Rings of Gold

An old friend...

It was not the sound of her mother’s voice that woke Xelia up, but rather the presence of her mother as she opened the door to her daughter’s room. She had been dreaming of riding one of the massive hadroans, usually used as pack animals, into the city and being hailed as the most powerful shamaness of her era. Being pulled from that dream was agonizing and as her mother came to the side of her bed, she groaned and desperately wanted to return to sleep. Rather than letting her daughter fall back into the darkness however, her mother said, “I have been calling for you for a while…”. Xelia could tell that her mother sounded slightly annoyed, as if she had expected better from her daughter. “You were supposed to wake early today, remember?” Xelia tried to bury herself deeper into the pillow and murmured “just a while longer…” but her mother would not have it. “There are things to discuss and people to meet young lady, you have to seize the day before it seizes you”. Without warning, she tickled Xelia’s right foot that was sticking out from under the blanket. The young lizardess twisted to get away from her mother’s touch, but only managed to snag herself in the blanket and tumble out of the bed. She hit the ground with a thud and groaned “ow…” before her mother pulled the blanket of her, making her roll onto the floor. Had they been further north, the floor would have been cold. In Shakthep, the floor ever only became cool, and she quickly stood up to avoid even that. Her mother seemed pleased as she brushed of some dirt and she grinned “good, now get ready young lady”.

Xelia had a quick bath before she dressed and got ready for the day. Her mother had told her yesterday that they would be visited by one of her old friends from the eastlands. What her mother had not told her, but she had figured out anyway, was that said friend was important in determining Xelia’s future. She could not be sure, but she was convinced that the friend was a shamaness from the east who would school her or even recommend that she joined the temple. If Xelia was lucky, she would even recommend that Xelia travelled east and joined one of the bigger temples there, where she could perfect her power far better than she could in Shakthep’s small temple. Few could muster the same amount of knowledge of Sejd that the lizards of the east could, and she knew that if she were sent there, her dream of becoming powerful and wealthy would surely come to be. She knew that they would be visited by an old friend today and that said friend would be important for Xelia’s future. Hopefully, it was a shamaness from the east who could school her or even recommend her to join the temple.

She dressed in soft blue linen clothing that made her stand out from most people of the city. Despite being so far north of the imperial cities, Shakthep housed a considerable lizard kin population and some of their cultural clothing had become fashion among the city’s inhabitants. Xelia knew that the blue dress was considered a bit flamboyant by her mother, but she loved it and wore it whenever she had the opportunity. She also dressed in some copper arm rings that her mother had gifted her a year back and she always closed her eyes as she put them on, imagining them being made of pure gold rather than copper. She did the same with her necklace and pretended to have to male lizard servants helping her with her jewelry, which made her giggle before she opened her eyes. “One day…” she whispered to herself as she moved out of her room and closed the door.

When she came into the open area that made up the living room, she bowed to her mother and sat down at the table. Food was plentiful in their house, but they lacked the finer food of the eastlands or even the Anubian empire. Xelia could still remember the luxuries she had seen when she had been invited to a small feast with the anubian governor and it made her heart ache with longing for more gold and status. Her mother had been rich before she was born, but the money had somehow drained away over the years as her mother had been stationed in Shakthep as a diplomat. Xelia had asked her mother about it but had only been given a blank stare in reply. Perhaps her mother had wasted the money, or she had lost it one some venture. It did not really matter as they had enough for now… or at least that was what Xelia tried to convince herself off, although she deep down wanted more than what her mother could provide for her.

When breakfast was done, one of their two servants began to clean the table. As Hisha, Xelia’s mother, usually spent most of her days with correspondence from the various tribes of the east and the Anubian empire, Xelia was unused to see her mother stay at the table as the servant cleaned it. It felt strange to see her mother sit there and as the servant finished the job, she thanked her and asked her to fetch some scrolls from her office. Xelia followed the servant as she left before asking “I take it you are free today?”. Hisha smiled before nodding “Yes, I will be spending the day with you and my friend, once she shows up”.

Before Xelia had time to respond, the other servant came into the room and headed over to Hisha, leaning in close and whispering something in her ear. Hisha seemed leased and turned to her daughter “remain seated. I will have my friend come in”. She made a motion for the servant “She is welcome. Tell her to come in”. Hisha sat slightly straighter and gave her daughter a meaningful glance as she did. Xelia corrected her position and waited patiently for the friend to arrive through the great hallway that led into the living room. She could feel tension rising in her body as she hoped that it would be an eastern shamaness or some other matriarch of repute that could increase their standing with but a movement of her hand. As she heard the steps grew louder, she concluded that it had the woman had fairly large claws that tapped against the floor as she moved and that she moved with grace and dignity rather than determination. Xelia felt her heard pound and sitting still became a challenge as the steps grew louder. Hisha must have noticed that her daughter began to fiddle as she shot her another meaningful glance. “Be still” she whispered, “Remember that dignity is above all else…”. Her mother’s tone of voice made it clear that Xelia had no room for error, so she forced herself to be still. She focused her mind on the reward that was hopefully waiting around the corner…

When Satesha came around the corner, Xelia found herself barely able to breathe. The female lizardess had a sleek body with luscious black hair hanging down to her knees. Her eyes were the fiery red of a woman that had seen what life had to offer and taken it the moment she could reach for it. What made her a rarity even among lizard females was the fact that she had black scales the color of onyx. It stood in stark contrast to her soft, almost white belly color and she had not let herself grow soft from the comfortable work as a shamaness. Compared to Xelia’s mother, Satesha was athletic and strong, her body only covered by a beautiful white loincloth that reached almost all the way down to the floor. Her tribal colors were woven into the loincloth with golden thread and to Xelia’s excitement, the woman had both her n*****s and her lip pierced with golden rings. Her navel was silver, and she wore golden jewelry along her arms and legs. She had a rather visible scar along one of her arms and from what Xelia could tell, her aura had the telltale signs of someone who had been dealing with both spirits and daemons. It was entirely possible to let a daemon possess one’s body as payment for power or future favors, so Xelia did not doubt that this woman had let at least one Daemon abuse her body for her own personal gain.

Hisha grinned as she saw Satesha and had the setting been different and her daughter not present, she would have attacked her old friend and seen if she were still as good at wrestling as she had been when they were young. Hisha admired the athletic body that the black lizardess and she still remembered the grueling runs that they had done in their teenage years as punishments for various infractions that the two of them always seemed to cause. For a moment she felt self-conscious of the fact that she had not taken the time to work on her own body in the recent years, but the work of a diplomat rarely required physical prowess but a social grace that few could muster. As for willpower, well Satesha had that in spades. She had golden rings after all and there was little, she did not know of the shamanistic arts. If anyone could tell her about her daughter’s potential, it was her old friend, and she took a deep breath and forced herself to look calm and dignified as she spoke “Greetings shamaness…” before bowing her head and making a gesture towards the table. “Please join us at our table and take part in our family’s bounty and wealth”. Satesha bowed her head and walked over to the able and sitting down with a graceful movement. Her piercings glimmered in the light from the open windows, and she turned her eyes towards Xelia “I see that this is the youngling you want examined”. Her stern gaze made Xelia shiver softly… she could feel the Sejd flowing through the shamanesses body, and she could feel that there was something else following her. Perhaps she had recruited a Vana, a spirit follower, who kept its guard up against any attempts at affecting the shamaness with Sejd or magic.  “I can see that she has been raised well. She is silent and remains still despite her urge to ask me a thousand questions…”. Hisha smiled, taking in the compliment from her friend “Oh she is a handful, trust me. She is far to intelligent and willful for her own good. I suspect that she has already mastered some things she should not, including some of the gifts that come with the knowledge of Sejd”. Satesha shifted her gaze to Hisha and raised an eyebrow before asking “At such a young age?”, at which Hisha nodded “Yes, I have made sure to teach her some control though, to make sure she did not hurt herself or accidentally summoned something greater than what she could control… such as Daemon”. Satesha’s eyes narrowed, and she responded with a “I see that you still have not forgotten about that episode, but it is good that you have taught her to control the flow so that spirits or daemons do not come to feast on her power”. She reached out for a cup of water, quenching her thirst. Hisha admired Satesha as she swallowed the water and she wondered if she would have become her assistant in another life.

The conversation had shifted from the formal discussion of Xelia to a more casual conversation about the current situation for Hisha and Satesha. Xelia was still listening, but she was also studying the black lizardess and tried to not stare at her piercings, but it was inevitable that she did. They were beautiful and she hoped that she too would one day were the rings that symbolized a highly trained and powerful shamaness. Luckily for her, the shamaness seemed used to the attention and did not seem to mind as she discussed her life with Hisha. She had apparently been surprised when Hisha had been assigned as a diplomat to Shakthep, although she suspected that there had been some political maneuvering in the tribe that lead to her being sent away. As for her, she had become rather famous as a Daemon hunter and she had dealt with both minor and major Daemons that needed to be either banished, imprisoned or bargained with. She had also grown in power since their last meeting, which she displayed by pouring Sejd into the candles at the table, awakening the small fire spirits within and having them dance in their air above the table. Xelia stared at the display with a baffled expression, not sure if she should be impressed or annoyed at such a waste of Sejd. Hisha seemed impressed however and applauded her growth in power, even going so far as to ask her if she planned to become an elder of a temple before long. Satesha laughed at the questioned and shook her head, explaining that she enjoyed the travel and that she planned to spend at least a few more years on the road before settling down in one of the tribal temples and schooling the next generation. For some reason, Xelia felt that the question had somehow been about her, and she shifted her eyes to her mother, but not seeing any sort of response from her mother, she returned to admiring the shamaness in front of her.

Soon enough they moved away from the living room and entered the small garden that Hisha had created a few years back. While not a master of Sejd in the same way that Satesha was, Xelia’s mother had used her training and Sejd to help create a small but lush garden outside. The small embassy was surrounded by a wall that shielded it from outside eyes and the garden had been placed between the northern wall and the back entrance to the house. This had caused quite the stir among the servants as they were used to entering or leaving the embassy through the back entrance. Most nobles would have forbidden their servants from using the garden, but Hisha did not care about them spending time or even relaxing in the garden as long as it did not interfere with their duties. This had made the garden a popular spot for the servants to spend time in between shifts. Some of the servants had even hooked up in the garden, something that Xelia had never seen but heard about.

The garden itself was built in three layers, the outer layer consisting of smaller bushes and rows of beautiful flowers that varied in color along the rows. It was well kept and only a very small child could hide between the bushes. The second layer contained some small fountains that helped with watering the surrounding plants, something that Hisha was immensely proud of as she had convinced two water spirits to power the small fountains.  She often went out and rewarded their work with Sejd and she had built up a rather good relationship with the two spirits, who kept the water flowing freely. Hisha had once staged a small show there for the nobles of the city and had used the bushes and rows to her advantage in order to create a compelling narrative. She still owed a small favor from one of the nobles who had been there after having had him seated much closer to the front row than he should have.

The third layer of the garden was along the wall and built much like a small maze. The bushes were high and thick there, to prevent discussions from easily being heard from outside. The green heavy bushes smelled sweetly and Xelia had been allowed to pick the flowers that grew alongside the high bushes. The innermost part of the garden contained a secluded meeting place where servants were usually not allowed, but Hisha was well aware of the fact that it was a favorite place for servants to mate if they found an interesting partner. She had only once been forced to punish a servant for spending far too much time there and it had mostly been because the male had been somewhat rude when she interrupted him there. That particular male had been forced to seek other work and he had been replaced by the male that waited for the females at the table in the middle of the meeting place.

Hrath was slender for a male and he kept his hair short, if only to display his markings, which began at the neck and went down over his back and all the way down to his knees. Male markings were usually far smaller, and it made him stand out among the lizards that worked for the embassy. His color was almost the same as Hisha, except for his hair that was a darker shade of green than his scales, which made him blend into the garden, which was one of the reasons that Hisha kept him as her personal servant. He was a favorite among the female servants as he was both well behaved and kept himself clean at almost all times. As he offered them seats and made sure they had what they needed to continue their discussion, Satesha let her eyes wander over his markings and she asked him “Were they always that big or have they grown since they appeared?” before sitting down. Hrath turned to her and smiled “they have grown somewhat, but not much. They came when I was young and have stayed almost the same throughout my life” he stood slightly taller, moving his back slightly towards the shamaness to show her more of his markings. Satesha nodded and enjoyed his attempts at not glancing over her body before she replied with “A blessing from the spirits then. Hopefully, any younglings you father will share those markings” and turning back to Hisha. “I see that you still have an excellent eye for servants. I never understood how you manage to inspire such loyalty in them… I can barely keep an assistant for a year before they find a temple”. Xelia took a breath as she heard those words, and she did not hear her mother’s response to it. If Satesha was in need of an assistant, that might be the reason why she was here… it was not unheard of for shamanesses to school someone as an assistant before said assistant being schooled at a temple. Hisha nodded and responded with a “Well, I do have an eye for loyalty” before glancing at Hrath, who poured up wine for the two adults and some freshly squeezed juice for Xelia. “…but regarding the news from the east… we can talk about that later. I have a favor to ask of you” She dared a quick glance towards her daughter. “We both know that she has talent and I want you to examine that talent and see if she can be schooled in the local temple, or… sent east if her talent measure’s that high”.

Xelia wanted to scream in joy and jump up and down as her mother asked for the favor from Satesha. Her hopes and dreams suddenly seemed within reach as the shamaness looked at Xelia with interest, and Xelia did not want to ruin it by being overeager. Instead, she forced herself to remain still and look at Satesha with calm focused eyes. Satesha kept her eyes on Xelia for a while before saying “She does have willpower, but if she is to become a shamaness, I need to test not just her will, but her potential and command of the Sejd as well…”. The shamaness’ eyes began to glow softly as she commanded her Sejd “Let us see just how powerful you might become…”

The streets passed Xelia in a blur as she ran as fast as she could. She had already fallen once and the dress had become dirty on one side, which normally would have caused her great concern but now mattered little. Her feet carried her swiftly through the streets, away from the embassy in the direction of the market. Tishii lived with her mother not too far away from the great market and Xelia was familiar with the directions she needed to take to get there faster than the route she usually took. The houses looked mostly the same, with the sun-bleached walls and roofs reflecting some of the sunlight that came down from above even in the shady alleys that made up most of the city outside of the main streets. Most of the buildings hat flat roofs that allowed for the collection of the occasional rainwater and straight walls that were easy to maintain. Three stores were the average for most houses in the inner city, but there were houses with four or more stores in the richer part of town. Dozens of small gardens could be found behind smaller walls that divided the backyards from the narrow streets. Dozens of cloth lines hanged between the buildings upper floors and there were many places where one could hide or stay out of sight if one wanted, none of which bothered Xelia as she pushed herself to the limit to reach Tishii’s house.

As she ran, Xelia passed through a few small alleys that her mother always told her to avoid. There were some people sleeping against the side of a building and she could smell the scent of alcohol in the air as she passed them. She passed by a brewery and the strange smells that came from it disoriented her for a moment as she took a sharp turn around a corner. She almost ran into a pack animal but dodged it nimbly before hitting full speed again. She passed by a butcher stall which was known for its strange pieces of meat, and she came into one of the small-town squares that could be found in the depths of the city. She passed over it without as much as a glance to any of the people there and focused solely on reaching her destination as fast as possible. Had she not been dressed in such fine clothing, she would probably have been hassled by some of the citizens in the alleyways, but her clothing revealed her to be a part of the lizard kin embassy, meaning that anyone who hassled her would be in for some serious trouble as the anubian governor would not let the embassy be insulted.

When she left the Eyrie, the name for the district where the embassy was located, she crossed the river Az through the main bridge that connected the merchant quarter with the eyrie. The docks that lined the river was impressive, but Xelia had no attention for that as she ran over the bridge and passed into the merchant quarter. She followed the river southwards, until she reached the bend and then crossed straight into alleyways rather than following the ordinary road.

The moment she came into the small courtyard that was part of Tishii’s mother’s house, she ran straight past the servants who were currently tending to the two pack animals that were stationed just outside the house. Tishii’s mother was a merchant and while their house was not anywhere near as large as Xelia’s mother’s, it was still a bit bigger than the surrounding buildings. She knew that they kept a few servants and a few guards around, but she figured they would know her by sight and ignored them as she passed the ones tending to the pack animals. One of the servants called out for her, but Xelia ignored them and ran straight through the open doors into the great hallway that was the entryway into the house. She did not stop, even as one of the servants called out again and began to follow her, but headed straight for Tishii’s chambers, only to run straight into the blue scaled lizardess as she was heading out from her bathing chamber. The crash was heard through the house as both girls tumbled to the ground. Tishii gave out a groan before she managed to sit up and staring at Xelia “…in the name of the spirits are you tackling me…?” she began, only to be interrupted by Xelia who scrambled to her feet and dragged the larger lizardess into a standing position. Even though Xelia tried to be calm and speak rationally, Tishii’s expression made it clear that the other girl had said far too many words, far to fast, for her to catch up to. “Slow down! Calm down, something about a black temple in the east?” Tishii said as she managed to get a hold of Xelia’s almost flailing arms. “I’m going east!” Xelia finally managed to say as she calmed down slightly from Tishii’s presence. Once she had begun speaking, there was no stopping her as she went on with “I’m going to join one of the temples! Satesha, mom’s friend, tested my potential and she was so impressed that she will bring me east and have me join one of the large temples! I’m to be trained as a shamaness!”. Xelia was almost ready to tackle Tishii again, who stood with her mouth agape and her tail frozen. She started saying “But… you… wow… wow!” before she joined in Xelia’s joy and began to jump with her, only for both to be silenced by the deep hiss that came from Tishii’s mother’s gritted teeth.

“You two should be ashamed…” Tishii’s mother began as she looked at the vase that had been toppled as the girls had tumbled to the ground. The servant who had run after Xelia was standing just a few yards away and was waiting for her turn to speak. “…you are most welcome here Xelia, but I expect you to not just run into this house as if you own it. You are lucky one of my guards did not take you for a thief and ran you down” She spoke as she kept her gaze fixed on Xelia, who looked a bit ashamed, but there was no hiding the grin that was lurking just behind that shame, as her greatest dream had just been fulfilled. Tishii had said nothing while her mother had made sure to scold Xelia just enough to teach her a lesson, but not enough to shame Hisha, as she was Tishii’s family’s superior. She made sure to tell Xelia that she had done something inexcusable and expected her to make up for it by teaching herself some better manners for the future. With the explanation that she had attained her dream of being trained as a shamaness however, Tishii’s mother shook her head and understood why the girl was so excited. She had to admit that the girls were handling it a lot better than she would have done and she decided against talking with the girls’ mother, as that would probably risk Xelia’s opportunity. Instead, she had the girls sit down at the living room and served them some hot tea so that they could calm down and talk about the future rather than excitedly jumping around and toppling more vases or plants.