Starseeker,

I totally looove this. It is super good! 

AHHH

AHHHHHHH

*dies for lack of more writing*  

Aaah, Starseeker, this is so good! Feroc and Ty are soooo cute together... and what happened to Zoey? Aah, I need more to read!!

But just a suggestion, because there are so many new characters and new names, you could make a chart or something with all the convocations and people in it and insert it somewhere in the book, just to keep organized and help the reader remember who's who... I see those sometimes in books and it really helps me... but, you know, it's just a suggestion and you don't have to follow it. :D

I can't see everyone's posts yet, but for those I can see, thank you all so much for posting!!!! I really appreciate your feedback-- it keeps me going and encourages me to keep writing. :) Always feel free to leave a comment with feedback, questions, or guesses for the future and I'll do my best to answer them!

Now, as for an official update schedule: Right now I'm updating every couple of days, since I have about 40 pages of content stacked up that hasn't been posted. (Yikes!) I'm thinking of settling that into an every Tuesday and Friday schedule. What do you guys think? I thought once a week wasn't quite enough, but to be honest, I'm not sure how long I can keep the pace up after my cushion of content has been depleted. I am a full-time public school student, after all. :)

As always, stay awesome!

~Starseeker 

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

New parts!!!!!! I was so so so happy to see this back on the first page, and I just reread through everything! I love the new chapter, Star! I agree, Ty and Feroc are adorable together! Also, aagh, cliffhanger! As always your writing is incredible! I can't wait to read more! One critique I do have, however, if you don't mind me saying so, is that as I'm reading, I get a little bit confused on the names of the convocations. When you put the name of the convocation "Or" at the beginning of a sentence, it takes a few lines for it to register that it was the name of the convocation, not just the word "or". But otherwise, amazing work!

Hey guys, it's Tuesday! That means an update. (I now update Tuesdays and Fridays.) Since I upload new parts twice a week, though, instead of sporadically, that means that they're going to be shorter updates. Oh, and it's finals week down here, so I can't promise an update this Friday or in the week following, since I'll be on break. Thanks for understanding, and enjoy the update!

~Starseeker

~~~

Chapter 26

I awake to the soft whispering of two people.

“This is all your fault,” one hisses, a girl. She sounds agitated.

“I wasn’t the one who put it on the tables!” another argues, a guy this time.

There’s a hand on my forehead, stroking my hair back. It pauses as the girl speaks again.

“But you gave it to her!” the girl’s voice says again, sounding less defiant and more broken. “You gave the Nectar to her.”

“How was I supposed to know?” the guy’s voice argues. The hand continues.

“Stop it, all of you,” a second girl’s voice says, calm but firm. “She’s waking up.”

Instantly the hand is withdrawn and a weight removed from the left side of the bed near my head-- the person who was stroking my hair out of my face has stood up.

My eyes flutter open. There are five people standing in this room, and while my foggy brain takes a second to recognize them, it recognizes the room instantly. It’s one of Maylene’s, the bottom room where she does most of her work. I’m lying on a cot in the corner, all five other people scattered throughout the room.

There’s Jasak standing closest to me, looking at me with concern. Sterling had been pacing by the far wall but she’s turned towards me now with hope in her gaze. Maylene stands on my right, arms crossed and assessing my condition. Feroc stands by the door and he shoots me a small smile when he sees me looking at him. I roll my head to the right and see the fifth person, the one who had been arguing with the girl I now recognize as Sterling.

“What are you doing here?” I whisper, unable to manage anything above that volume for the moment, and Fehnein smiles sadly.

“Making sure I didn’t kill you with my clumsiness,” he whispers back. “I’m so, so sorry, Zoey. I truly didn’t know you were allergic to Amaryllis Nectar.”

“I didn’t either,” I say. Sterling clears her throat.

“It runs in the family,” she says. “I should have known you wouldn’t remember. I’m sorry.”

I shake my head. “No. It’s not your fault either. No-one made me eat it or touch it. That part was all me.”

I flop my head back over and look at Jasak, who looks unhappy still. “Thanks for bringing me here,” I say. “I wasn’t conscious for most of it but thank you anyway.”

Jasak cracks a smile but it still looks strained. “You’re welcome, Zoey,” he says. “I should probably be getting back now, though.”

“Oh, okay,” I say, but he’s already turned abruptly on his heel and brushed past Feroc through the door.

“What’s his problem?” Fehnein mutters, and Sterling shoots him a sharp look. He raises his hands defensively. “What?” he asks her. “I’m in his next class and I know it doesn’t start until 9. That’s an hour from now. He has nowhere to be.”

“You don’t know that,” Sterling says stiffly. “There are some things that you aren’t privy to, fledgling.”

“Then why aren’t you attending to them? Why send your second best?” Fehnein shoots back. Feroc pushes himself off the wall and Maylene takes a step back, not wanting to get in the middle.

Feroc takes a slow step towards Fehnein and puts his arms behind his back, showing off his huge biceps and massive frame. Rather than being cowed, though, Fehnein stands taller, almost matching Feroc in height, and shakes his shaggy hair back, fixing Feroc with his defiant turquoise gaze.

“Stay out of it, fledgling,” Feroc growls. “What Save does is not your concern.”

“And what if I think it should be?” Fehnein says, raising his chin higher.

“Guys, stop, please,” I cry. “We’re all stressed out, okay? I get that. But you don’t need to fight it out.”

Feroc breaks his eye contact with Fehnein and looks at me struggling to sit up. Maylene comes forward and tries to make me lay down again but I push her away. As I do, I see that the pads of my fingers are still blackened, like I’d put my fingertips in black paint. But I don’t care at this moment. I just want to avoid a fight.

Feroc hesitates and nods. “All right, Zo. I won’t fight this fledgling. But if he puts one toe over the line--” his voice goes low and threatening-- “not even you will be able to stop me.”

I nod. “Thank you, Feroc.”

He nods again, shoots a dirty look at Fehnein, and leaves. The door shuts behind him and then it’s just Sterling, Fehnein, Maylene, and I in a room with the tension so thick you could cut it with a knife.

“Zoey--” Fehnein starts, but I hold up a hand.

“You too.”

“Zoey--” he tries again, but I interrupt, making my voice more commanding.

“No. Go.”

Fehnein opens his mouth, shuts it again, and leaves without another word. I flop back onto the pillows, suddenly exhausted. Sterling comes forward and sits on the bed by my face, looking at me appraisingly.

“You handled that well,” she says. “Father would be proud. He was always trying to teach you and Zorinth how to behave. You’ll make a fine leader someday.” She rests her hand on my forehead for a quick moment and then leaves, the door shutting quietly behind her before I can say anything.

Maylene, too, comes forward and rests her good hand on my forehead, but she’s testing for fever. She takes her hand away and picks up mine, examining my blackened fingertips. I turn my attention towards them as well.

“Why are they still black?” I ask her. “I thought I was healed.”

“You are,” she replies. “Think of them as a battle scar.”

She pats my cheek and walks to the other room. “You’re free to go if you want,” she calls over her shoulder. “I think the other fledglings are on kitchen duty if you care to join them.”

“Okay,” I say.

“Do you need a guide, or can you find the Nest on your own?” she says.

“I think I can find it, thanks,” I say, already sitting up and swinging my legs over the side of the bed. I rest my hand on the wall, fighting off dizziness, and stand up. Then I walk over to the door and leave, feeling grateful to whoever didn’t remove my borrowed boots.

I weave through the buildings in the Aerie, making my way over to where I hope the Nest is. It can’t be too hard to find, right? It’s a big, hulking building in the center of camp.

For once, luck goes my way, and I end up right by the Nest. I pull the doors open and step inside. The torches on the wall flare up, and I wonder idly if it’s magic. Probably.

There’s shouting and splashing echoing from the kitchen, so I make my way over there, picking my way through the cleared-off and wiped down tables. I poke my head into the kitchen and into a scene of what at first appears to be mass chaos. The fledglings and some older teens-- the convocation of Shall, if I remember correctly from the morning announcements-- are all doing various things. Zafre, Cisi, and two girls I don’t know are up to their elbows in soapy water, scrubbing at plates, cups, and silverware. A girl and a guy I don’t know along with Diernor are taking the washed plates and cups and drying them off with quick, efficient swipes of ragged towels before handing them to Lia and two girls and a guy. As soon as they receive a plate or cup, they dash off to another, smaller room and come back empty handed. They must have put the item away somewhere.

As the door shuts behind me, the runners look up. The washers and dryers are too absorbed in their task to see who I am.

Lia gives me a quick smile before running off again, but one of the girls-- Blaiyre, I realize now-- looks downright displeased that I’m there, and Link, the other girl, seems indifferent. The guy looks somewhat familiar but I can’t place him.

Now Cisi looks up and smiles when she sees me, waving with one soapy hand and getting suds on Zafre. He grumbles.

I wave and smile back, picking my way over to her. “Hey, is there anything I can do to help?” I ask her over the clamor, and she looks around.

“Ask Arlo!” she says, taking her hand out of the water once more and gesturing towards the small room that the runners had been bringing the dishes to. I nod my thanks and walk over, peeking inside. Arlo is standing in the middle of the room,

~~~

Haha so funny story, here I took a quick break and jumped ahead in the story. I have all of the content written down on paper (about 6,000 words' worth) but not digitally. I'll probably upload a summary on Friday, and that'll be your sad little update for finals week.

~Starseeker 

I think others have said that posts top better with text in them, so here's a summary of all that's happened in my novel so far, because it's been a while. (Thanks @Cassandra the First for reminding me why I write this book! You mentioned that you liked reading it, and it made me want to continue posting. I'll resume a Tuesday/Friday schedule starting this Tuesday.)

~~~

Zoey is a misfit. She goes to a school called Northbrook Academy with a bunch of snotty rich kids, including Shaina Wintermere, Justin (her boyfriend), and the E Squad, four girls who look alike and talk alike and happen to share a dorm room with Zoey. Then a new girl arrives-- Kelsey. Kelsey doesn't care one whit for the status quo and becomes fast friends with Zoey, despite the fact that Zoey is rather standoffish. Then a couple'a dragons come and kidnap Zoey for reasons yet to be revealed. They fly off with her, and prepare to take her back to their lands. But the dragons are ambushed, and Zoey and one of the dragons, Morrowmist, fly to safety in her lands through a portal relam called the In-Between. Once in Morrowmist's prairie home, Zoey is tested because the leader of Morrowmist's clan, named Airimium, believes that she is the Mighty One mentioned in a prophecy made hundreds of years before. Zoey fights reflections of herself, navigates a mirror maze and a booby-trapped clearing, talks to a water dragon, and climbs into a trapdoor before coming to the final test. At the final test, Zoey must choose between saving Chamarys, Morrowmist's mate, or an unhatched female dragon egg that could help repopulate the prairie dragons. Zoey saves Chamarys, and Airimium announces that she has failed the tests because she chose to save her friend over saving an entire tribe. Zoey is thrown in jail but rescued by Chamarys, Morrowmist, and an intern named Jelein. She runs away and evades dragons for weeks, finally ending up in a little village. She's helped out by a woman named Abbah until the dragons find her and burn the village. Zoey stops the burning by agreeing to go with the dragons, one of which she recognizes as Morrowmist's brother, Grytenth. Grytenth helps her escape but is shot out of the skies by a vigilante group with a giant crossbow. The vigilante group is made up of teens like her, and they take her back to their home base, called the Aerie. She meets the head of the vigilante group (called the Eagles), Sterling, and her second in command, Jasak. She also meets LANCE who is this SUPER CUTE DOGGO and totally not important to this summary but I love him. Jasak shows her all around the Aerie, and she meets more people, like Maylene the healer. Zoey stays the night in Maylene's cabin. The next morning, Jasak takes Zoey to go see Sterling. Sterling decides that Zoey's allowed to stay and puts her to work in the kitchen witht he prickly cook, Arlo. Arlo takes a liking to Zoey and teaches her some stuff, and tells her to come back whenever she wants. Jasak picks Zoey up from the kitchen and finishes her tour of the camp, and Sterling tags along. They meet a couple of people who explain how convocations work, as well as Feroc the weapons master, Icantre the archer, and Melise the navigator, who are all Sterling's top commanders. Melise thinks that there's something special about Zoey, and Sterling reveals that Zoey is her long-lost sister. Sterling takes her back to her cabin and they spend the day talking about their histories, and Sterling also reveals that they are in line for a toppled throne. The next morning, Feroc takes Zoey to go to breakfast and we meet Feroc's boyfriend Tyrian who is a cinnamon roll who must be protected at all costs. At breakfast, Zoey meets the other apprentice Eagles (called fledglings): Cisi, Zafre, Fehnein, Lia, and Sofna/Diernor. Fehnein accidentally poisons Zoey with some Amaryllis Nectar jelly and Maylene saves her, though Zoey's fingertips remain blackened. Sterling gets angry at Fehnein for giving it to her and Zoey sticks up for him. Fehnein almost fights Feroc but Zoey once more intercedes and makes everyone leave. Sterling makes a cryptic foreshadowing remark about Zoey being a good leader someday and then leaves. Zoey goes to go help the fledglings in the kitchen. 

~~~

Enjoy the summary, and new parts start this Tuesday!

~Starseeker