Fanfic

(A/n � I�ll be switching from 3rd person to 1st in these sections, and it�s gonna be in flashback some of the time. I�ll keep it clear, don�t worry.)

Jodanyai
My father was never the most rational of us all. Then again, neither was the rest of the family. They said I was the mad one of our generation, but roughly translated, that just meant I was the one who hadn't succumbed to insanity before puberty. Growing up, I knew I was different to the others. I had the Gift, I knew, but I could see clearly things they were blind to, things that required rational thought.
As a child, my family was the palace servants and healers. They would teach me how to manage my magic, then the servants would ask me to heal their families. I did it gladly, then began to be curious where they would have gone had I not helped. From then, I began to study healing more and more intensely, working, often to the point of burning out, at the slum hospitals. Constantly draining myself, and then recharging built up my stamina and the power of my Gift increased dramatically - it had already been strong. I wasn't supposed to but the servants were on my side, and helped me hide what I was doing; the nobles were too mad to pay attention anyway.
I didn't learn healing in the university. I learned everything I know from healers who were too grateful for another pair of Gifted hands that they ignored the fact she was part of the family that oppressed them. I learned through blood and practice.
When I was eleven, my father tried to send me to a convent. The sisters there had some form of common sense, although they had to get the Goddess on Earth to intervene before the King consented to send me to the university in Carthak.
I studied everything I could, soaking it all up by night and day. Years of training on the wards and dodging assassins meant that I can go days, sometimes weeks - depending on how much I use my Gift - without sleep. It was considered unnatural, I think it�s a part of my Gift.
It was odd, not going to the wards. Everything was so...academic, esoteric. No one used their magic for anything useful - I mean, people live and die. Why spend five years working out why? Why not do something with what you can do, not putter around discussing useless philosophy and the �meaning of life�?

Put bluntly, I was bored. Most black robes are people who love the magic and live for the sensation of getting lost in it and transcending all of those mere mortals; I became a black robe because I wanted to help those mere mortals, and the teachers thought I could and didn't want me to leave until I tried.
So I stopped playing stupid and told them that I had been studying at night for all of the two and a half years I was there. That midwinter, I took my ordeal of mastery, and passed at thirteen. They thought I was crazy, that it was suicide. But the night before, someone had chosen to pay me a visit.
Jodai - aged thirteen, second night of midwinter, in meditation before her ordeal of mastery.
�Well, hello there girly,� a voice said to Jodai in the chapel as she whirled around with reflexes she hadn�t needed in years, expecting a knife to be imbedded in her side anytime soon.
�Come here often?� An old crone said to her. All of Jodai�s senses prickled, if she were a dog, her hackles would have been raised. The old woman�s cackle unnerved her, with her silvery grey hair that looked as though it had never even seen a brush.
�Don�t worry, you will. Well, more often than most,� she had said as Jodai backed off apprehensively. She couldn�t even call for help, or use her Gift - it was forbidden as a condition of her ordeal. Her mind automatically went over her combat skills, as honed and sharp as they day she arrived. But she was weapon less, and only knew basic hand to hand.
�Oh, come now girly, you don�t really think I�m here to hurt you, do you? Don�t you recognise me? I�m hurt, truly. My face is on enough temples in Carthak,� the Graveyard Hag said to the stunned Jodai.
�Don�t speak. You�re here to listen, not to talk. You and I both know Mastery is easy for you. You have the skills of someone more - but you need the rank that goes with. You are going to pass tomorrow, but what you do next is up to you. All I�m allowed to say is that destiny always remains the same, no matter what road you take, the destination will always be equal.
�I know you, I�ve watched you. You have enough fire to do what you must, but it will be painful, and it will push you further than even you can imagine. Think on it, deary. Now, you�d best get back to your chants before someone gets suspicious.�
Back to Jodai narrative
I passed Mastery, like she said, and it wasn�t all that hard. The master in charge of the mages asked me what was next. He suggested I try to achieve the black robe. He warned me, lectured me on how it would take all I had, and many years ect.
When he gave me the studies list, I was shocked to find I had already finished it. After proving it to him and five others - as was required - I requested to take my ordeal of ascendance that night, the fifth of midwinter.
They thought I was insane, yet again. But they let me go in. And I passed. The ordeal was� not pleasant. It took everything I had then pushed me that bit further. I began to think I was mad. Then it was over� I don�t want to think about what happened in there.
After that, I went back to the Copper Isles. My father was intimidated by me, and tried to have me killed.
Jodai - aged fourteen. Somewhere in the Emerald Ocean
The Yamani�s were as good as their word. They were in the middle of the journey to the Isles, Jodai finally free of her family. The mist merged with the ocean, creating a seamless wall of blue gray. Staring at the turquoise waters the gaudy vessel was slicing through, she wondered why she had even went back to the Coppers. After a few tense months avoiding every type of poison, blade and arrow, her father had tired of subterfuge and declared her a traitor, offering no evidence except that anyone who challenged it would be killed.
One announcement had turned her entire realm against her, except the court of the Rogue. They had given her temporary sanctuary, after all of the healing she had done on them in the days she had simply been glad of a patient to practice on. This had made Jodai a fugitive, with no where to run - except to the enemies of the Copper Isles. She had sent a plea by magic to the Yamani�s, who had contacted Carthak, where the Emperor had vouched for her.
So now, here she was, leaning across the rail on a foggy day at sea, and on her way to freedom, after sleeping for the first time in weeks the days before. The crew had been astonished - in an incredibly polite way, of course - when she had slept for three days straight.
Even more so when she had explained it was the first sleep she had had after a month of running, hiding and fighting.
She and the captain were talking about nothing in particular, simply enjoying the sea air, when something in Jodai�s gut warned her. Spinning around with deadly speed, she pointed off of the starboard side and called out a word in old Thak, thanking the Goddess her magical reserves were full again.
A shriek could be heard clearly on the other ship, a mage�s scream. Jodai hadn�t exactly been gentle when breaking the illusion. They didn�t expect me to recover that quickly, Jodai thought grimly, or else they would never have risked magic around me.
When that characteristic snap filled her magical eyes, her physical one�s widened in shock. Standing taller than the Yamani ship in the water, with it�s wood painted a deep black, it was a Copper Seahawk, the terror of the copper navy.
Crew filled the decks, preparing to meet the Copper soldiers that were preparing to board when they suddenly stopped.
A very tall man stepped through the door, his slight frame only barely seen in the mist. The mist swelled around him like a shield, but his unnaturally bright eyes were still visible through his shroud, filled with malice and fury.
He sent the Walker after me, Jodai thought, one part of her mind amazed that her father cared � in his twisted way � enough to send Mandrake Wavewalker.
The other parts of her mind were all occupied by panic and what in Mithros� name do I do now?
I might be a black robe, but the sea belongs to him, water does his bidding, and killing is what he does� Now he was walking through the mist, smiling without warmth.
In a voice totally lacking humanity that called to mind the howling storms and the deadly calm of glass like oceans, he spoke to her with barely contained anger. �That was quite a headache you gave me, little girl. Especially for a little girl who is supposed to be comatose in a state of magical exhaustion.�
Jodai�s head came up, and she spoke with a defiance she didn�t feel, not noticing the men ranged at the rail of each of their ships, facing off � watching them for the signal to begin fighting. �Maybe I�m stronger than you think, after all, I did pass where you failed.�
His hand came up to slap her, only to be stopped by a barrier of magic. �What? Annoyed that I get to wear black and you don�t? It honestly wasn�t that bad, but I can understand why you failed,� she taunted.
Jodai looked sheepish and blushed. �He resented that he failed, and I had to throw something at him to keep him talking while I worked out what to do,� she shudders. �And trust me, I didn�t believe what I said.�>
Now he was livid. She felt his Gift building, and when he threw a sheet of steel grey liquid fire at her, she was ready. It slid harmlessly over her shield.
The crew�s took this as a sign and immediately engaged each other, glaives, bows and broadswords against swords, staffs and axes.
Jodai forced herself not to think about the men and women in danger because of her and focussed on her enemy. She had to put the Walker out of action, he could take on her entire crew and win by himself. She was the only thing that stood in his way.
Whispering a prayer to the Goddess, she loosed her Gift at the arrogant red robe. He smiled smugly when it slid over his barriers, then stopped with an almost curious look on his face.
The flames settled on top of his barriers, eating through them like acid. As he tried in vain to combat the acid burning his armour, he through more flame bolts at her.
It should have been an easy fight, Jodai the stronger and smarter of the two duelling sorcerers. But he didn�t care if his attacks struck her crew or his, Jodai did, protecting her crew instead of taking opportunities that could have finished the fight. Someone looking at the scene may�ve found it comical, the tall, 6ft, dark and powerful mage being faced off by a tiny blond waif. And losing.
There comes a time in a fight when the weaker opponent must give way, and their strength runs out. As Jodai burned away the remains of conjured vines, she decided to be blunt.
Beginning a spell to suffocate, she felt tears well up in her eyes. She didn�t want to do what she must, butwith a glance towards her crew, to remind herself why she was about to kill, she released her Gift.
Jodai - narrative
We got to the Islands in one piece. I don�t know if I killed the Wavewalker, but he fell to the deck and the Copper ship retreated and rowed as fast as possible back to the Copper Isles, taking him with them.
When we got there, I was stunned to meet a Tortallan family, eventually becoming friends with three amazing girls; Keladry of Mindelan, Princess Shinkokami, and Lady Yukimi.
They thought I was simply an exiled Princess. After the duel aboard the ship� I didn�t want to use my Gift ever again.
After a year and a half of friendship, they still had no clue who I was. I was content with that. Kel had just turned fourteen, Shinko and Yuki sixteen and I was almost sixteen when we were attacked.
Raiders came and took Shinko and Kel, Yuki and I managed to escape for a time. When they were rescued, we came to meet them.
Jodai - aged almost 16, on the Yamani coast
The boat came in, rowing gently. Yuki and I tried not to betray our emotions, waiting on our Tortallan and Yamani sisters. When they did, it was a very difficult task.
Shinko looked wet, cold and hungry, with minor cuts and bruises from the ropes and her struggling, but otherwise all right.
Kel was unconscious, her body bearing many signs of struggle and cuts that appeared to be deeper and more deliberate. She had been tortured - badly.
The bottom dropped out of Jodai�s stomach, her ears roared. The magic that had been used on Kel was there in front of her, a sickly green, like fungus.
Suddenly, a whizzing sound reached her ears. Pulling Yuki to the ground, she saw an arrow pierce the sand scant inches from where Yuki had been standing.
The other Yamani�s supported Shinko and lifted Kel, while some over turned the small long boat to use as a cover. Grabbing Yuki�s hand, Jodai dragged her to the make shift shelter.
Watching the bandits slip out of the shadows by the trees, Jodai saw they were outnumbered by way too many. She knew the Yamani�s would still fight, but she knew they had no chance. Over sixty bandits against five Yamani warriors, an injured Shang, two Yamani ladies and Jodai, who knew self defence, but - that was all the others knew she had.
Interrupting her thoughts, Kel woke up. �How�re we doing?� She was fighting to get the words out through the pain.
�Not good,� Shinko replied. �We need a miracle,� always calm, even then.
Then Kel began to cough up blood, and Jodai automatically reached out and sent her Gift into Kel, fighting the urge to vomit as she felt the power stream through her veins for the first time in over a year. Jodai�s reserves were completely full, her Gift stronger than ever. Turning to see Shinko and Yuki staring at her, the same way Kel was, Jodai explained softly, looking away.
�I�m a mage - a powerful one.�
�How powerful?� Shinko asked, her face paling as Kel sat up, completely healed - something no normal healer could have done so quickly.
So she explained as the arrows flew around them, then Jodai saw the first Yamani man fall. He wasn�t dead, only a graze to the thigh. But the arrow had been magicked to hit flesh - it could have been much worse. There were no mages with the Yamani company, except - I have to do something, she thought desperately, before someone gets killed.
Power blazed around her as she stood up. Crafting it into a wall, Jodai shielded the boat and all of the people cowering behind it with a casual flick of her hand. The arrows bounced off Jodai and the others, so the bandits stopped shooting, deciding to attack this mage-child outright.
Rushing her with swords and spears, they ran straight into the dust storm Jodai had summoned, were whirled around and spat out onto the sand, unconscious and worse for wear.
One of the enemy mages through fire at her, and she deflected it, tossing the final flame back to the sender, scorching him from his saddle.
Next, she held out a hand and made a single gesture, her hand shining like the sun. The bright day seemed to dim suddenly, and then the water from the ocean rushed to the sand, building a solid blue wall, as thin as a knife edge but as hard as rock, between the Yamani�s and their attackers.
Reaching for her sleeves, Jodai yanked some thread and began to tie knot after knot, whispering while the bandits slashed at the wall. An errant thought crossed her mind, why don�t they run?
Finally, she dropped the thread in the sands. The water wall collapsed and run into the ocean again, and the remaining bandits were held captive by their own clothes.
Jodai�s Narrative
We got away. About six months after that, Kel returned to Shang. Six months after that, Shinko and Yuki were to go to Tortall. I didn�t think the Tortallans would welcome a Copper princess, and I didn�t want to cause difficulties with a peace treaty so close. So I stayed behind in the Islands, working with the Healers and learning the glaive.
About five months ago, I was attacked again. But this time was different.
Jodai - aged 16 and a half. Her Yamani quarters, approx six months before Lady Shang begins
Jodai entered her chambers, thanking the Goddess the Yamani�s made paper rooms - otherwise the heat would be stifling. Sending a little burst of flame to the nearest candle, she shooed it to the others around the room.
Mithros, she was tired. Working in the Healers and then glaive practice, with Nariko to boot, had left her physically exhausted, although her Gift wasn�t even dented. After her nightly prayers, she decided to take an early night, it wasn�t as though her presence was necessary at the Healers tonight anyway.
Shedding her practice clothes in favour of a light nightshirt, Jodai slipped into her bed, so tired she didn�t notice the slight tear in the wall as she called her flames back to her.
As she slipped into sleep, she felt a rough hand cover her mouth. Jerking awake, she tried to struggle and then to scream, but they were prepared.
A sharp pain stung her arm, and Jodai felt something go numb inside her. Agony ripped into her a moment later, like an ice burn but worse. Reaching for the pool of fire always at her core, it was as though it had froze, or someone had put a wall of ice around it.
Someone waved something under her nose, forcing it into her nostril when she threw her head away. Suddenly, she sank into a dreamless abyss.
Jodai�s Narrative
They had drugged me and blocked my Gift. When they woke me up, we were far from the Islands, on a ship headed north. The air had a chill edge to it - not something the Island breezes had.
After feeding me and allowing me to use the chamber pot, I was bound, blocked and knocked out again. This continued, until one day I woke up on land. We were in forests of pine�s and other evergreens. Instead of the dark emerald trees so fondly decorated at midwinter, these were encrusted with silver frost and needles.
We were in Scanra. They delivered me to the palace, until one day, I woke up not to the beatings of the mercenaries, but to the elegant and arrogant welcome of King Maggur.
Jodai - Scanran Palace - four months before LS
He was utterly mad and completely charming. He believe all of the spew he was telling her. Oh goddess, Jodai thought, listening to the Scanran King. She was washed, fluffed and pampered. Her Gift was still bound, but other than that she had been treated kindly since her arrival - which she didn�t remember, she had been drugged.
The King now sat at the top of the dining table. He was mad, pompous and scarily intelligent. He was a model of male perfection - physically speaking. Six feet tall with broad shoulders and rippling muscles, blond hair to his shoulders and classically beautiful features, and a King at the age of twenty-five. But he was also self-centred, disdainful and totally believed she was in love with him.
There was something else, a shadow in his mind, something that led her to think he was more than what he seemed.
�Is there anything you wish to ask?� He asked, the soul of politeness, but his tone condescending.
�Why have I been brought here?� She replied, settling for bluntness.
�To rescue you,� he said, honestly surprised. �We received word that you were being held by the traitors, the Yamani�s (A/n - they are traitors because they made peace with Tortall) and sought to aid our Royal cousin.�
�Where does my father fit into this?� she requested, with a soft glance from under her lashes, gently twirling a strand of icy blond hair around her finger, looking at him with wide blue eyes.
He melted. �I do not believe you wished to return to your homeland, and so I requested your hand in marriage from your father, who consented to our union. He in turn requested that he rescue you personally, and sent his men.
�I require a wife and heirs, to appease those who would challenge me. You require a reason to leave the Copper Isles. But mostly, I require a strong co-ruler by my side, and a queen.�
The unconscious change from the royal �we� to �I� did not escape Jodai�s notice.
Choose between her father or a Scanran proposal?
Jodai�s Narrative
I decided to play along until I figured a way to escape to Tortall. I was actually beginning to enjoy stringing along that side stepping streak of ooze when I overheard a most interesting conversation between the King and a Gallan mage.
The clipped, demanding voice was the King, only he was not simpering or charismatic.
�I- I do not know, your Majesty,� the Gallan said, cowering from his voice.
�Have you �defined the error� yet?� Maggur demanded further, his voice clearly imitating the Gallan�s, linking to an earlier conversation perhaps?
�Yes, yes I have!� the other man squeaked. �I don�t have the strength, I have the type of power but not the strength or stamina to finish. If I could find another source.�
Jodai�s Narrative
Later that night, still pondering that odd conversation, I went to my fur lined bed, all in all, quite comfortable. Waking up, feeling that same injection and numbness, that same void, was an unpleasant surprise. As was being helpless again.
This time, I woke up to the same men, only to be pushed into the same sack again, this time bound, gagged and blindfolded. They even covered my ears, for Shakith�s sake!
I have no idea why my father ordered me re-kidnapped, but his officers were masquerading as Tortallan soldiers. I can only assume it was to escalate the war. It must�ve worked, if Mindelan and Northwatch have been attacked.
Coming round to a kick in the side, I tried my magic, and feeling the thin barrier almost break, and I was more hopeful. I heard an owl in the tree above me, and felt a bronze tinge in the air.
�Then, well, Daine�s told you the rest. Now I�m here, and I�m tired from all that talking,� Jodai finished.
The talk from there drifted, discussing all the information they knew about Maggur.
Until, that is, everyone was silenced by the fire turning a bright shade of blue.
Sighing, Kel stood, her arms crossed as she looked at her King, whose head appeared to be on fire. �How can I serve you, your Majesty?� She doubted she would like this, the King looked sombre.
�Kel, I�ll be blunt. I just got word that another messenger turned up and combusted. Maggur just put a closing date on his offer.�
Jodai got up to find Kel, to chat. She wanted to ask her all sorts of things about Tortall, that boy Dom she seemed so close to, and, of course, to talk about her home and her family. Kel would be killing herself after her parents and Inness.
She turned a corner and decided she would wait here, Kel wouldn�t be that long.
�his offer.� She heard the King say.
�What?!� Kel whispered, stunned, her voice carrying to the tree where Jodai stood.
�He knows she�s here. I don�t know how, but he knows. If she isn�t given up in two days time, he�ll carry out his threat and take her by force.� The King paused for a moment, his frustration evident. �And we still don�t know why she�s so important to him!�
�What do I do?� Kel asked softly, hurt and pain in her voice.
I can�t, I can�t just stand by and lose her. Not someone else, not my sister but Mindelan. You can�t go against a force like that but Maggur won�t keep his word.
Kel�s mind was clogged with thoughts. For the first time, she wanted to be ordered, wanted someone to make the choice for her; give her a way out.
Jodai was listening, she knew she shouldn�t, but she was. Kel was obviously trying not to make a choice, and that was unlike her.
The King was speaking again. �It's up to you. If you attack properly, simultaneously hitting strategic positions, you could win without handing her over. If you hand Princess Jodanyai over, your odds look a lot better. Think about what�s at stake, the people in that castle he will kill if you attack and fail. The women and children who will die. Think about it and I�ll expect a plan tomorrow.�
The fire blinked out, leaving only the moon to silhouette Kel�s shattered face, tears streaking down her face as she stared at the empty space the blue blaze had been.
The fire blinked out, leaving only the moon and the shadow of the tree to silhouette Jodai�s shocked expression, as her ears roared, her head spun and her eyes watered as she realized the true nature of guilt.