A/N- This is the last chapter, sadly. Terribly sorry if you were thinking
it was good. I'm not good at writing stories over long periods of time,
short bursts and tiny little stories. Hope you enjoy it though, sorry it's
shorter than the others are, but I was expecting it to be only three, but
it turned out to be four on my computer! Yay for me! Anywho, hope ya'll
enjoy your read, and if they're any mistakes, I hope you figure them out,
just e-mail me at [email protected], ok? Thanks!
DISCLAIMER: I own any character not found in the books by TP.
Last Chapter: Jocelyn and her thief friend travel to the Swoop, on their way to Caynn, before the Swoop, they run into robbers. They get to the Swoop and decide that they really truly love each other, although they don't 'do it'.
Chapter Three: A Noble Sacrifice
ONE YEAR LATER:
Tarrien and I fell so deeply in love it was insane. But he seemed to know that my past was something that would bring us apart, now that we were together, so he never questioned it. We stayed at the Swoop for a few more days, and my skills with my Gift were honed to perfection. I could heal as well as Lady Alanna, perhaps better, she said, and I could make things grow and I could call light. I learned a lot being at the Swoop. Tarrien and I traveled back to Corus, where we lived together. I often went down to the Swoop, Caynn, and even a few times to the desert city Persopolis. We enjoyed that year together, just him and me, me and him- life was blissful, as is ignorance. I was forgetting about my old life, I was worrying about problems between here and the Southern continent. I began to worry about things I shouldn't have been worrying about. Tarrien asked me to marry him when I turned seventeen, and I agreed. We married down at the Swoop, with Lady Alanna and Baron George and everyone down there. I lost myself in everything that happened in Tortall, I left my truer self behind in America. We had a child; her name is Emily Jocelyn. Only an infant, with lovely dark brown hair, like me, black eyes and dark skin, slightly lighter than mine. Tarrien had insisted that she have my name, as though he knew that some day I would not be there. That had reminded me of my past. I had cried slightly when I thought that I would be leaving him and my daughter behind. Little Emily is a wonderful artist, playing in the mud after a rainstorm, drawing pictures in the mud. Emily loves Flare, my mare, and Tarrien and I take her on trips down to the Swoop to visit Lady Alanna. Once we got to see Numair Salmalín and Lady Daine. They were very nice, not to mention very odd and magical. Daine talked to Flare and found out many things about what I could to make my riding better. Unlike me, Flare remembered our past all too well, and she wanted to take riding lessons and be with Topaz, her best friend. I missed Jenny a lot, but I didn't think about her a lot because I was always so busy. I had never imagined falling in love, getting married, or having a little girl just yet. I had imagined waiting until I was in my mid twenties to have a baby. Trouble was stirring once again. I heard news of a certain Page Keledry, a girl Lady Alanna stormed off and refused to even think about going to Corus. Tarrien and I lived there while troubles broke out. We heard of the girl-pages triumphs and failures. And Tarrien kept in contact with the servants at the castle. We learned much of what was going on. I went to the palace every day to begin some work as healer. I learned more about my magic and I was often set to mixing balms and potions and vile healing liquids. I brought in some actual money- five silver crescents a day, which slowly amounted to Galleons. As the state of the realm slowly worsened, I began healing for real. The man in charge of the infirmary (I never met him, because I was considered a commoner) put me to work healing people, the least cases. As the workload expanded he put to harder and harder tasks. One day, when I was put to a person who needed to have a sliced muscle healed, I decided I wasn't needed. So I took my pay and I didn't come back the next day. Tarrien decided we needed a vacation, because I wasn't spending time at home anymore- home being the inn. We had been growing every so slightly and slowly apart since I began to work, and my brain denied it while my heart suffered. We went down to Persopolis to visit the beautiful city. I talked with the Bazhir about their history. Tarrien and I enjoyed many exciting nights there, and we then journeyed back to Corus with little Emily in tow. Emily grew, and grew, until she was able to stand and totter along. She smiled, and laughed, and giggled. Emily learned to speak tiny bits of conversation, as she became a year old. 'Mama' and 'Papa' were her first words, I had been so happy when she learned to speak. Another year passed, and Emily learned more and she grew, both physically and mentally. Tarrien said she looked just like me. We knew that troubles were rising more and more. It was on a trip to the Swoop that we got the first encounter. We were traveling down the road, walking along, so long as Emily slept. Three Spidrens leapt out of the woods. Tarrien fended them off pretty well, while I did my best with my magic to ward them off from Emily and myself. I used my magic to kill them, and it was an unpleasant feeling. But I knew that the cause was right, which was the only thing that kept me from fainting. I protected little Emily, but Tarrien was injured pretty badly by ones clawed arms. We rode swiftly to the Swoop, and little Emily awoke to cry most of the way there. Once we were safe within the walls of the Swoop I healed Tarrien, he needed healing, he had lost a lot of blood. Slowly the life seemed to come back into him. His scrapes and scratches disappeared while the worst of his cuts stopped bleeding. The muscles that had been severed in places became whole. Baron George greeted us with a wry smile. "It seems you two are always visiting," he sighed, "And that's why we have a room staked out for you. Alanna isn't in though, she'll be very busy, very, very busy what with the Immortals laying waste to our fair country," I had always noticed that George spoke much like Tarrien. I wondered if George had once been a commoner, it was possible that he might have been common, and then benobled. He probably had been a commoner, and then benobled, he spoke that oddly, to proper nobles. George and Alanna were anything but proper, in my opinion. But they were both quite kind, and that was something to me. We stayed at the Swoop until Tarrien was fully healed and his health restored. For the first time I finally got to meet Their children, Thom and the little twins, Thom was ten or eleven, by the look of him, and the twins looked to be only seven or eight. Thom had red hair as opposed to the blond twins. "I'm going to the palace to train to be a page next year!" Thom told me excitedly, "I was too young to go this year, so I get to go next year! And I'll be one of the oldest first years there!" I had smiled at his enthusiasm. Thom apparently didn't realize that he'd probably be expected to do as well as his mother. "When I become a knight, I'm going to help mother slay the evil Immortals, and we'll be helped by the good!" Thom seemed to realize exactly what was happening in the realm. The realm- I thought of my home in America, in the United States of America! A fresh wave of homesickness overcame me, and Thom must have seen it because he said, "What's wrong, Lady Jocelyn?" he asked me concerned. "I was just thinking about my home," I told him softly. "Where did you come from?" he asked eagerly, excited to hear about new lands. I knew that I could hardly tell him about my world, about electricity, television, computers, rap, rock- my kind of music in general. He wouldn't understand my world. Cars, fast food, hamburgers, and veggie burgers- different means of transportation and food, not to mention different kinds of stuff. Electronic battery-powered watches and clocks, batteries too, he wouldn't know what they were or how they worked. He wouldn't understand gymnastics, football, soccer, baseball, basketball, hockey, roller blading, skate boarding! He wouldn't understand horseback riding lessons, and jumping competitions, not to mention dressage- in fact people who are used to the idea don't get it. I settled on an answer that might provoke more questions, but vagueness would settle Thom's inexhaustible curiosity. "Far away, Thom, far, far, far away." I told him, staring off into the distance, thinking about what I'd be doing right now if I was in my world. I wondered if I'd been marked down as a missing person, or if I was presumed dead by murder or something. "What was it like there?" Thom asked, some how I'd had the feeling he might ask that. "It was beautiful, with open meadows and huge mountains. Huge cities, larger than Corus and Caynn, even Carthak in the south." I laughed suddenly. "What's so funny?" Thom ordered. "All of the cities I mentioned start with the letter 'C'." I explained the joke to him, Thom didn't seem to think it was all that funny, but he laughed slightly anyway. "Thom, leave Lady Jocelyn alone," Baron George called to Thom, "she has enough to do without you pelting her with questions!" " 'Enough to do', Baron?" I asked, standing up from the sandy beech where Thom and I had been conversing. "Little Emily is crying her heart out, time you put her back to sleep, no one can get th' little thing to be silent for more'n a second!" George explained. "I see," I told him, and I set off for the castle. "Good luck!" he called after me. I turned, and walking backwards, I laughed. "Oh, lass, ya laugh now, but wait until you're in little Emily's room, you'll go right deaf!" he shouted after me as I retreated out of the wind. "I'll laugh at you later, once I've gotten little Emily to sleep," I told him, yelling as well to make myself heard by the Baron and little Thom. When I did make it into the castle, I ran into Tarrien, who was pelting around, looking for something, by the frantic look on his face. "There you are!" he shouted, when he saw me entering the castle, heading up to the nursery, "You've got to quiet that child of yours!" he told me. "My child, hmm? I thought she was yours as well," I teased as I trotted on up the stairs. He rolled his eyes and followed me on up the stairs. "You can joke about such things, but you have a gift with that little 'un!" he told me indignantly. "Yes, I can. While you must suffer under our child's wrath," I told him my tone partially sarcastic. Tarrien opened his mouth but in the end seemed to decided against speaking. We finally reached the nursery, where Emily was balling out sobs to her little hearts content. "Shh! Shh, little one, mommy's hear now." I picked her up and carefully carried her over to the changing table. I took off her old diaper, and found that it was soiled. I cleaned her up and put on a fresh diaper, and in the meantime she stopped crying. She began to make noises again until I fed her, then she fell asleep. "I think we should go back to Corus by the end of next week." Tarrien said as we left the nursery, which was now quiet and peaceful. "I was planning on leaving tomorrow, Tarrien," I told him. "Tomorrow, eh? Fine, the sooner the better, then we get someone to look after her," he said, glancing over his shoulder at the closed nursery door. "Tarrien, you're twenty, you're getting a touch old to be a thief, why don't you look after her?" I said, my mind flashing back to my world again, I myself was eighteen now. "Don't say-" Tarrien began. "We both know its going to happen, it always does," I whispered, a tear leaking out of my eye. "But what if we don't let it?" he whispered back. "It will, you know how dangerous the world is right now, there's a way to unleash the immortals, there's a way for my past to catch up with me. We both know that, if it doesn't than the books are all wrong, if it does, it's not the end of the world. Just promise me you'll look after Emily and see that she goes to school and learns." "She will go to school, but, promise me you won't seek your past!" he sounded desperate. "Never, I don't want to go away," I told him.
We left at dawn the next morning, and that's when we had the second encounter. Some raiders surrounded us, and attacked us. We were easily outnumbered, at ten to two, not counting Emily. Six of them went onto Tarrien; four onto Emily and I. Flare reared and attacked, scared. I drew my dagger and, holding Emily in one arm, killed, I loved Emily and Tarrien enough to kill for their lives. One of the men on Tarrien was a Bowman; he stood back, waiting for a clear shot so he didn't kill his own men. Tarrien had already killed five of them, but he was bleeding and wounded, and he was only still alive because the bowmen hadn't attacked yet, because one of his men was in his way. I threw myself from Flare, running to Tarrien. Everything in my world suddenly seemed to come in slow motion. I knew Emily was safe on Flare. I saw Tarrien raise his knife, the raider held up his hands, knowing he was about to be killed. I saw Tarrien raise the knife, and slowly bring it down into the mans chest. I watched the mans eyes glaze over, and he slumped to the ground. The bowmen took quick aim and shot, aiming straight for Tarrien, but he didn't see. Tarrien only saw me, and I knew that he would realize the arrow too late. I threw myself in front of him, the arrow pierced threw my skin, I felt the pain, and the world speeded up again. Tarrien drew a dagger and threw it, hard, I heard it thud, as I felt the arrow, push itself deeper through my body as I slipped down to the ground. "Jocelyn!" Tarrien shook me; I felt his tears landing on my clothing as he wept. "Jocelyn, you said you wouldn't leave me! Jocelyn!" he cradled my body in his arms, and I knew I must give him my final message. "I'll never leave you." I croaked, it was hard to speak. "Emily, let Emily remind you of me," I whispered. "Emily? She's a babe, how can she be you?" he asked, hysterical. He didn't understand! How could make him understand? "Let me live on in Emily," I murmured, "You said. Emily." my voice was failing me, "look.like.me!" I finished, struggling. "Emily? No one can replace you!" he roared, his tears still falling thick. "Emily. not. replace." I struggled onward, I saw bright light, as though the sun were high in the sky, and I heard a different voice, Jenny's, I realized! Was Jenny already dead, welcoming me into heaven? How could two different worlds share the same heaven when they had different gods? "Emily. remind. of. me." I slowly reached up and touched his face, seeing it for the last time, "I'll. love. you. always." I felt his hand holding mine in place, against his cheek, as if he thought it would keep me alive. I knew it wouldn't. "Think. me. often." I whispered, and I felt my body stop working. I watched Tarrien through the eyes of my spirit, crying over my body. And I suddenly felt myself come alive again, I took in a deep breath. "Jocelyn! Hello?" called Jenny's all-too-familiar voice. "Hmm?" I asked, sitting up. I was no longer in my clothes from Tortall, I was in my riding clothes from that day so long ago, wait a minute- it was that day! I realized. My memory became so fuzzy. "God, don't fall off Flare like that and scare me to death! I thought you might've died!" Jenny screeched, Flare snuffled at me, and Topaz stood, eating nearby. "It's not nearly as scary as that dream I just had." I muttered. "I'm sure," Jenny said, hovering over me ever so slightly. "I'm fine, and no telling anyone I fell off!" I barked at her. "Tell me about that dream then," she said, giving me a leg-up into the saddle. Jenny had always been taller than me, so she easily mounted up onto Topaz without needing help. I told her the entire dream, and she found it kind of funny, not as serious as I had, but when I got to the end, she didn't find it so funny. "So you're telling me that you went back in time and through worlds, met this guy, found out that you had powerful magic, learned to use it, got married, had a baby, spent two years there, then sacrificed for your husband?" Jenny asked, completely skeptical. "I told you, it was a dream," I told her. "Dreams last a few seconds, even in them, you only think its a few minutes at the max, but a few years? And falling that deeply in love? You have the world's weirdest dreams! You ought to turn that into a book for the English fantasy/fiction short story." Jenny told me. "I think I will, and I think the main character will be you," I teased. "You had better not!" Jenny fumed. "Oh, I will!" I said, grinning. "You wouldn't dare!" "Yes I would!" I giggled. "I'll put you as my main character then!" she replied. "Enjoy!" I told her.
And we lived happily ever after, and in my dreams at night I found myself watching Tarrien raise up Emily, sending her to schools, and she married a nobleman, and became a truly loved member of the Tortallan court, or so my dreams say.
The End
DISCLAIMER: I own any character not found in the books by TP.
Last Chapter: Jocelyn and her thief friend travel to the Swoop, on their way to Caynn, before the Swoop, they run into robbers. They get to the Swoop and decide that they really truly love each other, although they don't 'do it'.
Chapter Three: A Noble Sacrifice
ONE YEAR LATER:
Tarrien and I fell so deeply in love it was insane. But he seemed to know that my past was something that would bring us apart, now that we were together, so he never questioned it. We stayed at the Swoop for a few more days, and my skills with my Gift were honed to perfection. I could heal as well as Lady Alanna, perhaps better, she said, and I could make things grow and I could call light. I learned a lot being at the Swoop. Tarrien and I traveled back to Corus, where we lived together. I often went down to the Swoop, Caynn, and even a few times to the desert city Persopolis. We enjoyed that year together, just him and me, me and him- life was blissful, as is ignorance. I was forgetting about my old life, I was worrying about problems between here and the Southern continent. I began to worry about things I shouldn't have been worrying about. Tarrien asked me to marry him when I turned seventeen, and I agreed. We married down at the Swoop, with Lady Alanna and Baron George and everyone down there. I lost myself in everything that happened in Tortall, I left my truer self behind in America. We had a child; her name is Emily Jocelyn. Only an infant, with lovely dark brown hair, like me, black eyes and dark skin, slightly lighter than mine. Tarrien had insisted that she have my name, as though he knew that some day I would not be there. That had reminded me of my past. I had cried slightly when I thought that I would be leaving him and my daughter behind. Little Emily is a wonderful artist, playing in the mud after a rainstorm, drawing pictures in the mud. Emily loves Flare, my mare, and Tarrien and I take her on trips down to the Swoop to visit Lady Alanna. Once we got to see Numair Salmalín and Lady Daine. They were very nice, not to mention very odd and magical. Daine talked to Flare and found out many things about what I could to make my riding better. Unlike me, Flare remembered our past all too well, and she wanted to take riding lessons and be with Topaz, her best friend. I missed Jenny a lot, but I didn't think about her a lot because I was always so busy. I had never imagined falling in love, getting married, or having a little girl just yet. I had imagined waiting until I was in my mid twenties to have a baby. Trouble was stirring once again. I heard news of a certain Page Keledry, a girl Lady Alanna stormed off and refused to even think about going to Corus. Tarrien and I lived there while troubles broke out. We heard of the girl-pages triumphs and failures. And Tarrien kept in contact with the servants at the castle. We learned much of what was going on. I went to the palace every day to begin some work as healer. I learned more about my magic and I was often set to mixing balms and potions and vile healing liquids. I brought in some actual money- five silver crescents a day, which slowly amounted to Galleons. As the state of the realm slowly worsened, I began healing for real. The man in charge of the infirmary (I never met him, because I was considered a commoner) put me to work healing people, the least cases. As the workload expanded he put to harder and harder tasks. One day, when I was put to a person who needed to have a sliced muscle healed, I decided I wasn't needed. So I took my pay and I didn't come back the next day. Tarrien decided we needed a vacation, because I wasn't spending time at home anymore- home being the inn. We had been growing every so slightly and slowly apart since I began to work, and my brain denied it while my heart suffered. We went down to Persopolis to visit the beautiful city. I talked with the Bazhir about their history. Tarrien and I enjoyed many exciting nights there, and we then journeyed back to Corus with little Emily in tow. Emily grew, and grew, until she was able to stand and totter along. She smiled, and laughed, and giggled. Emily learned to speak tiny bits of conversation, as she became a year old. 'Mama' and 'Papa' were her first words, I had been so happy when she learned to speak. Another year passed, and Emily learned more and she grew, both physically and mentally. Tarrien said she looked just like me. We knew that troubles were rising more and more. It was on a trip to the Swoop that we got the first encounter. We were traveling down the road, walking along, so long as Emily slept. Three Spidrens leapt out of the woods. Tarrien fended them off pretty well, while I did my best with my magic to ward them off from Emily and myself. I used my magic to kill them, and it was an unpleasant feeling. But I knew that the cause was right, which was the only thing that kept me from fainting. I protected little Emily, but Tarrien was injured pretty badly by ones clawed arms. We rode swiftly to the Swoop, and little Emily awoke to cry most of the way there. Once we were safe within the walls of the Swoop I healed Tarrien, he needed healing, he had lost a lot of blood. Slowly the life seemed to come back into him. His scrapes and scratches disappeared while the worst of his cuts stopped bleeding. The muscles that had been severed in places became whole. Baron George greeted us with a wry smile. "It seems you two are always visiting," he sighed, "And that's why we have a room staked out for you. Alanna isn't in though, she'll be very busy, very, very busy what with the Immortals laying waste to our fair country," I had always noticed that George spoke much like Tarrien. I wondered if George had once been a commoner, it was possible that he might have been common, and then benobled. He probably had been a commoner, and then benobled, he spoke that oddly, to proper nobles. George and Alanna were anything but proper, in my opinion. But they were both quite kind, and that was something to me. We stayed at the Swoop until Tarrien was fully healed and his health restored. For the first time I finally got to meet Their children, Thom and the little twins, Thom was ten or eleven, by the look of him, and the twins looked to be only seven or eight. Thom had red hair as opposed to the blond twins. "I'm going to the palace to train to be a page next year!" Thom told me excitedly, "I was too young to go this year, so I get to go next year! And I'll be one of the oldest first years there!" I had smiled at his enthusiasm. Thom apparently didn't realize that he'd probably be expected to do as well as his mother. "When I become a knight, I'm going to help mother slay the evil Immortals, and we'll be helped by the good!" Thom seemed to realize exactly what was happening in the realm. The realm- I thought of my home in America, in the United States of America! A fresh wave of homesickness overcame me, and Thom must have seen it because he said, "What's wrong, Lady Jocelyn?" he asked me concerned. "I was just thinking about my home," I told him softly. "Where did you come from?" he asked eagerly, excited to hear about new lands. I knew that I could hardly tell him about my world, about electricity, television, computers, rap, rock- my kind of music in general. He wouldn't understand my world. Cars, fast food, hamburgers, and veggie burgers- different means of transportation and food, not to mention different kinds of stuff. Electronic battery-powered watches and clocks, batteries too, he wouldn't know what they were or how they worked. He wouldn't understand gymnastics, football, soccer, baseball, basketball, hockey, roller blading, skate boarding! He wouldn't understand horseback riding lessons, and jumping competitions, not to mention dressage- in fact people who are used to the idea don't get it. I settled on an answer that might provoke more questions, but vagueness would settle Thom's inexhaustible curiosity. "Far away, Thom, far, far, far away." I told him, staring off into the distance, thinking about what I'd be doing right now if I was in my world. I wondered if I'd been marked down as a missing person, or if I was presumed dead by murder or something. "What was it like there?" Thom asked, some how I'd had the feeling he might ask that. "It was beautiful, with open meadows and huge mountains. Huge cities, larger than Corus and Caynn, even Carthak in the south." I laughed suddenly. "What's so funny?" Thom ordered. "All of the cities I mentioned start with the letter 'C'." I explained the joke to him, Thom didn't seem to think it was all that funny, but he laughed slightly anyway. "Thom, leave Lady Jocelyn alone," Baron George called to Thom, "she has enough to do without you pelting her with questions!" " 'Enough to do', Baron?" I asked, standing up from the sandy beech where Thom and I had been conversing. "Little Emily is crying her heart out, time you put her back to sleep, no one can get th' little thing to be silent for more'n a second!" George explained. "I see," I told him, and I set off for the castle. "Good luck!" he called after me. I turned, and walking backwards, I laughed. "Oh, lass, ya laugh now, but wait until you're in little Emily's room, you'll go right deaf!" he shouted after me as I retreated out of the wind. "I'll laugh at you later, once I've gotten little Emily to sleep," I told him, yelling as well to make myself heard by the Baron and little Thom. When I did make it into the castle, I ran into Tarrien, who was pelting around, looking for something, by the frantic look on his face. "There you are!" he shouted, when he saw me entering the castle, heading up to the nursery, "You've got to quiet that child of yours!" he told me. "My child, hmm? I thought she was yours as well," I teased as I trotted on up the stairs. He rolled his eyes and followed me on up the stairs. "You can joke about such things, but you have a gift with that little 'un!" he told me indignantly. "Yes, I can. While you must suffer under our child's wrath," I told him my tone partially sarcastic. Tarrien opened his mouth but in the end seemed to decided against speaking. We finally reached the nursery, where Emily was balling out sobs to her little hearts content. "Shh! Shh, little one, mommy's hear now." I picked her up and carefully carried her over to the changing table. I took off her old diaper, and found that it was soiled. I cleaned her up and put on a fresh diaper, and in the meantime she stopped crying. She began to make noises again until I fed her, then she fell asleep. "I think we should go back to Corus by the end of next week." Tarrien said as we left the nursery, which was now quiet and peaceful. "I was planning on leaving tomorrow, Tarrien," I told him. "Tomorrow, eh? Fine, the sooner the better, then we get someone to look after her," he said, glancing over his shoulder at the closed nursery door. "Tarrien, you're twenty, you're getting a touch old to be a thief, why don't you look after her?" I said, my mind flashing back to my world again, I myself was eighteen now. "Don't say-" Tarrien began. "We both know its going to happen, it always does," I whispered, a tear leaking out of my eye. "But what if we don't let it?" he whispered back. "It will, you know how dangerous the world is right now, there's a way to unleash the immortals, there's a way for my past to catch up with me. We both know that, if it doesn't than the books are all wrong, if it does, it's not the end of the world. Just promise me you'll look after Emily and see that she goes to school and learns." "She will go to school, but, promise me you won't seek your past!" he sounded desperate. "Never, I don't want to go away," I told him.
We left at dawn the next morning, and that's when we had the second encounter. Some raiders surrounded us, and attacked us. We were easily outnumbered, at ten to two, not counting Emily. Six of them went onto Tarrien; four onto Emily and I. Flare reared and attacked, scared. I drew my dagger and, holding Emily in one arm, killed, I loved Emily and Tarrien enough to kill for their lives. One of the men on Tarrien was a Bowman; he stood back, waiting for a clear shot so he didn't kill his own men. Tarrien had already killed five of them, but he was bleeding and wounded, and he was only still alive because the bowmen hadn't attacked yet, because one of his men was in his way. I threw myself from Flare, running to Tarrien. Everything in my world suddenly seemed to come in slow motion. I knew Emily was safe on Flare. I saw Tarrien raise his knife, the raider held up his hands, knowing he was about to be killed. I saw Tarrien raise the knife, and slowly bring it down into the mans chest. I watched the mans eyes glaze over, and he slumped to the ground. The bowmen took quick aim and shot, aiming straight for Tarrien, but he didn't see. Tarrien only saw me, and I knew that he would realize the arrow too late. I threw myself in front of him, the arrow pierced threw my skin, I felt the pain, and the world speeded up again. Tarrien drew a dagger and threw it, hard, I heard it thud, as I felt the arrow, push itself deeper through my body as I slipped down to the ground. "Jocelyn!" Tarrien shook me; I felt his tears landing on my clothing as he wept. "Jocelyn, you said you wouldn't leave me! Jocelyn!" he cradled my body in his arms, and I knew I must give him my final message. "I'll never leave you." I croaked, it was hard to speak. "Emily, let Emily remind you of me," I whispered. "Emily? She's a babe, how can she be you?" he asked, hysterical. He didn't understand! How could make him understand? "Let me live on in Emily," I murmured, "You said. Emily." my voice was failing me, "look.like.me!" I finished, struggling. "Emily? No one can replace you!" he roared, his tears still falling thick. "Emily. not. replace." I struggled onward, I saw bright light, as though the sun were high in the sky, and I heard a different voice, Jenny's, I realized! Was Jenny already dead, welcoming me into heaven? How could two different worlds share the same heaven when they had different gods? "Emily. remind. of. me." I slowly reached up and touched his face, seeing it for the last time, "I'll. love. you. always." I felt his hand holding mine in place, against his cheek, as if he thought it would keep me alive. I knew it wouldn't. "Think. me. often." I whispered, and I felt my body stop working. I watched Tarrien through the eyes of my spirit, crying over my body. And I suddenly felt myself come alive again, I took in a deep breath. "Jocelyn! Hello?" called Jenny's all-too-familiar voice. "Hmm?" I asked, sitting up. I was no longer in my clothes from Tortall, I was in my riding clothes from that day so long ago, wait a minute- it was that day! I realized. My memory became so fuzzy. "God, don't fall off Flare like that and scare me to death! I thought you might've died!" Jenny screeched, Flare snuffled at me, and Topaz stood, eating nearby. "It's not nearly as scary as that dream I just had." I muttered. "I'm sure," Jenny said, hovering over me ever so slightly. "I'm fine, and no telling anyone I fell off!" I barked at her. "Tell me about that dream then," she said, giving me a leg-up into the saddle. Jenny had always been taller than me, so she easily mounted up onto Topaz without needing help. I told her the entire dream, and she found it kind of funny, not as serious as I had, but when I got to the end, she didn't find it so funny. "So you're telling me that you went back in time and through worlds, met this guy, found out that you had powerful magic, learned to use it, got married, had a baby, spent two years there, then sacrificed for your husband?" Jenny asked, completely skeptical. "I told you, it was a dream," I told her. "Dreams last a few seconds, even in them, you only think its a few minutes at the max, but a few years? And falling that deeply in love? You have the world's weirdest dreams! You ought to turn that into a book for the English fantasy/fiction short story." Jenny told me. "I think I will, and I think the main character will be you," I teased. "You had better not!" Jenny fumed. "Oh, I will!" I said, grinning. "You wouldn't dare!" "Yes I would!" I giggled. "I'll put you as my main character then!" she replied. "Enjoy!" I told her.
And we lived happily ever after, and in my dreams at night I found myself watching Tarrien raise up Emily, sending her to schools, and she married a nobleman, and became a truly loved member of the Tortallan court, or so my dreams say.
The End