by R J Kaldanis
“Riyah Veros.”
“What a beautiful name. I always find the Verosian names sound so bold, so brazen and yet somehow so poetic.” He finished writing down some notes in the book, before placing it back in the drawer and locking it with a small key he put around his neck on a chain. Aardriyah now found herself entranced gazing over the various vials and jars in the bookshelf on the back wall. One contained a deep grey, sand like substance. Another held a bright green mist, that seemed to swirl around the jar unprovoked. A smaller vial contained what looked like long spindly spiders’ legs, of bright red and blue.
“Do you really use all of these?” She said in complete awe of the knowledge one must possess to be able to use so many varying kinds of potions, herbs and ingredients. The noise of a chair being dragged across the floor was accompanied by Rachida sneering in response to Aardriyah’s question,
“Lugh please, most of those are just for decoration. Some aren’t even medicinal; they just look pretty and give him a big ego.” She narrowed her eyes and smirked at Sekher.
“I swear on Geb’s honour that is not true. I know for a fact that only one quarter of those are just for decoration.” He said while winking at the fire blessed woman whom he loved like a little sister.
Aardriyah was amazed at how freely these two very differently blessed people spoke to each other, how easily they played their patron gods against each other. Her whole life, the only god Aardriyah had ever heard in conversation was the designated water god for the realm, Undina. It never occurred to her what it might sound like to hear another god's name used in defence of an argument or to prove a point; it was quite poetic in a way.
After The War of The Elements, the remaining elemental empires, kingdoms, tribes and colonies were united under The Crystal Capital Convention. Since so many wars had ravaged the Old Realm in the name of varying gods, goddesses and deities, the decision was made that each element would have one patron god they were to worship. This suggestion was the most controversial of the alignment strategy set out in the convention and almost erupted in a new war beginning before the ink had even set. Each element was able to submit one god they wished to worship on a slip of cloth. To ensure no cheating, an unblessed citizen was chosen to pull a random slip out of a box. Basic as it was, every other method for choosing a patron god within the council erupted in furious bouts of swearing, cursing and threats.
The four patron saints randomly selected were the Goddess Undina of the Verosian’s for all water blessed, the Goddess Geb from Olurun for all earth blessed, the God Lugh of The Fand Empire for fire blessed and Kulcan, God of the air blessed from the Catalian peoples. The two oldest deities and presiding rulers of all elements were the moon and sun. For the air and fire nations, they once again submitted a name for their chosen sun deity, randomly drawn out by an unblessed citizen, while the water and earth empires submitted a name for their chosen moon deity. Tama became the designated sun god, as won by the Riaom Kingdom while the moon goddess became Mano of the Sian’s.
Any worship of any other deity was a crime against the Crystal Capital Convention and absolute heresy punishable by death. At first, many of the citizens rebelled, protested, refused to acknowledge the vast amount of changes thrown at them. One single language was to be spoken across the New Realm, one single currency to be used, a new and agreed calendar with unified celebrations. But hardest of all was the acceptance of a new deity or god that had no meaning to them whatsoever, particularly those war-torn lands who had fought against the spread of the exact religion being forced upon them. However, like most political sentiment and heretical notions, as time went on, resentment faded. The new system was eventually accepted and had now been implemented for over 250 years. Having all books, idols and monuments relating to old gods destroyed also hastened the process along of course. In time the new gods no longer belonged to a particular culture or tribe, but to an element and all that blessed underneath it. As for the unblessed, it wouldn’t make sense for them to have their own god to worship considering no god considered them worthy of any blessing - so they predominantly worshipped the patron god of their birth land.
Sekher grabbed a vial of golden orange flakes, winked at Rachida and Aardriyah and said,
“And I know for a fact that this one here, is my mother's secret ingredient to a perfect fast meal. Shall we?” He motioned towards the door.
The three companions, plus Kit, found table together on the mess deck before digging into the assortment of fresh vegetables, eggs and sweet fruits. Sekher tapped a few sprinkles of his mother’s secret ingredient on to Aardriyah’s eggs and waited patiently for her reaction. The anticipation in his eyes reminded her of Sonas’ youthful energy and ability to always see the good and exciting in the world. The flavour tasted earthy and a little tangy, but it wasn’t particularly tasty or noteworthy. Aardriyah wanted so badly to have a friend or two, it would make this whole journey much easier to survive and might help mask the ongoing home sickness she felt. Of course it didn’t hurt that he had charmed his way into her heart and wanted to perhaps gain his favour, so she simply smiled and mumbled,
“Wow - it’s not like anything I have ever tasted before.” Which seemed to do the trick, because the midnight skinned man beamed a twinkling smile before digging back into his own meal, lathered with the ingredient.
Looking around at the other tables, Aardriyah noticed that aboard the ship, most people were scattered, and it was very different to how the kitchen in the royal lodge had operated. It didn’t seem to be divided by blessings; people of varying skills were talking to others without hesitation.
“I thought fire and water blessed always hated each other.” She mused, looking at a pair on the table behind them who were laughing uncontrollably at an inside joke.
“What makes you say that?” Rachida said through a mouthful of berries.
“It’s just every Verosian is constantly seeming to blame the fire blessed for their lot in life. They speak of them as if they are-” She bit her tongue, suddenly remembering the woman in front of her was indeed one of those darned fire blessed she’d been taught to fear and hate since she could remember. Rachida tilted her head and said,
“Just say it - it can’t be worse than anything I’ve not already heard.”
Aardriyah hesitated, wondering if she was entering a trap and was going to regret opening her mouth. But, she figured the truth could only do so much harm and thus far she had begin to question the truth she had been made to believe, highly doubting everything she took for granted.
“Pests, I suppose. That they are dangerous and only seek to destroy and wreak havoc across the New Realm, just as they did to Veros.” In finishing the sentence Aardriyah noticed Rachida now seemed to be gazing down her nose at her, scrunching her face into a ball of anger and rage. Sekher thankfully interrupted, sensing the sudden rise in temperature and anger emanating from Rachida.
“I think you will discover, love, that sometimes people need someone to blame for the wrongs in the world. Sometimes it’s easiest to blame those they have no understanding of or no interaction with. It is up to you to decide what is the truth and make your mind up for yourself.”
The fact that Sekher was gorgeous and brilliant was almost too intimidating, the words he spoke could soothe even the angriest of hearts. The truth, Aardriyah realised, was that Veros was such a small part of the New Realm. It was so far away from any other element nations that all they had to go on for ‘truth’ was hearsay, anger and hatred passed from one generation to the next - making almost the entire nation a bunch of elementists. She never considered anyone on her island as being particularly sage and wise, besides Old Man Teme and Pateras. When she thought about it, she had never heard either of them speak poorly about any other elements. Aardriyah swallowed, trying to rectify the damage she had clearly caused as Rachida still looked ready to pierce her hand with a fork.
“I personally have never met any fire or earth or air blessed s
o I don’t have any right to pass any judgement. I mean, I’ve met you two and quite frankly you’ve treated me with more kindness in the past day than most Verosian’s did my entire life.”
Rachida sighed, seemingly accepting Aardriyah’s explanation for her hasty assumptions and words.
“By the end of this trip, I’m sure you’ll end up going back to Veros and telling them all about how smart and witty and fearless and beautiful the fire blessed are. Particularly those of us from the Shahood Kingdom.” Her dimples pierced her cheeks as her large golden eyes lit up in time with her smile.
“I do have one question though - at the Royal Lodge everyone seemed to be sitting grouped by their elements, so why is no one sticking to their own now?”
Rachida and Sekher looked at each other knowingly, nodding in sudden understanding of why Aardriyah would have reached that conclusion.
“You know the rules, the Laws of Separation, no relationship with another blessed, after all no one wants to risk death if things were to become romantic.” Sekher wiggled his eyebrows at her suggestively. Rachida continued,
“The Crystal Capital Court has spies everywhere, but mainly on land. So we make sure to follow the rules strictly and avoid all interaction in case they have any reason to believe we are threatening the convention. At sea it’s a chance to let loose, to find out more about the world from those who have lived in places you couldn’t even imagine exist.”
“Of course, there are still boundaries - but no one would willingly cross those. After all, I’ve never met someone so intoxicatingly beautiful I’d sacrifice my life for one night in their embrace.” Sekher mused.
“Mainly because you’re too in love with yourself to ever even consider anyone else.” Rachida giggled as Sekher kicked her under the table.
The convention signed after the War of The Elements put in writing for the first time a rule that all reasonable steps would be taken to ensure blessed stayed within their defined borders. Too many horror stories since the dawn of time had plagued every society of women dying from their unborn baby holding an incompatible element to her own and killing her from the inside out. It wasn’t just childbirth that was a threat to the very life of a citizen, but even a simple kiss and the passion that accompanied it could have disastrous effects, sometimes fatal.
So, for the sake of keeping the risks low, crossing borders into blessed territories of a differing element required constant supervision, a highly documented and regimented record keeping process and policing check-ins to confirm no questionable acts had been performed during the visit. It made travelling very tiresome for anyone besides the unblessed who were of no concern or threat to anyone. After all, if in the extremely unlikely event a blessed fell in love with an unblessed, chances are their weak body would crush, burn, drown or suffocate under the kiss or caress, which really was doing the world a favour anyway. If the unblessed wanted to eradicate themselves, then it was just the notion of Survival of The Blessed at work.
“So even the unblessed, they can talk to anyone?” Aardriyah couldn’t wipe the smile that was spreading across her face, she had so many questions to ask, so many myths to dispel and wanted so badly to have a friend from each kingdom, empire, nation and tribe.
“Of course, love. Why not?” Sekher replied.
“I’ve just always thought the blessed judged and hated the unblessed. At least, that’s how it is on Veros, so I just assumed -”
“Assumed Veros was the centre of the world and that what happens in Veros is indicative of everywhere else in the New Realm?” A sarcastic male voice accompanied the one person that could so quickly turn Aardriyah’s mood from ecstatic excitement to complete disappointment. The two blessed she was sitting with bowed their heads and uttered a greeting to Master Keelie.
“This is for you.” He said to Aardriyah passing her a few loose papers with ink scribbled across them. “It’s an updated work itinerary since I confirmed with the royal family that your dog handling won’t be taking up too much of your time.”
Aardriyah scanned over the pages, the roster had her on an intense schedule almost every second of every day, doing tasks she had never undertaken in her life and had no idea where to even begin.
“Since you continue to demonstrate how little you know about anything, you might as well do something useful and earn your place on this ship by assisting where I have advised. Understood?” He asked.
She nodded, still too confused by the list of tasks to find the words to agree to his command.
“Ms Veros, do you understand?”
“A nod means yes in all lands, does it not?” she wryly retorted.
“And sarcasm is not tolerated from servants in any land, as far as I’m aware. You’re on kitchen cleaning duty beginning now. Princess Kibo has instructed that Kit will stay with her while you’re performing your other tasks.” Master Keelie didn’t wait for her acknowledgement, instead he grabbed the lead Kit was attached to before making his way back downstairs. Aardriyah secretly imagined he must be retreating to some dungeon of the Netherworld where he clearly belonged and should remain.
Aardriyah motioned goodbye to her newfound friends and made her way to the kitchen cooking area. She pushed the door open and found inside several fire blessed staff heating cauldrons of food, while earth blessed tended to the preparation of the meals. Someone grabbed her by the shoulders and turned her on the spot, she was just about to hit them, to free herself into their eyes and immediately felt relief.
“Old Man Teme? What are you doing here?” Her heart was racing, still trying to calm it from the shock of being grabbed. He placed his warm arms around her and held her close.
“Well, Princess Kibo needed a new cook and I figured someone had to look after you since you keep getting into all sorts of trouble.” He kissed her gently on the forehead.
“Besides, I had plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables from my garden and Undina forbid Queen Iber had any more broccoli!” The pair laughed, before he asked.
“The real question is, what are you doing in my kitchen?”
Aardriyah looked sheepishly at the ground and passed him the pieces of paper.
“I’m on kitchen duty apparently. I’ve met someone who surpasses even Miss Farrow’s bitterness and resolve to make me unhappy.” Old Man Teme grabbed the notes and looked over them, raising his eyebrows he replied,
“Well, whatever you did to get on his bad side is going to take a while to apologise for, it seems.” He passed the notes back to her, smiling as he said,
“Come on, I’ll show you around, I'm almost finished here anyway.” With that he led her through the kitchen. For the first time onboard, Aardriyah felt a sense of relief and comfort; as if a part of her home was with her now.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
rachida’s wrath
The rest of the week passed in similar fashion to the first day aboard. Aardriyah awoke from whatever dream she had the night prior, scribbled it all down and had fast meal with Sekher and Rachida each day. She would finish her kitchen duties in the morning, before moving on to scrubbing floors and decks awash with gull poo. Past peak sun she would take the laundered uniforms from the water blessed in the washers dorms, drop them off to the air blessed who dried them out and then passed them on to the fire blessed who smoothed them with a block of iron heated by their hands. Then came the duty of dropping every uniform off to every staff and servant on board. She saw Master Keelie every now and then, who would monitor her work and offer up any criticism he could. Her fever seemed to have faded after the first night on board and she did relish the opportunity to say to Rachida,
“I told you so.”
The end of the day, before last meal, was her favourite time as she would pick up Kit from Princess Kibo’s chambers and enjoy some time with him, teaching him new tricks and playing hide and seek. As usual, the princess remained silent in almost all of their exchanges, simply nodding and smiling where needed, but otherwise keeping
to herself in her chambers. Aardriyah had noticed the princess was an avid reader and had a new book on her bedside table each day. On her first day off, she decided she would garner the courage to ask Princess Kibo if she could borrow a couple, to pass the weeks that remained at sea.
When Aardriyah awoke on Lullday, the one designated day of the week where she was able to truly rest, she realised she hadn’t had a dream the night before and could start her day quicker than usual. She kissed Kit gently on the forehead, looked over to Rachida who was snoring loudly, legs wrapped between the blankets and arms hanging off the bed and decided to let her sleep in. After all the temperature onboard had still been quite cold, and all the fire blessed seemed well passed exhaustion trying to keep the rooms at a temperature that would ward off illness.
After grabbing two bowls of the fast meal on offer, one for herself and one for Kit, she sat at the usual table and took in how few people were awake at this time of the morning on Lullday. Perhaps all the blessed relished the opportunity to have a later start to the day. First light had only just dawned on the horizon an hour prior, and so only those that were required to prepare meals needed to be up at this time of the day. Apparently, Master Keelie had also risen early and taking in the few tables, he spotted Aardriyah and sat across from her.
“Blessed day.” He said, to which she responded the same. She hurried to finish the last morsels of porridge in her bowl, not wanting to be in his presence or make unnecessary conversation if she could avoid it.
“It’s your first Lullday aboard, how do you intend to spend it?”
Aardriyah had just taken a mouthful and tried to awkwardly swallow the food quickly so she could respond. She choked slightly on her food, before saying through coughed spluttering,
