The Drifting

  ~ * ~

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  ~ Lily ~

  I was hit by a hurricane named Sema. From the moment I awoke the next day after meeting Jarhan, Sema kept me busy and occupied. By the time we were done with dinner each night, I crashed, exhausted with keeping up with the old woman.

  Before daylight she had me up to continue my lessons with Alorn. I had expected to see Ziri with him, but I was told he was off on an errand by the king. It was okay as Julia joined me in our workout and as I predicted she kicked my butt in all our sparring matches. I did get some surprised looks from Julia when I pulled a fast hit or unexpected move on her. At the end of each workout, Alorn would move into the center and it was our job to take him down. Despite the bruises, aches and pains we never touched him.

  Next, Sema spent an hour on our own lesson. She never asked me about Jarhan, but I had a feeling she already knew. When I stepped into the same arena area where my earlier workout was, she eyed me and again I felt she was seeing everything I didn’t. Most of my lessons with her were how to move the energy around me, how to call it to my will and how to manipulate the energy around others. This time she showed me how to use the energy as a defense, but not like what Asi showed me at the young oak in Las Vegas, but against actual physical attacks.

  Lessons and practices were done before breakfast. But after a late night and the early workout I almost fell asleep while eating. The oatmeal-like dish tasted so good, but I could barely eat any of it I was so tired. Julia joined me for breakfast and seemed wide-awake and energized. She had no problem eating her bowl and mine when I couldn’t finish. Fruit, bread and cheese were also available and Julia had no trouble helping herself.

  Once breakfast was done, we were both dragged to, and I was surprised Julia was included in all the preparation, to meet with a dress designer and seamstress. This seemed more tiring than the workouts with the standing and holding poses as they took our measurements. We were pulled, pinched, stretched and even smacked several times by Sema when we came out of a held position.

  By lunchtime even Julia was too tired to eat. Lessons on how to walk, to talk, to nod, to wave, to sit, to eat, to gesture fatigue, to gesture annoyance (or rather gesture annoyance without being annoyed) and the etiquette lessons went on and on until dinner time. And once dinner was over, we went back to the etiquette lessons until it was time to turn in. Sema kept saying years of lessons needed to fit in the two days left until it felt like our ears would bleed from hearing her saying it over and over again.

  When we’re not in the suties, I’m always undercover. Sema came to me the first morning and gave me a short hooded coat, something similar to my hooded jersey, but made out of the material from the cloth Tharin once gave me to wrap my feet in. The hood, when pulled over, covered my face completely, allowing me to move freely from suites to the practice area and kitchen. We weren’t served in the main halls as it was too easy to be discovered, and I was told the queen never took her meals in her room. Out of respect, I refused to have any served there while I was using it.

  At one point Julia asked why she had to go through the torture with me. Sema told her as the best friend of the new queen, she had to know the ways of the clans so not to embarrass me during “the most important day of my life.”

  Tonight is the last night of our lessons before the Seating tomorrow morning and my stomach was doing cartwheels. The spread they put out for our dinner is beautiful, but seriously, did they really think two girls would be able to eat all this food? In fact, the more I look at the food, the more I feel sick. All I can think about is memorizing the oath I have to say before the clan leaders. Kings and queens watching every move I make, listening for any mistake during the oath and along with them thousands of the Velesi people who will be here to witness the Seating. I feel the nausea coming on when Julia plops next to me, turning sideways so she’s facing me straight on.

  “Lily, you have to help me.” I watch her closely and I’m surprised to see her on the brink of tears.

  Alarmed, I grab at her hands forgetting about the oath and the Seating. “Jules, what’s wrong?”

  “I have to leave, I can’t be here anymore. Please, please help me,” she begs, the tears threatening to fall.

  “Okay, okay…it’ll be okay, just tell me what’s happened.”

  She looks around at the people standing to serve us with anything we want or need. She looks back at me, “Can we go back to the suites?”

  “Yeah, of course,” I reply as I remove my napkin from my lap and get up.

  We make our way to the queen’s suites using the back way so familiar to us now. As we approach the door that opens to the hidden stairwell we run into…Kalis. My heart jumps from my chest to my throat and I duck behind Julia, keeping my head down. I pulled the hood low, but I had taken it off earlier to let my hair down. Now, the hood is over my head, but my hair is still exposed. I try to tuck it under, but Julia grabs my hand and squeezes it trying to keep me calm.

  “Julia,” greets Kalis. “We’ve missed you at the morning workouts,” she says as she glances behind Julia at me. I lower my head as she does, but I can’t help but try to get a peek at Kalis. Big mistake, it only confirms how beautiful she looks up close.

  “Tharin has decided that I do my workouts with Alorn in the mornings. He says that he wants to keep a closer eye on me now that I will be going home soon. He’s afraid I might take off before he’s able to get me back to Pathen.”

  I lift my head high enough to notice that Kalis isn’t listening to Julia anymore, but she does have her eyes locked on me. She takes in my hair, my height and the rest of my body, assessing me as if I’m someone she knows but can’t place. My heart beats a little fast when she addresses me. “You, what’s your name?”

  “It’s Hilda, a new friend I made,” jumps in Julia pulling me behind her.

  “I asked her for her name,” demands Kalis tensely.

  “And I told you,” answers Julia just as tensely, “her name is Hilda.”

  I can feel the tension growing between the two and I remember how Julia spoke of her. It sounded like she didn’t like her then and it sounds like she doesn’t like her now.

  “Kalis,” calls a man’s voice from behind us. I move as Julia turns to face Alorn. “Julia is bringing her to me.”

  “Who is she?” demands Kalis boldly. “Why is her face hidden, and why is she sneaking around here with her,” she says indicating Julia with a nod of her head.

  “Who she is, is none of your business. You forget your place.”

  I peek to the side of Julia’s shoulder at Kalis and see her turn red. She stiffly nods at Alorn and turns to leave, but not before she throws a dirty look my way.

  As soon as she rounds the corner, Julia and I let out sighs of relief. Alorn moves toward us and grabs me by the hand. He pulls me through the door to the stairwell with Julia following close behind. As soon as the door closes, he turns on us. “Why are you out in the hallway before your meal is over? You know you need to be escorted to avoid this kind of confrontation.”

  “It was my fault,” steps up Julia. “I needed to speak with Lily on a personal matter. I pulled her away from the others. I’m sorry.”

  Julia’s face is so sincere and tinged with sadness that all Alorn could do is sigh and nod at her. “Come on,” he says. “I’ll take you to the suite in case you run into anyone else.”

  We both rush in to hug him to show our appreciation. He awkwardly pats our shoulder, not comfortable at all with the whole hugging thing. Julia and I look at each other laughing at his discomfort. He grabs each of us by the arm and pushes us toward the stairs and we take it running.

  Alorn stands outside until he hears us move the level to the side of the door down, sliding the large wooden bolts in place, locking us in the suites. We can’t tell if he’s out there, so we head for the master bedroom and the shower lagoon. Julia’s in the shower first as I read the oath out loud for the millionth time and my stomach cont
inues to do somersaults. Giving up, I look around the room, wondering again if Tharin and I would have to stay in separate rooms. It doesn’t make sense to me, but I wonder if that’s how it would be. It feels weird not having Milina and Glynnis here, but we were told that they were called back to the clearing. When I asked why they were called back, Sema was evasive again – something she’s very good at.

  My mind drifts to Kalis. Did she recognize me? She’s never met me, but I’m sure I’ve been describe to her many times before. How many five-one elves with jet-black hair are there in Velesi? Maybe I’m just overreacting and I’m the last person she would think of. I mean, I’m supposed to be dead, right? Ugh, I wish I could speak with Tharin. I’ll go into the drift state tonight and visit him in his room. We can talk then. I miss him terribly and the last two nights I was so exhausted from Hurricane Sema that the only thing I did when I came to bed was sleep. Besides, Mellis told me that Tharin found out about my visit with Jarhan and that he wasn’t happy about it. I’m sure he’s calmed down by now and he’s missing me just as much.

  When Julia appears from the shower area she’s fully dressed with her old clothes. Black jeans, shirt and torn sneakers and ready for traveling. On her arm is the coat Tolan gave her when they first met. I look at her puzzled, asking, “Why are you dressed like that?”

  Julia moves toward the bed and sits, again her face anxious as if about to cry, “Lily, I need to leave. Now…but I need your help.”

  I look at her confused, “What do you mean you have to leave now. To go where?”

  “Home.”

  “Home?”

  Julia nods, lowering her head. I move closer to her trying to get her to look at me. “What’s happened, Jules? Why the sudden need to go home?”

  “Tolan is getting married. He’s leaving for the Willow Clan with Ziri tonight and they’re planning his wedding to be held there so as not to…not to have to deal with me being here.”

  “What are you talking about?” I ask, shocked that Tolan would marry out of the blue. “Jules, who told you this?”

  She turns to me, shaking her head, “It doesn’t matter. He’s getting married Lily, which means all that crap he was doing with me was nothing but lies. And don’t think I didn’t miss the fact that when I said ‘I love you’ to him back at the shelter he didn’t say it back. What an idiot I am.” She gets off the bed and stomps across the room only to turn back at me with her finger pointing accusingly at no one in particular. “I know I don’t know crap about guys, but did he have to play me? It’s not like he didn’t know.”

  “Jules, there’s got to be some explanation. I’ll talk to Tharin tonight and find out what’s going –” but she interrupts me, not letting me finish.

  “What’s going on? Are you serious, Lily? It’s too late to find out what’s going on. The creep is leaving for another city to get ready for his wedding! Are you deaf?”

  I get off the bed and walk over to her, but she backs away with her hands up. “No, Lily, I don’t want to hear excuses for him.” She looks at me with angry unshed tears and rushes to take my hands, pleading, “Please, please Lily. I thought I could handle it, but I can’t. I seriously can’t. I just want to go home, please.”

  I look at her anxiously because I don’t want her to leave. I try one last time, one last effort. “What about the wedding? You’re my maid of honor.”

  “Seriously, Lily? Do you really think I would be able to go through it knowing somewhere in this realm, probably on the same day, Tolan is marrying some elf queen? I can’t do it.”

  “But you seriously can’t go back to Frank and Chris. No, I won’t let you go back to them, I just won’t do…I’m sorry.”

  “Then don’t. Just send me back…I don’t know…just anywhere…you know that if you ask Sema she’d do it for you. And we both know she can make it happen. Please…” She looks at me, desperately pleading.

  I give in. “Okay, okay. I’ll ask Sema, but you’re not going back to those pigs.”

  She nods quickly and then crushes me with a bear hug. I hold her tightly, afraid to let her go, but know that she will. I move back and say, “Marilyn. She’s in Australia. I’ll ask Sema to somehow get a message to her that you’ve runaway and don’t have anywhere else to go. I know she’ll take you in and she can’t say anything about sending you back, you’re already eighteen.”

  Julia hugs me again and we make our way back to the bed to work on the letter to Marilyn. Once that was done, we are about to call for Sema when she comes through our bedroom door. A look of controlled patience is on her face as she says, “Why are you two not downstairs going over your lessons? You only have this one night to get it right.”

  We both rush her, each taking an arm and leading her to the bed. Julia looks at me as Sema protests against our handling of her. “Ladies, do not grab an old woman by the arms and drag her like a sack of potatoes!”

  “We’re sorry, Sema,” I start, “but we have sort of an emergency.” She straightens herself and gives us both a hard stare…if looks could smack both of us on the head, Julia and I would be lying at her feet right about now.

  She looks at me then at Julia and then back at me, “Well, are you going to tell me, or do I have to torture it out of you?”

  “Sema, we need your help,” I glance at Julia who sits back, biting her lower lip. “We need to send Julia to Australia to be with Marilyn.”

  Sema is immediately concern and demands, “Is something wrong with Marilyn?”

  Surprised, we look at each other and then stare back at Sema, “You know Marilyn?” I ask curiously.

  “Well, we have made acquaintances when I used to stop by to see how you were doing,” she replies, still looking concerned.

  “Oh…well, no she’s fine. It’s Julia,” I say.

  Sema turns to Julia, asking “What is it, child? Why would you go when Lily’s wedding is in a few days and the Seating is tomorrow?” Julia lowers her head, unable to give her reason. If Sema knows of Tolan’s wedding, she didn’t let on that she did. Peering at Julia carefully, Sema nods. “Are you sure this is what you want to do?”

  Julia nods without looking up and Sema catches her by the chin to look her in the eye. Holding back tears, Julia answers in a small voice, “Yes.”

  Sema leans over and gives Julia a kiss on the cheek. When she leans back she gives my friend a comforting smile. “All right, I will take care of everything. When do you want to go?”

  “Now, tonight,” answers Julia quickly. Sema gives me a look before making her way to the door. She turns to us, saying, “It will happen very quickly. Say your good-byes because once I put things into motion, there won’t be any time after.” She walks out the room closing the doors behind her.

  Julia and I sit for a moment looking at the door and then at each other. Instantly, we’re hugging one another. I wipe at Julia’s tears and say, “I’m sorry this happened with Tolan. I wish I could make it better for you.”

  Julia smiles at me and even though we have been friends for a lifetime, it seems only yesterday that a shy little blonde-haired girl stood up to a bully who was picking on me. I remember how he pushed her down, but she got right back up. It was then that her long bangs flicked to one side and everyone saw the bruise on her cheek. He called us names, but he walked away. We’ve been friends since. It seems Julia was having the same thoughts. We sit without saying a word, holding hands tightly. What was there to say that we haven’t already said in the years we’ve been friends?

  I suddenly feel lost and need to somehow stay connected, with something physical, something tangent and something she can keep that will make her think of me. I turn to her as I unfasten the gold chain with the Manui stone. “Here,” I offer as I put the chain around her neck and fasten it for her.

  “Where did you get this?” asks Julia while lifting the stone between her fingers and gazing at its beauty.

  “Tharin gave it to me. I want you to have it to remember me by.”

  She looks
up at me, shaking her head, “I can’t take this, Lil. Tharin gave it to you.” She reaches behind her to undo the clasp but seems to have a hard time. “It won’t come off, Lil.”

  “Good,” I reply. I pull her arms down and take her hands, “I want you to have it. It’s the only piece of jewelry I have. And I’m sure there will be more, but this one is special…and I want you to take it.”

  Julia looks at me and silently we hug again. “I love you, Lil,” she sniffs.

  “I love you, too, Jules.”

  The door opens and Sema walks in with two men I recognize as her helpers. Julia puts the stone under her jersey and looks at me one last time. She quickly kisses me on the cheek and walks to Sema.

  The old woman looks up at my friend, “Things are set. You’ll be in Pathen in a few hours and you will stay with friends for a day to give Marilyn time to think you’re on your way. But the truth is you’ll be taken to a portal that will get you to Perth, close to where her sister lives. Are you ready?”

  Julia rolls her shoulders back and gives me one last glance as she nods to the old woman. Within seconds they’re out the door, shutting it behind them. I didn’t cry when Julia was here only because I didn’t want to make her feel bad about leaving me, although I did make a remark or two. Already I miss her terribly…my one and truest friend, my sister.

  ~ * ~

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  ~ Tharin ~

  I had hoped Lily would come to me the past two nights, but I was told by Ka that Sema had her on a tight regiment. I had thought to go to her, but I knew she shared the room with Julia. Being in the state she would be in, she may wake Julia up, who would demand why I would be sneaking into their rooms while they slept.

  After meeting with my father and Ka, we remained at the garden letting our thoughts run free. At the end, we decided we wouldn’t make a drawn-out good-bye with Tolan and Ziri. When the others left, I stood with my twin taking in the Summer Garden. We used to play here as boys whenever Tolan could sneak me away from my training.