Hiraeth

Chapter 1: A Visit From Uncle Asriel

Edith's POV

"...eyes will be opened, and your daemon will assume their true form. And ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil."

If I have to sit through another lesson about daemons settling, I may gauge my own eyes out. I look down to my daemon Helios and roll my eyes. I don't understand why the scholars insist on Lyra and I have some similar lessons together, this discussion may be beneficial for her and Pan but Helios has already settled. It happened a year or so back, Helios' true form was that of an arctic fox. I'm quite content with what he settled as, Lyra always thought he would settle as a tiger or bear being the protective older cousin that I am. I glance over at Lyra at her desk beside mine, she's craving her name into her desk, again. I can't wait for this lesson to be over, I just want to go back to my room and sketch, maybe eat too. My train of thought is interrupted by the librarian, "Lyra, Edith, if you could both try to stay awake."

"I am, I'm listening, I'm listening. I'm a god, knowing good and evil," Lyra replies.

"Ah, as gods, Lyra, the Magisterium wouldn't approve of blasphemy."

"I thought that we were protected by scholastic sanctuary?" I asked.

"Yes Edith, it was a privilege we had to earn, and one we must not abuse. Without scholastic sanctuary, you both wouldn't be here and nor would I."

I hate when people call me by my full name, it's too proper, I like Edie. As the librarian starts to go back to his lesson, I hear Pan whisper that Uncle Asriel is here. Lyra and I both look at one another, needing to get out of this classroom. I leave Lyra to take the main role on this, she's rather good at tricking the scholars when needed, I'm just good at pickpocketing them. What a girl has to have some form of income, innocent or not. Lyra asks the librarian to read a piece about the Garden of Eden, as he makes his way up the ladder to find the book we quickly open the door and hide behind it. He falls for our trick and makes his way out the door, we soon shut it and lock the door, giggling as we do so and make our way out the window and onto the rooftops of Jordan. We soon make it to an open window and are about to go in before Pan interrupts us mentioning that's the retiring room. The retiring room is the one place we cannot go, it's forbidden. Lyra replies back to Pan, "Not for family reunions."

Before we can head into the room Lyra notices a butler and the Master coming in with Uncle Asriel's tokay, his favorite drink. Lyra and I peer into the room through the window as we see the Master pour a white powder into the Tokay. Lyra and I look at each other in fright.

"We don't know what he put in it."

"If he was innocent, why would he send the butler away," Lyra remarks.

"The Master is a good man. And he's always been kind to us."

"He's poisoning our Uncle, Edie."

We watch as the Master flees the room as Uncle Asriel and Stelmaria soon arrive, as Uncle Asriel finishes setting up his equipment, he starts to make a glass of the tokay, before he can take a drink of it, Lyra runs through the window with Pan and smacks the glass away from him. Uncle Asriel grabs her arm in a painful manner and slams her head into the table.

"Lyra, what are you doing," he says in a confusing voice.

"Let go of me and I'll tell you," she responds.

"I will break your arm first."

Okay, now I'm mad. I quickly make my way into the room as Stelmaria approaches Helios and me with a growl as I say, "Let her go! The wine was poisoned!"

Uncle Asriel quickly lets go of Lyra as I run to her side to see if she was alright as she explains that we saw the Master put the white powder into the drink. Uncle Asriel soon after shoves the drink off the table sending it crashing to the ground in hundreds of pieces.

"Someone tries to poison you and you destroy the evidence," Lyra utters.

"Keep your voice down! Someone probably tried to kill me, and yes, I destroyed the evidence," Uncle Asriel whispers as he moves around the room looking into random cabinets, once he finds one he soon grabs Lyra by her shoulder as she's raving to him about not seeing him for a whole year. Personally, Uncle Asriel and I have a love/hate relationship, he gets me my materials for sketching and I stay out his hair, it's a win for me, but I know Lyra wants to be an explorer just like him. Uncle Asriel asks Lyra to spy on the Master when Dust is mentioned as she heads into the small cabinet. After Lyra is safely tucked away, Uncle Asriel looks at me, knowing he doesn't need my help and Lyra will tell me everything later, I make my way out the window back to my room.

----The Next Day----

I make my way to have breakfast with Lyra and Roger in Lyra's room after she didn't appear till late last night, I had no clue what went down in the retiring room. Once I get there, Lyra and Roger have already started to eat, soon Roger informs us that Tony Costa's little brother Billy has gone missing, claiming it to have been the work of the Gobblers and informing us that currently Uncle Asriel is packing up an airship to leave. Lyra runs out of the room in a hurry claiming that he isn't leaving without her, Roger and I run after her.

After running throughout the grounds of Jordan we arrive to see Uncle Asriel and a team of people in a hurry to get out of Oxford. Lyra is in the airship begging Uncle Asriel to stay or take her with him as Roger and I listen on further back. As the airship starts to take off, Lyra leaves in tears as I quickly follow her and hold her in my arms as we watch the airship take off into the sky.

"Come on Lyra, we have to go get ready for dinner."