Quest for Respect

Satori Blackthorn

This is my latest escapade, I'm still working on my other stories, it's just that I have a lot of them. I've wanted to get this up for awhile and decided that it was as good a time as any. The parts are really short but I didn't think that was a really bad thing, it means I can get them up a little bit faster, if I'm lucky. Just so you know Piers Anthony owns Xanth and I do not. Also, I have taken the liberty to change around select things, so that the world of Xanth is just a tiny bit different. If you have any ideas, comments, complaints or criticisms, feel free to email me, just make sure you state clearly in the title box that this is a review, otherwise I might accidentally delete it… stupid me and everything. Or to make things easier, you can review!

Part 1

Beginnings, also entitled, Of Sad Future



Heneric ~ the ability to remain undetected by any human sense up to one day.

Lord Arcturo ~ able to levitate above the ground for short periods of time.

Lady Sarian ~ able to change plant into other life forms.

Prince Dallis ~ able to move things to other areas with in a small radius.

Princess Shalieya ~ able to convert non-living items into other non-living items.

Constance ~ ability to project unlimited illusions of herself anywhere in Xanth

Articana ~ ?


My name is Articana, daughter of Rawin and Daniay, but that fact in itself is not important. My parents disowned me because my talent hadn't surfaced yet. As the daughter of the Chief Advisors to the famed Storm King, they figure it would be bad for the King's (fading) image to have someone in the palace that was magically challenged. You see in Xanth, where I hail from, everyone, (exempting myself of course) is born with a magic talent and these talents differ between each person. Meaning no two people have the same talent. There are similarities sometimes, for example, the Storm King controls the weather and can conjure storms, and it is a powerful talent, which is why he is a magician. My mother, Daniay, has the power to make things freezing cold, so some similarities occur over the course of time. It's my theory that eventually the talents will repeat themselves, 'cause there's got to be a set number of them. But that's just my idea and probably something else that would get me exiled. It's thought throughout Xanth, (except Centaur Isle of course, because there they think it's an embarrassment to have a talent) that if your talent doesn't surface by the age of twenty-five you'll never get a talent. And my parents, being the people they are, didn't bother to wait a few more years. When I reach my twenty-fifth year I will be exiled to drear Mundania to live out the rest of my magic-less life. There's no magic in Mundania and even worse than that, the backwards inhabitants refuse to believe in it! But that is off topic, this is mostly about me, not the insensitive people who sent me away from my home and the miserable country where I will be sent in a few years.

About five years ago, when I was thirteen years old I was sent to a neighboring village far from the Storm King's wrath, and forced to work in the kitchens of the horrible Lord Arcturo and his even more horrible court. My (near) future was to consist of being a humble (yeah right) maid, cooking and cleaning and being mocked by the villagers because I had no talent, after that… who knows?

To be continued…