for every day this year. Today, May 4th, 2009, is the 128th day in the year, by the way. That means we have 237 days left until the end of the year. I can hardly wait. Not. I can't wait for SUMMER is what I can't wait for.
I'm going to do a new post now.
Seriously.
And tell you WHY I can't wait for summer.
sigh...
I'm bored. I know I didn't post the entire weekend. And I didn't get very far past my record. But I'll try.
I'm trying to catch up so I can have 365 posts by the end of the year.
Which is going to mean I'm going to have to do like six posts a day.
Or something like that.
Because since I started in February, I was a month behind, and then I didn't post all that much in March, and then I did kind of in April, and I did like five posts on Friday.
So this means this is post # 76.
And by the end of the month it will be 155 days into the year.
This is gonna be really hard.
I don't care.
I'm up for it.
I think.
Okay I'm going to do a new post now.
I'm trying to catch up so I can have 365 posts by the end of the year.
Which is going to mean I'm going to have to do like six posts a day.
Or something like that.
Because since I started in February, I was a month behind, and then I didn't post all that much in March, and then I did kind of in April, and I did like five posts on Friday.
So this means this is post # 76.
And by the end of the month it will be 155 days into the year.
This is gonna be really hard.
I don't care.
I'm up for it.
I think.
Okay I'm going to do a new post now.
Friday, May 1, 2009
lots of yelling/awesomeness
So right now, my friends are having a rather heated argument about something rather random-who was a better superhero, Spiderman or Batman? I couldn't figure out who won. There wasn't a clear winner. But whatever. I just got out of chorus. And it was awesome. There were only six of us most of the time-one person left halfway through and another person came in soon after. We're a ten person choir, technically. The person who left was the only other soprano. And that meant that once we went into three part harmony, once the other person came back, there were three alto 2's, two alto 1's, and one soprano-me. It was hard, but kind of fun. For some reason, I felt like I was the only one singing half the time. But maybe that's just because I am me and I can hear myself better than everyone else. And I was singing like an octave higher than everyone else. And I was the only one who kind of remotely knew their part. I don't know. But I felt like I was the only one that was singing at any given moment in rehearsal today when we went into three part harmony. But whatever. :)
I have now set a personal best for number of posts in one day.
Before it was four.
Now it's five.
And the number is gonna go up.
Trust me.
Expect me to post more.
Seriously.
I have nothing else to do today.
Except go home.
I have now set a personal best for number of posts in one day.
Before it was four.
Now it's five.
And the number is gonna go up.
Trust me.
Expect me to post more.
Seriously.
I have nothing else to do today.
Except go home.
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