Warrior's Soul (Book 3 of The Warrior Chronicles)

Chapter 57

7 Aschian Years (5 Gaian weeks) Later...

"Someone tell Mi-Ra to stop cheating!" Asya complained as she flicked her long auburn hair over her shoulder.

"You've lost to a five-year old? I'm ashamed to call you sister," Jara snorted, leaning over the game board.

"I'm almost six!" the little girl in his shadow frowned. "And Uncle Jara, I wish to remind you that you lost to me too."

"Hah!" Asya clapped her hands, her pink dress brushing across the jade game pieces as she pointed at Jara with glee. "Who should be embarrassed now, Mahsap?"

Jara narrowed his eyes, opening his mouth to retort when Mira spoke up, "Auntie, neither of you should feel bad." The little girl lifted her honey-gold eyes to regard the adults with intelligence beyond her years. "Uncle Jara, did you not tell me that my father bested your impossible to beat gambling tables downstairs in a single night?"

The Mahsap's lip curled wryly as he remembered that long ago day: "I did."

"You see?" Mira picked up one of the main pieces on the board, a tall man with long robes and gem crown, and held it tightly in her small palm. "Mommy tells me I'm just like father, so there really is no need for either of you to be embarrassed."

"Brother," Asya ran her hand gently down Mira's long black hair and frowned. "It sounds like she's consoling us, by why do I feel more insulted?"

"Hah!" Jara let loose a laugh that could be heard clear across the Jade Palace. "I understand your feeling completely, sister. Mi-Ra, love, have you heard the expression 'too honest'?"

"Of course!" The little girl's chubby cheeks were rosy in the afternoon light filtering through the apartment windows. "The Ghost Uncles told me the term is used by those who do not like hearing the truth."

"Hah!" It was Asya who now laughed at the blank expression on her brothers' face. "That look is just priceless!"

"This is why I keep telling La-La she shouldn't take our little one to that blasted mountain," Jara muttered, crossing his arms over his broad chest.

"Oh, come now brother. The Ghost Uncles are Mi-Ra's family," Asya reminded him. "It's only natural she see them."

"Right?" Mira was suddenly rising from the intricately carved chair Mahsap Deri gifted her for her fifth birthday. "Seeing family is natural, you would agree too Uncle, wouldn't you?"

"I..." Jara began, but the feeling that the was about to walk into yet another one of Mira's plots had him hesitating. It really was disconcerting to feel like he was always a step behind the almost six-year old.

"Uncle Jara, you should speak your mind!" Mira crossed her arms over her chest in a posture that mimicked his own. "Withholding truth is also a form a deceit you know?"

"Right," he agreed, then looked to Asya and saw she was holding back a laugh. His sister was never a help. "Well, I suppose it is natural to see family."

"Yes!" Mira's face lit with a beautiful smile, "Since you both feel that way, I can count on you to help me convince Mommy."

"Convince?" Jara asked, watching her put the little figure back on the board. La-La had designed the game for Mira after one that was often played in the world she came from. And even after all these years, it was hard for Jara to wrap his mind around the existence of Gaia... "Convince La-La of what, exactly?"

"To let me see my family, of course," Mira replied. And while she looked as confident as always, Jara and Asya could see her curl her little fingers into fists and stiffen her back before she went on: "My family in Gaia."

"Mi-Ra," Asya said gently, but no other words followed. She was not quite sure what to say.

"I know my father is dead," Mira said quickly. Then she cast a look at the board and the many figures across it. Some were tall and carried swords while others wore flowing dresses and others still had their hair wrapped atop their heads. "But my grandmother is alive. And there's Uncle Gabriel and Uncle Michael and Lady Delphine..."

The adults fell silent, unsure how to respond. La-La would do anything for Mira, but going back to Gaia?

Seven years ago when La-La was found in the middle of the Red Desert she was in a critical state. If it had not been for Athiri, who dragged her body to the camp of closest desert tribe, she would not have survived. The desert people did their best, but when they could not bring down her raging fever, they carried her to the Jade Palace for help. But even Jara had not known what to do.

He couldn't remember how many days passed as every healer he could get his hands on came to the Jade Palace to try and cure La-La. It was all to no avail. Her moans of pain continued, and she mumbled about things they couldn't understand for days on end.

When they were finally losing hope, the Ghost Kings appeared.

With no explanation they took her away and would not let anyone near Ghost Mountain to see her. It was over a year later that La-La turned up at his doorstep with Mira in her arms. For the first time she told him and Asya about her world; Gaia. She spoke of Warriors and the Land of Light, of Bone Eaters and the war against Shik. Jara couldn't grasp many of the things she spoke of, but two things about her story became clear: Raphael's loss had pushed her to the brink of death, but her love for Mi-Ra had brought her back.

Yes, La-La would do anything for her daughter, but crossing to Gaia? Something had happened at the end of the War that La-La never explained; something that had taken years for her to recover from. Though she hid it well, Jara knew that until recently she had been experiencing random moments of excruciating pain. 'It's just cleansing', she told him when he caught her once with cold sweat running down her brow. She told him not to worry.

But she was La-La. His first love. How could Jara not worry?

"Do you think Mommy will allow it?" Mira asked, her hesitantly hopeful voice hurting his heart.

"Allow what?"

All three occupants of the room turned to the double doors of the private apartments, their eyes going wide at the sight of Leyla and Athiri beside her.

"La-La! Weren't you coming back tomorrow?" Asya asked, her gaze searching the space behind them, "Did Da-Ni not come with you?"

"Your husband went straight into the cleansing rooms after rushing us through the talks with the Akrepas," Leyla smiled. "Apparently his wife doesn't like touching him if he's covered in dust."

"That's my Prince of the Plains," Asya grinned.

Feeling the relaxed mood, Athiri padded over to Mira, purring when her little hands came around his neck for a hug.

"Welcome back," Jara stepped forward, looking Leyla over for any signs of trouble. As expected from the fiercest Warrior in Asch, there were none to be found. "Thank you for helping with the deal. You know the Akrepa's have always liked you the best."

"It's my pleasure, Mahsap," Leyla smiled. Then she was moving past him to where her daughter was burying her face in Athiri's pelt. "Mira?" 

The golden gaze that looked up at her was so much like Raphael's that it felt like she was in his presence. "Welcome back, Mommy."

Running the tips of her fingers down the bridge of her daughters nose, Leyla glanced over her shoulder towards the adults, "Did those two behave well while I was gone?"

Mira lifted her face, her eyes crinkling with suppressed laughter as she looked at the Da Su's: "They make for passable guardians."

"Hey!" Asya protested, but Jara didn't bother; he found the little girls judgement accurate as usual.

"So, Mira. What is it you'd like me to allow?" Leyla asked, pushing Athiri's head away when he tried to lick her face.

Mira's eyes found Jara's, then taking encouragement from his nod, she straightened her back: "Mommy, as my birthday present, please take me to Gaia."