by Lexy Wolfe
"Oh, no. The Vodani love wandering Guardians because they adore hearing the stories they have gathered. Most non-Vodani Guardians, however, do not love sea travel. And when you are at the mercy of where the ships travel to, it makes wandering a challenge." Ranshya smiled wanly. "Most here do not go beyond this hall." Opening the shade on the sunstone lantern, she held it up as she turned to continue. "Tred carefully, else the dust will get too thick to breathe comfortably."
The two Forenten looked at one another at the mention of dust, troubled any part of an archive would be left so neglected. What they saw made their hearts sink in dismay. The corridor beyond the Vodani hall was layered in dust that bore the marks of footprints. When they emerged into the vast chamber at the end, it was echoingly empty. Frowning, Ash spoke a few words, casting a magelight spell that illuminated the entire cavern as if it were being lit by the sun.
Bewildered, Terrence stood at the rail that looked down on the main level below. "There is... nothing here."
Ranshya's voice was quiet and solemn. "It is the greatest mystery of Fortress, and our greatest shame. They say this hall was once filled with tomes, weapons, artwork... and no one knows how any of it was removed without anyone witnessing it. And there was no one to ask. There had never been many Desanti-born Guardians, and all those of pure Desanti descent vanished a few weeks after the war ended at the same time as their archives were emptied."
"No Desanti remained here at all?" Terrence asked, brow creased, gaze unfocused.
"None," Ranshya confirmed. "Those with even a hint of Desanti blood... they say they simply stopped having children. Even among the normals. No one could track them at all, either, as if they had never existed to begin with. Within a generation, there was nothing left of the Desanti anywhere within Fortress or Her territory. Or any mainland territory for that matter."
"To appear as if they vanished from the world altogether," Ash said quietly, walking forward to touch one of the empty shelves on their level. "I never imagined they were so thorough."
Bleakly, Terrence closed his eyes, hands tightening on the rail. "And everyone has hated the Desanti for so long, the rift is too wide to bridge easily." He looked up when Ranshya put a reassuring hand on his shoulder.
"No, Adept Terrence. Not everyone hates the Desanti. Try to understand." She gestured expansively. "It was not unknown over the course of all time that there had been pockets of groups within races to vanish, either through the ravages of disease, a local war, or some other calamity.
"But it was very nearly the case for the Desanti. For a very long time, even we Guardians believed the Desanti had been eradicated. We mourned for them and feared for the world. But, there have always been those who argued that if the Desanti people had truly been completely destroyed, these chambers would have collapsed."
Ash stiffened as the pieces suddenly fell together. "Then you discovered they survived, but they refused to leave Desantiva to bring stability back to Fortress."
Ranshya sighed softly. "Some find it more convenient to blame the Desanti and accuse them of abandoning Fortress rather than try to bring the balance back. Dulain Tyrsan is one of the few to publicly champion the Desanti." Ranshya looked sadly into the vast depths of the empty cavern. "He is of the opinion that the Desanti-bloods did not destroy anything, they simply hid it somewhere. Somehow. Like they had hidden themselves. Few believe the Desanti were capable of anything of that magnitude. If it had been the mages, yes. Not the warriors."
Ash questioningly looked back to Terrence. The younger Illaini's attention was focused inward, his hand on his shoulder as he silently communed with Dzee. Pale, he finally looked back up to Ash tiredly and shook his head. "The only way to know for certain would be if the Githalin Swordanzen would be willing to share any knowledge of that part of their history. What we know is... limited."
Ranshya looked between the men in bewilderment. "You have knowledge of the Desanti's history?"
Guardedly, Terrence replied after considering the question, "I have had... access to histories from before the Great War. But nothing of during or after it." He looked away to gaze across the expanse of the lower level below the balcony they stood upon, lost in the emptiness.
Looking hopeful, Ranshya took his hand in both of hers tightly, startling him out of his reverie. "Would you be willing to record what you have been able to learn? Even if we can never recover the original records, it would mean a great deal to us to have that much. To have something. Anything to fill the void here." Terrence did not reply, looking questioningly at Ash.
Without hesitation, Ash shook his head. "No. Not without seeking the Desanti's permission." He regarded the startled woman with a chilling grimness. "They chose to withdraw from the world. I would not presume to take from them the choice on how to return. The potential damage trying to hasten things would only make matters worse."
"I suppose," Ranshya said slowly, torn between understanding and her love for the archives. She shook her head, tucking her hands in her sleeves. "Be that as it may. There was some mention of the Desanti archives in the journals of other Guardians. Even being as old as the Forentan, not even the Desanti archives compared to those of Forenta."
Smiling faintly, Ash's thoughts were of Storm as he said, "Because Forenten love to talk, verbally or through writing." Terrence chuckled when Ranshya blushed deeply. "Desanti prefer to live in the moment, particularly my lifemate."
"Lifemate?" Ranshya stopped short, turning to look at the two men. "You are... lifemated to a Desanti?" Ash nodded once, expression suddenly neutral. "And she is here? With you?"
"There are two Desanti with us," Terrence stated. "Both Githalin Swordanzen, as well as Adept Elites as we are. Master Almek--"
"The Desanti with you are god-touched?" Clapping her hand over her mouth, Ranshya just stared at both men before turning abruptly and hurrying down the stairs to the lower level. "Come with me!" Trading bewildered expressions, Ash and Terrence hurried to keep up with the suddenly possessed woman.
They approached a bas-relief of a dragon encircled by the images of numerous other creatures, all eyes inset with faceted gems. Setting the lantern on a pedestal, she turned the light towards the carving. Both Illaini stared in wide-eyed awe at the looming image. "This is all that had remained of the Desanti outside of Desantiva," the woman said in a low voice. "Only those with an unwavering hatred of the warrior folk will deny that this is more than a simple carving." She knelt with respect before the massive image, bowing her head. "Even those who are numb feel a presence within the stone."
"You are right. This is more than mere fanciful artwork," Terrence whispered, approaching to touch the wyvern's image. "It is an altar to the Raging One. The Desanti believe no one beyond their borders remembers Him." The young mage closed his eyes against the tears that came to them in response to Dzee's emotions. "He... never was completely forgotten." Ash put his hand on Terrence's shoulder in silent support.
"No, the Guardians have never forgotten Him or His children." Eyes on the great dragon, Ranshya did not notice Terrence's reaction. "Those who hate the Desanti are quite vocal so make it appear that Fortress as a whole is against the Desanti, but there are many who quietly support them as well. The Great War was devastating. How could we blame them for retreating from a world that had become so focused on the divisions between us, even here?" She looked back to the two men. "I and others who still believe in the worth of the warrior folk's value to the world come here regularly to honor the memory of our lost brothers and sisters and pay respects to their god in the hopes that one day, they will see fit to return to us."
Ash approached the image, holding a hand over the head of the dragon, but not touching it. "The Raging One," he murmured quietly. He touched the stone beside the diving eagle representing Thandar. "And his Totani." Frowning, he walked to the other side, touching voids among the images of the divine servants. "Some are missing."
Ranshya nodded solemnly. "There is a journal of the Timeless One's Sentin
el alive during the Great War that spoke of the devastation wrought. Her descriptions are so vivid, her emotions so poignant, reading it makes one feel as though they had lived through that terrible time." Both mages closed their eyes, looking away a moment. "She spoke of the Desanti-born Guardians' outright fear. How they, who feared nothing, were abjectly terrified as chains appeared on the image of the Raging One, and many Totani vanished from His circle. And how, not long afterwards... the Desanti vanished, as if they had never existed here."
Pausing for a moment, Ranshya rested her hand on the arch of the dragon's wing. "Then for the first time in two thousand years, the image changed. This one here." She touched the wyvern image of Dzee. "This servant appeared."
"Dzee, the Rainbow Wyvern, light of the dragon god," Terrence stated firmly. "That is her name."
Ranshya blinked a few times before nodding, committing the name to memory. "The dragon god had been chained for as long as any of us can remember. Then just shy of a year ago... the chains glowed so brightly it blinded us and they fell away." Smiling a little, she added, "The Raging One vanished altogether for a time, but He returned. Now and then, we have seen a few of the Totani do the same since the chains fell. I like to think they are out visiting someone."
Biting back confirming Ranshya's assumptions, Ash only smiled. "Is there something like this in the Forentan hall?" he wondered curiously, covering his right hand for a moment. "The image of the Forentan god and Her Trisari?"
"There is, but there is only one servant. I have looked, but have yet to be able to find why that is so. There is some artwork that seems to indicate that She was surrounded by servants as He is." She looked at Ash. "Each racial hall has a similar altar. Or had. The ones in the Sevmanen and Vodani halls have been... vacant. As if their gods are no longer there. No one knows why there is no altar to the other two gods of the Ancient Triad, either."
"Perhaps the Sevmanan and Vodani gods are lost," Ash mused, not mentioning the thought they may be in the mortal world. "Mureln might know more about--" He fell silent when Ranshya reached up to touch the dragon's jaw, and the maw opened.
She pulled out a small, rolled up parchment. "You must not speak of this outside of this place. Only the Dulain and I know of it. Not even Turyd knows, because the Dulain does not trust him." She held it out to Ash. "It must be Desanti in origin, but neither of us can read it."
Ash took the rolled up parchment with the utmost reverence, carefully unrolling it before holding it so Terrence could look as well. "Because this is written in Desanti," Terrence whispered. He took the piece of paper himself, scanning the elegant, foreign script. "Very old Desanti."
"Interesting. I had let myself assume the Desanti were always illiterate because they are now," Ash said with chagrin. "Especially how vehemently Storm considers it a Northerner thing and wants nothing to do with any of it."
Terrence took out a piece of parchment from a pouch on his hip, and carefully transcribed the writing from the original. "Which begs the question. Are Desanti illiterate, or do they hide that like they hide so much else?" Holding the transcribed note for a moment, he folded it and tucked it into his pouch. "I am curious to find out, myself."
"Regardless of their feelings on literacy, they will have to become literate," Ranshya said matter-of-factly. "It is the duty of Guardians to record their journeys, their encounters, even their thoughts and feelings. It is how we mortals achieve continuity between those from the past through to those of the future, as you both well know as mages."
"Mandatory for Guardians, hm?" Ash asked rhetorically. He and Terrence traded knowing looks about how they expected the two Swordanzen to receive that bit of news. Ash rerolled the ancient parchment and handed it back to Ranshya to return to its hiding place.
Terrence finally said slowly, "I think it would be prudent to wait until Storm and Skyfire have accepted learning to read and write before introducing them to this place. The vastness of the archives might be overwhelming enough to make them even more reluctant to embrace it."
"And a reluctant Desanti can be a rather... violent one if pushed." Ash rubbed his chest absently in memory of the time in Desantiva when Storm lashed out.
Chapter 9
As the sky brightened with the coming day, Taylin and Mureln emerged from their room, the bard keeping a protective arm around his wife. The Sevmanan woman looked askance to her husband. "My heart, I am just pregnant. I can walk fine."
Mureln was not contrite in the slightest. "This is my first child, too," he pointed out.
"That ye know of," Emil chimed in from the couch. Laughing, he rolled off and flattened himself against the floor to dodge the random object Mureln threw at him.
The irritated look melted away when Mureln heard Taylin giggling and he looked back to her, kissing her cheek. "I'm just worried about you both." He put a hand on her swollen belly. "You seem to be farther along than I've seen other women before." They looked over as the glass doors to the private ledge opened, Jaison, Storm and Skyfire coming inside. "Ash and Terrence sleeping in?" he asked curiously to divert his attention from his worries.
"No," Storm stated with a long suffering sigh. "They are down in the archives again. I do not think they have slept since they have been allowed to explore on their own." Skyfire smiled indulgently. Jaison only looked bemused as he wiped his bare chest dry with a rag after the early morning training. Everyone looked towards the entrance when Tyrsan cleared his throat to gain their attentions. By his side was an elderly woman carrying a basket.
"Adept Taylin."
"Yes, Dulain?"
The man grunted once, looking mildly discomfited. "With all of the distractions of the past several months, I assumed you had not been able to contract with a midwife to assist with your son's birth?" Standing to one side, he introduced, "This is Lana. She has been assisting the Guardians of Sanctuary for many years."
Storm and Skyfire looked at each other, then looked the woman over suspiciously. Both Desanti moved to put themselves between Taylin and Mureln and the strange woman. "What is a 'midwife'?" Storm demanded.
Taylin giggled and put a hand on the Desanti woman's shoulder. "It is okay, Storm. A midwife is a woman who helps mothers to bring babies into the world when it is time."
While Skyfire relaxed as the unfamiliar word was defined for him, Storm remained confused. "Why do you need help? Your baby is strong. You are strong. He only has one direction he can go to come out." She glanced around at the others as they laughed, more bewildered than anything.
"It just makes things easier, Storm. There's nothing to worry about." Taylin stepped around Storm to offer her hands to the midwife in greeting.
The older woman smiled warmly as she clasped both of Taylin's hands in hers. "Adept Taylin, it is a great honor to be of service to you. The Dulain has told me very much about you! I've helped bring many a Guardian's child into the world, of pure and mixed origins, so I can assure you, nothing will happen while I'm here for you. Now, let's see how things are progressing." She flicked a look at the men. "Though I think some privacy would be best." Smiling to Storm, Lana said, "You are welcome to join us, so you can see I mean no harm to your friend or her baby." With some reluctance, Storm finally agreed, following the two into Taylin and Mureln's bedroom.
Lana sat her basket on the table, waving to Taylin to lie on the bed. "So, how are you feeling, young Taylin?"
"I feel fat, Lana," the healer grumped lightly, smiling a little as Mureln's voice drifted from the main room. "You are not fat! You're beautiful."
"Ah, such sharp ears! You have a fine man there," Lana acknowledged, pleased, as Taylin giggled. "Now, about when do you guess you conceived?"
Taylin blushed. "I am not sure. I think--"
"Six phases of the greater moon and four days ago," Storm responded automatically. The two women looked at her blankly. "I remember. It was the evening after Skyfire and I came out of seclusion."
"You knew then? And you didn't say anything sooner than--?" Tayli
n began, sitting up to prop herself up on her elbows to stare at the Desanti woman.
Storm shrugged one shoulder. "I know you northerners do not like discussing your intimacies. I assumed Mureln was paying better attention since Vodani are aware of similar things that Desanti can sense. Though they do seem to need to focus where it is obvious to us. I guess he had been distracted." Taylin's cheeks turned bright red as she flopped back on the bed, covering her face with a groan.
"That is rather... precise," Lana finally said when she found her voice. "I did not realize Desanti shared the same trait as Vodani have of being able to detect pregnancies." Storm did not bother to correct who had the ability first, or to what degree, crossing her arms as she leaned on the far wall.
Uncovering her face, Taylin looked up at Lana. "We are a little worried. Our baby seems to be... maturing a lot faster than we have ever seen before," she confessed, putting her hand on the swell of her abdomen. "There isn't anything wrong with him, is there?"
"Doubtful, but let me have a look here." Feeling around Taylin's exposed belly, Lana nodded in satisfaction. "I am not worried. Children parented by at least one Vodani are never typical." Lightly patting Taylin's belly, she said, "As I expected, everything is normal."
Taylin frowned worriedly. "Not typical? In what way?"
Lana looked up at Taylin with a warm smile, reaching over to pat her hand. "They just tend to make their appearances into the world a lot sooner than most babies do. Healthy as could be despite an arrival that is much, much sooner than Sevmanen or Forenten."
Storm's expression was unreadable. "If you were Desanti, you would have given birth by now," she said in a low voice.
The midwife looked curious as she began putting her things back in her basket. "Truly? I have lived my whole life in Sharindel, so I have never helped birth any of Desanti blood. I'm much more used to the nine month cycle. Vodani terms are never longer than eight months, no less than seven." Glancing over at Storm, Lana wondered, "What is term for the Desanti?"
