Stars Of Memory

Chapter 31

Her mother steps out of the forest and Jīvitaya watches through the trees as she strides back toward the city. She stands up to walk deeper into the forest, only to be greeted by Laira in panther form as she walks. She grins down at her.

"What have you been up to, Laira?"

Laira huffs at her and Jīvitaya smiles, opening her senses to look for darkness. Like before, there is one big spot pulsing at her no matter where she looks. Jīvitaya ignores it, knowing that it is the well and she has been told not to go there. She concentrates, and finds a smattering of little spots that had previously been overshadowed by the well. She walks towards one of those tiny points of darkness and finds that it is a tree being uprooted. She tries to push it back into place, straining, but it won't move.

"What are you doing?"

Jīvitaya releases the tree and whirls around, Laira stepping in front of her and snarling. The speaker is a girl, standing a few yards away.

"Who are you?" The girl swallows nervously, staring at Laira. Jīvitaya repeats her question. "Who are you?" The girl doesn't speak, still staring at Laira with wide eyes, and Jīvitaya places a hand on Laira's back, trusting that the girl won't hurt her. "Easy, Laira. Easy."

Laira relaxes and sits on her haunches before Jīvitaya, still staring at the girl.

Now that Laira is no longer threatening her, the girl finally speaks. "I'm Iyokú. Who are you?"

"I'm Jīvitaya and this one here is Laira. She won't hurt you, at least, she won't as long as you don't try to hurt me."

Iyokú nods and steps closer, her dark chestnut hair slipping over the edges of her pale blue tunic. She holds her hand out nervously to Laira, who sniffs it before stepping aside to let her pass. When she raises her head to look at Jīvitaya, Jīvitaya gasps, seeing something she didn't before. One of Iyokú's eyes is chocolate brown and the other is sky blue.

Iyokú grimaces. "Is it my eyes? I won't apologize for them."

Jīvitaya looks at her quizzically. "Why would you apologize for your eyes?"

Iyokú huffs. "People think that I'm a demon because they are two different colors, despite me being the Correll."

Jīvitaya frowns. "That's stupid. On Earth, that's a genetic condition, heterochromia."

"Earth?"

Jīvitaya thinks back to when they were traveling on the ship. "It's a planet in the Saliente Galaxy."

"Oh! That's really far away, have you been there?"

Jīvitaya smiles. "Yes, I have."

"Jīvitaya, what exactly were you trying to do with the tree?"

"Heal the balance."

Iyokú frowns. "What?"

"I have to get it to stand up again, stop the uprooting."

"Well, you can't stand up the tree by yourself, no matter how strong you are in air. Let me help you."

Jīvitaya smiles and nods, and they each position themselves against the tree. They push and strain against it as the wind suddenly whips around them, but they don't stop until the tree is standing upright once more. Jīvitaya moves around the tree to its back to start covering up the roots with dirt, but stops, her mouth gaping open. The soil is moving on its own, piling itself over the roots. She spins back around and stares at Iyokú. Her outstretched hand is glowing faintly, barely noticeable at all. With a soft thump, the last of the soil drops onto the roots, and Iyokú's hand stops glowing. She lowers it and looks at Jīvitaya.

"Why are you looking at me like that? You have magic too. If I had to guess, I'd say that you have the power of nature, just like me."

"I do have it, but I can't move the ground."

Iyokú laughs brightly. "Yes you can, you just haven't learned how! I'm honestly surprised that you haven't finished your training yet. Why haven't you? It doesn't take that long."

Jīvitaya looks sheepish. "I haven't even started. I've been here for what, three days?"

"What? Where were you before?"
"On Earth, and then traveling to find out who I was after I found out I wasn't a human."

"So I'm going to guess you're a La'Vi, first of all, that's pretty obvious." Jīvitaya grins at her as she nods. "So who are you? Who are your parents."

"My parents are Nitheina and Alder."

Iyokú stares at her. "Your parents are the Laial and Liala? You're the egg that disappeared one hundred and twelve years ago?!"

Jīvitaya nods. "Apparently, and this supposedly confirms it."

She pulls out her pendant, and both girls watch as the blue dust shimmers as it shifts around in the bottle, carrying the piece of shell with it.

"Yeah, your pendant does confirm that. So what are your powers? You must have been the one who had the crystal test this morning. I wish I had seen it, but I was out gathering some herbs for Loro." At Jīvitaya's confused expression, Iyokú elaborates. "Loro is the Correllia. I'm his apprentice, which is why I'm called the Correll."

Jīvitaya frowns, thinking. "I can't remember what they were, exactly."

Iyokú nods. "Can I see your crystal pendant?" Jīvitaya nods, slipping it out of her pocket. "Hmm, starting from the weakest and going in order of strength, it is fire, water, spirit, nature, air, and . . ." She frowns and whips her head up to look at Jīvitaya. "You activated the mystery crystal?! What is it?"

"I don't know. The only power I've really used so far is nature."

Iyokú frowns thoughtfully. "Is there anything you've always been good at?"

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Aaaah, Iyokú is hilarious, isn't she? I love her. What do you think the mystery power is? What is a Correllia/Crystal Caretaker?What do you think of Iyokú so far? Again, what do you think the mystery crystal is?

Here is a picture of Iyokú as well.

~Goddess of Fate, signing out.