Fanfic:Original Biography
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In the middle of the night, a whistle shrieked, summoning all of the sleeping crew of the Seaspray. Liaran din Chelai's bare feet slapped against the steps as she ran to reach the top deck, knowing a beating would await any deckhand thought to be answering the whistle too slowly. Chaos awaited her when she reached the deck. The entire crew was racing about the deck, with more crewmembers coming abovedeck every minute. She looked around for her mother, the Sailmistress, but could neither see her nor hear any orders being given. Above her head, the moon outlined an approaching ship, but it did not have the familiar square sails of one of their own. Unlike most of the others, Liaran was frozen to her spot as she watched the strange ship come closer. It seemed harmless enough to her, until the fire began raining down onto the deck of the Seaspray. Everywhere it hit, of course, his deck ignited. "Liaran! Bring water!" she heard, and answered the call gratefully, glad of an order to follow.
As she poured out the contents of her bucket on the flames, Liaran was able to identify the source of the fire, which proved to be more frightening than the flames themselves. There was a girl facing them on the other ship, a girl with arms outstretched. The fire was coming from her hands. Will I be given to the water tonight? Surely they could not stand long against one who channeled the One Power. The Seaspray was a darter, and their Windfinder, unlike most, did not weave the winds at all. From a distance, she could even see Jonine, who appeared as lost as anyone else in the face of the attack. Another fireball landed just beside her, singeing her foot, and she yelped. The Seaspray rocked beneath her with the force of the repeat blasts, so violently that she could not imagine why he was not already sinking beneath the waves.
I don't want to just stand here while we sink! Liaran thought, feeling a strange sense of lightness rush through her. It seemed to her that the smoke smelled sharper, and the flames burned brighter, just before more bright white flames stretched out across the sky. Unlike the rest, those weren't directed at the Seaspray, instead somehow coming from him, reaching across to the girl who was attacking. To Liaran's eyes, they appeared to consume her all at once, and with her went every fire on the deck. I must be seeing things, she decided, weary from the long night of battle. The sky was turning pink when she was ordered back to her bunk, and she went gratefully, too tired to even begin contemplating the origin of the fire that had saved the Seaspray, so close to her.
She awoke shaking so hard that her legs would not support her when she tried to stand. Frowning, she tried harder. It was unheard of for a deckhand not to report when called, but her efforts only earned her a place on the floor as her legs refused to hold her. The small room that was hers appeared blurry, and she closed her eyes to avoid becoming sick. Liaran was aware of nothing more until she heard a voice, seeming to come from outside her door. "Liaran! Wake-" the angry voice was cut off as the door squeaked open and she felt herself being placed back in the bed. "You'll stay right there until we reach port," her mother told her, in the tone she only used when addressing her daughter, Sailmistress to deckhand. Having no energy to respond, Liaran tried to rest, though it made her feel as if she were being lazy. What could possibly have made her feel so sick when no other crewmember was affected?
Not long after they reached their home port, and Liaran could hear voices conferring quietly outside her door. "No, I wouldn't have believed it either, if I hadn't seen it myself," her mother's voice said. "I've never heard of such a thing," an unfamiliar woman's voice commented, "but there's nothing to be done for it. When she's well enough I'll simply have to take her on as an apprentice." Me? A Windfinder? Nobody in her family had ever been a Windfinder that she knew of, and Liaran had never given it much, if any, thought. Snatches of the conversation continued to filter in through her door, though she was too tired to pay attention to every word. From what she could gather, her mother thought she had caused the white fire, that she alone had stopped the attack on the Seaspray. Liaran wished she were able to protest. She hadn't had anything to do with that strange white fire! It had just....happened, somehow. It couldn't possibly have come from her, not even Windfinders were able to call fire like that.
Two days later, she was summoned to attend the Sailmistress. Liaran expected to be given a new assignment as a Windfinder's apprentice, and that aspect of the news was no surprise to her. What did come as a surprise was the other part of her mother's news for her. "You're also to receive your salt name today. Liaran din Chelai Morning Star, as that fire of yours saved us that morning." It wasn't my fire,Liaran thought, though she knew objecting to the Sailmistress's word would be futile. Soon enough, the Windfinders will see that they were wrong about me creating that fire. And then what will happen? I'm to be honored for something I didn't even do. Without a word, Liaran bowed before the Sailmistress, accepting her will. She was on the deck of the White Gull, her new ship, before nightfall.
I just knew they were wrong about me, Liaran observed, trying yet again to do as the Windfinder was ordering her. "It's very simple, Liaran. Imagine that you are part of the ocean's shore. All you have to do is allow the ocean to go as it wills. Stop trying to fight it." She wasn't fighting. At first, she'd even been trying to do as she was asked. But after attempting this same exercise for many days, Liaran did not know what else to do to prove to the Windfinder that she did not have this ability. The woman was determined, insisting that she could feel it within her, but Liaran felt nothing except frustration. I am the shore, allowing the waves to crash against me....of course, nothing happened, just as it hadn't with every other attempt. Her Windfinder shook her head. "I've never seen anything like this before, you should have been channeling quite easily by now."
"Maybe I can't," Liaran suggested, and the Windfinder frowned at her.
"You can, girl. We don't make mistakes about that, and you will learn. I have decided that you'll go to the Grey Tower. They'll set you straight if anyone can."
The Grey Tower...so far from the sea. Liaran almost wished the Seaspray had gone down that night. Everything had been going wrong for her since then. She was meant to live and die on the ships!
Standing, the Windfinder stared into the waves, appearing to be deep in concentration. Liaran gasped as a silver slash became visible in the air and rotated to show her a tall grey building.
"Go on, girl. I can't hold this open for long." Liaran hesitated. Step through that? "Go!" the Windfinder snapped, and Liaran stepped through the silver, stumbling as her feet landed on soft ground she wasn't accustomed to. The grey building towered above her as she caught her balance and began to stagger towards it, having nowhere else to go.
