Yara shook her head as she sat on the floor outside of the room in which he was being treated. She couldn’t believe he hadn’t told her. She wondered why it had been so important to him to withhold that fact, especially given his propensity for incessant chatter.
She looked around. It seemed strange that there were no guards posted to watch her. She figured that, either way, she was surrounded by so many Skotad warriors, no one would be worried. Even worse, she was stuck in the mountain and didn’t even know how to get out of it. She had been blindfolded at the entrance and soon lost track of the many turns in the maze of tunnels that went deep into the mountain.
When they finally removed her blindfold, she was taken aback by the beauty of all she saw around her. The walls were filled with markings that dully glistened over their stone surface. There were more markings than she had ever seen before, and many of the symbols she didn’t even recognize. Sapstreams flowed along the walls, and it seemed common for Skotads to bend down and drink from them. The Sapstreams themselves sparkled, and gurgling sounds seemed to calm every passageway.
Even more striking were the Skotad women. Their long silver hair and glimmering blue eyes only enhanced their tall, slender bodies and winsome faces. Each one she passed smiled kindly at her despite their perplexed reactions and visible curiosity.
A gruff voice called out, interrupting her thoughts.
“The Chief is almost back from the search for Toler.”
Yara glanced up to see an older Skotad warrior walking up to her. She pushed herself up quickly as he stretched his hand out with a wooden bowl.
“You must be famished. You should eat. He may want to speak to you after he sees his son, and that could last for a while.”
The bowl contained several varieties of the highest breeds of mushrooms that Yara had ever seen. She gaped awkwardly at the warrior, unsure if she should accept.
“You are the Chief’s special guest,” he said, firmly placing the bowl into her hands, and then walking away.
“Tha—thank you…” she called after him.
Yara slid back down feeling out of sorts, and out of place. She reached into the Sapstream that flowed past her and drank. It tasted a little like sapjuice, but it was less woody and much more refreshing. As she nibbled on the delectable mushrooms, she wondered what the Chief would be like. She hoped he wouldn’t be angry with Toler or excommunicate him for what he had done for her.
They’re not Photaks, Yara… They don’t do things like that… I hope…
Soon, she heard some faint voices coming through the tunnels. She could make out a strong voice among them, asking questions. The voice sounded angrier than she expected. She felt her heartstar beating a little faster. Perhaps, she wasn’t as safe as she had been led to believe. Either way, it was too late to think about that now. A huge, tall, chiefly Skotad bent the corner with other Skotad warriors surrounding him, including the one who had brought her sustenance.
“So, this is the girl who had to use her body as a shield so that you all didn’t shoot my son with your arrows?” he said as he walked up, looking straight into her eyes.
Yara pushed herself up quickly.
“Chief Totek,” one of the warriors protested, “that’s not what—”
The Chief waved him off, eyes still fixated on Yara.
“I heard your account the first time, Kaleb. Now, does this arrow-repelling, Photak-garbed girl have a name?”
“I’m… I’m Yara,” she said softly, still unsure how to react.
“Well, Yara… thank you…”
The Chief reached out and gave her a small embrace with a broad, warm smile. Yara stiffened, feeling completely overwhelmed. The Chief chuckled.
“I know you Photaks aren’t used to friendliness, but we consider it a custom here.”
“I’m not a Photak. I’m… not sure what I am, but I know I’m not that,” Yara responded.
“Oh, indeed. I’m sure you aren’t, aside from your clothing. We haven’t seen anyone who looks like you before… but I’m sure Grandam can help you find the answers, if you seek them.”
Yara felt her heartstar pounding. It was the first time someone had ever suggested that there could be an answer. She nodded wide-eyed at the Chief. He chuckled again.
“Good. In the meantime, I’m going to speak to Toler as to why he got you caught up in his adventures.”
“He’s awake?”
“Yes, he is,” the Chief responded, beaming at her concern. “And, in light of the report from Grandam's caregivers, he is going to be fine. But I should warn you... he is even more of a chatterbox than ever! You can see him soon.”
Yara smiled widely as the Chief winked at her. He walked into the room, closing the door behind him. Within a minute, there was a small commotion. The door burst open, and a stunning Skotad woman stood looking at Yara. Then, she ran and grabbed Yara, squeezing her so tightly she couldn’t breathe.
“You’re the Yara who saved my Toler!” she exclaimed. “I’m his mother, Lema. Thank you for what you’ve done! Thank you, thank you! Come! Toler wants to see you!”
Lema grabbed Yara’s hand and pulled her into the room before she could even respond. There, Toler lay on an exquisite swaddling. He smiled widely when he saw her.
“You look good!” she said, genuinely surprised at how much more energetic he seemed.
“Our centuries of Skotad research have their advantages. I heard you saved me, again,” he said with a grin.
“Nothing you didn’t do for me…”
Yara smiled back shyly.
“And we will hear all about that, won’t we Toler? I am told you decided that going into Sunstar’s rays in a Photak village was a necessary adventure?” the Chief responded, giving Toler a mock glare.
“Nothing you didn’t do for Yara’s Tribe mother…” Toler responded softly.
Chief Totek’s confused expression vanished after a few seconds.
“She… she lived?” he whispered almost inaudibly.
Yara looked away, feeling tears coming to her eyes.
“She did… but the Photaks executed her and her mate unjustly… all because she and her mate were kind and loving people. They took in Yara when they found her as a baby in the Greens and brought her up as their own. The same Elder you saw years ago was the one who killed them…” Toler explained softly.
“You poor dear…” said Lema as her eyes brimmed with tears.
Totek looked visibly furious.
“Well, you must stay here with us,” Lema continued. “This is now your home, now and always!”
As Chief Totek nodded firmly in agreement, another voice spoke upon entry into the room.
“I wouldn’t be so sure about that…” said an old Skotad woman, holding large, ancient manuscripts in her hands.
“Grandam! Why are you being so rude to our guest? She saved our son, the next Chief!” Lema said with an edge of harshness in her tone.
“She is not our guest,” Grandam responded coldly. “She is a Ka-Eld. She is not supposed to be here.”
Chapter Seventeen
She is a Ka-Eld…
As Yara lay in the swaddling of her new room, Grandam’s words replayed over and over in her head. After she said it, there had been an awkward silence. Then, the Chief had pulled Grandam out to talk to her in private. Lema apologized over and over again, expressing bewilderment. Even Toler didn’t seem to have a clue about exactly what she meant. All they knew is that the Eld were the ancestral line from which both Skotads and Photaks came. Some even believed that the Eld had created the two races. It was all subject to the interpretation of the markings.
“Either way,” Toler had said, “it wouldn’t make sense. The race of the Eld was completely obliterated in the Great War of the Planets many millennia ago… and they were all marked beings with clear birthlines. They were the ones who passed this knowledge down to us.”
“And Grandam is a bit of a… conspiracy theorist,” Lema had added.
&nb
sp; Conspiracy or not, it was the first time anyone had ever referred to what she was with such surety. She knew she needed to find a way to talk to Grandam privately. She also wanted to get a look at the manuscripts that made her believe she was a Ka-Eld.
“What does the Ka mean?” Yara had asked Toler before she was taken to her room.
“Honestly, I’ve never heard that word before… and I’ve studied all of the markings in full detail. It may be a word that older Skotads use… I’m sorry, Yara… Grandam is getting very old now…”
Yara stared at the markings on the ceiling of her room. They were similar to the ones back in the Photak village. Symbols of Sunstar, symbols of the first people, symbols of the stories of things that had happened and things that were to come… symbols that once donned the familiar walls of her old dwelling.
There was no holding it back now. Toler was no longer in danger, and she was not on the run anymore. With no more distractions, the floodgates burst open. Her heartstar bled for the incredible Photaks who had raised her and had lost their lives for being able to love without condition. She cried for her home, her past life, and even for Kristos and his betrayal.
As the numbness began to set in, her thoughts ran back to the words that Grandam had said.
The Eld… A Ka-Eld…
Yara’s thoughts filled with questions, but her grief and exhaustion had finally caught up with her. Within moments, she drifted off.
***
“Yara…”
“Who are you… are you an Eld? A Ka-Eld?”
“I am your Guidestar...”
“Oh, you’re answering now?! Well, answer this! Do you know where I came from? What am I? And why did my parents have to die? WHY?! Why did my Tribe mother have to be the one who found me in the Greens? Why was I abandoned as a baby? Who are my horrific birth parents?”
“She will lead you on the wrong path. She will lead you on the right path. You must take both. You must take both to become.”
“What… what path? Become what? Stop ignoring my questions and tell me who I am! Tell me what happened to me in the village. If you’re supposed to guide me, then answer my questions! Tell me what I’m supposed to do now! Tell me how to know which is the right path and which is the wrong path!”
“They are the same path… Right will be wrong… wrong will be right...”
“What are you saying? What do you mean?! Please stop speaking like this! It’s maddening! Just tell me what I need to know!”
“I already have...”
“No! You haven’t! You haven’t answered a single question I’ve asked. What am I? Who am I?!”
Yara shot up from the dream, punching the swaddling in frustration. Her so-called Guidestar had refused to answer again. Every time it spoke to her, she just had more questions and fewer answers. She closed her eyes, breathing in and exhaling deeply. She was so frustrated. Tears filled her eyes as the memories of all that had happened came back again in a rush.
“She will lead you…”
Yara jumped as the audible whisper ended with the sound of quiet knocking at her door. A note slipped under it. Yara went to the door, yanking it open and peering out. No one was there, and her tunnel was clear. She picked up the note. Its edges were tattered, and the writing was horribly scribbled. Still, Yara could make out the words, and they sent a chill up her spine:
“Meet me after the morning feast, Ka-Eld.”
As she willed herself to stop shuddering, the words of Guidestar echoed in her thoughts.
“She will lead you…”
“I guess she will…” Yara muttered to herself.
Sighing, she readied herself with the Skotad garb that had been left in the room for her.
***
As Yara followed the general direction of other Skotads gathering for the morning feast, she felt self-conscious. They all stared at her, but they had huge smiles. Then, a little boy quickly ran past, bumping into her. His other little friends all laughed when he turned to apologize, staring in shock at Yara.
“You bumped into the blue beauty!” they teased him, eventually all running off.
Yara didn’t know how to react. Beauty wasn’t a term she was accustomed to hearing about herself. She looked around at the friendly Skotads and winced at their strangely fascinated expressions. She was accustomed to standing out, but not like this.
As Yara entered the communal area, the room burst into excited chatter.
“It’s her! The blue beauty!”
“She saved Toler. She shielded him from arrows.”
“She saved him from the Photak village.”
“I heard she’s a warrior.”
“Of course she is! Look at how strong she is!”
“Silence, everyone!” a voice boomed above them all.
Yara looked up to see the Chief. Next to him on one side sat Lema, and on the other sat a healthier-looking, grinning Toler.
“YaraStar, we have called this feast in your honor. You have done the Skotad Tribe a great kindness, saving my son, one of our strongest warriors. We will forever be in your debt. Our mountain home is now your home. Our heartstars beat in oneness for you on this day. Come join me as my guest of honor.”
Yara shifted uncomfortably. She bent her head as she shyly walked up to the table of the Chief. As she sat next to Toler, the Skotads burst into celebratory applause and cries of praise to Sunstar.
Toler looked at her, completely amused by her discomfort.
“Stop smiling!” she sneered at him beneath her breath. “I’m going to make you pay for this.”
Toler grinned even more.
“Oh, YaraStar… I’ve only just begun to find ways to say thank you,” he responded in an overly sweet tone.
“Are you still in pain?” she asked.
“No, they’ve given me a great—OWWW!”
A few Skotads looked up upon hearing Toler’s reaction to her kick beneath the table. The Chief chuckled.
“Don’t worry, YaraStar,” Chief Totek said. “Your discomfort with our expressive culture isn’t unusual. The Photaks who live with us also had to get used to our ways. Now, you can only tell them apart from us because they look different.”
Yara, startled, glanced in the direction that the Chief indicated. There, in fellowship with the Skotads, sat a few families of Photaks. They were the happiest Photaks she had ever seen. Yara looked back to the Chief, feeling confused. She remembered what Toler had told her about taking in Light–Blinded Photaks, but this wasn’t what she had imagined.
The Chief smiled kindly.
“It’s going to be a process, unlearning what you were taught about us, so you can get to know the truth for yourself,” Totek said. “We will be patient with you, so don’t worry. Just make sure you’re also patient with yourself, okay?”
Yara nodded, giving a soft smile of gratitude for his perceptiveness. She needed time to get used to all of this, and to deal with all that had happened.
The array of food was majestic to Yara. There was more sensopa than she had ever seen in her life, freely given and shared among the Tribe. She ate until she couldn’t anymore, fully satisfied and energized. As she watched the children playing and dancing to the rhythms and flutes of Mira, she felt a sense of sadness.
“I wish Mila could be here…” she said softly to Toler.
“Me too…” he replied.
Yara fell silent for a few moments, and then turned to face him.
“Toler… how do I find Grandam?”
Toler turned to look at her, brows furrowed.
“Is what she said yesterday bothering you, Yara?”
“No, not really bothering. But… I guess I am curious. I just… I just want to talk to her, and perhaps take a look at the manuscripts.”
“Hmm… do you want me to come with you? I can help you with the translations.”
“Actually, I’d prefer to do this alone, if that’s okay with you…”
“Okay, but I will give you something that I think w
ill help. Come with me.”
As Toler and Yara stole away from the celebrations, she followed him to the tunnel of his dwelling. As they entered the living area, Yara felt moved by the airy, warm energy of the room. It was filled with many wooden shelves and a countless number of scripts. He searched through them.
“Ah. Here we go. This should help. This script explains many of the main markings that you would find in her old manuscripts. Consider it my gift of gratitude to you.”
Yara unraveled it to find the meanings of so many symbols; she gasped in excitement. Then, she beamed at him and hugged him.
“Oh my, a real hug?” Toler asked, embracing her tightly. “We’re rubbing off on you already, not-a-Photak!”
Yara fired a soft punch at him.
“Okay, Skotad, tell me how to find Grandam.”
***
As Yara headed down a less-populated part of the labyrinth of tunnels, she passed fewer and fewer Skotads. Soon, she walked along by herself for a while. When she finally found the tunnel that was narrower than all the others, she stopped. She checked to make sure that this one had two Sapstreams flowing parallel to each other. She breathed a sigh of relief that she wasn’t lost.
She walked on for a short time until she knew she was getting close. A strange smell of incense and spice filled the tunnel as she neared a large door.
She knocked gently.
“Enter!” Grandam called out.
Yara pushed the heavy door in and found herself in a room full of potions and scripts. Grandam was bent over in a corner peering closely at an old, thread-bound book. She looked up, considering Yara for a few moments.
“Ka-Eld… I see you got my message. It was wise of you to come.”
“I did… because I have questions. I’d like to know… Why do you think I’m a—uh—Ka-Eld? And what is a Ka-Eld?”
The Unmarked Girl (The YaraStar Trilogy Book 1) Page 12