Darkspur

Chapter 17 - Unbroken

Tari sat on her prison bed, arms clasping tightly around her legs, her knees pulled up to her chest. She rocked slowly, eyes large, staring and glazed, focusing on nothing. Clenching her bare toes, she felt the rough blanket beneath her feet, trying to remember the feel of soft, fresh grass; she couldn't. How she longed for her power to be returned, recalling the days playing with her craft as a young girl, experimenting with the magic, filling her with the joy of the Goddess Erwethwen. Even then, just before puberty, they said she was powerful; some said dangerously so. They were right to worry.

She remembered the night she summoned the elemental, watching it form from the soil, roots and vines as her sweat beaded face contorted with the intense concentration. The plants twisting and weaving around an inner core of mud and stone, making a deformed figure nearly twenty foot tall, casting a shadow over the young Elf. The Elders felt it's presence immediately, rushing to where the half mortal, half spirit flailed about madly in it's terrified, demented frenzy. Tari was on her knees, gasping for air, head spinning, trying to control the thing she had conjured. But it was futile, she was no where near ready for such an act and she collapsed, the elemental dissolving back into the earth as Tari was consumed by the blackness.

When she awoke, days later, the reaction from her peers was one of wonder and fear. Never before had one so young wielded so much power, and it terrified them. Tari was taken from her usual studies and given special instruction, the most powerful Magi of Idril Séregon guided the young woman, trying not to push her beyond her limits. But they quickly found she had no limits, soaking in every word, every lesson as quickly as they could teach.

She discovered summoning the elemental was only part of the spell. First you had to ask the spirit's permission, explaining what would happen when it gained substance and how it would be used. Only then could you give the elemental form, slowly, unlike Tari's attempt when she had wrenched the spirit unwillingly from its own world. The next time she undertook the summoning, things were much different. Instead of the lumbering, deformed brute of before, this elemental was elegant, lean and beautiful. She had talked with Sairalindë, as the spirit came to be known, for weeks beforehand, each gaining the others trust slowly over that time. Sairalindë came willingly to take her new solid form, the elemental excited by this new adventure into the Other Place, as she called it. So, towering over Tari, Sairalindë turned and looked on her new friend for the first time with her polished green zircon eyes and, if she had lips, they would certainly have been smiling.

Tari smiled as she recalled that day but just as quickly was overwhelmed by grief at the length of time it had been since she had talked with Sairalindë. Her body shook with every sob, the tears falling onto her knees, running down her shins and ankles, seeping into the bed clothes. She felt a tickle and slowly tilted her head, eyes still streaming, to looked at her bare, dirty foot. Where the tears had fallen, bright green moss had started to spread in an increasing arc over the sheet. She blinked, more tears fell and where they landed, small oasis of green burst on the bed cover. She smiled, joy again filling her heart. Gorothan had tried his best to take away everything Tari held dear, but this almost insignificant sign had shown her, he could never steal it all. She wiped her eyes, loudly sniffing, raising her head.

"Get up, Tari," she commanded herself, rising from the bed. The elf walked to the mirror where she stared into her own eyes, jaw clenched, filling her lungs with air.

"I am Tari Isyer-Hon Liallnys," she said, "and I will not be broken."

-o-

"Wow, it's amazing," Milly whispered, her face bright, unbelieving.

They stood beside the Story Tree, her eyes striving to be everywhere at once, trying to take in the sight. Sam was standing beside her, smiling. He somehow felt proud that his tree had inspired such a reaction from the girl.