New Friend, Old Friend

   “I just don’t understand why we were teleported into a forest! Bjarke what’s going on?” Kaylessa pleaded to the smirking man.

    “I’m certainly not going to be the one to spoil the surprise.”

    “Surprise? This is… I don’t know.. Kidnapping! Or something...” The girl rambled on to Bjarke and Sassa began to tune them out.

    She did think it cruel of her brother to tease this girl when she was obviously distressed, though perhaps Kaylessa was overreacting. Certainly, she had to have seen some magic before if she was invited to a magic school. Even if she grew up in the mundane community, certainly her family must practice some magic at home. If they were anti-magic enough to hide it from her then they never would have allowed her to enroll at Bawa Ekin Mani.

    The dusty trail they were following entered into a forested area and Sassa struggled to roll her suitcase over a sizable root that extended across the path. She gave it a firm tug and it let go easier than it should have, forcing her to try to catch herself backwards. In doing so, she tripped over yet another root that she could have swore was not there a second ago. She fell hard onto her butt with her hands behind her and distinctly heard giggling coming from the tree. Bjarke and Kaylessa, who had been walking on the path ahead of her, turned around to see what the commotion was about.

    “Are you alright?” Kaylessa rushed over and pulled Sassa up by the arm. Bjarke just threw his head back and gave a hearty laugh.

    “I’m fine. Must have been dryads or someone.” Sassa tried to stifle her embarrassment by providing an explanation but the tips of her ears had turned a faint red.

    “Your ears... ” Kaylessa started.

    “I know.. I’m fine.” Sassa blushed a bit darker at being caught in her embarrassment.

    “They’re… pointy!”

    This was not what Sassa had expected Kaylessa to be pointing out and she wasn’t sure how to respond.

   “They’re like… elf ears.. When people cosplay.”

   Bjarke laughed again and came over to the two girls. He sighed and took the suitcase handle from the ground and straightened it out to stand on its own. Resting his arm on his sister’s shoulder he looked pointedly at Kaylessa and turned his face to the side, dramatically gesturing to his own pointed ear.

   “Tada! Elf ears. The real deal - not cosplay. Technically only part elf which is probably why you didn’t notice at first. Our family-”

   “Is not from around here.” Sassa cut Bjarke off and shrugged his arm off her shoulder. “The driver is getting much further ahead of us.”

   Bjarke shrugged and grabbed Sassa’s suitcase and pulled it on ahead. Kaylessa turned to follow behind him without saying any more on the subject, although Sassa could tell she was trying to figure something out in her mind. So she’s never seen an elf before either. Maybe her family really did keep her in the dark.

    The group hurried along wordlessly to catch up with the old man who was at the edge of the forest now.

    As they too exited the trees they could see a large stone wall up ahead. The wall was at least one story high and beyond it was still veiled by mist. There was a dark, metal gate just as large as the wall, which was patterned to look like a giant tree. As they got closer Sassa noticed that even through the holes in the patterning all that could be seen was the mist. Little licks of the fog were playfully seeping through the holes, seeming to beckon to Sassa to come inside.

    The man they were following had stopped a few feet in front of the gate. He placed his hands together in front of him, pointing at the center of the gate. He started to mumble an incantation that Sassa couldn’t clearly make out. As chanted, the fog started to rush about frantically, seeming to be sucked out of the sky and towards the gate. When he completed the words there was a moment of silence followed by a loud creak as the center of the tree on the gate cracked open. It stopped for a moment and was silent again for a split second before the deafening sound of whooshing filled the air. All of the fog came streaming out of the crack in the gate and into the tips man’s outstretched fingers. When it stopped again, the man turned back towards the group calmly.

    “Welcome.. to Bawa Ekin Mani.” He stretched his arms wide and the gate behind him flung open.

   Kaylessa and Sassa, both with mouths agape looked towards each other in shock. Sassa grinned at the girl for the first time since they had been together. Kaylessa grinned back in disbelief

    “Man, I never get sick of that one!” Bjarke came up between them from behind and threw his arms casually over their shoulders. “Wild, huh?” He gave them both a soft nudge forward and they all continued through the open gateway together.

   Beyond the wall the path was a smooth continuous slate walkway and Sassa could hear the steady whirring of the wheels of Kaylessa’s suitcase intermittent with slight deviations each time they rolled over a seam between the stones. She remembered that Bjarke was pulling her case for her and as annoyed as she could get by her brother, she would still be the first to describe him as a gentleman. Maybe I should lighten up about him.

   On each side of their walkway was grass that was greener than any grass she had seen, save for maybe back home in the gardens of Alfheim. She could see up ahead it was a ways off before they would reach the gardens, and it looked like there were a few acres of them in front of the castle. The castle itself seemed to be done in the old gothic style and Sassa was impressed by the sheer enormity of it. She had seen many a castle in her travels, some magical, others not, and this one was indeed impressive, even from the distance at which they were seeing it now.

    The three of them continued on without talking, the only noise being the happy chirping of birds mixed with the gentle rustling of foliage in the wind. Every so often along the pathway would be two delicately embellished, white wrought iron benches facing each other, beaconing any weary wanderers who may be passing by to have a seat and bask in the serenity of the castle’s entry courtyard. As the trio approached the last set of benches before the glorious garden entrance they noticed a boisterous group of folks who were some atop the backs of the benches, some lounging on them, and others sprawled out in the soft grass.

    “BEE! YAR! KAY! BEE! YAR! KAY!” Chanted a couple of the boys in the group, jokingly, as they realized it was their friend Bjarke that was advancing upon them, their fists pumping enthusiastically in the air at each syllable of his name. The one who had been sitting on the back of the bench hopped down and came over to greet his comrade with a clasp of the fist, a half hug and a few loud pats on the back.

    “Raynor! My brother!” Bjarke met his enthusiasm with equally fervent pats on the back in return. “Hey guys. How’s everyone doing?”

    “I’m well.” Raynor returned, then turning to face towards Sassa and stating proudly, “And the baby bear finally joins us! Any kin of my brother is surely welcomed with open arms by me!” He drew up Sassa’s hand gently and brought it to his lips in a courteous kiss.

    “Yeah, watch out for that one, ladies.” Bjarke winked at his sister and Kaylessa.

    Sassa smiled at the chivalry and offered a slight curtsy in reply before removing her hand from the large man’s embrace. He turned back to talk to her brother as if the exchange was nothing new to him, and though Sassa was certainly no stranger to the courtly advances of a gentleman, the ones with whom she usually had contact were the wispy nobles of the elven court. Though the elves were indeed beautiful to behold, she found herself rather charmed by the ruggedness and almost brashness with which this particular gentleman carried himself. There was a nobleness about him, but also a sense of audacious confidence which she found refreshing.

    Bjarke turned back from his conversation towards the girls who were standing silently beside them. “I’m going to hang out with my friends before heading up to the castle for the opening remarks, if you guys want to go on ahead.”

    Raynor eyed the pink suitcase that Bjarke was still clutching and added to Sassa, “And I would be honored to take your case up when we go.”

    Sassa could think of nothing more to say than ‘thank you,’ as she turned away with Kaylessa and continued up the road towards the gardens.

    The walkway split around a small, round pond encased within a knee-high stone wall covered with little bursts of pale pink climbing roses. This was only the first of many carefully constructed installments through the welcoming garden. The girls continued on in comfortable silence, content to take in the artwork of the journey, pausing at times to marvel at the sheer breathtaking beauty that had been managed in some of the areas. Certainly, a fair amount of them defied logic, from a mundane point of gardenry.

    “It’s amazing what the fairies can pull off, isn’t it?” Sassa offered as an opening to Kaylessa as they passed through a mock doorway grown out of a vine of climbing ivy with no trellis support. She was curious to see what the girls response to the fae would be if she had never met any elves before.

    “Fairies… wow. It certainly is supernatural, that’s for sure,” was all the girl responded as she again inspected for some sort of explanation to the gravity defying plant.

    Well, at least she seems to be accepting the magical stuff a bit better now.

    “I just figure I’m going to wake up sometime soon,” Kaylessa said, peering into a rose blossom the size of her head, which was part of a proud-looking set of five giant red roses which stood alone, away from any other patch of plants. They almost looked like five little soldiers on duty with their chins held high like some sort of royal guard.

    “You know this is real though, right? Certainly you’ve some sort of introduction to magic before being sent off to a place like this?” Sassa gingerly touched the tip of the hand-sized thorn on one of the human-sized roses as she spoke.

    “I’m not sure what I know anymore. I’ve never seen anything like this before. I mean, I’ve seen some Chris Angel, David Blaine kind of stuff when I went to Vegas with my parents, and everybody’s heard of Harry Potter by now… but this…” Kaylessa trailed off.

    “Well, what about your parents. They don’t do anything like this? Certainly they aren’t completely mundane.”

    “Well, my mom is sort of a crazy artist type but she could never get a plant to do something weird like this unless it was a sculpture. These things seem way too real though. I guess they could just be extremely well made.” Kaylessa spotted a raised mound with a fruit tree atop it and rushed over. She plucked down an apple and a plum off the same branch and took a bite of each. “Nope. Definitely real. I have never even tasted an apple this delicious before!”

    Sassa giggled as Kaylessa smiled a big juicy smile towards her. She continued on behind as she watched Kaylessa flit from plant to plant, flower bed to flower bed, peering into each pond and exclaiming at each finding that each was more amazing than the last. She was reminded of herself when she was younger and would spend the summers with her grandparents in Alfheim. The palace there had fairy gardens to rival this one and she had spent as much of her visits out in the gardens as she was allowed, before she would be hauled back inside and made to scrub up for some courtly appearance or another. Eventually, she had been forced to outgrow that, as she was told a lady of her standing probably shouldn’t be caught rolling around in the dirt in her fancy-made dresswear, elven or not.

    “Hey, Kaylessa.” Sassa called and waited for her friend to draw closer. “Sorry about before, about being rude when we first met.”

    “Rude?” Kaylessa raised an eyebrow.

    “Well, I certainly wasn’t polite. I didn’t introduce myself or anything. I can just get thrown off by my brother sometimes when he’s being annoying. Plus,” Sassa looked away before finishing her sentence, “I guess I’ve been really nervous about coming here.”

    “Oh, none of that matters. I didn’t even really notice. I was sort of distracted by everything else that has gone on.” Kaylessa smiled and abruptly changed the subject back to their whereabouts. “I can’t wait to see inside that castle!”

    Sassa smiled and looked towards the doorway that was now in sight. There were two sets of stairways circling around a large fountain, and joining in the middle to continue upwards towards the large iridescent glass double doors.

    “You go in without me, Kay. I want to take another minute out here to see if I can spot my friend who works in the garden.” Sassa watched as her new friend bounded off, bag and suitcase jostling behind her.

    It’s refreshing to see the gardens for the first time with someone who’s completely filled with wonder like her. They really are incredible.

    She started back a few paces towards a hedged-in area which led to a sizable reflecting pool. On one side was a large yellow-green weeping willow leaning out across the pond, the tips of its tendrils tapping into the water as the breeze blew. On the other side of the pond the pathway curved around towards a small platform with four stone pillars in a slight semi-circle around a golden bench. On the opposite side of the bench was a flowering pink plum tree. Sassa slowly took a few steps towards the bench area as she closed her eyes and pictured her friend. Silene, with hair the color of the plum tree, but more vibrant than any blossom known to man. “Silene?”

    “Sassa!” A voiced cried out and Sassa whipped her eyes open just in time to see Silene pounce at her. She finished squeezing her friend and began to skip around Sassa. Her skin, as black as onyx, was shining in the sun, and her gauzy, pink lace dress fluttered around her thighs as she frollicked.

    “I am so happy you’re finally here, Miss Amminoff!”

    “Silene, please. Don’t call me by Amminoff here. I’m taking the surname Astridottar while I’m at school. Besides, it would be strange if you don’t just call me Sassa since we’re friends.”

   Silene stopped dancing and took on a somber face with wide eyes. Her eyes were all white except for the black pupils, which added to her wide-eyed look as she gushed, “Oh! I’m so sorry! I truly forgot!”

    Sassa laughed at the sudden seriousness of her friend. After a moment Silene joined in her laughter as well before hugging her again. Sassa and Silene had grown up together at the Light Elves Palace in the High Elven capital of Alfheim. Sassa’s grandfather was Elderman Rassilonn Amminoff, and held one of only nine seats on the Assembly of Elders - the highest senate in the Light Elf aristocracy. Silene’s mother was Arch Grower of the Golden Gardens and as such, was in charge of overseeing the designs for, and ensuring the health of, all plant life on the Palace grounds. Sassa and Silene had spent much of their childhood together exploring these palace grounds while the adults had been bureaucratically busy.

    “It’s going to be so lovely to have you here Sassa. We can play in the gardens here just as we once did in Alfheim. Have you seen them yet? We worked so hard to get them perfect before all the students showed up.”

     Silene had been invited to Bawa Ekin Mani years ago as a student and was now not only going to be attending her sixth year of studies, but was also considered one of the most gifted groundskeepers on the staff.

    “They are immaculate. I was admiring how they rival the ones back in the capital, actually. I walked in with a girl who apparently has no knowledge of magic and you wouldn’t believe how impressed she was. You’ve certainly taken after your mother, Silene, it’s wonderful here.. Give my regards to the rest of the flower fae, please. You’ve outdone yourselves on this one.”

    “Oh, a No-Mag Mage! That’s what I like to call them, although the others tell me it’s sort of rude and inaccurate since they do have magic. The school gets a few of them from time to time. Sometimes I watch them while they explore the gardens because they have the best reactions.”

    “How would they not know about magic though if they possess it?” Sassa truly wanted to understand this as she was normally surrounded by magical beings and found it hard to comprehend a mundane way of life.

    “Well, I’ve heard of a few different ways actually. Sometimes the parents hide it or reject it. Sometimes magic skips a generation or two. Sometimes people are adopted. There are all sorts of situations. In the end, though, if they are seen to possess even the potential for great power then Bawa Ekin Mani has some way to hone in on that and invite them here. This school recruits the best, no matter where they come from.”

    “I’m glad for that.I’m glad you’re here, Silene. I’m not sure what to expect..” Sassa was proud of her childhood companion for being able to make her way in a land so far from home, and with such apparent ease too. Sassa had spent time away from Alfheim in the past, but only when she travelled with her father, which meant she still had the security of her family and their status. Here she only had her brother and they had gone through great lengths to hide their family’s nobility while they attended Bawa Ekin Mani. Here she was just Sassa.

    “I’m not even sure who I’ll be here.”

    “You’ll figure that out, my little lightning bug! You can be whoever you are meant to be. Plus, you have Bjarke and me here to help you. We’ve both had years to adjust here, so come talk to me whenever you need to.”

    “Thanks, Silene. It’s been a long six years without you, you know.” Sassa hugged Silene again and breathed a sigh of relief. She did have family here afterall.

    “I’ve missed you too, Miss Ammi- Sassa.”

Author's Note

Added on March 26, 2016