Necklace (Ashurran #2)

Aquamarine, part 2

Dame Tallian said goodbye to Yuuji on the shores of the FalkidianSea, kissed him on the nose and started on her travels. For several years the young sorceress wandered throughout Pandeia searching where to apply her talents. She suffered a lot of hardships, because magic didn't always serve as a shield against hunger or sickness, sword or lance, from evil men or injustice. And the world in her time was not like that in Yunan's time, when magic and miracles were abound, hungry demons roamed the forests, mermaids played in rivers and ponds, the proud Ancients visited Fanneshtou, and magicians lived in castles and towers more luxurious than kings' palaces. There were no longer any self-taught prodigy magicians moving mountains and changing the course of rivers, inventing new spells, acquiring command over several nature elements, not one. Magic turned into a craft, and magicians obeyed laws and rules just like ordinary humans.

Tired of wandering, Dame Tallian settled down in Trianess, the capital of Creede, because in this country women enjoyed the greatest freedom. Besides, people here were respected not only for beauty and wealth, but also for intelligence, willpower and spirit of enterprise. Dame Tallian had it all in abundance.

She disguised herself as a young noblewoman of an obscure family and took a Creedan double name. Even at that time she was already adept in intrigues, illusions and deceptions. She could appear as cold as ice or as impetuous as the sea; unfathomable and dangerous like still water, or merry and easygoing like a forest brook. Many highborn aristocrats sought her affections. Rumor had it that even the young chevalier Rudra Ruatta, who later became a famous general and the High King's lover, had fallen under her spell. However, how true was that rumor, remained unknown.

The more men came to Dame Tallian's bed, the more she dreamed of the one who was unattainable. Yuuji wasn't a mortal man but he still reigned in Dame Tallian's heart. She never had seen his human form, but could imagine it down to the smallest details, and she desired him with passion she had never felt towards any of her actual lovers. Yuuji could take on a human form, but was only allowed to do so in every thousand years, and there were four hundred and four years left until the next time.

Yuuji was a sea dragon, and therefore he knew almost everything that transpired under the sun and the moon. Tallian's love was not a secret to him, and he was sad knowing he couldn't give her what her heart desired.

"My lady, my precious Tal with crystal-clear eyes! I love you from the moment I saw you on that deserted island and felt the Water magic in you. There was no sorceress equal to you born in Pandeia in all time that I had lived. I see you as the most beautiful woman in the world, more beautiful than the sea depths and mountain lakes, than waterfalls of Haelghira and fjords of the Island of Belg. For you, I will move heaven and earth, cross the Storm Belt, give away all my treasures and even lay down my life for you. But in this form I am not capable of making love, and my blood is cold, like that of a fish or a snake," Yuuji explained.

"I would be selfish and unjust, speaking of love and demanding only pleasures of the flesh. For bedding there are others!" Dame Tallian answered, although she did felt bitter that another one of her dreams was shattered. "If my love won't last for four hundred years, it means I'm not worthy of sharing your bed, Yuuji!"

Water had always been capricious and unsteady, but Dame Tallian's feelings were as steady and unchanging as glaciers at the World's Edge.

She was only afraid of one thing, that her flesh would be less durable that the spirit. Magicians were immortal, true, but only when they constantly feed on their magic, used it to support their mortal body. Otherwise, death came for them the same way as for an ordinary person who had ceased to take care of his bodily needs. Of the lower-ranked magicians few reached three hundred years, having exhausted their magic and their will to live.