A huff of breath followed by the rustling of wings was all the response Jahrra got, but after a while her guardian spoke up again, a deep voice emanating from the darkness of the hall.
“Not so much important, but necessary. Besides, I was trying to stay out of the way.”
Jahrra abruptly stood up from her semi-reclining position against the door and took a few steps in Jaax’s direction.
“You didn’t have to stay out of the way!” she blurted, then bit her lip for the feebleness of her remark.
Even to her own ears she sounded like a child caught excluding others for no real reason at all.
Jaax chuckled, but made no motion to move.
“No, really,” Jahrra wrapped her arms around herself, trying to get a better hold of what it was she was trying to say.
Finally, she took a deep breath and told the truth, “Jaax, I would have really liked it if you had spent some time with us. We could have just as easily roasted apples and sausages and marshroot over the fire in here. You didn’t have to make yourself busy with work.”
Again, the silence. Jahrra wondered if Jaax had as hard a time as her coming up with the right words to say. He remained quiet for so long she thought he might have slinked off into the dark; back to his rooms.
“Well then,” he finally said, “you’ll just have to invite them over again, won’t you?”
She heard the smile in his voice and couldn’t help smiling herself. She felt her shoulders relax a bit then wondered why she had been tense.
“Good,” she said, feeling her spirits perk up just a little, “because they had a lot of questions about you.”
With that final statement, Jahrra swept across the ornate carpet of the great room and disappeared up the stairs before Jaax could come up with any sort of response.
Only after she was dressed for bed and had her head resting on one of her down pillows, did she dare let her mind wander freely. It had been a wonderful night. In fact, it had been the best night she had had in a very long time, so long she couldn’t remember. She would definitely be inviting her friends over more often, especially if Jaax stuck around to take part in the conversation. For some strange reason, the idea was not only daunting, but pleasant as well.
-Chapter Thirteen-
Sobledthe in the City
The weeks following Jahrra’s successful night of playing hostess were crammed with school lessons, Coalition meetings and practices in the afternoons with her friends. She still attended the same classes as last term and wouldn’t sign up for new ones until after the Solsticetide break, which was a little over a month away. As the days grew shorter and the weather grew cooler, Torrell, Dathian, Senton and Jahrra found it harder to practice as long as usual.
“I have at least one of the days of the weekend free,” Jahrra told them one afternoon as they returned their practice gear and bundled into their jackets. They had left class only two hours ago and already it was growing dark.
“Let me check with my father,” Senton said, stretching out his arms and legs.
That just left Dathian, who claimed he had both days free most weekends, and Torrell who also had to check with her parents.
“Sometimes they need me to watch Renaya,” Torrell said, making a face at the idea of wasting a weekend keeping an eye on her baby sister.
Jahrra had visited Torrell’s house once to pick something up before practice and she had found the younger girl charming.
“Obnoxious brat, most of the time,” Torrell had sniffed, out of her mother’s hearing range of course.
Jahrra had merely stifled a grin, for although Torrell had tried to seem serious, it was apparent that she loved her little sister dearly.
Jahrra tightened Phrym’s saddle, the sound of leather and buckles now occupying her thoughts. Once everything was in place she climbed onto Phrym’s back and turned to face her friends.
“Before I forget,” she said, “what are all of you doing for Sobledthe?”
The harvest holiday was still a few weeks off but Jahrra thought it best to get her plans in order early. After talking to Jaax about enjoying the entertainment the city of Lidien had to offer then having her friends stay over for the night, she was eager to finalize everything before her guardian had a chance to change his mind. To her surprise, however, he seemed to think it a great idea. That is, as long as he was present for the duration of the night.
“Of course you’ll be!” Jahrra had answered him in exasperation. “We need to stay up all night anyways and you promised to join us the next time I had friends over.”
She took a deep breath and nudged Phrym in the ribs to get him to move forward. Her friends followed suit with their own mounts.
“Depends,” Senton said in response to her question, “what have you got planned?”
She explained it to them; about venturing through the city to see what it had to offer then ending up back at Jaax’s estate on the hill.
“Jaax has promised to be there so you’ll have all night long to ask him whatever questions you’d like. That is, if you aren’t too afraid to,” she said, casting Torrell a mischievous grin.
Torrell crossed her arms and took on her domineering stance. “I wasn’t afraid, Jahrra. I just didn’t realize he would be so big, close up.”
Jahrra snorted a laugh and Dathian and Senton joined her.
The next few weeks passed by quickly. Jahrra’s history class was starting to broach subjects that she didn’t have any knowledge in yet, the concepts in her math class were becoming easier to grasp, and Anthar was taking his class on more and more field trips. One fine afternoon he even had them meet at the docks. From there they took a large sailing vessel out into the bay to search for fisher hawks, kelp trowp, and starglow sea pixies.
“Now, the kelp trowp are normally found in the kelp forests of the coast and open sea but since Lidien Bay is so large there are a few isolated schools here,” Anthar told them, his voice carrying over the lap of the water against the boat and the sharp snap of the wind whipping the sails.
“The starglow sea pixies are even harder to find, for they are small and elusive. The only reason we have them here in the bay is because of Felldreim’s magic. Otherwise, you’ll only find them in the warm waters of Torinn.”
Jahrra listened intently, jotting down notes in her journal as their professor spoke. The breeze was salty and cool, the essence of fall permeating the air. The waters of the bay spread out far around them, deep blue and crystal bright on the surface.
“Look! Over there!” someone shouted, holding up a pair of binoculars and pointing to a crop of pines clinging to the edge of the far shore. “A fisher hawk!”
Jahrra spun around in her excitement, and she would have fallen overboard if it hadn’t been for Dathian’s gentle hands grabbing her shoulders and steadying her. She blushed in embarrassment, murmuring her thanks as he gave her a short bow no one else seemed to notice.
Feeling slightly flustered, she untangled her binoculars from her neck and held them up. There, on the top of one of the trees perched an eagle, a glimmering fish clutched in its talons.
“Ah, wonderful!” Anthar said, his hooves thumping against the wooden deck. “Look at its coloring, beautiful! And look closely at its middle toe; shorter than the others so that it might grasp its prey better.”
Jahrra did, trying to memorize every detail from its rusty colored neck and legs to its brown wings, black tail and cream body. She gazed at it until it flew off to find a less open perch in order to finish its meal. Quickly, Jahrra sketched it in her journal, writing down every detail when she was finished.