Water's Folly: Kaz, keyword "the knife's edge" (part 2)
Title: A Newfound Ally
Community: caer-awen
Prompt: 212: The knife's edge
Word Count: 1603
Summary: The past always has a way of coming back to haunt you. Sometimes, that means literally.
Author’s Note: Part two of two. Written for kmegumi2, as she gave me the prompt way back during caer-awen's first game last year. ♥!
Click here for part one.
At first, the night was nothing out of the ordinary. They’d all returned to their surrogate home, tired, hot, sweaty. Torrel had demanded more stories, but bewildered, Asuka had claimed an early night, telling them all that he had a splitting headache (Kaz had snickered). Cel and Kaz, in unspoken agreement, had dodged quickly and gone out, exploring the town some more and staring wide-eyed at all the strange new things. It was so different from home that, in a way, Kaz couldn’t help but wonder if it wouldn’t have been better if they hadn’t come in the first place-if they hadn’t had to come in the first place.
When it’d begun to get dark, though, they’d returned “home,” where Kaz avoided Torrel by claiming the need for a wash (the water coming from above and falling down over him would never cease to surprise him; he still jumped every time); Cel was unhappily spared when Torrel’s father said he wanted to speak with her. Watching Cel trail after him, Kaz realized she would have rather broken their promise to the man and told Torrel stories all night than talk to her father.
Finally, though, Kaz was sitting on the floor in the lowest part of the house-it was the tiniest bit reminiscent of home in Desuya. It was soothing. He closed his eyes, wondering just how he was supposed to begin this. “Uh… Avana, was it?” he said aloud, cracking an eye open as though he expected her to appear out of thin air.
“There is no need to speak aloud.” He jumped as the voice echoed through his mind. “I am here.”
It was the strangest feeling still, hearing a voice that wasn’t his. If it hadn’t been for the fact that he was looking and could see that there was no-one else there, he might have thought there was another person in the room there with him. “It’s too weird if I don’t,” he responded. “I don’t like it. Who are you?”
“If that is the case…”
There was silence for a moment, and then there was a power running through him that actually made him yelp-he’d only ever felt that sort of spark during the Summoning-when he used it voluntarily. He glanced down at his hands, eyes widening even more as he saw the familiar twists of magic gathering there. And a second later, that magic was releasing on its own, strange, water without being water, weird. It hovered in front of him for a moment before beginning to shift, creating a form that was distinctly human, distinctly female, with chest-length hair that never seemed to settle, buffeted by unseen wind. The slightest tinges of color came to her, all pales and light and still that pale, aqua green, underrunning everything and overpowering all.
“Then we will speak aloud,” Avana said. At once, they were surrounded by water on all sides, forming a cube in which they sat knee-to-knee-so no-one else could hear them, Kaz instinctively knew.
Suddenly there was a pounding in his skull, assaulting his senses. He grabbed for his head-“I’m sorry,” Avana gasped, apologetic. “I didn’t remember how much power it took.”
“What did you do?” he demanded to know.
He felt a cold touch at his temples-instinctively, he jerked away, glancing up-she looked worried, hand outstretched, encased in ice. “I’m sorry,” she apologized again. “Taking on this form is a direct transfer of power, from you to me. Kind of like the Summoning.”
He frowned. “You know the Summoning…” It was strange. She wasn’t from Desuya, that much was obvious. He would have known her if she was. But no-one outside of Desuya would have known the Summoning…
She smiled, a little cryptically. “More than you know.”
It clicked. Instantly.
Kaz jerked back, eyes widening even more. “You’re-!”
She laughed, and goosebumps rose on his arms. “Indeed. I knew you were a sharp one.”
“You’re-!”
“-not old,” she finished fiercely. “Don’t even say it.”
“-from the time of the Maiden,” Kaz breathed in awe.
That seemed to be a more favorable response. “Yes,” Avana answered. “That’s true.”
“Are you… one of the Creators?”
Another smile, this time an actual one. “And Nereus thought you’d have to have me spell it out for you. Congratulations-I won our bet.”
“What were you betting?” Kaz demanded to know, momentarily distracted.
Avana waved that away. “Ask your questions. I’m sure you’ve plenty of them. And-” she cut Kaz off before he could begin, “-I’ll tell you those stories another time.”
Kaz scowled, reaching to his head. “Quit that. I don’t like you reading my thoughts.”
“You’ve never noticed before,” Avana commented slyly.
“But now you’re not trying to quiet your laughter,” Kaz sulked. “Now I’ll have to live with the knowledge that there’s a who-even-knows-how-old spirit of one of the Creators living in my head, listening to everything going through my mind and tittering at anything stupid that might pass.”
Avana advised sagely, “You’ll learn in time. And I don’t listen to everything. It gets very boring at times.”
I’m sleeping with ‘Suki.
Avana cleared her throat, unable to stop the faint smile crossing her face.
“Stop that!” accused Kaz.
“I’m sorry,” she apologized again. “That is a lie, though. Yes?”
“Yes,” Kaz sighed, giving up. “Okay, fine. Why are you here?”
“We volunteered to stay behind,” Avana explained. “The eight of us, she bestowed upon us the water. You know that.”
“Of course.”
“It’s not a magic that can transfer.”
“What?”
She nodded. “Once the power was given to us, it could not be given to anyone else. When it was time to go, she asked us to stay, to loan our power to the next person we chose.”
“Chose? So you choose who’ll be the next Summoners?”
Another nod. “Surely you didn’t think it was hereditary?”
“I had no idea,” he admitted. “Do you take it away if you feel they don’t deserve it any more?”
“That’s never come up before. I hope you’re not planning to test that.” She eyed him, suspicious.
“I’m not planning on it.”
There was a pause for a minute while Kaz tried to process this information. It sank in slowly, slowly… and then that grin spread broad across his face as realization finally set in. “So does this mean that I have like… my own personal Maiden?”
She eyed him again. “What?”
“Well, you and what’s-his-face Narun-”
“Nereus.”
“-were talking about your ‘charges,’ right?”
“Sure…”
“So that means we’ve got a whole big-brother-big-sister thing going on, riiiiiight?”
“I suppose, if you want to describe it as such.”
“So like-a guardian!” Kaz crowed triumphantly. “Swooping in-well, I suppose in this case it’s more randomly appearing in my mind and coming out and stealing my body for your own personal use, but we’ll ignore that for now-to shield the prince from whatever harm that might befall him!”
He didn’t know what sort of reaction he was going for-what he received was a deadpan stare. “…obviously, your generation is getting more and more quixotic every time I turn away.”
A moment later she caught sight of Kaz’s crestfallen expression, and sighed. “Oh, fine. If that’s what you want to describe it as.”
Ecstatic wasn’t enough to describe Kaz’s reaction to that. He couldn’t keep from bursting into laughter (Yes, I was joking), grinning broadly in entertainment. “You mean it?” he asked, looking as thrilled with himself as when they’d succeeded in dying Bre’s hair violet.
Anther sigh, and by listening closely and focusing on Avana, he could hear her. I suppose I fell into his trap; smarmy little… “Yes.”
He had his own personal Maiden! Kaz couldn’t help but grin again.
“You seem to be accepting this rather readily,” Avana remarked dryly. “Most people faint of shock.”
“I doubt that.” Kaz shook his head. “Maybe I would have disbelieved before. But…” he paused, looking around meaningfully. “Then again. If you’d told me that these sorts of places existed-I mean, places with only one sun, or somewhere where you could live above-I might have disbelieved you then, too.” He smiled, a mixture of wry and bitter amusement, a lopsided sort of smile that for once showed just how much the revelation of this new world had actually shaken him. “I think I’m ready to start believing in things now. Giving them the benefit of the doubt, I mean.”
Avana nodded. “Very well. I will answer any questions you may have as they arise, then.” A pause, and then she frowned. “Not that one.”
She held out a hand to him. Kaz gingerly reached out, taking hold of it. Despite the fact that it was only water, it felt strangely solid in his grasp. “Now I won’t hide any longer,” she told him. “Because you know of my presence.”
Kaz nodded.
“Here’s to a partnership.”
* * *
It was different. Different and exhilarating somehow, like a whole new realm of power had been opened up to him.
“Let me.”
There was an unseen breeze in his hair, plucking at his clothes, theatric in a sense that Kaz loved. He folded his arms, smirk crossing his face. “Haven’t we warned you before?” he intoned, feeling the phantom image of Avana flickering into being behind him. “You can’t get away with your sort of trickery any more.”
“Let me take part of it… we’ll defeat this man together.”
He knew what to do. Right! Without really thinking about it, he seized hold of the power and pulled-
They shot forward together, an almost crazed grin on his face.
(End)
♥
Community: caer-awen
Prompt: 212: The knife's edge
Word Count: 1603
Summary: The past always has a way of coming back to haunt you. Sometimes, that means literally.
Author’s Note: Part two of two. Written for kmegumi2, as she gave me the prompt way back during caer-awen's first game last year. ♥!
Click here for part one.
At first, the night was nothing out of the ordinary. They’d all returned to their surrogate home, tired, hot, sweaty. Torrel had demanded more stories, but bewildered, Asuka had claimed an early night, telling them all that he had a splitting headache (Kaz had snickered). Cel and Kaz, in unspoken agreement, had dodged quickly and gone out, exploring the town some more and staring wide-eyed at all the strange new things. It was so different from home that, in a way, Kaz couldn’t help but wonder if it wouldn’t have been better if they hadn’t come in the first place-if they hadn’t had to come in the first place.
When it’d begun to get dark, though, they’d returned “home,” where Kaz avoided Torrel by claiming the need for a wash (the water coming from above and falling down over him would never cease to surprise him; he still jumped every time); Cel was unhappily spared when Torrel’s father said he wanted to speak with her. Watching Cel trail after him, Kaz realized she would have rather broken their promise to the man and told Torrel stories all night than talk to her father.
Finally, though, Kaz was sitting on the floor in the lowest part of the house-it was the tiniest bit reminiscent of home in Desuya. It was soothing. He closed his eyes, wondering just how he was supposed to begin this. “Uh… Avana, was it?” he said aloud, cracking an eye open as though he expected her to appear out of thin air.
“There is no need to speak aloud.” He jumped as the voice echoed through his mind. “I am here.”
It was the strangest feeling still, hearing a voice that wasn’t his. If it hadn’t been for the fact that he was looking and could see that there was no-one else there, he might have thought there was another person in the room there with him. “It’s too weird if I don’t,” he responded. “I don’t like it. Who are you?”
“If that is the case…”
There was silence for a moment, and then there was a power running through him that actually made him yelp-he’d only ever felt that sort of spark during the Summoning-when he used it voluntarily. He glanced down at his hands, eyes widening even more as he saw the familiar twists of magic gathering there. And a second later, that magic was releasing on its own, strange, water without being water, weird. It hovered in front of him for a moment before beginning to shift, creating a form that was distinctly human, distinctly female, with chest-length hair that never seemed to settle, buffeted by unseen wind. The slightest tinges of color came to her, all pales and light and still that pale, aqua green, underrunning everything and overpowering all.
“Then we will speak aloud,” Avana said. At once, they were surrounded by water on all sides, forming a cube in which they sat knee-to-knee-so no-one else could hear them, Kaz instinctively knew.
Suddenly there was a pounding in his skull, assaulting his senses. He grabbed for his head-“I’m sorry,” Avana gasped, apologetic. “I didn’t remember how much power it took.”
“What did you do?” he demanded to know.
He felt a cold touch at his temples-instinctively, he jerked away, glancing up-she looked worried, hand outstretched, encased in ice. “I’m sorry,” she apologized again. “Taking on this form is a direct transfer of power, from you to me. Kind of like the Summoning.”
He frowned. “You know the Summoning…” It was strange. She wasn’t from Desuya, that much was obvious. He would have known her if she was. But no-one outside of Desuya would have known the Summoning…
She smiled, a little cryptically. “More than you know.”
It clicked. Instantly.
Kaz jerked back, eyes widening even more. “You’re-!”
She laughed, and goosebumps rose on his arms. “Indeed. I knew you were a sharp one.”
“You’re-!”
“-not old,” she finished fiercely. “Don’t even say it.”
“-from the time of the Maiden,” Kaz breathed in awe.
That seemed to be a more favorable response. “Yes,” Avana answered. “That’s true.”
“Are you… one of the Creators?”
Another smile, this time an actual one. “And Nereus thought you’d have to have me spell it out for you. Congratulations-I won our bet.”
“What were you betting?” Kaz demanded to know, momentarily distracted.
Avana waved that away. “Ask your questions. I’m sure you’ve plenty of them. And-” she cut Kaz off before he could begin, “-I’ll tell you those stories another time.”
Kaz scowled, reaching to his head. “Quit that. I don’t like you reading my thoughts.”
“You’ve never noticed before,” Avana commented slyly.
“But now you’re not trying to quiet your laughter,” Kaz sulked. “Now I’ll have to live with the knowledge that there’s a who-even-knows-how-old spirit of one of the Creators living in my head, listening to everything going through my mind and tittering at anything stupid that might pass.”
Avana advised sagely, “You’ll learn in time. And I don’t listen to everything. It gets very boring at times.”
I’m sleeping with ‘Suki.
Avana cleared her throat, unable to stop the faint smile crossing her face.
“Stop that!” accused Kaz.
“I’m sorry,” she apologized again. “That is a lie, though. Yes?”
“Yes,” Kaz sighed, giving up. “Okay, fine. Why are you here?”
“We volunteered to stay behind,” Avana explained. “The eight of us, she bestowed upon us the water. You know that.”
“Of course.”
“It’s not a magic that can transfer.”
“What?”
She nodded. “Once the power was given to us, it could not be given to anyone else. When it was time to go, she asked us to stay, to loan our power to the next person we chose.”
“Chose? So you choose who’ll be the next Summoners?”
Another nod. “Surely you didn’t think it was hereditary?”
“I had no idea,” he admitted. “Do you take it away if you feel they don’t deserve it any more?”
“That’s never come up before. I hope you’re not planning to test that.” She eyed him, suspicious.
“I’m not planning on it.”
There was a pause for a minute while Kaz tried to process this information. It sank in slowly, slowly… and then that grin spread broad across his face as realization finally set in. “So does this mean that I have like… my own personal Maiden?”
She eyed him again. “What?”
“Well, you and what’s-his-face Narun-”
“Nereus.”
“-were talking about your ‘charges,’ right?”
“Sure…”
“So that means we’ve got a whole big-brother-big-sister thing going on, riiiiiight?”
“I suppose, if you want to describe it as such.”
“So like-a guardian!” Kaz crowed triumphantly. “Swooping in-well, I suppose in this case it’s more randomly appearing in my mind and coming out and stealing my body for your own personal use, but we’ll ignore that for now-to shield the prince from whatever harm that might befall him!”
He didn’t know what sort of reaction he was going for-what he received was a deadpan stare. “…obviously, your generation is getting more and more quixotic every time I turn away.”
A moment later she caught sight of Kaz’s crestfallen expression, and sighed. “Oh, fine. If that’s what you want to describe it as.”
Ecstatic wasn’t enough to describe Kaz’s reaction to that. He couldn’t keep from bursting into laughter (Yes, I was joking), grinning broadly in entertainment. “You mean it?” he asked, looking as thrilled with himself as when they’d succeeded in dying Bre’s hair violet.
Anther sigh, and by listening closely and focusing on Avana, he could hear her. I suppose I fell into his trap; smarmy little… “Yes.”
He had his own personal Maiden! Kaz couldn’t help but grin again.
“You seem to be accepting this rather readily,” Avana remarked dryly. “Most people faint of shock.”
“I doubt that.” Kaz shook his head. “Maybe I would have disbelieved before. But…” he paused, looking around meaningfully. “Then again. If you’d told me that these sorts of places existed-I mean, places with only one sun, or somewhere where you could live above-I might have disbelieved you then, too.” He smiled, a mixture of wry and bitter amusement, a lopsided sort of smile that for once showed just how much the revelation of this new world had actually shaken him. “I think I’m ready to start believing in things now. Giving them the benefit of the doubt, I mean.”
Avana nodded. “Very well. I will answer any questions you may have as they arise, then.” A pause, and then she frowned. “Not that one.”
She held out a hand to him. Kaz gingerly reached out, taking hold of it. Despite the fact that it was only water, it felt strangely solid in his grasp. “Now I won’t hide any longer,” she told him. “Because you know of my presence.”
Kaz nodded.
“Here’s to a partnership.”
* * *
It was different. Different and exhilarating somehow, like a whole new realm of power had been opened up to him.
“Let me.”
There was an unseen breeze in his hair, plucking at his clothes, theatric in a sense that Kaz loved. He folded his arms, smirk crossing his face. “Haven’t we warned you before?” he intoned, feeling the phantom image of Avana flickering into being behind him. “You can’t get away with your sort of trickery any more.”
“Let me take part of it… we’ll defeat this man together.”
He knew what to do. Right! Without really thinking about it, he seized hold of the power and pulled-
They shot forward together, an almost crazed grin on his face.
(End)
♥