Oya Dihya straightened as well but didn’t move to sit yet. “Yes, our ways protect us, but we should not isolate ourselves forever, cowering in fear. We stagnate, Jiada. No new ideas have been discussed at the assemblies for too long. No debates. Everyone just nods and smiles at each other. You’ve spoken to the Exemplars who have traveled and seen what other lands are like. It is not all good, but we can do good out there. We can help others who need help and show them better ways.”
“Fah!” Jiada scowled. “They will just mire themselves back in their horrible treatment of each other. Why should we show them better ways when they will just use it to harm others? You remember what it was like. Why we left them in the first place?”
“We left them because we were afraid,” Serilda answered, her dark skin glistening in the firelight. “Are you still afraid? After so long and standing in this body which is larger and stronger than anything that ever was? Is it so important to keep hurting them?”
Jiada glared at Serilda in shock, but couldn’t bring herself to answer. Finally, she looked down and walked away from them all, stalking into the night. Aiden could hear her steps traveling on the ground, heavy and angry. He didn’t know if she would come back, but secretly hoped she didn’t. He’d never been around an angry Exemplar before, but it was terrifying. Glowby had floated towards his shoulder and remained still and close, glowing only dimly. It had obviously bothered his friend as well.
“By the gods,” Ashrak breathed, “I thought they were going to fight.”
Chari had stood, moving over to the other side of the table and away from the arguing Exemplars. She’d positioned herself behind Analil who was looking down at her plate sadly. “Are you okay, Analil?”
The young girl nodded, but she didn’t look all that enthused about eating anymore and answered sadly. “Yes. I just hate watching them fight. It's not what’s supposed to happen. They should all like each other, but this whole question thing has them all irritable. Especially at Oya Dihya.”
Chari sat, giving Analil a hug before looking up at the three boys. “I’m not sure I understand everything that was said. Why would Naiadens be afraid? They’re the most frightening things I’ve ever seen except for that trench serpent. At least the Exemplars are, and the others aren’t far behind.”
“We were not always this way,” Serilda answered from a few steps distance, walking closer and looking at Chari. “Once, we were different. Smaller. We were treated as not strong enough or good enough by all those around us. This grew in our minds until it became our driving goal, to become separate and independent from everything else.” She paused, gesturing around her. “Simply put, we succeeded. But our time of licking our wounds is over and we are strong now, and we should go back out into the world and help others, not let our fear continue to control us.”
All of them had been listening with rapt attention, but it was Gavin who broke the silence, his face full of determination. “Is there anything we can do to help? I don’t know what we could do, but I’ve known Oya Dihya for my whole life and I’ve never known someone stronger.”
Serilda watched the young man, a mysterious look on her face. “Would you truly come running to our aid and defend us?”
She was shocked when Gavin laughed, shaking his head. “Oya Dihya is huge, and you are stronger than I am. I think it would be the other way around. No, what I would do is try to stand beside you and become your friend. Like we are with Oya Dihya.”
Serilda raised her eyebrow and looked curiously at Oya Dihya, but the large Exemplar just shook her head. “Do not look at me to have put words in their mouths. This is his own truth, and he is the son of their leader. I have merely lived amongst them and shown them what we are like. It is not a trick.”
“Perhaps there is hope then,” Serilda said, looking appraisingly at Gavin and the rest of them. “But for tonight, we have a long road ahead of us tomorrow and should sleep. There has been enough excitement. It is time to sleep after we clean.”
With that, they set to work cleaning up from dinner. Aiden was pleased with the mundane task as it left him time to think and calm down. These people were so strange, and yet still people. As he laid his head down to sleep, he breathed in the air from the gentle breeze blowing through the building.
As he was just about to drift off to sleep, one of the yellow striped predators common around the farm jumped up onto his bed. He watched it warily, wondering what its intentions were, but after a moment of returning his gaze with its too-wise green eyes, it curled up and began a soft, rhythmic thrumming noise. Glowby had floated down, landing next to the short-furred creature and began to flicker slowly, obviously comfortable with the animal. Aiden decided it did not intend him harm and drifted off to sleep listening to the pleasant purring of the strange creature.
Chapter 8
Waking up had been more of an adventure than he’d expected. It wasn’t so much they or the people of the denact who were to be traveling with them, as it was Analil. Apparently, she wasn’t one of the quiet, genial ten-year-olds and had kicked at anyone who had gone near her trying to get her out of bed. Even Glowby seemed alarmed and bounced around in agitation.
After an hour, Serilda had had enough and physically picked the girl up before dumping her into a water trough. Once the high-pitched screeching and yelling had ceased, the girl quickly quieted down, scrubbed up and shook herself off in the main yard before putting on a change of clean, dry clothes as if this happened every day.
Aiden and his friends exchanged alarmed glances about the drama unfolding before them as they ate their breakfast. Though Chari looked the most bothered, she didn’t speak about it. Aiden was surprised since he half expected her to raise a fuss about the way the girl was treated. The rest of the morning passed quickly and after they cleaned up from breakfast, the entire population of the denact followed them out of the main area and down the lane to the road.
The Duke and the teenagers had been asked to sit in the back of Analil’s wagon, and they were all surprised when Analil had crawled up into her driver's seat, grinned at them all and then promptly closed her eyes for a nap.
Aiden heard Chari heave out a big sigh and when he looked at her, her eyes were resting on Analil’s sleeping form with a disgruntled look on her face.
“What’s wrong, Chari?” he asked hesitantly.
Chari waved her hands at Analil then crossed her arms. “Her. That’s what’s wrong. They don’t raise her at all, they just let her run wild and treat her like some sort of… farm animal. I don’t even think they care about her.”
“I’m sure they do, Chari,” Gavin said. “If they didn’t care about her, they wouldn’t let her eat or anything, right?”
“But they would, Gavin. Their whole society is about sharing but that’s not the problem. Children need someone to guide them and give them rules. I mean, in Terek we take care of orphans. We give them a place and have guidelines about how they’re treated.” She looked over at Aiden. “At least it's something, right?”
Aiden felt uncomfortable. He had never liked being reminded of what his own status had been like up until a few months ago. It wasn’t perfect, but they didn’t let orphans just run around on the street. They had to be taken care of and the Duchy would provide a stipend to anyone that took one in. “Yes,” he said slowly, nodding. “It's not nearly as good as having a mom and dad, but I always had what I needed at the school.”
“See?” Chari said. “We wouldn’t have some little girl driving a wagon around out in the wilderness. Bandits would have her before the first week was out.”
“I don’t think they have bandits here, Chari,” Ashrak said from where he was lounging on some grain sacks. “I think driving around in a wagon here is much safer than even walking around in your city, much less mine. Besides, maybe she chose this? Maybe she threw a fit and didn’t want parents anymore?” He paused, looking at the girls sleeping form. “After this morning, I can see that happening.”
“That’s
stupid,” Chari said, crossing her arms. “Why would anyone let a ten-year-old choose if they wanted parents or not?”
Ashrak shrugged, smiling his clever smile. “Naiaden ten-year-olds?”
Chari rolled her eyes, but Aiden nodded. “No, wait, Chari. There’s more going on here than we know. I mean, Oya Dihya is ancient and she only looks thirty. What if Analil isn’t ten? What if she’s older? We really have no idea how their age works.”
Chari wrinkled up her nose but looked thoughtful.
Aiden leaned back to ponder that question as the wagon continued on down the road. Analil certainly acted like a child, but she obviously had a cart and animals, and at least some responsibility to transport things around the island. That was no small thing. For the most part, she was as clean as any ten-year-old, and her clothes were also in good repair. Though if Aiden was honest, her clothes were in better shape than most of his had been at that age. Everything the Naiadens did or built was done to the highest level of art, not just to produce things.
For most of the morning, Analil napped and snored loudly in the seat on top of her wagon. While it bothered the four friends mightily, it didn’t seem to be a problem for the Grelox pulling the wagon as they seemed to know where to go. Aiden was surprised none of the Naiadens needed to correct the course of the plodding animals or pull their heads up from the lush grass or other greens growing along the side of the road.
Every few hours they would stop to water or feed the Grelox. Just as with most things the Naiadens did, this was well organized and there were rest stops every few miles along all of the roadways. While not up to the full hospitality provided in a denact, they contained enough room for several wagons and animals along with a large covered gazebo. The beautifully decorated covering, no two the same, were comfortably supplied with benches, tables, barrels of water and even oats for travelers who wished to shelter in its shade.
Each time they stopped, Analil would bounce up and run toward the gazebo, usually getting a bowl, a pile of oats, some other dry ingredients, and a dark cream to complete it. When she’d finish, her breath always smelled of spices which, Aiden reflected, was fortuitous. Somehow, she didn’t stop talking even with food shoved into her face.
By the midpoint of the first day, both Ashrak and the Duke had hopped out and drifted back to walk. As the Duke put it, he’d rather hear the creaks of his own joints popping than one more inane story about flowers or colored rocks. Aiden was largely immune to the inane chatter because of his friend Jessop, and both Chari and Gavin seemed to find the little girl nothing short of adorable.
Still, over the next several days, they found Analil was a fountain of knowledge of their island and they learned much about the flora, fauna, and some history of the land around them. Aiden was surprised to learn not only were there no bandits or other aggressive people on the island, there were no dangerous wild animals or plants either. It seemed the entire island always seemed to enjoy a comfortable, golden age of plenty.
As they made their way to Reidenhold, which served as the Naiaden’s capital city, they were well used to the easy flow of the lifestyle. There was no hurry or rush in the creation of things, but there was also little waste or delay either. Whether a section of fence was reaching the end of its life to the first sprout of grain, the Naiadens were there and waiting to ply whatever craft was required.
Oya Dihya led them all toward a large, sprawling complex of beige buildings with red roofs that, instead of walls, tended to have columns leaving most of the buildings open to the air. As they approached, Aiden could see the same system of holes and slats that could allow more walls to be put up in bad weather, but for the warm summer months, were left down and gave the place a warm, inviting feeling. However, before they entered fully, Glowby began to glow a faint red color, clearly bothered by something within.
As the moved directly into the compound, there were already a few of what Aiden had come to call the regular-sized Naiadens with two Exemplars sitting in a large, open-aired main room, relaxing in the late summer light. While some of their original traveling companions moved off to different places, Oya Dihya, Serilda and a few others stayed with them as they found comfortable beds within the building.
They were tired from a long day of traveling and didn’t realize the Exemplar, Otaya Jiada, was sitting amongst the others until Oya Dihya stopped and tensed slightly, alerting them all. Suddenly, Aiden knew why Glowby had been agitated. For a moment, Aiden almost felt like there would be a fight but the two Naiadens were clearly not drawing their weapons, only looking at each other as if sizing each other up.
“Otaya Jiada?” Oya Dihya began, once again resuming her walk into the room but slowing. “It is a surprise you would choose this rethlacan to sleep in during the assembly? Do you not normally choose the east quarter?”
The tall, fierce looking Exemplar nodded and though her voice was even, her eyes were narrowed somewhat. “Yes. However, I wished to be close to observe how quickly they break after tomorrow’s blood debt and prove how wrong you’ve been after all of these years.”
Aiden was startled when Oya Dihya growled, stepping forward and easily lifting the other woman by her neck. It had happened so fast, and so smooth that when Jiada had tried to block the move, she had easily failed. This time, Serilda did not intervene and when Aiden looked around, most of the other Naiadens were frowning darkly at Jiada.
“You,” Oya Dihya hissed, bringing her face close to the other Exemplars, “will watch your tongue, or no matter what happens tomorrow I will call for, and get, the right to justice. Look around you, Jiada, your words have angered even your compatriots.”
The other Exemplar tried to pull the arm and hand from around her throat, but it was like iron had been wrapped around her neck. Aiden was absolutely shocked at the sheer power of Oya Dihya as Jiada’s face was slowly turning red, but their friend didn’t show any strain at all. Finally, she gave up trying to break the grip and Aiden watched her eyes travel around and take in the faces of the other Naiadens before nodding stiffly in Oya Dihya’s grip. Shortly thereafter, she was dropped to crumple on the floor, gasping for air and coughing.
Oya Dihya merely turned and walked off as if nothing had happened, leading them back to the rooms they would occupy during their stay. They all made sure to take a wide berth around the still-gasping Exemplar but she was clearly no longer in a fighting mood. Even as they watched, several of the Naiadens who had been there earlier seemed to decide leaving was a more appropriate avenue.
Surprisingly, Jiada and two of her companions stayed, though they kept to themselves. They all gathered and pitched in for dinner without thought or complaint, and toward the end of the meal the tense atmosphere had not subsided entirely, but it had drifted into the background far enough to make it through the meal with only the occasional glance or two.
After they had all cleaned up and headed to their rooms, Aiden noticed Gavin seemed to be particularly quiet and reserved after coming back from the washroom.
“What’s wrong Gavin?” Aiden asked quietly, concerned for his friend.
Gavin raised his head and paused before answering. “I… It's my father. He’s been awfully quiet on our trip here which is unusual for him. I asked him what was the matter and he gave me the oddest look. It kind of scared me.”
“What kind of look? Was he angry?”
Gavin shook his head. “No. It was sad, but determined. I can’t really describe it well.”
“I’ve seen it before,” Ashrak said quietly from his bed.
Both boys turned to him and Aiden got up to sit on the edge of Gavin’s bed closest to Ashrak’s. “What do you mean, seen it before? Where?” Gavin said anxiously.
Ashrak turned his head and raised an eyebrow. “Did you forget? Don’t you remember them telling us when they make this decision of theirs, and if they make it wrong, we’re all going to die?” He shifted, leaning back against his headboard before continuing. “About two years ago, my two oldest brothers Re
kmar and Belor had decided they were done playing with one of my younger brothers. He was only fourteen but already big for his size so they figured before he got too large, they’d take care of him. They dug his grave a week before killing him, and he had the same look your father does, Gavin.”
Aiden cursed himself. He had forgotten. He had been so entranced by the beauty of the island and their people it had completely gotten away from him there was this decision hanging over their heads. “Wait, they just said there was a decision right? Did they actually say it was going to be decided with this visit?”
“I think so,” Gavin said but didn’t sound sure. Exchanging glances, Gavin sprang up with the two other boys close behind and ran to Oya Dihya’s room, knocking on the door softly. After a moment they heard her bid them enter and they walked into her presence. The bed she was sitting on was similar to theirs but writ large, and the giant woman had removed her armor and was only wearing a simple tunic. She sat impassively with her eyebrow raised, watching the boys as they came to a halt before her.
The Glimmer Steel Saga, Boxed Set, Books 1 - 4 Page 41
