If these books are all on your “have read” list, please check out my own serialized publishing of Sparrows Legacy. 
Everything changes when Trine “Sparrow” Sworden is killed by magic. Tara and Teng, her children, are forced to flee the hunters. A growing prophecy of a Protector who will conquer magic to return true rule is revealed. And Flarentine’s evil usurper Endric “the Asp”, a dark mage, fights Sparrow’s faction of skilled Mir-e-se, the keepers of the royal line. When a stranger, speaking Flaren, asks them to return to reclaim Sparrow’s birthright, the siblings must decide to survive or seek revenge.   

Cree took a deep breath; she stood poised to enter a large double wooden door, outside the main hallway chamber within the central compound of Willmar’s current garrison.  The small size and inconspicuous demeanor of the buildings were incongruous with the residence of the first leader of the Pasia Trine rebellion.  Willmar kept his presence unknown to other than those having a need to know, and frequently moved his meeting locations around the stronghold.  Cree was one of a handful of individuals granted a seeker skill bond with Willmar through meditation and thus able to seek him out while within a fairly close distance.  Strategically, she was never far from his location regardless.  With her healing skills and communication abilities with her sister, she was trained and installed into a crafted position with Willmar’s immediate guardsmen.  Her slight behavior was sometimes misunderstood and often overlooked until she whipped out her Te-bo.  

Right now, she held the staff defensively in front of her body, and realizing this she rolled her green eyes at herself before rapping directly on the oversized door.  Hearing a request to enter she purposely moved the weapon to her side and push open the entrance.  Although she felt nothing, she knew a force of magic protection was being breached when she stepped into the area. 

A handful of recognized guardsmen stood about the perimeter of the spacious room and a few of the primary leaders of the rebellion were sitting around a low table laden with drinks and maps.  A roaring fireplace was directly behind Willmar.  Cree took in his wildly sprouting tufts of graying hair, a result of a nervous habit, as he ran his hands through the locks.   

“First Lord Willmar, I have the information you requested,”  Cree announced calmly to the older man who’d stood and strode toward her as she entered.  His lips tightened imperceptibly, beneath his mustache, as he bid his other visitors to take leave.   Cree knew them both and nodded respectfully to Commander Mage Valadon, senior officer over the Majica battle groups; he was renowned for tipping the scales in battles with his seemingly limitless knowledge of magic.  He was also the late Pashier’s first mage and refused to acknowledge the usurper who invaded the king’s grounds.  His powerful hand was a gift to Willmar when the rebellion broke out.  

Cree then smiled and nodded to Commander Grendal Tobias, the strategic reconnaissance team’s coordinator.  Her impressive extraordinary skills with animals led her to become a senior officer leading a specialized fighting force.  An animal and nature devotee like Cree, her magic bond was found with most winged specimens who, when trained, aided beyond the scope of defeating the enemy.  She guided small squads of troops on flight sorties with dragons, gar owls, wind serpents, and many other larger flying-formed species.  Her surveillance was repeatedly critical in the outcome of battles.  

Cree often found Commander Tobias within the healing pens after a skirmish as she gave meditative assistance through her bond to the injured creatures, keeping them calm during a needed respite.  Grendal was a fierce warrior and was also Commander Alsa Faldar’s mate.  The two women together made a serious battle team, one training animals while the other trained people.

Commander Tobias gave a sharp whistle and a brown flitter squirrel that blended into the rafters, unseen, suddenly leaped toward her.  In mid-jump its small shape grew and shifted into a fairly large snow-white owl, gracefully swooping down to land on the commander’s broad shoulder.  Cree drew in an incredulous breath even though she’d seen this creature before.  The Obakia, named Bandit by Grendal, convincingly looked like a snow owl, once transformed, but the dark piercing eyes revealed a higher intelligence.  The fully albino feathered face regarded all within the room suspiciously as the two officers left the premise. 

“Cree, come sit down child.  I’ve been worried about you and yours for the last few days.”  Willmar motioned and pointed to the comfortable seating area across from his own.  

Moving forward she circled a bulky chair and walked within a small cone of silence that was obviously built to secure discussions being held in this room.  The crackling fire and echoes from the vast space of the area disappeared.  It was completely silent within the confinement of the chairs.  Cree felt a measure of relief at not having to ask for privacy.  She could not give this news to anyone but Willmar.

Lowering herself to sit calmly before the man that maintained their lands and future in his careful hands, she recalled the one time in her history of this decade-old fight of his single known defeat.  It was the only loss that held him accountable and charged him with failure of his First Mir-e-se duties.  And although she tried, on her way over, to establish some sort of succinct and direct message to relate that Pasia Trine was now gone, she could still not find the words to express the sad news that Sparrow was gone.