Foresight - Chapter One

 

You may call me Fennolyn, Fennolyn S'thar. Bit of an odd juxtaposition, an elfen name beside a lucidian surname; I find it trips on the tongue, sounds a bit forced. An elfen, surely, should prefer the ground beneath his feet and a canopy of leaves above his head over the cold, austere beauty of Hallifax and her clouds. Yet, I suppose I have become accustomed to the role of outcast - perhaps even fond of the title.

 

Still, I left Hallifax. For ten years.

 

I left my adopted family to shroud myself in moonbeams and flowers. I picked up a mandolin and learned the songs of Trialante. I wept for the dying beauty of the natural world, yet dreamed of the splendor of crystal and clouds. I met a daughter of the Moon and fell in love. Lower emotions and higher emotions began to mix into one within me, and my soul found peace.

 

Despite this, the dreams persisted, and at the end of my tenth year I shouldered my mandolin and returned to the Beacon of Harmony. How long I intended to stay, or if I intended to ever leave, I couldn't say. But even I, the only adopted son of the House of S'thar, knew better than to hide my marriage from my mother.

 

"You have spent too long in that savage place," my mother, Lady S'thar, spoke at length. She examined my worn green robes and dirt-caked boots with disdain and lifted an opalline hand to her cheek in thought. A gentle citrine light, however, suffused her features and the ghost of a smile passed her lips. "It is good to see you where you belong once more, my son."

 

To say my family celebrated my return would be a grave overstatement. A polite and proper dinner party was arranged in my honor, with uncles, aunts, cousins, and the like all seated about me. My mother commanded the room with great charisma, ordering the butler to continually refill the glasses, for the tea to never run dry. With the expressions of those present, I would be hard pressed to say if we were mourning a death or celebrating some required ceremony. My face in the mirror was the only one to betray any emotion to me.

 

"So you are marrying, Fennolyn?" an aunt spoke finally.

 

Aware of the many glittering eyes now fixed upon me, I nodded and swallowed a bite of the veal on my plate. "Indeed, I am."

 

"And I presume you are marrying one of those..." The sentence trailed off before a final, hesitant word completed it: "outsiders." Again, I nodded affirmatively and attempted to focus on my food. The ambivalent mood in the room changed subtly, subtly enough that anyone who hadn't lived with lucidians for years might not have noted the oppressive weight of that silence.

 

"Then you are marrying out, are you not?" my father stated, and again I nodded, and again the mood slid further and further into a stark yet unspoken disapproval. "Well. How intriguing."

 

Amidst all the silent accusations, it was unexpectedly my mother who saved me from the spotlight. Lady S'thar stood up and lifted her glass in toast, inclining her head to me and then lifting her normally monotonous tone to one nearing pride. "To the bride of Fennolyn, then. May they prosper and live long." Begrudgingly, the other elders raised their drinks in toast, and the matter died. My mother shared with me a private smile and then gestured to the girl beside her, one whom I had never known.

 

"Yours is not the only marriage the S'thars will be celebrating this year, Fennolyn," Lady S'thar spoke in a confidential whisper. The lucidian girl beside her lifted her head as if hearing her name called from a distance, and her startling emerald eyes suddenly met with my dull brown ones in belated understanding.

 

"Nydesne," my mother began coolly, "this is your older brother, Fennolyn. It is time that you two finally exchanged pleasantries."

 

A tall stately creature fashioned from the loveliest lapis lazuli, Nydesne demurely lowered her head in greeting and pursed her amethyst lips pensively before speaking. "I have heard much of you, brother," she said in a deep, resonant whisper, and this forced me to crack a half-smile.

 

"I am sure I'll be hearing much of you, sister. It is good to know a sibling at last."

 

"Nydesne is a high ranking member of the Institute," my mother continued as her daughter cast her eyes upon the table in silence. "Just this month she was awarded for her work with time streams and has risen in rank. Is that not so, Doctor S'thar?"

 

Nydesne's body shifted and changed in hue, settling finally on a shy but proud citrine yellow. "Mother, I do not believe Fennolyn cares greatly about my achievements." Yet the Lady S'thar continued to list her praises, and suddenly the implications began to sink in one by one: "We can afford to lose you, Fennolyn, because you are replaced with something better."

 

"And she is engaged," my mother finished, taking a sip of tea. "To Minister Ivan Goldfeather."

 

The name meant nothing to me, but I feigned a look of recognition. Nydesne added nothing to the statement, just continued to stare intently at nothing. "And he shall be marrying into the S'thars, I presume?"

 

"Naturally," Lady S'thar said comfortably. "It will be a grand affair."

 

Nydesne then rose from the table to quietly excuse herself, and I took that as a cue to do likewise. I folded my napkin upon the table, bowed to my mother, and then excused myself to my long abandoned chambers. I closed the door, and finally released the breath I had been holding.

 

So it was that I returned to Hallifax and to the S'thar family.