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The choices we make 44
As Mary sat in the carriage and listened to the other women talking, she realized she missed Kopa. Which was strange because she really didn’t see him during the days. He spent his days on the coach box. But just knowing he wasn’t there, filled her with unease. When Mary pondered her feelings for a while, she got to thinking maybe she needed to get used to not having Kopa around. She had started to take it for granted that he was always nearby. But in three days they would be arriving in Salmis, and she really didn’t know what was waiting for her there. She didn’t know where she would be staying, she doubted it would be with Kopa or Tariana. Mary actually didn’t know where either of them lived. She reasoned Tariana was like a king, so she probably lived in a castle and spend her days ruling, whatever that included. Kopa as her bodyguard, would be close by her, Mary thought, so he would probably have his own place in the castle. Like Zerden’s father. Mary on the other hand didn’t know
Last Updated : 2023-08-09The choices we make 45
Kopa led Mary to the horse and grabbed her around her waist and lifted her so she was seated on the horse. Mary let out a surprised squeak and franticly tried to find something to grab hold of. She didn’t sit like the rest of the riders, that had one leg on each side of their horses. Instead, she sat with both legs on one side. She was also sitting further forward on the horse, almost so she was sitting on its neck. “Take hold of its mane, you won’t hurt her” Kopa instructed, and Mary turned her upper body so she could grab hold of the horse’s mane with both hands. “Good, now turn a little so your right leg comes a bit more on top of her” Kopa said. Mary turned her lower part and let her right leg glide up a bit and she realised she was more stable in that position. “Very good, you’re a natural” Kopa reassured her. “I’m going to mount now. I’ll be sitting right behind you. She might sway a bit, but that is okay” he continued, and Mary nodded. She focused on keeping her balance as Kopa
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“Are you okay?” Kopa asked, Mary smiled at him and nodded. She took a tentative step forward and although her legs felt stiff, she had no problems walking. The three aari came up to Mary and Kopa and Tariana smiled at them.“Everything sorted?” she asked Kopa.“Yes, Mary will come home with me” he said with a smile. The three white-clad women smiled as well. Mary saw several people looked at Kopa in astonishment. To see him smile was a rare occasion.“I’m so happy the hear that,” Tariana said smiling at Mary, that returned the smile. “Take a couple of days to get settled, my friend, then come to me and we will have a talk about the future” she said to Mary and Mary nodded. “Good, know it is time for us to go our separate ways for a while. Kopa, I expect you to take at least two days off from your duties. Make sure Mary is settled before you return, take more time if you need” she said sternly.“Yes, my Lady” Kopa said. They all said goodbye before Kopa placed a hand on Mary’s shoulder
Last Updated : 2023-08-10The choices we make 47
“That’s komqer melon” Bettina said, standing from the table and getting a round vegetable, the size of Mary’s hand. She handed it to Mary. It felt soft and squishy, and Mary smelled it. It didn’t smell of anything in particular, it reminded her of cucumber.“It almost smells like cucumber, just a bit sweeter” Mary said. Bettina nodded.“Yes, it consists mostly of water and the inside is a thin layer of pulp that is sounding an almost liquid centre. We use the centre to drink or in soups. The pulp is usually placed in salt to firm up and then either eaten as is or pickled” Bettina explained.“Children use them to throw at each other. They are soft and if you get hit with one, it explodes and covers you in juice.” Kopa said and Mary saw Bettina rolling her eyes. Mary smiled and placed the melon on the table before finishing her food.“Thank you, Bettina, it was delicious. And don’t worry about the food. I like trying new things. I expected that much when I decided to come here” Mary smi
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When Mary woke the next day, the sun was up, and it looked to be a beautiful spring day outside. Mary stayed in bed for a while just trying to wrap her mind around everything that had happened yesterday. She finally decided she needed to get up. She dressed in the same dress as she had been wearing the day before and quickly braided her hair and let the braid hang free down her back. She had gotten used to the hairstyle during her time on the road. She went downstairs and felt a little out of place. She found both Kopa and Bettina in the kitchen. They were talking in Salamis, and both turned towards Mary as she entered the room and switched to Common.“Good morning,” Mary said.“Morning my dear,” Bettina said.“More like afternoon,” Kopa chuckled.“Oh hush with you. The poor girl needed her sleep.” Bettina looked angerly in his direction.“I slept all day?” Mary asked horrified.“Don’t pay attention to him. It’s almost lunch. I would have come to wake you in a bit if you hadn’t come d
Last Updated : 2023-08-11The choices we make 49
Kopa returned a short while later, announcing they had plenty of firewood in all rooms. He started to question Mary on Salamis, and she repeated the word and phrases she knew. She was pleased to remember them all and Kopa only had to correct her pronunciation on two of them. “You sound like a native,” Bettina said, sounding surprised.“Thank you.”“Do you want new words?” Kopa asked and Mary nodded. He started giving her new word but was stopped by Bettina after the second one.“I love you dearly husband, but you are teaching her the wrong words. When will she be using all this military words?” she laughed at him.“I use them almost every day,” Kopa pouted.“I’m sure you do love, but I don’t see Mary taking over as head of the Lady’s private guard any time soon. So maybe start with words she will use moving around the city or at home,” Bettina continued while giving him a knowing look. Kopa huffed but the next word he gave Mary was the word for street. Mary smiled and started memori
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Mary thought about it for a while. She had always taken for granted there only was one type of relationship. A man and a woman meet, agreed to court, and then marry. If God blessed them, they would have a family and a long life together. There were of course instances when a husband or wife died, and the other one was remarried. But in the end that new marriage would look like the original one. But when she thought about it, it would make sense that relationships could look different if it made the couple happy. Mary was naïve and romantic enough to believe that should be the goal of all relationships, to make the participants happy.“And the church doesn’t get mad if your relationship looks different?” Mary asked.“Well, we don’t have a church in the same way that Domne have. But the common rule is; if everyone is happy in a relationship, then everyone else respects it. No one would interfere in the way people choose to express their love.”“You don’t have a church?” Mary said in sur
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“Of course dear, you go ahead. If there is anything you need, you let us know.” Bettina said, looking up from her embroidery.“I will go and get your writing equipment.” Kopa said, going into the kitchen. When he came back, he had a stack of paper with him and a little wood box. “Here is your paper and inside the box you will find quills and ink. If you run out of anything, just let me know. You don’t need think about making it last. Use as much as you need,” he said handing it to her.“Thank you, Kopa, I appreciate it,” Mary said and then she went upstairs into her room.---Bettina put down her work and looked up at Kopa. He was sitting looking into the fire, he looked content and happy she thought, and she smiled at him.“She is an amazing person” Bettina said in a low voice, not wanting Mary to overhear the conversation. Kopa turned to her and gave her one of his fleeting smiles, a rarity even for her to see.“She is, isn’t she” he agreed.“I’m just worried that she sometimes gets
Last Updated : 2023-08-12
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The choices we make 101
“We finished Procecsa’s experiments today, and we think we can see a pattern,” Mary told Tariana excited. She didn’t know how Tariana already knew about it, but it was the only thing exciting which had happened lately. Tariana laughed again.“That is exciting to hear, but no. I was thinking about the fact that you have gotten some control over your fire magic,” Tariana smiled.“Oh, that. Yes, Procecsa helped me with it last night,” Mary said. She didn’t understand what was so exciting about that.“Do you think you could summon it now?” Tariana asked.“I think so,” Mary nodded. Tariana stood and went over to the bookcase. She got a small tray and walked back, placing it on the desk in front of Mary. On the tray there was a candle, an empty bowl, a feather, a pile of what looked like soil, and a plate with a dried bean.“Please light the candle,” Tariana asked Mary. Mary focused and after a while she found the now familiar feeling of her fire magic. The candle lit. “Fill the bowl with w
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The time until the winter solstice went by quickly and before she knew it, Mary was running around the equipment she had helped Procecsa set up the day before the solstices. They were outside the wall, on a flat part of the plain. The grass had been cut down and a light dusting of snow barely covered the ground. The area was guarded by grey riders. Not for the fear of someone sabotaging their experiments, but to keep curious people away. There was a lot of preparation to be made. Luckily for Mary, she had already done this a couple of times before. According to magical theory, occasions such as the winter solstice and full moons could affect magic in different ways. But to Mary’s surprise, it had never been proven, even though everyone used the principle. Procecsa had therefore designed an experiment to perform some basic magic, which was easy to perform and evaluate the effect of and repeat this during the different beneficial celestial occasions. They had already done the control ro
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“I would love to,” Mary said, looking at him. “But I don’t want to take time away from you seeing your family. I know you don’t get to see them that often,” she said. Tenac shrugged.“I will visit them as often as I can while they are here. It’s okay, I wouldn’t have asked if it weren’t,” he said.“Okay, then I would love to come.”“Good. Now let’s get you a new horse,” he smiled.“No, Tenac. I have told you, Buttercup will do,” Mary objected.“I’m not letting you anywhere near my grandfather whilst you are riding Buttercup, Mary. If you are going to visit a Che’hul camp, you can’t be on a horse like her,” he said. Mary looked at him. She really wanted to go with him to visit his family. Her curiosity and thirst for new things was going crazy at the thought of getting to see this whole new culture. At the same time, it felt like she was betraying Buttercup. The horse had been patient with her from the start. Mary recognised Tenac was dangling the visit to the Che’hul camp as an incent
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“In my case?” Mary asked.“For some reason, you have been conditioned to suppress your fire. Most likely not in an effort to suppress the magic, but a characteristic which goes with it. Like anger,” Procecsa said. Mary could hear that she tried to be gentle. Mary sat quietly for a while and thought things through. Her time in the kitchen had made her put a tight lead on her emotions, especially anger, but also passion and love. It would have been the last thing she did in the castle if she had become angry with someone higher up the rank than her. Which had been most people.“So, what do I do? Do I have to get angry at Tenac?” Mary asked, making Procecsa laugh.“No, I don’t think he deserves it. He’s just trying to help you, after all” she smiled at Mary.“I need to get angry at someone else?” Mary asked, confused.“I don’t know if you need to get angry at anyone, Mary. I think it would be okay just for you to accept it is okay for you to get angry. Just to allow yourself to experienc
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It had been over six months since Mary had started her training, and each day offered new opportunities to learn and to explore the world. She discovered she had a craving for learning. The more she learnt, the more questions she had. Her mentor, Procecsa, had picked up on this and gave Mary more and more books to read. Mary was helping her mentor with all sorts of experiments. Procecsa was good at explaining things in a way Mary understood them. In just a few weeks, the winter solstice was to take place and Mary was looking forward to it. Several of the experiments that Procecsa had Mary help with depended on it. In the class for basic magic, they had learned certain celestial events could impact magic. The winter solstice was one of those. Mary was to assist her mentor in trying to figure out just how much it affected certain types of magic. Mary found the whole thing fascinating and couldn’t wait to get to see the results. After the solstice, they would have a two-week break. It wa
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Zerden stood looking at the men under his command. They were training, and they looked tired. Zerden knew he had been pushing them hard this past month. His bad mood had made him irritable, and every mistake was now punished with a gruelling training session. He knew he needed to back off a bit. His men were well trained and the minor mistakes they made didn’t warrant this punishment. Zerden needed to get his temper back in check. Which was easier said than done. It would be easier if he just had known why he was in such a bad mood. If he was honest with himself, he knew why. He just wasn’t up for admitting it just yet. So instead, his bad mood continued and everyone around him endured and stayed out of his way as much as they could.“Don’t forget to put everything back before you head to get dinner,” he shouted. He didn’t wait around to make sure they did what he told them. No one wanted to disobey him at the moment. He walked inside and headed to his room in the castle. Zerden had j
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“Sure, happy to help,” Jontak said, smiling. Firlea looked at Mary, slightly panicked. Mary smiled at her.“Thanks, Jontak,” Mary said. She and Sinhera looked as Jontak and Firlea left the shop.“Not the smoothest hint, but I think that will do,” Sinhera smiled.“It’s a good start at least,” Mary nodded.“What are you two plotting?” Tenac asked as he walked up to them. “And where are Jontak and your friend?”“Firlea needed ink. Jontak escorted her there as it’s her first time to the market,” Mary smiled at him.“You two are scaring me. Please don’t help me like that, ever,” he said. Both Mary and Sinhera laughed. They waited for the two to return before heading towards the weapons stalls. There were a lot of different weapons. Some Mary didn’t even know the names of and couldn’t figure out how to use.“Do you want to look at a new knife, Mary?” Jontak asked her.“No thank you, I’m happy with the one I have,” she told him.“Do you even know how to use it?” Tenac asked her.“Well, it’s
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As Mary got back to her room, both her friends were sitting in the bay window reading. Mary had things she needed to read as well. But she felt like she needed to write her last letter. She wanted to let go of the past. She settled down at her desk and stared down at the empty paper in front of her. This was going to be difficult.‘Dear Anna,I’m so pleased to hear that things are looking up for you. That gives me hope this wave of the sickness will fade as well. I want to thank you for your kind words. They mean so much to me and I will always remember them. I told my father about your kind words, and he was grateful. That brings me to the difficult part of this letter. This is not something which is easy for me to write, or to think about doing. But I feel like it has to be done. Last time I wrote, I was taking the acceptance test to become an aari. Well, as you predicted, I made it and have now moved into the sanctum to start my training. With my training, my lessons with Tenac an
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“What did you need to talk about?” Kopa said, as the two of them sat down at the table. “I read the letter you gave me,” Mary started. “And you got upset?”“Not like last time. I’m angry this time, more than I’m sad,” Mary admitted, which earned her a surprised look from Kopa.“I know. Who knew?” she said, laughing at his expression.“So, what advice do you need?”“I think I know what I need to do, but I don’t know if I should do it, or if I really want to,” Mary told him. “Okay, can you tell me what made you angry?” Kopa asked.“Do you promise to stay calm?” Mary asked.“I do”“I won’t go into details, but the jest of it is that Zerden told me I was a disappointment for choosing to live my life the way I am. For the choices I have made since coming here,” Mary said, looking at Kopa. He had clenched his jaw and there was a muscle tick above his right eye. But he kept his promise and stayed calm, at least on the surface. It made Mary smile. “Are you okay, dad?”“Fine. The letter was
