CHAPTER ONE: LYRA
I wake with Alaric's arm around me, feeling a brief sense of peace.Even after a year together, following the fall of Ironhold to the rebellion, there is still something marvelous about that.The two of us, together in our own little shack in Seatide.In moments like this, I can almost believe that things are perfect.
I rise smoothly, without waking him, dressing in a pale woolen dress and tying back my golden hair.Alaric looks so peaceful when he's sleeping, fine-boned and dark-haired, his torso leanly muscled, his body partly covered by the blankets of our bed in the morning light.I can see the circular mark on his shoulder representing the arena, and the lines through it representing his successful seasons in it.
I have one that matches it, showing that I was a champion of the Colosseum of Aetheria, a gladiator who survived five seasons on the sands.Not that such marks matter now.The brutality of the colosseum is no more, the empire founded on martial prowess and magical might has fallen.
I try to leave quietly.These days, the moments when he's asleep are the only ones where things are peaceful between us, and I don't want an argument.My deep blue eyes wander over his body one more time before I head out of the bedroom, padding through our small home and out into the village beyond.
I breathe in the salt air of Seatide, scenting the freshly caught fish on the tide, seeing people I’ve known since I was a small girl.Those people don’t look at me the same way now, and not just because I’m a grown woman and a champion of the colosseum.There are people here who stood by while I was taken as a slave by the Aetherian Empire, people who won’t meet my eyes.
It’s hard to believe I only came back here a year ago.I'm still only twenty-one.In Seatide, I serve as an occasional healer, helping my mother and drawing on the skills my mother taught me, but more people know me as an ex-gladiator, the same as Alaric.We both still keep in shape, both still spar with one another, our bodies hardened by exercise.Neither one of us wants to get soft and lazy.
But we have softened in some ways.When I head to the village square, there's already a gaggle of children waiting for me.This is the best thing I can do here, telling them stories, taking them into the woods nearby so they can learn about the animals and the plants there.
“Is everybody here?”I ask, looking out over the group.There are five of them today, all under the age of ten.
“Yes, Lyra!”they chorus back.
“Then it's time for us to begin our field trip,” I say.“I need you all to stay together.Your parents want you all back safely.”
It's a big responsibility, leading the children out into the woods like this, but it gives them a chance to learn, and it means their parents can focus on their own tasks within the village for the day.In these small villages out on the coast of Aetheria, life is anything but easy, even after the fall of the emperor.
Maybeparticularlyafter that.I hated so many things about the empire, but at least it was a force for order.Part of the reason the villagers like having me and Alaric around is because our presence deters any bandits or thieves who might target them.Thankfully, we haven't had to fight to protect Seatide yet.My hope is for a life without the violence that I experienced on a daily basis in the Colosseum.I like being a teacher, like showing the children of Seatide the wonders of the world around them.
I led the children from the village out into the woods.
“Look, there are butterflies,” Wen, one of the smallest, says.
There are indeed brightly colored butterflies fluttering over patches of wild flowers.I can feel more than that, too, small squirrels scampering in the trees.Birds flitting from branch to branch.Using the magic that sits at my heart like a basking lizard, I call them to us, drawing them to us so the children can delight in their presence.
“Do all animals come to people like this?”Lily asks.She's the child of the village blacksmith, serious-faced and slow to smile.
I shake my head.“Mostly, we need to be patient with them, to let them go about their lives as they are.These ones are here because I asked them.”
Because I'm a beast whisperer, one of the rarer talents in the former Aetherian Empire.For as long as anyone can remember, magic has flowed out from the stones beneath the city of Aetheria, into the lands beyond.The Aetherians claim all magic in the world comes from there, although I’m not sure if I believe it.It has resulted in people with talents for healing or violence, all kinds of magic, large and small.Alaric has a knack for illusions, able to dazzle enemies or delude them.Occasionally, he uses them to delight the children of Seatide.Or just to leave a copy of himself looking like he's doing chores around the house while he dozes.
My powers allow me to communicate with beasts of all types.I can see through their eyes, and I can draw in portions of their power.Not that I do those things these days.There is little call for me to give myself the strength or speed of some nearby creature when I don’t have to fight to survive every day.
“Come on,” I say to the children.“Let me show you where there's a patch of wild strawberries.”
They squeal in delight and we set off through the woods, the children sticking together, playing as they go, laughing and joking with one another.It's a joyous procession, and one I delight in.One day, I hope my own children will join these others.Although things with Alaric and myself will have to improve before that can happen.He’s not well suited to village life, and doesn’t seem to have found a place here.I think he wanted to keep wandering, rather than settling down.He still wants to.
There are days when the tension between us saddens me, but there are also plenty of days when I'm just grateful for all that I have.I've found a place I fit in, a peaceful, happy place.Somewhere I can go whole weeks without thinking about violence.
At least outside my dreams.Those are filled with the things I did to help the rebellion and to stay alive within the brutal confines of the Colosseum.Again and again, I see the moments when I killed my foes in the night, and often I will wake, crying out from bad dreams.
Alaric always holds me after such dreams, but I know he doesn't understand the reason for them.His conscience isn’t weighed down by the killing in the same way mine is.To him, it was simply what he needed to do.He was always in the arena for the glory, even if he came to hate all that the Colosseum stood for in the end.
I push aside those thoughts, breathing in the deep scents of the woodland flowers, tasting the freshness of the air.One thing I can do with my magic is experience the world in a thousand different ways.I can taste the sweetness of nectar through the senses of a passing bumblebee.I can feel the rush of the wind beneath the wings of a songbird.I feel the vibrations of the ground through the feet of an ant, experience the world through different sets of eyes, some of which see colors I could never dream of without my powers.
It's one of the reasons I love living out here.Here, in the countryside, I can live a simple life, but the experiences of that life are magnified and given to me in many different ways by many different creatures.I can’t teach the children to do that, though.All I can do is show them how to appreciate the world around them with their own senses.
“I want you to stand here,” I say.“I want each of you to think about what you can see and hear.The quieter you are, the more you'll take in.”
I see them standing there, some of them pointedly straining to hear as much as possible, some of them just relaxing and looking around.It's delightful watching them take in the world like this.
“Now, who can smell where the wild strawberries are?”I ask.
