Magic of the Heart

[Friday]

The five boys, the oldest of them being twelve, stood in a group joking and pushing each other around. This was a normal occurance for the late summer months on Lord Daniel Adonis' estate, Summerglade. In the far East reaches of the Kingdom of Lyron, the inhabitants of Summerglade were famous for their exceptional showing for the Kingdom. Almost every year, a young kid would go off to the capitpol to return home in eght years, a master bard, a knight, or a master rank mage. One of the younger boys pushed the boy and the middle and said loudly, "It's not fair you get to go this year, I'm only 6 months younger."
"Six months makes a difference," the twelve year old in the middle retorted pulling himself up a little straighter. "Besides, I plan on squiring with Lord Knight Darrel Rangelton."
"Only the best get him!"
It was if on cue the boys deteriorated into a yelling shoving fight, and the young girl who had been standing just outside the ring of boys shook her head and sighed, and moved away from the boys to go find her friend, Ashta.
"It's not fair," Raelynn complained, her blonde curls bouncing on her shoulders as she sighed heavily and crossed her arms across her chest.
Ashta looked up from the book she had in her lap to see Raelynn's frowning bright green eyes. With her jet black hair, and heart shaped face, Ashta was considered quite a pretty little innocent girl. And the same would be thought for Raelynn. Little did most people know, Ashta was the great mastermind behind most of her and Raelynn's escapades. "What's not fair?" Ashta asked her friend.
"Well, you're going off to be part of the Queen's Entourage, Kale is going to be a page this year, while poor little me gets shipped off to Mistress White's School For Young Ladies," Raelynn said pouting out her lips.
Ashta felt a great sympathy with her friend. She knew that all Raelynn wanted to do was study magic ever since a traveling mage had stayed with them the year before. The mage had been astounded by the power that Raelynn had possessed even then a young, untrained girl of ten. "It will be alright Rae, at least we will both be in the capitol."
"I know," Raelynn sighed and sat down heavily on the bench next to Ashta.

[Friday]

"It's a shame only boys can be mages. Well, maybe when they realize the little girl who loves to play in mud and beat up bullies will never be a lady," Ashta said with a side long glance at her friend and a giggle. She covered her mouth and smiled.
"I don't want to learn how to dance, or how to make a proper invintation to a party, or who should sit next to whom," Raelynn complained.
"Well we might as well dress you up as lady long enough for us to leave Summerglade, then once we leave your mother, you just go to the schoolk of magic. We;ll write letters telling her otherwise, and I bet Travis will write letters too about your lady manners," Ashta said waving her hand in a regal manner in an imitation of what she had seen her mother do.
Raelynn laughed along with Ashta, thoroughly amused by her firends antics. Even though she knew her friend was joking it didn't sound like a bad idea. Then Raelynn grew serious. "That might actually work," she said meaning it. She looked down at the floor face fixed with an expression of intense concetration. Raelynn was a very bright little girl, and used her intelligence to get out of situations. She would rather use logic than brawn.
If Ashta was the mastermind of getting them into situations, Raelynn was the reason they always got away off the hook.

[Friday]

"It could work. I am serious," Ashta said as she looked at Raelynn her mind spinning wildly with the possibilities. "Every summer you could stay at the palace for two weeks since the ladies get out before the pages do and then we could go home together. Think about it Rae. You know it could work. You can learn all the lady like things from someone else," Ashta said thinking about the timing of everything and what palace life was like. She knew her way around the palace very well. Four of her eight brothers had been knights, one was the ambassador, and one was married to one of the two princesses. The other two were content to lay around and be troublemakers inbetween their spywork for the King. Ashta's family was in high standing with the King, because of the devotion of their family.
Raelynn, not having older sibilings of her own, was constantly with Ashta, and the two girls had learned plenty from Ashta's older brothers. In which case thre was no girls as physically able or many boys their age for that matter, that could do what they could.
Raelynn frowned her brows furrowed above her eyes. "Ashta, we couldn't tell anyone, if someone found out I was a girl that would be the end of everything."
"We'll tell me mom I'm going to the School for Young Ladies, really I'll go be an apprentive mage at the palace. I'm good enough. All my mail we can send to you, or one of your brothers," Raelynn said with her bright green eyes sparkling her voice a little breathless with excitement. It would take years of hiding her identity and even harder work. Raelynn didn't plan on staying a boy forever.
She would have to be the best if she wanted to reveal her secret. If she wasn't, there was a possibility they would strip away her magic. Take from her the one thing that she loved. No, this would have to be big, the biggest scheme they had ever tried to pull off.
"Rae, I think this will work."

Two weeks later the girls were on their way to the capital with their bags packed and plan formed. Ashta and Raelynn were sent with Kale, a boy going to be a page, and his parents. Kale's parents were informed to escort Raelynn to the School For Young Ladies and then continue on with Ashta and Kale to the actual palace where they would be.
Raelynn and Ashta had other plans. Despite the fact that Raelynn was just eleven years old, she was going to go through the city on her own, following Kale's parents with the two younger kids. She would stay in range of Ashta's hearing but would stay far enough away to hopefully not been seen by the parents.
It worked brilliantly. Raelynn was waitng in the stables when Ashta returned to her, a bag slung over one shoulder.
"Did you bring everything?" Raelynn asked pulling Ashta inside an empty stall.
"Yes, yes, I have it all," Ashta replied setting down the bag and pulling out a bundle of clothes.
Raelynn's eyes lit up as she quickly changed out of her traveling dress and into the breeches and shirt that were inside the bag. She looked down at herself, looking carefully to try and see if there was any way to tell she was a girl. There wasn't any proof now, she just hoped that in a few years when she started to develop she could keep it well hidden. It was easy for an eleven year old girl to pass for a boy, but how easy would it be for a sixteen year old girl to stay in hiding?
"You ready?" AShta asked looking over at her friend.
Raelynn ran a hand through her long blonde curls one last time and then nodded. "I'm ready."
Ashta nodded in return and with a grim look took the scissors she held in her hand to her friends hair. Raelynn watched as the long curls drifted to the floor below to get lost among the hay. No, she was no longer Raelynn. She was going to be Apprentice Mage Riley for the next eight years.

[Friday]

Five Years Later....

[/u]

Raelynn smiled as her white mare, Secret, sailed over the wooden fence and into the pasture beyond. "Good girl," she cooed to the mare reaching down her neck to give her a pat, not at once slowing the canter she was in. That was one thing about mage school that had surprised her. As a mage she had to learn to ride. She had been at an auction 3 years ago when she had found the two year old filly. Secret had been starved, poorly broke, shy little thing. The filly wouldn't let anyone near here, and Raelynn couldn't help but save her.
Three years later, she was a beautiful well developed mare, with a high spirit and the perfect match for a growing mage. It had taken Raelynn long hours to gain the filly's trust and friendship, but once she had, there was nothing that the mare wouldn't do for her. She made sure to get an hour's ride in everyday if she could, she missed it when she couldn't. It was days like today when it was just Raelynn and secret that she felt she could truly relax and be herself.
A horse wasn't the only thing Raelynn had developed in five years though. She stood at 5' 6" now, and her hair was still cropped short so that it curled around her ears. The other boys always teased her about her shortness but that wasn't the only thing poor Raelynn was worried about. Her eyes were still the startling, bright green, that just reflected her power. At the graceful age of sixteen, she had started to develop curves despite all her attempts to stop it or hide the fact. It was hard to hide she was a girl, it meant binding her breasts every morning, and making sure all her clothes were loose enough that they wouldn't cling to the curve of her hips or the slight swell of her chest. And if it hadn't been for Ashta, Raelynn was sure she would have been found out numerous times.
But depite all the challenges she faced pretending to be a boy, Raelynn's skill in magic was developing beyond her wildest dreams. She was top apprentice, and the youngest one to ever hold that rank. The way Raelynn saw it, the sooner she could get her master's robes the sooner she could reveal her identity. The stronger she got the more she wanted to learn, and the more she wanted other to learn. It had become a goal of her to get the Capital University to open up to females, and if that failed, to open a school of magic for women only.
"Rae, hun, I need you. Someone is prying at me, and I think they might be trying to get at our secret, I know you are riding but can you get her quick," a voice said into Raelynn's mind. It was one that Raelynn recognized instantly, and the only person who could get into her mind at all. Ashta.

[Friday]

Coming!" Raelynn replied to Ashta's mind while sighing out loud. She was going to have to cut her ride short again today. "Where are you?"
"I am in the second tower like usual hun," The reply came almost instantly. It had been a blessing for the two girls when they discovered that Ashta had mind magic that was just as powerful as Raelynn's. It was how they communicated most of the time, and it was a way they could use to let no one get to them. Mind magic was hard to recognize by those that didn't use it. Only the most powerful master mages could recognize it without having it themselves. Not only was it hard to recognize, Raelynn had constructed the most powerful shield about their open channel as she could.
It was a tricky spell and one that had left her exhausted for days. But it had two layers, and outside layer that was perfectly smooth, no faults, and where most of the power was stored. If this layer was broken however, it led just to a false mind. There was a lot behind this false mind, enough to make it look real. It was the shield beneath that, that covered her real mind, and her link with Ashta. That shield was lower key, not much power, but it was complicated, which made it extremely hard to detect. It was a self looping shield. It would draw on her power or any source around it, including the outside shield to maintain it's structure and shape. It would never fail unless Raelynn was completely drained of all power. Which hopefully would never happen.
It wasn't long before Raelynn was back in the stables and was handing over Secret to one of the stable boys. Usually Raelynn wouldn't trust Secret with anyone, and neither would Secret for that matter, but she suspected that boy, Todd, had at least horse magic, if not animal magic. "Thank you Todd," Raelynn said ruffling the boys hair. "I would stay but I have to go, make sure she gets her oats too."
"Mage Riley," Todd called to Raelynn and she turned to look at the young boy. "She wants an apple to, can I give her one."
Raelynn smiled at this. "Of course, now run along," she said as she turned to go.
"Thank you sir," she heard from behind her but didn't stop to say anything else to the boy.

Ashta was patiently waiting for Raelynn when a tap on her shoulder cut her thoughts short. No one but Raelynn knew where this spot was, and this was definitely not Raelynn. She whirled around to face the last person she wanted to face. She blanched when she saw Brandon, her knight master's second in command. While Ashta had gone to be a page with the Queen's Entourage, she had been top of her class, and when Captain Osbian, of the King's Commandant, had asked permission to have Lady Ashta as a squire, the King, and more importantly the Queen, had agreed. So know Ashta was a squire in the company of the Kind's Commandant, the only girl ever allowed to have that position.
"What do you want?" Ashta asked glaring up at the six foot four lieutenant towering over her.
"Rae! I need you now!" And with that last plea she cut off her connection with Raelynn to face the form of Brandon in front of her. Who she was now almost positive had been the one prying at her shields.

[Friday]

Raelynn cursed under her breath, a habit she had picked up from the boys and men she spent the majority of her time with. She looked down at her riding clothes and knew that they wouldn't do for confronting anybody. With a sigh she stepped off the path that led to the palace from the stables. She closed her eyes, and with one single cast for the power in the air around her, Raelynn pulled the magic into her, and 'sent' herself to her room.
When she opened her eyes, she was standing in the middle of her suite of rooms. She wasn't always that lazy, but the fact that Ashta had cut all communication with her abruptly worried her greatly. She was going to get to her as soon as possible.
Raelynn quickly changed out of her riding breeches and tunic, and pulled on her apprentice robes over her head. The robe was pure white, like all mage apprentices' robes would be with the palace insignia sewn into the left shoulder with black thread. There was a difference between Raelynn's robes and everyone else's though. Raelynn's white robes were trimmed with black, and all the thread work except for the palace isignia was in silver thread. Only the top apprentice was allowed to don black on their robes. While everyone else was required to wear plain white or could choose to trim the white in the color of their corosponing class. Raelynn had to admit, the robes were impressive, and another key thing about them was that they hid her ever more apparent curves.
As she settled them in place about her shoulders, she once again gathered her magic about her, and disappeared from the room, appearing in front of the door to the tower room. Reaching out a hand she knocked three hard raps on the door and waited for her invintation in.

[Friday]

Brandon looked at Ashta and looked to the door,"Well I wanted to figure out why there was so much magic between you and someone else," Brandon said then raised an eyebrow added, "I think we know who it is with now."
Ashta's head snapped to face the door as soon as the knocks rang out. "C-c-come in," she stammered, still slightly off balance with Brandon's intrusion.
Raelynn took a deep breath, and gathering her magic, and resolve about her, forcefully pushed the door open. She could see the relief on Ashta's face, and the small flash of surprise on Brandon's before it was hidden beneath his cool exterior.
"Ah, Apprentice Mage Riley," Brandon said easily identifying Raelynn as she was known the the public just by her distinguishing robes. Brandon also possessed some mage talent, and while he had been trained as a warrior, his magic skills had also been honned.
"What do you want with us Brandon? We haven't caused anybody any harm. I don't know why you're even bothering?" Ashta clasped her hands behind her as she spoke and stood up straight in hopes that her shaking would go unnoticed. She envied the calm that Raelynn and Brandon were putting on, and she tentively reached out her mind to Raelynn's. With it's reassuring presence she was able steady her nerves somewhat.
"Why can he evoke so much feeling in me Rae?"
Brandon looked over to Ashta and then at Raelynn. "You two have got to be up to something?" he said looking suspiciously at both of them,"You two obviously have a bond, and I want to know why. And I want to know why he," he pointed to Raelynn as he said this," is up here with you." He crossed his arms over his chest in the genuine stature of a displeased male.
"Ash. Pull yourself together. I've got an idea that might make him leave us alone, so just go along with it."
"Squire Ashta and I meet on a regular basis so I can tutor her in her magic skills," Raelynn said to Brandon. Pulling herself up to her full height, which was nothing compared to Brandon's, and letting her power sit unseen in the air around her. Even if Brandon couldn't see it, he would feel it. Just like anyone with even an inkling of magic would.
A look of pure disbelief crossed his face, and the smirk that settled there said that he thought he was going to catch them now. "Prove it," he said, the smirk just growing wider.

[Thursday]

((you should have said that they were lovers. That would be hilarious!))