The Creator's Intent

"Holy One, our guards have taken prisoners in the forest near the cave we used to escape the fallen citadel," Dorence announced as he bowed lowly before the high priest, and turned his head exposing his neck to the man he served.

"General Dorence, I have told you time and again that you are not required to grovel before me," K'Laad said, shaking his own head in exasperation. "And why do you turn your head so, revealing your neck as if submitting to……" The priest froze for only a moment before yelling out, "JEDAEN! Come out from behind that screen at once. You both know that I have not forbidden you from seeing one another, but behavior such as this will revoke that and require a chaperone in your presence if you continue, my son."

The penitent boy shuffled into full view from behind the carved wooden room divider that only offered privacy if one were to the side of it. From directly in front, as Dorence was currently, one could see quite clearly through its design. Jedaen began apologizing profusely and begging his father not to saddle him with Uncle M'Selah. Meanwhile, the two prisoners were brought into the room, and one of them immediately squealed shrilly and tried to run to Jedaen, while the other sank to his knees, staring at the boy.

"By the powers, you look more like your Papa than I had dreamed," the man whispered, nearly in tears.

"Jeddie, it's me," the little prisoner called out. "Father helped me find you."

"Sekana?" Jedaen gasped. He rushed to the girl and embraced her tightly. "Wait, your father helped you?" he gasped suddenly and tried to back away, but she clung to him desperately.

"Not that father, silly. He was slain by the Dark One after helping the evil army enter the citadel, and good riddance to his blackened soul," the girl explained as she literally climbed the teen as if he were a tree and she a kitten. Once she was on his side with arms and legs wrapped around his chest and stomach, she spoke again, indicating the man on the floor with a nod of her head. "My new father. Our father. Now we truly are brother and sister," she announced excitedly.

"Sekkie, dear one, what did I tell you about how we should share our connection with our remaining family?" the still kneeling man groaned as he rubbed a hand over his face.

"You said we should take things slowly and keep it secret until the time is right," the girl repeated dutifully. "But Daddy, it's Jeddie, and we're together again, so it must be the right time. Jeddie would never be mean to me. He swore it to me, naming me his sister, with Archael as witness."

"Papa, only the true Sekana would know of that vow," Jedaen finally spoke up in her defense.

"Yes, Sekana, and three stable hands, the stable master, and the two guards who always watched over you," K'Laad pointed out to his sweet summer child of a son. Before the boy could speak in his own defense, the priest continued. "Children are never as sneaky as they think themselves to be, Jeddie, and even had all of them not told me of your vow, your magic and mine made it known to me that instant, just as it does now. This is your sister, adopted by your untrained magical vow, and yet the relationship is somehow stronger now than it was before. Another magic, unfamiliar to me, but linked to you as strongly as my own has restated your childish oath to a little girl who still needs you as her big brother." He turned to his general and said, "Permit the little one to have space in my chambers near her brother, Dorence."

"Only the girl," Dorence growled as he glared at the man who still knelt on the floor, staring from Jedaen to K'Laad as tears trickled down his face.

"You know, sir, that it is not usually customary to remain kneeling for so long in my presence?" K'Laad asked in a teasing tone.

"Forgive me, your grace," the man returned as he struggled to his feet. "My body was not strong enough for the shock and delight of finally setting eyes upon the both of you."

"Both of us, you say?" K'Laad questioned.

"Have a care, Holy Father," Dorence warned. "My men say they were taken far too easily. This man could be a spy for the Dark One. He had a staff of power, not unlike your own, so could easily have defended himself, but he did not."

"Why would Daddy fight going where we wanted to be?" Sekana asked as if Dorence were an idiot.

"None of my men have touched the staff, Holy One. This man lay it down freely upon his entry to the guardhouse when he saw that I recognized it for what it was."

K'Laad held out his hand expectantly and within a moment, the staff flew into the room. The high priest left if floating in air before his hand touched it, but then after a moment, it settled in his hand as if it belonged there. Even K'Laad seemed surprised by this. The only one not shocked was the man dressed in gray, standing now, but still bowing his head before K'Laad.

"Papa, you said only the wizard himself could summon his staff," Jedaen whispered in shock.

"There is one other, young mage," Jaraen smiled. "Just as a direct family member, child or parent, can touch a master's staff, so also can the White Wizard, the leader and most powerful member of our order in all the realm," he added as he now bowed properly to K'Laad.

Before any could react further to this, another guard burst into the room. "Holy Father, General Dorence, there is a mighty beast at the gates of the fortress demanding entrance, and your holiness' steed, Archael, has broken from his stall and attacks the gate from the inside as well."

"I told you Endie should have come with us, Father," Sekana called out. "Now he feels left out, poor dear."

"Archael? Can he live?" K'Laad gasped. "I have not laid eyes upon him since the day my father Tallious and Master Lurian were taken from me." He rushed out of the chamber, leaving everyone else struggling to catch up with him. He didn't stop until he was beside Archael at the gate of the forest fortress. "Yes, old friend, I feel it, too. It truly is your brother returned to us after all these years. Open this gate at once," he demanded of the men nearby.

"Holy Father, this could be a trick," General Dorence warned in a wheeze as he tried to regain his breath from the run through the fortress. One look from his boss had him helping the men to open the gate.

Jaraen stepped over beside Jedaen and wiped the young teen boy's chin. "I'm too young for you to look at boys like that," he teased. "At the very least, do not drool."

"Dorence is no boy," Jedaen retorted instantly. "He is a man and the general of Papa's army, and he's strong, and fierce, and…."

"And Jeddie has always made moon eyes at him," Sekana announced.

"Sekkie!" the boy whined.

"It is not nice to tease your brother, little imp," Jaraen scolded her with a grin and a tickle.

"Even if it is the truth," K'Laad added with a laugh as he ruffled his son's hair.

"Papa, not the hair," Jeddie whined.

"I'm certain your young general will not find your appearance any less pleasing if your hair is out of place," K'Laad laughed.

"I believe it would be unwise for me to speak of your appearance in front of your family," Dorence blushed.

"Wise, as well as strong and fierce, this young man your heart has chosen," Jaraen told Jedaen with a smile.

At that moment the gate opened enough that the massive horse beside them all surged forward. The humans were all forced to dive out of the way. Dorence put himself in front of K'Laad, but called out for Jedaen. Jaraen had grabbed both of his children and spun them out of the way. The tiny girl was the first to squirm her way free, however K'Laad was right behind her as they both exited the gate to see the two horses standing with their chins resting on the other's withers.

"I told you I would see you reunited," Sekkie whispered as she embraced one leg of each animal at the same time lovingly.

"My dear, dear friend, can you ever forgive me for the years we lost?" K'Laad questioned brokenly as he hugged Endetax emotionally. "We thought you dead as Tallious and Lurian were taken from us. If I had known you lived…." His voice broke off into sobs as he was hugged by both animals.

"I believe that Corbrin kept him alive in the hopes that you would return to claim him, thus enabling your capture and return to his… service," Jaraen suggested. "Or perchance it was just that he believed by keeping Endetax, he still had some part of you within his grasp."

"Has the Dark One now found us?" Dorence demanded as he faced Jaraen. "You say this horse was kept by the Black Wizard to be used against the Holy Father, but you do not say how you came to have this beast follow you to our place of refuge."

"Peace, Dorence," K'Laad said as he and Sekana led the two animals back inside the gate. A wave of his hand and the gate was closed once more.

Dorence stared at the sealed gate for a moment, then turned to K'Laad with his head bowed. "My work, my care, my fighting, my worry, my protection, and yet I am but a laugh to you."

"I hear no laughter, Dorence," K'Laad said sincerely.

"Put your mind at ease, so much as you can, General," Jaraen smiled, but it was the look of an indulgent parent on his face. "Make no mistake, the White Wizard may need no protection from a non-magical being for himself, but he does require a strong and trustworthy warrior whom he can rely on fully to oversee the protection and welfare of those he holds dearest in his heart."

"You called him thus before, the White Wizard," Jedaen questioned.

"Yes, the leader and most powerful of our kind," Jaraen confirmed once more.

"Why have you sought me and mine, Gray?" K'Laad demanded. "And why do I feel a family bond between you and both of these children, not just the girl?"

"Papa, I am no longer a child," Jedaen corrected.

"Fourteen summers you may be, eighteen summers you are not," the high priest pointed out.

"Has it truly been so long? Have I missed so much?" Jaraen gasped as he slumped against the wall behind him.

"Six summers now have I been his Papa, and it truly feels no more than six moments," K'Laad agreed. He smiled at Jedaen and brushed a hand against the boy's cheek. "I would certainly not survive as your loyal steed through the halls of the citadel now," he laughed softly.

"He has your eyes," Jaraen smiled, as the two youngest in the group of humans turned their attentions back to the horses.

"The color, yes, but not the shape," K'Laad returned. "The archivist M'Selah sees more of me in the boy than I do, but those are actions no doubt learned from living with me."

"His hair is very like yours as well, Holy One, and that cannot be learned," Dorence spoke up.

"Indeed," Jaraen agreed. "The color, the bounce, the shine…. The Dark One did you a disservice in his description of you."

"I will not speak of the disservice done to me by that monster in the presence of children," K'Laad snapped and walked away quickly.

"I should go to him," Jedaen said, as he turned to do just that.

"No, golden one, allow me. It was my foolish words that brought pain to his mind," Jaraen said, stopping him. "I must be the one to make amends."

"You are supposed to be a prisoner," Dorence growled.

"Think of this not as your prisoner walking free, but as time for you to spend with Jedaen," the gray wizard suggested.

"Yes!" Jedaen squealed.

"With Sekana as your companion," Jaraen added with a smirk.

"No," Jedaen whined.

"You would prefer to let your Papa choose your chaperone?" Jaraen asked.

"No, no, Gray Wizard, sir," Dorence quickly blurted.

"Three moons you have not seen me and you seek to abandon me to the horses already," Sekana pouted.

"It is not like that, I swear it, little sister," Jedaen assured her with a quick embrace. The girl winked at her father over her brother's shoulder as she was carried to the stables with Dorence and Jedaen leading the horses.

Jaraen hurried through the woodland fortress, following the high priest. Fortunately for him, it is not so easy for the revered spiritual leader of a holy army to hide, as everyone K'Laad encountered called out to him, bowing in honor, stalling the man's escape from the conversation he did not want to have. The Gray Wizard caught up to him as K'Laad bent to help an old woman back to her feet. K'Laad blinked as he saw a spell shimmer in the air around him and all of the people suddenly turned back to their chores and duties.

"Kindly do not bewitch my people, Gray," the White Wizard warned with a growl. "First you call to my mind the worst pains imaginable, and now you work your magic on innocents to turn them away from me. Are you that desperate to know my vengeance?"

"I have merely encouraged their focus back onto their tasks, your grace," Jaraen explained. "I thought you would prefer them to not neglect their duties."

"It is not your place to tease me, Gray," K'Laad said grumpily.

"Pray tell, what then is my place, your grace?"

"I do not know," K'Laad snapped. "It is enough at the moment for you to know what your place is not."

"Could you perhaps word that again, your grace? I fear the meaning was lost between your lips and my ears."

"You are a puzzlement to me, Gray. I feel and see the kinship bond between you and Sekana. It is also there between you and Jedaen, though, and that should not be, for you had never beheld him before this day by your own admission. Further, your familial bond with him is as strong as my own, and both of them stronger than yours with the girl," K'Laad thought aloud. "Again, this should not be. My own bond with him should be no stronger than yours with Sekana, yours should not exist at all. Who are you, Gray?" His magic lashed out, pinning Jaraen against a nearby post. "Beyond your attachment to my children, I feel a calling to you the likes of which I have never felt before. I ask you again, Gray, why did you seek me?"

"I dared not dream you would feel anything for me, but I welcome it as a cherished dream perchance coming true," Jaraen murmured. "Can you think of no reason at all to be drawn to me? I surely know why I am to you. As a moth to a flame, I would rather die of a moment in your presence than live a thousand years having never beheld you."

"Speak no more riddles, Gray," K'Laad practically yelled.

"Your powers reveal my name to you, your grace; why do you refuse to use it?" Jaraen asked calmly.

"Because I would not be closer to you until I know you better. I am K'Laad, Falholwyn of the Temple of the Creator. I will not submit my station to you or anyone else before the Creator chooses to remove me from this realm."

"I do not intend you to give up your position, your grace," Jaraen assured him. "But do you not also know yourself to be Kielaad, the White Wizard?"

"Perchance I am, by the Creator's blessing of powers," the priest wizard conceded. "What I am not is any man's toy to be used and broken and then discarded when you are done with me for the moment."

"Do not presume to think me as evil and disgusting as he you have known before," Jaraen said firmly. "I am not Corbrin, nor will I ever act as he did."

"Nor am I the delicate lady of the keep, waiting for you by the hearth with your supper, your pipe, and your cups."

"I would never think you delicate," Jaraen defended himself. "I do beg of you not to hold too much against me for thoughts I would never share with any but you. It is hardly my fault that the descriptions I have heard of you, and not just from the Dark One, mind, scarcely do justice to your true beauty."

"I am a man, not a beauty," K'Laad snapped, but his voice was quiet and unsteady.

"You are a man, AND a beauty," Jaraen corrected. He blushed then and apologized. "Forgive me, your grace, I should not have spoken so boldly. I would cut my own tongue from my head before allowing words to fall from my lips that bring back upon you the memories of his tortures."

"You speak as if you know the misuse he made of me," K'Laad whispered.

"I did not bear the.… He did not treat me the same as you. What he stole from me, he took from my mind, not my body."

"Yet my gifts tell me that you somehow feel that what you have stolen from him is of more value than what he took," K'Laad said after studying the man silently for a moment. "Methinks you must have gotten away with more than my second father's horse."

"What I have taken from the Black Wizard is of more worth than any but you can know," Jaraen said quietly, but firmly. "The best of it is that he does not know that this treasure is not, nor has it been, nay shall it ever be his to claim."

"What prize can this be? Corbrin has forever been a jealous, grasping dragon of all he thinks to be his."

"Aye, and he still is that," Jaraen agreed. "And what I have prevented him from having is that which he believes will return his greatest loss. This treasure has that power, to bring you groveling back to his feet."

"There is nothing in all the realm…." K'Laad grew silent as he fell against a wall and slid to the ground. "How can he dare to think he has any claim over my son? For that matter, how is it that you say you have taken Jedaen from him when the boy has been almost his whole life in the care of the Temple?"

"The very word, your grace, almost," Jaraen said pointedly. "I know the priest who delivered the babe from she who brought him forth into the realm. I knew the woman as well. I cared for her when she was taken by the evil one. It was my magic and a potion of my own creation that Corbrin made use of to give her a child, not of her own but to be born of her body. The Black Wizard seeks the child he thinks to have come from himself and you, but that child has never existed."

"Well, of course not. No child can come from two men. Wait… you say that Corbrin thinks the child to be mine and his. The Black Wizard is many things, but a fool he is not. You said that he made use of your magic and your potion, therefore he has reason to believe that a child could be made from two men, and yet you also say he is not one of them."

"Your grace is no fool, either," Jaraen said with a rather grim smile. "I will speak the absolute truth to you, though it may cost me more than I could ever think to bear. By magic, and the potion I created, and lacking a better word, you are Jedaen's… mother, even though a stranger to you carried him within her and gave birth to him. Had she kept him and nursed him, perhaps that balance would have changed, but she did not. He was given to the priest who assisted in his birth with the warning to keep the child from the evil one and, should I ever meet this priest, I was to be entrusted with his care."

"If the boy is my son in truth as well as the archives of the Temple, why then do you seek to remove him from me? And why you? What claim do you have over my son?" Realization struck the high priest as the words left his lips. He would have fallen once more had he not already been on the ground. "You are his father. That is how you stole him from Corbrin."

"Yes, well, choices were rather limited at the time," Jaraen shrugged and blushed shyly. "It was either I use the… umm donation… from Corbrin, and I was loathe to allow that monster to breed, or I provide another… well sample. There was no one else available, so I did what had to be done. Had the process failed, he would no doubt have slain me on the spot. I let the Dark One believe what he wanted, that the child would be his and yours. I am sorry that you had no say in the matter at all."

"Do I want to know how Corbrin had anything of mine that would suffice as a… donation… so many years after I had escaped from him?"

"Perhaps not, your grace, but so that you are not without knowledge of the process, it was your blood, taken from a blanket that the Black Wizard kept… fresh, as it were… through means of his own. He had made known to me that he used…."

"Enough, I need no more knowledge of his sickness and evil," K'Laad snapped before he turned his head and emptied his stomach on the ground beside him.

"I beg your pardon, your grace," Jaraen spoke softly as he rubbed the other man's back and held his long golden hair out of the way. "I did not wish for you to still have questions."

"If there is that which I yet wish to know someday, I will ask it then, not now when I am unable to bear anymore," K'Laad complained. "And cease calling me your grace. We share children now, the very least we can do is address each other properly, Jaraen."

"As you wish, Kiely."

"My second father called me so when I was but a very little child," the high priest whispered.

"I shall never use it again, then."

"I did not say you could not call me thus; I merely give you more knowledge, as you seem fond of it."

"Is it now your place to tease me, White?" Jaraen asked with a smirk.

"Yes, I believe it is," K'Laad smiled smugly as he stood up at last. "We should find our son, and be assured that he is behaving appropriately. You should know that this is a particular challenge for Jedaen, especially in the presence of General Dorence."

"Fear not, my priest, he has a sister now who will by her very nature provide him with the most attentive of chaperones," Jaraen answered. The high priest laughed as they walked toward the stables to reunite with their family.