by Orr, Krystal
"Enough!" Bela'luin hissed before standing up. "I wish not to speak of this. We are going to war, Nai'iris. A unified voice in that effort would offer us an untold strength. The others need to know that you support this decision."
"I do not support this decision. You would have lies lead our sisters? Bela, please. We are falling away from ourselves and into ruin."
Bela'luin paced around the tree-hut the Arnira huntresses used to house their weapons and armor. With hands on her hips, she turned to Talyn and glared at her for a moment. She did not disrespect the other woman. In fact, she still very much offered her the same level of homage as any of the other women of the tribe. Her issue with Talyn was her inability to see reason. She felt that Talyn withheld information about Arizira and the Esu.
“Whatever my reasons for following this course of action, the end result shall still be the same. The Esu are a threat. Arizira has been away for too long. My scouts lost her trail weeks ago. The Esu woman she was with must have betrayed her."
Talyn looked saddened for a moment. It was obvious that Bela'luin still loved Arizira, but her actions were misguided, her intentions not entirely pure. Talyn could not say what had happened to Arizira, but she did not believe the Esu woman to be responsible for any ill will. If what Cynra had said was to be believed, Arizira's love for the woman was matched only in strength by the Esu woman's love for her.
No, whatever the reasons for Arizira's disappearance, Bela'luin was interpreting the information incorrectly.
"This action will lead to doom. For all. It will not make Arizira love you, Bela. Her heart belongs wholly to another."
Bela'luin lowered her brows suspiciously and took a step toward Talyn. "Again, your words speak of dark information, yet you keep it away from the light. What do you know, Nai'iris?"
Holding Bela'luin's emerald green eyes, Talyn set her jaw and replied, "Only that, if what I have been told is true, Arizira's connection to the Esu woman can never be severed. Their bond is eternal and nothing -- nothing, you do, Bela, will ever change that."
* * * * *
Cynra smiled as she watched Arizira continue to hold the blue eyes of the majestic, white wolf. She knew this moment had been long in the making. For many years, she had been guided by Aitla. Her goddess had shown her Arizira and Talliea's first meeting. She had shown her the depth of their connection and allowed her to witness Arizira's death.
“You shall not interfere."
Cynra recalled her goddess speaking those words to her so long ago in that unearthly voice. True to her promise, she had not interfered…much. When Aitla had seen her struggling with the knowledge she had been granted, She had sent a messenger -- an aide, a creature whose spirit Cynra knew well.
The wolf.
The wolf would be able to go where Cynra could not. It would be her eyes and ears, her warmth and her protector. The wolf had watched over Talliea and Arizira. It had followed them and ensured they both stayed on the path of their destiny. When Lao'dahn had become lost in the woods, the wolf had lead him to where he needed to be. It had kept Arizira asleep so that matters could come to fruition as Aitla desired.
The act had not been an easy one for the wolf. No, far from it. Bringing such harm and pain upon Arizira had been the second most devastating act of its existence; the first being from another time and another place when the wolf had been a different creature.
"This creature is no wolf," Arizira said again. Her eyes found Cynra's and begged for answers.
Cynra inhaled a sharp breath and sat back down on the floor. Taetylona watched her. Arizira watched her. The wolf watched her. "It would seem the time for holding secrets is in the past." Her eyes looked over Arizira intently and a knowing smile spread over her face. "Though you still hold a few of your own."
Arizira appeared confused over the words, but made no comment on them.
"You are correct about the wolf, child. It is no more a wolf than I am Esu. This creature is a messenger, a spirit. When Taetylona first saw her, she believed it to be another spirit she had encountered years before. Though not the same spirit entirely, they each were sent by the same entity."
There was a pause. All eyes were on Cynra. Taetylona did not even know the true nature of the wolf. She knew the animal was more than it seemed, but that was all.
"Aitla sent the spirit of this creature to aid me. To aid you."
"Why?" Arizira asked.
"To fulfill your destiny," Cynra replied mysteriously.
Silence.
Arizira allowed the words to sink into her mind. She knew the women of her tribe believed her to be part of some great fate, that her appearance marked her as someone of import. They called her the Child of Whispers. She had never believed the words spoken about her. She was no different than any of the other women she knew. Her blue eyes and blondish hair were rare and unusual traits, certainly, but those alone could not possibly mean she was destined for greatness or heroics.
"M-my...destiny?" she asked slowly.
"Yes, child."
"And what purpose am I to fulfill?" Arizira asked with slight disbelief and annoyance.
"To love Talliea and set her on the path to her own destiny," answered Cynra.
Arizira exhaled upon hearing Talliea's name. How could Cynra know her name? She had not spoken it, had she? Cynra was telling her that her meeting Talliea was no accident? That their love was always meant to happen?
"Honored One," she started and her voice began to quiver, "can you help me get to her? Please, if it truly is my destiny to love her, then I shall follow that path willingly. I just...I need to see her. I feel incomplete."
"You are incomplete, Arizira."
Taetylona, who had been silent since the start of the conversation, finally spoke up with a question. The connection between Arizira and Talliea was unknown to her. She had never heard of, nor seen, a connection like the one Cynra had described to her.
"You are saying that they both suffer if they are not in the presence of the other? Would that not become a detriment when the need to split-up became important?" she asked.
Cynra let her eyes fall away from the pleading look in Arizira's. Turning to Taetylona, her face changed from one of sadness and regret to one of humor and friendship. "Do not be absurd! Of course they can split-up. Voluntarily. This separation was not of their making. Outside forces caused their split and, as such, their spirits suffer in the same way their bodies were parted. This connection binds the two of them together. They share their essence of life with the other. Their hearts will forever beat as one, and that is not poetic ramblings, mind you."
Arizira listened to Cynra with avid interest. All her young life, she had heard tales of the Doira'Liim. She had grown up hearing of how the powerful connection could not be broken, that it was stronger than either life or death. She had listened and she had adored and she had yearned to find such a thing for herself.
Now, she had found that connection. She had found it, embraced it, cherished it and lost it. The negative side of the Doira'Liim had never been spoken of at length. Cynra's words were new information for Arizira. They only confirmed what she had told Talliea over a month before.
Their separation would destroy them.
The wolf lowered itself to the floor beside Arizira and laid its head across her lap. Arizira looked startled for only a moment before an idea came to her. "Can this spirit help me? Can she help me get to Tah-li?"
Cynra returned her attention to Arizira and looked fondly at both her and the wolf. "She can, but she will not. That is not her purpose in being here."
"Then what is her purpose? You are telling me my destiny is to love Tah-li. How am I to do that in this condition when the two of us are parted?"
"The wolf is the one giving you strength at the moment. That is her purpose now," Cynra responded just as enigmatically as before.
Arizira looked down at the head in her lap before looking back up into Cynra's purple eyes. She had to admit, she did feel much str
onger than before. Stronger, but still not whole.
"You said you had eased my suffering."
Cynra shrugged with little regret. "I lied. The wolf aids you, not I. It shares a connection with you."
Arizira tried to understand Cynra's cryptic words. Her mind was more clear and sharp, but she still had difficulty deciphering the Dream Speaker's riddles. All she wanted was to be returned to Talliea's embrace. She desired only to lay in her arms for eternity and fall asleep to the sound of her heartbeat.
Riddles and vague histories and even her own 'destiny' held little weight with her. If Cynra would not help her in rescuing Talliea, then Arizira would commit herself to the endeavor. Alone. Even if she died trying, she had to do everything within her power to get to Talliea again.
"What connection does this spirit share with me?" Arizira asked, her curiosity finally getting the better of her.
Cynra smiled, looking from the wolf's eyes to Arizira's. Taking a deep breath, she said, "The wolf can stabilize your condition because you once shared an essence of life with it…long ago." She paused before, "This wolf holds the spirit of Iolirthas."
Arizira stopped all movement. Her eyes widened. Her stomach dropped. She knew the name, though she did not have a face to place with it. Cynra reached forward and placed a hand on Arizira's leg. "Your nurture mother, child.”
* * * * *
Talliea dreamed.
She saw Arizira's face. So beautiful. So graceful. Her eyes were bright, bluish orbs of silver fire and her lips were pulled back into a playful smirk. Talliea saw Arizira's hair come into view. The silvery-blonde strands were pulled back into a high tail with two elaborate braids on either side of her face.
Talliea smiled.
Arizira's elegant and pointed ears were vividly seen. Her fair skin glowed with a rich radiance and Talliea was certain she could smell her scent. She walked closer to Arizira, but the image moved out of her reach.
No. No...
Talliea's fingers tried in vain to reach out to her love. She desired to touch her so badly. The rest of Arizira's body formed before her eyes. The leather jerkin and tanned breeches were accented by curved gloves and tall boots.
"Ari..." Talliea called and her voice sounded as if in a void. Arizira turned her head in that way that made Talliea's heart flop. "Please stay," Talliea begged.
"You told me to go," the image said.
It was Arizira's voice! That beautiful, lyrical, and accented voice! The sound of it sent a shiver down Talliea's spine. It had been so long since last she had heard it. "I wanted you to live," Talliea said. "I needed you to live."
"I needed you," the image of Arizira responded.
Talliea felt her heart break. She tried again to get closer to Arizira but, like the time before, the image seemed to float further out of her reach. A part of her knew that what she was seeing was not Arizira. A part of her knew she dreamed. She did not care, however. Dream or not, she yearned for Arizira so badly that her mind's fevered tricks and hallucinations were what she would settle for if that was all she could get.
Any image of Arizira was worth it.
"I needed you, too, love. I still need you."
"You let me go. We could have escaped, but you let me go."
Talliea felt tears in her eyes. "No."
"Yes," the image said. "I cried for you and you destroyed what we had."
Talliea swallowed her emotions and took another futile step toward the image of her love. She was so beautiful it made Talliea's heart ache with longing. "I kept you alive. My people would have used you for information. The men would have raped you in an attempt to break your spirit. I could not be the cause of that. My love for you guided my actions. I chose to suffer so that you might continue living."
The image of Arizira turned its head again. A sad look came over blue eyes. "I do not live, I suffer."
Talliea moved again and reached out a hand to caress Arizira's face, but the image faded away and was gone. Talliea fell to the ground beneath her. Blackness seeped in around her and her vision became useless to her.
"I love you. I love you, Ari-sera. I love you..."
She continued to cry the words not knowing that, while she slept, they fell from her lips in an unintentional declaration. Markahn sat in the corner of the healers' hut and listened to the words continue to fall from the lips of the woman he loved. They were the most heartfelt of any he had ever heard. Talliea's face was scrunched up in obvious distress and sweat covered her brow and hair line. So, that was it. Talliea was in love with the woman she had been with. This…Ari-sera.
Chapter 3: Lineage
"You are so beautiful to me. Everything about you is magical."
"Magical?"
"Yes. I could dream of no other more magnificent perfection. Your hair," dark fingers ran through silver, silken strands, "your eyes," fingers softly trailed across hooded lids, "your lips."
Talliea lowered her fingers and allowed her thumb to gently glide over Arizira's soft lips. She looked down into the face of the woman who had taken over every part of her being. The two of them were cuddled closely together under the warmth of Talliea's blanket. Their bellies were full. Their bodies were warm.
"All of your people share your features?"
Arizira did not answer right away. She continued to look into Talliea's dark eyes and allow herself to become lost to her touch. Raven-colored hair fell around Talliea's neck, face and shoulders and the sight was one of completion for Arizira. She could not fathom how any of her sisters could think the Esu hideous to look upon. Talliea's darker features had always attracted her. To Arizira, she was the epitome of beauty.
After appreciating Talliea's appearance for a moment longer, Arizira finally spoke up. "No other of my people have blue eyes; no other has hair the color of the sun. Apart from those traits, all Arnira share my appearance."
Talliea was quiet for a time. The origin of Arizira's second name, Ahmanae, had nagged at her for as long as she had known the other woman. Many times, she had thought to bring up the name, to ask how an Arnira had come to possess an Esu name, but events had always been more than plentiful. She and Arizira had moved from a friendship to a relationship in, seemingly to her, no time at all. Between learning of one another, surviving during the cold winter, and exploring their newfound feelings, a conversation on names had taken a back seat to other matters.
As she looked down into Arizira's perfect face, she could not help but admire everything that made Arizira who she was. Her features were mesmerizing, astonishing. From the tapered ears, to the glowing eyes, to hair that was a blend of sun and moon, Talliea could not help but be curious about such a wondrous beauty.
Hearing Arizira tell her that her blue eyes and blonde hair were not common among her people piqued Talliea's interest again on the origin of her second name.
"How did you come by such traits? Did one of your mothers have blue eyes?" Arizira shook her head. "Cynra told me that my nurture mother had purple eyes. Of my second mother, I have no information."
"And your nurture mother's hair?"
"Silver, like most Arnira."
Talliea grew silent. She let her thoughts jump from one point to another without trying to ponder any one for too long. Arizira ran the back of her knuckles across the dark skin of her neck and chest as she laid deep in thought. Occasionally, her fingers would tangle in the curly waves of Talliea's sable hair.
"Ari?"
Deep, silvery-blue eyes looked up in acknowledgement.
“What does your second name mean?"
Arizira lowered her fingers from Talliea's black hair until they landed on her shoulder and around the back of her neck.
"Ahmanae means 'whisper'." She neglected to add that, among her people, she was known as the Child of Whispers. Her so-called destiny was not something she wished to discuss with Talliea. For reasons she dared not ponder, Arizira did not want such grandiose tales coloring Talliea's perception of her. New information, sensations, and memorie
s were shared between them each time they laid with one another and Arizira found the idea of imparting the nature of her title in such a way to be easier than a verbalization.
For all she knew, Talliea had already received the information.
Talliea nodded her head at her love's definition and felt herself being pushed until she was on her back. She looked up into Arizira eyes and noted the playful and easy stare being directed her way. Arizira laid next to her on her side and tenderly grazed her fingers across tanned skin. An easy silence fell around the two of them.
Talliea's thoughts contemplated Arizira's words. Ahmanae did mean whisper, but that was not the full definition of the word. It was actually two words from old Esulan. 'Ahma' meaning beauty or beautiful and 'nae' meaning whisper. The term, according to what Talliea knew, had been used to describe a situation, much like the saying 'the calm before the storm.'
Ahmanae was used to describe the beauty of an event; an occurrence that, much like a whisper, came upon a person softly and without effort.
Again, Talliea found the name fitting for her love. It described the other woman perfectly because, much like a beautiful whisper, Arizira had come into her life softly, quietly, and without any effort. From the moment she had seen Arizira in their glade, Talliea had felt an uncanny and indescribable connection with her. Trust had come naturally. Conversation had been easy. Everything she had been searching for -- hoping for -- in her life, she had found in Arizira.
As she felt Arizira's lips begin to kiss the soft skin of her neck, she moaned appreciatively and turned her head up. There was no rush in the caress, no heat. Arizira was expressing her feelings and her appreciation. Talliea brought her hand up and tangled her fingers into velvety, soft, silver hair. She held Arizira's head close to her and sighed at how content she felt.
"I love you." The words were a breath, a soft breath that did little to disturb the air around them.
Talliea smiled, turning her head until Arizira was forced to look up at her. When their eyes met, the two of them shared a moment. Both understood the need that was communicated between them. Both could see the secrets being held at bay.