“Dark-eyes,” one of the gnomes called to Kestrel. “Human, come talk to us.”
“I’ll be back,” Kestrel assured his two companions, and walked across the public space to join the gnomes.
“Speak to the elders, and tell them your request,” a gnome ordered, one who he recognized was the gnome he had spoken to along the trail. “Tell us your name.”
“My name is Kestrel,” Kestrel said. He paused as he tried to frame his comments in gnomish.
“I have met Corrant, and been accepted by your god, and my own gods, as someone they will use to fight against the great evil, the Viathins, who are coming to our world and destroying our ways of life,” he said.
“The last time I saw Corrant was after we had escaped from Uniontown, and were on our way here. The god told me to request the Garrant Spark from his people.
“And so I ask you to grant me the Garrant Spark so that I can carry out what ever future plans the gods have for me,” he finished.
“You speak our language well for an outsider,” one of the elders complimented him politely. “What do you know of the Garrant Spark?”
“I only know its name, and I know that it made your people on patrol uneasy to hear it mentioned,” Kestrel admitted.
“Thank you, that will be all,” an elderly gnome told him, dismissing Kestrel. “What will you do?” Kestrel asked.
“We will sleep, and if Corrant speaks in our dreams, we will make a decision as he directs us to,” the gnome told Kestrel calmly.
“And what if he doesn’t speak to you?” Kestrel probed.
“Enough questions,” another gnome interjected. “You are dismissed. This decision is ours to make.”
Kestrel looked around at the circle of faces that stared at him, and saw no interest in talking to him further.
“Good evening to you all,” he said in a controlled tone of voice, and left gnomes, returning to the cabin where his friends remained.
“What did you talk to them about?” Hierodule asked.
“A ceremony I would like for them to perform,” Kestrel answered.
“What does it do? What is it for?” Hiram spoke up in the dim cabin.
“I don’t know,” Kestrel answered. “I just know it’s what I’m supposed to do.
“Which seems to sum up what I’ve been doing for the past three years; I just do what I’m supposed to do, even when I don’t know what it may involve.”
“And you’re still doing it?” Hiram asked with a smile.
Kestrel flopped down on one of the unoccupied pads, then stretched out and pulled his boots off. He gave a great sigh. “I’m still doing it.”
“Can I ask you a question?” Kestrel asked Hiram.
Hiram looked at him. “At this point, after all we’ve been through together, yes, you can ask me a question.”
Kestrel sat up. “Can we go outside for this?”
Hiram’s head bobbed in surprise. “Um, yes,” he patted Hierodule on the shoulder and left his sister, walking out the door ahead of Kestrel.
When they were several steps away from the front of their cabin, Kestrel stopped. “I know it’s none of my business, but I just have been wondering why you’re still wearing a skirt,” Kestrel stammered out his question. “You don’t need to wear a disguise anymore.”
“Exactly,” Hiram said staring at Kestrel’s face in the moonlight. “I’m so relieved to not have to wear a pair of pants anymore.”
She stared at him. “You never knew, did you?
“That’s quite a statement about my femininity. You’ve really bolstered my confidence, you big goof, you!” she told him with a smile on her face, a smile that was mostly genuine, but might have carried a shadow of true regret.
“My real name is Hye, not Hiram,” she continued. “When our family had to surrender a female to the temple, Hierodule went, so that I wouldn’t have to. But my father had just been killed, and we were afraid I would be seized anyway, so I pretended to be a boy.
“I’m thin, as you’ll notice, and don’t have many curves, and apparently don’t look very feminine – I never thought I did when compared to my sister! – so I cut my hair very short, and went to live among the homeless men along the river, and pretended to be one of them,” she said, as Kestrel stood dumbfounded, his mouth hanging open. As he looked at her, there was no doubt she was a woman.
“I don’t know how I couldn’t see it!” he muttered.
“How were you ever going to see anything feminine about me when the most beautiful woman in the world was never more than twenty feet away?” Hye asked.
“But you’re so nice-looking too; you really are,” Kestrel said reassuringly.
“Thank you Kestrel. It’s nice to hear that, coming from the most amazing man I’ve ever met,” Hye answered.
“So there’s still another sister, or no other sister?” Kestrel tried to clarify.
“No other sister; just me,” Hye said. She stood with her body turned to face Kestrel directly, as he grappled with her revelation.
He looked at her, and felt a flurry of emotions. “You’ve been a very good friend, Hye,” he stumbled over the name, wanting to pronounce the full, masculine version he had learned. “I’ve enjoyed traveling with you.”
“Thank you, Kestrel. And there’s no doubt you’re the greatest man I’ve ever met,” she told him then stood silently. “If that’s all of your questions, I’m going to get back in to see Hierodule now.” She stood facing him expectantly for a span of seconds, then walked away, back into the cabin.
Kestrel stood in place, alone, astonished. He could clearly see her femininity; he couldn’t imagine that she was anything but a woman. And yet, he hadn’t seen it until it was pointed out. He stood and tried to recollect conversations he had had with Hye, times they had been together, and what he had said and done, but it all blurred together, and all he could remember was that the woman had always been a good friend.
Minutes later he walked into the cabin as well, and laid down, facing the wall, where he eventually fell asleep, his mind grasping to make sense of a world that he didn’t understand.
Chapter 18 – Parting from Friends
Kestrel awoke to the sound of movement and activity in the cabin he shared with the others. The sun was breaching the horizon, and already there was a beam of light shining directly into the cabin through the east-facing door.
“Why is everyone so busy so early?” Kestrel spoke in elvish to one of the bustling elves in the cabin.
“We have a long journey today to reach our valley, and we’re anxious to get back and show everyone that the Tyndall Span has returned,” the man spoke briefly before returning to his packing.
Hierodule and Hye were already gone from the cabin, and Kestrel found them outside, Hierodule atop her litter, with baby Canyon sleeping on her chest.
“I never would have dreamed that I would travel from a gnome village to an elven village, and be glad to be in each of them,” Hierodule told Kestrel as he arrived. “It’s not the world I expected it to be.”
“We can all agree to that,” Kestrel said. He turned and saw a pair of gnomes watching him. “Excuse me,” he said as he left the sisters to go speak to the gnomes.
“What news do you have for me?” Kestrel asked.
“The elders must converse, to determine if any of them have received messages from Corrant,” one of the gnomes answered. “They should gather soon.”
Kestrel left the gnomes to walk back to the elves, where Lake was directing his people, as Moorin came to stand with the two human women.
“Will you be ready to leave soon, Kestrel?” Lake asked.
“I’m not going with you,” Kestrel replied immediately. “I must wait on the elders of the gnomes to grant my request for their ceremony, the Garrant Spark.”
“You’re going to stay here?” Lake asked. “After all that talk about trying to reach a port where you could sail away with Moorin, now you’re staying among the gnomes? That doesn’t make
any sense.”
“I try to do what I think is best,” Kestrel answered slowly. “I thought taking a ship back north was best. But the gods have other plans, and I haven’t found it to be a good idea to ignore their plans.
“Corrant hints that there may be a way to win a great victory, one that could help us to truly defeat the Viathins. The path to that victory must go through a ceremony the gnomes know, the Garrant Spark, so I am waiting here for the ceremony to occur,” Kestrel told the elven leader.
“How long do you think we will have to wait here for you?” Lake asked.
“Human? Candidate for the Garrant Spark? Please approach the elders,” a gnome called to him.
“Maybe not too long,” Kestrel replied with a weak smile. “I’ll go see if there is an answer.” He left Lake to walk over to the gnomish portion of the village, where he was escorted into a large building, and found the members of the council of elders sitting in a line against one wall, awaiting him.
“Kestrel, you may be able to have your Garrant Spark,” the leader in the center of the council spoke.
“We all had the same dream last night, an extraordinary message from Corrant,” the gnome said.
“He told us that you were to be allowed to attempt the Garrant Spark before you begin to undertake a desperate mission,” another gnome spoke up.
“Someone in this village is destined to be your partner in the Garrant Spark; that person dreamt of you last night, according to Corrant’s direction. Whoever comes forth to tell us they have dreamt of you is to be your partner,” the second gnome explained.
“Very well. Thank you,” Kestrel told the assembled elders, as he felt both relief and fear. “So who is it to be?” he asked. “And what is the role of the partner in the ceremony?”
“Let us wait,” a gnome at the end of the row replied. “We will explain the ceremony in due time. It will take several days to carry out, once we find out who your partner is.”
“You mean you don’t know who this ‘partner’ is? Didn’t your dreams tell you?” Kestrel asked.
“The one who is to be your partner must reveal himself. It is not our place to force someone into this travail,” one of the gnomes answered.
“How long will all this take? Lake and the elves are waiting for me,” Kestrel spoke up.
“The Garrant Spark lasts for three days,” the leading gnome replied.
Kestrel stood in contemplation. “So I must wait until my partner announces himself, and then we go on a three day process?” he asked for confirmation, realizing that in such a case he would have to part with the companions who had traveled from Uniontown with him.
“Yes, human,” a gnome affirmed simply.
“The elves are ready to return to their own village. I will go bid them farewell,” Kestrel said. As the words left his mouth, he felt a chilling premonition, a foretelling that the parting was a permanent one that would sever his ties to the small group he had traveled with through his adventures in Uniontown.
He left the gnomes, and out in the center of the village he found the elves huddled together in the cool of the morning. The sun’s rays were bright but did not carry warmth yet to those they touched.
Kestrel approached Lake, who was standing with Moorin and Hye next to where Hierodule sat.
“I have spoken to the gnomes, and I am going to stay here to carry out the ceremony,” Kestrel told them all. “You should go on your way to your elven home. If I can ever join you, I will.
“I will miss you all,” He looked around at each of them, his eyes ending on Moorin.
“You are going to stay here, Kestrel? Why?” she asked.
“I am going to participate in a ceremony that the gnomes use. I hope that it will help me to carry the fight against the Viathins to a new level,” he answered.
“Kestrel, do you mean to say that you’re going to keep fighting against the masters, all by yourself? You can’t win that battle, can you?” Hye asked. “I know you are a great warrior, and I know you have a good heart, but this is bigger than any person can win.”
“You can count on our people to be ready to help you when you need us,” Lake spoke up. “As soon as we return to our village and get ourselves organized, I will send out every warrior we have to help you.”
“My wish is that all of you go to the elven village, and rest,” Kestrel told them. “You’ve all been through a long, arduous journey to get from Uniontown to here, or even from Seafare or Lakeview to here,” Kestrel told them all. “When the day comes that I know my next duty is done, I want to come find you all and see that you are happy.” He reached down and rested his hand on Hierodule’s shoulder. “Thank you for being part of the team that we all became these past several days.”
The words felt pretentious even as he said them, but he didn’t know what words would really express his appreciation for the hardy souls who had come together in the darkness of Uniontown, and managed to escape together to reach safety.
“Oh Kestrel,” Moorin said. She opened her arms, and Kestrel saw tears brimming in her sparkling eyes. “You saved our lives, so many times,” she told him as they hugged one another tightly. “I wish we didn’t have to part; I feel safer with you around, even if there are a hundred enemies facing us.”
“What will you do next?” Kestrel asked.
Moorin shook her head. “I do not know. I know I don’t feel any inclination to try to go back to Seafare and start over there,” she told Kestrel. “That chapter is closed,” she said, a statement that made a part of Kestrel’s heart glad.
“I hope this ceremony does what you want it to,” she told him. She raised her head to whisper in his ear. “I want to see you soon, happy and healthy. I’ll miss you.” Her lips left his ear and then pressed against his for a long moment. She pulled away, and they stood looking at each other for a long moment, until Hierodule rose from the ground.
“Step aside and let the new mother have a turn with the dashing hero,” the former temple priestess said with a smile at Moorin, as she too began to hug him. “Thank you for saving my life; thank you for changing my heart. I’m going to raise Canyon to be just like you.
“Except he won’t be a secret elf with divine powers,” she added with a laugh.
Hye came to join the hug, and then Hierodule slipped out, so that Kestrel found himself embracing the woman who he for so long thought was a man. “You’ll be careful, won’t you?” she asked.
“I’ll be as careful as I can,” Kestrel promised her.
“And you’ll come back someday soon and find us, and take us someplace where we can live in peace forever?” Hye asked.
“Anywhere you want to go. Graylee or Hydrotaz, or anywhere else,” Kestrel agreed. “Or back to Lakeview if you want.”
“There’s one thing I want to do, so I can tell my nephew someday,” she gave a wicked smile, one that seemed surprisingly fetching on her face, and then she pressed her lips against Kestrel’s, with a warmth that aroused Kestrel’s own desire.
“Perhaps you’ll want to take your companions someplace safe, like your manor in the Eastern Forest, when you return,” Moorin spoke as the kiss ended, leaving both participants breathless. “You could keep them safe and comfortable and let your household staff watch over them.”
Kestrel blinked his eyes and looked at her. There was a note of jealousy in her words, he imagined.
“I would invite them, or any of you, to come visit Oaktown when all of this is over. I’ve hardly been there myself more than a handful of days. We could all explore it together.” He was still holding Hye, he realized, and he removed his arms from around her.
“Kestrel, I may have known you the shortest time of those here, but I thank you for rescuing me, and making my return to this life possible. I will be ready to do anything I can for you whenever you want,” Lake spoke. He held out his hand and shook Kestrel’s vigorously.
“Now, I need to get my people moving. We have a long journey today,” he said as he released Kest
rel’s hand. He motioned over to a pair of elves to carry Hierodule’s litter, and then walked up to the front of the line to begin to lead the way.
Kestrel stared at the others, who looked at him. Hierodule’s litter rose up and started moving at the pace of its bearers as she faced backwards and looked at Kestrel, waving with one hand as the other began to wipe tears from her eyes.
Moorin and Hye stood still with Kestrel as the elves began to move away.
“You have to go with them. Go now, both of you,” Kestrel said. “I’ll miss you. I’ll remember you.” He felt his own eyes growing misty.
Hye looked at Kestrel, then looked at Moorin. “Good luck to you my friend,” she said softly, then turned and ran to catch up to her sister.
“Kestrel, will you be okay? Please say ‘yes’,” Moorin asked.
“I hope so, my duchess,” Kestrel answered. “I am in the hands of the gnomes and Corrant. The gods have not let me suffer yet in carrying out their quests; well, they’ve let me suffer, but they’ve always pulled me through,” he explained.
“Will you think about me?” he asked.
“Every day, Kestrel, every day,” she answered softly. “I have to go,” she said, but then stepped up to him and kissed him again, before she turned and ran with elven speed to catch the line of figures that was disappearing in the distance.
Chapter 19 – Honeymoon Interrupted
In a state of startled dismay over the rapid and unexpected dismantling of the group of travelers he had been a part of, Kestrel stood within the suddenly depopulated elven portion of the village and watched the last signs of his companions disappear. He felt alone, and he realized that in some ways he had felt alone for many months, a loneliness that his heart told him dated back to the moment in Graylee when he had heard Phillip mention that Margo was about to be engaged.
“Human? Human, are you ready to join us?” a gnome called out. Kestrel stood in his spot a moment longer, then turned.
The Inner Seas Kingdoms: 05 - Journey to Uniontown Page 26
