Sparks

Affinity

  The ride back to Hubli took just under two weeks and the winter chill began to set in at night. As the first flakes would soon begin to fall, I thought back to the night we left, exactly two years ago. I was a man grown now; I had eighteen summers and lifetime of experiences to go with them.

  On the last day, Avis was back in his grey shirt and pants, and I was wearing my brown pants and green shirt with eight black stripes. Estha had sewn them on before we left Lagodon once Avis had shown her how to thread a needle and make a secure knot. Since leaving, I had drawn a thread to both her and my father several times, and they seemed to be doing well together. It settled my mind a bit, enough that I could focus on one last round before Nakbe. "Ready to go back?" Avis asked.

  "I guess so." It seemed like another lifetime. I had been away from school for nearly as long as I had been there for the early rounds. I had struggled to eat in the dining hall amidst the shouting of thoughts in my head. I had learned how to read Madurian before I could even begin Round One, though it hadn't been nearly as hard as I would have thought.

  "You have a gift for languages. It's part of your Spark," Avis declared. How many parts of my Spark are there? I could fight, hunt, track, read minds and now language? He was just teasing me again, I was sure.

  A quick trot through the last bit of the Creekmont revealed the walls of Myxini, complete with grey stones and large trees. We pulled up to the southern side to leave the horses at the stables. A tall brunette came around the corner and a moment later I recognized Rhada.

  "Lark!" she yelled as she jumped and squeezed my neck.

  "Rhada! You're grown up." She must have had at least fifteen summers and had started to get a woman's shape, barely resembling the pudgy girl I met tracking the Creekmont all those years ago.

  We left Pearl and Obsidian for a much needed rest before heading to get baths and settle into our rooms again. Surprisingly, I still had my old room, thirty-second door on the right from the dining hall, and took only a few minutes to replace the small number of belongings into the deep wooden drawers. I threw the heavy, fur blanket on the bed and it seemed like nothing had changed.

  I found Micha in the dining hall, eating a roasted duck in plum sauce, with Isuet by his side. He caught one glimpse of me at the entryway before toppling over his chair behind him as he ran to greet me.

  "You're back!" he thundered as he lifted me off the ground with his barrel chest and huge arms. His thread told me he had begun to wonder if I was never coming back at all.

  "Micha! Put me down!" I laughed as my feet touched the floor again and my arms were released from my sides, happy to see my friend again. He walked over to the cook and served up a plate, setting it down beside him and ready to hear my story.

  "Alright, now where the hell have you been?"

  "In the Oakwick, and the Andover and the Creekmont a little."

  "That's it? No Hurgada? No Takla Maya?"

  "Nope, just Madurai."

  "Track anything big?"

  "I killed an elk in the Oakwick." Micha didn't seem too impressed, but I didn't care. I was excited to be back and there would be plenty of time to catch up.

  "He's been worried sick." Isuet chimed in after a few minutes. He glared at her, not pleased with her admission, but she just smiled and he caved.

  "I'm fine. Just slow to learn I guess." Micha knew immediately that I was lying. I was a fairly quick learner, if anything, and he knew it. He was smart enough to keep his thoughts in his head and decide to ask me about it later.

  Long after we were all finished eating, Isuet and Micha and I and a few others stayed to share our stories from the last two years. Apparently, Parvani had finished her rounds and was off in the Frost Pass for her Round Ten demonstration. It didn't surprise me at all that she had finished so soon. She was always one of the better ones. Micha was on Round Eight, still struggling to find that last animal in the Creekmont. Edmon wouldn't let him pass until he found it, but he had to wait until after the snow to go back. By midnight, we all headed back to our rooms, exhausted from travel and talk.

  Wearing only my loose brown pants, I crawled into the most comfortable bed I had ever known and sank into the soft, down pillows. I had just started to drift off when I heard a knock at the door. I'm going to kill Avis.

  "What do you-" I started until I realized it wasn't Avis. It was a stunning blonde with blue eyes. Khea.

  "I'm sorry to wake you. I just-I had to see you." Her arms moved to wrap around my waist and hold me tight as I questioned if I was really sleeping or not.

  "Uh, do you want to come in?" We both knew the rules about being in someone else's room after hours, so I pulled her in and sat down on the edge of the bed, still a little surprised she was there.

  In the dim light, her hair looked a little darker, but her face was still sweet and there was no denying that the last two years had done her well. Who would have thought such a beautiful, young woman would come from that skinny, little girl in Lagodon?

  "How'd you know I was back?" I asked her, trying to appear less tired or shocked than I was.

  "A friend told me."

  "I didn't think you-" Cared? It wasn't the right word, but I was beyond amazed that she was interested in my whereabouts. I hadn't seen her since that night at the Moonwater, and it had changed everything for me since then. But for her, I wasn't aware that she had been affected in any way.

  "Ride with me tomorrow?"

  "Uh, yeah, of course." It was a struggle to cover how little I wanted to wait. I would have given anything to have her stay.

  A wide smile erupted across her sweet lips as she said, "Meet me at the lake at noon." With a lingering kiss on my cheek, she walked back through the door and disappeared into the dark, stone corridor.

  What just happened? I hadn't seen her in person in years, and we were hardly close before that. And now she arrived in my room in the middle of the night and kissed me on the cheek. Was it a kiss like a friend would give another? Or more? I couldn't make any sense of it, but there was only thing I was sure of. I would be at the lake at noon if it was the last thing I did.

  Several hours past dawn, Avis was perched on my bed just like old times. I grumbled my disapproval, exhausted from a sleepless night of tossing and turning, wondering why Khea had visited and what would happen at the lake. Avis smiled and laughed at my memory of the night before.

  "Alright, go on your precious ride." He handed me a copper bracelet and for a moment I thought he had taken his off. "Not so fast. Give this to Micha to practice. You know him better than anyone. It should help you figure out how to get past the charm." It made sense that he would want me to try Micha, since he had been the key to figuring out how to read from a distance. For a moment I thought about putting it on myself and never worrying about Avis in my head again.

  "If you do, I'll break your arm and take it back." It was clear enough, and Avis headed back out the door satisfied. I put the bracelet in the top drawer and set to getting dressed. My head was foggy from lack of sleep, but I had to get up and get something to eat before heading to the stables. The last thing I needed was to be tired and hungry.

  "You're leaving again already?" Rhada asked sadly when I went to collect Obsidian.

  "No, no. Just going out for the day. I'll be back by nightfall." Obsidian looked better already for a night in the warm stables and all the tender care Rhada could give her. And the weather couldn't have been better, just warm enough in the sun without being too hot. A perfect day for a ride.

  Walking Obsidian around the southeast wall to the lake on the eastern side of the grounds, my mind reeled with anticipation and questions. What was I going to say? Why did she want to see me? All of it was put to rest the moment I saw her.

  She sat on a tall horse the color of the sand in the Andover, with black mane and tail. Her light-blue dress hugged her figure and trailed out to sit over the back of the horse. She sat side-saddle, elegantly, with her blonde hair blowing behi
nd her like a dream. She would have looked like the most refined, demure woman imaginable if not for a leather wrap on her left forearm and a matching leather patch on her right shoulder that gave her a real outdoorsman look. I had never seen anyone so impressive or attractive, and my head swirled as I tried to concentrate.

  "Come on," she called out as she turned her horse and raced off into the thick trees on the far side of the lake. It was all I could do to throw my legs over Obsidian and race after her. I lost sight of her as soon as she entered the trees, but she left a trail that was easy enough to follow. A few minutes later I caught up to her waiting in a clearing and looking up towards the sun streaming in between the branches.

  "Khea-"

  "They watch me all the time. I have to be very careful." Well that explains the middle of the night visit and running off.

  "What are they watching you for? Do they think you'll run home?" She smiled a true, good smile that lit up her face.

  "I already told you."

  "You did?"

  "They think I'll find you." My blurry mind recalled her saying something similar in the gardens years ago.

  "Me?"

  A familiar screech filled the woods just as the orange-breasted hawk flew into the clearing. In a flash, I had my arrow pulled from the quiver and aimed at the patch of orange feathers on the bird's chest. Finally.

  I never got that chance though; a moment later, its talons grabbed hold of the leather strap on Khea's left arm where she held it out. That's when it clicked.

  "That's your hawk?"

  She nodded and smiled again, washing away my anguish at never getting to hunt it. "She's an Orange-Shouldered Hawk from the mountains of Takla Maya. Her name is Citrine."

  "And you trained her to follow us?" The hawk had been with us since the beginning in the Oakwick, and kept with us even through the brutal winter in the Andover. And just a few months ago I had seen it in the Creekmont near my father's house. It had been with us all along.

  She seemed nervous from my accusation and set to explain herself. "I just wanted to make sure you were alright. That you were coming back."

  It was sweet really, that she had been worried about me. I knew it was wrong to be angry about it, and I did my best to put it aside, which really wasn't that hard considering the charming beauty in front of me.

  "How long do you have? Before they notice you're gone?"

  "A few hours. Mathias is at a meeting in the city and won't be back until evening." She moved her hand up to her shoulder and let Citrine step onto the leather patch there. It suited her somehow.

  Once I was with her, I didn't quite know what to do with myself. I had thought about her in a similar blue dress so many times, but it didn't seem right to tell her that. I couldn't think of why, but it felt very important to me that she would like me. I couldn't risk coming off as desperate or wonting. I would do whatever it took to get to the bottom of the effects she had on me, in person and in memory.

  Khea slid off her horse and began to lead the sandy mare between the trees. "Her name is Jasper," she told me when she caught me staring.

  "Jasper. Citrine. I guess it's true what they say about girls and gemstones," I teased her as I followed behind her on foot.

  "You're one to talk, Obsidian," she fired right back. I suddenly remembered that my horse was named for the necklace she wore at the Moonwater. Yet another thing I couldn't tell her. I did have to laugh that two children who had known nothing but starvation should become so fascinated with rare gems as adults.

  Watching the movement of the blue fabric as she walked beside Jasper gave me an idea. "Could you show me some of your ability? I've never known another Puffer." She turned around to look at me innocently just as a strong gust swept the leaves from the trees and startled the horses.

  "Alright then." I smiled, thinking of how interesting it must be to have control of some tangible aspect of the world, though I wasn't going to tell her that it seemed Puffers were at a disadvantage as far as Elementals go. It would be far more interesting to be a Striker or Shaker.

  She led us to the edge of a deep pool formed by the small stream that ran through that side of the Creekmont. We let the horses drink in the shade and she sat on the sunbaked rock ledge with her legs pulled up to her chest just the same as the day we met. It reminded me that she was really just a girl. Granted, a beautiful girl with sixteen summers who fills my every thought. I sat down next to her, thankful for a chance to know her again.

  We sat quietly for a while, just watching the dark-blue water swirling into the deep pool and then flowing back down the stream. "I'm glad you're back. I really missed you," she whispered quietly, laying her head on my shoulder as I reached my arm around to pull her closer.

  I swallowed hard as I tried to think of the appropriate response.

  I think about that one moment where you looked at me across the room two years ago all the time. You're the reason I have so much control of my Spark. You're the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. None of it seemed right.

  Before I had a chance to say anything, she turned until her lips reached mine, a sweet and good and slow kiss. My chest thumped loudly as I reached out to hold her cheek and pull her closer, using my thumb to trace the space in front of her ear. It was the moment that fortified my desire to be with her.

  She pushed me back against the stone ledge with a surprising sense of urgency. The heat from the stone radiated up my back as she straddled my hips between her slender legs and looked down knowingly into my eyes. I had no idea how she figured out how I felt about her, but she left no doubt that she felt the same when she leaned down to kiss me again. My hands eagerly tugged at the blue fabric as a strong breeze coursed through the grove and flipped through her hair. I had no time to consider what was going on as my body responded to her touch and I could sense her responding to mine. My hand found the smooth skin at the small of her back and pulled her down against me, stealing my thoughts and leaving me lost in the moment.