Ember (14 page)

When I was out I saw that Ikovos had set out
the blankets. To the right of the fireplace a comfy looking pile of
blankets were laid out mattress style. I assumed this was mine
because there was a ridiculously large space between it and the
other two beds. I felt a little guilty when I saw that they each
only had one blanket and not nearly as much room as me. Ikovos was
lying on his stomach in the spot closest to mine. I couldn't see
Jaden anywhere.

I moved over to my pile of blankets near the
fire and sat down carefully. As soon as Ikovos saw me he sat
up.

“How was your shower?” he asked.

“Good. Great, actually.”

“You didn't take very long,” he said.

“No, I'm not a big shower person.”

He nodded slowly. Silence followed.

“So . . .” I started. “Can you tell me about
Sylvanus now?”

“Oh yeah,” said Ikovos. Somehow his hair was
even more tousled then before. “What do you want to know about
him?”

I scrunched my nose as I considered the
question. “Well, how old is he?”

Ikovos jumped in, strange when he had been so
secretive on the subject before. “First off, you have to know that
the Meoden age quite different than us. They live a lot longer and
mature slower. Thoran told me once that he was born around the same
time as him, but Sylvanus is rather young among the Meoden,
especially for his rank.”

“And that's why he gets away with so much?” I
followed.

Ikovos rocked his head back and forth.
“That's part of it, but with what he's done he still should have
been exiled years ago.”

I sunk down a bit more, turning onto my side
and leaning against my elbow. “What kind of stuff?”

He looked troubled by my question, like he
was hesitant to answer. “Umm . . .” another pause “. . . bad
stuff.”

“Oh. . . .” It hung in the air for a moment.
I couldn't help but think about my own experience with Sylvanus,
and where it might have led if not for Thoran and Cornelius. A
shiver ran up my spine and in the same moment door to the cabin
swung open.

I jumped.

It was just Jaden of course.

“You okay there?” he toyed. Not waiting for
an answer, he looked over at Ikovos. “Well, you two look like a
jolly bunch. . . . What were you talking about?”

He was holding a large sword at his side. I
noticed that it was dimly glowing. It reminded me of Thoran's
flaming sword, only this one was a deep red rather than green.

“Sylvanus.” said Ikovos.

Jaden tossed the sword into the corner. As
soon as he released it all color disappeared. “Nice topic.” He
walked a little closer and gave his cramped spot a dissatisfied
look.

I sat up a bit, still shaken, as he dropped
down into his small space and leaned back against the wall, hands
lacing behind his head. “I bet you're wishing you had stayed home,
now.”

Ikovos gave him a look, but it didn't make me
feel much better. I had done my fair share of arguing for the day
though, so I thought I would try the super sweet route.

“Of course not. Then I wouldn't have you guys
to protect me.”

Ikovos grinned, though I was sure he could
tell what I was doing. Jaden, on the other hand, looked rather
surprised.

He hid it quickly, but I felt contented
enough to resumed talking with Ikovos. My thoughts were still on
Sylvanus.

“I have a hard time understanding how the
whole council thing works. I mean, I saw Thoran kill two Meoden . .
. then he just goes there to have these civilized chats with
them?”

Ikovos yawned and leaned into the
uncomfortable, looking floor. I noticed Jaden had closed his
eyes.

“The meetings aren't really in the place you
were, they're in a neutral-zone. No fighting allowed.”

I considered this, but still didn't feel like
I was grasping the concept. Ikovos must have noticed this.

“It's not really something you can explain.
You’d have to see it for yourself.” I watched him lie on his back
and look up at the ceiling. “Jaden will take you the next time he
goes,” he stated matter-of-factly.

Jaden opened one eye and looked at him
skeptically.

I didn't want to get him any more irritated
with me then he already was, so I backtracked. “No, no, that's
okay. I'm just being nosy. I probably wouldn't understand if I went
anyways.” I added a sweet closed-mouth grin to try and make it
convincing.

Jaden, who had closed his eyes again after
starting down Ikovos, looked up at this. God, why did it always
feel like he could see right through me?

“I'll take you,” he said. “Now go to
sleep.”

Before I could respond he had returned to his
leaned-back, closed-eye, trance.

I scrunched my nose and looked at Ikovos who
appeared asleep apart from the grin on his face. He was never much
help to me when it came to Jaden.

Feeling free that I wasn't being watched I
let my tongue stick out at Jaden for a split second, before turning
on my stomach and pulling over my covers.

As soon as I laid my head on the pillow the
room became darker. Surprised, I looked at the fire and saw that is
was now a deep maroon. My eyes peered over to Jaden, but he hadn't
moved.

I sighed and rested my head in my hand.

The fire reminded me of my first night in the
study . . . and I couldn't help but feel comforted. It was strange,
though, to watch such foreign-colored flames wisping up the
all-to-normal wood.

After a few minutes I laid my head back on
the pillow.

I'm never going to be able to get to sleep.
There's too many thoughts running through my head.

I must have been wrong about this. Within
minutes I was out.

~ ~ ~

WHEN I woke up the first thing I heard was
the soft tapping of rain, falling on the roof. I opened my eyes and
saw that out the window the sky was a very dim, silvery-blue.

I lifted my head off the pillow a couple
inches and looked over at Ikovos and Jaden. I almost expected to
see the latter still sitting against the wall with his arms behind
his head, but it appeared he was now sleeping peacefully in his
small cot.

I dropped my head back down and told myself I
should try to go back to sleep . . . but then the rain got louder
and I couldn't help myself. With another glance towards the boys, I
carefully crept out from under the covers and reached for my coat
from the knapsack. My shoes were still by the door so with jacket
in hand, I tip-toed over, picked them up, and gently twisted the
knob.

Jaden and Ikovos looked undisturbed.

I opened the door and walked through, letting
it click softly behind me.

The first thing I did was slip on my shoes so
that my socks wouldn't get wet. The only thing bad about rain was
wet socks. Next, I shrugged on my coat, hugging it around me
tightly.

Around here it never rained. It always seemed
to be sunny. Most people liked this fact, but to me there was
nothing more magical then rain . . . rain and dawn. Of course it
was both right now, which accounted for my inability to stay put. I
was sure I'd hear about how stupid it was from Jaden when he got
up.

I walked slowly around the house to the hill
I had been on last night, taking in the dripping scenery as I did.
Once I had reached the spot where I’d been before, I took a second
to look around, but was unsatisfied with the view. I turned back to
see that the top of the hill was only a few dozen yards away, and
couldn't resist the urge to keep climbing.

By the time I got to the peak, I was
completely soaked through. It was a wonderful feeling. Still, I
guess it's just human nature to avoid standing with the rain
pouring down on you, because I chose a seat on a rock under one of
the few trees atop the hill.

With a deep breath I took in the sky and all
the open space around me: wet . . . calm . . . clear white light
with the faintest glow of blue draping everything. The rain fell
slowly, reflecting the blue in each drop, causing everything it
touched to sparkle.

In spite of all this, I found my gaze
wandering to the cabin at the base of the hill. It must have been
the first time that people had distracted me from my favorite
weather.

“But they're not like other people are they.
. . .” I whispered softly. I thought of last night.

Sitting there, all alone, and surrounded by
the noisy wall of rain, I knew wouldn't be able to escape my own
mind. I decided to give in and consider the utterly confusing
aspects of my new friends.

Like that,
I thought,
that right
there . . .

Friends.

Ikovos, I
think,
was a friend. He
talked to me like a friend, he treated me like a friend, heck, he
even declared that we should be friends. I smiled. There was no
doubt in my mind, or at least very little, that we
were
friends. Real friends. I liked the feeling.

The happy moment was quickly smothered.

And then there's Jaden.

Forgoing the view, I laid back on the rock
and looked up at what was visible of the sky through the dripping
leaves.

He
didn't
treat me like a
friend, and, although bold, he didn't talk to me like a friend
either. Unlike Ikovos, any declarations
he
had made were of
dislike or indifference.

My stomach squirmed involuntarily as I
thought of the way he had been back behind my house. Before the
cuffs, before the arguing, before knocking me over. I scoffed, but
couldn't deny the still-present feelings . . . he had been
different there for a while.

Sweet? . . . No. Sympathetic? . . . Not
really. Friendly? . . .
Maybe.
Did I like it? . . .

I wouldn't answer this one. Probably because
I already
knew
what the answer was . . . and I didn't like
thinking about the fact that something I had done made him
stop.

“Maybe I just make him crazy,” I said aloud .
. . but the logic in the statement was faulty. Why, then, would he
have asked Thoran to let me stay?

“Ugh.” My mind was throbbing and I wasn't
reaching any conclusions. One thing I had to admit . . . or
correct, as it were. He had talked to me friendly,
some
of
the time. And obviously, though not in my presence, he had
treated
me like a friend also, by talking to Thoran.

My initial question hung pensively in the air
as I sat back up.
Friend or not?
I still didn't know the
answer, so I decided to go with my usual policy:

‘
When in doubt, stick with the safest
scenario.’

That was it. I needed to keep myself guarded.
A, no honesty, no vulnerability policy with Jaden.

I sat there for a few more minutes,
contemplating my decision, then decided I'd better go inside.
Maybe then I'll have a chance to dry off before the boys wake
up.
I made a sour face when I noticed the rain had slowed and a
patch of blue sky was breaking through. It was still holding in
place when I entered the cabin, trying my best to be quiet.

To my surprise both the boys were still
asleep. All I could see of either were distinguishing mats of
hair.

I patted over to my bed, but passed it in
favor of a spot as close to the fire as possible. It was still
maroon like the night before, but it was, unexpectedly, just as
warm as the brighter flames. I was grateful for this and, pulling
off soggy socks, I moved my feet closer to the fire.

As I watched it I thought about the
possibility that
I
could be able to control it. When Ikovos
had tried to teach me magic I was a complete failure. I remembered
the book in the study had said that the illumination spell was
useable by both classes, and wondered if the process worked the
same for offense artisans. Still undecided, I held out my hand as
Ikovos had instructed and tried again to conjure the light. This
time with the fire in mind.

First, I just stared at it, trying to follow
the patterns that Ikovos had told me to take my mind through.
Impatient as I was, I didn't give that a lot of time before moving
on to something else.

I tried waving my hand around, then strumming
my fingers in random orders. With some reluctance I decided to see
if snapping would work. Of course there was a problem with this,
because I had never really been able to snap. . . .

I concentrated, nonetheless, on my fingertips
and imitated the motion I had seen others use successfully.

No noise. I tried again . . .

Nothing. I tried yet another time and it
still just sounded like soft skin rubbing together.

After a few more, my fingers were starting to
feel like I'd given them a rug burn. I stopped myself from
complaining and stuck the edge opposite my nail in my mouth.
Somehow sucking on finger injuries always made me feel better.

Without cause, I looked out from under wet
hair to my left. I almost wasn't surprised to see Jaden sitting up
comfortably against the wall, staring me down. There was no doubt
he had seen my unfortunate attempts at snapping, but my face didn't
change color all the same. Maybe my veins were still tired of
pumping blood to my face from yesterday.

I kept my eyes on him, expecting a wave or a
nod, some sort of acknowledgment . . . you know, the type of thing
any normal person would do.

There was nothing. Just hard . . . dark . . .
paralyzing . . . eyes.

Okay
,
maybe he had been sitting
there five minutes, tops. How the heck did he look so . . . well .
. . good to put it plainly? It's supposed to take people time to
collect themselves in the morning. They're supposed to look
disheveled!

He didn't at all.

His dark hair was flawlessly unkempt. It fell
down in layers around his face, almost completely concealing his
eyes, which were also free of any sign of morning, no circles, no
squinting,
incredibly
attentive. No flinch of a yawn
appeared around his mouth. His jaw was held firmly in place. For
the first time I noticed a scar on his neck. My eyes followed it
curiously down beneath his shirt, before realizing too late that he
was probably still watching me. Like an idiot I looked up to check,
and quickly discovered that my blood was having no problem
circulating. I felt my face get hot and looked away as fast as
humanly possible.