The Path to Destiny: Tia's Folly (19 page)

“I
shouldn’t be,” she shrugged with a little half smile. “It is hard to leave her
behind but it is even harder when I know she is so lonely.”

“Give
it time,” Faye assured her, “she has the power to create. Eventually she will
resurrect the extinct species and she will never be lonely again…in fact, she
will have a hard time finding alone time!”

Tia
carefully examined her friend, “Do you mean to tell me this is a vision of her
future?”

“I
mean, you need to trust that the Gods know what they are doing and are guiding
her even now.”

“Oh.”

“Now,
why don’t you get Najia and say your goodbyes so you can begin your journey
today. If it gets much later, you will have to wait until tomorrow to leave.”
Faye wasn’t trying to push Tia out the door but she
was
anxious to spend some time alone with Najia.

“Okay,”
Tia headed to the door to call for her daughter. Opening the door, she paused
and looked back at Faye. “She may not want to say good bye to me.”

           
“Najia, Faye has arrived!” Tia bellowed loudly so her
voice would reach Najia in the meadow.

           
A small shard of pain shot through her heart when Najia
didn’t even look her way. Watching her for a moment more, she turned back to
Faye.

           
“She is ignoring me,” she informed the Falkerie woman.

           
“I’ll go get her.”

           
Tia watched sadly as Faye left the house.
 
She loved her daughter and never wanted to
cause her any pain. She knew it was hard for Najia to watch her leave twice a
year, but someday, she would be able to take her wherever she went. Unfortunately,
she would probably never be able to take her back onto Druid lands.

           
Looking around, Tia tried to find something to do but she
had made sure all of the daily chores were done early and the house was
spotless.
 
Now she had nothing to do but
wander the house and hope she was making the right decision in not moving
closer to the Falkerie City.

           
Going to the hearth, Tia pulled out a brick and removed a
small pouch from the hidden cubby. Opening it, she dumped the contents into her
hand.

           
Many years ago, a Unicorn had gifted her with these two
jewels. The pink one was enchanted and could only be used by her and the clear
one could be used by anyone who found it. To this day she still wasn’t sure why
the Unicorn had gifted her with two of them when they so rarely offered even
one to people.

Supposedly,
she would need it one day but in over two hundred years she had yet to find a
just cause for using either of them. Contemplating the jewels in her hand, she
almost missed hearing the voices approaching the house. Quickly putting it back
in its hiding place and replacing the stone, Tia turned from the hearth just as
Najia came bounding through the door.

           
“Guess what!” Najia was nearly bursting with excitement.

           
“I don’t know… what?”
 
Tia was relieved her daughter’s bad mood was gone.

           
“I made this weird flower with my tears!” she blurted
out. “
And
Faye said I can talk to my
meadow now!”

           
“Wow!” Tia was surprised and glanced at Faye to make sure
this was a good thing. Seeing her small nod, she returned her attention to
Najia. “With your tears, are you sure?”

           
“Yep! I cried and this purple flower grew out of the
ground and then went poof! And all of these white funny looking things came
out!” Najia was so giddy she was bouncing up and down as she relayed the story.

           
Tia felt her jaw drop as she realized what Najia had
created. The flower she described had not been seen since the last Pixie had
died. Closing her mouth, she reminded herself that she shouldn’t be so
surprised. After all, the Gods had said Najia would have the power to recreate
the lost species. Tia just hadn’t known that would mean plants too.

           
“So, I know I can’t go with you,” Najia interrupted Tia’s
pondering. “But could you tell the Elders about the flower thing? I was
thinking, maybe if they knew I wasn’t all bad, they might change their minds
and let me come with you in the fall after I turn eight.”

           
“I will tell them.” Tia wanted to cry for her daughter.
She knew the Elders wouldn’t bend just because Najia had made a flower. Maybe
someday they would relent, but it wouldn’t be for a long time.

           
Throwing herself into Tia’s arms, Najia mumbled into her
robes, “I will miss you mama! Come back as soon as you can!”

           
“I will miss you too!” Smiling at Faye, Tia squeezed her
daughter closely for a moment before she quickly took her leave.

           
As she moved farther away from the meadow, Tia turned and
looked back. The serene view comforted her. Tilting her head to listen to the
wind, her doubts about staying melted away as the Gods faintly whispered on the
breeze. For now, she had Najia on the right path.

***

Five years
later

           
The summer Najia turned thirteen started out like
every other summer; she was angry at being left behind when Tia went to town,
and she spent all of her time outside in her meadow.
 
There were very little options out here in
the woods for entertainment but Tia did her best to keep Najia’s mind occupied
and brought back different things to pass their time.

After
Faye’s normal spring time visit, Najia had been confused and had had more
questions than normal about her heritage. Tia had decided to sit Najia down and
clarify a little about Phoenix customs. She had explained that for the Phoenix,
a Searing was like a betrothal and Najia had been seared when she was three
months old.

“Normally,
a noble Phoenix girl is Seared when she turns twelve. That is when her family
chooses her mate and the two are Seared in special ceremony where the essence
of the chosen mates are combined. That means a tiny piece of your soul was
transferred to your Seared and vice versa.” Tia paused and searched her
daughter’s face to see if any of this was making any sense. Still seeing her
confusion she tried a different tactic, “The bond to your Seared will grow as
your body matures. We have to be very careful out here. If the Phoenix find us,
we have no defenses. Soon, we will have to go to the Falkeries but until that
bond grows stronger we can stay here and work on your magic.”

“Why
would the Phoenix find us?” Najia didn’t understand much of what was being told
to her.

“Because,
eventually you will be able to feel your Seared and he will be able to feel
you.”

Later
that night when Tia was lying in bed, she heard the Gods whispering frantically
in her ear. Unable to make out what they were saying, she rushed to Najia’s room
to make sure she was okay. Outlined in her window by the moonlight, Najia was
clearly calling someone. Magic pulsed out of her and Tia almost collapsed in
shock when she realized Najia was searching for her Seared!

“
What are you doing
?” Tia shrieked in outrage.

           
Gasping, Najia spun around and openly gaped at her mama.
Tia
never
yelled at her!

           
“Najia!” She continued yelling at the top of her lungs. “
Do you have any idea what you are doing? Do
you know what will happen if they come here? What were you thinking?”

           
“I am sorry mama!” Tears ran down her face as she tried
to understand what she had done wrong. “I was just trying to feel my Seared-”

           
“If you can feel
him he can feel you!”
Tia took a deep breath and forced herself to count to
ten before continuing. “I am sorry, I shouldn’t have yelled but I am
so scared
!

           
“Najia, the bond allows a Seared couple to read each
other’s thought’s, feel each other’s feelings, and find each other if there is
ever a pressing need. The further apart the pair are the less the bond, the
closer they are and the stronger the bond is.”

           
“Are they gonna find me?” Najia now looked scared.

           
“Did you feel anything?
Anything at all Najia
?” Tia watched her daughter intently.

           
“No,” Najia shook her head and appeared thoughtful, “I
felt like I was searching for something, like I was sending out a feeler and
waiting for it to connect to something…but I couldn’t connect to anything.”

           
Relieved, Tia tucked her daughter into bed and watched
over her until she drifted off to sleep. Returning to her bed, Tia prayed to
the Gods and asked them for guidance. Whispering softly, they reassured her
that Najia’s seared hadn’t felt anything at all. Feeling a little insecure, she
asked if it was time to go to the Falkerie City.

           
“Soon,” she heard one Goddess say, “When it is time to
go, there will be a sign. Trust that you cannot miss this sign and you wouldn’t
believe us if we told you what it is.”

***

           
About a month later, Tia was inside the house doing
chores when she heard Najia approaching the house chattering to herself.
Giggling, Tia wondered if it was normal to have imaginary friends at Najia’s
age. Considering it was just them – most of the time – Tia figured it probably
wasn’t that big of a deal.

           
“Mama?” Najia called.

           
“Yes?” Tia replied coming out of the kitchen.

           
“I have a confession to make,” Najia admitted slowly,
“but I am a little afraid to tell you.”

           
“I can see why,” Tia remarked dryly as she noticed the
charred remains of her clothing. Sighing, she wondered if her daughter would ever
gain the control she needed to be considered safe around other people.

           
“I made someone,” Najia blurted out.

           
“Made someone?” Tia repeated her daughter’s words but her
mind just wasn’t making sense of what she meant.

           
“I was lonely,” Najia confessed before she could say
another word, “I was just making flowers and talking to myself. I said I wanted
a friend, and I got really sad that I am always so lonely, and started to cry.
I tried really hard not to cry – but I did – and this time – instead of those little
white things – it spit out a friend for me!”

           
“You made
someone
?”
Tia repeated incredulously. “
What kind of
someone
?”

           
“A Pixie?” Najia wrinkled up her nose as she waited for a
reaction.

           
Jaw hanging open, Tia finally had the presence of mind to
exclaim, “What?!
Where is it
?”

           
“I left him outside,” Najia admitted, looking a little
worried.

           
“Get it-I mean invite him inside!” Tia was excited and a
little afraid.
Pixies are extinct, if she
is right and it is a Pixie, she is more magically advanced that we
ever
could have expected, given her age.
The
thought made her feel apprehensive and vulnerable.

           
“Kender!” Najia called hesitantly. “You can come in now!”

           
Tia watched him settle on Najia’s shoulder as she looked
in surprise at the Pixie.

           
“Kender, meet my Mama Tia!” Najia grinned proudly until
she looked at Tia. “What’s wrong?”
  

“He’s
a
Pixie!
” Tia shook her head and
weakly collapsed into the nearest chair. “Pixies are extinct.”

           
“
Extinct?
I am
not
extinct madam!” Kender proclaimed.
“I
am
sitting right here!”

           
“I must get the Falkeries right away!” Tia felt an
impending sense of doom as she realized fully what this meant. “We just didn’t
know you were so strong, Najia! It isn’t safe here for you anymore! I must
summon the Falkeries!”

           
Running from the house, Tia ran to do exactly that.

***

The
next day, Tia stood outside her house and watched apprehensively as a small
group of Falkeries rode across the meadow towards her. With a fleeting sense of
dread, she noted the sleds they were dragging behind their Unicorns. Whether
she liked it or not, it was time to move to the city.