It all started when I was seven years old. I lived with my mother and father in the village of Netan, a small, cold community. Life then was simple, and I was happy. There were no nights spent awake because it was simply too dangerous to fall asleep, no wondering when and if I would eat.
Nothing good ever lasts forever, though.
My happy childhood was torn apart when both my parents were burnt to small piles of ash by a fire started by an unknown person. The local council tried to investigate, but found nothing. I still think they didn't try hard enough. The only reason why I'm here and not in a wooden box is because during the fire, I was out in the woods, against my parent's wishes at that.
After the fire, I was sent to live with Aizas and Iena Ziedetin, and their then eight year old daughter, Iekare. Though I tried and tried to close myself off from her, Iekare and I became friends quickly. She helped me through a very dark time after my parents' deaths.
When I was thirteen, I started realizing, to my dismay, that I thought of Iekare as more than a friend, as even a devesebieder. One stormy night, when her parents were out at the pub, I finally confessed my true feelings towards her. Thank the Stars for this, but somehow she found my young, nervous, self attractive in some way. As I was extremely nervous and terrified that my confession would go awry, I had started to cry a bit, but when she said that she loved me too, I started sobbing like a baby.
My thirteenth year was the best of my life. Even though we had to carry on with our relationship in hushed secrecy -short kisses stolen at every opportunity, holding hands everywhere we went "so we wouldn't get lost"- Iekare filled my life with beautiful, silver laughter and a warmth I thought was impossible. But this too was stolen away from me.
My fourteenth year, everything was going as it had, but we were getting bolder with our displays of affection. One especially cold day, we were stealing another moment to kiss, when one of the adult villagers saw us. For the average teen couple, this would mean mild embarrassment, maybe an awkward talk with your partners parents. For us though, because we were both of the same sex, this meant worse.
You see, in Netan, couples that consist of a female and a female or a male and a male are extremely frowned upon. "The stars won't allow it" the village elders would tell you, or maybe they'd say "But how would you have children? Think of the future, you selfish brat!" So Iekare and I's relationship was not one that was considered "okay"
The woman's face was somewhere between disgust and fear. I glanced quickly over at Iekare who looked more scared and sad then I'd ever seen her. Her normally cheerful bright grey eyes looked dark and like stone. She was shaking a little, and then she looked to me, into my eyes, as if asking me what to do. I had no answers for her, or for me. I saw a single tear slip down her pale cheeks, and I had to tear my gaze away. I couldn't see her cry, or I would lose myself too.
I looked back to the woman who had caught us. Upon meeting my gaze, she gave me a sneer and spoke in a loud voice the one sentence I didn't want to hear "You two neterigs will be coming with me to see the council now" I stifled the urge to scream, knowing what this meant. She grabbed both of us by our wrists and dragged us towards the long meeting house of the village council.
The heavy door swung open, and we were roughly shoved inside and led to the main hall. The woman gestured for us to wait, and then ran off to the room where the council actually was. I decided to take the time to look around the room, as I had never actually been in there. In the middle of the room was a large table with ten seats, and directly behind that was a fireplace. The fireplace was aflame and the shadow of the flame danced around the room, causing an inappropriately cheerful mood to be projected.
After about five minutes of waiting, the woman and the ten council members walked out into the room. The tallest one, who wore a long light grey robe, whispered something to the woman who then rushed past us and out the door.
The council then took their seats and began speaking. I heard Iekare make a frightened sound, so I stole another look at her. She was shaking still, and was crying silently. I squeezed my eyes shut and reached for her hand. When I opened my eyes she was looking at me, and nodded. Suddenly, the tall councilman cleared his throat and stood up.
"Iekare Ziedetin and Lieliski Sajak," He began in a booming voice "You two are guilty of neterigic behavior. As stated in the Netan Council Guidlines, and as discussed by the council, your punishment is to be...permanent banishment. You are not permitted to say goodbye to your families, and you must leave at once. The penalty for-" He was cut off by an angry voice. "Oh shut it! We got it, we'll leave now O' Lard Ass. This village doesn't deserve her presence anyhow!" It was Iekare. She had yelled at and insulted the elder councilman.
Before he could say anything, we ran out the door and into the woods. We ran and ran, until we couldn't move and then some. Maybe it was just the adrenaline, but we both wanted to get as far away from that place as possible.
When we finally stopped, the black curtain of night had already fallen. I collapsed down beside her, and fell into her lap. I then burst into tears. I cried for us, for her parents, for the future, for the happy child that I would never be again. She started patting my head gently.
"It's okay. We'll get through this together, okay? We'll find a new village. Have a family. We'll be happy together." She spoke softly. We both knew that she was stretching the truth to comfort me. Netan was the only village for miles and miles and miles, and winter would almost certainly kill us if we were on our own. But I took comfort in what she said anyways.
We fell asleep in eachother's arms.
The next morning, we both woke up freezing cold and starving. The chill of the wind bit me through my clothes, and the snow on the group stung my limbs. That was when the severity of this situation hit me. This was not a fun adventure, we had been banished. We had no food, no water, no family anymore. Despair stabbed me through the chest.
But then I looked back at Iekare. She smiled up at me softly and I felt her warmth bloom inside me again. She had helped me when I needed it and now it was my turn to help her. I couldn't just give up and let her die, she was counting on me. And that's when I decided that we would live. And we did.
A year later, and we made it. It wasn't easy. We went days without food or water at times, and the winter was hard. But we made it. With Iekare hunting and me doing most of the foraging, we got by. We also decided that we would keep moving, keep trying to get to a village that could maybe accept us. Our hope and our love kept us safe and away from harm.
Until once again this peace was stolen from me.
One pleasantly not completely freezing cold day, I followed Iekare while she hunted because today was a "moving day". This area was oddly hilly and there were many holes and we had even seen a couple caves that I made mental notes of. It had been an hour since she started looking, and still she saw nothing. Until suddenly, a rabbit ran past us.
Excited, she bolted after it blindly. I called after her to remind her to wait for me and look where she was going, but she was already out of sight. I ran in the direction she had gone. After five minutes, I started to worry. Where has she gone? I thought. Until my thoughts were interrupted by a loud, sudden yell followed by a sickening CRUNCH!
I froze. It had come from my right. I raced over to where the sound had come from. "Stars! Iekare please be okay, please be okay, please..." I whispered aloud. I stopped in my tracks when I spotted her on the ground, at the bottom of a steep hill. I couldn't see her very well, but she apparently saw me. "LIELI! Please help, I fell and I don't- please just hurry down her- OW!" She yelled. I walked quickly but carefully down the hill, not wanting to fall myself.
When I reached her, I ran over and crouched down beside her. I tried to steady my breathing, to stay calm for her. I almost couldn't. Her face was pale, paler than normal, and I could tell she was in great pain. "Lieli, I was chasing that damn rabbit and I was running so fast but then I wasn't looking and I- I fell and now my arm and my leg just...I think I broke them" She said, her gaze dropping as tears formed in her eyes.
Broken....if her arm AND her leg are really broken, she can't walk or hunt and then we won't be able to eat or get to the village or... I thought quietly, trying to not cry. I hung over her, not wanting to look at her, or at anything. I didn't want to move, I didn't want to do anything without her. Not knowing exactly what I was doing or thinking, I gently moved my hand to her leg.
I thought about her bones just magically mending themselves. I envisioned her just getting up, dusting herself off, and scolding me jokingly for wasting time. Suddenly I felt this odd something coming off of me. Weirdly enough it just felt natural. I felt her bones actually move under my hand and- "Lieli what are you- keep doing, uh that thing! Call me insane but I think you might be...fixing my bone" She yelled excitedly, breaking my concentration.
Not caring that it was crazy and only wanting to save her, I planted my hand firmly back on her leg and started thinking those thoughts again. Again I felt the energy coming out of my hands, tingly and warm and golden and safe. After I felt that the leg was fine, I moved onto her arm, doing the same. It was a little easier than her leg because it was smaller, but I could also feel myself get tired, and the kind of tired that slammed into you like a wagon.
I opened my eyes and looked into the grey orbs staring back at me with wonder. Iekare hesitated for a bit, then sprung up. "Oh my stars....I can stand! You fixed me! Lieli!" She bounced around excitedly and I could almost sense her excitement.
"But why...how? What am I?" I whispered aloud, suddenly feeling very...different. She stopped bouncing. "Wait, I think I know what- what you are. I read about it when we went to visit the Council library. They're supposed to be just stories but...Lieliski....I think you're a raditaj." She said quietly and seriously, although her face was showing extreme excitement.
"What's that?" I asked her, as I happened to not remember that particular story. "Raditaj are supposed to be like people, but with extra magical potential and a like, super long life span. Each one is supposed to have their own kind of magic. So like you might be...healing?" She explained. I nodded slowly, remembering suddenly the story about a raditaj my mother told me. He had very powerful ice magic, but didn't use it wisely and ended up killing his sister and becoming a terrible tyrant. She had spoken of magic as if it was evil. But I'm not dangerous. I'll just heal people! It's not like I have fire magic or anything like that -I'll be fine! I told myself, trying to calm myself. But Stars was I wrong. So wrong.
