Guardians

A New Beginning

Ailish woke up again with the same dream a battle. "What does it mean." She asked herself as she got up. She dressed and went to her parents. She knew that they were not her rest family but they had taken her in and raised her as their own.

"Mother. Father." she said as she came in the kitchen.

"Sweetheart. We're in here." they said.

"I must leave today." she told them.

"Why?" her father asked.

"I've been having the dream again and I want to know what it mean." she said.

"I knew the day would come when you would have to go and find your past." her mother said.

"If you must go then take this bag. There is food, water and some money if you need it. Be careful Ailish." he said.

"I will, father." She gave them a hug, a kiss and left.

It was hard to leave, but she knew she had to if she wanted to know who she was. She took the small path that passed through the forest. She walked for a long time, but finally she came upon a circle of rocks. She didn't know what it was, so she went over to then and felt something rush passed her. Ailish tried to get away. But every time she tried she was pushed back. Soon she stopped trying, fell to her knees and started to cry.

"Who are you?" a little voice asked.

"Who's there?" She wiped away her tears, stood up and looked around.

"Me! My name is Caitlin. I'm a fairy." A fairy fluttered into view.

"Can you help me out please?" Ailish asked.

"Yes I can." The fairy smiled "Who are you."

"My name is Ailish." she answered.

"I feel that you are vspecspecial. I will let you out if you follow me." Caitlin told her.

"All right, I will follow you." Caitlin moved her hands around and the power around the circle disappeared once gone Ailish followed the fairy to a larger circle of stones. There, in the middle, was a small dolman with a red stone in the center.

"Put yoand and over the stone." Caitlin told Ailish.

She did as she was told. It started glowing and she disappeared. After a few seconds, she reappeared in front of little people. Caitlin flew over to the little man and Ailish heard her say.

"My king, this is Ailish. I felt that she should see you."

"Why should I see her?" The small king asked her.

"She is very special. Can't you feel it?" Caitlin said as she smiled at Ailish.

"Yes. I feel it." The king nodded. "Welcome Young one."

"Thank you, King Ganon. But what am I doing here?"

"I have seen your destiny."

"My destiny? What is it?" She asked him, as she knelt before him.

"You will become the Guardian of Weather." he informed her.

"How do I become this Guardian."

"You must take these Guardian daggers and go to the highest peak of Kells and defeat the Lord of Weather." he said as he handed her the weapons.

"How do I defeat this Lord." she asked him.

"You will know when you get there young one." the small king told her.

She took the weapons thanked him and she was on her way.

***

It was three days before she reached the highest peak of Kells. Not long after beginning her ascent, she reached a cave. Carefully she entered and came face to face with the Lord of Weather.

Ailish was about to go for her daggers, when the Lord open his mouth and blew her backwards. He had hit her twice before she had the chance to get at her weapons. She lifted them to the sky and called on the lightning to defeat the Lord. All of a sudden, boltarttarted crashing around him. When it stopped the Lord of Weather was no more. She lifted her daggers to the sky and was granted all that she would need to be Guardian of Weather. Her clothes changed from pants and a tunic, to a white and pink silk dress. She looked at her right wrist and saw a bracelet with the sigh of the Guardian. And around her neck was the Talisman of Weather. She had a cloak around her shoulders. Silently, she wondered why.

Caitlin appeared in a blur. "Hi Ailish. I'm glad you got you armor and power."

"Thanks Caitlin. But what is the cloak for." Ailish asked her small friend.

"It's for protection."

"Protection from what?"

"Not from what, but frhom.hom. The Queen of Rah." Caitlin told her.

"Why protect me from her?"

"She is after all the Guardian. So you have to hide yourself." Caitlin said.

"Don't worry, little one, everything will be fine, but do I do now?" she asked.

"You must go to Kells to see the king and find the other Guardian; air, water, fire, forest and earth." Caitlin told her.

"Then I'm off. I will be careful, don't worry." Ailish told her little friend.

"Goodbye Ailish. Good journey." The fairy said. Ailish went on her way. After a couple of hours she heard people yelling. She took the hood off her head. She started to run to were she heard the noise. When she got to the place she saw a monster. She had never seen such a creature before.

She pulled her cloak off and lifted her weapons to the sky and called on her Guardian armor. When her Guardian armor appeared. She lifted her weapons to the monster and started shooting thunder at the monster, but it wasn't hurting him, just stunning him. She needed help. As she jumped out of the monster way the other Guardian arrived. They were surprise to see an unknown Guardian.

"Ronan, the Guardian needs are help." Conor said.

"Your right, Conor. Let's call are armor." And one after the other they called their armor.

Ronan came behind the unknown Guardian. "Let's do it together." He told her.

Ailish nodded her agreement and they started to shoot at the monster. After a while Ailish looked to the sky and called on lightening to help her. Her daggers lit up and she through them at the monster, destroy it. As she went to retrieve her daggers, the Guardian looked at her. And she knew she had to show them who she was, so she took off her armor.

"You're a girl." Aidan stated.

"Yes I am. Is that so unbelievable?" she said as she placed her daggers in their sheaths and walked to pick up her cloak.

"No, it's just the way you fight we thought you were a man." Eriel exclaimed.

"Who are you?" Ailish asked the five people.

"I'm Ronan. This is Prince Aidan, Princess Eriel, Princess Cori and Conor." They all shook hend. nd.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Ailish. If you will excuse me I must go." She told them rather abruptly.

"But where are you going?" Cori asked her.

"I must go to Kell castle to see the king." Ailish replied.

"I'm princess of Kell. Let us escort you to my father." Eriel said.

She agreed and together they left for the castle.

***

They arrived at the castle and went to the throne room where the king and Bram where talking.

"Father we brought someone to see you," Eriel said.

"Who is it, Eriel?"

Ailish walked in front of the group. "My name is Ailish. I am the Guardian of Weather."

"A Guardian. But Bram, I thought there were no more Guardians." The king looked at her and back at Bram.

"I don't know what to say my king."

"Tell us about yourself, Ailish." The King smiled.

"The only thing I know, my King, is that my name is Ailish and that my family found me when I was four. I don't remember anything before then."

"We will help you find your past," Conor said as he came beside Ailish.

"Thanks, Conor." She said looking up at him.

"We are all friends here, Ailish." Aidan told her.

"Thank you." She said. As she turned to Aidan, her head started to spin.

He saw what was happening and caught her before she hit the floor.

"Aidan, what's wrong?" Eriel asked.

"She fainted," He told her.

"Poor thing, she must be exhausted. Put her in one of the empty rooms, Aidan." The druid instructed.

Eriel showed him where the room was. Aidan laid her on the bed and covered her with a blanket. "Aidan, how come you look so right doing that?" Eriel asked, smiling.

"Well back home I have a little sister the same age. So I guess it's just natural." He said as he took her hand and led her from the room.

***

At dawn, Conor made his way to Ailish's room. He quietly opened the door and went in.

"Ailish are you awake?" He asked softly.

"Yes, I'm awake Conor. What happened?" She asked as she sat up in bed.

"You fainted." He told her. As he went he whe window and opened it.

"I fainted? I never faint." She said as she stood.

"Well there is always a first time," he said as he smiled at her.

"Why are you here?" She asked, ignoring his comment and picking up her bag.

"I wanted to see how you are. I can't explain it, but I feel a bond between us." He told her.

"I know what you mean. I feel it, too."

"Well, the other's are waiting for us in the throne room. Let's go." He said as he grabbed her hand.

As they entered the throne room, she she ohe other Guardians. As they turned around, she let go of Conor's hand and approached the king.

"Good day, my King." She said.

"Hello Ailish, how are you feeling?" He asked.

"I'm doing much better. My king is there a safe place I can go and practice my new powers."

"Yes, there is. Since you are new here, Ronan and Conor will escort you." The king said as he looked at the two friends and back at Ailish.

"Thank you, my king." She took her bag and they started on their way.

They went over a hill and stopped. "This is it. You can practice your powers here." Conor said.

She dropped her bag on the ground next to her and removed her cloak, dropping it over the bag. She started to practice her powers. She called on weather to hide the sun and make it rain. Conor and Ronan were yelling, but by the time she turned around, they were both soaked. She looked down and saw that she was dry. She started to laugh, then saw that there was a cloud over them. As she lifted her hands to the sky, the sun came out and the cloud disappeared. Ronan and Conor started running after her once they were certain they were in the clear. She jumped over them, getting out of the way and they fell to the ground.

"I'm sorry guys. I guess my power's are stronger than I thought," She said as she helped them up.

"That's my little witch." Conor smiled.

"What did you say?" She stared at him.

"I said, that's my little witch." He repeated

"It's you," She breathed, as a pain ran through her head, causing her to fall to her knees.

Conor ran to her side. "Ailish, are you all right?" He looked at her, worried.

"Yes, I am. I'm starting to remember who I am."

Ronan came behind Conor and looked at them. He knew something was going on. Even though she had only arrived the day before, he could see that Conor and Ailish were very close. So he decided to leave them alone.

Ailish got up with the help of Conor. When she saw that Ronan was leaving for the castle, she ran after him.

"Ronan, where are you going?" She asked as she looked at him.

"I'm going back to the castle. You and Conor need to be alone. I would only be in the way." He looked down.

"We are all going back to the castle. I need to talk to the others. I remember who I am." She looked at Conor as he walked to were they were.

"Let's go." She was happy for once in her life. She had found her brother, even though he didn't know it yet. And she had friends.
y ary arrived at the castle and went straight to the king, who was with the other Guardians.

"My king, I know who I am." Ailish stated.

"How? What happened?" He asked.

"Well when I was with Ronan and Conor, Conor said something that brought my memory back." She told them all.

"Whan yan you tell us about your past that you remember?" Eriel asked.

"Well I only remember the battle that happened." She said as she looked at Conor trying to see if he knew what she was talking about.

"Tell us about the battle, Ailish." Aidan spoke as he came up beside Eriel.

"All right. I will." She took a breath. "When we were attacked, I was playing with my brother. All of a sudden we heard our people yelling for help. My brother and I ran to the village. We saw Queen Morgan fighting my mother." She started to cry.

"But why would Morgan attack your village for nothing?" Ronan asked.

"My father used to work for the Queen. When he found out my mother was going to have me, he left her employment. She didn't like that so she took it out on us. Her guard killed my father and then she killed my mother. Somewhere in there, I got hit over the head," She said as tears rolled down her cheek. Conor came behind her and rested a hand on her shoulder.

"What happened to your brother, Ailish." The king asked her.

"I guess he ran away." She said. She felt Conor's hand leave her shoulder. She turned around to face him.

"It's you." Was the only thing Conor could say?

"Conor, what do you mean it's her?" Cori spoke up.

"There's one thing she didn't say. She called after her brother before she fell," he said as he took Ailish in his arms and hugger. er.

"How do you know, Conor?" Ronan asked his friend.

"Because I was there. Ailish is my sister." He said as he looked down at her. She smiles at him and hugged him back.

"Your sister. I didn't know you had one. Why didn't you tell me? I'm your best friend." Ronan complained.

"I just didn't want to talk about it, since I thoughe whe was dead." Conor said.

"Well, now we must have a party to celebrate this reunion," the king said.

Ailish was happy. The princess had brought her a beautiful soft blue dress. She wanted to look nice for her brother and Ronan.

***

She was finishing her hair, when she heard a knock on the door. She tied her braid, went to the door and opened it. She thought she would see Conor. But there standing in front of her was Ronan.

"Hi! Are you ready."

She took his hand; they walked along the hallway and entered the throne room.

"There is my sister. May I have this dance?" Conor asked as he took her hand.

"Of course you can, brother." He her her to the middle of the room. When Eriel started playing they started to dance.

"Sister, I have to talk to you," Conor whispered.

"What is it, Conor?" she looked at him.

"Can we take a walk?"

She nodded.

They left the throne room to walk in he courtyard.

"Conor, what did you want to talk about," she finally spoke up.

"I wanted to talk to you about what happened the day of the battle." He looked at her, guilt in his eyes.

"Conor, I don't blame you. I blame Queen Morgan for what happen to us. You didn't know I was still alive." She told him. She gave him a big hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"I love you, sister. I'm never going to lose you again," He said as he returned the hug.

"You'll never lose me, Conor. I'm here to stay." She smiled.

"I'm glad. Let's go back to the castle, my little witch." They laughed as they made their way back to the castle.

***

As they came in Ronan and Eriel approached.

"Where were you guys?" Eriel asked.

"We were afraid something had happened to you." Ronan said.

"We just had to be alone to talk," Ailish smiled.

"Oh, okay," was all that they could say.

"Listen guys I know that it's still early but I'm tired. I think I'll go to bed," she said as she hugged her brother.

"Goodnight, sister," Conor told her.

"Goodnight, brother," she replied.

"Goodnight, Ailish," The others said.

She left the throne room and walked down the hallway toward her room. She opened the door and entered, her thoughts centered on sleep. Quickly she changed her clothes and crawled under the covers. Before long she was fast asleep. She slept well that night.

***

When she woke up it was past dawn. She got dressed in her soft silk pink dress and went into the courtyard. The other Guardians were there. Conor was talking with Ronan, Cori and Aidan were practicing fighting, and Eriel was watching them practice. Ailish ed ted to the princess and they started to talk. When Ronan saw Ailish, he decided to go talk to Cori.

"Cori, can we talk?" Ronan asked.

"Yes, of course. What is it?" she asked his friend.

"Well, I have this problem," he started.

"Okay, tell me about it," Cori looked at him, wondering if he wanted to talk about Ailish.

"Well, you see, I'm in love with a girl and her brother is my best friend. What should I do?" Ronan asked.

"Maybe you should talk to Ailish and tell her how you feel," she said as she started to laugh.

"What do you mean? It's not Ailish." Ronan tried his best to look innocent.

"Come on, Ronan. Conor is the only friend you have that have a sister." Cori said as she laid a hand on Ronan's shoulder.

"All right. But I don't know how to tell her" He murmured as he looked at Ailish, who had started practicing with Eriel. He saw that Eriel had a sword, but Ailish only had her daggers, but she was very good with them.

"Eh, Ronan you wanted to talk to me?" Conor asked as he approached.

"What? Oh, Conor, yes, I did want to talk," Ronan smirked.

"What did you want to talk about?" He asked.

"What you would say if I told your sister that I loved her?" Ronan ran his fingers through his curly blond hair.

"You love my sister? Ronan if you love her, tell her how you feel. You didn't need to ask me," Conor smiled as he looked from Ronan to his sister.

"Thanks, Conor. I do love her," Ronan smiled broadly.

"Then go and tell her."

"I will." Ronan went down the stairs and to Ailish. He came beside her and took her hand, dragging her behind him.

"Ronan, let go you're hurting my hand," She said as she tried to pull her hand away.

"Sorry, I just had to talk to you in private," He answered back as he stopped and turned to face her.

"Okay, now that were alone what did you want to talk about," Ailish asked as she looked up at him.

"Don't talk, just listen." He held his hands in front om.
m.

"All right." She sat down on a rock and listened to him.

"Well, I have been thinking a lot about you and I decided that it was time I told you my feelings," He sat beside her. "Which have grown a lot over the few days you've been here. And I just wanted to tell you that in my heart I know that I love you, Ailish." He let out a long breath when he had finish talking. He looked at her.

"Ronan, I didn't know you felt that way, but I don't know what to say. I need to be alone." She said as she ran back to the castle.

Ronan didn't know what to think or do. He just went back to his hut, lay down on his bed, closed his eyes and fell into a deep sleep.

***

In the mean time, Ailish ran back to her room, packed her stuff and started to leave. As she was leaving, she came face to face with Aidan.

"Ailish, where are you going?" he asked her.

"I just need to think about things," she said, crying.

"What's wrong? Why are you crying?" He took her in his arms and hugged her.

"Ronan told me he loved me, I just need to be alone and think." she said as she wiped away her tears.

"I understand, Ailish, and hope you'll be back soon." He smiled.

"I will, don't worry. Tell Conor and Ronan I had to be alone for a while." She said as she kissed Aidan on the cheek and left.

"I will. Take care." He waved goodbye. He turned around saw saw with Ronan.

"Ronan, I have a message from Ailish." Aidan said.

"What is it?" Ronan asked him.

"She said that she needed to be alone for a while and that she would be back soon."

"I have to go after her." Ronan thought. He left the castle and started walking. He thought that if he didn't find Ailish he would lose her for good.

Ronan walked for a long time before he finally saw her. She was sitting under a tree with her daggers in her hands. As he watched, he saw her jump to her feet like something had came out of no where. When Ailish saw that it was Queen Morgan, she didn't go for her Guardian powers, but instead spoke.

"What do you want, Morgan?" Ailish asked her as she took her daggers from the ground.

"I want you to join me. You owe me," Morgan said as she inched closer.

"What do you mean I owe you? I owe you nothing! You killed my family!" Ailish took a swing at the Queen.

"You will regret that," As she said those words her staff started to glow and a rock monster appeared.

Ailish stepped away from Morgan, lifted her daggers to the sky and called for her Guardian powers. As Morgan disappeared Ailish started to fight the rock monster. Ronan saw what was happening. He called on his powers and ran to help her. When Ronan saw that the monster had hit Ailish, he took out his sword and started to shoot fire at him and made it back away.

"Are you all right?" Ronan helped her up.

"Ronan, what are you doing here? And yes, I'm okay." She said as she grabbed her daggers and shot at the monster.

"I followed you, thinking you would need my help. And I'm glad I followed you..." He said as he smiled at her.

"I'm glad too, Ronan. Let's destroy this monster," She said as she lifted her dagger and called upon the lightning. A shower of lightning bolts descended on the monster, but did not destroy it.

"By Dagda, it's still there!" Ronan shouted.

"Ronan, I know what to do. We shoot at him together." Ailish ordered.

She lifted her daggers to the sky and called on lightning to enter her dagger. When her dagger started to glow, she and Ronan lifted their weapons and shot at the rock monster, finally destroying it.

Ailish turned to Ronan. "Thanks. We make a great team."

"Yes, we do." He smiled, then asked. "Why did you leave?"

"I had to think about stuff," she said as she placed her daggers on her back.

"Like what?" He asked her as he came closer.

"Like you and I. About the way you feel about me. I just wanted to know how I really felt about you." She turned to face him.

"And how do you feel?" He asked, almost afraid of her answer.

"I know now that I love you, Ronan. And I wanted to tell you that I'm glad I found you." She fell into his open arms. As he kissed her, she slid her arms around his neck and returned the kiss.

He pulled away and said, "I'm glad I found you too. Let's go back to the castle."

She looked up at him and nodded. Slowly, they started back to the castle.

TO BE CONTINUE.