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The Naga Awakens - Part One

WAAAAA!!!! WAAAAAA!!!!!! Coailiann hadn't stopped crying for the past hour, and Ianna was slowly going insane. The tiny Sidhe child was currently in her rocking arms, tiny arms flailing about in an unintentional attempt of making her mother go crazy. And it was working.

"Oh, Kay..." Ianna murmured, bouncing a little to calm the infant down, though it was to no avail. She had tried the gardens, she had tried singing, she had tried rocking, she had tried rubbing, feeding, changing...But the little girl would not be calmed!

"You know, I left a harp there for a reason, mother. The little girl likes harp music."

The voice entered her head, temporarily blocking out the wailing of her daughter, much to Ianna's pleasure. She didn't even mind the snarky tone. "I can't play the bloody harp."

"I suggest you learn. But no time for that. Another wand has awoken, Ianna. It's in India. You need to go straight away."

Ianna blinked. "India? Can you not HEAR Kay crying, Matty?"

"Oh must I do everything?" there was a huff in her head and the harp started playing on its own, instantly placating the little girl who slipped into a slumber, thumb stuck, in the most adorable fashion, in her mouth.

"Thanks. Now...India..? Who is going to watch Coailiann?"

Matilda almost smirked. "Me. Send her through the portal, Mother. She'll be perfectly sa--"

"There is NO WAY IN HELL I am letting Kay go there with you! You can't handle children! What if--"

Ianna was cut off by a low snarl. "Kay is my sister, and I am perfectly capable of handling an infant. Now send her over or I transport her myself."

Ianna grumbled and stumbled to the tiny doorway which was just Coailiann's size and slid her in, watching the hands take her. "There. Be careful and be su--."

Once more, she was cut off. "I'll be fine. Now, off you go!"

"Okay bu-" Ianna found herself smack dab in the middle of an Indian jungle.

"AHH!....Jungle....YOU WANT ME TO FIND A BLOODY WAND IN A JUNGLE?!" Ianna paused. "AN INDIAN JUNGLE?! WITH SNAKES?! AND AND AND..." she took a deep breath. "Snakes..." Ianna hated snakes.

"Yes." came the response, followed by what Ianna could only make out as baby talk towards her other daughter. A sigh. First the moon, then Atlantis...then Japan and now snakes.

Ianna had a feeling Matilda was trying to kill her.

~*~

An hour later, Ianna was stalking through the Jungle, keen silver eyes looking about frantically to find the wand as soon as possible. Already she had come into much too close of contact with several very very long snakes. That looked as if they wanted Ianna for breakfast. Or dinner. Whatever time it was now.

It was getting dark and Ianna, jungles, snakes and darkness did not mix well. Especially when she was looking for something. It was quite impossible to find things in the dark.

It was the dark, after all.

Ianna gave an exhasperated sigh and closed her eyes, only for a moment. "Matilda, I can't find the wand anywhere."

Matilda's voice didn't come into her head for a good moment. "Oh, sorry, wasn't paying attention. Kay was playing with...Wait, you can't find the wand?"

Ianna growled. What was Coailiann playing with? "No. I can't find it and it's getting dark. Matty, maybe one of the snakes ate it or something."

Matilda laughed. "I don't think so. You're just not looking hard enough. You're staying there until you find the wand, and that's that. You know what this thing entailed when you agreed."

Ianna hissed. "It was only because I love you that I agreed, I'm not going to risk my bloody life in the darkness for a wa--"

A hiss from the right stopped her mid sentence and she turned, quickly, to see one of the largest cobras she'd ever seen. "MATTY!!!!"

Matilda didn't seem too concerned. "It's got the wand." she murmured.

Ianna looked wide-eyed at the snake and saw that it indeed had a wand wrapped tightly in its coils. And wrapped around the wand was a very life-like looking snake as well.

Ianna looked positively frightened. "What am I supposed to do?!"

Matty huffed, "Why, get the wand from him, idiot."

Ianna was silent for a long time. "Get...a wand...from a very poisonous...cobra...in India...You're trying to kill me, aren't you?!"

Matilda didn't answer, and Ianna wanted to cry as she inched forward to the snake, carefully. The snake didn't like her being close, and lashed out, baring its large fangs, one of them scratching at Ianna's arm.

Ianna screamed and cursed as she snatched the wand, feeling the Cobra's fangs sink into her arm and inject her with the poison. As soon as her fingers wrapped around the wand, however, she and the wand were transported back to Headquarters.

Ianna's arm was swollen and bleeding heavily by the time she landed in the couch, and tears of pain and anger were in her eyes. She was already having the hardest time breathing due to the toxin's effects, and she felt her arm was unable to move. Paralysis had set in.

Matilda was finally seeming a little worried. Cobra bites could kill within minutes...and she didn't have much time...

~*~

Matilda decided she had to leave her realm again, opened the portal with some difficulty, and landed beside her mother. "You should have been careful." Matilda said in a soft voice as she knelt down. Coailiann was all but forgotten in the other realm as Matilda's hands touched her mother's arm, a warm glow emitting and a deep pain entering her as she sucked the poison into herself. She was immune to most poisons, and natural ones such as this did nothing to her. But it still stung like a b***h.

Feeling just a bit drained, she finished her mother's arm off by bandaging it. "You wont have use of that arm for at least a week while it heals." Matty murmured.

Ianna was already passed out, her other hand clutching the wand with the life-like miniature of the cobra which bit her. "Well, at least the wand's safe."

~End Part One~

The woman gently rapped on the door with her knuckles, trying to ignore the freezing cold biting at her skin. It seemed the world truly was against her, as she had forgotten her cellphone at home, and her ride had neglected to pick her up.
Frankly, only the masochistic would be out in the weather, the woman in question thought to herself as she waited for someone to open the door.

It might've been slightly rude to ask some random person if she could borrow the phone, and this place seemed like a shop. She'd pay if she needed to - Anon, as the woman was named (the prettyness of the name was open for discussion, she'd grumpily declared back when she was a teenager), wasn't particularly rich, but neither was she poor.

Jumping up and down a bit, shaking her arms, Anon turned pleading eyes on the door.
"Please~..." whimpering slightly, she tried to ignore the curious stares of the other pedestrians, staring fixedly on the door.

Blinking slightly at the rude tone the woman used, Anon wondered if she had ever met her before - she certainly acted as if the young woman had offended her somehow.

"Well, I thought I'd be polite and knock?" it was phrased more like a question, really - Anon had missed the sign completely, but no reason to tell the other woman that.

Stepping into the shop, the woman couldn't help but wonder if this person EVER cleaned, at all. Sure, her arm was in a sling - but surely it couldn't be that way permanently?

And now.. she was talking to herself. Narrowing her eyes slightly, Anon sent a quick glance to the door. Maybe she ought to leave before the woman attacked her or something?
But it was so cold, the little voice in her head whined.

"I'm sorry, Ma'm, but I was wondering if I could borrow your phone? I'll pay, if you want.." she seemed just the type, she huffed quietly, to refuse a freezing woman's plea.

Feeling her eyebrow beginning to twitch a bit in irritation, Anon reckoned she should have left before things got too weird - but now the woman knew her name, and one couldn't really leave someone on bad terms if they knew your name. Plus, the woman in question was kind of curious as to how the other woman had known her name. Maybe she was in possession of some sort of mental power? It was known that some people could read minds, after all; though why they'd read HERS when all she wanted was to borrow the phone, she had no idea.

Inching slowly towards the door, Anon decided that her earlier decision to stay was dead wrong, and potentially dangerous - nothing good ever came from doing something for strangers.

And the book was moving. So, magic. Definitely magic. Anon winced, having had a few unpleasant encounters with magic, and having heard some of the stories told about loons abusing their power.

"And why should I touch a magic book offered by a woman who talks to herself and know my name, when I don't even know hers?" the silverhaired woman must've thought she was a complete dolt to just do as she asked. Really..

Okay, so maybe she wasn't a complete loon. Relaxing a bit, and smiling slightly, Anon nodded; she'd do it, then. She was a sucker for polite people, after all.

"Hi Matilda. Are you.. invisible?" glancing around quickly revealed that no girl was in sight, except for the woman and her.

"Yes, you truly are unfortunate." her tone had taken on a teasing edge, warming up incredibly fast. She, herself, had had to be a surrogate mother to several of her siblings, and the affection in the other woman's voice was unmistakeable.

Taking a deep breath, Anon made her way over to the book. Taking a quick look at the other woman, she resolutely put her hand on top of the gold letters.
Quickly the book flew up and sprung open, sending Anon reeling back in surprise.
"W-what the..?!" she stuttered, eyes still fixed on the book.
As it seemed to calm down, she cautiously made her way back to it.

".." turning blank eyes on the woman, Anon dumbly pointed to the book.

"Somehow, I have the feeling that I should like to know what that means."
A soul trapped in a wand, and the woman's (whose name MAY be Ianna) invisible daughter having written a message that SEEMED to be for her.
India, she could understand too. But 'from infancy to greatness'? What in the world did they mean with that..?

"Oh, umm.. okay?" what did you say to that? Anon blushed, well aware that she'd just ruined any chances of being seen as at least a mediocre intelligent creature.

"So, it's a soul trapped in a wand that'll become a kid?" her voice was a bit hoarse, and just a tad nervous.

Reverently picking up the wand, Anon blinked at the pretty colours. More light shows? Oh well, who was she to complain?
This was just a bit surreal, and as such the woman had found herself in a light case of shock; she really hadn't much to say, mainly because of the fact that her brain was unwilling to cooperate.

"A mother. I'm a mother."

"Oh.. god.." what'd she gotten herself into? The woman whimpered lightly, tearfilled eyes staring at the wand. Of course she wanted to help the poor soul, literally, but this was all so sudden!

"And.. half-snake..?" luckily for her, Anon had never possessed a great fear of snakes - but on the other hand, she held no great love for them either.

"Wow." shaking her head lightly to clear her thoughts, the woman smiled a watery smile.

"C-can I come here if I need some guiding? I've never had.. a smoke-child before.." she shifted her feet, unsure of what to call the wand's stages.

Pressing the paper, still in a daze, Anon didn't feel quite as surprised as she should have when she was instantly transported into a large room.

"oh. Thank you. Can I borrow the phone now?"