Almakia_The vilashi and the Dragons

by Lhaisa Andria

  Knock on the door made her jump and start looking at her. When they knocked again, she hurried out of bed and ran to answer. She was sure it was Kidari, since she was the only one who knocked on her bedroom door the entire time she had been in it. But when she opened it, came across three of her classroom masters, staring at her severely. Having a bad feeling that pierced her spine with an icy shock, Garo-lin asked, gathering all the education he had, in a single word:

  — May I help?

  One of them, the teacher responsible for teaching the Elementary Table, gave him an official letter from the Institute and stated:

  — Garo-Lin Colinpis, you are no longer an apprentice of the Dul'Maojin Institute as of today. Take it your belongings and follow us. You must cross the Black Gates still tonight.

  PART III

  Smile like ourselves

  I will change this self that does not fly.

  I'll take the first step

  as many times as necessary.

  “Hatenai Sora” – Arashi

  Chapter 22 – Becoming a Vilashi again

  Garo-lin ran with all she had, not caring about the cold air that cut through his face or the stumbles and falls he was carrying because she did not look straight at the path he took. What moved her was something far greater than her. Something that needed to be released, and there was only one way to do it.

  Crossing the gate of the Godan village, diverting from the path of the bridge, crossing the grassy field, using hands and feet to climb the hill and sliding through the wet grass, she managed to get where she wanted. Then she paused, panting, staring at the landscape that unfolded before her eyes.

  Never before has the Inland Valley seemed as real as it has been now, stretching out with a cluster of hills and plantations that were lost sight of, being cut down by the Yue River and stained with woods that were losing their color by the arrival of cold times. Gathering all the air her lungs could carry, she took a deep breath and shouted with all her strength. Her cry flew and vanished into the immensity, with small echoes, being carried away by the wind. Then she laughed like she had not laughed for some time.

  She had not felt that way in years. Was totally free. She did not need to be hiding, he no longer had to be afraid and live in the shadows of arrogant students, did not have time to comply and he would not have to listen to his tedious teachers reciting vague teachings. She could forget the entire Elemental Table, that she wouldn't miss at all. Primarily, she owed no obedience to almakin.

  She took another deep breath and used her hands to magnify what she said:

  — ARE YOU LISTENING, ALMAKIA?! GARO-LIN COLINPIS IS NO MORE A STUPID ALMAKIN! I'LL BE MYSELF FROM NOW ON!

  Somehow, she had managed to grapple with a unique feeling within herself that made it possible to get out of the discouragement she was in, and being able to scream like that was a relief.

  Even though it had been several days since his life had become something dark and indefinite, only now, being able to look back at the clarity ahead of her, could she realize that everything had really happened. It had not been a nightmare she could not wake up from, a surreal situation in which she'd been trapped. She had been banned from the Dul'Maojin Institute and everyone around her had been torn apart by it.

  On her last night in the Fire Capital, the shock of being expelled like that, without a specific reason, had completely stunned her. She remembered holding firmly the official letter she had received from the Institute all the way from there to her village. In it, there was the signature of the director and a simple and formal message:

  We hereby inform you that, for exceptional reasons, the remains of the student Garo-lin Colinpis at the Dul'Maojin Institute and her permission to cross the Black Gates are repealed. We request your immediate departure.

  He did not say anything about such exceptional motives that required his departure, though various motives ran through his mind. After all, there had always been more reason for her to be expelled than to stay.

  In her haste-for, as the letter said, her departure should be immediate-she collected the few things that could be considered purely her own, and abandoned her uniform and changed it into the normal clothes worn in the cities. Then she cast a last look at the place that had been her room during those years, and with a sigh followed her masters, who escorted her to the Black Gates.

  There, they handed her a purse, charitably, with travel supplies and an order for the express to take her from the Fire Capital to the Routes. Also had to sign a statement stating that she would not use her almaki without authorization under penalty of detention and punishment under the laws of the almakins and the Royal State. And then he left in the middle of the night, unable to speak to anyone and with direct orders not to do so. She walked down the hill path alone, clutching at her bag and the purse she had won, as if this gesture could hold her in a safe place, and she concentrated on reaching the station, of which she knew only the location.

  The trip to the Rotas had taken exactly two days. Leave was much faster than the first time had traveled to the Fire Capital. During the time in the Institute, there had been a breakthrough in mobility issues within Almakia, where roads were enlarged and new paths opened. With this, traveling to those who did not have a mombelula and depended on the horse-drawn or railroad expressways had become faster, although not less uncomfortable and exhausting.

  Then, disembarking in the Routes, totally disoriented, getting a transport to Godan was an idea that simply could not be fixed in his mind. In the state she was in, in which all her certainties had suddenly been taken from her, even walking through that place seemed like something impossible to do.

  Luckily, had run into a group of vilashis from some village in the west, meeting at the station to return home after unloading what they had brought into town and bought their parcels. A woman, who remembered Mother Godan very much, noticed her troubled air and immediately asked:

  — Are you lost, my dear?

  Garo-lin only shook his head negatively and dug up the words hoarse from within:

  — I'm going back to Godan.

  Even avoiding looking directly at her, Garo-lin knew that it was impossible to hide the desolation that emanated. That was enough for that woman to classify her as a fugitive daughter from home, who came in search of something better and regretted. Then, without many questions, and honoring the character of the Vashashis' sympathetic, she immediately persuaded the rest of the group to give her a ride. They would not pass near their village, but they could leave it in a place from which the walk would not be delayed.

  So, sitting behind a swaying cart, among strange people and talkers, Garo-lin left behind the last place that connected her with the sophisticated world of Almakia. Soon the landscape of buildings was replaced by the forests and plantations, where the maximum civilization was rustic houses of villages and villages of vilashis.

  And after thanking and saying goodbye to them, and walking the rest of the way, following a path she vaguely remembered-in which she would not mind losing-she reached the limits of Godan. The sun was setting and the fires were already being lit inside the houses in the village.

  The cold wind that was still gentle was only an announcement of the strong winds that would soon come and bring the snow with them. By that time, the harvest was already being made and taken to the Rotas, and the part reserved for the village, as well as the grains and shoots for next year, would be stocked in the community warehouse and there would be protected, waiting until it was needed.

  The night she arrived, Garo-lin tried to walk without attention, although that was not necessary, since the roads seemed to be deserted with everyone sheltering inside their own homes. This was normal, both in the advanced and the cold, and she thanked her ancestors immensely for having left this household routine to her people as a legacy. That was the only way she had been able to escape the flood of questions that would overwhelm her if anyone saw her coming as if she were a stranger, carrying only a backpack
and all her consternation.

  Leading off the stage and past the large tree in the center, away from Garo-nan's house, he headed for his family's house.

  On the way, finally thoughts about what she could say and what she could do to explain her situation began to whip her mercilessly. As much as he wanted to get to that familiar place, as if it were a safe island among a confused sea, what would he say? He would just hand the letter over to his parents, who would read it with difficulty and, like her, would not understand the meaning of the word exceptional. Or would you invent a story using the real facts, saying that the Institute's students revolted to learn that he had brought the Dragons into the Inland Valley and demanded his expulsion? No matter what had made her leave the Black Gates, none of the theories in her head seemed to be acceptable enough to be used as an excuse in front of them.

  As soon as she took her eyes off the floor and spotted her house in the distance, even though it was a dark form that blended into the night-shadows, she could see that someone was watching her from the gate. Before she could tell who he was, the figure rushed toward her.

  -GARO-LIN!

  — Mother?

  Recognizing her, Garo-lin ran as well. It was not a good feeling like the one he had had some time ago when returned to Godan, but somehow it was good to have someone running to meet her.

  When she hugged her mother tightly, all she could say was,

  — I can not go back, Mother – and she kept the rest stuck in her throat.

  — All right, daughter – said Mother Colinpis, running a hand through her hair – You're in home now.

  Home...

  That word had managed to gather within Garo-lin the full weight of the meaning of actually being there and made the first few days the most difficult of his life.

  There were no questions.

  Her brothers were told not to bother her and her mother said she could stay as long as she needed the room. Even if she did not have that possibility, she did not know if she could do anything other than sneak into her blankets and starve, waiting for things to work out on her own. There had been some visits, and sometimes she heard familiar voices from the village who were going to ask for her. Garo-nan went every day, but he respected what her mother had said about leaving her, and only checked if there had been any change.

  But that was not his way of acting. Although she really needed to stop to breathe and realize that her life at the Institute was over, the moment had come when she realized she could not let herself sink. Then, when Nana-lin had come into the room, indifferent to her presence, as if she were another pillow or blanket, it was the moment when there was a crack and the question swirled through her mind: how long will she keep whining , Garo-lin?

  And finally, within a week of her expulsion, she ran out of the house and climbed the highest hill in the vicinity to shout and throw out all those bad feelings that kept her trapped inside herself.

  -I'M BAAAAAAACK! – She threw her fists up and looked up at the sky, letting herself get involved with that good feeling.

  Now, yes, he could return to his village and face everyone in the front. Tell the truth about the Dul'Maojin Institute, about how it was treated and about everything that had passed until her was expelled. Then she would resume her vilashi life and ignore her almaki power. She would not need him there. She did not need anything else to hold her back.

  Sure enough, she took something in her pocket and prepared to throw it far away, where she would never see him again... but she hesitated.

  The smile that had so far stamped on her face disappeared as if in a flash and she gave up. With a sigh, she dropped to the floor and let the glass sphere and the drop pendant hang from the chain in front of her and sway.

  Even with his immense desire to forget everything, there were things that could not simply disappear.

  Thinking about Kidari, how she would have reacted when she learned that her friend was no longer inside the Black Gates, ached intensely. The girl was no longer that disoriented Kodorin when she first saw her and was very well protected by her position; But would he never see her again?

  Almakia's Piece gleamed, reflecting the faint glow of the sun on the delicate glass of the sphere.

  While on the way to the Routes, Garlinlin had had the illusion that at any moment that sphere would begin to heat up and to release smoke and the miniature of the Fire Dragon would come up asking something of its thick form, such as: where do you think it is Going, idiot?! Come back here immediately! But this call never happened.

  Even if you say that we are different, vilashi, it is wrong... I put it above all others and you being a vilashi or not it does not matter at all! I like you anyway.

  Garo-lin rubbed a hand over his face and took time to realize he was crying.

  She had not cried when she had left the Institute or around her, full of uncertainty, not when she had embraced her mother, or when she had not left a dark corner. Now, remembering those words spoken by the one who could be considered the sole responsible for all his problems, the tears flowed from his eyes without the slightest difficulty.

  She hugged her knees and buried her head in his arms, murmuring to herself,

  — Do not say those things if you will not keep them, you dumb dragon!

  ***

  It was not necessary to insist on the invitation so that Garo-lin would agree to help Mira-lin with the children.

  As was well observed by Garo-nan, she had an immense knowledge about Almakia and the other Realms, more than anyone else ever had on Godan. And why not broaden the world view of the little ones?

  So she stuffed her days telling stories about how everything worked in the Realm, about what the Almakins, the Capitals, the Royal State were like. With drawings of scrawled maps on the ground, she showed to her students and to all those interested that day by day they crowded around to listen and learn as well, as was the geography, the borders and what was beyond them. Although she could read in the little faces before her that everything to them sounded like a fantasy and they heard her as if she were an older sister who made elaborate tales, it did not matter. Because, speaking of everything he knew, he felt that he could somehow reciprocate all the hopes that the people of the village had put in him when he left for the Fire Capital. And so he felt better at having failed.

  Little by little, resuming a life she had learned to forget was more natural than the process she had faced in trying to act as an almakin.

  On a particularly cold day, Garo-nan had come to class to tell her that it would be the last, since Nanfan Storm could start blowing in a few days and they should help with the preparations. At that time, everyone helped, including the children, to learn from an early age how to face that difficult moment.

  After the children had stamped out in a great commotion determined to take the last time out of the house to play, he noticed Garo-lin mark a page in his black leather cover book and asked the everyone's question should be:

  — It's all right?

  — Yea – she said vaguely.

  It felt better, it was true, but it still was not exactly alright. However, Garo-nan was one of those people who knew her well enough and could see what was happening even if she said no problem with a big smile.

  — It's a pretty big book, is not it? – He said, trying to pick up some random subject to create a conversation.

  — I did – she answered the implied question about how she had done it.

  There was another memory had thought of undoing, but could not.

  — Garo-lin?

  — Hum?

  — It's good to see you smiling like us again.

  Confused, she stared at him. He needed to focus on a spot on the floor so he could explain himself.

  — When you came last time, you were different. It was as if... as if you were no longer Garo-lin. I told myself that it was obvious, it had been years and people changed, but... I was afraid that you would never smile like ourselves again.

  She
understood exactly what he meant. That was a way for his people to express the feeling of being true. Vilashis was sincere with their smiles, and it reflected what was inside, what if it was real. During the years at the Institute, Garo-lin did not realize the extent to which this had happened: when had he precisely forgotten how to smile like herself?

  Listening to her childhood friend confirming what she could not distinguish at the time and showing how good a part of her current situation had made her more cheerful.

  Then, even if it was not with a big smile, she could look at him and answer truthfully:

  — No problem, Bob. I'm better.

  — Ready to face Nanfan again?

  — Anxious! – She laughed, and for the first time in days she felt that her mood could be fully restored.

  ***

  The Nanfan Storm came, as always bringing a merciless cold that forced the Vashashi families to remain inside their houses for days, in an endless night. The winds howled and dragged with them everything that was not properly prepared to support them.

  The storm was a phenomenon that mainly plagued the Inland Valley once a year, and which the Vashashis learned to face. He came only to the Ancestral Forests, where that protective belt of the giant trees made him retreat and head west, making way for the snow to come and change the whole scene.

  In a matter of a few days, lakes and rivers froze and everything was iced white. Although comparatively short compared to the warm weather and the rainy season that made the land so fertile for planting, it did not always pass without injury. And that year he brought something far worse than killing fruit trees or destroying some village house.