Tales of the Five Nations 1-Scarblade

Chapter 10-Tied

"WHAT."

"Yes, that's how it works," Eliada said.

"HOW COULD YOU DO THAT TO HER?!"

"Quit yelling at your mother!" Damon gave his son a stern look, which was extremely intimidating, paired with the huge muscles all over him.

"Still, how could you even think of doing that to her?"

"Feris, would you rather have her entire Nation be wiped out, or her unhappy?"

"I—I don't—" Feris couldn't finish the sentence he had started. The question was unanswerable for him.

"It's okay, Feris—we aren't going to do anything about it without her permission—we can't," Teagan assured with his arms crossed.

"I still think that Alban should do well with Teagan as her Tie," Eliada said.

"I'm going to go find Alban," Feris said, heading out of the door, with a confident nod from Teagan that told him he was doing the right thing.

Alban was sitting by the creek, dipping her hand into the cold water, where cold little waves passing by were brushing against her hand when she heard footsteps approaching.

"I'm so sorry, Alban. My mother never should've said those things. I don't know why—"

"It's okay, Feris. I know. They think I'm going to go bad." The words stung, and they seemed unbelievable. Almost. How could she ever go bad?

Feris ran towards her at that moment, and he hugged her, apologizing for the mistake his mother had made. "I'm sorry," he said, feeling Alban's arm on his back. He put his hand on her back, hugging her tighter.

"Hey, guys! I got a plan!" Teagan came running down the hill leading towards the creek, and fell onto his back when he stepped on the sand.

"What is it?" Feris asked, letting go of Alban and helping Teagan off of the ground.

"Okay, you can use the little bits of every Nations' magic to create something that looks like someone Unifying, right?"

"Yeah...."

"Good! Everything should work right, then. So, I know you don't want to Tie with me, right?"

"As much as I like you as a friend, no, I don't want to Tie with you," Alban answered. "But I don't particularly want to Tie with anyone at all."

"Exactly what I thought. Eliada is going to ask you if you'll Tie with me at dinner tonight—hear me out—and you need to say yes. But, the thing is, Feris is going to use his Unifying Powers and whatever else he can—to make it look like Alban and I are Tied. And then, that way people can still sense a Tie, you and Feris will Spirit-Tie instead."

"That's a good plan, but...what if I Tie with nobody?"

"Because then there's going to be a huge fight between us and the rest of the Zan. But even if you all had gotten the Zan into a big fight, you can scare everyone with your Curser Ability, Alban. And I can Teleport us away if it gets too serious."

Everyone thought about the plan, and Feris agreed, then Teagan, and after a few moments of long silence, Alban. Dinner that night went exactly as planned. Eliada asked the question they had all been waiting for, too.

"Alban, may I ask you something?"

"Yeah, what is it?"

"Would you...Tie with Teagan? Tomorrow, of course." Alban waited a moment before answering, acting as if she were thinking about it.