Mantle: The Return of the Sha Read Free Page A

when the people of Terra who had been standing in the bright sun at the burial of Roni Abbot saw the smile appear on Lizabet’s face, the expressions of grief and loss also turned to smiles. It was infectious and they couldn’t help it. Every person within view of Lizabet stopped crying suddenly and felt the warmth of her smile. They realized that Roni would live on in their memories and that it wasn’t the loss of Roni that they would carry in their hearts; it was the happy memories of her that they had gained.
    As Dorian stood next to Lizabet, he leaned over to whisper in her ear, “You know, every time you smile, everyone around you smiles also, no matter if they are sad or troubled. Maybe this is your magic gift. Maybe you have a new kind of gift that no one else has.”
    Lizabet thought for a moment about what Dorian was saying. She certainly wanted to have magical gifts, but it seemed too absurd that a simple smile could be anything extraordinary. So she smiled at Dorian and rolled her eyes, dismissing the notion as ridiculous. Carlotta, for her part, pecked gently at Lizabet’s leg to get her attention, and when Lizabet knelt down to her, she then knew that Carlotta also believed the same. Dorian, knowing, but not fully understanding the secret relationship between Lizabet and Carlotta, suspected that Carlotta had agreed with him, and so he smiled at Lizabet with a look that seemed to say I told you so .
     
    ****
     
    After supper, when everyone had gone home, Lizabet, Bella, and, of course, Carlotta, walked out to the apple tree to say goodnight to Aunt Roni.
    “What will happen now, Bella?” asked Lizabet as she sat cross-legged at the foot of the grave.
    Bella sat down next to her, put her arm around her, and said, “Well, I imagine that we’ll just keep doing the same things that we’ve always done and life will happen as it always has.”
    Lizabet looked up at Bella with a serious expression on her face and very softly said, “Well, that doesn’t sound very exciting at all.”
    “No, I suppose it doesn’t,” replied Bella, who was now looking down with an equally serious look on her face.
    Bella knew what Lizabet meant. She loved living in Terra on the family farm, but she had an itch dwelling inside her that she couldn’t shake. She wanted to explore and travel and meet people. She wanted to see what was beyond Terra…beyond Forris, for that matter. She had never left the village, which was unusual in itself. Most Terrans had at least made trips to other villages, and many had gone to Obengaard to attend the festivals. But since her parents had died and she hadn’t yet married, her opportunities for adventure had been limited. She had no traveling companion and no one to make new experiences with, so she knew all too well what Lizabet was saying to her. Bringing this realization to the forefront made her sad and even a bit angry at her situation. But then Lizabet smiled and the despair seemed to wash away from her thoughts entirely. She wrapped her arms around Lizabet and they sat in silence, smiling down on the grave of their beloved aunt and imagining the world beyond.
     
     

 
    The King and the Trees
     
     
    KING ZANDER OF FORRIS was known by the Fories to be the kindest ruler that one could imagine. He was quick to assist in local matters and he was always concerned when one of his subjects was in distress.
    When Zander was just nineteen years of age he had assumed the throne following his father’s passing and, now at the age of thirty-two, he was still unmarried and without children. This presented a problem, since the Fories would be much more comfortable knowing that there would be an heir to the throne, and that the heir would be a child of Zander.
    But King Zander had a problem. It wasn’t that he thought the women of Forris to be unworthy of him. Instead, he thought himself to be unworthy of any woman who would be the future queen of Forris.
    King Zander, just after being