Doira'Liim (The Beautiful Whisper of the Goddess Saga)

by Orr, Krystal

  The Elders around the room stood and slowly began to depart. Arizira was unsure of Talyn's parting words. Why could she not join the hunters? She very much desired to see the dark skinned woman again. She was certain, given enough time, she would be able to get the woman to understand her. Something about the tall and striking Esu refused to part from Arizira's mind.

  First Salira and now even Co'ta herself has caught me in her trap of misfortune, she thought to herself before standing and leaving Rae'kir.

  Chapter 3: Heated Discussions

  It had been nearly two days since Talliea's encounter with the stranger in the glade. When she'd returned to the settlement, the Lat'sa'val questioned her actions and then sentenced her to confinement. During that time, she had been unable to commune with the rest of her people or have any sort of visitors. A watch had been set for her and her every action observed.

  Sighing, she looked up at the starry nighttime sky and wondered if the Arniran’s goddess, Aitla, truly had ensnared her senses. The moon shone down upon her face and its light reminded her once again of the woman she’d seen in the forest. What was it about the mysterious stranger that held her so intrigued? Who was she? Where was she? Did she lead such a lonely existence as Talliea?

  “There you are. What madness took you to have you traipsing off into the night? Was it worth the solidarity?”

  Talliea turned and saw a shorter woman walking up to her with a look of fury crossing her features. She was too tired to endure another fight. Since being released of her punishment, she only wished to, ironically, be left alone. “I’ve said all I wish to say to you, Mother.” She turned away and headed toward a nearby campfire.

  The fire was strong, surrounded by a ring of heavy rocks, and gave off enough light to match that of the moon. Around her, the other clanswomen went about cooking and working cloth or watching their young. What a boring existence, Talliea thought.

  Her mother came up behind her. “Your will is strong, but it avails you nothing, Talliea. Your time for joining has long since come and gone. Why will you not take a mate and relieve me of the burden of shame your actions have cast upon me?”

  Talliea sat down near the fire and absentmindedly poked at the embers and kindling with a stick. The flame’s light lit up her face and warmed her from the night’s chill. Her mother’s arguments were nothing new to her. For three summers, she and her matron had held similar feuds over her refusal to join with a man of the clan. Always the arguments were the same and always Talliea was left feeling alone, indentured, and misunderstood.

  “Your clear skin is enough for everyone to know that you are without a man,” her mother continued. Turning, Talliea met the other woman’s eyes. “And why should I have need to join with a man, Mother? What little bit of freedom Esuval has given me will be lost, gone forever, once I have been marked! My free will is my own so long as I remain un-joined.”

  The women of the Esu had very few rights and privileges among the clan. Their primary duties were the rearing of the young, cooking for the clan, outfitting the other women, bead work, and of course ensuring that the men were satisfied. Strangely enough, the laws of the Esu allowed women some small measure of freedom before she joined with her life mate. So long as Talliea remained without a man, she was able to keep the tiny amount of freedom she so coveted. As soon as she was joined and her skin marked with her mate’s house markings, all the rest of her life would belong to him.

  She’d never be allowed to walk among the trees again or stare up at the nightly sky with wonder. Her nights would be spent engaged in an entirely different manner.

  “You forget your place, daughter. Esuval does not look kindly upon your unwillingness to do as you must!”

  “As I must? Who are you to interpret the will of Esuval?” Talliea’s mother looked livid. “Who are you to question it?” she countered

  Sighing heavily, Talliea turned back around to gaze into the flames dancing before her eyes. She could say no more to her mother. The older woman would never understand her feelings. “I’ve said all I wish to say, Mother. The moon is high. Should you not be asleep with you mate?”

  Her dismissal only infuriated the shorter woman. Turning quickly, she crossed the settlement in a hurry and disappeared inside a low hanging temporary lodging. Talliea let her eyes become unfocused as the flames jumped higher inside their ring of rocks. She felt that she could practically hear the fire’s complaint at being confined as it was.

  She could sympathize.

  Where are you, I wonder, Ahmanae? she thought to herself.

  * * * * * *

  At Aital’s rising the following night, the hunters Talyn had called left the Arniran village and made for the borders of their forest. Their task was simple: observe the strangers' settlement and either confirm or deny Arizira’s claims. Arizira had requested to lead the party of hunters, but Talyn had refused and so she now waited like the rest of her sisters. A day passed after the hunters had left. The other women around her went about their business without so much as a hitch in the night. Only she seemed to be on edge about the possible future the hunters' task portended.

  Around her, she watched her sisters and the village come alive as Aitla rose higher in the sky. Being nocturnal by nature, the Arnira mostly slept during the day and used the dark hours for their everyday tasks. A group of archers off to her left practiced their art with expert skill. To her right, she watched a group of young girls listen to the tales of the tribe’s Dream Speaker.

  Turning, her silvery-blue eyes began to glow as Aitla was momentarily shaded by cloud cover. A small gathering of women behind her sat around a small fire and wove beads through a thin piece of string. They laughed and talked amongst themselves as their adroit fingers worked, seemingly without their knowledge, on their individual pieces of jewelry.

  “Your thoughts are a burden to you this night.”

  Arizira turned back around and smiled when she noticed the Dream Speaker from before staring up at her. The woman, even by Arniran standards, was old, older than even Talyn herself. Her purple eyes were nearly white and her hair was a silvery shade. Wrinkles crossed her face and a large sea-shell necklace hung around her neck. Several rings hugged the woman’s fingers and their polished shine caught the light of the moon.

  “Cynra, Honored One,” Arizira said, dipping her head to show the proper level of respect due.

  Dream Speakers were rare among the Arnira. Aitla was said to speak to them during the day when they slept and, through Her, the Dream Speakers acquired vast amounts of knowledge on a wide variety of topics ranging from best harvest times, the conception of children, and prophecy.

  Cynra was the one who schooled young Arniran children on the past.

  On the Esu and their history.

  Arizira had spent many moon turns sitting by a fire listening to the ancient woman weave tales about the dark skins of ages past. The stories had always captured her imagination.“Your thoughts?” Cynra asked with a sly smile cracking her lips. Arizira smiled in kind and glanced up at the moon. “My thoughts are not a burden, Dream Speaker, yet I admit I am having difficulty in reigning them in tonight.”

  “Your mind drifts to the Esu?

  Arizira lowered her eyes and looked into the faded purple of the older woman. “Yes, the stories you told me as a child have proven not to be myth at all, but fact.”

  Cynra smiled again and her drawn up fingers played with the necklace about her neck. “Not myth at all,” she said, more to herself. Arizira looked at her more closely and furrowed her brow. “You hold some bit of information.” The words, though a question, appeared more a statement in their delivery.

  Cynra turned back to look at her and her old eyes were alight with a mischief that would have matched Co’ta. “Perhaps I do, but I shall hold onto it a little while longer. The hunters have returned and their news will be ill-received.”

  * * * * * *

  Arizira followed Cynra and several other important members of the tribe int
o Rae’kir and settled around the base of the tree. A protruding section, slightly elevated above the rest of those in attendance, held Talyn, the Nai’iris.

  “Silence,” Talyn said as the last of the Elders and hunters made their way into Rae’kir. “What news do you bring on the matter of the day walkers?”

  Her question was addressed to a tall, fair-skinned hunter in the center of the tree. The woman was taller than most other Arnira and her hair was pure silver. Eyes of an emerald green shade were slightly slanted and gave her a haughty expression. Her green and brown forest garb was beautifully decorated, and a large curved yew bow was held in her right hand.

  “The day walkers have come from the South, just as Arizira said. They are in the early stages of setting up a more permanent settlement. I would guess they have been in the valley no more than fourteen of their day cycles. Myth they may have been thought, but that myth has come alive again and our borders are no longer safe.”

  Voices sprang up around Rae’kir. Looks of alarm or outrage colored the faces of those present. “How can this be?” an elder woman spoke up. “The Esu, even the southern regions themselves, are nothing more than myths spun into being by the tales of the Dream Speakers.”

  Cynra chuckled to herself and walked slowly into the center of the tree where she stood next to the hunter who had spoken of her findings. Looking in the direction of the disbelieving Elder, she waited until she was sure all attention was on her. “Myths spun around, you say? From myth, there is always a grain of truth. Where do you think the old tales come from? My mind is no longer as young as it once was, and the effort required to invent such elaborate stories would be beyond me.”

  Arizira fought back her desire to laugh out loud. Though Cynra was no Elder among the ruling council, she was the oldest living Arnira in the village and, as such, all those present awarded her a great deal of respect.

  “Cynra,” Talyn called down from her post, “your words have always been tempered with wisdom. Though many of us have grown into womanhood enjoying your epic tales, there are few of us who ever actually paid the stories any other mind. You are saying the Esu are not legend, but fact?”

  “I am saying I am too old to be so colorful. Four of our number have seen the dark skins. If not Esu, how are we to explain their appearance? I have not seen them with these old eyes, but they are obviously not as we are.”

  Silence followed the Dream Speaker’s words. It was difficult for anyone in Rae’kir to admit to the knowledge being given them. Though several of the Arnira had possibly wished in secret for the old tales to be true, more perhaps for the valorous deeds and songs brought about by their people, few of them had ever actually thought they would live to find such myths to be true.

  Bela’luin, the lead huntress in the center of Rae’kir who had just confirmed Arizira's story, stepped closer to Talyn and spoke up. “We haven’t the time to discuss tales of myth or fact, Nai’iris. Whoever the strangers are, it is obvious they are day walkers. Several of their number slept while we watched from above. We must decide how to go about removing them from our borders.”

  Murmurs of approval met her words. Arizira stepped forward quickly. “With all due respect, Nai’iris, we know nothing of these people’s intentions. They are only along the farthest reaches of our territory. It is possible they know nothing of our people.” She allowed herself to omit the fact that there was at least one Esu who knew of the possibility of others in the forest.

  “So we are to just allow them to establish their settlement, build their arms, and learn our forests while we do nothing?” Bela’luin said, turning back to look at Arizira with fire in her eyes.

  “Enough!” Talyn said, her voice carrying over those of the two women arguing. “The other Eders and I will need to confer on this matter. Until such a time as a decision is made, no one is to go toward the Esu camp.”

  * * * * * *

  Arizira, several hours later, sat high up in the branches of one of her favorite trees. The view from so high up allowed her to see much of the forest. With the moon soon to be at rest again, Arizira knew her people would be making ready for their own slumber. Her time was quickly coming. If she hoped to learn what she could, she knew she would have to do so during the daylight hours. That was the only way she could hope to move about unseen by her fellow sisters. It also increased her chances of happening onto the Esu woman again.

  Feeling the first rays of the sun upon her skin, Arizira squinted her eyes at the sting and looked down below her. The women of the village were milling about before retiring for the day. When the last of her sisters had disappeared from view, she effortlessly dropped from branch to branch until her feet were once again on solid ground.

  Holding her breath for a moment, she turned her head to ensure no sounds of movement could be heard. The sun was rising quickly in the sky, and the area around her was soon aglow with its near blinding light. Arizira spared one last glance behind her at her village and hurriedly made her way back toward the glade she’d met the Esu woman in three days before

  With any luck, the dark skinned woman would be just as curious about her and be wandering in the woods again.

  Chapter 4: Names in the Light

  Talliea awoke the next morning feeling lighter than she had the day before. The dugout she looked around had been excavated into the slope of the hillside with a roof of strong wood and grass. The front of the structure held an open doorway covered with oiled hides that could be parted to the side for entry or an exit. Two square windows were on either side of the door and they, too, were covered in the same material as the doorway.

  The light of the early morning sun could be seen behind the coverings trying desperately to pour its golden shine into the dark interior. Talliea stretched and rolled away from her low sitting bed. Apart from the bed, her space was sparsely decorated. Her people had been on the open wilds for many seasons and their livestock had suffered on the journey to the North. Each family had been required to aid as much as possible in building the dugouts that would serve as their temporary homes. Once the settlement was established and secure, then the work of increasing their food and animal supply could begin and more stable homes built.

  The Esu had been in the valley boarding the forest for two week, or alu in their language. Measures were still being taken to secure the perimeter. None of the clans-people were knowledgeable about the wilderness around them and until the settlement was completed, most were content to let the woods encircling them be.

  Talliea stepped through the flap of her dwelling and looked around the camp. A few of the women nodded in her direction, but their attention was quickly called back to whatever chore they were about. The sound of stone being worked could be heard in the distance, and a few of the clansmen were barely visible along the forest’s edge busily hewing wood. Talliea saw no sign of her mother and for that she was thankful. A nearby stream that ran around the curve of the valley offered communal bathing for the women. Farther up, nearer to the mouth of the stream, the men held their own area aside for such tasks.

  Talliea had no desire to bathe among the other women. Such a simple task would only prove to be a means for the others to ask questions of her they had no business asking in the first place. They would want to know her reasons for running off several nights ago, as well as why she was behaving so obstinately, even for her. Talliea had no such desire to humor them this morning.

  Walking to the eastern side of the camp, away from the other dwellings, she peered into the dense forest in front of her. So thick were the trees and plants that she could make out no definite shapes between them. The tranquil serenity of the woods seemed to call to her. Above her, birds flew high over head and sang songs of hopeful and tempting freedom.

  Talliea looked back over her shoulder and noticed the sounds of the camp were dulled from so far off. No one paid her any attention and still of her mother there was no sign. Deciding a bath in the clear pool along the glade would better serve her, she quickly d
isappeared into the welcome hands of the forest.

  * * * * * *

  The sun was a most distracting foe. Try as she might, Arizira had not been able to escape it. Her day's trek had been bothersome when the sun had held the sky. Stealth was always her ally, the trees her friends, yet with the sun above her such movement had proven to be more difficult. She knew she had little to fear so far from the Esu settlers. Even if one of the younger members of the clan chose to go off exploring, they would be without her knowledge of the forest. She knew each tree and each blade of grass.

  Her agile form could scale one of the many pines without any difficulty, and be away from any prying eyes before they had need to question matters. Still, Arizira would have felt better were the eyes of the moon on her back and not the sun. Coming to the clearing quietly, she knelt by the oak she’d communed with four moon risings ago. Once again, she placed her hands upon its trunk and tried to speak with the ancient sentry. The oak, as before, was just as light hearted and gave her no indication of what she sought.

  "Salira has blown through your boughs one too many times, my friend", she whispered softly to the tree with a small smile on her lips. A sound, faint, came to her ears suddenly. Stepping away from the oak, Arizira moved into the glade and opened her senses to the world around her. Sounds and smells, vivid to her kind, washed over her. Slowing her breathing, she turned around and surveyed the circular area for anything out of place.

  The sound from before was picked up by her keen ears again. It was closer. Different. She thought she caught a familiar scent, but Salira decided at that time to blow away from her and she lost the elusive fragrance. Again, the noise sounded in her head and she realized, belatedly, that she had become caught up in her senses. Someone approached her from behind. Quickly and without any struggle she turned on her heel, bow flying into her hands in the process, while a feathered arrow locked into place. Her form was perfect.