Avlin Circle

A young girl landed on the ground with a thud. Groaning, she stood up pulling straw colored hair from her eyes. “Wh-where am I?”

Elina looked around her, she definitely was somewhere she wasn’t supposed to be.Clear blue eyes took in her surroundings. This part of the woods had an odd feeling to it….like it wasn’t quiet attached to everything. She’d been running down a path when she’d heard the strangest sound, something like a scream and glass breaking but in one sound. Elina had been about to stop to see what was the matter when something had passed directly infornt of her. Unable to stop she’d closed her eyes expecting to run into whatever it was, instead Elina had fallen down some kind of hole and ended up here.

‘And where IS here?’ she wondered. She raised her hand and looked at it through the blue-white mist. ‘I wonder if I’m close to the ocean’

Looking to her left she saw two forms emerging from the mist. One was a woman and the other a young man. They were nearly infront of Elina before they seemed to see her.

“Um, hello?” Elina had called when they stopped.

The woman walked closer and Elina could see now that she had light yellow hair bound in a tight braid. She could see that it fell just below her waist. Looking now to her body Elina noted the contrast between the yellow hair and the red suit she wore. It appeared to be some sort of protective covering.

“I’m Elina… Elina Malacary.” She said, hoping the name would spark recognition. It didn’t.

The woman’s grey-green eyes stared at her calmly, "How did you get here?"

Looking at the ground Elina said softly “I….don’t know.”

"Really? How very….interesting…”

Elina shifted her weight from one foot to the other, “Umm…miss…do you think you could tell me how to get back?”

The yellow hair tilted her head to one side, “Get back? To where?”

Wondering just how far she ran Elina answered her, “I-I well I am in New York city at the moment…rehearsing for my competition you see…”

“New York City?” The woman asked, pausing for a moment and then her eyes widened and sparkled, “You’re a daughter of Eve! A Terran!” she looked at Elina as though she were a puzzle that needed figuring out.

‘A daughter of Eve? I’ve heard of that before,’ she thought, ‘I read that in The Chronicles of Narnia and even in a few of the older books in father’s library. But, what was a Terran? Maybe she’s in some sort of theatre group…’

“Yes…”

“How did you get here?”

Elina sighed and crossed her arms, “I’ve told you I DON’T know. Now if you could be so kind as to direct me to the nearest path out of the park that would be wonderful or at least let me use your cell phone to call my mother.”

“You’re already on a path and I haven’t a clue what a...a uh sell fone is but I could try to find one of you’d like…” she said studying Elina and looking fascinated.

“You don’t know what a cell phone is? Are you not from around here?” she asked.

“No I’ve lived here for some years now, it’s the first time I’ve seen one of you though. I didn’t know there was a way to get in.” The yellow hair stroked her braide and smiled at the young man beside her who look just as eager.

“A way to get in where?”

“To Nevyar of course. Well actually we’re in the woods right outside of Nevyar, belongs to the kings eldest you know. Were you trying for the castle? If you were you’re off by at least an hour.”

“Er….Nevyar? King? How far away am I?”

The woman blinked, “I said at least an hour. Here lets get you some clean clothes, these look as though you’ve worn them for days.”

The man beside her nodded.

Elina looked down at her red sweatshirt and jeans. The were dirty and her jeans had a tear in them. She took a deep breath and looked at the woman in the eyes, “Okay, so where EXACTLY am I?”

“In Nevyar, capital of Heaven’s Gate, homeland of the High King and seventh world in the series. Where did you think you were?”

Elina would have answered if she hadn’t fainted.

* * *

Elina sat up with a jolt. She was in bed and it was nighttime. ‘Was it a dream?’ Pulling down the covers she could see it was not. Her sweatshirt and jeans were gone replaced with olive colored night clothes. Rubbing her eyes she tried to make sense of the shapes in the dark.

“Are you awake?” asked a voice from the darkness.

She jumped, there to her right sat the young man she’d seen earlier.

“Don’t be frightened.” He said quietly, lighting a candle.

As his face swam into focus Elina tried to calm her heart.

“D-don’t do that.” She said taking a deep breath and lying back down.

“I’m sorry if I surprised you.” The man said in a cheery voice. He leaned forward into the light and Elina caught her breath. His hair was white as an old man’s.

‘I wonder how old he is…’ Elina closed her eyes, his image still in her mind and fell to sleep.

* * *

“Mistress…why did we bring the girl here?”

The yellow hair, leaning against the fireplace, looked up. “I’ve never met one before. I want to find out what their like. And beside that we must find her a way back. Terrans aren’t supposed to have a way into our world.”

At the small table in the middle of the room a figure sat up. “A Terran?” it asked excitedly, “You’ve brought me a Terran?”

“Well it sort of brought itself.” Said the young man, laughing.

“Well where is it Koryn? Let me see it!”

“Not until later Iemara. It’s a lot to take in, let her sleep.” The yellow hair said sharply.

“So it’s a girl Terran, how delightful…”

“Iemara, I don’t want you telling anyone about the girl alright? We’re going to get her back to the fifth world.”

Koryn walked across the grass floor and stood beside her. “Cyra? How are we going to do this? The towers are bound to know someone’s come in aren’t they?”

Twirling her braid Cyra stared into the flames. “Yes…they’ll have known.” She sighed a bit. “I supposed we’ll have to take her to Nevyar. Maybe if the High King pardons her…maybe then we’ll be able to return her….”

“That’s an idea.” Koryn smiled and wrapped his arms around Cyra, “My mistress ALWAYS knows what to do.”

Cyra gave a wiry smile and rested her hand on the arm of her servant.

“Just wondering,” said Iemara walking into the firelight, “How do you expect to gain audience with the High King? Now, I don’t know many High Kings but I’m reasonably sure he wont want to be seeing someone who refused his request for her to join his mages and then refused again when he ordered her to join.”

Cyra leaned over and pulled out a strand of Iemara’s purple hair.

“Ow that hurt!”

“I know. And THAT is how.”

“What does she mean?” Iemara asked looking from Koryn to Cyra.

Koryn smiled, “The mistress has many secrets.”

* * *

Elina yawned and streched. "What time is it...?" she asked no one in particualar reaching for her alarm clock.

"Morning." answered Koryn, leaning against the door.

"O-oh. Thanks." 'I cant believe I forgot where I was...' she thought, sitting up and running her fingeres through her hair.

"There are hair things and paint in the washroom to your left and day clothes in the room to your right. We werent sure what level clothing you would wear so Cyra brought you some of her older clothes. They are level three." Koryn walked over to the bed and sat a tray next to her on the nightstand. "Tea, to wake you up." he said smiling.

Elina reached for the tea and pulled down her bed covers. As he walked out of the room Elina studdied his hair. 'He seems so young I wonder why his hair is white.'

In the room to the left Elina found a brush, a comb, ribbons and a bronze hand mirror. After pulling her hair into two braids and fastening them with two blue ribbons she examined the make-up. Clear gloss in a green container look promising. 'My lips you think?' she rubbed it on lightly. Picking up the mirror she saw her lips had become a darker shade of pink. 'Well, now to get dressed I should think.'

As Elina walked out of the washroom she look around her bedroom. There was a big bed on the wall to the right where she'd slept, a dresser along the back wall next to the dressing room and a beautiful carpet on the floor. 'I wonder if these people are rich...'

“Do you like it?”

Startled Elina looked towards the door. It was the yellow hair. As the woman walked across the floor Elina noticed she wore the same thing as yesterday, ‘Maybe it’s a uniform…’

The yellow hair smiled, “It was a gift. We should get you some clothes shouldn’t we? This way.”

Elina followed her into the dressing room.

“Now, I didn’t know what level you were so I hope level three will do.”

Elina didn’t have the slightest clue what she was talking about. ‘Level three?’

“Here we go. What would you like to wear?”

Peering over her shoulder Elina smiled. In the wardrobe hung sleeves, shirts, coats, scarves and pants. Picking up a yellow sleeve she saw that it was made up of the same fabric used on her bedclothes.

“See anything you like?”

Elina nodded. She chose a yellow shirt of light fabric, red sleeves and a grey and green coat to wear over the shirt, then she picked yellow pants to match the shirt. “How’s this?” she asked the yellow hair.

The woman smiled, “That will do fine. When you’ve dressed come to the kitchen and we’ll give you some food.”

Smiling Elina hurried to put on the clothes which proved far more difficult then she’d first imagined. The shirt had three brass buttons in the back yet tied in the front and the pants had slits the whole way down on the outside. Finally dressed she walked out of her room and down the hallway. ‘now, which is the kitchen?’

She got it right on her first try. Opening a little blue door she walked into the kitchen, but it wasn’t like any kitchen she’d seen before. The floor was made of grass! She could see a little table of glass in the middle of the room and sitting on one side was the oddest person. It was a woman she could tell, a woman with yellow eyes and purple hair. ‘Maybe that’s normal here…’

“Go on. Sit down and I’ll bring you something to drink.” Said young man with white hair, smiling and gesturing to the table.

Nodding Elina made her way across the grass floor and sat opposite the woman with the purple hair.

“A Terran huh? How’d you do it? No! Don’t tell me! Wow…” the stranger said examining her.

“Iemara, let her be!” the yellow hair said yanking back the strange womans hair.

“Ow! Okay, okay! Geez…”

“Here you go, girl.” The boy brushed back his white hair and laid Elina’s tray on the table. On it Elina saw boiled eggs, applesauce, fried mushrooms, cheese, toast and milk.

“Oooh! Thank you so much!” she said before stuffing as much food into her mouth as possible.

“Ha, I thought you might be hungry.” He said winking.

Elina found out that the yellow hair's name was Cyra and that this was once her home. Iemara, the woman with the purple hair, lived here now and knew Cyra from school. 'We were rivals of a sort,' Iemara had explained, 'both top of the class you know? But alas, Cyra always managed to outdo me.'

'Of course I did, I'm better then you.' Cyra said, laughing.

"Mistress has a sharp tongue." the white haired boy had said quietly.

'And you sir, have far too much cheek.' Cyra replied in a stern voice, but Elina could tell she was only kidding.

"Are you brother and sister?" Elina asked.

"Them? Related? No no no, Koryn is Cyra's servant, a soul slave."

"What?!" Elina asked Iemara in shock.

Looking up from his cup of tea Koryn smiled, "Dont fret miss, I love Cyra. She saved my life and now I am repaying my debt to her and dont you think bad of her either," he said, seeing the look on Elina's face, "She's offered me my freedom but I REFUSE."

Cyra grinned, "Yes, he's rather stubborn....cant think of why I keep him around....maybe I should just leave him somewhere..."

"Mistress you cant mean that!" Koryn said, gasping and almost spilling his tea.

Elina giggled. 'They all seem so close.'

"Now, as for you. Whats your name Terran?" Iemara demanded.

"Oh!" Elina said, cheeks flushing. She'd completely forgotten to introduce herself. "I'm Elina, Elina Malacary."

"Is that right?" Iemara asked Cyra who glanced over.

"Hmm? Yes, thats the name she said."

"And you are of what age?" Iemara asked, continuing her interrogation.

"My fifthteenth. I'll be having my sixteenth birthday in two months."

"Ah, so you ARE of age. And, what do you do?"

"What do I do?"

"Your skills, your trade. Do you have a use girl?"

Now she understood. "I'm an iceskater. I'm to be in the Olympics this next year," she saw Iemara's confused look, "its a compettion where the best of every..er...trade from every country comes to compete. If you win a gold medal you are the best of that spo- trade in the world."

Iemara's eyes widened, "Best in the world? And you're to be in this 'competion'?"

Elina nodded, "Yes ma'am."

Iemara and Cyra exchanged amused glances.

"Well, would you like to come with us to the market? Buy some things?" Cyra asked with an air of mystery.

[more to come, but I'm starving so it has to wait lol]