Peacebringer

Chapter Forty Four - All is Revealed

After the tense meeting with Tana, it felt good to just head back to the guest house with Mom. Asha was still pretty exhausted, and it was clear that the two of them had a lot to talk about.

As they walked, Raza stroked Asha's braids. "We need to re-do these!" She said it jokingly to change the subject, but Asha knew full well that her hair was probably a mess. Her braids were starting to look more like fuzzy caterpillars.

They got started right away when they got inside, Raza pulling out the colored threads and slowly undoing the braids so she could fix them. Asha took a break to wash her hair before continuing. She wanted to get all the moat water off anyway.

Once her hair was clean, mom started braiding. She somehow had new thread. Even outside their home, there were thread scraps everywhere. Mom had laid out some colors on the table for her to choose from.

While there were purple and turquoise and orange and all sorts of vibrant colors, Asha chose white to mourn for her sister. Raza eagerly started braiding, intertwining the snowy strands of fiber with Asha's curls.

Asha sat in silence for awhile, just feeling the familiar sensation of her mother's hands on her head. It almost made her feel like she was back home, before all this new information, before knowing who she truly was. She almost wished to go back to that time, before everything got complicated.

"Why did you leave?" Asha finally asked. "I know that the King's.....Dad's advisor told him that a fire killed us, but that clearly didn't happen." Asha felt her mother's fingers freeze for a minute.

"She was the one who told me the conflict was building..." Raza said slowly. "She had figured out I was a fire spinner...sometimes it's just not worth lighting a candle. She saw me and told me I should leave for my own safety. When I explained that you were a fire spinner too, she told me to take you with me and leave Valda behind."

"How did you know I was a fire spinner?" Asha asked quickly.

"You were always so warm as a baby, and you were always attracted to fire light." Asha couldn't see it, but Raza was smiling now. "I guess I didn't know for certain, but I knew there was a good chance."

Asha went back to what her mother had said before. "I think I was right when I spoke to Tana. If Dad's advisor told you to leave and then told him we were killed by fire spinners, she was definitely doing it to push the issues with magic users." Asha thought for another moment. "I wonder why she singled out the fire spinners...did she have something personal against them?"

"I have no idea Asha," Raza spoke softly. "I don't know what her motivations were. At the time, I just thought Darkwater had our best interests at heart when she told us to leave." Raza began another braid.

"If she wanted us out of the way, why didn't she just actually have us killed?" Asha asked morbidly. "Maybe she only wanted us around in case we were useful later." It was an awful thought, but probably a correct one.

Raza didn't respond to it. She continued the braid down the nape of Asha's neck, gently pulling in strands so that it would lay flat against her head.

"He really was a good father," she said suddenly, catching Asha off guard. "He was so good with you and Valda. If this silly war hadn't started...'

Asha thought carefully for a moment before asking. "What was he like?"

"Kind, gentle, intelligent," Raza began. "He actually had a very strong interest in magical history. He knew about that prophecy before you or Valda were born."