Avva's P.O.V.
730 Words
I sat peering through the dimensions, with a mug of kaffee, sweet and syrupy, in my hands. I was trying to calm my mind. I had had another nightmare. Vivid. Disturbing. Always the same. I was surrounded by creatures, fighting humans. The details were always fuzzy upon awakening, but what always stuck was the battle and the sense of extreme danger.
When it became apparent that scrying the dimensions calmed me, Father had a scrying bowl installed in my chambers, if you could even call it a bowl. It stood four feet high, and the bowl itself was four feet across, and made of obsidian. Crystal clear water filled it to the brim, making it the perfect screen for peeking into the next kingdom, or the next dimension.
But I would be leaving my gift behind too soon. I was to join Broma's first integrated company. Broman women had always fought alongside their men, that was nothing new. But humans had never fought alongside Broma's creature population. Until now. I would be training with trolls, orcs, goblins, golems and the Drache people. And lodging in the barracks with them. My nightmare, perhaps, would come to life. One thing my father had never been is a nepotist. No special treatment for me. And truthfully, I didn’t want it that way. If this scheme was to be a success, my fellow soldiers and I would have to trust each other, and going home to the palace each night would only make me appear to be a covert agent for the human race.
Like all human children, I had heard horror stories of all the creature races at my nursemaid's knee, meant as fables, to warn us away from those who were so different from us. And the most terrifying were those of the Drache. And as a sign of good faith, I, the king's own daughter, would now be fighting next to them. Putting my prejudices aside was going to be difficult.
Instead of looking into my favorite dimension - one where creatures never existed or had long since gone extinct - I was searching, likely in vain, for a dimension where humans and creatures lived in harmony. There are so many dimensions that I had not yet found what I sought when Father's voice penetrated my concentration.
"Avva, it's time," he announced, not unkindly. He knew I had my misgivings. I let out a deep sigh and reluctantly lifted my gaze to meet his.
"I just don't see how this can work, Da." This would be my last attempt to reason with him. Even before the words left my lips, I knew the outcome would be the same.
"You're a soldier, Avva. You've been a soldier since you could lift a spear, and you took to soldiering as if born to it. And now you have the opportunity to teach all you know to these creatures, who likely have as much, if not more that they can teach you."
Father was right. I was never more myself then when I had a weapon in my hand. When I had time to idle, then my anxiety would take root. And my favored spear always nipped that anxiety in the bud. But one can't always be fighting or training, and that's where the scrying came in.
"I have a gift for you, before you go," he said, with a slight grin, and produced a much smaller scrying bowl from behind his back. Still obsidian, like my large one, but this one was the size of a bucket. My eyes welled with grateful tears.
"Thank you, Da," I replied reaching for the gift.
"Wait! I haven't showed you the best part yet! Observe," he said, running his finger clockwise along the rim. As his finger went, the bowl gradually shrank to the size of a tea cup. He then performed the same motion, but counter clockwise, and the bowl not only returned to its normal size, but grew larger as he started a second rotation.
"I've had it enchanted so that it can go wherever you go without being a burden," he explained, smiling magnificently. I wrapped him in a hug. He had always been the best at finding the perfect gift at the perfect time to ease any transition.
"Well," I said, moving for the door, "now's as good a time as any, I suppose." And so, I stepped through the door into my new life.
- Writer
