Hello! Wednesday Words this week is a bit longer than the previous. I want you to meet an important character—L’Aria Tira. She’s known for being magical in a big way, sharing an inborn talent called River Song with only one other person in Ethra—her father. On the flip side, she’s known for being independent, headstrong, capable, and sassy as hell. And her fate is tied to Luccan’s. A slight disclaimer—I’m revising before re-releasing, so the words (though not the story or the characters) may change in the new edition.)
Words about Fate
This is from Key of Behliseth (The Sun Child Chronicles #1), and it shows how L’Aria’s life is entwined with Lucky’s. (And, coincidentally, it also reveals a strange truth about Lucky’s life.)
As L’Aria was the only child of the strangest, most enigmatic man in Ethra, everyone had always known she was unique. But on the night of Luccan’s disappearance, it had become clear how important she was to Ethra’s future and how closely her fate was tied to Luccan’s. That night, she’d fallen into a stupor and couldn’t be roused even by Thurlock. Finally, her father, the legendary Tiro, had carried her away to Greenwood Forest. Neither had been seen again for twenty-nine years.
Last year, the day after Thurlock and Han had come to Earth, she’d shown up alone at the Sisterhold, still a girl, only two years older than she had been the day of Luccan’s disappearance. Every wizard, witch, and scholar in the Sunlands and beyond ran to the scrolls. Histories, prophecies, and theories papered walls and tables and even floors in studies and classrooms around the globe.
But it was Rosishan, the least scholarly of all the great witches, who’d figured it out. L’Aria’s fate was inextricably tied to Luccan’s. Luccan had aged in Earth years, and so had she. Born at spring equinox forty-one Ethran years ago, this year she’d turned fourteen.
Words about the Magic
Here’s a few paragraphs from Wraith Queen’s Veil (The Sun Child Chronicles #2) showing her using her song, preparing to help some soldiers get through a flood to a badly placed portal so they can leave Earth and get back home to Ethra.
Barefoot, ragged, and beautiful, with a gem on her forehead flashing back the early light, she walked into the water—back straight, chink proud, hands held open at her sides.
She was singing as she went, a high, ethereal melody with a thousand inner harmonies.
L’Aria’s magic flowed ahead of her in waves like another stream. She walked in deeper, and when the water touched her fingertips, it calmed and cleared, revealing every rock and crevice that lurked beneath it’s surface.
The soldiers followed, leading their horses and letting them put their hooves down carefully. She led them in a sickle curve across the flats that had become a flood, keeping them away from the swirling water where Isa’s keep had been. When they came to the deeper, faster waters racing down Black Creek’s usual course, the portal loomed high above, but only short yards ahead.
L’Aria stopped and her song changed subtly; it seemed more insistent. She clasped her hands together, curved into a graceful dive, and disappeared beneath the rough waters. For seconds the current danced with lights—turquoise, violet, tender green. When they faded, the water stilled in a swath from the creek’s banks to the foot of the broken pillars. It took on a sea-green translucence the exact color of L’Aria’s gem.
Thanks for reading—I hope it wets your appetite. 🙂
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