Doira'Liim (The Beautiful Whisper of the Goddess Saga) (5 page)

     She would visit the glade,
their
glade, every sunrise and every sunset until she was no longer able.

                                                        Chapter 6: Release in Words

    Several days passed after Talliea's and Arizira's second meeting in the glade. True to her word, Talliea had managed to sneak away from her settlement early in the morning and again deep in the night. She'd gone to the clearing and waited for Arizira to return, but thus far the other woman had remained elusive. Every time Talliea had entered the glade and found no sign of the Arniran, her heart had sank and the world seemed to close in around her.

    She could not explain her connection with Arizira. Maybe it had more to do with what the smaller woman represented than with anything spiritual or divine. All she knew was that her life was, somehow, enhanced by just the chance to be around Arizira. Was it the secrecy she enjoyed? The knowledge that only she possessed? Or was it something more?

    She could not deny that she found Arizira beautiful to behold. Everything about her was as if some otherworldly image out of a dream. She was exquisite. She was different. She was a spark of life in Talliea's very mundane existence.

    On the sixth night since their last encounter, Talliea carefully made her way through the woods to their secret glade. She found it rather humorous that the
Lat'sa'val
had yet to take notice of her nightly activities. Entering the open area of the circular enclosure, she looked around for any sign of the Arniran. The moon was high in the sky and a bright shaft of light shone clearly down between the trees. Stars twinkled and lit up the inky blank canvas surrounding Aitla.

    Sitting down on the rock facing the pool she'd bathed in nearly a week before, Talliea wondered if she should give up in her desires to meet Arizira again. She was risking her own safety by continuing to come into the forest so late at night, not to mention the possible repercussions therein for sneaking away from her camp without leave so many times.

    What was she hoping to accomplish? Perhaps there was nothing to accomplish. Perhaps she only thrived on
hoping
. For once in her life, she was doing something for her. For once, there was someone who made her heart beat faster and who intrigued her. She had something to look forward to in the possibility of seeing Arizira again and that made all the difference in the world.

    Around her, the sounds of the forest were lively and obvolute. Night larks sang, insects chirped, frogs croaked and the wind howled softly and brushed through the trees. Peaceful freedom descended upon Talliea, but she still found anxiety heavy in her heart. She wished for Arizira's presence. She wished for that connection. Unbeknownst to her, a silent observer had taken notice of her entry into the glade. The observer had watched her come to the clearing the past several moon risings. They had taken in her appearance and noticed the hopeful longing on her face. Each time she had come into the glade, the observer had remained silent and only been a witness to her actions.

    Arizira braced her weight on the branch she was perched on and smiled to herself as she continued to watch Talliea fidget with the edges of her skirt. The dark-skinned woman appeared nearly dejected as she looked around the glade with sad eyes. Arizira had disliked not allowing the Esu woman to know of her nearness the past six nights, but she'd not wished to make herself known until she was certain she could communicate. Finding a tree that was willing to impart unto her the knowledge of the Esu language had been trying. Most of the spirits she'd communed with had seen little benefit in parting with the information, and had been more interested in speaking to her about the coming winter.

    Once she'd found a young tree, a sapling, she'd managed to express her desire to learn the Esu language and the small fir had happily obliged her. She had been slightly perturbed at the ease in which she learned the Esu words, but nonetheless overjoyed. Though she was still working to sort through the information she'd received, tonight she felt confident enough to attempt communication with Talliea.

    She watched Talliea look up at the moon with a desperate longing. Aitla's rays of light bathed the Esu in an ethereal glow and Arizira could not help the awed smile that touched her lips. It seemed as though her goddess was smiling her own smile at the Esu woman.

    Quietly, Arizira lowered herself to another branch without so much as rustling the leaves. Talliea continued to look up at the night time sky with wonder. Again, Arizira lightly jumped down until, with a silence born of her kind, she landed in the center of the glade in front of the other woman.

    Talliea jumped at her sudden appearance and held a hand to her chest. A look of surprise mixed with one of happy and hesitant excitement. Blue eyes, slightly aglow with a silver fire, took in the contours and lines of Talliea's face. "Tah-li," Arizira said slowly, a confident smile pulling at the corners of her lips.

    Talliea stood up, smiling herself, and quickly moved around the shoulder of the rock. A laugh, bright and happy, bubbled up from her throat as she came to stand in front of Arizira. "Ari...Ahmanae." She took in the silvery glow coming from the Arniran's eyes and could do nothing but openly stare. The light shine enhanced the face Talliea already found pleasing to look upon. It gave Arizira the appearance of a goddess. "I have waited for you," she  started. "I have...I want so much to learn about you. I...I mean...you...you can not understand my speech, yet I find myself desiring to speak with you. I feared I had imagined you. I came here every night hoping to..."

    She stopped herself. Words were passing her lips, but she knew they left in a task that was complete folly. Arizira could not understand her words. She had no idea what Talliea was saying to her. The perpetual smirk on the Arniran’s face, and the light coming from her eyes, seemed to be ploys designed to pull the words, however useless, from Talliea's mouth. Suddenly, Talliea felt very foolish. Her only thought for six nights had been just to see Arizira again. She had not planned much further in exactly what she would do if she actually got the opportunity. Seeing the Arniran looking at her with such a perplexed expression only heightened her sense of dread.

    What was she doing coming so deep into the woods, in the dark of night, attempting to make contact with a being from myth that could not speak her language? What madness, as her mother had called it, had possessed her to behave so rashly? "I-I do not know why I have come here. This was a mistake," she said, backing away from Arizira.

    Before she could take another step, a soft and gentle hand wrapped long fingers around her wrist. "Tah-li, I can...see your words," Arizira said slowly in broken Esulan. Talliea faltered and open confusion washed over her face. Eyes narrowed and focused on the smaller woman keeping her from moving away. "H-how?"

    Arizira, fingers still grasping a smooth wrist, smiled and looked up at the trees towering over the two of them. She was still having difficulty in the placement of certain words in the Esu tongue and several phrases had many different meanings, but she was filled with hope at knowing Talliea had understood her. "I learn," she replied, pointing to the branches covering them both in slanted and dancing shadows. "Trees listen to your people. They watch you. They hear you. I hear them, thus I learn. I see your words, Tah-li"

    Talliea shook her head and looked above her. The tress had taught her words to Arizira? She was unsure what the Arniran could possibly mean by that and wondered briefly if the smaller woman had spoken incorrectly in her language. She had never heard tale or story or myth that spoke of trees as anything other than what they were. How had the trees taught Arizira anything? It had only been a short amount of time since last they met.

    "You can understand me?" she asked wanting to convince herself. Arizira dropped her wrist and walked closer to her. Her eyes were wide with curiosity and the smile on her lips seemed disinclined to part. Stepping around Talliea, Arizira looked her over with a steady gaze. "Yes, Tah-li. I see you words."

    Talliea nodded and continued to stand in the middle of the clearing while Arizira walked around her and took in her appearance. She replayed the Arniran's words and ascertained that "seeing" was Arizira's way of affirming she understood. The lyrical accent that accompanied the other woman’s speech only enhanced Talliea's attraction.

    A soft hand suddenly traced an open palm over the outside of her right arm and caused her to jump. She turned her head and caught Arizira's silvery-blue eyes. "I mean no harm, Tah-li," the Arniran explained. Her hand glided down Talliea's arm and back up again. "Your skin does not burn?"

    Swallowing at the unexpected sensation such a simple gesture evoked, Talliea watched Arizira's long, fair fingers move across her arm and wondered why her breathing was becoming more difficult to maintain. Arizira's words, again, made little sense to her. She was unsure how to answer. Surprisingly to her, she found her skin
did
burn and tingle the longer Arizira's fingers moved across her flesh.

    "Do I not speak your words correctly?" Talliea shook her head. "You speak them well enough. I am just not able to offer you an answer. Why would my skin burn?" Arizira removed her hand and walked around to stand in front of Talliea again. She studied her face intently. "You are a dark skin," she explained, her tone stating that was answer enough.

    Talliea laughed. Because her skin was dark, the other woman assumed it was painful? The child-like wonder and innocence contained in the unassuming question was as if some beautiful wind whispered on a cold morning. It was refreshing. "My skin does not burn, Ahmanae, just as I'm sure yours does not often give you a chill."

    Smiling and accepting the answer, Arizira remained silent for another breath before raising her right hand and running her fingers over the bridge of Talliea's nose. The slight gasp from the Esu caused her to halt in her actions. "I hurt you?" she asked.

    Talliea could not understand the feelings overtaking her. She did not know Arizira. She knew nothing about her people apart from what she'd heard around a blazing fire. In fact, she was still unsure if she even knew for certain
what
Arizira was. Despite having only encountered the other woman on three separate occasions, she found herself trusting her with an almost blind disregard for anything else. There was a pull she could not deny that was drawing her ever closer to Arizira. Her gasp had been brought about due to the forward nature of Arizira's touch. "No, you do not hurt me."

    Arizira cocked her head to the side in a feral manner and observed her for a moment before resuming her earlier actions. Her fingers lightly ran over Talliea's cheek bones and softly traced over her eyelids. "You are able to see me plainly?"

    "Yes, of course."

    "Your eyes are not gifted with the light of Aitla. Shadows do not take your vision?" Though it was difficult to understand completely what Arizira meant, Talliea took the question as similar to the one about her skin color. "You think my eyes cheated due to their color?" Arizira nodded and looked up at her. "They are not?" she asked.

    Smiling to keep herself from laughing again, Talliea replied, "No, shadows hinder not my vision for I am able to plainly see you in front of me, Ari." Clouds from above them moved and briefly dimmed the light shining down upon the glade. Arizira's eyes took on a brighter silver-white glow to compensate for the difference. Insects and woodland animals called out into the night and, somehow, the air seemed heavier about them.

    "You are wondrous," Talliea whispered before she could stop herself, and her eyes continued to look intently upon the glowing orbs in front of her. Arizira's smiled widened and she stepped away from the Esu woman. There were so many things she wanted to know, so many things she wished to say and to ask. Yet, being so close to Talliea was clouding her thoughts much the same way Aitla was being masked above her. She had never felt so intense a connection before. Everything in her wished only to be closer to Talliea, but she could not understand why. It was alluring, but at the same time, a cause for caution, for what connection could possibly exist between two strangers?

    "You are Esu, yes?" Arizira asked, breaking the silence. Talliea watched her walk around the glade on light feet. Barely a sound could be heard. Her movements were graceful and measured. "I am. You know of my people?"

    "Myth is what I know. Unless you are a dream, a myth is what you should be to me." Talliea turned so that she could continue following Arizira's steps. "A dream I am not, but if I were, then you, also, would be as that to me."

    Arizira stopped and turned to look at her. "What do you think I am, Tah-li?" Without hesitation, Talliea answered, "A faerie, Ahmanae." Laughter, beautiful, full and rich, echoed into the clearing. "I should think the faeries I know would take offense, for I am much too big to be as they." Smiling again, Talliea chose to answer in more definite terms. "You are Arnira and a myth you are also to me."

    Both women said nothing as the information was processed by each. Talliea was amazed that her own people were myths to Arizira. How could each of them know of the other as figures of some great legend? How was it that she was seeing such a figure and interacting with her?

    "You believe Arnira are faeries, Tah-li?" Arizira spoke up removing Talliea from her deeper thoughts. The Esu woman noticed that Arizira had begun to move again. "I know only what I have been told,” she answered.