by T J Muir
Jaresh walked over, watching her.
“What do you think it was?” she asked.
He shrugged, sitting down on the mossy ledge. “No way to know without digging it out completely.”
“How deep is this covered here? How far down to the original ground, do you think?” Her curiosity began to kick in. Jay would be thrilled to spend days exploring a place like this. It didn’t feel nearly as interesting without him but she imagined describing it all to him when they were together again. She looked up at Jaresh who stood there watching her. “Do you know?” she asked, repeating the question.
Another shrug but he was smiling at her as she kept clearing the stone. After a moment, he began to help. Before long they had rescued several feet from the overgrowth. A chunk of moss turned upside down served as a cleaning cloth but there was no way to wash the dirt away. She ran her fingers over it, smooth, polished with a few hairline cracks but otherwise it seemed intact.
“Strange. It feels like it's still in perfect shape.” She stared at the stone as though she could will it to give up its secrets. “What do you think happened here? Why was it abandoned?”
“I have no idea. But there's other things you might like to see. Come on,” he said. “There are a few buildings you can get inside.”
Upon hearing that, the fountain-statue-obelisk lost its appeal. After a failed attempt to wipe the dirt off her hands, she picked up Chiyu's reins and hurried after Jaresh.
“Have you spent much time up here?”
“Not in years. Mostly just playing around with my brothers. We would dare ourselves into camping here. At first it was a scare-dare but this became one of our favorite camping spots.”
“You have brothers?” That surprised Diya. Being an only child, she envisioned most people without brothers and sisters.
“Two brothers and two sisters,” he said with a laugh. “So, it was never boring.”
“What's it like?”
He shrugged. “Like any family, we were best friends one minute and fighting the next then we were back to hugging before sunset. One rule in our house was that the sun wasn't allowed to set in anger.”
“What does that mean?”
“Well it wasn't literal. It meant that despite whatever argument we were having we had to find peace before we went to bed. There were some long nights, especially when we got older. And there was the one time when Thiman chose to visit a cousin for a few weeks rather than make peace. Things were a bit tense in the house even with him gone. It was one of the few times a girl came between us.”
The lopsided grin told Diya which side of that triangle Jaresh had been on. It also told her that there was nothing wrong with the twins volatile relationship. She felt better knowing it was normal even if she didn't understand it. “Did you like having brothers?'
“I still do.”
“Oh. I didn't mean— I meant…” Diya stopped to figure out what she was trying to ask.
“Only child?”
Diya nodded. “I have a cousin, Jomar. We’re close. I guess it’s almost like having a brother. At least I always thought so until I came here.”
“Not the same when you don’t live together and constantly get in each other’s way?”
Diya shook her head. “No. It isn’t. But I’m not sure I’d want Jomar as my brother if it meant we would fight or ever say mean things to each other.”
“There are a lot of good things about having brothers and sisters though. It isn’t all competition and fighting.”
“I suppose,” Diya said with a half-shrug. “I don’t really understand it. I watch the twins and Tilly. Tilly, I almost understand. But the other two. Always fighting and squabbling but at the same time they seem to know each other better than anyone else.”
“Those things go hand in hand. Fighting happens because people are close. And fighting and making peace can create stronger bonds. Thiman and I are closer now than before our disagreement.”
“How did that happen?”
“Well- it took a while. Admittedly, he softened more after the girl broke my heart. I suppose he thought that was punishment enough.”
So siblings weren't too different than cousins she supposed. Her cousins were much more mannerly though and rarely spoke rashly or in anger. Was that because they had manners? Or was it because she outranked them and they were taught to treat her differently?
“Here, I'll show you where we used to camp,” he said, breaking her out of her thoughts.
The charred remains of old firewood and a makeshift circle told Diya this was the spot. Looking around, she saw what looked like the entrance to a cave nearby. Was that an old building?
“Here, look at this firepit,” he said, bending over an odd looking sculpture.
She turned back, interested now in the fire and ignoring the building.
It only took a moment for him to scoop up a few handfuls of charred wood into the pit. With a bit of paper and a few sparks of flint, smoke started going that soon became a tiny flame.
“Can I try?” she asked, pointing to the flint.
After a quick demonstration, he handed them to her. It was harder than it looked, making a spark. She didn't think she could make a fire that easily but she was determined to master this one tiny skill. She kept at it until there was a small fire going.
A moment later, he stood up and dusted off his hands. He dug into his saddle bag and pulled out a flask and two small cups. Diya wondered how he was going to heat it up but when he poured the liquid into the two small cups, she could see steam swirling upwards. He handed one of them to her. Even seeing the vapor, she was still surprised that the cup was warm, almost hot. She stared down at the cup for a moment, bewildered.
Then she looked up. “How did this stay so hot for the entire ride up?” she asked.
Jaresh blinked at her, his face screwed up in confusion. “What?” he asked, as though she had asked a foolish question, one that she was expected to already know.
Frustrated, she reached her hand out and grabbed the flask. “It’s hot!” she cried, almost dropping it.
“Of course it is!”
“How is it so hot?”
“It’s crafted ,” he said. “Haven’t you ever seen one before?”
He was mocking her. Her confusion turned to anger. “No. I haven’t.” She could hear the sharp edge in her words. She didn’t care. He had become just one more rude person on her growing list. But she was intrigued by the flask. She turned it over in her hands as if it might yield up its secrets. Nothing. She turned it over and spotted Bajan’s mark. So it was crafted. So lights weren’t the only thing he could make. “Well this would be handy to have at the house,” she said, forgetting her irritation.
“What do you mean?”
“I just meant that it would be convenient to have, for hot tea.”
Jaresh’s face screwed up in confusion. “But there is one right there in the kitchen. Did you need one for your own room?”
“What do you mean? The kettle doesn’t always stay hot. I know because I’ve felt it many times when it was cold.”
“Not the kettle. The warming stone where the kettle sits is another one of Bajan’s artifacts.”
How did I never notice that? “Oh,” she said, feeling like an idiot. “I just thought the heat from the fireplace kept it hot.”
Jaresh just shook his head and smiled, amused. Then she watched his expression change and he looked at her closely for a moment.
She began to feel awkward. “What?”
He shook his head. “Nothing. I just forget that we take magic for granted.” Then he slapped his hands against his thighs, dismissing the subject. “Come on, I want to show you something.”
Glad for anything to change the subject, Diya followed Jaresh across the clearing and through a section she now recognized as broken walls.
Set back in a recessed section, a large sheer wall of stone stared down at them. It had windows and balconies carved into it and a gaping maw tha
t was once a doorway, daring anyone to enter.
The design was completely foreign, mysterious. Without a thought, Diya headed inside, leaving Jaresh to catch up. The sound of her shoes against dusty stone floor echoed dully in the cavernous interior. Whoever built it designed it for light to enter and it was less intimidating from the inside.
“What do you think this was? A palace? Those recesses in the walls look like they held statues once. Maybe it was a temple?” Diya mused out loud as she wandered around. At the far end a raised dais looked out over the chamber. She stood there looking out over the empty cavern, wondering who had stood here and how long ago it might have been. Behind her was another recess with a curved base and runes carved around the outside. Partway up was a handle. She couldn't resist turning it and was surprised when water flowed out, splashing into the basin below and sparkling in the light.
Jaresh came up behind her. “Aren't you the brave one. “
She blushed, only now considering that it might have been a foolish idea. “Do you think it's safe to drink? Maybe it has magical powers?”
“You think the runes are magic?”
“No,” she said, snorting. “That's just an ancient prayer.”
“”Mmmm,” he said, scratching his chin. “What does it say?” he asked, tilting his head and studying the inscription.
Diya took a breath and let it out as she studied the ancient runes. She knew the words and the essence of the meaning but she had to work out the actual translation in her head. Now she had a chance to put Jaresh in his place by proving she was smarter than he gave her credit for.
“Give praise to Mother Earth, child of the universe, protector of all that live,
who presides over all nature and our guiding spirits.
Give gratitude to the breath that is life and the water, her blood, that flows through all living things.
Protect, and nurture us, your children and guide us toward your wisdom.”
“Oh, so you can read it. I’m impressed” he said,sounding casual as he looked back and forth between the runes and Diya. The expression on his face was anything but casual. It had been her intention to impress him but he didn’t look surprised at her ability to read the inscription.
Wait! Have I just made a big mistake? She flinched, mind racing for an explanation. She recognized the runes from their own shrines. The lettering looked different, as though it had been written by a different hand, but it was similar enough to the sacred dialects of the so'har ritual books. She could read them though. How old was this place anyway? These looked far older than any architecture or ruins she had ever seen. Everything about them was a bit different. But they were inscribed with the high-dialect of the Chanmyran priests. Something niggled at her but she couldn’t figure out what felt wrong about that.
She looked up to see that Jaresh was watching her closely, waiting for a response. “Umm- I studied art, I've seen illustrations of them. Long ago.”
It didn't seem like her explanation had convinced him.
She looked at Jaresh and then cupped her hand under the spigot, bringing it tentatively to her lips—sniffing it.
She started to raise her hand it to her mouth. Jaresh lunged forward, grabbing her arm. Too late. She felt the cool water in her mouth and swallowed. Feeling him yank her arm, she had felt a moment of panic. He hadn’t expected her to drink from the fountain. Belatedly, she realized the water could have easily been tainted. She said a silent prayer of thanks and hoped the water was pure. Her pride kept her from acknowledging her foolishness. She smiled up at him, arching an eyebrow. “Sweet. Fresh.”
As if he didn't want to be outdone, Jaresh dipped his head too and took a drink.
“At least if it is poisonous, we'll have died having an adventure,” he said, laughing.
Wait! What? She had assumed Jaresh knew the water was safe but wanted to teach her a lesson.
A moment later, Diya asked, “Do you feel anything?”
“Nope. Just wet, like water. But know that it’s important to be careful when drinking water in strange places. This could come from a cistern that has dead rats in it now or from a well that has turned bracken.”
So Jaresh likely had known the water was safe.
Regardless, a moment of worry hit her. Those things had never occurred to her. She assumed that whoever had built the place – that had lasted so well and so long— had built it better than for rats to poison it.
“We could explore for days, weeks and barely discover any of what is here. There are just a few bits of rubble and partial buildings right here but there are more places, more buildings and even a few underground areas that aren’t as decrepit.”
Jaresh continued, “And we don't have all that long. We'll be running out of light if we don't leave pretty soon. Even if we cut across to the west and ride back on the road, it will be dark before we get back.”
Diya shrugged. Riding in the dark didn't bother her.
“Come on. I’m hungry.” With that, he seemed to have dismissed the subject. Similar to Pasha, food was a good distraction. That boy had an impressive appetite. She hoped Jaresh did also.
The hot cider and sweet rolls disappeared quickly. Then they buried the fire with sand and dirt. When they mounted up, he passed her a flask- this one filled with brandy— which they passed back and forth while they rode. The brandy was rich, pungent and fruity, spreading warmth into her belly as she took long swallows. It definitely took the edge off of her sore muscles.
“There's something else I want to show you, better than this.” he said, nudging his horse to go faster.
“Wait. What do you want to show me?” She called out, hurrying to keep up.
“A surprise.”
It took a bit of maneuvering to keep from crashing into Jaresh’s horse. He had pulled up and was waiting for her. Chiyu’s sudden stop sent her sprawling forward onto the horse’s neck. When she looked up, she saw what Jaresh brought her to see.
“What is it?” Diya asked, staring at a giant rectangular boulder with ten foot chairs set around it. It looked like a dining room table for giants. She looked around, suddenly wary. “There aren’t giants, are there?” At any other time, her question would have sounded foolish even to her. Up here in the remote woods, she felt less sure. Those chairs built out of giant logs, looked sturdy enough to hold something very heavy.
Jaresh laughed. “No. It's a Faenyr thing. A kind of sacred site.”
“But the Faenyr aren't giants!” The place didn't look like any kind of sacred place to her.
“No. But they like making places to honor the Tarish, and the gods.”
“Tarish? Is that a Faenyr god?” Maybe he would explain that mysterious word for her.
“Not quite. Not really. Tarish, or Tarishve, kind of means deity, but it also means something like a nature spirit. It’s believed that once, long ago, the Tarish lived here among the Faenyr. But that would have been long before there were mortals.”
“So gods that lived with the Faenyr, but they aren’t really gods? Or were they gods at one point and were turned into nature spirits?” Diya’s mind tried to understand how the Tarish could be two things. Maybe it was the brandy muddling her thinking?
“I don’t really know. I think they are both nature spirits and deities.”
“Are? Does that mean they are still here?”
Jaresh shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ve never seen one. But then that isn’t my religion, it’s the Faenyr’s.”
“So if the Tarish aren’t around, why the giant table?”
“It's where the Faenyr will come to make offerings.”
“Like feeding the gods?” The idea made no sense to her. “So they go up on top and leave offerings?” She rode Chiyu around the boulder. She turned in the saddle and shouted over to Jaresh. “Look, there are notches in the stone over here.” She hopped down, looped the reins over a rung in the chair and began climbing.
Once at the top, she looked down at Jaresh who was still on his hor
se and looking worried.
“There's nothing really up here,” she called back down. “It's like a strange dinner table is set, plates and things.”
But no bizarre offerings. She wasn't sure what she was expecting to find and was a little disappointed. “I wonder if this is how the real Chiyu felt when she met the forest spirit?” Her words were mostly to herself but she spoke loud enough that Jaresh could hear her. She picked up a stick that must have fallen from a nearby tree and brandished it like a sword.
Maybe the gods like magic? Was it more powerful here? As soon as she thought of it, she couldn't resist. Dosha hani anuya rai. Waving her hands, the bright sparkles erupted from her fingertips.
“That might not be such a good idea,” Jaresh warned from down below. “You've had a bit too much brandy.”
“Psssshhhhht,” she waved him off, feeling reckless. She wished Jedda were there. He wouldn't treat her like an ignorant child. That made her remember why she was there in the first place. She watched bright colors bubbling from her hands but couldn't help saying a silent prayer.
Please keep Jedda safe, she asked the gods of the table. Just in case these strange gods could hear her, she sent a prayer out for her family as well. She missed Tatak Rhe and all of her familiar places. She missed Trey and Findal, even the flighty, gossipy twins, Linna and Minna. Being so far away had gotten easier but she still missed home. This place wasn’t home, wasn’t familiar or safe and comfortable. But then she looked at her hands. She stared at the sparkles. Doing magic was the most exciting thing she could have imagined. She had never expected that. She wondered why there was no magic in Tatak Rhe. No pretty lights would be spewing from her fingertips. Or maybe there just wasn’t anyone to teach how to use magic? No. That wasn’t right. She knew the priests tended to downplay magic. Many of them spoke against it, saying that humans had stolen magic from the gods and were never intended to possess that kind of power. Growing up, she had always believed that. Now that she had done magic herself, she felt less sure. If the gods didn’t want mortals to have magic, then why wasn’t magic taken away from everyone? Here in the west, it seemed fairly common and accepted. Normal.