Failira, the Tahlet Vahllah (The Beautiful Whisper of the Goddess Saga)

by Orr, Krystal

  The last Arnira flipped her short blades in her hands and moved in for another attack. Tareya screamed, the sound causing the already falling Arniran homes to crumble to the forest floor. She used her abilities to lift the Arnira high into the sky. The woman's weapons fell from her hands as she struggled to regain control of her body. Tareya, a red haze obscuring most of her body, as well as Ir'ra's, sent the young Arnira flying back in the direction of her still burning home.

  She fell into a heap on top of one of the tree homes her people used. Flames still licked greedily at the wood. The fire burned at her skin, but her quick reflexes saved her life before any real damage could be inflicted.

  Tareya remained still and quiet standing outside of the Arniran outpost. Her breathing was still ragged and quick. The power refused to release her. She looked down at Ir'ra's gentle face and felt tears on her cheeks. "All I want to do is save you," she cried.

  Looking around at the carnage she had just added to the destruction around her, Tareya released a gravid breath and began to walk away. Help would not be found here.

  Unknown to her, the slight pack on Ir'ra's back fell to the ground. The cloth satchel held little, but for several scrolls and pieces of parchment Ir'ra had written about the two of them, their journey, and their inspiring and prodigious connection. Also unknown to Tareya was the knowledge that the last woman she had attacked still lived.

  Chapter 27: Future's Promise

  Talliea awoke suddenly.

  Her heart was racing inside her chest and her whole body had broken out in a cold sweat. She looked around her and noticed the others still slept. Cynra and Taetylona were lying next to one another, a shared blanket covering them both. Markahn slept fitfully a short distance away, his face painting a picture of the, no doubt, conflicting dreams his mind showed him.

  Ever since the day before when she had given the information about the Lat'sa'val, Markahn had been quiet and distant. Talliea felt for him, she truly did. Having one's world view thrown into question was hardly easy. She herself had dealt with similar issues, but there was too much else to worry about apart than Markahn.

  At such a thought, Talliea turned and looked down to her right. Her heart began to beat faster, but for an entirely different reason. Instead of being bombarded with images of unknown women and horrific deaths, Talliea instead gazed upon a fair-skinned face, soft and pouty lips, long eyelashes, and a straight nose. Her eyes took in the gentle arch of slightly dark, yet delicate eyebrows, silvery-blonde hair, and gently tapered ears.

  Arizira.

  Talliea smiled, feeling some of her trepidation and anxiety from her nightmares beginning to fade away. She turned as quietly as she could and faced her love. Briefly, she wondered why Arizira had not awoken when she had, but quickly dismissed the thought. Arizira had been scared the night before. Talliea had felt it. Experienced it. Arizira's fears had been about her, about her visions and how they affected her. She had very likely lain awake for most of the night, watching over Talliea and reassuring herself that she was safe, before finally attempting any sleep herself.

  Talliea sighed sadly and allowed her fingers to tenderly caress Arizira's cheek. She wished Arizira would not worry about her so. She needed to take care of herself. Their baby required it. Arizira no longer had only herself to look after. Another life now depended on her for protection.

  The thought of their baby made Talliea smile involuntarily. Her fingers moved from Arizira's face to her lower stomach. She reverently brushed them across her love's abdomen. Their baby felt...stronger. She could feel its life force as though it were her own. The sensation was strange, but welcome.

  The baby was growing.

  Once again, Talliea found herself wondering how long Arizira would carry their new life. Such a thought had her desiring, yet again, that she could take Arizira and their baby far, far away.

  Away from war. Away from pain. Away from hatred.

  Her fingers continued to draw lazy and quickly forgotten patterns on Arizira's stomach. With every soft stroke, Talliea could feel the life of their baby. Such pure innocence, she thought. The soft clearing of a throat interrupted her easy ministrations. Talliea looked over Arizira's still sleeping form and noticed D'jiira standing not far from the two of them.

  "Did you sleep well?" D'jiira whispered in an effort to not wake her daughter.

  "As well as one can in these chaotic times," Talliea replied just as quietly.

  D'jiira smiled and gazed down at Arizira. The younger woman's face was still and without worry or apprehension, an indication of her deep slumber. "It is good that she sleeps now. She was up, lost in her thoughts, for most of the night."

  Talliea looked curiously at D'jiira. "You were up, as well?"

  D'jiira shook her head. "No, but I am her mother. Despite our separation, my bond with her is just as strong today as it was the day she first had breath. It is the way I know she keeps something from me. Something she is unsure of how to impart."

  Talliea's brows drew together in thought. D'jiira was aware Arizira withheld something. Talliea knew that something to be the news of their pregnancy, but she was still fascinated about the bond D'jiira spoke of. She covered Arizira up with the wolf hide blanket and slowly stood. Arizira did not stir.

  Talliea and D'jiira walked to a more open area a few feet away. The sky was a bluish-purple with a bright orange sun lazily reclaiming the sky. Dark rain clouds could be seen far along the horizon, their existence seeming to be a doom Talliea and her friends were walking toward.

  "You are very good to her," D'jiira said to Talliea once they were away from their still sleeping comrades.

  Talliea smiled, sparing a quick look over her shoulder at her love. "We are good to one another. She was the first person who showed me kindness, the first person who allowed me to experience love."

  D'jiira, standing next to Talliea, looked out across the descending slope before them. During their walk the day before, they had steadily moved toward the Arniran village, taking the western-most trails which had also forced them to ascend along rolling hills and a climbing landscape. From their viewpoint now, D'jiira could see, far into the distance, the damage that had been wrought by Talliea the day her powers had manifested.

  A huge area, where once trees had stood, was now blasted with dirt and debris. A crater marked the previously beautiful and quiet smattering of forest. Leaves and branches had been cleared from several of the tall standing evergreens, giving the dense area the appearance of an eternal winter.

  An eternal half death.

  "Your destructive capabilities inspire awe," D'jiira said, her eyes still capturing the scene before her and her voice sounding nearly hollow.

  Talliea looked from the devastation below her and back to D'jiira. She studied her face and the contours of her jaw and neck. Her profile was very much like Arizira's, despite her dark features. "I only wanted to be alone with Ari. Destruction and death were never my intent. I just...wanted a moment with her."

  D'jiira nodded, her eyes growing sad. "She died for you," she mumbled.

  Talliea's throat tightened. "Very nearly, yes. She was always saving me. From the moment I looked upon her in the glade by my clan's camp, she was saving some part of me. When we confessed our feelings, she saved the very heart of me. It is in her nature to protect, even at the cost of herself."

  D'jiira's eyes clouded with tears that soon fell down her bronzed cheeks. She could not believe how close she had come to missing out entirely on her daughter's life. While she had been traveling from her distant home in the west, Arizira had been discovering Esu settlers, aiding an unknown woman, falling in love, learning of her parentage, and nearly dying in an unfortunate, yet inevitable, battle.

  She found herself concocting scenarios of what could have happened had she arrived to learn of Arizira's death. Quickly, D'jiira shook the thoughts from her mind. She was proud of Arizira and the woman she had become. By all accounts, her daughter was a remarkable person, loved and rev
ered by many, not the least of which was the woman standing next to her.

  "Thank you," D'jiira said, placing a hand on Talliea's arm.

  "For what?"

  "For saving my daughter so I got the chance to meet her. You have no idea how painful it was to walk away from her. At the time, I believed I had no choice. I desired for her to have a happy life, full of people and joy. I thought that was not to be with me, yet now after all these years, I wonder."

  Talliea shook her head and turned to look fully at D'jiira. "No, the past is the past. We all have one. It does not dictate the outcome of future events, though it can be a factor in shaping them. Ari-sera is the most kind and humble person I know. She believes in peace and respect and loyalty. Her life has been beautiful and full of wonderful moments. You are here now, when it is the most important. "

  D'jiira smiled, the act reminiscent of Arizira's own, and looked into Talliea's eyes. "And of you? How did you get to be such a gentle spirit? The tales of the D'Tyshacea speak of cruelty and oppression, not wisdom and generosity."

  Talliea inhaled and looked out at the forest. The orange sun was nearly at its zenith in the sky and its bright rays were quickly lighting the rest of the landscape with warm hues and deeper colors. The name D'jiira had used was unknown to her, and yet it wasn't. She could not explain the phenomenon.

  "The tales you have heard are true. My clan came to the north from the Southlands after a bloody war with the other clans. Most of my years were spent on the open plains, ever moving to reach a land that could sustain us. I can recall always being a dreamer, much to my mother's chagrin. The ideas of love and honesty and hope were never instilled in me, nor taught to be any truth, but I believed them to exist, regardless. Life had to be more than being a slave to another's will."

  D'jiira listened with a patience borne of many years. Her eyes never left Talliea's face, just as her hand never parted from her shoulder.

  "My obstinate tendencies were overlooked until I reached my eighteenth summer. At that time, Markahn stated his claim to me. Suddenly, I was no longer a child free to enjoy the wanderings of my imagination. I was a woman and I was expected to join with a man and have my every day afterward belong to him."

  Talliea sighed heavily. "The idea alone was an oppression, so I fought for every modicum of freedom that my people's laws would allow. I denied Markahn for five summers, but our customs only allow that much time before a woman must join with a man or be banished."

  D'jiira looked aghast. "How barbaric..."

  Talliea only nodded. "You ask how I have a gentle spirit with the past of my life? I have no answer for you. I simply am who I am, no more and no less. Ari saved me in so many ways and, with her, I saw that the world was always as I had dreamed it could be. Together we provided what the other was longing for."

  Silence settled around the two of them. The sun reached its height in the sky and birds began to sing and chirp to herald the birth of a new day. "What of you?" Talliea asked, turning their previous conversation around.

  D'jiira, having been lost in her own thoughts, started. "Hm?"

  "What of you? Your clan does not demand that their women be the property of their men?"

  D'jiira chuckled. "Esuval's Light, no. We are free to choose our partners. More times than not, we mate for life."

  Talliea appeared unsettled at that. "For life? Did you believe you would be with Ari's nurture mother for life?" A sad ghost of a smile crossed D'jiira's face. Her eyes darkened and her jaw jumped as she ground her teeth together.

  "Yes, I did, but Esuval and Aitla had other plans for us. We walked the path of our life together until one of our lives ended. By that, I did mate for life, though that life was to be short lived. Now I dedicate my life to another. We are happy, but a part of me will forever live in this forest."

  The news of D'jiira having another partner startled Talliea. She had never given the matter any thought, what with everything transpiring in her life of late. "You are joined with another?" she asked.

  D'jiira nodded. "Yes, a woman."

  Again, Talliea appeared beside herself. A woman? In an Esu settlement? Was such a thing allowed? Tolerated? D'jiira laughed next to her and patted her on the arm.

  "It is not common," she started, sensing the question on Talliea's tongue, "but it does happen. My people believe love presents itself in various ways. We do not judge love, however it chooses to appear. There were male suitors before Io, just as there were male suitors after I returned. I was not searching for love, with either a man or a woman, but love found me and I could not overlook it."

  Talliea could hardly believe how different D'jiira's clan was from her own. They sounded more liberal and open-minded, spiritual and accepting. "I am happy for you. Does Ari know?"

  D'jiira shook her head and looked out at the forest again. "No, time has not been kind to us since our reunion.

  Talliea nodded, understanding fully D'jiira's sentiments. A part of her wished to tell D'jiira of their baby, to spread such joyous and hopeful news, but it was not her place. The news was Arizira's to tell. D'jiira was her mother.

  Movement startled the two women and they each looked over their shoulders. "You two planning on letting us sleep all day?" Cynra asked, shaking out her blanket. Next to her, Taetylona was gathering supplies while she shook her head. "You complain about me being grumpy? The day has only started and already we're listening to you."

  Cynra huffed and ran a hand through her hair. "The day is starting by Esu standards. By mine, it is ending. I'll complain when I want."

  D'jiira and Talliea shared an amused look before returning to the others. It was time to wake Arizira and resume their trek. The Arniran village was only a half day's walk away.

  * * * * *

  "A group moved this way," a tall Esu man said kneeling over the remains of a fire inside a cave.

  "Yes, and not one of our patrols. We were the only ones sent in this direction," said another man.

  The first man nodded, a smile forming on his face, and stood back up. "It's Talliea, though she may not travel alone."

  A third man walked back inside the cave, having been surveying the massive canyon beyond, and interrupted the first two. "There are fresh tracks leading away west and north."

  "How many sets?" the first man asked.

  "It is hard to say. At least three, possibly more."

  The second man looked to the first. "She moves with allies if it is her."

  The first man shrugged. "If it is not, then we shall draw first blood in this war. If it is, then we shall be remembered for taming the demon witch."

  He motioned for the other men to join him and together they all moved out of the cave overlooking Li'nas Dei. Little did they know, but they walked in the footprints of Talliea's retinue.

  * * * * *

  Talliea walked hand-in-hand with Arizira, who was speaking to D'jiira. As the day before, Cynra and Taetylona led the party with Markahn in the middle. The man had said very little since starting the second day of their journey. Everyone spoke to him and included him in their plans and discussions, but he remained ever reticent while not engaged.

  "Tell me of your clan, lana. They do not make war on the land and their neighbors?"

  D'jiira smiled at Arizira. Her obvious curiosity was touching. "Our clan observes the cycles of the sun, celebrates the passage of night to day, holds festivals for the first harvest of the summer, as well as expressing our souls through art and sculpting. The Esu heart is one of fierce determination. We are a volatile people, but that does not mean we are cruel. 'In everything, there is passion.' This is our creed."

  Both Talliea and Arizira remained silent when D'jiira finished speaking. Neither of them knew how to take her words. Talliea had only ever known her Esu clan and their ways. She had never known a branch of her own people that had such a rich and detailed society, filled with rituals and ceremonies. Arizira, on the other hand, found herself feeling a note of pride. D'jiira's clan--their clan-- was much
like her Arniran family. They rejoiced in the different cycles of nature and appreciated that which made them who they were.

  Art and sculpting, though being pastimes her people knew of, were hardly pursuits they were well versed in. Arizira was intrigued at the concepts. There was a whole other side to herself that she had yet to discover. A whole other side to the life growing inside of her.

  "Sculpting?" she asked, her accented voice making the word more pronounced.

  D'jiira nodded. "Yes, out of stone we create wondrous works of art."

  Arizira's face lit up and she looked to Talliea. "Stone shapers! Like your clan, Tah-li!"

  Both Talliea and D'jiira smiled at Arizira's exuberance. "The shaping of stone has ever been at the heart of all Esu, no matter their clan."

  "Are you a stone shaper, lana?"

  "Yes," D'jiira replied. "Many years have seen these hands create that which only the mind can see. When all of this over, my daughter, I will take you to our people and show you my work."

  Arizira linked her free arm with D'jiira's and the three women walked in silence for a few footsteps. Despite the overwhelming task before them, Arizira felt lighter today than she had the one before. Talliea had not spoken of any dreams or visions and the Arnira were only a few hours away. By dusk, they would make the edge of the village.

  Cynra and Taetylona spoke several paces ahead, their old bodies close together and their whispered voices carrying on the wind. Markahn walked slowly directly in front of the three woman. Occasionally, he would turn to look over his shoulder and offer Talliea a small, yet worn, smile.

  The forest was quiet, except for the sounds of nature. A gentle wind rustled through the trees and with it, the scent of honeysuckle came to the party.

  Arizira squeezed Talliea's hand and looked up into her brown eyes. The two of them shared a smile. All hearts were unburdened the nearer they drew to their destination. Soon, they would hopefully be among friends and the war could be stopped before it ever truly began.

  "Tell me more of this connection the two of you share," D'jiira said, resuming their conversation.