Apprentice
by Michelle Dockrey & Tony Fabris

She was all the stars in a velvet sea
A gem of perfection she seemed to me
Skin like silk and a rose red smile
All grace when I brought her tea

And her laughter cut through my girlish dream
"Don't you know that we're all silk and cream
And roses and velvet and gems and stars?
You must be more than what you seem."

One night I stole into her garden
And I overheard her sigh...

"You don't have to be wild to want to run
Look at the roses and you'll see
See them climbing ever higher toward the sun
These garden walls are not for me."

I had come so young to the Twilight School
Quiet and shy and a bit of a fool
A hopeless handmaid, so awkward and awed
Until she saw an uncut jewel

She taught me all the Companion's art
Beauty and charm and the skills to set ourselves apart
We were teacher and student, we were friend and friend
And we were sisters of the heart

Sharing afternoon tea in her garden
She would gaze up at the sky...

"You don't have to be wild to want to run
Look at the ring-doves and you'll see
See them stretching their clipped wings out toward the sun
This pretty cage is not for me."

She could see her path laid out in flowers and in stone
Priestess, Lady, Head of House, and nothing left unknown
She whispered to her teacup that it chilled her to the bone
"When others look to you to make their choices
You no longer make your own..."

Now my clients say there's no lady as fine
The skill and the charm and the garden are mine
But I walk outside the gate at night
And see the stars and planets shine

They say she's done battle, they say she fell in love
They say she near died in that endless sky above
And all of her lessons I took to heart
Even that of the rose and the dove

She taught me to look beyond the garden
And she never said goodbye...

You don't have to be wild to want to run
Look at the river and you'll see
See it leap and dance away, laughing in the sun
Perhaps it knows a place for me.