SWNOVELS Chapter 15: Seeing the Future
"Oh." Sahara says trying to quickly think of a lie. "I had stepped out onto the balcony for some fresh air."
"Have you seen Brystol about?" The aran asks. "He did not show for breakfast and was not in his room when we sent for him."
"Um." Sahara tries to think of another lie. "I think I saw him walking down in the gardens when I was on the balcony."
"Check the gardens Huxby." The tari yells towards an open doorway where a young ellon bows to the tari in response.
Sahara debates on teleporting Brystol to the gardens or not. It was mean of her to just leave him like that, but he did deserve it. She smiles to herself as she takes a plate and places a long grey log on it. She had tried one of these donut-like logs for breakfast yesterday and loved it. She remembers Brystol had made her a plate yesterday. She sighs feeling bad about leaving him and decides she should teleport him back. She looks out into the hallway and does not see anyone around, so she teleports him to just outside the room. She smiles at him as he squints his eyes in anger toward her. "Here he is." She says joyfully turning toward his parents.
"Brystol," The tari sounds scolding. "Why did you not tell anyone you were strolling in the gardens? You had us worried."
"Sorry mother," He sounds annoyed, "I just wanted to check on the roses."
"In winter?" The tari asks in confusion.
"Yes." Brystol looks at Sahara, who tries to hide her laugh. "In winter."
"Hmm." The aran hums and it causes Sahara to realize he is looking at her. Her smile quickly disappears, and she looks away from him taking a bite.
"After you two eat your late breakfast, you only have a few hours before Eves Lighting. So no more wandering off.” The tari says as she takes the arans arm to leave the room.
"What is Eves Lighting?" Sahara asks Brystol after his parents exit the room.
"I don't like you very much right now." He answers blandly, sitting down at the table with a plate of food.
Sahara laughs. "I teleported you back."
"Yeah. Thirty minutes later." He says with a huff. "I was almost back anyway."
Sahara feels bad he is mad at her. Then, she remembers him making her fall when she first arrived at the academy. "At least I didn't embarrass you on your first night in a new world. At a new school."
Brystol pushes a pink ball around on his plate before he speaks, "That was an accident."
Sahara suddenly doesn't feel so hungry. "Yeah." She says in disbelief. "And it was an accident that I left you when I teleported back."
“You were right.” Brystol says looking shyly down at his plate. “I called you extra red because I was testing you, to see if your emotional magic was under control. You actually looked really pretty in the red dress.”
Sahara feels her nerves increase at him calling her pretty. “You are so confusing.” She says thinking back to how he is nice some times but then seems not nice other times.
“I’m not really.” He responds glancing up at her. “You just don’t know me and would rather jump to conclusions.” She plays with her food as she thinks about what he means but after a moment he interrupts her thoughts. “What was in your letter?”
“What letter?” Sahara asks not sure what he is talking about.
“The one the pixie gave you.” He clarifies.
“Oh.” She sounds disappointed. “It was from my mother, but it was blank.”
“Blank?” He asks looking at her in an odd manner. “What do you mean?”
“As in there was nothing. It was just a blank piece of paper folded up in the envelope.” She sighs wondering why it was blank.
“Can I see it?” He asks curiously.
“Why?” She asks.
“Because it may just need a simple reveal spell to unlock it.” Brystol says as he rises from the table.
Sahara had not thought about there being a trick to being able to see what the paper said. “I left it in my room.”
“Then let’s go get it.” He says moving over to the door to exit. Sahara jumps up and walks with Brystol to her room.
She pulls the blank sheet of paper out from the envelope that she had stuffed in a drawer. “Here.” She hands it to him and he looks at it for a moment before handing it back to her. “Well?” She asks wondering what an unlock spell could be.
“It has to be spell locked,” He explains, “but the spell to unlock it could be anything. They didn’t give you a clue as to what the unlock spell was?”
“No.” Sahara says as she thinks back to what Hexaria said to her. She remembers Hexaria saying something odd at the end. “Wait, Hexaria said to be proud of my name.”
“Try saying your name.” Brystol says, “That might be the key.”
“Sahara.” She says looking at the paper but nothing happens. So she tries again, “Sahara Ashdell.” Again, nothing happens.
“Try your human name.” Brystol says.
“Brooklyn Craig.” Suddenly the paper begins to swirl with black ink until words form on to the page. She feels her heart quicken at the beautifully hand written words.
“It worked!” Brystol says happily. “Hurry and read it before it fades. Because you can’t unlock it again.”
Sahara hurriedly reads the letter:
Dearest Sahara,
I am sorry we were not able to raise you and show you how much we loved you. Please forgive us for having to choose this path. The future was clear and this path was the only one to save you and the elf world. The future we left for you only relies on the choices you make. All could be lost by one mistake, so follow your future cautiously, Elfie. The key to seeing is found within the rainbow. Never doubt the fact that we love you and all that we have done was for your safety.
Your loving mother,
Tari Maglara Ashdell
Sahara wipes the tears from her eyes as she sits down on her bed. All she had ever wanted was to know that her parents loved her. She watches the letters on the paper fade away and it makes her sadder since Brystol said the words would never reappear again. She feels the bed move and realizes Brystol is sitting down on the bed next to her. “Are you okay?” He asks quietly after they sit there in silence for a few minutes.
She nods her head and wipes her tears again as she talks, “It is exactly what I always wanted to hear.” She cries a little harder at the thought again and she feels Brystol wrap his arm around her shoulder. She lays her head over on him and begins to feel a bit better after a moment. She thinks about the declure. “Within the rainbow.” She says as she lifts her head up from Brystol’s chest remembering seeing a rainbow tint to the declure.
“Rainbow?” Brystol asks as she suddenly moves away from him toward her bag. She pulls out the declure and she hears Brystol ask, “What is that?”
“A Declure.” She says looking at the glass surface noticing the rainbow tint on each side of the cube. “My parents left if for me. I have had it for a while but I didn’t know how to use it. Mother just gave me the key.” She pauses feeling odd realizing how good it feels to be referring to her mother.
“What does it do?” Brystol asks and moves over next to her looking at the cube.
“It shows two possible futures.” She flips the cube inspecting each side of the cube. “This is what my parents used and how they knew to plan for Patreek.”
“So, are you going to use it?” Brystol doesn’t sound confident it is a good idea to look at the future.
“Yes.” Sahara looks at him wondering why he would be against knowing the future. “My parents left it for me and just gave me the key. So they must have wanted me to use it.” She continues to flip to each different side of the cube seeing a rainbow appear from the light hitting it. She doesn’t understand because she sees nothing different about the rainbows on each side.
“So what is the key?” Brystol asks looking over at the declure as Sahara flips it.
“It is a family secret.” Sahara says grabbing him by the arm and pulling him with her toward the door of her room. She pushes him out into the hallway. “Bye.” She says as she shuts the door in his curious face.
“I would really appreciate if you stopped slamming doors in my face!” Brystol calls through the heavy wooden door but Sahara ignores him as she flips to the next surface of the cube.
She tries touching each rainbow but nothing happens. Then, she tries to say each of the colors of the rainbow in order and still nothing happens. Next, she tries saying her name like she did to make the ink appear on the letter, but again nothing. She huffs out in dismay as she falls down on her bed and holds the cube above her. “I don’t understand mother.” She says turning the cube so that the sunlight causes the rainbow to darken. She looks at the small darkened rainbow and sees nothing particular. She huffs as she drops the declure down to her side on the bed. As she looks up at the ceiling feeling frustrated, she sees a reflection from the cube glistening above her. She wonders if she caused the sun to hit the cube just right if it would reflect a rainbow on the wall. She moves over to the window and rotates the cube toward the sun until she finally causes a rainbow to appear on the wall of her room. She now sees words written in the rainbow. “Panta tulwie, panta attea avanyarima fende aranta cala cil.” She reads the words and knows all but what avanyarima means. She mentally translates their meaning, open future, open second…something…door to give light to choose.
Suddenly, she feels the floor begin to shake as she pulls the cube up next to her in fear. She feels the quake coming from the cube and holds it back out away from her. She sees the rainbow on the wall turn into a picture of Holestroy castle. The castle is crumbling to the ground and she can see a battle occurring around the castle. She sees an elleth that looks like Trylla but older, who is wearing a crown and yelling for help. The picture suddenly flashes to Sahara in a room she is not familiar with. She looks around the room she is currently standing in feeling confused by what she is seeing. Her future self talking, draws her attention back to the picture displayed on the wall. She is talking to an ellon that sounds angry. “You have to save our kingdoms and pull the protection from Holestroy to protect our own elves!” The ellon does not look familiar and Sahara wonders who he could be.
She watches her future self move over closer to the ellon and place her hand on his cheek as she speaks, “My Aran, if we abandon them, our own elves would no longer trust in our leadership.” Sahara gasps realizing she must be married to that ellon. Suddenly the room begins to shake again and Sahara tries to keep from falling.
A new picture of Holestroy appears on the wall. This time the castle is standing strong and looks peaceful. Then, the picture flashes to a future Brystol. He is sitting next to an older Trylla laughing and talking with her. “You better attend to your aranly duties.” Trylla says as she stands to her feet. “I have a wedding to plan for.”
The picture shifts to a future Sahara again. She is now in a darker room that looks like a cave. She is sitting with an ellon she does not recognize. The unknown ellon speaks, “My dear, you have made me proud.” He hugs the future her and she wonders why he called her my dear. “These past five years with you have been exactly what I needed.” The picture suddenly disappears and Sahara is left feeling more confused than she expected. She wonders if that was her future husband also.
She suddenly realizes that in both futures she was with a different ellon. So, there had to be a way out of the betrothal besides death. She places the cube back into her bag before opening her door to exit her room. She rolls her eyes as Brystol rises from his sitting position on the floor. “Did it work?” He asks excitedly.
“Have you been out here this whole time?” She asks in disbelief.
“Yeah.” He says dusting off his pants. “Did it work?”
Sahara smiles at him in excitement. “Yes.” Then, she feels her mood change realizing she did not see Brystol in the first future the declure showed her.
“Do I have to ask or are you going to tell me?” Brystol says sounding aggravated.
She shrugs her shoulders not sure what she saw herself. “It was confusing.”
He suddenly pulls her into her room and closes the door. “Tell me everything.”
Sahara debates on what to say. She explains to him the best she can about the two futures she had seen. He looks at her with a sort of disappointment. “So, in both futures you were married to different ellons. And you saw Trylla both times.” He too looks confused by what she had seen as he sits down on her bed in thought. “I was dead in the first version, wasn’t I?”
Sahara sits down next to him and tries to comfort him. “I just won’t marry that ellon, he didn’t seem very nice anyway. I will marry the other one in the second version. You seemed fine and really happy in it.”
He looks over toward her and she sees his eyes swirling in emotions she had not seen in him before. She wonders what he is thinking and she wishes she had not told him what she saw. Before she realizes what is happening, she feels Brystol’s lips on hers spurring an odd sensation through her body.
She feels her heart pounding as his lips leave hers. She cannot make any words come out of her mouth as she sits there in surprise. She watches Brystol swallow hard as he looks at her nervously. “The first night, at the academy, when you stepped out of the carriage…” He pauses looking nervous still. “You took my breath away, and I wished time would stand still. I didn’t realize my wish gubled you, until I heard Waizlynn laughing and noticed my hand was out toward you.” He pauses and takes a deep breath, as if the weight of his confession had been lifted from his shoulders. “I swear, it was an accident. I didn’t know who you were.” She can’t seem to feel herself think as she sits there trying to process his confession.
She asks, “Why did you kiss me?”
He looks caught off guard by her question and he shrugs his shoulder. “You had just told me I was going to die possibly.”
“I thought we hated each other.” She states looking down at her hands in thought.
“I don’t hate you.” He responds to her statement. “And it would be really nice if you could stop hating me.” His words cause Sahara to look back into his eyes. She has hated him the past three months, but at this moment she is not sure if she still does or not. “Since you apparently find a way out of the betrothal and marry one of two other ellons, the least we can do is be friends.”
She realizes she has never actually heard Brystol say he wanted to break the betrothal. “I thought you wanted to break the betrothal too? I mean, you asked your father.”
He explains. “I have known about the betrothal my entire life, and accepted it years ago. But I don’t want to force you into something you obviously don’t want.” He pauses. “I asked father to see the contract. I told him you were wanting out of it and then, I think that is when you heard his reply.” Sahara remembers the aran’s mistress and wonders why she has not seen her other than that one time. “And just so you know, since you missed my response, I don’t approve of my father’s choices and I will never have a mistress. I could never cause my wife the pain I see my mother endure.”
“I know.” She says. “Your mother told me you had sworn off ever having a mistress.” She remembers him asking her not to bring up Jewel to his mother that night. “She brought it up to me, I kept my promise and didn’t ask her!” He stays silent and looks down toward his hands as if he is in thought.
She thinks back to the two futures she saw earlier. She knew Brystol had to have been dead in the first version of the future because Trylla was wearing a crown and seemed to be the queen. “How do we change the future?” Sahara asks wondering how much time they had to prevent Brystol from dying and Holestroy from being destroyed.
“I have no idea.” Brystol says sounding sad again.
They did not look old in what she saw and Trylla was old enough to be queen or to be getting married. “How old is Trylla?”
“Nine.” Brystol responds curiously.
“The second ellon said he had spent five years with me but Trylla had to at least be eighteen. So, that could be in nine years.” Sahara realizes that does not really help them much because Brystol could die anytime before then.
“Maybe, it would give you more if you tried again.” He suggests.
“Or it could present something entirely different that gives me a whole new set of puzzles to figure out.” She reasons out loud. “Maybe it all depends on which ellon I choose to marry.” She remembers the word in the rainbow she didn’t know, “What does avanyarima mean?”
“Unspoken.” Brystol responds looking curiously. “What does that have to do with the future?”
“Nothing.” Sahara says before she realizes that isn’t completely true. “Or maybe, everything. I don’t know.”
“I should go.” He says rising from her bed as they hear a bell to a clock chime. “Mother will be furious if we are late.”
“Right.” Sahara says trying to remember what they would be late for. She forgot they were going to go somewhere. She tries to process her feelings as she watches him leave her alone in her room.