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“So, you didn’t meet anyone you liked?” I asked Mira as I pulled on my boots. I was looking forward to the early morning ride. Mira rolled her eyes at me.
“I met plenty I liked, just not in the way you’re implying.”
“There were so many guys last night, so much dancing!” I sighed, remembering many of the dances with one guy in particular.
“The song you made me dance to, I tripped the guy. I don't dance. You do. Same with flirting.” She ran the brush through her hair, catching the tangles that still remained of last night’s hair style.
“Well, at least you didn’t fall on your face,” I pointed out, finishing with my boots. “And aren’t you excited, now? I can’t wait to go to the Fire Tribe and see –” I caught myself. “People.”
Mira grinned. “Liar. What were you going to say?”
“Nothing,” I said quickly. I felt my cheeks getting red and hurriedly turned away, trying to hide the smile that was coming to my face. I hadn’t caught Mira up on everything from the dance last night . . .
“There is something, tell me!”
I cleared my throat awkwardly. “Well, you know how I was dancing most of the night . . .”
“Stop stating the obvious and get on with it.” A smile was widening across her face and I felt my face getting hotter and hotter.
“I met this guy. His name’s Asher Hale. He's a fire elementalist. He came with some of the people from the Tribe ‘cause he’s in training like I will be. He's sweet and funny and obsessed with dragons and cute and sweet and – I really like him.” I slapped my hands over my mouth. My cheeks felt redder than ever.
“Fera, you’ve known him for one night.”
“Yes, but I’ve got a whole year to get to know him better.” I let out a sigh, thinking about his black hair and dark eyes and smile. I must have spent half the night dancing with him. I almost didn’t mind trading a year without my sister for a year with him. “He only got there last month so we’ll probably be training together.”
“Careful or your stable boy will be jealous,” Mira teased.
“Well, maybe he doesn’t have to know,” I said, tightening the ribbon on my braid. “Besides, it's not like we're actually a couple or anything.”
“Are you sure he knows that? Are you sure you know that?”
“Doesn't matter. My luck, I'll get washed away in a rainstorm before I get to the Tribe.” I looked at her out of the corner of my eye.
“Hey,” she said, raising her hands defensively. “I can’t summon rainstorms . . . Like, ever. That’s not a thing. Maybe a light drizzle.”
“Uh-huh. Are you ready?”
“Just about.”
I’d miss moments like this, when I was in the Tribe, but I’d never tell anyone that. I’d miss a lot. Sure, I was excited to go and learn how to properly use my powers, to have some freedom and show how responsible I could be; but I was nervous that after the year away, I wouldn’t be as close to my sister.
We used the secret passage in our room to take a shortcut down to the stables, which was quite busy with the guests who stayed overnight departing. Ben was pretending to nap in Penny’s stall when we got there. I twitched a piece of straw over his nose until he gave it up.
“Sorry about disturbing you,” Mira said, leaning on the front of Penny’s stall. “We may be seventeen now, but she’s such a kid – Hey, Fera, that guy who was looking for dad yesterday is in here!”
“What? Really? Is he leaving? I hope so. He creeped me out.” I shuddered. I didn’t know what it was about the guy, and I wasn’t as good at figuring out people as Mira, but I’d seen enough of him last night and I didn’t like him.
“What guy?” Ben asked.
“Some man, about,” I raised my hand a few inches above my head, “yay tall, short brown hair, dark brown eyes. Seemed sketchy.”
Ben poked his head out of the stall. “Him? He’s been messing about behind the stables since yesterday. He’s an air elementalist from the Tribe, so maybe he’s concerned about how his horse is recovering. But something about him doesn’t sit right.”
“I knew he was fishy,” Mira said. “Pity we can't follow him.”
Ben smiled. “Well, my beautiful ladies, that is where I come in. I may have followed him around a bit last night.”
“Ben, I could kiss you right now!” I exclaimed.
“Can I take you up on that offer?”
“Of course.” I leaned forward to give him a peck on the cheek and Mira wormed her way in between us.
“Ah-ha. No.” She gave me a pointed look and I crossed my arms. “So where did he go?” she asked Ben.
“Well, he wandered around the party for a while, so I almost gave up, but then he went into the library. I couldn’t follow him without getting spotted, but no one else went in or out, and he didn't seem to have a book on him when he left. But he was all shifty eyed, so I doubt he just popped in to read something.”
I thought for a moment. Library. What could he want in the library? There was nothing interesting to guests in there, and our father did business in his private study. Then it hit me. I looked at my sister, panicked.
“Mira, you took the scroll, right?”
“Yes . . . But I left the copy behind!”
Ben looked between us. “What scroll? What copy? What are you two talking about?”
We ran for the house without explaining. I shoved open the side door and practically skidded across the floors, almost faceplanting in the rush to get up the stairs. We burst into the library. I looked at the desk. Lots of books and papers, but a distinct lack of an ink blot.
“It’s gone,” I said.
“Fera, you have to look around – maybe it just got covered,” Mira suggested anxiously.
I started stacking and unstacking books. “Please please please . . .” I mumbled under my breath. Mira shuffled through papers. There was a reason the scroll had been hidden, we couldn’t just let anyone else have a part of it.
“It isn’t here.”
“Keep looking,” Mira snapped.
“Where else is there to look?”
“I don’t know!”
“He must have taken it.”
“Or it could’ve been anyone else. Or a worker tossing it out. We can’t go and accuse a guest of theft. We have no proof.”
“But – Fine. I still don’t like him, though.” I brushed a few stray hairs from my face. “So what do we do? Can you make another copy?”
“I could, but then you might lose it again. Maybe I can teach you to read it? Or you could memorize – wait, why does it matter? It's just an old scroll with some poems.”
“An old scroll that was guarded that I CAN'T READ! And it’s not like I’m the only one who lost it.”
“Shut up. Besides, we spilt ink on it. It got ruined. What could anyone possibly do with half a page of poems? Take over the world?” She laughed, and I laughed too, trying to put the scroll out of my mind. If Mira wasn’t worried, neither was I.
***
THE DAYS LEADING UP to our departure for the Tribes were quieter than expected. I spent a lot of my free time with my twin in silence, trying to get used to the idea that she soon wouldn’t be there at all. Even our parents seemed quiet; our mother didn’t say a word when we left a trail of mud in the hallway after a rainy day of riding. I wished she would’ve.
The first leaves began to turn to the colours of fall. This year there’d be no jumping in leaf piles with my sister.
On the last morning, I wasn’t sure what to think. I was going to miss Mira, but I was going to learn so much about how to use my fire in the Tribe. I would learn how to cast enchantments, to light a fire in the middle of a storm, and secrets that I couldn’t even begin to imagine.
“Now remember, we’ve sent most of your things ahead, and the escorts we had them send for you agreed to meet you on the road, a little bit past the fork. Be on your best behavior,” our mother said, giving us each a hug that was a little too tight.
“Aren’t we always?” I asked, trying to sound innocent.
“Well then how about we compromise at not getting kicked out of the tribes?” Our dad hugged both of us in one go.
“I think we can manage that,” Mira said.
“Oh, my girls.” Our mother stroked our hair. “I imagine this is scary, but just think of this as another one of your adventures. You’re both going to come back as wonderful young women. Try to make the most of this year.”
Our dad leaned forward. “And don’t be afraid to get into a little mischief,” he whispered. “We all did it when training. Just don’t mention it in your letters.”
Mira was rubbing at her eyes. We walked down the drive, to the road and the forest shadowing it. Most of the way we’d go alone, as Selemere and Nilemere were on opposite sides of Freckania, but not yet. I gave a final wave to our parents when we reached the trees. They waved back.
For a while we walked in silence, just me and my twin. I cast a glance at her, wondering what she was thinking, if she was as nervous as me. I was a little surprised she was holding together so well; she had always been a bit . . . fragile.
Without thinking, I reached out and took her hand. She smiled.
The forest rustled in a gentle breeze, causing the intricate pools of sunlight to dance, and songbirds were singing. It was a picture-perfect day to leave. We walked along the packed road, towards, if you want to get dramatic about it, our destinies.
We came to the fork in the road. One led west to the Water Tribe, and the other east to the Fire Tribe. We stopped. I let go of Mira’s hand. We stood there, looking at each other.
Mira took a deep breath. “This is it, I guess,” she said.
“Yeah.” I looked down the path. “A whole year . . .”
“Apart,” she finished for me.
“Yeah.” I wasn’t sure what to say. I wasn’t good with mushy emotional stuff. That was Mira’s territory. “Do you think we’re ready?”
She straightened her shoulders. “I think it’s time we learned to get on without each other,” she said. “Learned to stand on our own feet.”
Not the words I wanted to hear, already worried as I was about being distant after a year apart. I was excited to figure out who I was without Mira, but not at the cost of losing her and what we had. But I couldn’t think of what to say, so instead I gave her one last hug.
I’d only taken a few paces down the road when I heard something that was decidedly not-birdlike.
I paused. “Mira?”
“Yeah?”
“Am I crazy, or . . .”
“You are crazy, but not that way. I hear them, too.” I turned slowly to see my twin staring into the trees. “Mysterious voices in the woods around our house. That’s new.”
“Should we ignore them and walk away?” I suggested sarcastically. The smile on Mira’s face spoke volumes. Together we shoved our way into the underbrush. The Tribes could wait a while.