Attanya

Nameria

Nameria

            Fabric slid over their skin, it rustled with the movement of the dance. The trickle of the strings bounced off of the bare walls, stone resonated the music into countless cords. Bare feet padded on rough stone, the flow of water down the sacred walls into every crevice with light. Light reflected off the bodies of the twin dancers.

            The twins could only have been opposites in every way, the sister formal with her deep red hair tied into a dance of loops upon her head. Every ounce of her was royal, despite the fact that they were born to the Lesser of their tribe. Her arced eye brows and light blue eyes focused on the future that only she saw.

            Under the flow green fabric of the ceremonial robes was a lean body, muscles trained in the art of energy-gathering but lean and elegant. The brother however was masculine; strength was the strongest feature about him besides his stubborn personality. The Dance of the Moon, performed by every disciple under each full moon, was fluid and tiresome yet he was among the best. Muscles trained to fight were not a problem but were encouraged, only during the Dance the marks of the traveler appeared on his body.

            Under the skin of each traveler were bright lines of energy that only the elite of the travelers were honored to have appear on his earthly body. The true marks of a traveler were the white streaks of hair in contrast to his natural brown hair.

            Their bodies moved as one from years of dedication to the dance, as is expected of every disciple. Every movement was flawless, the brother and sister danced without missing a beat until a single drop of water that glowed bounced off their intertwined hands. Broken from their trance they meet each other’s eyes for the first time in hours. That single drop of water echoed in the cave unlike the music that faded away. The water mimicked the sound of instruments but was created by the will of the twins; now that it was broken silence followed the echoed drop.

            As one their hands drop to fall into the light layers of clothing they wore for the ceremony. The last of the energy surged through their bodies ebbed, the seemingly energized pair now returned to their bound bodies. “It’s finished brother, would you like to write the scroll or shall I?” Nameria was the first to speak, her voice hallow with exhaustion from the day long ritual.

            Although when they performed the ritual they were parallel, when their personalities emerged they were bound to argue.

            Jaleel reached above him, the brother pulled at his muscles. His white ritual clothes stuck to his skin from exertion. He met her light blue eyes again, he nodded. “I have other preparations to complete, please finish the ceremony for us.” With a bow of his head Jaleel left the fading cave, the water that dribbled from the crevices now carried away this crop of energy to the ever glowing heart of the great tree.

            Nameria stayed behind, slowly lowered her weakened body to the floor. She waited until the soft padding of his feet disappeared into the hum of the ground before she sighed; the final remnants of her energy were needed elsewhere than appearances. The only object in the room was a small wooden table that held a parchment and a quill. Without pausing for a break, she began to write her report of the latest shift in time.

            Although the progress of the hundred season change was beginning the final season, it annoyed Nameria that she had to use such methods to have a clear reading of what was to come. The downfall of the fore-bearer was the lack of consistency of the Prophecies. Each and every living being may change the course of the future so each of these reports may become utterly useless if one person decided to turn left instead of right.

            The scratch of her quill filled the silence of the cave; the others were bound to be out of trance by now and filed their own reports. Siscile should be the one that wrote the report for her team, unless she saw something that couldn’t be written quickly. She sighed, Nameria sketched a small pattern before she finished the short report. Nameria read over it one last time before she concluded and tightly rolled it before she sealed it with a bit of energy that marked it as her report.

            Nameria stood to leave the small hole and turned left down the dimly lit tunnel. Nameria followed it as her muscles slowly calmed down; a day of energy loss always took its toll of the Weavers so that most of them all found the nearest bath to soak out the sores.

            Before long she reached the animal out post where she could send off her report to the elders, only one other stood there to tie it to the leg of a small white fox-cat. The one person she had hoped to see, Siscile’s short frame was hard to miss although it wasn’t uncommon for her blood branch to be short of stature. “Siscile, how was your Dance?” Nameria trotted to her longtime friend, she knelt beside the sleepy child animal and tucked her scroll into the same carrier compartment as her friends.

            Siscile’s high pitch voice sighed. “It was long; this Moon’s Dance was difficult.” Nameria looked up from her knelt position to look into the young girl’s eyes, deep green eyes smiled at her.

             “How was the toll on you sister?” Although they were not actually related, they were like family because Siscile’s parents cared for her and her brother since a tender age.

            Before she answered, Nameria reached out with a gentle touch to the small carrier animal. A gentle touch sent the fox-cat through a hole that lead to the roots of the glade. Patches of grass grew on the lining of the hole, though this was just one of the many holes riddled in the side of the cave for the animals to access it. “It was remarkably uneventful. Although the hundred seasons are on their final legs, the future hasn’t changed much.” Nameria sighed as she stood and wave the young child ahead of her. If they followed the tunnel they will reach the bathing springs, the energy zinged through its waters helped refresh the tired workers. The pair walked in silence for a while, though it didn’t take long before the sound of rushing water to fill the air.

            Two turns of the tunnel and the sound of laughter and voices joined the sound of water; the river was already doing its work in energizing its workers. The shear amount of energy it took to fill the chrysalis for another moon was remarkable, each time the moon glowed completely the pairs head to their underground rooms to change the energy of the earth into viable energy that the Stone of Life could use to keep the tree alive. The entire life of the Glade depended on the people living there, the magicians that kept the flow of energy in motion. No matter what happened there were always disciples here to keep the energy in motion so that their people may live.

            They rounded the last corner when the pair walked into a tall carved room where water fell from the ceiling in focused streams, on the far side of the room a hole in the ground was filled with woman in its warm waters. Every woman in the room ranged from old to just hitting the change. The Glade didn’t care what age a worker was, only the gift they were born with. For those of them that were born with the inherent gift to see the future, dancing with energy was something they were destined to do.

             When the flocculating energy of their partner surges through them, they can see the future of land. Those like Nameria are charged with writing down what they see and sending it to the elders so they might understand what they have to do next. Though the other workers were different. Some were like Siscile, energy weavers. They may access the lands energy and change it within their heart into something that protects the Stone of energy which protects the veil that exists in the tree. Those may combine their energy with the Seers in their Dance. Then there are the few that are born with more than one gift, those like Nameria’s brother. Not only can he transform energy but he can go to other places, places only he can go.

            “You look exhausted.” The flat tone of her sensei took her attention, Siscile already dropped the ceremonial clothes each of them wore and jumped into the nearest pool of water. The same water that glowed so bright that it was as if they had lanterns hanging every few feet.

            Meeting the deep brown eyes of her teacher, Nameria nodded. “Time was the same but it took so much out of me this time. Jaleel didn’t appear affected so I don’t know why this time was different.”

            Her teacher smiled, her bare body glistening with glowing water droplets. Each moment they stayed on her, the dimmer they became. Her body slowly absorbed their energy in an attempt to make up for all of the energy she just gave away. “That seems to be the case for everyone else this time around, Tapia fainted and her partner had to take her to the Stone room.” Her voice didn’t fluxgate as she spoke, never has Nameria heard her tone rise above a whisper in the five years she has been training under her. Before turning away she nodded, long brown hair sticking to her from the wet.

            Nameria left her teacher to mull over this new information, Nameria stripped and found the nearest falling stream of glowing water. Most of the dancers preferred to go straight to the pools; however Nameria wasn’t one to swim often. She stepped into the gently falling light, she felt the hum of energy from the glowing water enter her body. It didn’t take long for the strain of her muscles to ease; as Nameria stretched she felt relief from the rejuvenating water.

            The woman stood still, she noticed the gentle pressure above her eyes. She always had visions, though it is only through the Dance that she could see any further than three months. Nameria closed eyes and recited the steps to sight, the longer she nonverbally recited the words the more pressure she felt behind her forehead. It was to the point that someone could have touched her head and it would have felt like it was going to explode.

            All at once her body clenched up, each muscle unable to move in anticipation for what she was about to see. Behind her closed eye lids light begins from a pinpoint, slowly then all at once it spread to all of her vision. The feeling deep in her chest told her that what she saw wasn’t from her own eyes.

            Before her was a long building less area with reflective boxes sitting in rows, at the forefront of those is a very large white Dragon. Fear filled her though it was not her own, followed by curiosity and joy. She was abruptly ripped away and thrown into a river of events that led up to one solidary conclusion, two years from now a fire will end it all and the first step was for the veil to be crossed by one of their own.

            Her body collapsed under the strain of events that she had no control over, hands pulled her from the water covered floor and wrap her in a thick fabric. She came to with a single breath of relief, though when she opened her eyes she met many eyes. Silently she understood that she wasn’t the only one that dropped; slowly she sat up and saw the other three female Seers all wrapped up not too far from her.

            They meet her gaze, each with the same look in their eyes.  Nameria was the one to speak what the four of them already knew. “The Thousand Seasons are coming to an end; two winters from now the girl with either succeed or fail.”

            The second Seer with no hair but feminine features spoke next, her voice followed without missing a beat. “The Decedent is finally returning.”

            Next was the oldest among the present seers. “She is brought by the white one, now the Shrouded King must be told.”

            “The Wassail have already sent the Champion to the North.” The last sighed with a smile, though worry creased her brow. The final stage was upon us, the most fragile part of the Thousand seasons.

            “And my brother has to be mercy bound so he doesn’t do something stupid.” Nameria rolled her eyes as the four of them laughed, although he was the guardian of the young girl that was fated to change everything he had a temper that matched no other. Once he set his mind to something he would see it through to the end even if he took some of the stupidest steps imaginable. The vision was clear, although it didn’t show what he would do all of them knew that if he found out about this before having the binding on him he would rush to find the girl before thinking of a plan. Nameria sighed and stood, “I’ll tell the elders, no one speak of this.”

            Heldia met Nameria eyes, her uncovered face strained with concern. “Shouldn’t we bind your brother first?”

            The younger woman shook her head and she stood straight, the cloth barely covered her bare body. “No, the others will know to keep it from him. We have to have permission before setting the bind and fortunately everyone here agrees that he doesn’t think far enough ahead to not travel there the moment he hears the news.”