Valerie and the Legends of Oscavia

Chapter Twenty-three: Tijan's Story.

Mayi turned to face Valerie when they were far away enough from the others.

Then she brought out a purple crystal ball. "This is my memory ball, you probably already know so. Take it"

Skeptically, Valerie took the cold, hard crystal in her hands and stared into it. There were misty forms floating in the purple void.

"Okay..." She said, not sure what was happening.

"As the leader of this group..." Mayi started.

"Um...who made you leader again?" Valerie dared to ask.

"I did" Mayi deadpanned, standing taller, daring her to object "is there a problem, Valerie?"

"No, of course not, you're the leader, go on please" Valerie rushed out and Mayi nodded subtly.

"As the leader, it is my duty to ensure that my followers maintain peace amongst themselves" Mayi continued "I cannot have you and Tijan fighting all the time..."

Valerie flared up, "We won't fight if he wasn't so...!"

"You would not fight if you took the time to understand him" Mayi said, but even though she was speaking in a low voice, she still managed to interrupt Valerie's loud voice.

"Understand Tijan" Valerie said dryly.

"Indeed" Mayi nodded "he is different Valerie, and you must understand that, for the sake of peace"

"Okay, how do you plan to make me understand?" Valerie asked glancing at the crystal ball in her hands.

Mayi silently touched two fingers to the ball and it glowed "I captured a few memories here for the first time when I was eight yaku old, so close your eyes and feel the magic. Whatever you see next, you are seeing through my eyes when I was eight yaku old"

"Uh...." Valerie muttered

"Remember, this is a memory so all you have to do is watch it all unfold" Mayi said "close your eyes"

Valerie reluctantly did as she was asked and closed her eyes. She used the rest of her senses to feel for the magic all around her.

Suddenly, everything went completely silent all around her. When she blinked her eyes open, she felt different.

For some reason, she started talking. In Oscavian for that matter!

"Mama! Thank you so much! I have always wanted my own memory ball" Valerie said but her voice was high pitched, excited and younger. She sounded like a six year old.

"You are welcome, Mayi." A woman's voice said and Valerie looked up at the tall woman in purple robes. Xhena. She was beautiful and so...regal.

I'm in Mayi's eight year old body! Valerie thought to herself. This is trippy.

But she went with the flow anyways and turned to run through the marketplace. People said "Hello, Mayi!" In Oscavian as she passed by and she responded.

Soon she got to the palace school and walked in, She knew this was the palace school because she dropped Diaz here sometimes. It looked the same even though this was years ago.