A Day in the Life

by Themis56

Themis56@aol.com.

This is a story about Rosa’s life before the game’s beginning. It tells how she became to be a White Wizard, and tells how she met...certain people. :) How come nobody ever writes about Rosa?! Why, in fact, don’t people ever write about FF IV at all?! It’s a great game! All I see is FFVII and FFVIII! Ha! Mere upstarts, if you ask me!

Not to all FFVII and VIII fanatics: J/K! But FFIV is a classic, and I hate seeing it so neglected!

BTW, don’t expect a lot of action scenes, but there is a little political juggling now and then. I hope you like it!

Rosa and other related characters of FFII are property of Squaresoft. Aelia is my character, so I guess she’s under my copyright! Law--who needs it?--Themis56

PART 1

The first rays of the sun peered timidly from behind the rugged mountain chains that surrounded the castle/town of Baron, throwing thin, slender slices of rays down onto the town, which, even at this early hour, was already hustling and bustling.

For Baron was a bustling, thriving town on its up way up in the world; it was even closing in on the glory and power of mighty Tororia. And the people, who knew this fact all too well, willingly broke their backs to keep the status quo where it was. Smoke poured out of the stacks from the blacksmith shops, the clacking of the weavers’ looms resonated throughout the city, people set up booths in the market place and hawked all sorts of wares from all countries.

However, one resident of this booming city was not working today...or at least, not right at this moment.

She was neither tall nor short, and her frame was slender, but the awkwardness of early teenage years made her seem scrawny. Her face was pale, almost without pigment, but it went wonderfully well with her thick aureate hair. Two watery blue eyes were set prominently in her face, but right now those eyes were riveted on a small stream that meandered through the woods.

The girl watched the water-bugs skidding across the rippling surface of the water, and she peered down at the little minnows flashing here and there between rocks. Occasionally she caught site of a crawdad. When she saw one of these, she would reach down and, with a deft flick of the wrist, snatch the shellfish and flip it onto the grassy shore, where it would be promptly snatched up again and placed inside a covered wicker basket.

Unfortunately, the crawdads were not being cooperative today and the girl really didn’t have her heart in the task, so she had only managed to catch three of the ugly things in two hours. Giving up the task for hopeless, the teenager silently rolled onto her back, placed her hands behind her golden head, and merely gazed up at the sky, only partly visible due to the canopy of leaves from the trees.

She hadn’t been relaxing very long when the sound of heavy footsteps made her start, her eyes jerking open. At first, she saw only the heavy boot that was placed mere inches from her nose, but as her gaze quickly darted upward, her beating heart lessened its frantic pace a bit.

"Cid!" the girl managed to gasp, still a bit startled but smiling, "don’t do that!"

"Eh!" the short, stocky man grinned down at her with large, square teeth that were almost as shiny as the glint from his large goggles, "Ya know ya like being scared, Rosie! Don’t pretend that ya don’t." Cid plopped himself down next to Rosa with a huge thud that almost literally shook the ground; the Engineer was short, but he was heavy.

"So, what brings you here, Cid?" Rosa inquired, sitting up and dusting the grass off her simple, homespun clothing.

"Well, sweetie, yer Mama’s gettin’ kinda flustered right now, wonderin’ where you are...She’s been lookin’ all over Baron fer ya! She’s grumbling about some chores that need doin’, so, bein’ the friend o’ the family I am, I decided to let ya know..."

A small cry escaped Rosa’s throat as she scrambled to her feet: "Oh, by all the Blue Planet! She told me that she needed me today! Oh, she’s gonna kill me!"

"By the look on her face, I’d say that’s what she’d do, all right!" Cid chortled, his goggled eyes gleaming wickedly, "If I were you, I’d vamoose and get back to town before that woman tears everything up lookin’ fer ya! Don’t worry! I’ll arrange the funeral if things are as bad as they seem."

Rosa didn’t have time to answer, even if she could retort--she settled for giving the burly Engineer as nasty a look as she could give before turning around and darting off towards Baron.

"Hey! What about your little buggers, here?" Cid called after her, holding up the basket.

"Just keep them!" Rosa hollered back, already a good distance away. Cid chuckled again and looked down at the three pathetic dead crawdads in the basket, licking his lips all the while.

"Free lunch! Oh, bless that sweet girl! Someone up there likes me!"

***********

Rosa ran all the way through the woods to Baron, never stopping once. It was quite understandable that when she reached the city, she was red in the face and disheveled looking--not a pretty sight. And her mother, who was waiting in the doorway of their house, her face like a thundercloud, let her know it the moment she arrived.

"Bahamut’s Blood, girl! You’re quite a picture!" Rosa’s mother, a rather formidable matron, frowned darkly at the girl. Rosa had learned long ago never to make excuses to her mother, or to apologize; instead, she simply bowed her head and took the full blow.

Rosa loved her mother dearly, and she knew that her mother loved her, it was simply the fact that Delia Farrell had the work ethic of an entire anthill, and expected the same from all of her family. Even her husband, the late Sir Gharri Farrell, had not escaped the critical tongue of his wife. And since the death of the gentle, soft-spoken Sir Farrell, Rosa’s mother now had only her gangly, and, to her view, somewhat lazy daughter to harp on.

"I told you many times earlier this week that today was an important cleaning day, you silly girl," Delia Farrell continued in a softer and less stern voice, "But you always forget! What am I going to do with you, Rosie? Tack notes to your forehead with a nail?"

"I don’t always forget," Rosa protested, smiling her gentle, warm smile, "I didn’t forget last week. I think my record’s gone up the past few months."

"Only because Cid goes after and reminds you!" her mother snorted, "But even I thought you wouldn’t forget today because..."

"Oh, Delia, lay off, why don’t you? Today’s a day of rejoicing! And why? Because..." another voice, lower and less strident, complete with Agartian drawl, came from behind the two females at the door. Suddenly, with a flash of purple and scarlet, a figure playfully jerked Delia Farrell back into the house and took her place, holding its arms open wide.

"Aelia Farrell is heeeere!" the woman sang out, enveloping Rosa in a crushing embrace, making tears come to the young girl’s shining blue eyes.

"Hullo, Aunt Aelia!" Rosa gasped when she released, smiling widely up at the woman before her, her eyes sparkling.

Aelia was a giantess of a woman, almost reaching the six foot mark, and her appearance was exotic and a bit strange, for it looked as if all the nations of the Blue Planet had contributed something in making her. She had the olive skin of a Fabul karate fighter; her face was sharp-featured and broad just like a Tororian; her black hair and accent were products of her own hometown, Agart; and she had the almond-shaped, slightly slanted eyes of an Eblan ninja.

Her clothing was exotic, too, for it was the light, slightly baggy clothing of an Eblanian, and it was dyed such a dark purple that it almost seemed black. A bright maroon cape and sash topped off the outfit. In the midst of the elegant, genteel fashions of Baron, she looked like a walking disaster area. Baronians had little taste for foreign countries.

"So, how was your trip to Silveria?" Rosa inquired, clasping her hands together; Aelia was always full of tales of her diplomatic adventures.

"Oh, it was a sight, I can tell you!" Aelia laughed, putting an arm around Rosa’s shoulders and leading her towards the door, "Did you know that every single resident of Silveria is either a frog, a Small Person, or a pig?"

"No! That can’t be true!" Rosa shot her aunt a look that said: give me a break.

"No, I swear it! You don’t believe me?" Aelia grinned, arching a dark eyebrow; suddenly, she turned around and shouted out, "HEY, CID!! IS IT TRUE ABOUT THE PEOPLE IN SILVERIA?!"

Cid, who had just returned to town and had been walking home, looked across the street at the owner of the voice, laughed, and shook his head.

"NO! Of course not! Don’t believe a word that woman says, Rosa! She’s a filthy liar! All of them Agartians are!" Cid returned, spitting on the ground for emphasis.

"Oh, thank you so much, Pollendina! Thank you so bloody much! Come over here, you freakish dwarf, and let me talk to you! Come in for something to drink!" Aelia laughed, beckoning to the Engineer.

"It’s all right, Cid! I’ll make sure she won’t hurt you!" Rosa piped up merrily. Her aunt’s presence here made everything seem happier, brighter, more pleasant. You simply could not keep a straight face with Aunt Aelia; you were usually laughing or smiling as you shot back insults at her. And when Cid and Aelia locked horns...well, it was even better than watching a Meteo spell. Rosa sighed happily and turned to go inside to set the table for company.

**********

"So, Pollendina, how goes that crazy project of yours?" Aelia arched an inquiring eyebrow as she set down her mug of apple cider.

" ‘Crazy’?! Ya think my airship is crazy?!" Cid demanded, slamming his own mug down and glaring from his goggles; Rosa’s mother, alarmed by the overly dramatic response, began to wring her hands. Although Cid was a friend of the Farrell family, Delia didn’t enjoy it when he was in her house...at least not when he was getting rather tipsy with cider, anyway.

"I’m tellin’ ya, Aelia, it’s gonna be the best thing ever invented! I’ve almost finished! And when I get one of those babies up in the air, the whole world’s gonna be changed! Think o’ it! No more riding dirty, ugly chocobos everywhere! Traveling over the oceans will take only hours! And, to top it all off, it’s gonna let people fly!! It’ll change everything, I tells ya!" Cid continued, roaring at the top of his lungs.

"Oh, yeah, it’ll change everything all right!" Aelia snorted, her slanted eyes now looking a tad uneasy, "Provided that you get one off the ground. I’ll believe it when I see it with my own eyes."

"Oh, please. What’s wrong with you two?" Rosa sighed, cutting off Cid’s response, "How did you ever get along when you were in the Academy?" She decided it would be best to steer the conversation away from the present subject; Cid was always touchy about people making fun of his inventions, whether they were actually in existence or no.

"Because my brother was there," Aelia retorted a bit tartly, crossing her arms dramatically and giving Cid a good glare, "Cid didn’t dare pull anything on me when he was around...but the moment his back was turned..."

"Then I gave you all hell, didn’t I?" Cid returned with a triumphant grin, "Yeah...Gharri was the tops, all right. Nice, friendly, a hell-demon with a sword...why couldn’t you be more like him, Aelia? Eh?"

"That’s what my teachers always said to me," Aelia sighed, a small smile flickering on her face. Every time she and Cid spoke, the subject of the conversation always turned towards the late Sir Farrell.

"Oh, will you stop talking about that?!" Delia Farrell demanded suddenly, leaning forward in her seat, a terrible look on her face, "All you two ever talk about is Gharri! He’s dead! Why must you bring him up?"

"Mama, please, stop it!" Rosa hissed in a frightened voice, tugging imploringly at her mother’s sleeve.

"Delia, he was my brother! I think that I have the right to talk about the man! If you don’t like being reminded, my dear sister-in-law, then I suggest you not hang around when Cid and I talk about him!" Aelia snapped, her brows furrowing.

Rosa felt her cheeks burn brightly as she fidgeted in her chair, twisting the cloth of her dress into a sweaty knot. ‘Why, oh why do they have to argue in front of company? Why do they even have to argue at all?’ she thought wildly, casting an apologetic glance at Cid. The Engineer returned the glance, gave her a little nod of understanding, and proceeded to rise from the table.

"Er..If you’ll all excuse me now...I’ve got to work on lotsa stuff...You how the King’s driving me like a donkey nowadays. Thank ya much for yer hospitality, Mrs. Farrell. Rosie, you take care now, and don’t ferget to do yer chores next time! And Aelia, am I gonna see you at the castle tomorrer?" Cid stammered out, shuffling from one foot to the other and giving his childhood friend a timorous glance.

"I’m afraid not, my good man! I’ve been riding all week, and I expect to have some rest and relaxation with my niece tomorrow! But after tomorrow, expect me to be there! And next time, we’ll get our refreshments at the castle cafe! Seems we can’t talk about the good old times in private." Aelia shot Delia a glance as she said these words; the good matron fumed silently, obviously restraining her tongue with great difficulty.

A small groan escaped Rosa’s lips; trust Aunt Aelia to make the situation worse. How could a woman so talented at handling perfect strangers be so tactless with her own family? Rosa shook her head silently and hastily gathered up the assorted cups and saucers to take them into the kitchen for washing.

As she scrubbed the dishes, Rosa heard the faint sounds of voices from the next room: harsh, hissing voices. One eye flinched as she scrubbed the dishes even harder, drowning out all other sounds.

********

"Riiise and shiine!"

The loud voice singing right into her ear jerked Rosa from her sleep, making her shoot up to a sitting position with a small shriek.

"Well, that gotcha up! No one can resist my lovely singing voice, can they? I should be in the o-per-a!" Aelia beamed down at her niece, a wicked gleam in her eyes.

"You wouldn’t get very far if you made everyone who heard you sing stone deaf! Oh, Aunt Aelia, I think you’ve shot my right ear," Rosa glared up at the mischievous woman hovering above her, grasping tightly at her ear is if merely doing that would make the buzzing sensation go away.

"Oh, whine, whine, whine. Up with you, you slacker! We’ve got so much to do and no time at all to do it in!" Aelia crowed, whipping Rosa’s bedsheets off with one swift motion of her wrists.

Rosa, chilled by the sensation of the early morning air around her, quickly scrambled out of bed towards a small wooden chest that held her small assortment of clothing, glaring at her aunt all the while. What was wrong with her today? More often than not, Aelia was a fairly calm, collected individual, not this annoying whirl of hyperactivity.

"Er...Aunt Aelia, if you’ll excuse me...?" Rosa gave a small scowl over her shoulder as she fumbled through her clothes chest. Aelia grinned, gave her a jaunty bow, and quickly exited the room. Rosa rolled her eyes upwards and let out a huffing breath. If her aunt didn’t calm down a tad, Rosa was sure she’d be driven insane before the day was out.

*******

"Aunt Aelia! Slow down!!" Rosa laughed, a high, melodious, clear laugh, as she bounced up and down roughly on the saddle of her chocobo, the wind whistling through every hair on her head.

"Nonsense!" Aelia laughed back, "They’re feisty, these birds, and they want to run! So, let ‘em run! Ha!" She gave her yellow mount a light swat on the rump, making it chirp joyously and break into a full-out gallop. Rosa couldn’t help but look on silently at the retreating back of her aunt; Aelia was a superb rider, one of the best in all of Baron. If she hadn’t gone into politics, she would have made a champion race jockey. No chocobo was ever hatched that could throw Aunt Aelia, no matter how wild or ornery. Rosa only wished that she had inherited some of the gift. It was all she could do to keep her aunt in her line of vision, much less keep pace with her.

After a few more minutes of galloping through the forest, Aelia drew her mount to a halt; Rosa, feeling queasy, was all too willing to follow suit.

"Now!" Aelia laughed, massaging her hands to get the feel of the reins out of them as she jumped off her bird, "Now, we’ll see what this little patch of forest has to offer! I just hope Cid wasn’t lying to me when he told me about this place. Hmmph! Knowing my luck, there’s probably not a mushroom to be had."

"What, Cid lie? Never!" Rosa grinned, staggering out of her saddle, massaging her aching thighs.

"Saddle-sore, my dear?" Aelia snickered, her slanted black eyes dancing wickedly.

"Well, it’s only because I don’t have a backside of steel like yours!" Rosa retorted, kneeling down onto the grass and searching for the purported mushrooms that Cid had described to them yesterday before the ‘brother incident’.

"Rosa, I am shocked and appalled! What if your mother heard you talking? For shame!" her aunt baited, also falling on hands and knees.

"It’s because you bring out the worst in me. It’s like that with everyone you talk with. I bet Cid was a nice, respectable man before you two met at the Academy, and now look at him!" Rosa took the bait gladly. Although she didn’t mind being studious and quiet, nor did she deny that she could be a bit of a stiff when it came to social occasions, she loved bantering with her aunt. Aelia gave her niece more license, more freedom to speak her mind than most did, and that was one of the many reasons Rosa loved her aunt so. Aelia, being the daughter of an Agartian peasant farmer, could be rather vulgar at times--neither Rosa nor her mother approved of that little flaw--but her wit was a keen one, and Rosa had inherited her aunt’s love of saucy humor... though she was not often at liberty to show it.

"So, Aunt Aelia, what was the trip to Silveria like? You told me about the place, but you didn’t tell what happened on the way there, and that’s always the best part. Oh, here they are!" Rosa prompted as she came upon a vast patch of wild, nonpoisonous mushrooms and immediately began to pluck them by the handful, tossing them into her basket.

Aelia began a long, rambling, highly amusing yarn about a stupid guide and dyspeptic chocobos. Soon the quiet sounds of jokes, laughter, and small snatches of folk songs could have been heard in the small patch of forest had anyone been passing by then.

The two were having a glorious time, Rosa especially; she had friends in Baron, and they were pleasant enough, but they were dull. Whenever they talked, it was either about boys or clothing or books or gardening. Only the third truly interested Rosa, but it was the one least discussed. Besides, all of her friends were young girls coming up in the world: most of them had already been sent off to the King’s court for their higher educations, and Rosa saw less and less of them every day. But with Aunt Aelia, Rosa could discuss things that were important to her, and she didn’t have to be proper, either. She simply spoke her mind, and Aelia listened.

Once Aelia had finished her tale, Rosa once again diverted all of her attention to gathering mushrooms. It was only when she looked up a few minutes later that she realized that her aunt was no longer in the mushroom clearing with her.

Rosa didn’t panic. Her aunt was an inquisitive type, always looking at some lichen growing on the bark of a tree or examining the tracks of a wild animal, and so she often wandered off. Still, Rosa liked to have an idea of where her vagrant aunt was, so she stood up and peered through the trees that surrounded her.

A slight movement of black overhead caught the young teenager’s eye; she glanced up and saw Aelia, crouching among the branches of an old oak tree. Rosa was about to speak, but Aelia put a finger to her lips and silently beckoned her to come closer.

"Look, look over on the other side of the tree," Aelia whispered almost inaudibly, jerking her head ever so slightly over her shoulder. Rosa did as she was bidden, and the sight that met her eyes made her nearly forget to breathe.

There, taking tentative mouthfuls of the lush, verdant grass, was a stunningly beautiful doe, its wide eyes black as jet and shining in the small streams of sunlight that filtered through the canopy. And next to the doe was a young fawn, not two days old, Rosa figured, standing on slightly shaking legs so thin that the young girl got the impression that just giving one of them a good squeeze would break the bone.

Rosa nearly laughed aloud, but she caught herself just in time. She didn’t want to startle the deer. Instead, she settled on raising her eyes up into the canopy above her, locking eyes with her aunt; they shared a broad smile.

A soft swishing sound and a faint thump broke the silence; Rosa whipped her head around in the direction of the noise. She saw the doe, now facing away from her, trembling slightly on its legs before collapsing onto its knees, its breath coming in ragged gasps as blood started to ooze out of its mouth. A large spear had neatly transfixed the doe right through her neck.

Rosa couldn’t help herself: she began to scream. She screamed and stumbled out of her hiding place, making her way over to the writhing doe.

It was horrible. The doe was now spitting blood, shaking violently all over as it struggled to get back onto its feet but never succeeding, its cloudy black eyes forming a glaze. Rosa started to sob and, without thinking, gently withdrew the spear. A torrent of blood gushed out, spraying the grass and Rosa’s hands and clothing with a bright shower of crimson.

Ignoring the sticky river, the young girl somehow managed to place her hands on the throat of the jerking doe, closing her eyes tightly as she focused all of her being on drawing out the power inside of her.

For Rosa had a special, wonderful gift that only her mother knew. She could heal things by merely touching them. She often healed her small cuts, burns, and bruises this way; it took a bit of effort, but it was better than waiting days for them to heal of their own accord. Not even Aelia knew of this power, only Rosa’s mother. Both Delia and her daughter had agreed never to tell anyone in Baron about her gift because it would bring them both out into the public eye, and probably the King would recruit Rosa into the Order of White Wizards, and, despite their differences and small quarrels, neither of them wished to be separated.

As she concentrated, Rosa felt a tingling sensation spread throughout her fingers and palms; a small patch of bright white light formed in the darkness of her shut eyes. The tingling swelled into a warmth as energy began to flow out of her hands; the river of blood was not flowing nearly as violently now.

Suddenly, her concentration was shattered by the sounds of voices nearby--loud, angry voices. She snapped open her eyes with a gasp, sweat streaming down her blood-freckled cheeks (healing always drained something out of her), and looked down at the doe, now still.

Although the great wound in its throat was healed without a scar, the deer was dead.

"What in Hell did you do that for?!" Aelia’s voice, faint and distant sounding, snarled, piercing through the thick numbness in Rosa’s head. The girl looked up, and this time nearly fainted with terror.

For Aelia was standing face-to-face with a large, slender man garbed in the fatigues of a Royal Guard of Baron, a crimson cloak draped around his shoulders. Both of them had angry, horrible expressions plastered on their faces, and their eyes were glittering dangerously. A small group of men, probably Dragoons, were standing off to one side, watching with amused expressions on their faces.

"Shut up!! I do not need to answer to you!" the man roared back savagely.

"Hold your tongue, boy! I know who you are. You’re that presumptuous asshole, Baigan, aren’t you? The toady of the Guard! I should have known. Only someone as stupid," here Aelia spat out each word in Baigan’s face, splattering him with saliva, "moronic, bullying, half-witted, and stuck-up as you would kill an innocent deer when they aren’t even in season yet! Wait till I tell the King! Oho, then you’ll catch it!"

Baigan gave out a roar of fury and lunged towards Aelia, making Rosa scream again, but he was caught by one of the Dragoons before he could inflict any harm on her.

"Baigan, you idiot! Don’t you know who that is?! That’s Aelia Farrell! One of His Majesty’s top advisors and diplomats! Don’t make her mad at you, or she’ll have your ass on a platter!" the Dragoon, a tall, handsome, lanky youth with long golden hair warned, drawing back the enraged Baigan.

"Aha! The King’s little stooge! The country bumpkin!" the Guard laughed, spitting at Aelia’s feet.

Rosa shifted her gaze up towards Aelia’s face, and she shuddered. Her aunt was utterly fuming, her dark slanted eyes glittering with a red fever. If there was one thing Aelia hated more than anything else, it was being told that she was merely a pawn of the King, an instrument with no free will of her own. Although she was not a reactionary, nor did she ever go against King Odin’s orders, for Odin was a benign, just ruler, Rosa knew that Aunt Aelia did not support monarchies as much as she should have.

" ‘Stooge’, am I?" Aelia growled, all of her diplomatic training abandoning her as she flashed Baigan a very ungenteel hand gesture, "Well, it takes one to know one, doesn’t it? I’ve seen how you kowtow and grovel to the King, all that shameless flattery. At least I have some shred of dignity left in me, you little worm, you sniveling cockroach! Oh, you are on your way to a glorious future of licking mud of boots, I warrant! Well, good riddance! Come, my dear, let’s leave the boot-black with his prize." Aelia stooped down next to her niece and took her arm. It was then Aelia noted that the doe’s neck was now whole and without a scar. Her eyes widened a bit, but she quickly regained her composure and helped Rosa up from the ground, leaving Baigan and the Dragoons to gape at the unblemished corpse of the deer.

**********

Rosa rocked back and forth in her bed, her hands linked about her knees in a tight, uncomfortable knot; she couldn’t get to sleep, no matter how hard she tried. It had been about two hours since she had gotten into bed, and not even the slightest shred of sleep had descended on her. The events of that morning had simply unnerved her.

A knock came on her door, startling her from her thoughts.

"Rosa? Can I come in?" Aunt Aelia’s voice drifted in through the thick wooden door.

"Yes."

Aelia entered, quietly shut the door, and sat down next to Rosa on her bed.

"Still sad about the deer, Rosa?" the older woman sighed, a sad smile on her face.

Rosa nodded and inquired, "What will happen to the fawn?"

"Oh, Rosa, I don’t know. I honestly don’t know. But I think..." Aelia’s voice was as strained as her face, "I think that it will die. It was so young, Rosa. Still nursing. Without its mama to give it milk, it’ll probably starve."

Rosa sniffled, but no tears came this time; crying was simply too much.

"Rosa, I’m sad about it too, but...it’s only a deer and a fawn. It’s not like it’s an endangered species. There’re thousands of others out in the woods..." Aelia consoled, but Rosa interrupted her.

"It’s not that, Aunt Aelia. I mean, I’m sorry for the deer and all, but...it was just so pointless! Why did they do it? What drove them to it, killing a living thing so heartlessly like that? I mean, if they were truly hunting for food, I’d understand, but they just killed it for no reason! Why?!" Rosa demanded, her face pale and lined.

"My dear," Aelia responded with a thin, slight smile as she threw an arm around her niece’s thin shoulders, "you will find that there are many in this world who do wicked things just for the sake of being wicked. That deer was killed merely for the thrill of killing, that’s all there is to it. That jerk Baigan is a cold, ruthless, heartless wretch, and, this is the hardest part, the world’s full of people like him. But...on the other hand...there are also people like you Rosa, people who value and respect life. And you help balance out the ruin the jerks of this world spread." Aelia suddenly looked into Rosa’s face with a sharp, piercing gaze that seemed to look at every facet of her soul.

"Rosa," she continued, "do you want to live a useful, fulfilling life with glory and honor at the end of it?"

"Who doesn’t, Aunt Aelia?"

"I’ll take that as a ‘yes.’ That’s good to hear," Aelia beamed proudly, ruffling her niece’s silky blonde hair; then she spoke again, this time in a rapid whisper, "Your mother and I have been talking about what happened today. Rosa, I don’t know how you got this power you had, nor did I even know about it until today. You could have told me, you know"--her eyes narrowed slightly--"We’re too close to have any secrets between us."

"Aunt Aelia, I’m sorry--" Rosa stammered, but her aunt interrupted her once more.

"Never mind that. I’m not angry. But after a long talk, I managed to convince your mother to allow you to go to the castle and train to be a White Mage. Of course, you don’t have to go if you don’t want, but I strongly suggest it if you want to truly learn how to use White Magic, to grow and expand it so that you can save people from death. You may not have been able to save that doe, Rosa, but with proper training you can save more than the life of an animal. Of course, you will have to move away from home...and you won’t be seeing either me or your mother nearly as often. It’s your choice, Rosa."

Rosa didn’t respond for a long time. Her mind was a whirlwind of confused thoughts and emotions, so confusing that it was all she could do to keep her thoughts remotely coherent. She struggled through the pros and cons of the decision, and both equaled the other. Rosa felt trapped...what was she to do?

‘Just go with the feeling that seems right,’ was the thought that came to her. Rosa’s tightly shut eyes opened slightly, her mouth curving up into the smallest smile.

"I’ll do it."

"You might find this a biased opinion, my dear, but I think you made the right choice," Aelia could hardly contain her glee, her smile brimming from one ear to the next as she swept Rosa up in a crushing bear-hug.

When she was finally released from her aunt’s vice-like grip, Rosa took in several gasps of air and rubbed her aching ribs, smiling ruefully up at her aunt.

"I’m already having doubts," she teased, "It’s made you too happy. There’s got to be a catch in it somewhere."

Aelia only laughed in response as she fished something out of the leather pouch slung around her waist. After a bit of rooting around, she produced something that shimmered dimly in the wan light of the single candle that illuminated Rosa’s bedroom. It was a coronet of white pearls, all smooth and perfectly spherical. A medium-sized crystal, cut in the shape of a tear-drop, sparkled brightly with a thousand pinpoints of light, even in the dull light of the candle.

"This has been in the Farrell family for years. We’ve had our share of White Mages in our earlier days, and this has been passed on from one generation to the next. I never used it, of course. I have no Magic. It must have all been given to you, you selfish thing. Anyway, I was saving this for your sixteenth birthday, but now...I think it’s best that I give it to you now. This is an event even more important than a birthday. Come on, let’s see how it looks on you." Aelia explained as she looped the circlet of pearls over Rosa’s locks. They were a bit lopsided.

"Yeah, they’re gorgeous! Wear ‘em just like that!" Aelia snickered, tugging at the strand of white so that it was even more crooked.

"Stop that!" Rosa giggled, adjusting the pearls so that they looked proper; she was starting to feel a bit better.

"You’re no fun. Just like your mother. Oh, well. It’s not your fault, I guess; dullness is inherited from the parents," Aelia teased.

"Will I have to pack my things tomorrow?" Rosa asked, growing more serious.

"No, not yet. We have to see the King first. You see, there weren’t many positions for White Mages in the castle the last time I checked...but it’s been a month, so there might be a few openings now. Besides..." here Aelia gave a sly wink, "the King, I think, will be very pleased with the outcome of the treaty I made with Silveria. And that just might put him in a good enough mood to give you a position somewhere. I have no doubt that we’ll get you a spot in the White Mages’ dorms. However, you must come with me so he can see you in person. But, no, don’t pack yet. There’s still a slight chance, and I take no chances in family matters. But don’t worry! God, you look so upset! You’ll do fine!" Aelia laughed at her niece’s horrified expression as she patted Rosa’s cheek.

"Are you sure?" Rosa asked timidly, raising her large blue eyes to meet Aelia’s slanted black ones.

"Of course! Don’t worry about a thing! Now, it’s late. Go to sleep, dream well, and prepare for a new life!" Aelia smiled warmly as she tucked Rosa in as if she were six years old instead of fourteen. She gave Rosa a kiss on the cheek and blew out the candle before leaving Rosa to her own thoughts.

It had been a memorable day, indeed.

END PART 1