Excerpt: The Cat: Constellation Reborn

Rikash Salmalin wrinkled his nose at the new group of pages. For the most part, they were just a group of run-of-the-mill newcomers – green and sure to be moaning of blisters by the week’s end. It was the girl among them that caused his nose to twitch. She was the only one in the group, and with her included, which made a total three girls in page training. There had been a fair number of women made knights since Keladry of Mindelan earned her shield – as far as Rikash knew, there were nine in service to the crown and another two as squires – but there still wasn’t an abundance of girls stepping up to become knights. The other two girls that were pages were in Rikash’s year, and they were both eagerly eyeing the new female to their numbers.

“I wonder where she’s from,” he heard Alexi of Queenscove whisper from somewhere behind him.

“She’s too pale to be from the South,” replied Rea of Kennan, “but you don’t really get many people up north with hair that dark.”

True, the new girl was rather pale, but her curly hair was just a shade lighter than black. Rikash wasn’t particularly concerned with where she came from, however, so much as the nature of Gift that she had. Rikash could always tell if someone was Gifted, and whatever the nature of magic that this girl possessed, it was really messing with his senses. He actually sneezed when it came time for the girl to step forward to be claimed by a page sponsor.

“Estelle of Wrenswood,” she said, stating her name and family’s holding as Lord Padraig haMinch, the training master, bid her.

“Who of you older pages volunteers to –”

“I do!” both Rea and Alexi exclaimed at nearly the same time. The two girls glared at each other and then looked to their master for the verdict of who would get to sponsor Estelle.

Shaking his head at the foolishness of his pages, Lord Padraig turned to Estelle and said, “You are in possession of the Gift, correct?”

“Close enough,” the girl replied, shrugging.

“Then to the likewise Gifted Alexi of Queenscove, the sponsorship goes,” said Lord Padraig, and Alexi ran forward, giving the new girl a rather enthusiastic hug. Rea scowled at her friend, even though it was really irrelevant who sponsored Estelle – Rea and Alexi were attached at the hip, so the new girl would essentially be sponsored by both of them anyway.

“Close enough”? wondered Rikash as the rest of the new pages were claimed. What’s that supposed to mean?

Now he really wanted to know what sort of Gift Estelle had.

With the new pages dealt with, everyone began heading off to supper, though Rikash hung back from the bulk of the group, wanting to talk to this new page who so terribly irritated his senses. Just as he had expected, the poor girl’s ears were being assaulted by Rea and Alexi, who both couldn’t stop expressing how happy they were for her to be there with them.

“I think you two are going to scare her off,” said Rikash, causing the girls to hush and turn around to face him.

“Well excuse us for being welcoming,” said Alexi, grinning, “which must surely be an unfamiliar concept to Lord I-Never-Sponsor-Anyone.”

Rikash smiled – he genuinely liked Alexi and Rea, but the truth be told, the two girls were rather intimidating. Rea was tall, muscular, and had a mess of red hair that she kept pulled back into a braid. She sort of resembled a smaller, female version of her father, who was a giant of a man. Alexi was also on the tall side, though not quite as tall as Rea, and was much thinner – statuesque would be an apt description. She also bore the tan skin and dark hair of a Yamani, for her mother was a lady-in-waiting to the Yamani bride of Prince Roald, but had the green eyes of her Tortallan father. As the two had previously been the only female pages, they had become close friends the very day they met.

“This is Rikash Salmalin,” Rea told Estelle. “He’s a third year page with Alexi and me.”

Estelle raised her eyebrows at his introduction, and for a moment Rikash thought that she might comment on his parentage. It was the curse of having famous parents that they were always noted first. However, she instead just held out her hand to shake his. “Nice to meet you, Estelle” he said, observing that she had eyes the same shade of violet as his godmother, Alanna the Lioness.

“Likewise,” she replied, “and most people call me ‘Stella’.”
Rikash felt awkward to just straight-out ask about her Gift, but that was what he had stayed behind to talk to her about, right? “Um, about what you said earlier, about your Gift – what did you mean by that?”

Estelle – Stella – again raised her eyebrows. “Why do you want to know?”

“Well…” Explaining his particular magical abilities was not the easiest thing in the world. He and his sister, Sarralyn, both had the Gift of their father, as well as their mother’s wild magic. Sarra thrived off of magic, and was a student at the University to be a great mage like her father. Whereas her magic was very bold, Rikash’s was very subtle. He mostly used it to sense things and to communicate with animals, and he had never been comfortable with big displays of magic or shape shifting. He always felt like he lost grip of his humanity when he changed form or used a lot of his Gift. In fact, that was why he decided to become a knight. Fighting, doing things with his hands, and other stuff of that nature made him feel grounded.

“I’m really good at sensing other people’s Gifts,” he told Stella, “and yours is just… weird. Or, it feels weird, anyway. Am I making sense?”

Stella laughed. “I think I know what you mean. It’s not that I’m Gifted, really, but I have wild magic.”

“Wild magic?” said Alexi. “Well in that case, Riky should have been your sponsor.”

Rikash frowned, still puzzled by Stella. He could normally tell the difference between Gifted people and those possessing wild magic. This girl’s magic definitely did not feel like wild magic, but it didn’t feel much like the Gift either. What irked him further, was that what he sensed regarding her felt vaguely familiar, yet he couldn’t put a finger on it. Deciding that he would except Stella’s excuse for the time being and investigate later, he said to Alexi, “It’s just as well – you’re a girl, and there are few enough of you that a girl should sponsor her. If she has any wild magic questions, she can just ask me. Better yet, she could ask my mother. She lives here,” he remarked to Stella. Perhaps if he couldn’t figure her out, his demigoddess mother could.

The new page shook her head. “I have it pretty well figured out for the most part. I can talk to cats, turn into one, and heal them. Is there much more to it than that?”

“You’d be surprised,” Rikash replied as they arrived at the pages’ mess. After they had gotten their food and sat down at a table, he asked, “So your wild magic is with cats specifically?”

“Anything cat-like.”

“Ah, so you have feline wild magic.”

“What’s a feline?” Stella asked.

“Well,” said Rikash, “anything… cat-like.”

“Why not just say ‘cat-like’ then?” said Stella, her eyes alight with mischief.

Rikash shook his head. “It’s a technical thing.”

At that moment, Lord Padraig stood up at his table, calling the pages to silence and blessing their food. When he was finished, their conversation continued. “You have wild magic?” said Lawrence of Port Legann, who was seated nearby.

Stella nodded.

“Then Rikash, why aren’t you her sponsor?” Rikash’s face went to his palm. He dearly hoped that he wouldn’t be talking in circles all night.