Doira'Liim (The Beautiful Whisper of the Goddess Saga) (6 page)

    "And what is that?"

     Talliea scanned her eyes across Arizira's fair features once more. She found herself completely captivated by her companion. "Arnira worship Aitla, the moon. There are no men in their clans and they choose roles that are unfit for them. Esuval banished them in the yester years for their disobedience and for their unwillingness to lie with men. It is told among my people that the Arnira mate with one another, and it is that abomination that gave them their appearance. Great wars were once fought with the followers of Esuval and the pagans of Aitla. According to myth, the last of the Arnira were cleansed from the world many, many generations ago."

    At the end of her telling, Talliea looked up and saw a concerned expression etched across Arizira's face. Lines marked the corners of her eyes and her lips were no longer curving into a playful smile. "You think my appearance some curse? You view the way my people love as abhorrent?"

    Talliea shook her head and stepped forward, but Arizira moved away from her. The words that had left her lips had come so freely. They were words similar to what she had grown up hearing and learning. "It is only the tales known to my people, Ari."

    "You do not share their tales? Believe them?"

    "I am unsure. I know that I do not view your appearance as a curse, nor could I ever believe, were that true, that any curse could be so fair." Arizira's posture relaxed and she moved back into the center of the clearing with Talliea. Stepping close, she looked up at the slightly taller woman. "Aitla's blessing is no curse. She blesses us with life. We move through Her forests. We befriend Her children. Our love does not lie with the flesh, but in the spirit. What you have been told varies greatly from what the Dream Speaker has told to me. Heathens and pagans we are not, Tah-li."

    Talliea did not know how to respond. Parts of the other woman's words made little sense to her. She was unsure what it meant to "love with the spirit," and a Dream Speaker was a title that barely fit within the confines of the Esu language. It was obvious, by Arizira's answer, that the Esu's version of history gave very little dignity to the Arnira. "Offense was not my intention, Ahmanae. I would learn of your people if you are willing to speak of them to me."

    "Then you should first shed the skin of lies that have been told told to you. The world is more than I believe you see it, Tah-li. You must learn to see me as something other than a creature smitten by your god. My world is very different from yours."

     Talliea looked back into the bluish eyes staring so deeply into her own and smiled again. "Show me your world, Ahmanae."

             
                                                   *  *  *  *  *  *

    Several paces from the clearing, sitting along a narrow stretch of an elevated hill,  an unknown figure watched both women with disdain and suspicion. Words spoken were difficult to make out against the din of the forest, but the figure found little interest in them anyhow. What did settle in the mind of the figure as important was that they knew one of the women in the glade. Unfathomable to the figure was why the woman they knew was conversing with one such as the second person.

    Protection was what the figure sitting upon the hill had been charged with,  protection of their people; protection of the annals of history; protection of the bloodlines. Stepping away from their perch, the figure faded deeper into the shadows around them and farther away from the two women in the glade. The information the figure now held would have to be known only to them until such a time came as it could prove useful.

                                                        Chapter 7: Doira'Liim

     Two days after Talliea's and Arizira's first conversation, Talyn called a communion in
Rae'kir
to discuss the Elders' ruling on the matter of the Esu. Arizira tapped her foot nervously as she waited for the rest of the tribe to gather inside the large tree. Bela'luin cut her a passing glance but did not hold her eyes for long. A hand on her shoulder caused her to look to her right.

     Cynra stood beside her. "You have been absent of late." Arizira looked around the base of the tree before finally meeting Cynra's amused expression. "I have been alone with my thoughts, Honored One. The forest allows my mind to wander and gain clarity. Much there is ponder in this time of upset." Cynra watched as the rest of the tribe spoke to one another and waited for the discussion to begin. "You have spoken with the trees, child?" Smiling to herself, Arizira nodded. "Yes. The young ones were much more willing to appease my need."

    "Good. Their information proved useful?"

     Talyn held up a hand to call the women present to attention. Arizira was thankful for the interruption. There was something about Cynra's line of questioning that made her slightly uneasy; it was as if the older woman possessed more information than she was willing to say. Did she know Arizira had met with Talliea?

     The two women had spoken at great length two days before. They had each been fascinated with the other and asked questions regarding myth and fact. Despite their seemingly easy going conversation, it had been noticeable to Arizira that Talliea was hesitant about answering certain questions, just as she herself had been less than forth coming with information about her tribe and their location.

     Since that night, neither woman had been able to meet the other again. The connection Arizira felt with Talliea was still present. It was strange and unnerving, yet almost comforting and welcome. Talliea had answered her questions about the Esu as best as she could. At times, she had appeared to be uncomfortable and had turned Arizira's questions around so that they never got answered. Her uneasiness and obvious tension over the matter of the men of the Esu had both intrigued and confused Arizira. She could not fathom why Talliea had been so reluctant to discuss with her the nature of the Esu men and the mating habits of the Esu as a people.

     Time had slipped away from both women, night fading into a new day, and they had both parted company promising to speak again as soon as fortune played in their favor.

     "Silence," Talyn called and her smooth voice resounded inside the hollow base of the large
Rae'kir
. "The matter of the Esu has been long discussed and will here now be spoken of plainly by the tribe and its Elders." A hush fell over the gathered and a palpable sense of anxiety could be felt. Talyn, standing tall and proud in the protruding extension she used as a platform, looked over the women before her and took a deep breath.

     "The other Elders and I have been deep in thought the past several moon settings. Nearly two weeks have passed since first Arizira glanced the strangers in the valley. In that time, the matter of the Esu has been much debated and thought over. The Esu seem to have sprung from the deepest recesses of our imaginations. Myths and legends now walk along our borders. Some of the Elders think it wise to open communication, to try and learn of the Esu and reconcile myth with fact. Others are against any such endeavors. The stories that have been told from the lost years speak not highly of these dark-skinned peoples. If the myths are to be believed, then communication would prove a futile course. Striking early and in force seems a prudent action by some."

     Murmurs arose around
Rae'kir
. Hunters and Elders and those gifted with a special affinity to Aitla all looked around at one another, their apprehension speaking volumes. "So what single voice of vote is there to be regarding the Esu?" Bela'luin spoke up. Talyn regarded her with a tight expression before replying. "The winter is fast upon us. It would prove to work against us to choose either option. Open war with the Esu while the bitter chill of Salira passes over the land would be folly."

     "So we wait them out? If myth is to be believed,
Nai'iris
, then the Esu will prove quite stout in the winter. It will hinder them not," Bela'luin challenged. "Keep your place, hunter," Talyn countered heatedly. "The winter will allow us to continue to observe them. If a peaceable solution can be met, then all the more should we follow that course. At winter's end, should the Esu's will be set against us, we shall fall upon them with the full strength of the Arniran people. We will keep our eyes upon them while the winter breathes. This is the will of the Elders. Contact should be avoided until further instruction."

     Arizira inhaled deeply and felt as if her
Nai'iris
was speaking directly to her. Despite warnings from the Elders to avoid open contact with the Esu, Arizira knew she could not stay away from Talliea. Everything about the other woman amazed her--her skin, her eyes, the coloring of her hair, the way she moved--everything.

     Talliea was enchanting. Though she appeared happy and curious while with Arizira, the Arniran woman always detected a sense of melancholy when around her. It was that heavy sense of sadness that brewed just beneath the surface that kept Arizira seeking the Esu woman's companionship. She desired to understand its cause and eventually eliminate it all together.

     Voices around her broke her internal thoughts and she blinked and looked around. Cynra had moved away and was speaking to a few of the Elders. Arizira noticed the way the Dream Speaker occasionally looked over her shoulder and cast her an amused smirk. Something in the older woman's eyes left her feeling exposed.

    "The ruling surprises you?" The question shocked Arizira and she jumped slightly and turned to greet the speaker. Green eyes stared back at her with a playful air. Slightly darker than Arniran standard skin glowed in the light of the moon, while forest greens and browns covered a slender frame.

     "Sed'dya, I did not expect to see you here. Were you not sent to trade with the tribe across the Menderway?" Sed'dya, her face long and her body lean, smiled at her friend and walked the two of them way from
Rae'kir
. Once outside, a chill wind blew through their hair and seemed intent on annoying them both.

     "I returned two moon risings ago. I searched for you, but the others informed me you were hunting." Arizira felt herself blush as the heat rose to her face. She knew the night in question had been when she and Talliea had been together. "Forgive me. I have felt much need to wander recently. The forest allows me to forget the politics of our current situation."

     Sed'dya nodded and continued walking around the tribe's center section. "So it is true then? The Esu have appeared like a mist after a storm?"

     "Yes," Arizira replied, offering no other information.

     "Bela'luin said you were the first to discover them?" Again, Arizira nodded, keeping her eyes trained on the trees surrounding them and trying not to appear as though she was withholding information . "Are they as repulsive as the old tales depict? As horrible as any savage servant of Esuval?" Sed'dya asked with a keen interest.

     Arizira stopped and turned to regard her friend. The two of them had both been born close to the other and, early on, had developed an easy friendship. As they had gotten older, their trust and respect for the other had not diminished. Arizira had shown more aptitude for weapons and hunting while Sed'dya, by no means being inefficient, had shown a propensity for the healing arts. She was skilled with a bow and in tracking, like any Arniran, but medicinal plants and remedies were where she truly shined.

     "Repulsive?" Arizira questioned. Sed'dya nodded innocently. "I have not gotten a closer look," Arizira lied, "but from what I have witnessed, repulsive would be the last way I would choose to describe them."

     "Then how would you speak on their appearance?"

     Pausing for a moment, Arizira allowed herself to envision Talliea. She saw in her mind the curve of the other woman's hips and the intense coloring of her skin. She saw Talliea's nearly black eyes and the fullness of her lips and the lush fall of her rich dark hair. Smiling to herself, Arizira looked up into Sed'dya's questioning green eyes.

     "They're...remarkable. Exotic...different."

                                                                      *  *  *  *  *  *

     Talliea rolled over in her bedding and sighed. The night was high and all was nearly silent in the camp. The sound of crackling fires mixed with the rustling whistle of the wind, while night owls called across the landscape into the darkness surrounding them. Staring up at the low roof above her, Talliea exhaled sharply again and let her mind drift to Arizira. Try as she might, she could not seem to keep the other woman from entering her thoughts. When first they'd met two weeks earlier, Arizira had been some magical and otherworldly creature out of her imagination. Her inspiring beauty had captivated Talliea and left her more than intrigued.

    The night Arizira had spoken to her in her own language had, somehow, made her more real and tangible. Her accent had been lyrical and melodic, and the way she had moved and walked around Talliea had been fluidic and graceful. The two of them had talked about legends and myths and tried to understand better what each race was individually.

     When Arizira had asked her about the men of the Esu, Talliea had found herself unwilling to venture farther down that particular conversational avenue. Speaking of men would have brought about her societal obligations and that, in turn, would have forced her to speak of Markahn, the man who had claimed her. She had not wished to talk of her worries and pressures with Arizira.