Little Black Bird

For every answer I got, I was left with many more questions. I was not alone; but I was.

The past few days had gone by quickly, but also dreadfully slow at points. A lot of it was Amelia scampering about to find books that would reveal more about the past and giving them to Skylark to read. Skylark was notorious back home for skipping out on lessons to play in the forest. Seeing her forced to read, read aloud at that, was more assuming than Luca could ever let her know. She was the only one that could read some of the books. Dradic language was coming back to Luca, slowly, but it was.

They had learned a lot. Most of it was about the Dradic people. No one thought it reasonable to burn books about treefolk. The Faeren were easy as well, right up until the Hysteria. Small parts had been pieced together about that. Something started killing Faeren. The killing of the Faeren drove the other ones mad, which lead to the Hysteria where they all either killed each other or themselves. Few could hold onto sanity for very long. A year was impressive to remain in control. This meant that Skylark’s mom had remained sane to some extent for at least a century.

Skylark’s lineage was being tested by Amelia who was a scientist and magic user. This fact amused Dralla, who was more familiar with humans. Nothing had come back to say that Skylark wasn’t a hundred percent Faeren. If what Bast said about her being a Testria was true, she came from yet another royal line.

Family lines weren’t a huge thing in the Dradic ways apparently. Family names were rarely, if ever, mentioned in the texts. The more Luca learned about them, the more confused he became. There were three things he knew for sure. 1. The power the Dradic had, which allowed them to be more Fae-like and grant blessings was sapped about the same time as the Hysteria. 2. The Dradic were protectors and warriors. They roamed for years before finding a forest to stay and fight for. 3. Very often Dradic people formed some sort of bond with the Faeren. It seemed they were like advisors to them. This wasn’t surprising that the Faeren, who had a deep connection to nature, would bond with a race that lived to protect nature as well.

Luca wished he’s spoken to Bast more before they left. As a Demi, a self-pronounced ‘old’ Demi, she had to be at least a couple millenniums old. She probably felt that she had interfered too much. After all she stuck around for Skylark’s entire life until recently. The Demi normally pop in, do their job, and leave. She knew his full name and Skylark’s last name. He had no doubt Bast was the one that told Mikin to send them here. Somewhere in this vast library was something they needed.

The tanned boy lay awake with his thoughts for a while. He didn’t want to disturb the soundly sleeping girl that was clutching his arm. The first night after Skylark had recovered she began screaming in her sleep. It wasn’t nearly as ghastly as the noise the night in the town, but it sounded painful. Luca almost couldn’t watch her, once he finally shook her awake, gasp for air with beads of cold sweat dripping off of her. The Faen never looked like they had a hair out of place, the Faeren had to be even more so like this, so seeing her practically in shambles didn’t feel right. Sleeping next to her seemed to calm the terrors that were plaguing her, and after the Dead Inn incident, put his mind more at ease.

The grip the lightweight girl had on him tightened for an instant and the next she bolted upright. Her breath was shaking but calming. “Fire…” She panted out. “So much fire.” Her eyes shut tightly for a second as if she was trying to recall something or force it away. “They attacked. They killed them…” Her breath started picking up again. The pace of her heart quickened against Luca’s arm. “Poison and dark magic, they came and killed. They were sleeping, the children, they were sleeping.” Tears began pouring down her face.

Luca was frozen watching the waves of emotion of terror, pain, and sadness wash over his oldest and closest friend. When the sobbing caused her to hitch air in her lungs he snapped out of it. “It was just a dream. You’re awake now. There is nothing to be afraid of.” Luca tried comforting her pulling her head into his chest. The library shook to her cried of anguish. He put his knees on either side of her hips and his hands on her face pulling hers close to his, trying to encase her from the world. “Lark, I’m here. Take deep breaths. Pretty little black bird, don’t cry anymore.”

The shaking slowed as the crying girl took shaky long breaths. “Luca,” She whimpered only moving her eyes to focus in on his. The deep green color calmed her a bit more. “They’re not dreams…they can’t be. It’s too real. It’s like I’m there. I am one of them and all of them. The humans, they came and they annihilated as many of them as they could before they awoke.” Luca could only pull her closer. What was there to tell someone that believed they were watching their race get murdered in their sleep?

It was only moments before the door burst open. Dralla at the lead commanding as always, Amelia looking more scattered than usual and fixing the metal frames on her face, Paxe…Paxe honestly look impressed more than anything. “What is going on? That shaking could take down the library!” Dralla’s voice was much less impressed than Paxe’s expression.

“W-was that S-skylark? Very impressive. T-there are no r-records of Faeren having that k-kind of power. That I’ve come across.” She ended quietly and quickly after seeing how the two were positioned and the unamused look on Luca’s face.

Luca got off the bed to quickly shut the door behind the three, lest more people decide they want to enter the room. He put on a shirt before going back to Skylark’s side. The brunette had herself curled into an upright ball. “She thinks she saw the Humans attack the Faeren in her dream. They attacked with fire, she kept saying.” He told them in a gentle voice.

Skylark picked her head up slightly so her voice could be heard. “It’s been leading up to this. The dreams, since I left the South. I’ve seen everything, all the things we read in the books and then…that.” She whispered the last part as it was too gruesome for her to even mention again.

“Amelia, we need more books on Faeren powers. Now!” Dralla commanded and watched the small girl rush from the room.

Paxe walked on the bed on her knees until she reached the shaky girl at the back. “You not so much work, I think.” She paused to force Skylark to look her in the eye. “You strong. Shaking library not an easy thing. Past is past, now you set them on fire.” She finished with a smile and a nod. This forced a smile onto the calming girl’s face. The building finally stopped shaking.

The tongue of Albright couldn’t have been Paxe’s first language it occurred to Skylark as they ate breakfast at the table they were stacking books on. For some reason her words earlier made her feel a lot better. Skylark didn’t want the sweet words Luca always offered her. She wanted to do something with more action than sweet nothings. Fire, didn’t sound too bad.

“How could the humans kill the Faeren?” Skylark asked bluntly with a hint of venom at the word human. “I don’t know how to control my power and I removed a Voulg curse and shook this tree which is a millennium old. They were trained and there were many of them. How?” She pushed further the passion tinged in her voice.

Amelia always seemed to be treading carefully, but she walked on egg shells now. “W-well, I’ve read all the books I can on the Faeren. N-none had your power. O-of course the Voulg d-didn’t surface until after the Hysteria, b-but it is doubtful they c-could remove the dark magic. T-hey were particularly s-susceptible to it.” Her stuttering had gotten worse from the shake and Skylark’s new found bitterness to the human race. A near powerless human wouldn’t want to anger someone that appeared to have god-like uncontrolled power.

“Please calm down, Skylark. You are frightening Amelia, I know you mean her no harm, but nonetheless.” Dralla said in a much more level tone than she started this morning with. “We are not even sure what you saw was real. A curious mind craves an answer.”

“S-skylark, if you wouldn’t mind reading this…I think it could be u-useful.” Amelia meekly stated while holding out a book for the pale girl seated on the table.

Skylark looked at the timid girl before sighing. “Why do you stutter so much?” She asked as she took the book. “As far as I see, you’re not a bad human.”

The girl with short brown hair smiled for a quick second before fixing her glasses and looking down again. “Have you e-ever met another human?” She asked in a louder voice than she usually mustered.

The tall girl squinted like she was in thought for a moment. “Well no, but…don’t make excuses. I owe you my life, remember? So don’t act so…this.” She told her gesturing with a hand at, well, all of Amelia. Skylark turned towards the book in her hands and began to flip through the pages. “Nature blah blah blah. Keen senses blah blah blah. Mind knowledge blah blah…wait. Umm the Faeren almost possess a singular knowledge. All seem to be keenly fluid or awake on any happening or big event in the history of their kind. It is a power of few to will themselves into the memories of their kind, past or present.” She read to the four that had become her new company.

“So she seeing the past through another’s eye.” Paxe simplified.

“W-why would humans attack? H-history suggests they lived peacefully.” Amelia squeaked out. She went into a flurry trying to find more books that would hold this knowledge.

Paxe tapped her long fingers on the table. “Human good at creating things, but faeren are magic. Human don’t know magic. Pale girl right; how the human kill faeren?”

“They had dark magic and this powder that my guardian used to give me; I’d know the smell anywhere. It restrains your power.” Skylark told them as she closed the book and set it next to her.
Dralla closed her eyes for a moment. “Humans with dark magic…” She shook her head slightly. “Few humans can manifest power. It is not a great amount either. Surely not enough to cast anything that wouldn’t just glide off a faeren. They did reserve some of their power for defensive means at all times.” Skylark’s face must have told her to continue. “Your bodies are so graceful, but they are weak, child. You power sustains your body. The faeren knew they were susceptible to physical attacks and usually had some power channeled through charms, like bracelets or any other jewelry, that would protect them.”

The original furor of the morning research died out after not coming across any more useful information. Slowly they scattered themselves amongst the library to find books that they hadn’t devoured yet. Skylark was flipping through a particularly boring book written in Gnome. She hadn’t come across something that she couldn’t read and she was beginning to be able to identify when we was reading a new language. “Child, can I have a moment?” Dralla’s smooth voice asked her from behind. She turned and nodded to the other woman. “I think you and Luca should come with us to the Dailee. We have masters who could train you. The library there is probably untouched and still has books written about the Hysteria.”

Skylark liked the women that were helping herself and Luca, but she was still weary of them. They came from an Order she’d never heard of that supposedly kept the peace. Where were they when the faeren were being eliminated? “I’ll talk with Luca, see what he thinks. I’ll give you my answer tomorrow.” She replied trying to sound as dignified as possible. Dralla made a light bow before taking her leave.

The tall girl made her way around the library looking for Luca. She had pushed the white sleeve she wore on her arm down to scratch at the mark. Skylark was looking vaguely up, since Luca was so tall, and ran right into Amelia who was running around a corner. “I-I’m sorry. Oh! I-I-I d-didn’t m-mean to Skylark, s-sorry.”

“Hey, calm down, remember? I don’t bite…well I haven’t since I was little.” She joked picking the tiny human from the ground.

“Skylark,” Amelia started very slowly. “C-can I see that mark on your arm?” She asked reaching out for her uncovered mark. A jolt ran though her lean body as she realized she didn’t have it covered up. The one time she forgets and someone instantly asks about it. Skylark nonetheless put her long arm into Amelia’s hands. “Do you know who you touched when this formed? O-of course not, they can take days to fully form…I thought they were an old wives tale really.” She babbled on incoherently really.

Skylark bent her knees to be more at Amelia’s level. She waved a hand in her face slowly. “What is it?” She asked not about to tell the excited girl that she knew exactly who she touched when it appeared.

“W-well it’s just a fairytale I thought. The faeren had this way of finding their soul mates. When you touched them, a mark, like this all f-full of lines, would appear. It could t-take days, possibly weeks to show. M-marks placed where yours is w-was the most common. T-trees w-weren’t too uncommon either.” She explained running her fingers over the lines.

“So if what you’re saying is true…my ‘soul mate’ should have the same mark, in the same place, on whichever arm I touched.” Skylark asked getting more confused. This mark formed when Luca first became human and they were holding hands. It was a really long time ago and the magic was bright and confusing. Luca didn’t have any trees on his arms. That was for sure.

Amelia shook her head after listening. “No…I mean most likely, but no. Usually they’re on the arms like that; handshakes. B-but the mark would go wherever you touched them first and yours is where they first touched you. Sometimes marks on shoulders from passing. Oh and their mark won’t be a tree, probably, it’ll be something that is your symbol.” The short haired girl shoved her glasses back up her face. “This is all assuming that the mark story is true…and um another person bears your mark.”

“What?” Skylark asked surprised by the last part.

“W-well you could have touched the person that is perfect for you, b-but you may not be perfect for them. It was in one of the more tragic fairytales…she gets marked but never finds the person bearing her mark. T-there is supposedly a pull towards the person that marked you.” Amelia blinked a few times and shook her head. “Don’t let it bother you too much. It’s probably like a power thing that you’re given at birth.” That was all she said and then scurried off again.

Luca came around the corner shortly after that. Skylark was just standing there taking in the information. When she noticed him she pulled the sleeve back over the mark. The story had made her even more conscious of it, especially if it was what the fairytales say. “Lark, Dralla said you were looking for me.”

“I…um…yeah, I was. It can wait until later…no big deal. I just need your hands real quick, kay?” She sputtered quickly grabbing his hands. Her eyes scanned for any line as she turned his arms over and over. “Whelp…thanks!” She awkwardly thanked him before bolting off.

No lines. None.