The Stories of the Guardians of Tannie

Raka

Raka carefully flipped through the musty old book her mother had carefully handed her, her eyes shined. It was a present from her grandparents, her grandmother was Elven her grandfather Draconian and she had never met them.

Her mother was a half-blood, but although she never truly got treated as an equal her looks made it hard for people to tell. The only thing that marked her as even possibly being a half-blood were her ears, they were much longer and pointed then Draconian's normally were.

Along with the book, they had sent some pouches of hard to find plants used for potion making. Raka wondered how they had heard that she was having a growing interest in potion making and looked at her mother slyly under her eyes. She knew her mother talked to them via Mirror sometimes, but Raka had never really spoken to them herself, she had only seen pictures of them.

They hadn't really approved of Raka's dad, a career military man who was Draconian. Raka's mom told her that it was not the fact that he was Draconian that bothered them, but that he was in the military and they feared their daughter and granddaughter one day being left alone in a hostile environment. Raka didn't think they would have a problem of course, no one treated her differently at all, but that was because she really did not look like she had any Elven blood at all. Being a quarter-blood, her ears were not even that pointed, not compared to her mothers.

Raka smoothed her hands over the pages smiling fondly, despite never having seen or talked to them they seemed to know a good bit about her and her current interests. They were always sending her things that went along with that she was studying or interested in. Raka had wondered what made them not want to see or speak to her. She glanced over at her mother again and decided to ask.

"Mom, why don't Nana and Gran'pa want to see me?" Her mom paused over another book she had gotten and slowly closed it. "Raka, it has never been that they don't want to see you, or to speak to you but more that they are afraid to."

Raka frowned, "Why?" Raka had just turned twelve and was feeling quite rebellious about this now. Her mother sighed, "Because even though we don't get treated all that differently from the Draconian's around us, if more people realized we were of Elven blood we would be. Because if they saw you via the Mirror they would want to meet you in person all the more and that would be dangerous for both us and them no matter if we went there or they came here." Raka could hear te sadness in her mothers voice.

"I still don't..." Her mother sighed again, "That is because here your father and many of the others make sure that everyone is treated pretty much the same, not matter what their blood. But you remember when those nobles came through the other month?" Raka nodded her head slowly, "Do yo remember what they did?"

Raka's face became a storm, "They spat at Zumera and Enkina and made them do everything for them, the brat son of theirs even tried to use Zumera as a footstool at one point..." Raka then grinned in pride remembering her fathers reaction, he had quickly summoned Zumera for an 'important task' and made sure his task was to be treated to a feast at their home and to just rest at ease until the nobles had gone.

He had been incredibly angry and had told the noble's son that his men were not furniture no matter their blood, and that no one would serve them here in such a way. Nor would they get any favor from anyone, or any assistance with anything. Period. They had left in a huff saying they would be speaking to the General about his words and actions, but her father did not seem worried about it.

Raka looked down at the musty books again and made a silent vow for herself, whenever she could wherever she could she would help her people and be like her father. She would take a stand, and if she could she would make others take a stand with her.

It took a few years of studying, nagging and a lot of practice before Raka finally convinced her father and mother that she could join his unit, she insisted it was so that he could keep a better eye on her. After all, whether he let her join or not she was going to tag along anyways. She had already been doing that, to the amusement of his fellow military men and his great worry.

Still she had been of help to him, and proved her skills already by being handy with potions that could knock out people attacking them and get information swiftly without having to extract by slightly more physical methods.

Raka had now seen what her grandparents feared, the Elven and half-blood people enslaved, beaten and horribly mistreated. Slavery although frowned upon by many was still not illegal, so the slavers that often came through were never stopped unless they had done something else. If they got stopped, then the cargo was confiscated and the slaves subsequently sent on their way as part of the punishment for the crime.

After some deliberation, Raka came up with an idea, she made sure that the local towns where her father was stationed new full well that she was a quarter-blood and then made herself as annoying as possible. She did not mention who her father was. Even though her father was stationed nearby, he never went into any of the towns. Neither did her mother.

Within a week, some of the annoyed residents of the town had sent the slavers her way, her father always had a detail of some kind following her, her main worry had been her father would try and prevent the whole thing from happening. She thought he might have an idea of what she was trying, and she knew he wouldn't be fond of it.

She got kidnapped three times in as many weeks the soldiers were quick to come to her rescue. The slavers did not seem to be bright enough to catch on, they seemed remarkably dim.

Her father only gave her small terse warnings and told her to be less annoying and more careful, Raka got the feeling that he actually thought it was a good and worthwhile idea but just didn't like the fact that she was in danger, he was her father after all.

It was not to much longer that another town sent some slavers her way again, this time they seemed a bit more prepared, they took her down a different path and tried to make sure that no military was near, it was the longest time she had been in a wagon so far. They made a stop, and a man was thrown into the back. He was a half-blood like her, his hair was black and curly and his eyes were a brilliant shade of green. Raka liked him immediately, she smiled up at him. "Don't worry..." Raka whispered to him, "You won't be here long...."