31
(Fenjaday, part 4)
Kri’enden
Laisen and Rami tagged along as they found a semi-private place by the water, a popular lunch spot with outdoor seating on the quayside. It was pretty, Jessten admitted. Irola offered seafront eating too, but it wasn’t as beautiful as this.
“Thanks for tagging along,” Sipper said to the A’mara as he sat. “Your support will help enormously.”
“Please don’t take it as support,” Rami said.
“Father,” Jessten said, waving her distinctly reddish hair at him. “Why did you never tell me that I was A’mara?”
Sipper was taken aback at first, obviously not expecting that question. “Well, Jessten… your mother was never a supporter of the A’mara, so it didn’t seem right to raise you as one.”
“Mom has been dead for many years. After that, you could have told me at any time, but you didn’t,” Jessten pressed. “Did you not think it was my choice whether to take up my A’mara calling? Did it not occur to me that I had already noticed some of my powers and did not know anything about them? Are you A’mara?”
Sipper shifted nervously under the gaze of the A’mara at the table.
“She has the right to know,” Rami said. “It would be better coming from your lips than from mine.”
Sipper replied. “Jessten, I spent a large part of my youth in the A’mara...” He drifted off uncomfortably.
“You know that isn’t true,” Rami said, staring him down, as if daring him to say out loud what she must have heard him think. “You have studied history, in fact, you had perfect grades in it. Yes, I remember you, Yidal.”
<He almost called us a ‘cult,’> Laisen sent to Jessten.
“So why did you leave the A’mara?” Jessten asked her father.
“Things became… difficult for me,” he said. “I needed a new start and wanted to do my own thing. In the A’mara, where most things are shared, it wasn’t going to work for me.”
“But why leave me out?” Jessten asked again. “I mean, you dyed my hair to keep me from seeing the red! How lame is that?!”
“I was just trying to protect you.”
“By not telling me that you and Mom were both trained as A’mara?!” Jessten returned.
“But now, it’s of your own choice and not because anyone made you.”
“And it was your choice that I started training at 16 – the age that most kids are halfway through their chola training! And I’m just beginning from square ONE! How is that fair?!” She demanded, fighting back the tears. She felt Laisen’s hand on hers and tried to take comfort from the contact.
But she wasn’t done with her father. “And then, you just saunter into town with this great project designed to make you as much money as you can! Well, I hope you succeed beyond your wildest dreams – and that you live long enough to enjoy it. That’s one thing I learned hanging out with the Uugli – they don’t tend to live long lives!”
“It’s not my fault you were kidnapped the moment you arrived in Joton,” Yidal said defensively.
“You say that like it was somehow my fault. The A’mara rescued me, in that event. Now two of my rescuers are captured. If they die is that my fault too? Yet, if I had had my A’mara training, maybe I wouldn’t have needed rescuing!”
“You do know that we are missing three A’mara, right Yidal?” Rami interjected.
Even Jessten knew about the battle and bittersweet rescue, but it hadn’t made the news yet. She wondered why Rami was questioning her father about it.
“I had seen something about that on the news. Who are missing?”
“Ja’tel, Saraca and her sister Denica,” Rami said watching his expression very carefully.
<Damn!> Even Jessten felt the quick flash from her father’s mind.
“But they are some of the fastest shazes in the order, I thought.” Sipper demanded, his carefully controlled anger spilling over for everyone to feel.
“Even the fastest shaze can be outwitted on a bad day,” Rami replied evenly. “The real question in my mind is this: How did Jessten catch the attention of the Uugli? They stick to more obscure forms of organized crime most of the time.”
“How am I to understand the criminal mind?” Sipper retorted. “My daughter is safe. Ja’tel, Saraca and Denica fell in the line of duty. It happens. And I’m done here.”
“Father!” she tried to stop him.
The man turned to behold his daughter once more. “So, you’re one of them now?” Sipper asked, resignedly.
“Yes. I finally have a real family – one who really cares. Ones who won’t mess with my grades in order to control me.”
“You have no proof!” Sipper exclaimed.
“You just confirmed it,” she said with increasing venom. “Oh, yeah… my telepathy skills are rapidly developing. I could feel your guilt.”
“Well, enjoy your new family,” Sipper said bitterly as he turned and walked away.
“But father!” Jessten said loudly.
“Join the A’mara if it pleases you, Jessten, but don’t come running to me when things go badly!” He turned and left.
Jessten felt stunned and sick to her stomach. She didn’t know what her father was still hiding, but it was very plain that he was hiding much. She felt Laisen’s concerned eyes on her… sympathy is what she thought she felt.
“I’m sorry,” Rami said to her. “It is difficult to feel the blinkers come off regarding your own parents.”
“I need some time alone,” Jessten said jogging off to find a secluded patch of grass where the only eyes were those of the gulls.
Supplemental Materials
Character Guide and Glossary
Terrenden Atlas pages
Please catch up!
Rebound of Power –
Meet Iyva, a homeless teenager in Irola with a strong connection with the leya. Totally untrained, her power rebounds catastrophically, leaving her close to death. A Nameless hero saves her life, but hides. Anyone would be proud to teach her, but will she choose the safe, trustworthy A’mara or the shady ones who teach her what she wants to learn? Can she trust her hero… the Nameless One?
This story actually wraps around four other stories: Friendship on Fire,Courage to Trust, Elect to Change and Ocean of Empathy. Currently, they're only available separately, but I do plan to republish the collection as a whole - I just haven't got there yet.
Don’t forget!
I’m still offering 1 Steem Basic Income share for any minnow who asks me a question which prompts an “Ask the Author” post! I’m thinking about putting these into a Dbooks ebook all its own, actually.
Image Credits:
Birth of the Neví cover art based on:
Shaze divider based on:
- Sword image from Wikipedia Commons
All maps/editing by myself on GIMP and Photoscape, both free programs.
Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. Any names or characters, businesses or places, events or incidents, are fictitious. Although the penalty of knowing me in real life is that you will influence the creation of my characters; any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Writing and artwork copyright myself 2005-2018 – all rights reserved.
If you are interested in helping me publish these works, please contact me on Facebook or Discord, viking-ventures#2883.
Lori Svensen – A'mara Books & Viking Visual
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