by Willan Ellis
Teanne, woke at late afternoon, everything around her was quiet. She lazily opened her eyes to find herself lying on a bed in a glorious chamber. She turned her head, it screamed with pain.
‘How do you feel?’ Teanne turned to face the voice—Elder Lin—or rather, a younger Lin, was sitting on the end of the bed. ‘You took a nasty whack to the head. The Mother Sovereign is beside herself.’
I doubt that, Teanne thought angrily. She tried to raise herself up, but winced as her head thumped. She felt a nice lump at the base of her skull.
‘Where is the Mother Sovereign?’ Teanne again did not recognise her own voice.
‘She is taking mid-afternoon mass; she will be back in an hour or so. She asked me to watch over you until she returned’
Teanne smiled up at Lin, ‘How long have I been asleep?’
‘Most of the day.’ Lin slowly lifted a cloth to Teanne’s forehead. She needed to get out of here. Finish her mission and return to… she couldn’t remember whom she had to return to. Her head was aching, the memories she had were all jumbled, and they made no sense. She felt the lump on her head and then moved her fingers to her face. It was different. Exasperated, she ran her hands through her hair, but it didn’t stop where it should. She pulled a strand forward to look at it, it was scarlet, and it was long. Panic rose. What was happening?
Pulling herself from the bed, she almost fell to her knees. Lin watched her as she stumbled towards a mirror. Teanne heard Lin giggle at the obvious spectacle in front of her. With both hands resting to either side of the mirror she lifted her head, her breath caught.
The reflection looking back was not hers, before her stood a stranger, long red hair, blue eyes, a taller woman. A norm. Teanne rubbed her eyes and looked again. Where do I know this face from?
Teanne almost vomited at the realisation.
‘Kera?’ Teanne turned to Lin who stared at her oddly.
‘Where is the Mother Sovereign? I need to see her immediately.’ Teanne asked almost panting the words, Lin caught Teanne as she fell to the floor.
‘Shh. I’ll go get her. You need to rest, Kera.’
'Tean...n...e' she started to whisper but slowly lost consciousness.
Dusk