Six year old Alara WhiteWing twirls in time to the music. She knows she should be using that time to study the martial arts her mother is trying to teach her, but the pull of the music is too strong. She can feel the beat of the music pounding in her blood and racing through her feet, directing her movements. The melody sings through her veins, as she throws her head back, making her feel gloriously alive.
The wonderful sensation stops as abruptly as the music, making her trip and fall to her knees. She gets back up and looks at her father. Her face darkens when she sees Alexander standing just behind him looking smug. In that instant Alara knows that Alex told on her. "I thought you were supposed to be practicing Alara." Says Wildwing.
" I know..." She says looking at him. "But the music called to me...I couldn't help it." Wildwing sits on the floor and beckons to his only child. Alara is even more dear to him because he knows that Mallory can no longer have children. She walks over and sits in his lap.
"Alex why don't you go see if your mother needs any help." Alex pouts and leaves. It had been drilled into him that he cannot disobey the Leader of the Mighty Ducks. "Now Alara...you know you are supposed to be practicing." He cuts her off when she opens her mouth. "I understand that you enjoy dancing to music a lot...but you can't disobey your mom. You have to practice so that you can protect yourself." He hugs her. "I know what it's like to need something a great deal..but sometimes it has to be set aside." He stands her up then stands up himself. "Now practice, and no more music if you can't concentrate with it on." He unplugs the small portable radio and carries it out with him.
To Alara this is the worst punishment he could have given out. Not even his worst punishment, a sharp reprimand and a fierce look that could make your spirit shrivel up in shame, could compare with this. Maybe if I finish practicing then he'll let me have the radio back. She clumsily, for someone who is so graceful in dancing, she begins to work through the set patterns that she has been taught.
When she trips 8 year old Alex jeers at her. "Way to go, klutz."
"Go away Alex."
"No." He glances towards where the radio had rested. "Your dad took it away huh?"
"So?"
"Bummer." He watches her attempt to go through the same routine again. "Well you weren't that good of a dancer anyway." She glares at him. He smirks then laughs as she trips again. "Give it up Al...You are too clutzy." He walks out laughing. Alara gets to her feet then goes in search of Canard.
She finds him bent of a computer game in his room. "Canard?"
"What's the matter Alara?" his fingers move rapidly over the key board as he manoeuvres through a maze.
"Alex was mean to me again..."
"Well- Darn!- I don't have time for this Alara!"
"You never have time anymore." She whispers leaving his room.
Alex corners her in the training room again. "Aunt Mallory says I should spar with you." he says.
Looking dubious she nods. "Okay..." her voice is wary and she settles into a basic defensive stance. Alex smirks and attacks. in mere moments it is over. With Alara on her back and her cheek already starting to bruise.
"Some fighter." he sneers. Mallory having seen the spar, grounds her from music till she knows the patterns by heart. Alara gets to her feet and retreats to the roof of the pond.
There she begins to cry.
"Why do you cry little one?" The unexpected voice makes her jump. She whirls to see a man clad in black wearing a black mask that makes his head look like a skull. Only his eyes are visible and they too are the black of nightmares. She jumps to her feet and backs away, edging dangerously close to the edge. "Watch out for-" Too late. Her foot slips off the edge and she starts to fall backwards.
Moving with almost supernatural speed, the black clad man darts forward and siezes the front of her shirt in one hand, the other grabbing a flailing arm. he lifts her up into his arms and moves backwards until he is well away from the edge. Then he gently sets her down. "Are you okay small one?" He kneels next to her.
Alara manages to stutter a yes and a thank you.
He sits down beside her and waits until she is calm again. He takes off his mask. "I suppose it was this that frightened you." he says examining it.
"Uh huh."
"It was designed to be unnerving."
"Un what?"
"Scary."
"Oh...Well it is."
"So I see." he hands the mask to her so she can look at it. "Now why were you crying?"
She looks up from the mask at him. Her eyes lock with his. In her eyes he sees unlimited potential...in his she finds understanding and kindness. Before she can stop it all her troubles pour out of her.
"It is hard to have a gift." he says when she is finished. "I know from experience."
"You do?"
"Yes. You see I have a gift myself. Watch." He holds up his hand, palm up and stare at it. Almost instantaneously a shaft of ice, which forms itself into a small statue of her, appears.
"WOW!"
"My parents never understood that...and they dragged me to all kinds of doctors thinking it was a sickness. Finally I met someone. His name was Nightwatch. He showed me his gift and told me about the person who came to him and that there are others who don't quite fit in with everyone else...people with gifts." He hands her the small figurine.
She carefully takes it. "There are others who can do this?"
"Some...He made me an offer. He offered to take me to someplace where I would learn many things..."
"Like what?"
"Martial arts of all kinds, art, music, all kinds of things. Most importantly Nightwatch told me I could learn to control the power that made me different from everyone else." He smiles at her, watching as she plays gently with the melting figurine. "If you want...I can take you there."
She looks at him again. "I don't have any powers."
This child is remarkably smart for someone her age. he thinks. "You do...it shows itself in your dancing. I have been watching you. I can take you to the place where I was raised and you can learn what ever you want...(pause) You can learn to fight better than Alex."
"I dunno...my mommy and daddy and Canard and the others would miss me."
"We don't have to leave tonight. You don't have to leave at all. You only go if you want to."
"I'll think about it." She puts the figurine down and stands up.
"Here." He hands her a small flat button. "If you wish to see me you need only push this button. I will come."
"Thank you.."
"I am Icefire."
"Thank you Icefire."
"Anytime, small lady...any time."
Three weeks later Alara, stinging from the fierce reprimands that have been doled out that day by, it seemed, everyone, returns to the roof. She pushes the button and sits down to wait.
An hour later, "You called me, small lady?" She turns to see Icefire step out of the darkness. She stands up and throws herself at him. He picks her up and she throws her arms around his neck.
"Take me away from here! Nobody wants me here!" She wails.
"Are you sure? Once you go you cannot return till after your training is complete."
"Yes." She sobs.
"Very well then, hold on tight. We are going to fly." She looks as he jumps off the building and screams. A platform of ice appears under them and carries them high above the city and out of it.
Mallory, Wildwing and Duke, rush out in time to see them land on the platform. In the arms of this black clad man is "ALARA!" cries Wildwing.
They will search for many nights and days but no trace of the stranger in black or Alara will be found.
Three months later the frustrated Icefire forces himself not to reprimand Alara. After counting to ten then one hundred he dismisses her without a scold. She retreats to her room in their cottage on the Kynwhen campus. To appease her sorrow at disappointing her friend and teacher, she turns on her radio and starts dancing. Icefire hearing the music walks over and stands at her door. As he watches her dance he notices certain patterns and hits on an idea.
The next day he puts in a tape and turns it on. "Okay Alara. I was watching you dance yesterday and I noticed that when you dance you dance in certain patterns. They vary according to song. Well Martial arts is just another dance...only its patterns vary according to the battle. Try thinking of it like a dance and start with a basic pattern. Instead of counting move like you would with a dance."
"Okay..." She listens to the beat of the song and feels a familiar tingle in her feet and flowing through her. She begins to move.
"Set the pattern in your mind Alara!" Calls her teacher watching her dance. "Force your gift to bend to your will!"
Her expression is one of fierce determination as she concentrates on the pattern of step, punch right, step, punch, left turn, punch, right turn, punch, left turn, and repeat. She smiles and loses her self in the pattern occasionally tossing in the martial arts she was taught before.
Yes...I was right... Icefire thinks as he watches her move through different patterns as fluidly as she would dance. Unlimited potential in this one...
Four years later, Alara rolls over and out of her bed. "Mph..." She gets off the floor and looks at her clock and shrieks "Oh no! It's ten o'clock! Why didn't anyone wake me up?!"
"Because it is your birthday." She looks over to see Icefire standing in her doorway. "Have you forgotten, small lady?" She smiles involuntarily at her mentor and adopted father's use of her nickname. Over the past years Alara has come to love him with all the intensity she ever loved Wildwing and Icefire returns her love like any father would.
"I had forgotten." She says sheepishly.
Icefire smiles. "Well dress and come out to breakfast. You have been excused from today's lessons." He leaves the room.
Moving with practiced speed, she dresses in the blue gi of a fifth year student. She pauses at her vanity, a birthday gift from last year, long enough to tie her waist length, mouse brown hair back into a bun and fasten it securely. Her muddy hazel eyes are slightly dazed from sleep but reflect her excitement at having a whole day to goof off.
At the table she sits down waiting for Icefire to finish cooking. As she waits she wonders briefly what her real parents are doing and if they still remember her. "Penny for your thoughts?"
She blinks. "I was just wondering if my real parents would be proud of me..."
"A fourth year student studying with the fifth year students? Of course they would...if you continue to excel at this pace, in 6 years you'll be a 12th year student or a master. I'm proud of you for them..." She doesn't look appeased. he sighs. "Are you proud of yourself Alara?" She thinks for a minute, reviewing her accomplishments since coming here. The she smiles and nods. "Then you should not be worrying about what people on the other side of the planet or even here think about you. If you are proud of yourself then that is all that matters. Okay?"
"Okay...so what did I get this year?"
"These." He hands her a pair of ice skates. She takes them then looks at him questioningly. "I am going to teach you a new kind of dancing. Figure skating."
"Hmm...I don't have to play hockey do i?"
"No small lady you don't."
"Okay. I'll give it a shot."
6 years later, Alara gets up, yawning, an hour before dawn, as she has done for over ten years now. She pads down the hall to the kitchen and starts the tea kettle boiling then begins making breakfast for her teacher, who soon joins her.
"Alara after breakfast pack your things."
"What? Why?' She looks at him curiously.
"Because we are relocating. You are in 11th year studies and before you can become 12th year you must learn to survive in the city."
"I don't want to go to the city. I like it here." She sets their usual morning breakfast of fruit and tea down on the table. She selects an orange and begins peeling it.
"As do I, but it is part of your training. You will spend this year and your 12th year in the city. After your 12th year you will test to become master."
She sighs but knows better to argue with him or the course of studies that she chose to follow a decade ago. "And then I will receive an assignment. And after I complete that I will be my own master free to do as I please."
"Exactly. And once you are your own master I will accompany you wherever you go."
"Thank you, Icefire." She smiles softly at him.
"Always small lady."
"I'm hardly small anymore." It is true. At 16 she is already 5'5" and growing.
"To me you will always be my small lady."
She grins and gets up to pack.
Less than two years later she stands before the council dressed in the red, black trimmed, gi of a 12th year student. Her face is proud as she returns their stare unflinchingly. "You have chosen to take the most difficult test of all, Alara WhiteWing. Are you sure?"
"Yes. I wish to test for Warrior status." <In the Kynwhen, Warrior is the highest and most difficult status of all. there is about 1 a century or more. BTW I made up the Kynwhen:)> Her voice is dead calm.
"You are aware you will have to fight all the masters of Kynwhen all at once?"
"Yes."
"And you are confidant that you can handle this?"
"Yes."
"You may carry only your sword, dagger, belt of pouches, and bo staff. In three days time you will be sent to the location of the fight. if you win, you will wear your title and the medallion of the warrior."
"I know."
"Then prepare yourself."
Three days later Alara steps into the canyon where her ultimate fight is to take place. She stills for a moment, allowing calmness to permeate her bones. She places a set of head phones on her head but does not turn on the music. Carefully she makes her way down the length of canyon. Shadows flicker occasionally over the ground. She smiles knowing that some are following her and that is only a matter of time before she is confronted.
A skittering stone makes her drop to the ground in time to hear whistling overhead. She pivots on one foot and kicks the feet out from under her attacker before they can recover completely. She aims another kick and delivers a hard one to her attackers ribs before he even hits the ground, a manoeuvre that shouldn't be physically possible. She regains her feet as her attacker does. She gauges him carefully then smiles what she knows is an infuriatingly smug smile and appears to relax. He charges her, aiming to punch her, but she steps aside and delivers a sharp blow to his temple. The blow renders him unconscious. She turns and continues on her way knowing that he will not attack again, according to the rules of this test.
In the next hour there are six more attackers and six more unconscious bodies. They are getting impatient. she thinks. And cooking something up as well...No more wind...this is a dead end canyon. She stops...They are trying to box me in! Let's see how they like having the tables turned. She spots a side cave and throws a line of smoke bombs taken from one of her pouches. She vanishes into the smoke. then unnoticed she slides into a shadow and pulls a thin gray scarf from another pouch. She drapes it over her head to hide her white feathers and waits as the smoke fades.
A group of attackers drop to the bottom of the canyon and slide towards the cave, thinking to sneak up on her. She smiles and slides the scarf from her face tucking it into her belt and hitting play on her walkman. The fast paced beat of Aqua's Candyman brings up a familiar tingle. She slides forward, unsheathing her sword. She cracks one lazy attacker over the head with the butt and he crumples to her feet. Another soon follows after a blow to the temple. The remaining seven have yet to notice that they are being picked off.
The next song, Rhythm of the Night, plays softly. Enough playing around. With lightning speed she strikes. Three fall before the others notice something amiss. they whirl and see her lounging against the wall of the cave. She pushes off the wall with such force that she is airborne momentarily. She strikes one in the chest with the flat of her foot, slamming him against the wall hard enough to drive the breath from his body and stun him but good.. She lands vertically and ducks. The one she had kicked gets the heel of another's hand in the forehead. It slams his head against he cave wall and he is out of the picture. Alara frowns and rams her elbow into one attackers stomach, front kicking at another. A spin kick knocks out one. Another falls when she lands a punch in throat. The last tries to decapitate her but she blocks and runs her sword through his shoulder then slams her hand into his temple.
A puff of wind from the back of the cave arouses her interest. She goes forward carefully. At he back of the cave, looking up she can see a body sized hole just large enough for her slim figure to go through. If I'm right that will get me to the surface and I can hunt the hunters. Jumping from rock to rock, she makes her way up to the hole and slithers out of it. None have noticed her departure.
One by one she hunts down and drops those set to hunt her. by the time the last one is down she is tired and wounded. It feels like every muscle in my body has popped loose and is bleeding...She hits stop on her tape and pushes the headphones down so they hang around her neck. She ties her scarf around a particularly deep leg wound.
"Congratulations, Alara WhiteWing." She turns to see the Head Master.
"I must fight you now?" She drops into a defensive stance. I don't know if I can survive another fight.
"No. Your trial is over. You have won." He smiles. "You are Warrior now."
"Good...can I faint now? I've lost a lot of blood and I haven't eaten and I am very, very tired..."
"You may."
She sighs gratefully and lets the darkness crowd in on her. The Head Master catches her as she falls.
A week later, dressed in the skin tight bodysuit that all masters wear, she stands before the council. "We name you IceDancer, Warrior." The Head Master hands her a simple silver coin inlaid with gold. She bowing accepts it.
"Thank you."
"Now, for your assignment. Those of us with foreseeing powers have foreseen a dangerous enemy. You will dispose of this enemy. It will appear in Anaheim, California, USA within the month near the Anaheim Pond. We can only tell you that this enemy is like none you have ever faced before. Be careful and good luck." She nods and leaves the room.
"Anaheim?! How could they send you there?!" demands Icefire.
"I do not know...I don't think they are aware of how i left. You never told them and I never told them...I have no choice either way. I have an assignment. I will follow through."
"And I will follow you, small lady." She smiles at her former teacher, now companion.
"Then let us pack."