Meanmna: Book One of the Daearen Realms (7 page)

“
Please don’t cry. I really hate to see you cry.”

“Get out of my head!”

“Sarette,” he said softly.

“
Seriously! Get out,” I snapped. The passion that had racked my body had been replaced with anger and hurt.

“I’m sorry.”

“You already said that!” My voice was louder than I intended and I was flailing my arms in the air like a robot gone mad. He looked shocked. He had watched me for a year, and knew that I never scream.

“
Please, this is my fault. I shouldn’t have . . . You don’t understand. This . . . us . . . you and me, can never happen,” he muttered.

“
Why? Why can’t it? Mom told me what’s expected of me. So you’re right, I don’t understand why this can’t happen. So help me, please! My entire life has been ripped apart at the very seams. I’ve been told that I’m a fairy—”

“Fey,” he interrupted.

“Whatever! I’m a fey princess, I have my own knight, and I am going on some dangerous journey that I need to ‘prepare for’.” I used my fingers as quotation marks. “I have no idea why I have to prepare; only that I have to. At a moment’s notice, I am going to leave everything,
everything and everyone,
I love. I just found out I have to choose a mate and my own knight is giving me mixed signals!
Please explain it to me. . . I just don’t understand.”

“
Do you remember why I said I’m here, rather than someone else?”

“
You said my grandmother and father trusted you.”

“
There’s another reason, too. It was also safe to send me.”

“What does that mean?”

He drew an infinity symbol with one of his hands as he said, “It is what it is, and I am who I am.” He put his hand back down, smiled, and shrugged. “I’m not exactly spirit king material.”

“
But you are a knight, best of the best or whatever . . . or is that the Navy Seals? Army Rangers? I don’t know. . . I’m rambling. Please continue.”

“
I am a knight. That doesn’t mean I’m from a strong magical family, and
that’s
who you are going to be expected to mate with. I’m not good enough for you, Sarette. If I die, nothing’s lost. My second will take—”

“
What do you mean, nothing’s lost? I don’t want to lose you!” Without even thinking, I scooted over to him. He hesitated for a second and then put his arm around me. I folded into his side, my head resting in the crook between his chest and shoulder.

“
Sarette, it is my duty to get you to the castle safely, and I swear I will.” I nodded my head against his chest. “But, if something should happen to me, my second is prepared to find you and they will get you to Meanmna safely.”

“What’s a second?”

“It’s the same type of bond you and Mathew have. We have a word for that type of bond: vaki. It means
true companion
. Think of a vaki as your second mate—your right-hand person, your conscript. I would lay down my life for my second and they would lay their life down for me. The only bond stronger than a vaki is that of a mazon. The word for your bonded mate is mazon. When two are bonded together in vaki or mazon, it’s for life.”

“Well
, that’s kind of cool. What happens if I fall asleep here? Isn’t this a dream? How does that work?”

“If you fall asleep here, you’ll just wake up in your bed tomorrow.”

“Okay, ‘cause you’re really comfy.” I snuggled a little closer so my cheek rested on his chest. He squeezed his arm a little tighter and started slowly drawing continuous loops up and down my arm. I let out a contented sigh.
This is nice.

Yes, it is.
I thought, then my eyes flew open. Now I was reading his thoughts!

“Do you want me to tell you a story to help you fall asleep?”

“As long as you start it with ‘Once upon a time.’ All good fairy tales start that way. Ouch! You pinched me! Come on! That was funny!”

“
Ha ha . . . Once upon a time . . .”

“Thank you
.”

He gently moved
a curl across my forehead and tucked it behind my ear.

As I drifted to sleep, I heard him telepathically
say,
Once upon a time, in a land in another dimension known as la-la land . . .

Sunday December 14, 2014

I open
ed my eyes the next morning and noticed that there was a fresh three inches of snow outside my rooftop door. No matter where I ended up on this journey, I would not miss winter in Michigan.

I need
ed coffee so I headed downstairs. Mom was in her spot, leaning against the sink with her iPad in one hand and her coffee cup in the other.

“
Morning.” She looked up and suddenly spewed the sip of coffee she had just taken.

“Mom, are you ok
ay?” I hurried to her and started patting her back to help “un-choke” her.

“
What are you
wearing
?” she managed to speak between coughs.

I look
ed down and realized I still had on the jumper from last night. “You bought this for me last summer, remember?”
Pretend nothing happened; don’t blush. Think about something else, Hello Kitty, Old Joe, the 11 o’clock News
. It didn’t work and I felt the heat rising in a wave across my face. I turned away to get myself a cup of coffee.

“
Did you go and see Elwin last night?” She said as I was pouring. My hands were shaking as I nodded.

“
Sarette, do we need to have another talk?”

“
Mom, we had ‘the talk’ when I was thirteen. I’ve got the bases covered.”

“
Things work differently in Daearen. I don’t want you to get hurt. I can tell you have feelings for Elwin, but, honey, that can never—”

“—
never happen, I know. He made that perfectly clear last night.” I looked at her. “I made a complete fool of myself, Mommy.” My eyes filled with tears
. How do I have any tears left?

Mom walked
over and wrapped me in a hug. “Maybe we should see if your father can send someone else to escort you. If it’s going to be too hard on you to be around Elwin, maybe that’s what we should do.”

“
No, I would never do that. Elwin basically said he’s expendable, so who knows what the consequences would be if I asked for a new guard? I just need to grow up and get to where I’m going. It’ll all be fine after that.”

Mom squeezed me again
, then patted me on the butt, like a football player. “Let’s get out here and do some shopping. Go get dressed, I’m starving.” She smiled and went into her room. I finished preparing my coffee with way too much sugar and skim milk.

Then, just as
I was about to go up the stairs, Mom stepped out of her room. She had tears in her eyes. “I don’t think you’re going to be able to stop yourself from falling in love with Elwin. I think it would be easier on you to say goodbye to him if you spent less time with him. You should leave in the morning,” Mom rambled, nervously seeking answers. “Elwin is your father’s most trusted knight and he can get you there safely with or without training you.” I nodded slightly and started feeling that pain in my chest again. I knew she was right. “Elwin’s a lot like your father, you know? I couldn’t have stopped myself from loving him, even if I had known who he really was. You know how I always said it was going to be Mother Nature that destroyed the world, and not terrorists?” I nodded. “What I should have been saying is that I really pissed off the fey and now they are punishing the world for it. Crazy weather springs up here when there’s fighting there. I’m sorry. This is so unfair. I’m sorry that you have the obligation to rectify my mistakes. I wish there was something I could do to change this situation. I’d give anything to go back to that day. I would make your dad leave right away and none of this would be happening now. But he didn’t leave, and he cannot choose another queen because we performed the bonding ceremony. Your grandmother has ruled with him to keep the balance, but now she has fallen ill. If you do not claim the throne before she dies, the feminine aspect will not be represented. The court was missing male energy for only seventeen hours and that caused seventeen
years
of imbalance. Women are responsible for so much. If female energy is not represented, I’m not sure the earth will survive. This is my fault entirely. I love you so much, I’m so sorry!” With that, she broke into deep, wracking sobs.

Now it was my turn to comfort her.
I gave her a hug and said, “Mom, I love you and I know you’re sorry. You don’t need to keep apologizing.” I tried to lighten the mood. “I do have to ask you something very important, though. Why did we go to all those environmental protests if climate change is not caused by humans? Shouldn’t we have been protesting the misrepresentation of fairy tales in human culture? Or knitting… I always wanted to learn how to knit. We could have skydived, Mom! Why didn’t we ever do that? Or caving, clogging, quilting circle . . .”

Mom started laughing, “No honey, we
are clearly impacting our environment. But the fey are too busy fighting to fix our mistakes. It’s not just the environment that’s impacted. Scientific advances, religion, civil rights, the increase of greed and selfishness—just about everything that makes humans unique—can be impacted by the fey imbalance. Maybe we can find peace here if you bring it there. I’m going to miss you so much.” Mom started to cry again and I joined her.
Tomorrow
I’m going to say goodbye to my mom
. I started to cry harder.

We
held each other until Mom gently broke the tension. “Let’s get ready.”

She went into her room
and shut the door behind her. When I rounded the stairs into my room, I saw a large box sitting on my floor
. Well that’s new. Whatever it is better not make me cry; apparently most things make me cry lately. Please don’t make me cry again, Box.
I saw a note written in red Sharpie on the top.

Princess Sarette-

I think you should be mostly prepared now for the journey. I had the weapons made to fit your unique human qualities. Spend some quality time with your mother today. King Roland included something for her.

Until then,

~ Elwin

I to
re the box open and found a bundle wrapped in brown paper. I took it out and unfolded it. Inside were two pairs of utility pants—the kind that carpenters wear, with additional pockets, latches, and rings to hang things on. Normal workman’s gear would be beige or tan, but these were made of some sort of cammo-like fabric with streaks of neon colors. I moved those to the side and found two black tank tops—nothing special. One long-sleeve cotton cammo-print shirt. One set of cammo-print long underwear. One light jacket, cammo of course.
Awesome! Fashion forward! That’s me
! I reached into the box for the next wrapped bundle of surprises. This one felt larger but squishier than the last one. I carefully unwrapped the paper and couldn’t hold back my delight.

“
Oh, wow!” I said to myself. I couldn’t even tell what it was yet, but the shiny white material that looked blue one way and red the other was beautiful. I stood up and unfolded it to see the whole thing. It was a long hooded cape with large iridescent buttons down the front. I unbuttoned it and swung it around my shoulders. “Oooh!” I squealed at my reflection as I pulled up the overly large hood. It had fluffy white trim around it that couldn’t be fur because there were tiny strands of different colors peppered throughout. The cape itself felt silky and soft on my skin and reached past my knees with the same trim on the bottom. I spun a little and noticed two small cut outs. Inserting my hands in the slits, I lifted my arms and flapped like a bird
. Don’t do that again, dork!
I looked back into the bundle and saw a pair of fuzzy gloves sitting on top of a pair of snow pants that matched the cape. Written on the bottom of the paper in Sharpie was: “I’ve got your boots.”

I looked into the box and very carefully picked up a sword by the hilt
, removing it from its leather sheath. The hilt and the sheath were black with knot-work ingrained down the length of each side. I think it was shorter that the average sword, but I was not exactly a sword expert. The silver blade tapered to an unbelievably fine point. I looked around and grabbed a piece of paper strewn on the floor. Holding the sword parallel to the floor with its blade facing the ceiling, I dropped the paper along the edge.
Holy crap!
The paper sliced right in two. I very carefully put the sword back in its sheath and without moving my body, placed the sword as far away from me as I could.

There was a
small box sitting on top of another, and I picked it up. On the box below was a note in a different handwriting that read: “For my mazon, Shanna.” It was from my dad. I gently passed my hand over the beautiful swirly script before I sat down with the smaller box that was shaped like a shoe box. I flipped open the lid and found a small dagger inside. Small crystals of various sizes, colors, and shapes decorated the handle, and the blade was thin, about an eighth of an inch wide, and of some kind of metal that I had never seen before— purple with blue Celtic knots down the length. In the box was a small leather sheath that matched the sheath of the sword. I put the dagger in the sheath and set it beside the sword. Next, there was a piece of wood, but I had no idea what it was for. It looked like a stick to me. I set it down next to the dagger. At the bottom of the box was a small pouch made of the same leather as the sheaths. I opened the drawstring top and looked inside. There were about twenty crystals of different colors and shapes. I retied the string and put the pouch to the side.

“
Mom
! Come—”

“
Don’t scream, Sarette, I’m already here,” she said as she rounded the steps. I was sitting on the floor still wearing the cape, which was puddled around me in a big circle. Her eyes swept the room and stopped on the sword and dagger. Her eyebrows rose a little. “Maybe you do need some training before you leave.”

“
I still need a couple of the rollup space bags and dry shampoo. I think I have everything else. Dad sent you something; it’s in the box.”

Mom quickly walked over and picked
up her package. She passed her hand over the writing just as I had, and said, “Get dressed, I’m
beyond
starving now.” She walked past me with the box in her hands and headed down the stairs without saying anything else.

Hey, Elwin!
I screamed telepathically.

Princess, you do not need to yell
, he answered back in a normal tone.

Sorry, um
. . . Thank you for everything.

It was my honor, Princess.

Mom thinks we should leave
tomorrow.

I think that’s a good idea. Don’t worry;
I will keep you safe, Princess.

Can you please
call me Sarette, Elwin? Please?

For now I can.

Thank you. I guess I’ll see you at six for dinner.

Unt
il six.

I fe
lt the connection end abruptly.
Nothing like short and to the point answers to make a girl feel all warm and fuzzy.
I stood up, took off the cape, and finished getting ready for breakfast.