The light that flowed around her was pure white, far more intense than the light of the Tue-Rah, though it did not hurt to look into it. It flowed out from the center of the messenger.
The messenger itself stood more than eight feet tall. Its skin was blindly white. So white that it made AaQar look silver. Its body was squared and yet elegant at once like a sculpture, and it had three pairs of wings on its back. The feathers on the wings looked as if some breeze constantly ruffled them, but Amelia did not feel the hint of a breeze any more. Yet what was most stunning about the messenger was its eyes. They were like living, burning sapphires in a shade of blue more intense than any she had ever imagined.
Amelia opened her mouth to speak, but no words came. She started to sink to the ground in awe, but the messenger stopped her with a sharp motion, clenching its hand into a fist. It then lifted its hand as if in question.
It was no sign language Amelia consciously recognized, but somehow she understood. She dropped her eyes to the ground once more, and her breath caught in her throat. "Please, I must see Elonumato. I have to know what I'm to do. I mean no harm, but I am…I'm desperate. Please." Her voice broke from a faint whisper to a strangled sob. It seemed even more important now. Getting the answers to her questions, some sort of confirmation that she wasn't about to make the greatest mistake of her life. Only one word raced through her mind, please, please, please, please. The weight of it all pressed upon her. She bowed her head.
The messenger nodded. It lifted its arms, its wings spreading straight out. A shrieking harmony tore through the air, shredding the white light and tearing it aside like pieces of canvas.
Amelia threw up her arms, shielding her face. But nothing struck her. Her hair hadn’t even moved out of place, yet somehow she found herself in a different location.
Startled, Amelia realized she was no longer in the Levthro and the messenger had vanished. She now stood in a meadow with deep hills and swells, lush with waving grass with rich purple and yellow flowers. A wide river curved through the land, the waters azure blue, a perfect reflection of the sky.
Forests with red, green, and gold-leafed trees stood to the west. Lavender, orange, and black butterflies fluttered through the air, landing on the flowers and pulsing their delicate wings. Birds sang. They dodged and bobbed in the sky, brilliant streaks of color and motion. Mountains rose up in the distance, their edges softened by the cloudy haze that surrounded their centers. And to the east was a great city. The walls seemed to grow out of the ground, covered in roses and ivy. The stones and gemstones used to form the walls intersected and melded perfectly with the trees as if both the city and the land thrived with one another. Peaks and towers appeared over the tops of the walls, cream, gold, and white.
Amelia didn't stare at the city long. She wasn't to go there. Not now.
Her gaze returned to the river. One particularly large tree with coral and white leaves stood at the river's edge, its great roots arching up and then down in ornate twists and turns. A bench sat beneath the tree. Like the city walls, the bench looked as if it had grown out of the ground.
Amelia approached it, her head tilted. Anticipation tingled within her. Sure enough, the bench was connected to the ground. The beautiful marble had sprung from the soil and merged upward into a perfectly balanced armless bench. On the left slept a magnificent blue-scaled dragon about the size of a house cat. Trails of smoke flowed from its nostrils. Up above in the branches of the tree slept a leopard with a clutch of hatchling egrets nestled about it, their tiny beaks and heads pressed into the leopard's dense fur. All was so peaceful here.
"You may sit if you like."
Leonas. Elonumato's Ambassador. Amelia swallowed hard. That voice was just as reassuring as the first time she had heard it. Tears sprang into her eyes. "Are you finally talking to me clearly?" she whispered. "Is Elonumato here?"
A hand rested on her shoulder.
Amelia closed her eyes, almost terrified and yet exuberant at once. She could scarcely breathe.
"This is a time for plain talk. Turn around, child."
Amelia turned slowly. But when she saw Leonas, she was surprised. He did not look so awe inspiring as the messenger. In fact, he looked rather ordinary. Though he was tall and strong, he wasn't so impressive as she had expected. He had curly black hair that glistened in the sunlight. The plain ecru garments he wore were well-tailored but not elaborate. He smelled like aged cedar and cinnamon. However, there was one exception to his general ordinariness: his eyes. They were deep, deep and dark and yet incredibly kind. Worlds and knowledge lay within those depths far beyond what she could comprehend.
Amelia bowed her head. Though she started once more to kneel, Leonas slipped his hand beneath her chin and smiled. "I said you may sit if you like. I did not ask you to kneel."
Amelia flushed. "Thank you." It was all she could think to say.
Leonas smiled, the crinkles along the edges of his eyes deepening. Several dogs and wolves ran up alongside him and circled, tails wagging. They nuzzled against both Leonas and Amelia. "I know how hard these past few days have been for you, Amelia. And I know you have many questions."
"You know all that Elonumato knows? You'll answer my questions?" Amelia stroked one of the large hounds on the head. Just the touch of the fur soothed her. He reminded her of Claudius. Was Claudius up here? Was it all right to ask about something so simple?
"Yes." Leonas said. He picked up a stick from the ground and threw it. Three of the dogs chased after it at once, barking and baying. He chuckled as he looked back at her. "I know you wanted to speak directly to Elonumato, but you are yet among the living. If you were to look upon Elonumato's face, you would never wish to return. It is not time for you to stay. But I know Elonumato's thoughts and all that He would say to you."
"Then why were you silent for so long?" There was no way to make that sound less accusatory. She turned her face away, focusing on the hound that had remained at her side. "I have worked so hard. And nothing has turned out the way that I thought. You never told me or warned me about Naatos. And sometimes…sometimes I wondered if Elonumato was going to replace me. It took so long, and now that I'm here, I just don't feel like I'm in any way qualified for this. I spent my whole life training, but you never told me that the Vawtrians were going to be like this. If you knew what I was going up against, why did you let me waste my time?"
"The silence has been necessary, Amelia." Leonas sat on the bench.
One of the dogs ran up to him, the others following. Leonas picked up a branch. He tapped it on the ground and then threw it again. The dogs bounded away. "The silence made you stronger, Amelia. In that silence, you had to learn who you were, what you were capable of. Not in the grand and dramatic ways but in the mundane and the tedious. There's more to it than that, but that's all I can say for now. Your training, even though it was not effective for what you anticipated, was not ineffective in what you will ultimately accomplish. You'll be surprised to see how it prepared you. The fact is that you are a Neyeb, Amelia. In a simple battle against even a single Vawtrian, a Neyeb would typically fail."
"Then why make me the Third Nalenth? Why not make a Vawtrian or some other strong person the Third Nalenth?" Amelia didn't know whether she was allowed to be angry or annoyed. Guilt sparked with each hostile emotion. She glanced up at Leonas, uneasy.
The same easy smile remained on Leonas's face as he ruffled the fur on the wolf's head. The wolf's tail slapped happily against the ground. "You don't have to be afraid to ask those questions, Amelia. I won't be angry with you." He angled so that he faced her more and then leaned forward. "Now…we don't have enough time for me to explain all of this. Some of it you are not yet ready to hear, and the rest may still be difficult for you to accept. But you were intended for various plans. Most of them evil. Your mother placed the blood curse upon you because she wanted to remake the Neyeb people. Naatos wanted you for various reasons. And there were others who had their plans. Plans to use you for destru
ction and devastation. And so Elonumato chose to offer you another opportunity after all those terrible things had been done to you. That was to be the Third Nalenth. Through you, He will bring about peace and healing to all of the worlds."
"But how?" Amelia grabbed hold of his hands, staring up at him. "I don't know what I'm doing!"
"You don't have to know everything."
"Knowing something would help. I don't even know why the Tue-Rahs matter except for letting the worlds meet each other. And after meeting the friendly neighborhood Vawtrians, I don't think that's such a good idea!"
"Well, let's start there. The Tue-Rahs are the hearts of all the worlds, and without them, disease and suffering increase. You have seen it on Eiram already. As you've also witnessed, each of the worlds moves at different paces within its own dimension. The Tue-Rah joins them, but when that connection was severed, they began their own times once again. Reltux moves the slowest, Ecekom somewhat faster, and Eiram fastest of all. So Eiram has seen the most acceleration. Cancers, dementias, and more plague your world, and lifespans have shortened until a full century seems to be a long and satisfying life. When the Tue-Rahs are restored, all that will change."
"But what happens when they meet each other again?" Amelia couldn't imagine it. Shapeshifters and prophets and beast talkers and elementalists roaming through the fields of Indiana and the streets of Illinois?
"Ahhh, now that is a complex situation, but essentially it will be on a world-by-world basis. You see, there are actually thirty-six inhabited worlds. In situations with Reltux where the people have not forgotten the other races and other worlds, the reintroduction will be sooner. But for those such as on Eiram who have forgotten, it will be far slower and on a more…personal basis. A gradual reintroduction. Not that that is how it will happen on Eiram. Though incidentally, you might be interested to know that not all who live on Eiram currently are Awdawms. There are Bealorns, Vawtrians, and so forth though they aren't quite as common."
Amelia's eyes widened. "Then why couldn't I find them? We looked everywhere!"
"Well, not all of them know they aren't Awdawms, and some prefer to not let it be known. You'll meet some of them." Leonas smiled as if he knew this would be a good thing. "Now it's because of all these complex situations that the Tue-Rah's restoration must be handled in a certain way. Naatos's method will result in catastrophe. There will be deaths in the millions with traumatizing repercussions for those who survive. Even so, the worlds may threaten to tear one another apart, but Elonumato has a plan to prevent that from happening. Your Uncle Joe is actually to be involved in that."
"How do I stop Naatos though? The Vawtrians are already massing to enter. There will be thousands of them here within a matter of weeks. Actually, days!"
Leonas put his hand over hers, clasping them together. "The opportunity to prevent that invasion will present itself. And I know you, Amelia. I know you better than you know yourself. You and your companions will find a way to stop it, and then you will go to Ecekom. I will meet you again there."
Amelia ran her fingers through her hair. Her heart raced as she tried to take in all that was going to happen. "No. Let's go back. Let's talk about what's coming." She stood from the bench and began to pace. "Naatos, AaQar, and WroOth are coming this way. What am I supposed to do? Am I supposed to surrender? Or do I keep fighting? Should I stay? Should I go? Please tell me. I feel like I'm running in circles, and I…I just don't know which way to go. I'm not ready to face Naatos again, and I don't even know how I'm supposed to respond to him."
Leonas's smile reminded her of Uncle Joe's when he wasn't exhausted. He stopped as another of the dogs ran up and dropped the branch beside him. He threw it once more. "All right, pups, that's enough. We'll play later." He dusted the bits of bark from his hands. "Neither way is wrong. And deep down, you know which one is best. What matters though is that it is your choice."
"So Elonumato doesn't care if I develop feelings for them?" Amelia found this hard to believe.
"Not at all. In fact, I can tell you now that you will. I know those three quite well, though it would be best if you did not tell them that you have met me. But more importantly, your family is closely connected with Naatos's. Your father was one of Naatos's closest friends, just as your mother is one of his strongest enemies."
Amelia pulled back. "What do you mean?" Why hadn't Naatos mentioned this?
"Naatos was a deeply beloved friend of many Neyeb. And your father was one of those early friends until he vanished. There is much about him and about your days among your people that you do not yet know, and it is not time for you to know. In this, I will respect Naatos's decision not to speak of it. But what I want you to remember is that just because you develop feelings for someone, even if it is love, doesn't mean that you will stop thinking for yourself, Amelia. Especially not you. You're a stubborn woman. The silence helped you know who you were, and while you may be conflicted and torn, the core of who you are is better sealed. Is change possible? Yes. Could you fail? Yes. But through this time, you have come to know who you are in a way you would not have otherwise."
"What about Uncle Joe? He gave up everything that he wanted to take care of me. And I…I broke his heart."
"Joseph's story is so far from over, Amelia. Life itself is so much more than what you have experienced." Leonas smiled. "Trust me. He has not been forgotten, and he will be rewarded."
"So…I handled my time all right then? I didn't over-train?"
Leonas chuckled and put his arm around her shoulders. "Oh, Amelia." He sighed. "That's not the point. You may not have done everything perfectly. There may have been other experiences you could have enjoyed, but you did not err grievously. And if you had found someone and fallen in love, you might have enjoyed that time you had, but…you would have been a widow shortly after returning to Libysha."
A pang cut through Amelia. She wrapped her arms around her stomach, leaning forward. For a moment, she remained motionless, then she sat back on the bench. "Why can't you stop Naatos yourself?"
"As a rule, Elonumato does not stop the independent choices of His creations except under certain extenuating circumstances."
"So, what you're saying is I'm on my own."
"No. Not at all. You always retain the choice. You can follow the path that Elonumato has chosen for you or choose the one that your mother had set out for you, or accept the one that Naatos desires or any other. You could even reject all of these and attempt to cut your own out of the mass of choices and demands pressing upon you. At any time, you can choose to reject any and every identity thrust upon you. But what I will tell you is that the path that Elonumato chose for you is the one that will lead you to the greatest satisfaction and fulfillment of you as an individual."
"Why? I don't think I understand. Do my choices not matter?"
"Of course your choices matter. As do everyone else's."
Amelia shook her head. "Sometimes I feel like other people's choices matter more than mine."
"You mean Naatos."
"Yes." Amelia drew back as the small dragon rose up and stretched. It worked its three-clawed paws against the ground and then lifted its head. Long silver whiskers trailed from its snout to the ground. Hopping up beside her, it placed its long sloping head on her lap.
"Naatos's choices have tremendous influence, yes. But his are not the only ones. And he will have to answer for the effects of his choices. Whether you believe that your choice has any power is not the point. The point is that you make the choice even when it seems hopeless."
The dragon's breath smelled like sandalwood incense. It reminded her of one of the forms WroOth had used. Amelia sighed. It was true. She did like him. And she liked AaQar. Whether she liked Naatos…she wasn't sure. If they weren't always so opposed, she might have gotten along with him. She understood his drive as well as his rigidity. And sometimes what she felt when she was with him… "So my liking them…even if…I pray it never happens…but let's say if I fall in love wi
th Naatos…does that mean I've failed?" Her cheeks heated.
"No." Leonas laughed, shaking his head. "No. That doesn't mean you have failed or that you have succeeded. And just because you have fallen in love does not mean that you have an excuse to abandon what you hold most dear. It is just part of how you will feel, and it will bring challenges, rewards, and consequences of its own."
Amelia pushed the small dragon back and removed the Salvation of the Third Nalenth from her pouch. "Please. Tell me that I can make more of these somehow."
Leonas took it in his hand. He turned it over and shook his head. "I'm afraid not, Amelia. See, this is what I was talking about with choices. It's also why sometimes silence is important. The Machat saw some of the possibilities of the future and commissioned special orbs from a few Unato who escaped the virus. These…they intended them to circumvent the curse. But, of course, Naatos would not allow that, and it drew him and his brothers with great fury to the Machat. You see…they thought that these would be enough to stop the blood curse from settling upon you."
Amelia's eyes dropped to the orb. It glistened under the sunlight. "And I have to pay that price."
"Sometimes the choices that are made affect more than the one who made the choice. Even innocents. But those who follow Elonumato will find that all is made right here in this realm. Every tear is wiped away. Every wound is soothed and healed."
"That's not much comfort for those of us who still have to live through it." Amelia swallowed hard. She stroked the dragon's head absently, her fingers moving along the fish-like scales.
"No, not much. But some." Leonas placed his hands over hers. “You will never be alone, Amelia."
"Then tell me right now. Answer me clearly! What am I to do? Should I just surrender to Naatos? If I return to Polfradon, will everyone be safe here?"
Leonas shook his head. "No. Naatos and his brothers are set upon the destruction of the Machat. Not even your return or your bargains or pleas will save the Machat. Sometimes things are right or wrong or neither. Whether you go with Naatos or choose to avoid him, it is neither. It is up to you."
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