Dawn's Light

Chapter 36

Verbena quickly turned around and faced the owner of the voice and growled menacingly with an arched back and flattened ears. 'If you try to hurt Irin I will attack you," she snarled and did not care that the woman the treat was aimed at could not hear and understand the words.

"Calm down, I'm not going to attack a dragin or a rider," the thin woman assured and dusted a bit of snow off of her unusually thin clothing. "I apologize for the tribesmen, they consider all creatures food. They did not see that the dragons had riders, but I guess they never heard of the concept either."

Though Verbena did not lower her guard, Celia looked to the woman and blinked. A small amount of hopefulness rose in her heart. "Are you," she briefly hesitated, "by chance, Asha?"

The strange woman blinked then spun on her heels and faced the younger female, "yes, I am Ahsa. You have heard of me? I did not realize I was all that well-known in any field." A small, almost excited expression spread across her face. "How may I be of service?"

"My name is Celia, rider of Verbena the Green. My companions are Xan and Irin the Blue. We are looking for the rays of sunlight to return the sun to the world. We heard that you grow plants. If the Ulven used a ray of light to do the same thing, then there was a good chance that you also had one of the lost rays of light." Celia stated.

"Celia, you just gave away our entire plan when there is no way for us to get away if she attacks us," Xan frowned. "You could have at least been discrete about our mission. What if she decides to try and steal the ray of light we have? She is a siglya, so she must have plenty of magic tricks up her sleeves."

"You're the ones that are finding the rays of light!" Ahsa gasped, "This is wonderful! I was hoping to meet you!" She loudly giggled in excitement.

Xan blinked in confusion, "So that's it? No epic battle or chase? You are going to help us, just like that?" He gave the woman a suspicious side-eyed glance "this cannot be real. There has to be a trick here somewhere."

"No trick, I assure you," Ahsa smiled a bit. "I will take you to my home, where I keep the ray of light for safekeeping."

Though Celia smiled and nodded, Ahsa's words did not convince a wary Xan as easily. "I am not sure we can just trust her like this," Xan said, "she is a siglya, and not all magic users are trustworthy."

"What does siglya mean?" Celia looked between the other two humans, "I have heard the word said multiple times, but still have absolutely no idea what it means. Can one of you please help me out?"

"Siglya is a word for someone that uses magic, especially if they are proficient in it," Ahsa explained. "There are different levels of proficiency, but usually those with an overall magic level of at least six or more out of ten are considered siglya. My overall magic level is six, so I personally barely qualify."

Celia looked to Xan and blinked a bit, "Xan, you have magic, so doesn't that also make you a siglya? Why are you so judgmental against Ahsa when you have magic just like she does?"

"I am nowhere near strong enough to earn the title of siglya," Xan glanced over to Ahsa with a slight frown. After a pause, he sighed and looked down, "Celia, you are right that I should not use magic as a judge of character. Most people in Roahla have and are able to at least use a spark of magic." When he finished speaking, he looked to Celia. "I am too quick to judge that people are against me."

"Thank you for giving me another chance," Ahsa replied with a slight smile and a nod. "May I look at your dragon? Plant magic may not be exactly my forte, but I may be able to speed up the healing process a little bit. I also have some healing elixirs in my home when we get there."