Doira'Liim (The Beautiful Whisper of the Goddess Saga) (15 page)

     The shelter Talliea and Arizira were in was just barely deep enough to keep out the weather. The overhang of rock was far enough above them, and the small rounding of land inside just far enough in, to allow the two women to lie inside with their cloaks about them. With the natural heat from the formation, no fire was needed. Even if one could have been built, the wind surely would have snuffed it out before it could offer any other warmth.

     Talliea sat against the back of the enclosure with her cloak tight around her shoulders. Arizira was next to her with her own cloak keeping the wind at bay and her eyes intermittently drooped. Talliea's mind was alive with questions she had for the other woman. Now that time was not an issue for her, she found herself wanting to speak to Arizira like never before.

     After the initial shock of seeing Arizira again had worn off and the two of them had eaten their meal, a comfortable silence had overcome both as they each let their thoughts ponder their situations. Talliea looked over at Arizira and smiled when she noticed the other woman was fighting off sleep. "Ari?"

     Blue eyes, slightly aglow with the darkness growing around them, looked up at her with an unfocused air. "Hm?"

     "It is true that your people have no men?" Talliea asked, her mind asking the first of many questions she had.

     Arizira blinked a few times and buried her nose into her cloak for a moment. Her eyes held Talliea's while her mind tried to understand the question. Had they not known each other long enough for Talliea to have her answer? "Arnira are only female, Tah-li. You know this," she answered slowly.

     "But, why? How?" Talliea asked enthusiastically. Squinting her eyes in a show of confusion, Arizira lifted her head and pulled her cloak up to her chin. The weather was steadily progressing from bad to worse. Though it was still about mid-day, the sun had long since left the sky and a heaviness was all about them. No rain or snow could be seen, but the approaching darkness spoke of a possibility of either. "I do not understand your question, Tah-li."

     Scooting closer, her eyes wide with interest, Talliea shrugged and held her hand out toward the wilderness just outside their shelter. "Nature has both male and female, Ari. Your people are a part of this forest. You encounter male deer and male birds, do you not?"

     "Of course we do. We are aware of nature. I still do not understand."

     Talliea shook her head and shrugged again. It was so simple to her. How could Arizira not see her point? Gesturing wildly with her hands, she tried to express what she meant. "If nature gives a male and a female for every beast and bird of prey, how then can your people only possess one half of that?"

     Arizira, her hands under her cloak and snuggled against her chin, turned her head to the side and a tight lipped smile spread across her face. Talliea's curiosity touched her. It was warming to her heart to see the other woman so at ease and comfortable. The lines of worry that had marked her face on their previous encounters were not present and, if possible, Arizira thought her even more beautiful.

     "Do your people lay eggs, Tah-li? Do your young hatch like the birds of the sky?" she asked, posing a question of her own. Talliea faltered a moment and furrowed her brow. The absurdity in the question baffled her. "No, our young come from us," she said, pointing to herself. "Do not your own come about the same way?"

     "Yes," Arizira replied, still smiling. "If nature has the bird lay an egg, is it wrong that we bring our offspring about in a different way?" Understanding came over Talliea and she nodded her head. "Okay, point taken, but the bird still requires a male bird."

     "So says nature and nature does not require that Arnira have a male. Nature is different, Tah-li. Some creatures build nests, some build dams. Some creatures fly and others swim. You are dark skinned and without the ability to talk with the forest. Does that then imply that nature erred in your making? No, it means that you are different than I. Different is not wrong, Tah-li. The bird does not fault the fish because it swims and cannot fly."

     Talliea let her eyes travel across Arizira's face as her words solidified in her mind. They made sense enough, but still she could not let the matter drop entirely. She understood very little about the mating process. What she did know was that the men planted life inside the women like a seed in the earth and the women carried and nurtured that seed until birth. Did the Arnira perform a similar act? Seeing as they were only women, which one of them would carry their offspring?

     Lao'dahn, when he had assaulted her, had told her that women were only vessels. They were cattle. When the sticky liquid had connected with her face, he had told her that it was responsible for life. It was the seed. Without it, if Lao'dahn was to be believed, how could the Arnira reproduce?

     Suddenly, her simple question was anything but. She realized that during her internal ramble, her eyes had continued to look at Arizira. The other woman was staring back at her with an unsure expression and she shook her head, smiling. "You have given my mind much to think upon, Ahmanae."

     "Thought is good, Tah-li."

     Again, a silence stretched between them. The wind picked up and the clouds became heavier. The sound of a slow and steady rain could be heard occasionally falling from the sky to the trees and finally ending its journey on the forest floor. The temperature continued to drop and a chill began to set up along the edges of the rocks surrounding both women.

     Arizira fought with herself to stay awake. Her people were used to sleeping during the day and her body was protesting at her late activities. She worried about how to explain her absence if any of her sisters discovered her missing. She did not have the same restrictions as Talliea. Her time was her own to manage, mostly. She did have responsibilities to her tribe and duties in regard to her station as a huntress, but her life and her time were free to her. Even still, with the discovery of the Esu, Arizira's people were on high alert. She was unsure how they would react if they knew she had been wandering the forest so much...and during the sun's reign at that.

     Her desire to protect Talliea kept her from departing even when she knew she should. What would happen to the other woman if she left? Did Talliea even know what she planned to do? Would she remain in the forest? Try to make a life for herself away from her people? Or would her loneliness overcome her and send her back to a clan that treated her like a possession? Arizira very much did not wish to see Talliea return to the Esu. She did not know who had hurt her, but she worried of a similar incident happening a second time. Talliea did not deserve the life that had been handed to her.

     That alone made Arizira feel responsible for her. She greatly desired Talliea to be happy. Turning to the other woman, eyes and body still heading toward sleep, she asked, "What is your path, Tah-li? You can not aimlessly walk in the woods while the trees above shadow your feet."

     Talliea, her own eyes having become unfocused as she stared outside, slowly turned her head to meet Arizira's steady gaze. She had been dreading the question since she herself had thought of it. "I am unsure, Ari. I am afraid that I do not have the necessary skills that would ensure my survival in the forest. But I am more afraid of returning to my people. Rather that I should die free and on my own terms than bound and chained at another's will."

     Arizira held her eyes and saw the conviction deep within. In that moment, she knew her fate was tied to Talliea's. There was no way she could watch someone that she cared for fumble through their life and worry about an ill-intended hand stabbing her in the back. Talliea had a strong spirit and a thirst for life that rivaled her own people's. Arizira hated seeing her so downhearted. How could anyone desire to stamp out such a vibrant life?

     "You do not have to return, Tah-li. I will teach you what I know. I will show you the ways of the Arnira so that you will be able to survive as you wish." Talliea opened her mouth to respond, but was unable to do so as a wide and grateful smile broke out across her face. Arizira smiled back at her and felt her heart begin to beat faster.

     Talliea truly was exotically beautiful.

     "Thank you...thank you, Ahmanae." Arizira nodded and yawned. The need for sleep was gaining on her. "Do you not have to return to your people? Will they not worry for you?" Talliea asked, scooting closer. Yawning again and blinking to stay awake, Arizira looked next to her and realized her companion was closer than before. "I will have need when the moon returns to the sky, Tah-li, but you need not worry yourself about the affair. I will not abandon you."

     Talliea smiled again, something she was doing more and more while in Arizira's presence, and patted her lap with one hand. With the other she reached around Arizira's shoulders. "You fill me with hope, Ari. Sleep. I will be okay to watch over you."

     Arizira hesitated a moment, her heart reminding her that it felt more than a friendly emotion, but the soft look in Talliea's eyes finally caused her to give in to the request. She leaned into the warm body next to her and slowly settled her head on Talliea's lap. The dark skinned woman pulled her cloak up to her shoulders and began to soothingly run her hands through her hair.

     Her body flamed to life in vivid sensations. Talliea's hands, moving so gently, felt miraculous to her. She felt the other woman's movements trace along the side of her face and up to her ears. Curious fingers trailed along the outside of her ear and down the side of her neck. The touch increased her attraction to Talliea but once again, she put her feelings aside and tried to settle her mind.

     Before long, the rhythmic melody outside coupled with the calming glide of Talliea's fingers, lulled Arizira into a welcome and peaceful state of sleep. Just before she let herself completely leave the conscious world, she whispered,
"Lirra tai rei, failira."
The phrase, in her tongue, told Talliea that she was special to her.

Elsewhere...

     "Their bond grows."

     "Yes. The two become stronger without their knowledge."

     A pause and the first voice, unlike any earthly sound, spoke again. "One is aware of her feelings. She has taken the first step toward her destiny."

     The second person nodded, though whom they spoke with did not require such a gesture. "She will not speak of her desires and dismisses the words spoken about her."

     "As all great spirits do. Her love for the Esu child will lead her where she needs to go."

     "She will not like where her path shall bring her. The issue of her parents has long been hidden from her, just as the history of the Arnira and the Esu has become lost to the ages."

     The near angelic voice of the first speaker came again a moment later. "All will be revealed in time. Through the Child of Whispers, her goddess shall find her true strength and the two of them shall peel back the layers of history that lay lost to all."

                                                        Chapter 12: The Heart's Poison

    
Markahn walked around the large, wooden outer frame of what would soon become the first standing stone building of the new Esu settlement. Stone and metal and gems were not easily come by in the clan's new territory. Until the woods around them could be mapped, the stoneworkers were having to work with what they could collect from the lone mine along the valley's edge. The land surrounding the Esu camp was fertile and lush and, most likely, held an abundant amount of resources.

     Markahn smiled to himself as he allowed his mind to envision the clan's future. Hard work would be required by all of the men and women, but he held hopes that their steadfastness would prove a great benefit to all of them. He watched the stoneworkers shaping and smoothing edges of large boulders under the dying sun while the woodsmen of the clan hewed and refined several logs not far off. Children played by a fire surrounded by a group of women chopping vegetables and leavening bread in nearby dough troughs. The sight caused him to smile. He valued family. Though many of the men in the clan valued only their role and the luxuries provided, Markahn had always been partial to the sense of unity a family represented.

     Father, mother, and child.

     It was important to him, though he rarely said as much among his fellow
Lat'sa'val.
Seeing the women talking and working, and the children smiling and laughing, only increased how badly he wanted those things for himself. He knew Talliea would be the perfect mother. She would be a wonderful mate to him if only her desire to remain obstinate would fade away. Why could she not share his ideals and his vision? The two of them would be able to provide a stable home for their children and he would not treat Talliea as other men of the clan.

     She would have her place, naturally, just as he had his; it was the natural order of things.

     Instead of starting a family, as his god said that he should, Markahn was still having to defend his position and sleep alone at night. Instead of teaching his children the values and laws laid down by Esuval he was, instead, holding out hope that the woman he desired would one day also desire him. Maybe he should relinquish his claim on Talliea and take another woman as his mate...

     He shook his head as he walked away from the structure. No, Talliea was who he wanted. She was unlike any other woman of the clan. Her looks alone held him captivated. There was beauty and then there was Talliea. Even among the Esu she was deemed an extraordinarily exotic creature in her appearance. No other member of the clan possessed skin as dark. No other had eyes as deep.