The Last Night Part 1 (Tigerlily's House)

I suppose everyone knows that they aren't mine... I've decided that Peachleaf, Gorse, Henna, and Moonstream are all older than Niva, Isas, and Vayni. Vayni is going to be Lark's novice name. I don't think she'll be in this chapter, but just FYI.

The Last Night


Niva laid on her bed, staring at the ceiling. Moonlight streamed through the open widow of the Earth dormitories. It was nearly midnight and Niva was counting the last minutes of her old life.

She was going to dedicate herself to the Earth temple in the morning. She would be stuck in Winding Circle forever, bound by her vows.

Niva threw back her sheet and padded over to the window. She pried the latch up and swung the window open. She glanced over her shoulder, back into the dormitory.

Dedicate Silverleaf, the dorm supervisor, was flat on her back, snoring quietly. The poor woman didn't know that sleeping powder had been slipped into her evening tea.

Niva clambered out the window and pulled it shut behind herself. She walked through the grass and turned onto the main temple road.

The night was warm and nearly pitch-black, thanks to a thin, crescent moon. No one else was walking along the road. A few Fire dedicates patrolled the temple wall, but everyone else was abed.

A thin hand reached out of the shadows and snagged Niva's sleeve. She jumped backwards and tripped over the hem of her white robe, landing in the dirt.

"Isas! What are you doing?" she whispered hotly. "You're not supposed to be out here!"

The other novice raised his eyebrows and draped his long arms artistically. "Neither are you. No one except for them," he nodded towards the dedicates on the wall. "Is supposed to be out right now. Especially us, since we're getting- " he paused. "Since we're getting dedicated tomorrow."

Niva snorted. "You still can't get over the idea that you're going to be stuck here for the rest of your life. I'd have thought you'd have accepted it by now."

"Not everyone is as quick to adapt as you are, my dear." He grabbed Niva's arm and hauled her back up. "Is your family here for the dedication?"

"Mmm-hm. My father hired some people to help with the farm and he and my brothers came down to Summersea. That's what he said in his letter, at least. He said they would come to Summersea, then travel here, to the temple, in the morning. Your family?"

Isas smiled cynically. "My father is too busy at the estate in Olart. My mother and sister are here though. I expect I'll see them tomorrow. I can introduce you."

An image of two ladies in ruffled dresses and pearl necklaces with carefully coiffed hair drifted across Niva's thoughts. She shivered. There are more people like him, she thought. "Wonderful. I'd be... charmed." She switched subjects abruptly. "Have you chosen your new name yet?"

Isas sighed. "No, I haven't."

Niva laughed softly. "Neither have I. Come and walk with me. Maybe we can get some ideas." She grasped his arm and pulled him off the path, into the gardens around the cottages and dormitories of the temple.

They slipped between the dark greenery, which was warm and damp in the humid air. Niva pulled Isas though a shadowy grove of gnarly trees and onto a lawn that sprawled around the Water dormitories.
The lawn was smooth, with a few shrubs and bushes.

Isas ducked his head and breathed deeply. He looked up at the back of Niva's head. Her long, auburn hair swung across her shoulders. It looked almost black in the night.

Suddenly, Isas stumbled. His foot hadn't landed on the grass. The young man fell, arms out before him, into a large pool of water. It had appeared smooth, like the grass, in the darkness. Isas pushed himself out of the water. Niva had skipped ahead and she was giggling madly.

Isas frowned at her. "You knew that was there."

"If I did?" Niva grinned.

Isas rolled his eyes, trying to look serious. "May I have a hand up?" He extended his dripping arm towards her. She grasped his hand and pulled, but Isas pulled harder and Niva splashed into the water.
She surfaced a moment later and spat water. "That wasn't fair!"

"Neither was your trick."

Niva sighed and floated on her back. "I suppose. We're even now."
 
Isas looked at her. Her white novitiate robe swirled around her, drifting in the water. "Your name," he said shortly. "Have you any ideas?"

She turned her head to look at him. "No. I guess I've been hoping that it will just come to me, that Mila and the Green Man will just say 'This is your name.' I suppose I want a plant name. It seems to be traditional to pick a name that associates you with your temple. I mean, look at Moonstream. Streams are part of water. And Silverleaf, well, that's obvious."

Isas shrugged. "There are non-traditional names as well. Gorse and Henna. You can't really guess where they're from. Most people would just think they're from the Earth temple. What about Peachleaf? She's Water temple."

Niva sat up. "I need more inspiration. Let's go somewhere else." She leaned over and kissed Isas' nose gently. "Come along." She pulled him out of the water and she danced across the lawn, with Isas right behind her. She leaped over the stone border of the Water dormitory grounds and paused on the temple road.

"Where do we go now?"

Isas smiled. "I know the most amazing place."

Niva held him back. "Is it very far? We probably shouldn't stay out all night."

"It's by the Air dormitories. So we have a bit of a run ahead of us if we actually want to sleep tonight."

Niva grinned. She grasped her white robe under her arms and whipped it off, over her head.

Isas gasped and looked away. He could hear Niva laughing. "What?" he said, eyes on the ground.

"I've got my underskirts on."

"Oh." Isas blushed and looked up. Niva was rolling her wet robe up, and true to her word, she was wearing a white, sleeveless shirt and several lacy petticoats that clung to her legs.

"It's hard to run in wet skirts, so I figured I might as well take the heaviest skirt off." She tucked her robe under her arm. "Lead on."

Isas turned and started jogging down the path. He had only gone a short ways when Niva loped ahead. Isas ran faster, and soon they were both sprinting down the path.

The gravel crunched under their feet. They raced path cottages and workshops, until Isas stopped before a dark, disused cottage.

Niva skidded to a halt, gasping. "What's this, Isas?"

The cottage was large, with whitewashed walls and a thatched roof. Trees and flowerbeds lined the inside of the white picket fence.

"It's just pretty and. . . it's special and I wanted to show it to you." He eased the latch on the gate up, and slid into the yard.

Niva could feel the plants clamoring for her attention as soon as she stepped over the threshold. She held out her hands and sent a wave of magic through the plants to calm them.

A rosebush tendril kept moving towards her. Niva was about to move it away, when Isas stepped forward. The plant squirmed into his cupped hands. A small rosebud burst into bloom and it gleamed palely in the night.

Isas knows how to grow plants, Niva admitted to herself.

The rose dropped into Isas' hands and the tendril returned to its bush. Isas turned to Niva and slid the rose's stem into her hair.

"It's called a tequila sunrise rose. They grow in Yanjing and Chammur, typically. My father received one from the Empress of Namorn. He gave it to me and I planted it here."

"Why did you plant it at this cottage?" Niva asked.

"My teacher lived here."

Niva nodded. She had known Tigerlily a little, and knew the Dedicate Initiate had been Isas' teacher for most of the novice's training. Tigerlily had died the year after Isas and Niva returned from Lightsbridge. There had been a smallpox epidemic in Summersea and Tigerlily had used too much of her magic trying to heal others.

"No one lives here now," Isas said as he walked up to the cottage's front door. He grasped the door-handle lightly.

Niva ran her fingers along the name over the door. "Discipline. What a wonderful place for a mage to live. Mila, if only everyone could live in discipline."

Isas snorted. "That would be quite the cottage." He looked up the wall. "I wonder who's been taking care of this place. It's been empty for- "

"Nearly three years now," Niva finished. She laid her hand over Isas' hand and opened the door. Musty, herb-scented air washed over them. Niva peered into the darkness. "Isas? Do you know where the altar is? I'd like to light a candle for Tigerlily before we leave. It seems fitting, as if we are visiting her."
Isas stepped into the cottage and walked down the hall. He didn't go very far; instead he turned right into a small room. Niva moved past him and nearly bumped into the altar. She reached down the side of the table for the customary drawer that would hold incense and candles for the altar. Her fingers closed around a matchbox and a long taper. She struck the match up, and gold light flared aroung her fingers.

Isas daintily took the match from Niva and held it under his chin, so his face flickered with shadows.

"It was a dark night," he whispered. "Lightning and rain poured from the skies. In an alleyway in Khapik- ow!" The match burnt his fingers and he dropped it.

Niva giggled and crushed the match under her shoe. She struck another match and lit her taper. She held it over the altar.

The wooden surface was bare and dusty. Isas swept his sleeve across the wood and reached into the drawer for god-figurines and incense.

Niva set her candle in a silver holder on the altar and helped Isas to pull out the supplies. She set the figures of Mila and the Green Man in the left corner with Yanna Healtouch, Lakik, and Shurri Firesword on the right. Isas set Asaia Birdwinged in the center and set a small blue-green bowl at her feet. Mila set another dish before Mila and the Green Man.

"I suppose we ought to honor the others, too," she whispered into the silence.

Isas drew out another bowl and set it before the remaining gods. He pulled a large packet out of the drawer and held the candle over it.

"Rosehip and lilac incense." He poured a small amount into each dish, then put the packet away. Niva set votive candles around the figurines and Isas set a slightly larger candle in the center of the altar.

Niva took the taper from Isas and lit the candles and incense. Rosy smoke and golden light filled the room.

"Mila and Green Man watch over Tigerlily," Niva whispered. "May she be able to grow tomatoes and be happy, wherever she is."

Isas laughed softly. "May she have tomatoes and happiness," he echoed. "So mote it be."

"So mote it be."

I suppose Nano's over, but...

I think I'll keep working on my Circle fanfics and Holly Silver stories. I'll keep you updated. :)

It's December and life moves on

I've finally crashed back into my normal life-after-nano. I didn't realize how much I had neglected my school projects and now I'm pulling a lot of late nights. It's crazy, but I'm getting back down to Earth. I only have two more weeks before finals and I'm glad. It's almost over. Hopefully, I'll be able to get out another chapter of BoLC in the next week or so. :)