Banished| Book One In The Series | Avengers Fan-fic| ****ON HOLD****

2. The One Secret that was Never Told

**Edited**

Meira's POV:

I opened my eyes slowly, seeing a healer standing over me. "Good morning dear." She said, her voice soft. She had long hair in several braids down her back. I was lying on my bed, in my room. Sunlight streamed in through the window. It was warm. I watched the healer groggily as she held her hands above my body, them glowing as if they were light itself.

"What.......what happened?" I managed, all the muscles in my body suddenly relaxing. "Quiet now." The healer said with a tiny smile, but I saw something in her eyes. She was....scared. I kept silent while she checked over my bruises and other small injuries. The last thing I remember is winning the Scrimmage and Freya attacking me, but then....nothing. I suppose I fell unconscious.

"Just rest, dear." The healer said before leaving, a little too quickly to be normal if you ask me, and closed the door behind her. I stared up at the ceiling in confusion, blinking many times, but nothing came back to me. I listened to the sounds of swords clashing (my room is right next to the training field) from outside and muffled laughter filling the hall. What happened?

I had to get up. I slowly, yet surely, sat up, my body groaning in protest. I limped over to my mirror hanging on the wall and gasped at my appearance. I know I'm usually oddly pale, but I looked terribly sick; veins were visible under my eyes, my lips were a strange light grey and cracked, and my hair looked like it hadn't been washed in days.

I sat back down on my bed in shock, placing a hand over my heart in attempt to calm it, yet I felt my crystal necklace instead. I looked down at it and rolled it in my fingers. It wasn't just a necklace, I was told when I was very young that it used to hold magic inside, but it was used to save my life. All of us here, all of us and only us girls, aren't actually born. Thorix is a planet of life, so Lady Monroe came up with a way to save our race after all the men had left.

Everyone is born from a tree, like a little sapling, and from there we are raised with the people that our trees were in the same nursery with. Each tree is very strong and always healthy, making everyone look a bit the same; brown hair, green eyes, tan skin. But something went wrong with my tree.

It got poisoned some how and my tree grew very weak. No one knew how to cure it without hurting me. When I was born, many healers and even Lady Monroe herself were there, making sure I would make it. I came with same features as anyone else; brown hair, tan skin, but I wasn't breathing. I was dead. They quickly got the crystal necklace I wore and placed it around my neck. I was told that it healed and bonded with me instantly, saving my life. I wasn't allowed to take it off for whatever reason, I had never thought to ask, I am just thankful I am alive.

The "sisters" that I grew up with were never there for me. They left me behind to fend for myself and teased me like the others. Freya is my closest sister. Her tree was right next to mine in the nursery. We hate each other though, for many reasons, and we have to go against one another a lot, like the Magic Scrimmage. But even sisters have to go against each other when The Day of Decision nears.

Those who don't become warriors are meant for other things such as being healers, scribes, merchants, and even council members. All I ever wanted to be is a warrior. Warriors of Thorix have such high respect, just as much as council members, and people treat you like you matter. It may be all I wanted, but for some reason, I just never felt like I could ever do that for the rest of my life. Now, I love Thorix and the thought of becoming a warrior, but I always saw myself being something different other than what was to offer. I've always felt part of something greater.

Maybe it was just wishful thinking, but I've always felt this pull towards adventure, a yearning to travel the galaxy. I don't know how I could ever do that, though. Thorix doesn't have any ships for a reason. We are never to leave unless one of us is banished, but no has been banished since the men left, and that is as old as Lady Monroe herself, given the fact that it was her who banished a man that betrayed Thorix or something of that nature.

I sighed. No time for living in history, Meira.  I carefully laid back down and pulled the blankets up to my chin, falling asleep almost instantly.

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Third Person POV:

Lady Monroe stood at the window of the Council room, looking out across the city and the arena on the other side. She had a strange expression on her face, one of uncertainty, worry and anger. Lady Monroe wore a beautiful, long pink dress with a lacy design of flowers on the top and her usual long brown hair was shorter today. Her skin was very pale. Lady Monroe looked decades younger than she really was, this tending happen when her more sensitive emotions connected with her magic.

"Is something wrong, ma'am?" Heidi asked she walked into the Council room, clad in her armor and her hair braided down her back. Her sword rested at her side. Lady Monroe turned, startled, but her appearance didn't change. Heidi bowed her head in respect to her and Lady Monroe returned it with a nod, but the woman turned back to the window quickly.

"Is this....about the other day? With the child?" Heidi questioned after a few moments of silence between the two women. Lady Monroe tilted her head to the side as if in deep thought. Which she was. "Do you remember when I became head of the Council, Heidi?" Lady Monroe said quietly, yet her voice was as strong as ever. Heidi blinked in surprise at the question. "Of course," she said, "How could I forget?"

Lady Monroe hummed. "Yes," she said, "It was a memorable day." It was silent once more. Lady Monroe is known for her vague questions and statements, them not meaning anything to anyone at the time, but Lady Monroe had an uncanny power to take notice or say things that applied to something else in the future, possibly hundreds of years or just days, that connected with the thing she had mentioned or saw.

"Inger," Heidi said, using Lady Monroe's first name, "You know you can tell me anything, right?" Lady Monroe flinched at the sound of her name, but not even the sharpest eyes could've caught her discomfort, and her smile dropped. "Yes," She said, "Yes I know." The smell of lilac filled the air and Lady Monroe's hair moved like there was a breeze in the room.

Lady Monroe seemed to struggle with what she wanted to say and Heidi could see this, waiting patiently as the woman collected her words. Finally, she spoke.

"Heidi.....There is something I should have told you a long time ago."

And there's the second chapter!

Please comment to tell me what you think!

~ Athena.