The Choosing

Chapter Two: Ilya's Spring

"Alcie! You won't believe what just happened!"

Alcie looked up. She was treading water in the middle of the Spring, her hair dripping wet and her stuff carelessly thrown in the heap on shore. "What? Did you get Chosen already?"

It was amazing, the way Alcie could predict things like this. "Not quite. I don't really want to get my hopes up, but - here, it'll be easier if you come up on shore."

Lyra held out the emblem, careful to keep it away from the water. "It turned out Libra gave this to my sister to give to me. Me! Can you believe it! This means she's going to choose me, right?"

For a moment, Alcie's smile faltered a bit, and Lyra thought that maybe this time she had overstepped her boundaries. But then the smile returned. "I should've known. Of course Libra's going to pick you - she doesn't give out the scale of justice for no apparent reason. You're pretty much the best in everything."

Lyra blushed and stuffed the emblem into her bag. "Thanks, Alcie. But I didn't come here to show off - let's just enjoy these last two weeks together. At this rate, I'm going to have an ego bigger than Felicity's."

Alcie laughed. "I don't think that's possible."

Turning around, Lyra stripped off her shirt and pants and jumped into the Spring. Ilya's Spring was something of a secret. Only she and Alcie knew of it (as far as she knew) so it was pretty much always empty. It was a little ways into the woods, but not that far. The Spring was right under a small cliff. Sometimes she and Alcie would climb up and take turns diving from it. Apart from that, everything was green grass and tall pines.

A few ducks waddled in and started swimming around. Alcie giggled. "Silly ducks, there aren't any fish here." She started swimming after the ducks and scaring them out of the water, only so that the ducks would come back to be scared away again. Lyra stretched out and floated on her back, bathing in the warm sunlight. School was over - no more Felicity, no more essays, no more stress. Alcie liked to say that Lyra's true love was school work, but Lyra hated school work as much as the next person. She just tended to get it done faster.

She and Alcie could spend everyday here by the Spring. After these two weeks, there would be nothing except a future with Libra ahead. A future of being an apprentice. She could be with Paige again! They would study together, eat together, laugh together ... without Alcie.

Don't think about that, Lyra chided herself. That's what these two weeks are for. To say goodbye and come to terms with what's going to happen. It wasn't as if they couldn't speak to each other ever again either. They could probably still talk via scrying glass. About once a year that was. But still ... maybe these two weeks weren't going to be quite as fun as she had hoped.

"Lyra?"

Lyra looked up to see Alcie staring at her. "Hmm?"

"You'll keep in touch, won't you?" Alcie was a light-hearted person, but she looked genuinely worried.

"Oh, Alcie, of course I will. It's impossible to forget someone like you. I'll contact you through the scrying glass every day that I can. We'll still be best friends. Friends since the day we were born. Me going away isn't going to change anything."

Alcie managed a watery smile. "I know." She wiped her eyes, sniffling a bit. "I'm just being stupid. Nothing's going to change."

"There. See? Now come on. We've spent hours here already - your parents are going to be really mad if you don't show up in time for dinner."

The two of them clambered out of the Spring and walked back home. Alcie lived a few houses down from Lyra. She said goodbye to Lyra first and then continued walking home. Lyra watched Alcie go before opening her front door. She couldn't help but glance up at Libra's emblem before entering.

"Lyra? Is that you?" Her mother was in the kitchen, preparing some sort of stew - probably alki beans again.

"It's me." Lyra took her shoes off and walked to the bathroom, leaving a trail of water behind her. She took a quick bath and put on a simple green tunic with black leggings.

Her father was at the kitchen table, cutting up liver roots. "Cutting it a little close today, huh, Lyra?"

"Dad, the sun hasn't even touched the horizon yet."

He grunted. "Just because you're fifteen years old doesn't mean you have the right to go wandering around this late. You and Alcie need to pay a little more attention to your surroundings."

"I did - that's why I'm back before sundown."

Lyra father tried to sound gruff but failed, smiling. "Well put. How did your exam go, by the way?"

"It wasn't too hard. I thought I did pretty well. That, and ... " Lyra walked over the post where she had hung her school bag and pulled out the ivory emblem. "Libra gave this to Paige to give to me."

Silence. Lyra's mother stared at her, her hand over her heart, while her father slowly put down his cutting knife, mouth agape.

"Oh, sweetheart, does this mean ... is Libra ... "

"Paige all but confirmed it," Lyra said happily. "We'll know for sure in two weeks, but I can't get my hopes up too much."

"I can't believe it!" her father said. "Two daughters, both selected to be Libra's apprentices ... Well done, Lyra. Well done."

The rest of the night was much the same. 

. . . 

Author's note: What zodiac sign / horoscope are you? I'm a borderline Virgo. 

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