Stolen Scales

Chapter 57

Kyma glances nervously at Lyss before speaking. "Lyss taught me some defensive strategies."

Kyma can't tell if her mother's smile is one of politeness or happiness. "Like what?"

Lyss cuts Kyma off before she can finish opening her mouth, shooting a quick sign to Kyma behind her back. "Let me take care of this." She answers Lahira's question smoothly and reassuringly. "I taught her how to defend herself in a one on one situation or in a situation where she could defend herself from a distance. I do not expect her to have to use this information, but she should know it regardless, my Queen."

"Did she use weapons for this training?"

"Daggers, my Queen. If time permits, I may teach her how to use a spear as well, knowing that she is ambidextrous."

Lahira shoots Kyma a small glance of surprise, not having known that Kyma could use both of her hands equally. "Why did you not begin with hand to hand defense first?"

"She informed me that she learned how to defend herself that way only a few years ago, my Queen."

"We must have a test of her skills soon then." Lyss starts to bow, but Lahira continues speaking. "I would like to be present during the next lesson, Crownguard Lyss."

Lyss bows again, actually finishing her bow this time. "Yes, my Queen. Should we go onto the island and see if it is safe now to reenter the city?"

"Please do, Lyss. But have Kyma wait inside the tunnel until you have determined it is safe. And . . . take another Crownguard with you."

"Yes, my Queen."

Lyss steps into the pool and flicks her wrist in the water, sending a small pulse of magic to find one of the Crownguards not currently guarding the Queen or the sea residence. A moment later, there is a movement from the pool as a pulse from beneath sends the water surging upward. The two girls wait patiently for the new Crownguard to emerge from the water in the pool. The two are alone, as Lahira had gone with her guards to inform the land-bound residents of the city that the storm was on its way out. The Crownguard emerges from the water and grins cheekily at Lyss. The guard is Merrick, the one who Kyma first met in the sea city.

"What do you need, lady Crownguard?"

Lyss sighs in restrained amusement. "I need you to accompany us to see if the storm has cleared enough to return to the city."

His green eyes light up. "We had the final rain? Count me in!" Lyss rolls her sapphire eyes at his antics as he flicks his kelp green tail at her before shifting. He steps out of the water a heartbeat later. "Lead the way."

Lyss takes them up the tunnel and they step to the side as they pass Lahira and her guards. Merrick bows at Lahira as she passes, and she waves at Kyma. When the trio reach the top of the tunnel, Lyss leaves Kyma with Merrick and steps out into the rain, which has noticeably lessened in its intensity. Her head tilts up to the sky as she examines the gray clouds high above. Her gaze quickly lowers back down to them and she beckons, her eyes glittering with excitement. Well, excitement and water droplets, Kyma can't ignore the fact that water droplets were falling into Lyss' eyes as she looked up at the sky.

Kyma and Merrick follow Lyss out into the rain, and Kyma shivers at the feeling of water droplets in her bare skin. Lyss laughs at Kyma's reaction and pulls her in the direction of her house, knowing that she would want to get out of the rain. It may have eased up over the course of the last couple of hours, but it is still a torrent. Kyma steps through the doorway of her house and grimaces at the sight of the water covering the stone floor. Lyss steps into the house with her and gazes down at the water covered stone.

"It's not so bad to clean up, just use your powers to levitate the water out of the house. It's safe now to put the curtains down as well. Here, I'll help."

Lyss summons the water off of the floor and Kyma watches in astonishment as the water in the living room rises in a single sheet before separating into small balls of water. The small orbs quickly meld together into one large one and Lyss chucks the ball out into the street. It hits Merrick in the face as he peers in to see what they are doing and he yelps, causing Kyma to giggle. Lyss smiles at her.

"Go do the bedrooms, then we can drop the curtains."

Kyma dashes off to the bedrooms and summons the water from one after the other. The balls of water quickly meld together and she sends the ball out a window to sit on the earthen road. Once the water has been cleared away, she rapidly starts lowering the curtains in each room, trying to keep more water from getting in. Once all the curtains are secured, along with the door curtain, Lyss steps outside to guard the house. Kyma steps into her room once more and places her bag on top of the stone chest before popping into the kitchen to feed her ravenous stomach.

She assembles a plate of various seaweeds and some starfruit slices before sitting at the bench. Her food is gone in an instant, and she cleans off her plate before heading back into her room. She reaches into the chest to pull everything out, placing things where they were before the storm. Once that task is done, she flops onto her newly remade bed and sighs in exhaustion. Something is digging into her side and she grimaces, sitting up to dislodge it. The object is the abalone shell, still stuffed into her bag. With a sigh, she pulls the abalone shell out, taking care not to break it.

She places the shell flat on the bed and the pearl rolls out of where it was tucked inside the hollow, hissing as it moves across the surface. The abalone pearl is a creamy silver color, the exact same hue as the pearly spot on her hand. Kyma doesn't understand why the dolphin was so insistent that she take the pearl with her but it was, so there must have been a reason. She scoops her small pile of other pearls into the abalone shell and places it in the hollow in the stone shelf. She pulls her journal out of the bag and places it on the shelf beside the large shell. She places her bag at the end of the bed and flops back, staring up at the ceiling. She closes her eyes for a brief moment, but they snap open again at the words of the dagger's magic.

"You should look at the book now. There is some new information and you haven't looked at it yet." Kyma groans and closes her eyes, exhausted, but the voice speaks again. "Look."

With a huff, Kyma sits up and rummages in her bag for the gray pouch. She summons the pearl-studded book to her hand and flips it open to look at the new page. No, pages. There is a page now on the healing pool, a separate one on the memory wall, and when Kyma flips the page once more, she sees one that looks different than all of the others. This new page has a pearly sheen to it and holds Ceana's words, written a bit differently than they were said.

Go north and do what must be done. Take the starlit snow to the old lands and right an ancient wrong.

With one last sigh of confusion, Kyma slips the book back into the pouch and places it inside her bag before sliding the bag beneath her bed. She slips beneath the covers and lets out a noise of contentment at the instant warmth. She falls asleep almost instantaneously, not even registering it when her mother pops her head into the room before quickly retreating when she sees Kyma in an exhausted sleep.
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Again, what do you think Ceana's words mean? I know them of course, but I want to know your interpretations. What do you think is going to happen next? Tell me your thoughts!

Happy reading, and I'll see you next chapter!

~Goddess of Fate, signing out.