Midnight Bloom

Norheim

We decended into the shadow-filled path carved into the mountainside, Jor chirping peals of excitement as he bounded along the way. I winced at the soreness in my thighs from riding bareback, my fault since I had been rushing earlier this morning to get to school on time and not grabbed his saddle.

The sun was beaming over the side of the mountain, shadows casted from its glare keeping the heat off as Jor trotted around the bend and towards the hustle of noise echoing from the village below my family estate. Smoke careened from chimneys on the stone-built houses, the path widening to a flat valley filled with villagers and visitors alike as the bustle of the trading posts continued with shouts from vendors.

Several horse riders breezed past me, saddle bags puffing out with whatever goods they had purchased. We had come home just in time for the early evening crowds, meaning the vendors would still have some fresh blackberry pies and other sweets.

Once we reached the guards posted at the village entrance, I slid off Jor and rubbed his face before hailing down one of the guards I recognized as Sir Erin.

"Hey now what's this about? Aren't you and the other children home a little too early from the academy?" Sir Erin chuckled as he joined me and proceeded to fish out a smoked piece of elk jerky to feed Jor.

"Yeah we were dismissed early today," I replied with a shrug, casting a glance at the tall lanky guard. Aside from his armour, his salt and pepper hair sat short and spikey from where it tufted out of his helmet. He was by no means a giant but his 6 ft 2 frame was filled out with enough muscle to crush a troll's head between his hands. He was an old friend of her father's, and had sworn into her father's guardsmen when they graduated from the Academy together. His son Morren was four years younger than me, so I didn't spend as much time with him unless there was a feast or father had me tag along as a visit to their house.

"What was the reason? Headmistress McFallet has never thrown out early dismissals without circumstances being pretty serious," Sir Erin asked as he turned to me with a frown, eyes serious as he studied me with those steel grey eyes.

Knowing he would find out from Morren anyway I cast my eyes away, "The Nightengales sent someone to the school. Apparently they must have a scouted candidate this year, and we are all suppose to be assembling tomorrow to hear some sort of announcement."

"That explains it then," he gruffed with a knowing nod. "Everyone knows its been quite a few years since they had a chosen join their ranks."

"Well I wish they would of had the meeting today instead of leaving us all to gossip about it," I groused while sniffing the scent of tarts wafering on the air.

"Ah well can't expect them to have the answers all in one day young baroness. Magic takes time and so does the Choosing. Morren will be home soon since he took Mixie to school. I guess I'll stay here and keep an eye out for him," he nodded towards the skies while guesting towards the village. "Just make sure to hurry along and inform your mother and father about it. They need to know just in case."

I peered up at him with curiosity, "Just in case what sir?"

He gave me a pitying glance before clearing his throat and looking away. "Just in case you are chosen. Facing facts is a part of our duty to the kingdom. But don't think too much about it kid, not just anyone joins their ranks you know."

That feeling of dread nagged at me again, but I laughed it off as I started walking towards town. "I won't Sir Erin, I'm more worried about getting good marks on the Finals anyway. I'll see you later!" I rushed as I picked up my speed, Jor ruffling his feathers as he tried to keep pace with me.

I knew what he said was true. If I was chosen to join the Nightingales then it would leave our family line without a heir. The thought was too heavy for me to dwell on right now though. Feeling for my pouch, I counted out some copper and silver coins and proceeded to the baker's stall. The scents of freshly baked raspberry tarts, blueberry and black berry pies, and more delicious fruit cakes was overwhelming my senses. If there was one thing I loved more than runes, it was the taste of sweet desserts. I bought 2 blackberry pies, a raspberry tart for my father, and two of the apple cinnamon tarts, which I gave to one to Jor as his treat.

"Thank you!" I smiled at the baker who waved me away with her hair billowing out from beneath her ribbons. Her attention was caught by the next customers buying from her stall, which worked for me as I hugged the sweets covered in the soft cheesecloth bundle they had been put into.

Jor nudged my shoulder as I placed the cheese cloth of sweets into my knapsack, retying it to my waist as I snorted, "No way boy one is good enough," to him as he nudged me again with a grunt. Placing my hands on my hips, I shook my finger at him. " Now listen here, you won't be getting another one before supper. No amount of nagging is changing that."

As if offended, Jor fluttered his wings slightly while stamping as if to make a statements of how he needed a handful of the apple goodness. Honestly I had made the mistake of feeding them to him one day when he had been sick with some sort of bird flu. He perked up so much that I made a habit of feeding them to him several pies at a time. But the stable master had to tell me to stop when Jor started trying to literally break into the kitchens at the estate looking for them every morning.

The memory of seeing the servants screaming as they chased Jor out the tore-down door made me forget about the whole assembly thing, a smile replacing my scowl as I gave in and dug out the other apple cinnamon pie.

I held it out, encouraging Jor to follow me again as we broke away from the main crowd to head towards home. He snagged it from my hand and purred as he plucked it whole and gobbled it down his beak, swishing his black tail in pure contentment.

Wiping the crumbs off my hands, I looked up to see the sun had moved to the one thirty position. The clouds were starting to roll in a little thick, light splashes of grey signifying a possible light shower later tonight. Most of the people on the road were heading back to town, a twin pair of hooded folk ahead of us the only others actually heading towards the house.

Father was usually spending this time sorting through the complaints or proposals from the peasants under his watch, although a few times the past month or so I had seen him speaking with Rangers from the Vendook mountains in his private studies. The first time had been an accident when mother sent me to fetch him for supper, but the more I noticed them visiting the more curious I had become.

Apparently there had been trouble with the dark elves again who shared a territory line close to ours in the mountain ranges here. Something about disputes of local hunters harassing a few of their herds of Kelma, an elk like animal but whose pelt shed fur, like wool from sheep, and was naturally resistant to magical attacks.

Which was the big problem because the human hunters were basically poaching and not even taking the carcasses just the furs. The dark Elves were justly upset by this injustice, rightfully so might I add. But Father had not found the poaching hunters yet which hasn't changed so far that I was aware of.

I just hoped that it would be taken care of soon, from the rumors going around the academy lately the human kingdom had been on tense terms with the Fae and The Isle of Mystics. With things so tense and our Choosing not too far away, I worried that our kingdom would go to war and Delphanie and Rowan would be caught in the crossfire somehow. The last thing I want to do is bury my friends or witness the lands get torn from war.

Looking up I noticed one of the hooded travelers ahead glancing back at me and Jor, colbolt blue eyes glowing within the hood's shadow. Raising a hand to signal Jor, I quickly scrambled back and climbed onto his back. I gave another uneasy glance over Jor's head to see if he was still looking at us. Those eyes were defiantly not human. We always had a variety of merchants come from the different nations, but it wasn't very often I saw them. At 16 years old, I was still considered a tender age by my parents even though I would be given my calling and graduating the Academy.

I hate their coddling, it makes me fear just how defenseless I might be against others in a real fight. Unlike Rowan and Delphanie, I lack the strength to wield proper swords and I was absolutely horrid at my footwork. So I focused on what I was good at, which was rune casting. Thing is, I have to make time to draw the rune before casting, which in a surprise attack or intense battle leaves me little time and a bigger issue in my defense.

Daggers were pretty much my main weapon of choice when it came to weapons training. They're double-trouble combo edges for me. I could not only use them for my defense, but they could carve my runes into trees or the ground before me in an emergency situation.

Nudging Jor into flight, I guided him past the estate gate and over to the stable, noticing I had gained the attention of all 3 travelers as we swept over their heads as they were almost to the gates themselves. Keeping my chin up and giving them my back, I let the stench of pegases s**t remind me I was safe and home. Jor growled at the stablehand who was rushing towards us as we decended onto our little runway, making the poor guy raise his hands and stop where he was.

Feeling bad I called out "I'm so sorry, give us just a moment and I'll get him calmed down!" to the stable hand, who I could now see was one of the new hires. He gave me a thumbs up and stayed put, running his other hand through his hair.

I slid off Jor as we landed gracefully into the grass, his hackles rising and the feathers puffing out on his neck.

"Stop that this instant Jor Jor, he is a friend!" I chided as I lightly smacked Jor's shoulder, pushing his puffed up head down to look at me.

He looked down at me with his intelligent eyes, his beak nibbling my hair as he looked me over. My nerves must of gotten the poor guy worked up. I let him see that I was okay, waiting until he gave me his chirp and sprawled on the ground to roll before I waived over the stablehand.

He walked cautiously to me, keeping his eyes on Jor in case he growled at him again. When he finally reached me I could see his face visibly released his tension, his should relaxing.

"Hi miss, I apologize for not waiting for you to land before approaching," he curtsied, bowing his head and looking down at the ground.

"Don't worry, honestly he doesn't usually react defensively like that here at home. I'm afraid he sensed that I was nervous about something and he reacted thinking you were the reason and a threat," I rushed assuredly, wincing at how informal that was. Straightening my spine I continued," Do you know where my mother or father are? I'm afraid I'm in a bit of a rush and have urgent news to give them."

"You're father was greeting the arrival of some foreign ambassador as I was rushing out to meet you here. Your mother was just giving chef some instructions on dinner over at the kitchens," he replied hastily as his eyes lifted to where Jor had stopped frolicking in the grass and was coming back towards us.

"A foreign ambassador?" I questioned, eyebrows flying as the stablehand straightened and tentively reached out hand for Jor to inspect.

"Ah yes miss, not that I know what business his good Sir would be doing with one but the Baron was rushing with a scowl on his face. It seems like it was unexpected. Oh, my name's Larry by the way," he stated as Jor took a sniff at his hand before prowling around him to inspect the new stablehand.

"Oh that's right I do apologize! With the academy Calling so close I forgot we hadn't been properly introduced!" I laughed while smacking my forehead, feeling stupid that I hadn't even asked his name. "Thank you Larry, I'll leave it to you to get this knucklehead to his stall, he should be ready for his dinner. I'll be heading to see mother if my father asks you on his way in," I rushed as I realized I still needed to hurry up and talk with mom before grabbing the book of runes and heading out to meet the others at the inn.

Larry yelled something back as I rushed off towards the estate, the wind picking up and taking away whatever he said. Shrugging my shoulders, I just put more effort to pumping my legs faster, the grass splitting apart beneath me. I had to reach mother, she'd take the news better than father anyway. And if I saved dad for last, then I might be able to sneak to his office to overhear what he and those strangers were up to.

As I rounded to the kitchen door I waived at a few maids who were hanging the linens, slowing down as I reached the stone steps. Taking a moment to gather my breathe, my pounding heart couldnt drown out the sounds of commands being shouted from the other side. Wincing, I stifled a grin as I reached out and pulled open the door, the scents of frying meats and flour puffing in clouds filling the air as I stepped into utter chaos.

In a weird kind of way, the chaos was organized like a beehive, with our family chef standing upon the center table shouting commands to the helpers. My nose tickled as a pixie flew past, her fae dust sprinkling behind her wings and causing me to sneeze. Rubbing my nose into the crook of my shirt, I dodged the line of bodies as I made my way to the center, waiving my hand to catch chef's eye.

" Why my lady, what a pleasure! Home so soon are we?" chef grinned, moving towards me to pinch my cheeks like she had since I was a wee babe. Given her short stature at four feet and 11 thumbs, chef was mightly under-estimated as a bear shifter. With chocolate wavy hair and honey-colored eyes, she was pretty in all aspects accept her mouth. The woman cursed better than the sailers I'd met once while visiting the shores of Derryam, a city that served as a huge trading port to several kingdoms.

"We were dismissed early over some special guests," I shrug while batting away her hands. "Sorry that I can't stay to chat right now, I must find mother and tell her some important business. The new stablehand Larry said he had seen her with you in the kitchens not too long ago," I continued while swatting away another cheek attack.

Nodding, she hiked her thumb towards the swinging doors that led into the dining hall. "She headed out just a few moments ago to serve your father and his guests tea. Seems that we have some important guests this night."

"Did these 'guests' have hooded cloaks on them? I believe I chanced upon them as I was arriving home," I said with my brow furrowed in worry.

"Oh yes that was them alright, damned arrogant that lot is. Looked to be dark elven folk, smelled nice enough though," she said with a nod, turning away for a second to yell out more orders before reverting her attention back to me.

The hairs on the back of my neck rose, that knot back in my stomach. Forcing a relaxed smile to not betray my nervousness, I thanked her with a murmured thanks before dodging the workers to get out the swinging doors, heading immediately past the long dining table and into the main hall of the house.

I knew without a doubt that everyone would be in father's study since this would be official business. If this was a dark elf ambassador then I was right to be fretful. Things could be getting worse from their side of things and even I know there would be only so much they would take before taking justice for themselves.

Many paintings of my family lineage lined the wall as I turned left, taking the stairs two at a time while taking out my keyring from within my breast pocket. My home was built by my great great grandfather, who had won it during a claiming tourney when our first king was crowned. Its bones were founded on the white sandstones found within the mountains here, casted and molded to show off the intended status of wealth. While every Madam of the house had added their own touches over the centuries, it still held it's spark of magic to those who came to our home. It held three stories tall, a balcony wrapping around the second floor as a way for my father to have sentries who could guard the skies around our home. It had been intended as a luxury when first built, but with wars came the need to renew it's usage.

Thankfully, my ancestors were smart enough to have all sorts of tricks within this place. I huffed out a breath as I finished the last step to the second floor. I was slightly winded from all the running around, and quite frankly I had to get it under control before anyone heard me and noticed. I practiced taking deep breaths as I tried to quiet my thumping heart, focusing on breathing through my nose as I continued down the hall.

My ears strained for any noise as I tried to soften my steps, hearing voices the closer I got to the door. I passed the library room first, then the spare bedroom for guests before I reached father's study. Just as I was about to lay my ear on the door to try and figure out what they were saying inside, a loud thump and growl sounded, startling me and nearly making me squeak in alarm.

"t**s on horseshit," I muttered as I heard the unmistakable clink of armour as one of the guards posted on the balconies sounded from ahead.

Frowning, I looked around for a place to hide and remembered something as I looked back at the guest room door. Of course! Wasting no time, I scurried as quickly and quietly as I could to the door and opened it, shutting it quickly as footsteps pounded down the hall.