Page 141 of The Ruler
And then there was Willow, the girl who would meet her twin tomorrow and didn’t know it yet. She was stunning, with large green eyes and wavy hair that reached the small of her back. Being only twelve she was tall for her age and already developing female curves.
Christina and Boulder left for the second group of Motlanders right away, since they had arrived earlier than expected.
We were still getting to know the first group when the last five children arrived.
Victoria, Nicki, and Sky were accompanied by the two boys, Tommy and Nieall, who would make the group complete. With the weather being warm and nice Kya had them all sit in a circle on the grass playing games to memorize each other’s names.
“Before we go in and show you your new school we would like to introduce you to some of your teachers.”
“As I told you, I’m Kya Janae and I’ll be focusing on the emotional and academic part of your curriculum. You will also be working with Shelly some of the time since Shelly is my new assistant.”
Shelly waved at the eight girls and two boys.
“And then we have Christina and Pearl, who will help out from time to time.”
The children smiled politely.
“But as you know you’re now in the Northlands and that means you’re going to be learning with boys from the Northlands and you’re going to have teachers who are real Nmen.”
The children exchanged glances; a few looked completely undisturbed while others bit their lips and fidgeted with their hands.
“Since Raven has been here for a few days already, I thought we could let her introduce your male teachers,” Kya said and pointed to Raven, who jumped up and waved her hand eagerly toward the school. Archer was the first to come out: large, broad-shouldered, stubble on his face, and his hair tied back.
Raven waited for him to come to her before she took his hand and looked up at the giant.
“This is Archer. He can read upside down and stuff seven crackers in his mouth at the same time,” she said.
Archer smiled at the group. “I’m very happy to meet you all. Raven has taught me a lot about girls and boys from the Motherlands already. I’m ready to see if it’s true you only skip and never walk.”
The girls giggled and Mila shook her head, her dimples popping out. “I never skip, but I’m a fast runner.”
“Me too,” Nieall added and grinned.
Archer narrowed his eyes. “Okay, but surely it’s true that you all sleep with your socks on your hands.”
“Nooo…” The children were laughing and shaking their heads while Marco came out to stand next to Archer. The young man looked nervous and kept pushing his hair back and shifting his balance. When I first met him this morning, Marco had admitted to me that he’d never met a female in his life, so it was no wonder the young man was overwhelmed with this new mystery in front of him.
“This is Marco,” Raven said, “I only just met him this morning, but he seems nice enough.”
Marco waved and some of the girls said, “May peace surround you, Marco.”
But then all eyes flickered to Magni and Khan, who came out side by side. The children went completely silent and my belly flared up with appreciation of what a fine specimen of the human race my new husband was. Khan was regal and carried himself with confidence. The brothers didn’t come out smiling or making jokes. Khan and Magni stood side by side, dark next to blond, fierce and scary to behold.
“This is Magni, who will be our teacher too,” Raven said and pointed up at Magni. “He’s scarier than the others and he promised that he’ll teach us to be scary too.”
Magni frowned.
“We’re going to learn how to fight like Northmen.” Raven declared.
Magni gave Raven a nod toward Khan, who stood firmly next to him.
“Oh, and this is Lord Khan,” Raven said to the children. “I don’t know him that well yet, but he’s Magni’s older brother, he lives in a castle, and all the men listen when he speaks. And…” she added with a cheeky grin, “…he looks really funny when he dances.” Raven made the other kids laugh with her imitation of how the men had danced at the wedding, her arms dangling around in the air while she jumped in an uncoordinated way and made funny faces. Christina, Boulder, my mother, and the rest of us adults erupted in laughter too. Even Magni and Khan couldn’t hide a smile.
Khan
I stayed back while Finn and Pearl took Isobel to the border. Finn was phenomenal at charming the councilwoman and making her laugh. I still found it hard to forget that Isobel had tried to come between me and Pearl, so my natural charm didn’t flow as freely around her, yet.
The little boys and girls were busy finding their new beds and getting to know each other. Boulder, Magni, and I stood in the background watching Kya and Archer play games with them.
