This story is part of the Wanderer series.
As she watched her friends disappear around the corner, the high elder beckoned for her to follow him.
“Come walk with me, dear, while your friends change. They are in good hands.”
Obeying his suggestion, she nodded, joining his side as they began to stroll down the temple’s open walkway. The clacking sound of the high elder’s staff echoed off the tall stone walls and overarching ceiling, creating a steady rhythm to follow.
“Remind me, Easthills, what was your given name?”
“Alisan.”
“Ah, Alisan. Yes, that is familiar.”
She offered no response, keeping her eyes dipped forward.
“Your parents are from the western coast, correct?”
Shoulders rising, she then looked at him in surprise. “You knew them?”
The high elder chuckled. “Your given name. It is a mix of the west and east dialects.”
Realizing his question was simply guesswork, she retreated. “A-a-ah…”
Waving his staff out in front of him, interrupting its rhythm, he elaborated.
“Ages ago, when the peoples of the western empires came to our continent… some of them stayed and intermingled with our kind. With them, among other possessions, they brought their culture… their practices… and their language.”
The high elder allowed his arm to lower, tapping the staff against the floor again.
“The tribes along the coast adopted different aspects of these western peoples. Some, certain practices and sayings… others, entire components of their language.”
His voice stopped abruptly, as if realizing his story was missing something.
“In that age, the kingdom was still a collection of disparate tribes loosely bound by their beliefs of the land. That allowed for different magnitudes of adoption. It was not until the four founding sages brought together the three largest tribes when our kingdom did form.”
The high elder turned his head towards the girl.
“These sages, as you should know from your teachings, taught us well about the life force. We have them to thank for what we know today.”
Seeing the high elder’s look for affirmation, Alisan sheepishly nodded.
Closing his eyes and straightening his head, the high elder gently laughed to himself. “Oh my… look at me. I managed to turn this into a lecture, did I not?”
Alisan smiled along with him, keeping silent herself. The reprieve bought her a moment to think to herself where she was, here at the capital of the kingdom. As she remembered her place in this society, her expression mellowed. Recalling how the conversation started, she realized the special attention that was being given by this man of much higher stature to a commoner such as her. How much he seemed to know about her already, as if he was monitoring her progress all these years. Then, remembering her friends, and the special attention they were currently receiving…
“High Elder…”
The elder chuckled at her address. “You may call me Weststar.”
“High Elder Weststar…”
He chuckled again. “Just Weststar, dear.”
Alisan paused, measuring herself, before continuing.
“Am I a Wanderer?”
Weststar did not reply immediately. He kept his smile steady, but his slowing pace betrayed his internalized deliberation. Eventually, he came to a stop, with Alisan right beside him. She chanced a glance in his direction, afraid she had asked too much.
Finally, the high elder turned to face her, keeping his expression as gentle as can be. “All good children will eventually learn the truth,” he said wistfully to himself.
Alisan gazed at him with anticipation. The high elder silently returned her gaze for a moment, intently observing her internal state.
“The truth is, we do not know for certain.”
Her expression changed to confusion. “… Eh?”
“You have a potent life force; a signature of a Wanderer,” the high elder started. “However, your life force is tame. Relatively tame for a Wanderer, whose kind expresses outbursts at a young age.”
She blinked several times, trying to comprehend. “Outbursts?”
“Given the potent life force they must wield, Wanderers often lose control of that energy as children. Yet, as far as we observed, you have yet to express such a circumstance… either a sign of innate mastery, or possibly an effect of a docile Celestial… the beings which Wanderers owe their existence.”
The high elder stopped as he noticed the girl was not listening any longer. Alisan stared blankly forward, eyes anxiously glimmering as her lips faintly moved.
“I’m… just like them…”
Weststar quietly watched with interest, inspecting her mixture of emotion as her blank stare slowly blossomed to relief, her glimmering eyes starting to show glimpses of tears.
“… just like them.”