A/N- I'm going to try and put a post up on my blog about Niva's background, but I'll tell you here what's relevant. I think she grew up in a very manly family; her mother died (Note that I'm making all this up, it's all non-canon as far as I know.) when she was pretty young and she lived with her father and three older brothers. She lost most of her contact to her village when she traveled to Winding Circle and Lightsbridge. I see her father as a hard man, kind of sad because he loved his wife so much. I think he tried to raise Niva as best he could, but he didn't really know how to bring up a girl-mage. So he sent her to Winding Circle, maybe when she was a bit too young, with the best of intentions. About working on the farm/profits versus love: Niva worked on the farm since before her magic came out. She continued to do so, partly because that's what she knew and partly because she wanted to help. Her father encouraged her because he could she she loved it and it was a way for her to earn bread when she grew up and lived on her own. He also liked the profit, but if she hadn't wanted to farm, he wouldn't have pressured her into it. He doesn't think he did, but maybe she thinks he did. I think they were a misunderstood family, and not everyone interpreted actions and words the same way. And by the way "monochromatic striations" sounds a bit ridiculous, but. . . I couldn't think of anything else. >.< Oops, I almost forgot, Niva's friend from back in Anderran is "Lise."
Niva wiped her sticky fingers off on her leg and smiled. Her dress was now patterned with dozens of Earth Temple circles in different colors of berry and plant. It was odd enough to make her stand out from the other novices, and it wasn't skin and mud.
She pressed her hands to the cotton fabric and let her magic seep through it. Can you hold the dye, please? She felt a strange tickle on her palms as the cotton wiggled. I guess it's permanent now.
Niva stood and pulled the dress over her shoulders. She grabbed the bag of tea and began to wrestle her way free of the little grove she had made.
The sun beat down on the empty field. Niva shielded her eyes and glanced at the sky. It was mid-afternoon. How could I have been gone so long? I be everyone else is back, I bet they're waiting for me! Ooh, I'll look so stupid; they're going to ask themselves why they let me finish my novitiate!
Then the rational part of Niva's mind took over. She took a deep breath and set of in the direction of Winding Circle. The field wasn't very far from the temple, but the distance seemed like miles. Pretty soon, Niva was breaking into a jog, a run, an all-out sprint for the temple.
The South Gate was wide open, and the road was full of people arriving to the temple. There were a few gleaming carriages and rough wagons, but most of the people were riding dusty horses or walking รก pied. A Fire Dedicate with long red hair and sooty hands stood at the entrance and waved people down the appropriate road.
Niva raced between the people, turning sideways and jumping over small dogs and bundles. She had nearly reached the Fire Dedicate at the gate when-
"Niva!"
The girl skidded to a stop and spun on her toe. She blinked against the sun and dusk that now masked the road.
"Niva-girl!"
She squinted and saw a tall man on a horse waving at her. He had short-cropped blond hair and a crooked nose.
"Lars!"
Suddenly, Niva jumped sideways as an orange carriage rolled past. The Fire Dedicate looked over.
"You'll have plenty of time to catch up later, dear. Right now you ought to move on before one of this lot runs you over with their shiny toys."
Niva smiled crookedly. "Wouldn't want to mess their paint job." She turned and began running along the spiraling road to the Hub. It was only a few minutes before she was slipping back through the door she had used at dawn. She let her eyes adjust to the dark and looked around for the other Earth novices.
A dark-skinned Earth dedicate touched her shoulder. "Earth is right over there," he said in a rumbling whisper. He paused then added, "You're doing fine. Don't worry. Almost all I remember about my dedication is being terrified out of my wits. Stay calm and it'll be fine."
Niva nodded and moved away, hurrying to sit in the Earth quadrant once again. 'Stay calm and it'll be fine.' What was that supposed to mean?! She knelt on the ground and watched the other novices trickle in. At least I wasn't last.
Then a girl in a beautiful white-gray dress walked in. The dress swirled gently with monochromatic striations and bits of it sparkled gently. It was hardened air and fog. The girl waltzed around the room to the Water section. Niva laid her face on ground and sighed. She could feel the rough cotton of her dress all too well.
A moment later, she heard someone gasp. She looked up and felt her mouth drop open in shock. A man in green breeches and a bark vest had strode into the room. His short black hair was matted with sweat and he carried an eggshell that was filled with a liquid that gleamed in Niva's magical vision.
"Green Man!" she whispered. There were other murmurs of amazement rippling across the room. She watched as the man walked tiredly around the room. He paused in the Earth quadrant for a moment near Niva. She glanced up at his face and then openly stared.
It was Isas. He had managed to weave grass into pants and fashion a bark vest. Up close, he appeared less magnificent, and more like a tired boy wearing a costume.
Niva felt a stab of jealousy. Why didn't I think of plant-clothes? And a magical contribution to the Circle. Gods, that was stupid. She huffed in aggrivation.
Isas glanced down, smiled slightly and then stepped into the Air section and knelt. Niva stared disbelievingly. Air? What's he doing? I thought-
She didn't get an answer, as the Heartfire roared, flames licking the ceiling. Smoke stung her eyes and her eyes watered as Froststar once again stepped forward.
"You have made your choice!" the dedicate called loudly. "Now you must act upon it. Your friends and family wait at the Earth Temple's main garden. Follow me, please."
The next while was blurred in Niva's memory. She vaguely remembered following the others down the Temple path, sunshine and dust floating through the air. Then peoples' voices, smudged together and undecipherable. Stairs and a wooden stage. Then they were all sitting on benches and Froststar began to speak. She said something about hard work, life, magic, strength, their dedication to the gods. She began to call names, and one by one, the novices stood, took their turn to speak to Froststar, and left the stage to gather with the other dedicates of their new chosen life.
"Angharad Vallette." Some words about healers and then "I choose to be Peachleaf." She daintily set a glass-like globe of magic and water down on the table in front of the stage.
"Kato Stevens." Flames and fire. "I am Blaze."
Several others, a girl with spiky black hair, a copper-skinned boy with a curly mane of hair. Other girls, an older man who looked nearly as noble as Isas. A younger boy, like Niva, with dark skin and short hair. He looked terrified and barely managed to squeak out "Frostpine!" before racing off the stage.
More. Blonds, red-heads, people who looked as though they came from the other side of the Endless Sea, a Trader, before "Isas fer Yorvan."
Isas stood, ever elegant in his long-limbed way. He walked to Froststar's side, where she asked him something Niva didn't hear. Then he looked over her shoulder and opened his mouth to speak. "Isas fer Yorvan. . . now. . . I am Crane."
Niva blinked. A heron or a crane. One of those long-legged things that dances around everywhere. Everyone thinks they're so graceful, but I saw a heron once, and it just looked awkward, rather unbalanced. But then it started moving and it flew and I understood. It was graceful when it did what it lived for. "Oh, Isas," she whispered. Then Isas- no, Crane- was leaving, setting his magical bowl on the table, and joining the Air dedicates.
Niva glanced around and realized she was one of the last. There was one other, a fair-haired boy who looked to be nearly twenty, with broad shoulders and a smith's arms.
"Percy Organa." He stepped away and quickly said "Armstrong," before setting a huge hammer on the edge of the table and walking into the crowd of red robes.
"Niva Andersson." She could feel the heat of everyone's gaze upon her. She stood, as if in a dream and moved before Froststar, carrying her overlarge teabag. There was a silence, then Froststar spoke.
"Niva Andersson, you have chosen to dedicate the rest of your life to Mila of the Grain and the Green Man. Do you wish to continue?"
"Yes." The word drifted from Niva's mouth, almost too quiet to hear.
"Do you agree to live in poverty and serve the poor to the best of your abilities?"
"Yes."
"And do you agree to teach others to tame magic, whether or not they are discovered by you?"
Who said anything about teaching? I can't even teach my own brother to grow a squash! "Yes, I suppose so."
"Now, you must doff your old name and choose who you are to become."
"I. . ."
A memory washed across her.
"You're like a thorn-"
"A thorn? Like a thorn in your foot?"
"No! A thorn like the kind on a rose or a raspberry."
And then another, from a time long ago, back in Anderran, near Midsummer.
"You're like a rose, Niva. Just perfect and beautiful."
Niva carefully smeared ointment across the scars on Lise's face and worked for an answer.
"Beauty fades, Lise, dearest. The rose eventually wilts."
Lise looked up and smiled through her tears. "Eventually."
"Besides if- when- you marry someone, they want you, your personality and ideas and feelings. Those stay forever, not like beauty. You watch, in sixty years, we'll be sitting here and you'll have your childrens' babies all around you and you'll have to share them with me, since I'll have jabbed all my suitors away with my thorns." Niva grinned.
Lise smiled back. "What about Sami? He was looking at you at the festival. Don't deny it!"
"Novice Niva?"
"I choose. . . to be Rosethorn."
No comments:
Post a Comment