Morragen Medusa a Zephyra's Cottage, Tryadnea
Sholeh's sisters were asleep when the last anchor came to their mothers' home. By rights, Sholeh should have been sleeping, too, but the moon was full tonight, which meant that she'd be able to read by the moonlight if she sat up in the crawlspace by the roof. Candles were far too precious to be wasted on reading, especially hours after the girls were supposed to be in bed. Sholeh vaguely remembered a time when this was not so and her books told of other wonders, back when their people lived in large, sprawling cities and there were lights that lined every street and illuminated every home, keeping away the dark.
But that was long and long ago; a time that even most Tryadnean history books reported as fact but spoke of as myth. Sometimes Sholeh liked to close her eyes and daydream about what it must have been like to live back then, surrounded by fountains that spewed fresh water right in the middle of the street and whole buildings turned over to the collection of books and art and beauty. She knew that practical girls--like Zhahar, for example--dreamed of the times when Tryadnea was fertile farmland and rich forests, not the sprawling expanses of deserts surrounding small villages trying to eke out sustenance. And more adventurous girls--like Zeela--dreamed of the days when Tryadnea was connected to the rest of Ephemera, when anyone could go out and explore the landscapes surrounding them, without having to hide and fear being captured and reviled as demons.
But Sholeh, quiet, shy, studious Sholeh, dreamed of a life of beauty and books, where learning wasn't limited to daylight hours and reading wasn't curtailed by the number of texts that had survived from one move to the next.
It was easy for Sholeh to fall into the world of books; her sisters teased her about how unaware of her surroundings she could become when she was reading, her mothers sighed when she forgot to do her chores in favor of getting a few more precious moments in before the sun set. Zeela would have heard the commotion long before it got to their door. Zhahar would have heard their mothers getting up, hastily throwing on clothing and unbarring the door. Sholeh, however, didn't realize anything was amiss until everyone had come into the house and her mother Zephyra had begun issuing orders.
"Quick, stir up the fire," her mother said. "And you, Tabor, run and fetch Iason, we'll need his skills." A brief moment and then Morragen spoke, her aspect surfacing long enough to add, "Check Eirene Zoya a Thera's cottage. I believe Akil is spending the night with Zoya." And then she was gone and Zephyra was dominant again, speaking in the calm, crisp tones she only adopted when people were well and truly frightened and needed to look to a pillar of strength.
Either one of her sisters would probably have figured out what was happening by that time, but Sholeh was still trying to make sense of everything, like a dreamer woken from sleep and trying to figure out which world was real. It wasn't until she heard a woman's pain-filled groan, heard her mother's cry of "We're losing him!" that Sholeh was able to put it together. Zhahar would have rushed downstairs to help. Zeela would have rushed downstairs and gotten in the way, eager to do something. Sholeh remained huddled in the crawlspace, book discarded, unsure of what to do or how to help.
=Sholeh?= Zeela's voice was sleepy, but sharp with concern. She'd felt her little sister's distress and now both sisters were drifting upwards towards wakefulness. =What's going on?=
::It's Nahid Azadeh a Bahram,:: she replied, internal voice too quiet to be anything but a whisper. ::They've returned. They're hurt. Pretty badly.::
*Nahid Azadeh a Bahram?!* If Zhahar had been in control of the body, she would have gasped. *They're the last anchor! If they're here...*
=Then we're adrift again,= Zeela finished grimly.
::It's worse than that,:: Sholeh put in. ::Mother is afraid--::
She didn't have to finish. She didn't even have time to finish. There was a moment of complete silence below them followed by a keening wail. A wail of despair and grief and pain.
"We lost him," Zephyra said, voice dull. "Bahram is gone."
Another voice, Sholeh dimly recognized it as Samar's, which made sense. Samar Yusra a Israt had been on guard duty tonight. They would have been the first person to spot Nahid Azadeh a Bahram, in whatever condition they'd returned in. "Shall I tell Iason he might as well stay where he is?"
"No, we still need him. The wound that killed Bahram is showing through on Nahid. And she and Azadeh will need something to help them sleep tonight." Medusa's voice now. The more pragmatic of their mothers, she was the best suited to keeping everyone going for awhile, until the full impact of what had happened tonight finally sank in. "Go fetch their mothers. And Elek. They'll need to know their son is dead."
Upstairs in the crawlspace, the sisters clung tightly to one another, Sholeh's arms wrapped around her thin frame. Death was bad enough, but they couldn't imagine something like this. The loss of a sibling. Emptiness, where one had been just moments ago.
Several miles away, a field that had struggling to grow a crop of wheat, turned into another stretch of barren sand.
::Do we have to go?:: Sholeh asked, trying not to sound sulky but failing anyhow. She always sounded like when she was up against the united front of her older sisters. ::I'm tired and I'm hungry and I just want to go home.::
"Yes, we have to," Zeela retorted, not even breaking stride. "We missed yesterday because Zhahar wanted to go spend time with Nahid and Azadeh, so now we're behind."
*I'm not sorry for that,* Zhahar said tartly. *They needed a friendly visit. People are avoiding them now. It's not like your little project couldn't wait an additional day anyway.*
"I'm not saying you're wrong," Zeela said. "But I can't blame people for avoiding them. It's damn near creepy." She didn't have to explain what was creepy; they'd all felt it. The unnatural wrongness of three-now-two. "You think your visit did any good? They just laid there and stared at nothing."
*Well, it's better than avoiding them like they came back from the outside bearing plague,* Zhahar snapped. Sholeh could feel her emotions though, and knew that it wasn't anger at Zeela that was making their oldest sister's temper so short. It was fear and hopelessness. At Bahram's death. At their mothers' inability to find another landscape. And the steadily-encroaching desert. And why shouldn't she feel that way? Sholeh did. Everyone in the village did. *They held the anchor as long as they could and Bahram gave his life for it. They're heroes!*
::What good did it do?!:: Sholeh yelled, shocking both herself and her sisters. Zeela even skidded to a stop, stumbling and nearly falling over as she did. ::What did it gain us? The threads have snapped, Tryadnea's adrift again! If they'd just come home a few days earlier, they might have survived and we'd be in the exact same spot we are now!:: She sniffled and was close enough to the surface that hot tears prickled Zeela's eyes. ::We thought that sending a mixed-gendered Tryad would make it harder for people to discover their nature. But it didn't work. Neither Nahid nor Azadeh have spoken about what happened that night. And no one even knows what happened to Zarek Maur a Jiri. Their thread just vanished one day! And even the ones who made it back without losing a sibling...they're all different now! Changed. Broken, somehow. Maybe this whole idea is stupid. Maybe we should just stay in Tryadnea for as long as we can and then...::
*Sholeh...*
"And then what?!" Zeela snapped, talking over Zhahar. "Starve to death? Watch the streams and wells and rivers dry up? Resort to eating sand and drinking mud? Because in a few more years, that's all that will be left!"
*Zeela--*
There was a hard buzzing noise and three voices struggled to use the same throat, but for once Sholeh won, shoving her sisters out of the way long enough to stomp her foot and shout, "Maybe! It would be better than losing one of us to a group of people who hate what we are! Maybe it's what we get for being demons! Our final punishment for whatever we did that sent Tryadnea drifting all those centuries ago! Maybe instead of railing against the inevitable, we should just face it together!"
Not that she could hold against Zeela for long. "That's such bullshit, Sholeh! Just because you're too much of a scaredy-cat, afraid to look beyond the pages of one of your stupid books--"
*BOTH OF YOU SHUT UP!* Zhahar didn't raise her voice often, but when she did, it was to goo effect. Sholeh and Zeela stopped their arguing, aspects drawing together in the face of Zhahar's anger. *Thank you. Now, both you short-sighted idiots. Look.* She took advantage of her sisters' confusion to come into view and pointed. There was a small patch of desert just a few yards away from where they'd been arguing. It hadn't been there before--and it was far away from any other patch of desert they'd seen yet.
"Zeela, we're done here."
=But--!=
"No buts," Zhahar said firmly. "We have proof the desert is spreading. Exact measurements don't really matter now, do they? We're going home. Now."
There was a crackling tension in the air when they arrived home from school. Zhahar was instantly uneasy the moment she walked inside.
=Morrigen is in view,= Zeela said, wary.
::Did we do someting wrong?:: Sholeh asked, voice small. ::I remembered my chores last night, I did!::
*I don't--* Zhahar's attempt to soothe her sisters was stymied when the other person in the room stepped forward. Allone. No wonder Morrigen was out and the atmosphere was tense. Allone's presence was enough to put anyone on edge, but she seemed to take especial delight in needling their mothers. It was no secret that Allone had wanted to become the Tryads' leader back when she was still one herself.
"Ahhh, Sholeh Zeela a Zhahar, welcome home." She gave them a smile, one that showed her teeth.
"Thank you," Zhahar said automatically while Zeela bristled at the idea of being welcomed into their own home by a stranger and Sholeh sank as far down as she could while still remaining aware of the conversation. "I didn't mean to interrupt a meeting between you and our mothers--"
"It's no interruption, is it, Morragen?" Allone asked. "We were just sharing wonderful news. Your mothers have found our next landscape!"
"Is that true?" Zhahar asked. Morragen nodded, lips tightly compressed with anger. "Well, that's...good? Right?" Normally it would be, but Allone's malicious glee and her mother's simmering anger made no sense.
"It's wonderful news," Allone assured her. "You see, I slipped off of Tryadnea to do some advanced scouting. You'll admit that I'm the best for such a thing, no? And you'll never guess what I found!" She help up a brightly colored pamphlet, beaming the whole time. "There's an island nearby. And what happens to be on it? A school! Something called a 'high school.' It's for students just you and your sisters' age! Isn't that exciting!"
"Allone." Morragen's voice was cold and tightly controlled. "We haven't agreed on anything yet. There is no reason to show our daughters that pamphlet." Zhahar heard the subtle stress on the plurals there, reminding the other woman of her one face status. The narrowing of Allone's eyes showed she'd heard it, too.
"Of course not," Allone agreed. "But since everyone in the village knows what a little scholar Sholeh is, it makes sense to have your daughters attend, does it not?"
"They're just children--"
"And Nahid Azadeh a Bahram were only a few years older than your girls are now. Well, not that Bahram's getting any older, poor thing. Unless you think your daughters are too special to get sent on a mission that might save our people. Too important, maybe?"
Morragen's jaw clenched. "Every other Tryad sent was of age," she hissed. "And a volunteer. My daughters--"
"Haven't had a chance to say anything, I know." Allone shoved the pamphlet into Zhahar's hands.
Zhahar looked down at the flier in her hands, her sisters crowding close, even Sholeh. The paper was unlike anything she'd ever seen before, almost a riot of color, smooth and glossy. Fandom High.
=This is some kind of trap,= Zeela growled.
*I know,* Zhahar replied, opening it up and stifling a gasp. So much greenery! There was a picture of a forest! And the sea! A huge castle with happy, chatting students carrying books. A picture of a vaulting room filled with books and sunlight. A cheerful looking town, with real roads and a friendly collection of shops. *But look at this place!*
=It can't be real.=
*How could Allone have created something like this?* Zhahar wasn't even reading the words, just pouring over the incredibly realistic pictures. It was like looking through a window to the outside, only instead of the village they'd grown up with, it was--
::Like old Tryadnea...:: Sholeh breathed. ::It's like what the old histories describe.::
=I don't trust it.=
*But how can we say no?* Zhahar asked. *She has our mothers over a barrel. If people start to think that we didn't go because of her position...* Even now, Allone was arguing why it would have to be someone who could pose as a student, rather than an adult who went. Her reasons were compelling and Zhahar had no illusions that she would be able to sway people to her way of thinking.
=Say we don't want to go,= Zeela suggested. =They can't make us.=
*And let someone else's kid go in our stead? That'll make our mothers look just as bad as if they'd refused.*
=We'll say Sholeh was scared. Everyone knows Sholeh's afraid of her own shadow sometimes.=
*That could work...*
"No," Sholeh said aloud. Both Allone and Morragen's heads whipped around to look at her. Not that she noticed, she was still focused on the pictures of the school in front of her. "I'm scared. Kinda terrified, actually. But I want to go. I want to go to this school. I'll be an anchor for Tryadnea."
But that was long and long ago; a time that even most Tryadnean history books reported as fact but spoke of as myth. Sometimes Sholeh liked to close her eyes and daydream about what it must have been like to live back then, surrounded by fountains that spewed fresh water right in the middle of the street and whole buildings turned over to the collection of books and art and beauty. She knew that practical girls--like Zhahar, for example--dreamed of the times when Tryadnea was fertile farmland and rich forests, not the sprawling expanses of deserts surrounding small villages trying to eke out sustenance. And more adventurous girls--like Zeela--dreamed of the days when Tryadnea was connected to the rest of Ephemera, when anyone could go out and explore the landscapes surrounding them, without having to hide and fear being captured and reviled as demons.
But Sholeh, quiet, shy, studious Sholeh, dreamed of a life of beauty and books, where learning wasn't limited to daylight hours and reading wasn't curtailed by the number of texts that had survived from one move to the next.
It was easy for Sholeh to fall into the world of books; her sisters teased her about how unaware of her surroundings she could become when she was reading, her mothers sighed when she forgot to do her chores in favor of getting a few more precious moments in before the sun set. Zeela would have heard the commotion long before it got to their door. Zhahar would have heard their mothers getting up, hastily throwing on clothing and unbarring the door. Sholeh, however, didn't realize anything was amiss until everyone had come into the house and her mother Zephyra had begun issuing orders.
"Quick, stir up the fire," her mother said. "And you, Tabor, run and fetch Iason, we'll need his skills." A brief moment and then Morragen spoke, her aspect surfacing long enough to add, "Check Eirene Zoya a Thera's cottage. I believe Akil is spending the night with Zoya." And then she was gone and Zephyra was dominant again, speaking in the calm, crisp tones she only adopted when people were well and truly frightened and needed to look to a pillar of strength.
Either one of her sisters would probably have figured out what was happening by that time, but Sholeh was still trying to make sense of everything, like a dreamer woken from sleep and trying to figure out which world was real. It wasn't until she heard a woman's pain-filled groan, heard her mother's cry of "We're losing him!" that Sholeh was able to put it together. Zhahar would have rushed downstairs to help. Zeela would have rushed downstairs and gotten in the way, eager to do something. Sholeh remained huddled in the crawlspace, book discarded, unsure of what to do or how to help.
=Sholeh?= Zeela's voice was sleepy, but sharp with concern. She'd felt her little sister's distress and now both sisters were drifting upwards towards wakefulness. =What's going on?=
::It's Nahid Azadeh a Bahram,:: she replied, internal voice too quiet to be anything but a whisper. ::They've returned. They're hurt. Pretty badly.::
*Nahid Azadeh a Bahram?!* If Zhahar had been in control of the body, she would have gasped. *They're the last anchor! If they're here...*
=Then we're adrift again,= Zeela finished grimly.
::It's worse than that,:: Sholeh put in. ::Mother is afraid--::
She didn't have to finish. She didn't even have time to finish. There was a moment of complete silence below them followed by a keening wail. A wail of despair and grief and pain.
"We lost him," Zephyra said, voice dull. "Bahram is gone."
Another voice, Sholeh dimly recognized it as Samar's, which made sense. Samar Yusra a Israt had been on guard duty tonight. They would have been the first person to spot Nahid Azadeh a Bahram, in whatever condition they'd returned in. "Shall I tell Iason he might as well stay where he is?"
"No, we still need him. The wound that killed Bahram is showing through on Nahid. And she and Azadeh will need something to help them sleep tonight." Medusa's voice now. The more pragmatic of their mothers, she was the best suited to keeping everyone going for awhile, until the full impact of what had happened tonight finally sank in. "Go fetch their mothers. And Elek. They'll need to know their son is dead."
Upstairs in the crawlspace, the sisters clung tightly to one another, Sholeh's arms wrapped around her thin frame. Death was bad enough, but they couldn't imagine something like this. The loss of a sibling. Emptiness, where one had been just moments ago.
Several miles away, a field that had struggling to grow a crop of wheat, turned into another stretch of barren sand.
::Do we have to go?:: Sholeh asked, trying not to sound sulky but failing anyhow. She always sounded like when she was up against the united front of her older sisters. ::I'm tired and I'm hungry and I just want to go home.::
"Yes, we have to," Zeela retorted, not even breaking stride. "We missed yesterday because Zhahar wanted to go spend time with Nahid and Azadeh, so now we're behind."
*I'm not sorry for that,* Zhahar said tartly. *They needed a friendly visit. People are avoiding them now. It's not like your little project couldn't wait an additional day anyway.*
"I'm not saying you're wrong," Zeela said. "But I can't blame people for avoiding them. It's damn near creepy." She didn't have to explain what was creepy; they'd all felt it. The unnatural wrongness of three-now-two. "You think your visit did any good? They just laid there and stared at nothing."
*Well, it's better than avoiding them like they came back from the outside bearing plague,* Zhahar snapped. Sholeh could feel her emotions though, and knew that it wasn't anger at Zeela that was making their oldest sister's temper so short. It was fear and hopelessness. At Bahram's death. At their mothers' inability to find another landscape. And the steadily-encroaching desert. And why shouldn't she feel that way? Sholeh did. Everyone in the village did. *They held the anchor as long as they could and Bahram gave his life for it. They're heroes!*
::What good did it do?!:: Sholeh yelled, shocking both herself and her sisters. Zeela even skidded to a stop, stumbling and nearly falling over as she did. ::What did it gain us? The threads have snapped, Tryadnea's adrift again! If they'd just come home a few days earlier, they might have survived and we'd be in the exact same spot we are now!:: She sniffled and was close enough to the surface that hot tears prickled Zeela's eyes. ::We thought that sending a mixed-gendered Tryad would make it harder for people to discover their nature. But it didn't work. Neither Nahid nor Azadeh have spoken about what happened that night. And no one even knows what happened to Zarek Maur a Jiri. Their thread just vanished one day! And even the ones who made it back without losing a sibling...they're all different now! Changed. Broken, somehow. Maybe this whole idea is stupid. Maybe we should just stay in Tryadnea for as long as we can and then...::
*Sholeh...*
"And then what?!" Zeela snapped, talking over Zhahar. "Starve to death? Watch the streams and wells and rivers dry up? Resort to eating sand and drinking mud? Because in a few more years, that's all that will be left!"
*Zeela--*
There was a hard buzzing noise and three voices struggled to use the same throat, but for once Sholeh won, shoving her sisters out of the way long enough to stomp her foot and shout, "Maybe! It would be better than losing one of us to a group of people who hate what we are! Maybe it's what we get for being demons! Our final punishment for whatever we did that sent Tryadnea drifting all those centuries ago! Maybe instead of railing against the inevitable, we should just face it together!"
Not that she could hold against Zeela for long. "That's such bullshit, Sholeh! Just because you're too much of a scaredy-cat, afraid to look beyond the pages of one of your stupid books--"
*BOTH OF YOU SHUT UP!* Zhahar didn't raise her voice often, but when she did, it was to goo effect. Sholeh and Zeela stopped their arguing, aspects drawing together in the face of Zhahar's anger. *Thank you. Now, both you short-sighted idiots. Look.* She took advantage of her sisters' confusion to come into view and pointed. There was a small patch of desert just a few yards away from where they'd been arguing. It hadn't been there before--and it was far away from any other patch of desert they'd seen yet.
"Zeela, we're done here."
=But--!=
"No buts," Zhahar said firmly. "We have proof the desert is spreading. Exact measurements don't really matter now, do they? We're going home. Now."
There was a crackling tension in the air when they arrived home from school. Zhahar was instantly uneasy the moment she walked inside.
=Morrigen is in view,= Zeela said, wary.
::Did we do someting wrong?:: Sholeh asked, voice small. ::I remembered my chores last night, I did!::
*I don't--* Zhahar's attempt to soothe her sisters was stymied when the other person in the room stepped forward. Allone. No wonder Morrigen was out and the atmosphere was tense. Allone's presence was enough to put anyone on edge, but she seemed to take especial delight in needling their mothers. It was no secret that Allone had wanted to become the Tryads' leader back when she was still one herself.
"Ahhh, Sholeh Zeela a Zhahar, welcome home." She gave them a smile, one that showed her teeth.
"Thank you," Zhahar said automatically while Zeela bristled at the idea of being welcomed into their own home by a stranger and Sholeh sank as far down as she could while still remaining aware of the conversation. "I didn't mean to interrupt a meeting between you and our mothers--"
"It's no interruption, is it, Morragen?" Allone asked. "We were just sharing wonderful news. Your mothers have found our next landscape!"
"Is that true?" Zhahar asked. Morragen nodded, lips tightly compressed with anger. "Well, that's...good? Right?" Normally it would be, but Allone's malicious glee and her mother's simmering anger made no sense.
"It's wonderful news," Allone assured her. "You see, I slipped off of Tryadnea to do some advanced scouting. You'll admit that I'm the best for such a thing, no? And you'll never guess what I found!" She help up a brightly colored pamphlet, beaming the whole time. "There's an island nearby. And what happens to be on it? A school! Something called a 'high school.' It's for students just you and your sisters' age! Isn't that exciting!"
"Allone." Morragen's voice was cold and tightly controlled. "We haven't agreed on anything yet. There is no reason to show our daughters that pamphlet." Zhahar heard the subtle stress on the plurals there, reminding the other woman of her one face status. The narrowing of Allone's eyes showed she'd heard it, too.
"Of course not," Allone agreed. "But since everyone in the village knows what a little scholar Sholeh is, it makes sense to have your daughters attend, does it not?"
"They're just children--"
"And Nahid Azadeh a Bahram were only a few years older than your girls are now. Well, not that Bahram's getting any older, poor thing. Unless you think your daughters are too special to get sent on a mission that might save our people. Too important, maybe?"
Morragen's jaw clenched. "Every other Tryad sent was of age," she hissed. "And a volunteer. My daughters--"
"Haven't had a chance to say anything, I know." Allone shoved the pamphlet into Zhahar's hands.
Zhahar looked down at the flier in her hands, her sisters crowding close, even Sholeh. The paper was unlike anything she'd ever seen before, almost a riot of color, smooth and glossy. Fandom High.
=This is some kind of trap,= Zeela growled.
*I know,* Zhahar replied, opening it up and stifling a gasp. So much greenery! There was a picture of a forest! And the sea! A huge castle with happy, chatting students carrying books. A picture of a vaulting room filled with books and sunlight. A cheerful looking town, with real roads and a friendly collection of shops. *But look at this place!*
=It can't be real.=
*How could Allone have created something like this?* Zhahar wasn't even reading the words, just pouring over the incredibly realistic pictures. It was like looking through a window to the outside, only instead of the village they'd grown up with, it was--
::Like old Tryadnea...:: Sholeh breathed. ::It's like what the old histories describe.::
=I don't trust it.=
*But how can we say no?* Zhahar asked. *She has our mothers over a barrel. If people start to think that we didn't go because of her position...* Even now, Allone was arguing why it would have to be someone who could pose as a student, rather than an adult who went. Her reasons were compelling and Zhahar had no illusions that she would be able to sway people to her way of thinking.
=Say we don't want to go,= Zeela suggested. =They can't make us.=
*And let someone else's kid go in our stead? That'll make our mothers look just as bad as if they'd refused.*
=We'll say Sholeh was scared. Everyone knows Sholeh's afraid of her own shadow sometimes.=
*That could work...*
"No," Sholeh said aloud. Both Allone and Morragen's heads whipped around to look at her. Not that she noticed, she was still focused on the pictures of the school in front of her. "I'm scared. Kinda terrified, actually. But I want to go. I want to go to this school. I'll be an anchor for Tryadnea."