Chapter 64: Control
Fifteen minutes before…
Within the carriage, five people sat waiting to reach their destination. Each had a different expression on their face. One was bored, one was patient and another impatient, and one of them who commanded the rest of the others, seemed to be sleeping. The scene looked to be totally normal, but unbeknownst to everyone else she was currently observing every unusual and miniscule change within a ten thousand meter radius.
Gayle was still closing her eyes, but her ears were slightly twitching to the direction of the east. The group of unknowns had already reached her surveillance range, but she wanted to observe their intentions in doing so. Surprisingly, they were heading towards their direction, albeit a little off. They didn’t have the accuracy to choose the most efficient and effortless path, and the group had to make numerous sudden changes so that they wouldn’t be slowed down by the terrain.
What this meant to Gayle, was that the group was most likely being given information by another force that had the capability to sense them. This revelation meant another thing, that there was an individual who could sense further than even herself, and yet remain hidden in the shadows.
‘A sensory type? Or a divination type?’
Gayle wondered to herself if she should unleash the combined powers of her bloodline to seek them out, but in the end she decided against it. Whether the group’s intentions were hostile or merely cautionary, she had to see, observe and judge first.
A soft, calm, but powerful voice rang out inside the carriage, awakening and spurring the stagnant group to follow her orders.
“A group is heading towards our destination. Gather Jasul, Layna and Relim from their respective carriages and have them activate their powers on standby.”
Conrad was the first to move. Despite his arrogance he deeply respected the girl and knew that her every command had purpose. He stepped out of the carriage and pushed himself off the stoney ground to reach the back parts of the convoy.
Kina and Dan were busy trying to wake themselves up, moving like sloths to step out of the carriage. Before they exited however, they asked Gayle a question.
“Are they hostile? Do we need to have everyone gathered?”
“Yeah! We’re pretty strong ourselves right? I bet our group of five could have handled them.”
Gayle turned her head towards them and responded.
“They could be hostile, and do you not remember the last time a few of you went off by yourselves?”
“Now, get going.”
Hearing her reply and being reminded of their actions, the two meekly stepped out of the carriage and obeyed her order.
Unlike them however, Pane was already outside and running towards one of the people he had to collect.
As everyone left, Gayle brought out a small flute from a pouch strapped to her left thigh. The instrument was only around three to four inches, but in her hands it magically enlarged to become two feet long. The flute was the color of midnight black, and when she blew air into the instrument, no sound was made…at least to the ears of those around her. Within two seconds of Gayle blowing air into the instrument, a loud sound of something landing on the carriage was heard.
Hearing this, Gayle rolled a small scroll of parchment and an ink pen with an owl’s feather at the end, before exiting out of the carriage.
“Reh-tom, be a dear for me and send this to our friend?”
The owl gently landed on her shoulder, letting her wrap the parchment onto her leg while the owl coddled its head next to Gayle’s. Seeing the parchment firmly stuck on her leg, the bird carefully left the girl’s shoulder, taking care not to injure her in the process. Gayle watched as the bird speedily flew to the very back of the convoy. Oddly enough, it was not at the same speed that Zan saw the owl fly, but it was the fastest that she knew it could.
Gayle still remembered when she told her mother she wanted to form a party, serve under the draconic heirs, and explore the world. What she really wanted to do was just to explore the world and nothing else, but she knew her mother would never allow that with the meager strength she had at the time. So telling her mother she would serve under the draconic heirs first, would allow her the resources and time to grow her strength. At least, that’s what she had in mind.
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Though of course, her mother vehemently refused.
“You want to serve a heir with how weak you are, little bird?”
“The brutality that happens between themselves and other nobility is comparable to the war that I was just in. And you want me to let you happily walk into that kind of conflict?”
The mature woman scoffed again at her daughter’s wishes.
“How many times have I told you that the world is dangerous?”
“Even I can’t explore some areas of the world without fearing for my life, and you, little bird, want to do that when you can’t even match up to a single finger on my hand.”
“Go finish your academy classes, and when you’re eighteen I’ll assign you a position on my personal task force.”
The mother completely denied her but her daughter was determined to live life the way she wanted to, and never backed down. Despite Gayle’s shy nature, there was a deep, soul level urge to be completely free. A fire in her heart that dreamed to get out of this cage called “home” and open her wings to the wide open mysterious world. With that burning resolve in her chest, the girl packed her bags, and in the middle of the night she ran away.
Unfortunately the same incredible sensory abilities that Gayle held, came from her mother, and in the end she was caught and experienced “physical re-education.” She was sore and bruised all over, but the girl was determined beyond reason, and she ran away over and over, experiencing a beating each time it happened. Seeing her daughter’s resolve, she was as frustrated as she was proud, and in the end she relented to her daughter’s wishes.
For the next year and a half, the former Royal Guardian of the Obscure Waterfall Pass personally trained her disciple to become strong enough to face the dangers of the war between the draconic heirs. In the process she discovered that the blood of the owl who saw through the darkness, and the blood of fire that radiated light, did not conflict and make her daughter weaker. Instead the powers combined in a way that even she could not figure out.
It was one of her longtime fears that the condemned love between her and her husband had birthed a child who was weak, frail and sickly. Whenever opposing powers married and became one, the result was often a sick child who could barely walk, or a stillbirth where the babe died within the womb.
Everyone was buzzing over the Dragon Princess of Ice, but no one talked about the dozens of sick children who could not make it to adulthood. Not to mention the hundreds of stillbirths that aimed to recreate the glory of her power and legacy, even if she did snap and heavily smashed both empires.
As a child, Gayle’s mother always carefully looked over her daughter, even though she didn’t know it. Everytime her daughter tripped or fell when she played, her heart would nervously thump in anxiousness that symptoms of weakness were finally appearing. When Gayle finally passed the age of thirteen, a sigh of relief passed her lips.
The ages of zero to twelve were the most frequent years that a child of disharmonious blood would die. Now she just had to wait until she passed eighteen, and she could confirm that Gayle didn’t have conflicting blood. Yet at the young age of fourteen this rebellious daughter wanted to serve a draconic heir!? She wanted to explore that dangerous world!?
‘You stupid daughter! When did I raise a dreamer!? When did I raise a fool!?’
The woman sighed.
‘...I will keep you safe, even if I have to injure you myself.’
Yet in the end, through the dozens of beatings, her daughter never gave up. The mother had to finally let go of control over the child she raised. In exchange though…she tested her resolve even further. She put her daughter through hellish training to make her give up, and each time Gayle fell, her heart broke and anxiety clouded her mind that this time, the symptoms of conflicting blood would appear.
To her surprise however, her daughter instead rose above all struggle. Instead of the symptoms of weakness and death that she was so scared would arise in her daughter, what she was shown was the blood of an incredible anomaly on par with the blood of the draconic princess of ice. Gayle didn’t have disharmonious, conflicting blood, but a never seen before union of darkness and light, wisdom and passion.
By the end of her training, Gayle’s mother was confident that her daughter had the power to serve under a draconic heir, and maybe even surpass one given enough time and experience. Yet…her heart was not totally free from all worry. Gayle did not have enough time or experience. She was young, passionate, and inexperienced. The world was large, and full of freaks of nature, anomalies, and outliers. Discovering Zan who was a major outlier capable of cutting her daughter’s life short was one such example.
On the final day that Gayle would leave, thoughts of breaking her daughter’s legs and keeping her in this town for all her life raced through the mother’s head. Now that she knew her daughter didn’t have disharmonious blood, she knew those legs of hers would heal in a month or two. Any hatred or grudge could be eased given the long years that time gave.
Relinquishing control over someone she loved was something she struggled with all her life. The former soldier and victim within her couldn’t handle any more people leaving her side. But…the moment she saw those twinkling, shining stars in Gayle’s eyes, she knew it in her heart and in her mind, that she had to let go. Those wounds and traumas she suffered during the war were her own, and it was not something she was going to let get in the way of her daughter’s dreams.
The eyes of the owl made for great observation of situations and character, but the way they worked was that the owl needed to turn its head, not move its eyes. In that way, it made it hard for them to look at themselves.
The very idea of serving under a draconic heir was a dreamer’s dream. Foolish, optimistic, and bound to get them killed. It was all but logical to stop her daughter from ever going into that dangerous conflict, much less that dangerous world she wanted to explore.
Yet in the same way, Gayle’s mother ignored the undeniable call of emotion. The same emotion that made her fall in love with her husband, was the same emotion that was running through her daughter’s veins when she said she wanted to explore the world. Realizing both her own wounds that made her want to control her daughter’s life, and the uncontrollable passion of human desire, she finally yet arduously, let her daughter go…but not before she gave her something.
“Wait.”
“Mother?”
“Take this, with you.”
In the next moment the woman pulled out a black, midnight flute, and summoned a large white owl with gaping eyes of void.
“It’s a guardian pet.”
“A guardian pet? But I’ve never heard of such a thing before?”
“Take it. Or you’re not allowed to leave.”
“Okay, okay! Fine! Geez.”
“What’s her name?”
“Her name?”
“Duh. Did you not name her?”
“...”
“Her name is…Reh-Tom.”
“She was my guardian pet during the war.”
“Odd name…but okay.”
“That’s how some of us from our generation named our pets.”
The owl flew to the girl’s shoulder and gently landed its sharp talons in an intricate and gentle way so that she would not get hurt.
“Goodbye, mother! I’ll make sure to visit every once in a while, okay?”
“Goodbye, little bird…”
“That one will make sure no one hurts you…”