I don't own the Age of the Five Trilogy – the brilliant Trudi Canavan does…
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One of Future's Endless Possibilities
Auraya
waved goodbye to Speaker Sirri at the entrance of her bowler with
Mischief already sitting on her shoulder, nibbling affectionally at
her ear.
'Owaya back.'
'Yes, Mischief. Did you have a nice
evening?'
Instead of an answer the veez jumped to the ground and
raced towards his favourite place. Auraya slowly followed, a smile on
her lips as she thought about her own evening. Speaker Sirri and her
had been invited to visit Trilli and Tryss, their twelve year old son
Nain and their little baby girl Nayi. Tryss was the man, who had
invented the harness that had enabled the Siyee to join the war as
the White's allies all those years ago. The harness had enabled Tryss
to distract Imenja and had given Auraya the chance to kill Kuar,
which had led to... so many things.
She sighed heavily and dragged
her thoughts away from the war. Nayi had been too cute, playing with
little Siyee Dolls, throwing them all around the room while shouting
'Siyi fly!' happily. Auraya made a mental note to bring along
Mischief the next time. Surely the children would love the
veez.
Inside her bowler Auraya sat down on her cosy chair and once
she had done so she realised how tired she was. She closed her eyes,
unwilling to make the effort to get into her bed. As soon as she
drifted into the dream state she felt a familiar presence reach out
for her and a well known voice called her name.
:Auraya!
:Hello
Mirar!
:Where have you been? It's late, I've been trying to reach
you for hours.
:Is that reproach I hear?
:No, not reproach,
just longing.
:"Just"? You missed me a lot, admit
it!
:You know I do all the time, why do I have to keep telling
you?
Auraya
giggled.
:So,
where have
you been?
:I've been invited.
:Tell me more.
:I've been
invited to a young Siyee family, along with Speaker Sirri.
:Someone
I know?
:Actually yes as I've found out tonight. Though I don't
know if you'll remember.
:Try me.
:You healed Tryss at the
battlefield. Trilli told me in detail about the bearded Dreamweaver
that healed her husband and how he left not even hearing their
thanks. It sounded very much like Leiard in his more confused
days.
:I think I remember. He was the last one I healed bevor I
let Emerahl take me away.
:They were very happy when I told them I
knew who helped them. And they were speechless when I told them 'It
was Mirar!'.
When
Mirar joined her laughing she found herself marvelling once again at
how his laugh gave her goosebumps.
:Did
you tell them they might be thanking me in person soon? he
asked, suddenly serious again.
If
she would have been awake she would have blushed then.
:No.
After
a short pause she added:
:I
feel like it's my personal secret that you'll soon be here. My secret
and I don't want to give it away in fear of something going wrong
then... When will you be here?
:Tomorrow if you're ready to see
me. I'm only about five hours away from the Open.
:I've been ready
for a long time now. Hurry.
:I will.
Auraya
barely slept that night. Not even a suggestion of fatigue was left
after Mirar's revelation. Most of the time she tossed and turned or
simply lay awake starring at the stars and thinking about next night.
The first night in Si where she would fall asleep in a real embrace.
An embrace she was very much longing to be in...
Since she she
couldn't find sleep anyway she let her thoughts wander further among
that path of love in Si. She recalled her pleasant amorous adventures
here, but none of them had never been real. There had been the
dreamlinks with Leiard during her very first visit to Si... a whole
lifetime seemed to have passed since then. And then, when she had
been in Si again... she had decided to give in to Chaia's wooing and
their love affair had started.
Chaia... it had taken a long time
to get over the feeling of guilt that had gripped her every time she
thought about him. She had spend hours and hours trying to work out
what she would have done would she have known that Chaia hadn't tried
to kill her before she agreed to help kill all the gods. She had not
been able to find an answer. But eventually she had found peace and
comfort in the fact that in the end Chaia had known that she had been
tricked by Huan and was sorry to not have trusted him.
She
finally could think back to their time together now with a smile on
her face.
She could appreciate the good times together without
grief or regret, and no longing for his touch was left.
There was
only longing for Mirar.
When finally, finally the the first
rays of sunshine tickled her nose she left her bed and began pacing
her bowler. How long till Mirar would arrive? And what would she
say...
What
do you say to the man you love after you had an affair, got
separated, found out you're supposed to be enemies, nearly killed
each other, befriended each other again, killed the gods together and
then didn't meet in... how many years?
She
leaned against her doorway.
We
didn't have to meet in person. We dreamlinked each and every night.
And sometimes even during the day when the longing grew to strong. It
was the time we both needed apart. Physically that is. He needed to
resume his life as Mirar. I needed time to build a life on my own. An
immortal life. But now it's time to meet again. Yes, it's
time.
Morning
went by slowly... Auraya barely managed to sit down five minutes for
lunch before she was up and about again which earned her an anxious
look from Speaker Sirri.
'Is everything all right with you?'
'Yes,
yes... everything just fine.'
'Auraya?'
'I'm expecting a
visitor and I'm a bit nervous.'
A knowing smile crept onto Sirri's
lips, 'Mirar?'
Auraya, standing on the edge of the little place in
front of her friend's bowler, looking out onto the Open, swept
around, 'How do you know?' The shock of being looked through was
written on her face.
'I've known you for quite some years now, and
I do
know women. Their wishes and their ways when they try to hide their
true feelings.'
Auraya blushed.
'I'm happy you two finally
managed to get him here.'
'Me, too.'
Sirri got up and slowly
walked over to the former White, taking her hands and softly turning
her around.
'And while we were pleasantly chatting look who
entered the Open.'
Shivers ran down Auraya's spine when she looked
upon the figure of Mirar, slowly and carefully walking into the Open,
wonder and excitement of finally being in Si plain to see.
'Go on,
fly down to meet him, I know you want to.' Sirri whispered.
Auraya
nodded, took a deep breath, waved good bye to Sirri and took
off.
'Hello my beautiful Auraya...'
'Welcome to Si,
Mirar...'
Mirar took a careful step towards Auraya, reached out
for her hand... and then suddenly a young Siyee landed between them.
'Sreil says you're Mirar - is that true?' he asked without any
preamble.
Mirar tore his eyes away from Auraya with difficulty and
even managed a smile.
'Yes, that's true.'
'Hey, everyone, it's
really him.' cried the Siyee and before Auraya could even think 'Oh,
no...' a whole crowd of Siyee appeared, separating her from Mirar,
asking questions, laughing, dragging him away...
They
must have followed him for days... How could I think I'm the only one
interested in his presence here...
Auraya
looked up to Sirri's bowler and saw Sirri helplessly shrug her
shoulders, an apologizing look on her face. Auraya shrugged her
shoulders as well and followed the crowd and Mirar.
When
Auraya and Mirar entered her bowler hours later they simultaneously
gave a huge sigh of relief, turned towards another and started
laughing.
When Auraya had managed to gain enough air for talking
she said to the still giggling Mirar, 'I love Si, I really do, and I
love the Siyee... but sometimes I think they've got no idea what the
word privacy means...'
'I think after today I might know what
you're hinting at...' Mirar answered.
'But now...'
'Yes.'
Mirar
took Auraya's hands in his and for a moment stood still, savouring
the feeling of her hands in his. The little waves of pleasure that
ran from his hands through the rest of his body... he loved what this
simple touch did but he was longing for more.
Auraya slowly lifted
her hands, softly placing kisses on his hands when they were within
reach. Then she let go of Mirar's right hand and with a seductive
wink she began leading him deeper into the bowler, towards her bed.
When they stood before it, she took his face in both of her hands and
he bent down and planted a timid kiss on her lips, to which she
responded eagerly. 'I love you, Mirar', she said as she let go of him
and lay down on the bed, pulling him down with her.
'I love you,
too, Auraya.'
Forgotten was all that had been, all that they had
been through together and without each other, now they were only two
lovers celebrating their love, sharing everything.
Only hours
later, when the same stars that Auraya had looked upon the night
before shone through the window did they speak again.
'You don't
know how good it feels to have you near again...' she said as she
snuggled up against his chest.
He softly stroke her hair, 'I do
know... I do...
