Silver Glare

Part 1

         Shellein watched the busy, bustling town that she lived in wispily, sadly even, unaware that she was catching a young boy’s eye. She was therefore unaware that this boy also belonged to the Realm’s most respected and prestigious organization, even if only the members knew what the organization did. That also meant that she had no idea that she was about to become the most respected and prestigious member of the most respected and prestigious organization in the Realm, and all because of her hair.

         In all honesty, Shellein didn’t know that her hair grew in ringlets. It only ringed when she was embarrassed or angry. That meant that Shellein’s hair only snaked around in circles when she was embarrassed, when it she was unlikely to take a peek at her hair, because she was never angry. She considered small matters that she could get angry about too trifling to actually get angry, another reason she didn’t have what people referred to as a “best friend”. Nobody understood why Shellein didn’t get angry because they were all either getting angry, or getting upset and considering themselves angry. Just another reason Shellein preferred her old town to the one she had recently moved to.

         What happened next was set down in secret record of the Organization to be the biggest stroke of dumb luck that had ever been recorded. Some said it was the fate of Fairy Tales, but although fate was much more romantic, and therefore much more likely to last in stories, luck still existed in some versions.

         They boy was with a man and a women, close to middle aged. They were arguing, partly because they had combed the town they had been so hopeful about and had not found what they were looking for. It was utterly depressing-to them it literally meant the end of the Realm as they knew it. The younger boy had pointed out Shellein, as he had done several times in the day already and the man had snapped, as he had done several times as well, that her hair was wavy.

At last he resigned.

         “All right, you can be sweet on her now if you like, since we most definitely don’t have anything else to do.” He said this with an air of utmost defeat, owing to the fact that he though the Realm was going to die. The lady next to him had a look of supreme pity on her face, but did not make a move.

         So the boy skipped over to Shellein, even though his legs and heart felt heavy. Finally Shellein took notice of him, smiled coyly, and remained silent. The boy was quiet for a few moments as well, allowing Shellein to have the first words as was the traditional honor, but when she did not speak he started.

         “Hello. I’m Katare.”

         “I’m Shellein.” Another long pause.

         “How long have you been at K’thleen?”

         “Several weeks now.”

         “Do you like it?”

         “Well enough. Not as much as my hometown though.”

         “Do you have many friends?”

         This made Shellein blush, for no matter how she tried to change her answer it always stayed the same, and the fateful consequence followed her embarrassment.

         “Not a one.”

         Katare remained silent, this time because he was staring intently at her. Then, without a word he grabbed her arm and forcefully dragged her across a small clearing to the aforementioned couple before Shellein had the chance to say anything. The three of them stared at her again, and without a word they all began to clap. It was only three people-three individuals applauding moderately. But to Shellein it seemed that all the trees, all the creatures, the very ground she was standing on, were cheering her.

Part 2

         It was arranged that the trio should inform Shellein of the immense duties which now befell her, so after the man reservedly introduced himself as Korsin, and the lady coyly introduced herself as Shara, the foursome set off towards Shellein’s home.

         It was not until Shara presented her small, shiny badge that Shellein fully understood her state of affairs. The badge was silver, with a silver star within and another star inside every corner of the larger star. The Organization’s Emblem.

         Of course, Shellein’s mother would not dream of shutting the strangers outside the door. It was frightening to think of what would happen if you refused the Organization. Shellein noticed that stardust glittered on the round rim of the badge. That indicated that Katare’s party were of the highest rank in the Organization. If Shellein were one for bad habits, she would have gulped. As it was, she started pulling on her skirts nervously. There was no turning back now.

         The Organization’s top team sat down for dinner at Shellein’s home, then locked themselves in Shellein’s room to discuss and explain plans.

         “You’ve probably been rather confused,” started Korsin. It seemed to be a rare sympathy for so aloof a person.

         “Probably. The fundamentals are: you’ve been Picked to save the Realm.”

         “Picked? How? Why? What?” and the normally shy Shellein was bombarding Shara with questions. If Shellein’s attentions were not already arrested, she would have noticed that Shara’s attitude was bordering paradoxical too. A moment before it seemed she would rather sink into oblivion than exchange a syllable. Now it seemed that her very features accented that which was witty and sarcastic.

         “If this role is so important, shouldn’t there be a test to see if I fit it?” finally a question others were willing to answer. Korsin smiled.

         “There is, but for now a simple assessment will do. Do you believe in magic?”
         And even though she would have told every god that ever existed that she didn’t, Shellein could feel herself slowly nodding her head.

Part 3

         The matter was pretty settled after that. Shellein realized much later that if she had simply swung her head in the other direction, the trio would have left, and she would have been left forever as Shellein Glacicedaughter, and she would have ended up in that same small, unhappy town, married to somebody who had finally taken notice of her sweetness, perhaps later had a few children. She would have had to force herself to care about trifling things such as the fact that her eldest daughter refused to eat porridge, and that her youngest son’s britches were forever getting too small for him. Shellein would have spent the rest of her life sewing and cleaning and cooking, and her existence would have been a flat, monotonous line until if eventually ended. After some more contemplation, Shellein realized that she like the way things actually turned out.
         “Well,” started Shara.
         “First I should probably tell you why we actually exist in the first place. You know the First?” It was a bit of a rhetorical question, especially since tradition held that the first thing a newborn child would hear would be the story of the First


         The First was at first suspended into nothingness. There was not light, not darkness, not time, no being. The First was the First in existence. He had immense powers, powers just large enough to use to collect more power. What was this power? Of course it was magic. And the First wandered around the void and used all his magic to obtain more magic, until eventually he had enough magic to do anything. And the first thing he did was to create a Realm-no more was the oblivion, no longer the air silent and the earth blank.



         First the ground came, tough and sturdy to support everything else that was to come. Then he created existence-the tress and the grass the lakes out of tears of both happiness and sadness, each with its own special quality. Then, after some contemplation, he took the risk of creating mortals-hoping they would be kind and generous enough to brighten the Realm, and not cruel enough to destroy it. Later, as it would turn out, he only half succeeded. Next was the sky, an immortal ceiling. It was strong enough to prevent anything from going through it, yet vast, high, and great to remind beings of possibilities they never thought possible. Just because the First was feeling flashy, he made the sky change its appearance at intervals-sometimes bright and warm, adorned with clouds, possessing one small gleam to brighten it (which eventually matured into a glare that brought light into the realm), sometimes darker and mysterious, to remind mortals that they made errors that they did not notice, and to be humble enough to fix them. The First then found that humans sometimes were to proud to notice or fix their errs even with the reminder of the sky, so the wiser ones would grab small pieces of the night to keep on their person, in hopes of remembering to be humble enough to be kind to those below them and to correct whatever they had done wrong.



         Eventually so many did this that the First noticed that the night sky was thinning. In hopes of guarding the sky and reminding people of the greater and darker things that happened, sometimes because of them, he added stars. The First found, however, and the stars were absentminded, clumsy and playful, so that sometimes stars would neglect their jobs, or even worse, fall down through a hole in the thinning sky and tumble down into the Realm. Therefore, he created to moon, to keep the stars in check. The moon found that even though the stars were clumsy and neglectful, they always were kind, and sometimes could be so sincere that it brought the moon to tears. It was very tiring, keeping all the stars safe and at their posts, so sometimes the moon would slowly fall asleep, becoming thinner and thinner in the sky until she was no longer seen. When she did so, the stars were careful to mind their posts and to stay still, because they longer had any moon to warn them. They were so good at this that humans could not tell the difference between days when the moon was awake and when she was asleep.



         So, the Realm was created, and we walk on the earth and swim in the lakes and gaze up into the night sky, honoring the one who created us.

Part 4

         It was a rather long story, so when a child heard it for the very first time, the part about the stars and the moon were cut out. Besides from the story, Shellein had never heard anything else about the First, although he was worshipped far beyond anyone else. Apparently Shara did though.
         “What is not included in the traditional version of the creation of the Realm is that the magic seeped through the cracks in the Realm that stayed there. Anybody who knows magic will know that magic (happy surprise!) likes to reside in humans that are kind and sweet. Most believe that magic won’t have a temperament, but it does. It also refuses to stay in a vessel that doesn’t believe that it’s there. The issue is: magic is just about the only thing that keeps the Realm from collapsing into a blank dreary, modernized realm – no enthusiasm, no belief, and, even though nobody will ever admit it, no happiness. Now, unfortunately for us, humans have been increasingly concentrated on modernization and comfort, with a lot of practicality mixed in, which of course, as luck would have it, is just what magic is completely against. Another common belief is that magic won’t die – it will. If it doesn’t have a human to reside in for a long time, it will die off. And now, since nobody will believe in magic (because nobody’s seen the effects of it) it’s almost completely gone. Oh, and did I mention that if magic stays in a person long enough, it’ll multiply at alarming rates?”
“So the object is . . .” said Shellein, still unsure of the point of it all.
         “The point of this is to try to convince what magic is left into people around the realm. Shara didn’t mention that magic has a tendency to be contagious.
         Fortunately, we have one ally behind us,” pointed out Korsin.
         “Which is . . .”
         “Stories,” said Shara through her mischievous smile. “Apparently there is a certain breed of magic that makes life in the Realm almost like a Fairy Tale for its residents. Fortunately (one of the first), this magic does not need a human container, it will stay alive simply if humans believe that their life is a story, and people are more inclined to believe in that than magic.”
         “Why you are so important is because it is rumored that the First made it so he would have successor, as the wisest of the powerful will do. We believe that you are the successor. More importantly, we believe that you have the ability to tell which towns have the most magic seeping in around the corners, which would be invaluable, and the ability to chase convince a person to let magic reside in them, which is even more so. There is a simple test for this also,” added Korsin. This seemed to be Katare’s cue to start. He pulled a small volume from his pack and opened it to the index.
         “What town did you live in before you came to K’thleen?”
         “Rairevlis,” the only word Shellein had managed to get in for paragraphs. Katare ran his finger down the page, and then started flipping rapidly. When the pages were still, he asked,
         “And which town do you think has more magic?”
         “Rairevlis. Many say that K’thleen is more civilized, and perhaps it is, but Rairevils seemed brighter, happier, more buoyant and bubbly,” replied Shellein softly, after a moment’s thought. Shara seemed impressed. When Katare pulled the book from his face Shellein could see that he was smiling.
         “It took the genius scientist six years of excruciatingly careful study before he could even start making opinions. It took twenty years for the comparison of those two towns to be put in the book.”
         “You are coming with us on a journey. We will travel over the entire Realm from town to town until every one has there is at least one magician in every town, which will bring magic to the entire town. You will bring one friend with you. After you choose such a friend, we will leave. Be reminded that this trip will take years. Your teachers will be notified,” added Shara, who seemed to be starting to get just as shy as when Shellein first met her. It was Korsin who spoke the last words.
“Choose wisely.” And the conversation ended.

Part 5

         Korsin and Katare were given the bunk beds in the guest room, and a feather mattress was placed on the floor of Shellein’s room. Shara was understating when she said that Shellein’s teachers were notified. Everyone was notified. It seemed that the teachers had told everyone – even the students seemed to know. The entire town, including Shellein’s parents, held Shellein in a slight awe, though words of praise or recognition seemed beyond them.
         Shellein had more things to think about. She was supposed to bring a friend. The issue with this was that Shellein didn’t have a single friend, never mind one whom she was going to ask to tromp through the Realm with her for years. Time seemed limited, so Shellein felt rather pressured to choose a friend quickly. Shellein immediately discarded the idea of a boy – not a single boy in the entire village was sincere enough to even thank a person for picking up something they had dropped. Shellein then began rifling through the girls, but they all seemed to giggle and laugh and then get mad at each other for no particular reason, so they appeared even more insincere than the boys.
         One day Shellein was trudging out to school on a dreary mid-afternoon when she noticed Lesrauleen. She was humming a melodious tune and seemed to be making up a dance to go with it.
         “That’s lovely,” remarked Shellein truthfully.
         “Thank you,” returned Lesrauleen, softly and shyly. Then she went back to her twirling.
         When she noticed that Shellein had not left her alone, like every other student in the school, and therefore the entire town because there was only one school, she asked,
         "Would you like to learn?”
         Shellein was touched, and got up. Lesrauleen was touched in turn, because nobody so much as said a word more than they had to when talking to Lesrauleen – not even her teachers, not even her parents. Therefore she swirled and hopped along with Lesrauleen. Before long, after Shellein was left on the ground for the fourth time and Lesrauleen was still humming and spinning endlessly, Shellein realized what many after her would realize – Lesrauleen was a superior dancer. When Lesrauleen laughed along with Shellein, something nobody had done in Shellein’s entire life, Shellein began to consider recruiting Lesrauleen.

Part 6

         For both Shellein and Lesrauleen, a friend occurred considerably less often than falling flat on one’s face three times in a row occurred (to the both of them it had happened three of four times in their life already). So of course, Shellein had to ask Lesrauleen to stay for a night. And of course Lesrauleen had to accept. After a night a mischief and mayhem, Shellein hazarded telling Lesrauleen all about her planned journey, every detail. She also, after a moment’s hesitation, told Lesrauleen what she had never told anyone before.

         “I’m not good at anything.”
         “Meaning . . .”
         “I try hard at my classes, I really do. I never get better. After realizing it I try all the harder – I study for exams months ahead of time, I practice playing the violin for an hour each day, I jog each and every morning – I always still get only passing grades, only fairly well and the violin, only somewhat fast. I don’t seem to excel at anything – I can’t even whistle better than the average human being. It makes me wonder.”
         “It makes sense.”
         “Hmmm?” Shellein wondered what to her could make sense, since she never knew anyone in her state of affairs.
         “I’ve had a theory ever since I was young. I think you are born with a certain amount of ability – quite a lot of it in fact – and that it’s distributed to all the areas that ability applies to. Of course, kindness, honesty, and caring all fall into this category. If you are exceptional at one area, you can only be fair at another. Many of the people who seem to be exceptional at everything, you’ll notice, are actually very bad at twice as many things as they’re good at, because they just don’t have the ability to do everything, as many do say about human beings. I also think that if you can’t seem to do anything better, it’s because your ability to improve at things is somewhat lacking, because it’s all gone to something else.
         “About your not seeming to be good or get better at anything. I think some of your ability has gone to being sweet. Most of it though, has probably gone somewhere else. I think I know where, too. You seem to have an aura that makes people do better – not just feel better, but actually do better – when they grow older. That’s probably one of the reason’s why you’re one of the Successors. It’s wonderful.”
It was later known as Lesrauleen’s Theory. Philosophers for centuries after would study from it.
         After a pause, Lesrauleen continued.
         “I seem to be in the same situation as you’re in. I can’t seem to get better at anything either. If my theory is correct – that’s a rather big if – then all the things I’m theoretically skillful at remain unknown. I can dance and play music rather well, but that still doesn’t account for all of it. My skills have to go somewhere.”
         “Perhaps it's your kindness.”
         They were sitting face to face on two chairs in the parlor. Each of the parlor walls supported a window – the west window looked into the guest room, the east into the kitchen, and the north and south looked outside. At that moment either girl looked behind the other, out the window, to see the rose and gray background of the sun’s rising.

Part 7

         The matter was settled, sealed and vacuumed shut without a word. Shellein presented Lesrauleen to the party currently residing at her home as guests. Korsin and Shara had looked her up and down, as if searching for some flaw, but if they found one they said nothing. Katare simply grinned, and if Lesrauleen was curious, she merely grinned back, the first of many.
         Lesrauleen was greeted as every other member of the Organization was greeted: given every piece of information she did not already know about her job (in this case, few) and a few careful instructions on her job. Nowhere and no time did anybody do or say anything to imply that they cared. But they did care, and she knew they cared, by the kindly way they looked at her, and the soft smiles they permitted to show, which was more than anyone else had ever done to her. Shellein was of course, her closest friend, though she felt that Katare was becoming a fast friend rather quickly for the-second-friend-in-one’s-entire-life. And although Lesrauleen was solemn, because she was about to embark on what seemed to her to be a desperate, forever long journey, which it turned out to be, she felt surprisingly happy.
         The girls were given a day to pack. It was almost funny, how many things they ended up taking. Korsin had given each a short, scrawled list:
1. Clothing for all occasions
2. Pillows, blanket, foldable mattress, etc.
3. Convenient tools (i.e. flashlight, penknife, can opener)
4. Money
5. Knickknacks you can’t bear to part with
         It was the last line that did it. At first, Korsin had warned them that they had only one sled, and that whatever they brought they would have to drag with them. He was mid-sentence in advising bringing only extreme necessities, when Shara appeared and proudly displayed her solution – two charms, one triangle shaped that Shara promised would allow any amount of luggage to be packed onto the sleds, and a second, lune-like charm that would allegedly make the weight of so many hairpins and dresses considerably more drag-able. Therefore, Shellein and Lesrauleen eventually emptied their entire wardrobes into trunks and boxes, and all because of seven words taking the form of the last line of a list.
         Shellein had thought, with all Korsin’s urging speed, that they would leave the day after, but no, they were to stay a week longer. Perhaps it was not completely voluntary – during that week Shara could be found impatiently tapping her fingers on whatever, hard, inanimate surface she could find, the reason being was that they had to attend a farewell dance a week later.

Part8

         Shara was always, unfailingly unpredictable. Over the course of the day she would change personalities from coy and withdrawn to sarcastic and witty, or vice versa. The switch would always occur – she was either shy, or witty, unfailingly, always. This change always occurred at least once a day, and after a fortnight of sharing a room, Shellein was used to it. If Shara had been predictable Shellein would have predicted it, but apparently only Korsin could tell when Shara would change attitudes – even Shara herself couldn’t.
         The ball was as balls go. The women looked grand, the men looked stunning, the younger children looked as if they would much rather be tadpole-catching, the older children looked as if they were contemplating whether the nerve to ask someone they admired to dance. There was a banquet, which didn’t actually taste as good as it looked. And of course, the entire room was liberally salted with stardust.
         Stardust was one of the specialties of the Realm. Like magic, it was attracted to that which was sweet and kind. It would be invisible until it had suddenly found something it liked, and then it would swarm like butterflies. When it did, the air was sure to sparkle.
         There were quite a few stories behind stardust, and they had continued for centuries because not even the greatest scientists could figure out where it came from. Some said that stardust was from when the stars fell to the ground and crumbled, referring to the story of the Creation of the Realm. Others said that stardust was the tears of the stars when they were touched, also referring to the Creation of the Realm. In fact all the legends of the Realm seemed to lead to one another. The Story of Sadness referred to the Story of Stardust, and the Story of Love referred to the Story of Sadness. Shellein sometimes thought that whoever had come up with the legends in the first place must have been a master storyteller. Perhaps the First, referring to the Story of the Creation of the Realm.
         For all, or perhaps because, of the Team’s honor and prestige, nobody danced with them. They were too honored, to revered, for anyone to be in comfortable close contact. Therefore they were ignored and had to revert to dancing with themselves. Korsin spun each of the girls around once, but he was too tall to dance comfortably, so he had to revert to dancing with Shara for the entire four hours. Katare was then left to dance alternately with either of the girls for the entire night, until the ball was thankfully over, and the reason it had been held in the first place headed back, tired and annoyed, all hoping fervently that the next ball wouldn’t be the same.
         When Lesrauleen checked her watch, when the Team left before dawn, she laughed – it was still the same day as the dance. They couldn’thave slept for an hour! The Team was rather rushed. Oddly though, she realized that nobody felt tired. Doubtlessly I will after walking all night though, she thought.
         She was wrong. After the sun rose and yawned, Lesrauleen was still walking without any apparent effort. The morning came; the dewdrops gleamed among the trees. The realm was silent – it was too early for animals to wake up, yet too late for any nocturnal animals to be still awake.
{indent]However, the air was not still – it crackled eerily, but not spookily. It seemed to ring with the same haunting tune as the charms now securely fastened to the sleds were. Magic? thought Shellein. The air seemed weighted down with an invisible mist, it sank between her eyes and swarmed around their ankles.

Around midmorning, Korsin checked his map.

         “We’ve made good progress,” he muttered in his usually gruff tone. “It’s only 20 farthrows until the our first village. We’ve already traveled 200.”
{indent]Shellein could have gasped. It took her hours to walk a farthrow. How could they possibly walk 200 in one night? But she didn’t doubt it, and soundlessly continued walking.
{indent]The charm, if there was indeed a charm involved, wore off in the early afternoon. Korsin remarked that they only had three farthrows left, but after that they never seemed to get any closer. Closer to reality, thought Shellein.
         She was probably right. By mid-afternoon the Team’s individual paces began to show. Korsin and Shara walked ahead, with Katare close behind. They were the most adapted to hours of walking, since they had apparently traveled across the Realm to get to K’thleen. Lesrauleen was a few yards behind, and Shellein was struggling to stay in line with her. The reason being was that Lesrauleen preferred to spend her days wandering around the town, and therefore was somewhat adapted to hard walking, while Shellein usually only watched it from her favorite high precipice. By the time they reached Caslavia, she was deeply tired.

Part9

         The next day, Katare woke up early in the morning. He was so surprised that he grabbed his small case of immediate supplies and ran out, thinking that somehow he wouldn’t wake and his Team had despaired and left without him. Lesrauleen, who was awake at the time and saw, couldn’t help but howl with laughter at the sight of Katare in his nightclothes, running barefoot with his small bag, looking both bewildered and terrified at the same time, too nervous to sensibly think that if something had happened, running about would do nothing. When Katare realized of the idiot he looked, he had to howl too, and from that moment they were friends.
         Over breakfast, the Organization was explained. It was a group of top scholars and elite members of other assorted skills. Shellein smiled when at the post she found an elite flower breeder, whose closest friend was a chemist in the Organization. Apparently, the Organization had been obsolete for quite a while, and had its own set of engineers, farmers, merchants, and assorted artisans. They had been, and still were, the greatest organization in the entire Realm. And it had all started from a few good friends.
         The moment Shellein walked into the Organization quarters, she realized that she wanted to be part of it. So many simple frills, so many good friends, all skilled in their respective parts, all believing in the same ludicrous idea.Shellein looked over at Lesrauleen, and thought she might be thinking the exact same thing.
         Are the elite chosen and then forced to believe that the Realm is dying because the magic in it is dying? Shellein contemplated. And then, what seemed to her more far-fetched and yet more likely, Are they elite because they believe in it? Are those who believe those who are more likely to be an elite?
         Yet there was no time to muse. By then, the three of them had walked into the main room.