Verité au Vie

By Brian Conley

One Life


It was already late afternoon when Wyli got to the coast and the sun had already started its lazy descent, burning the land and sea in a golden glow. Wyli walked leisurely, taking her time to smile at the rows of flowers planted along the edges of the well-groomed path and to take in the myriad of scents they gave off. She walked with her arms swinging at her side and her tail bobbing to the beat of her footsteps. A drop of sweat slid down her forehead and into her left eye. She scowled it away, quickly using the back of her left arm to rub the rest of the sweat from her slick brow. It was six something in the afternoon, but the air was still balmy and thick with heat, wrapping whoever dared to venture into it in its warmth. Wyli had done all she could to try and stay cool, such as wearing a super-skimpy top and not-so-skimpy-but-still-short shorts, but to no avail. Her yellow hair was tied up into two ponytails and had her green headband holding her bangs up, but it didn't help. As she walked she kept her mind focused on her destination, it made it easier to endure the Kazham heat.

The path ahead of her sloped down, stretching out to the beach that was at the end of the hilled road. Wyli grinned at the orange ocean ahead of her and she felt her second wind lift her feet faster, despite not having quite gone through her first wind yet. She stepped up her pace and her tail straightened to accommodate her new speed. As she jogged, she felt a new wave of sweat start to moisten her tanned skin, but she ignored it, knowing the fresh ocean water would cool it, if the soft winds didn't first. When she reached the sand of the beach, she kicked off her sandals and then unclasped the strap of her bag. From inside, she pulled out two pink roses she had carefully stashed, wrapped loosely in thin rabbit hide. She dropped the bag and hides to the ground and ran to the lapping waves, carefully holding the roses with the tips of her fingers to avoid thorns. She waded thigh-high in the bobbing water and then slowly sank to sit on her knees. The water rose up to right above her stomach and instantly chilled the sweat that had pooled on it. Wyli shivered a bit then took a deep breath. She placed the roses on the water. They floated peacefully for a few seconds then started rolling out with the tides. Wyli watched them go until they were out of her reach and then closed her eyes and lowered her head.

"I'm sorry I haven't come to talk in a while." She said, "But Mama's been keeping me busy at the store, you know? Also, the Chieftain's training schedule is so rigid…"

She chuckled, "But I'm sure you two know all about that."

The roses had sunken when Wyli looked up at them. She sighed and lowered her head again.

"Everyone at home is doing well. Mama is in good health, as are the neighbors. The store is doing well too: business is booming this time of year, when everybody wants to vacation in Norg. Foolish, really, it's a dangerous road and, well…you know."

She relaxed her brow and puffed out her cheeks, unsure what else there was to tell them. She hadn't visited in such a while, two weeks at least, and during the entire walk here, she thought that a lot had happened in that time. Thinking about it now though, she realized how much nothing actually occurred…how everything's been pretty much the same.

"I miss you." She said, her rosy lips falling into a curved frown, "There's nothing new here, Mama is still Mama, Kazham is still hot and…and I still miss you. You may not know this, but I remember you two perfectly…the way you acted, the way you talked…ten years of separation didn't make me forget. A million years won't make me forget."

Wyli scooped some water with cupped hands and watched it slowly trickle out between her fingers. The sound was like a waterfall in the silence. One lone rogue tear found its way down her cheek and she took a deep breath, putting her wet hands to her face to wash it away. With her cheeks cooled, she put her hands back in the water and lowered them to touch the bottom, slumping her head down and putting her bangs across her eyes. Slowly she took a big breath and submerged her head, getting the salty water in her nose, ears and mouth. She opened her eyes and saw the wavy hues of the sea, the brackish water stinging her eyes. All around her, the only thing she could hear was the slow movement of the water and the occasional fluttering of a passing fish. Everything moved like it was in slow motion. Wyli's breath had run out and her lungs started to burn in need of fresh air. She ignored them best she could as she let her arms and head go deeper, aiming for the soft sand below. She wondered, her thoughts cast as a monotone whisper in the darkness of her mind, was this was death was like? A somber thought, no doubt, but one perhaps necessary for her seaside visits.

"I'm sorry."

A voice spoke and rang crystalline to Wyli's ears, cutting through the murk of the water. Out of surprise, she shot back to her knees, exploding the water around her and taking a gasping breath as she did. Panting just slightly, she splashed around to look behind her, seeing nobody there. Confused, she stood up and looked around further, taking a single step in every direction to see if she could spot the owner of the voice powerful enough to ignore water. When she saw that the beach was indeed void of everyone except her, she clenched her fists and bit her bottom lip, her brow scrunched into worried wrinkles. A cool wind picked up and blew across Wyli. She shivered and hugged herself, wondering where the breeze came from: the heat hadn't subsided at all while she was here. She sighed and looked down at the small waves slapping against her thighs.

"Well, I'd better go home." She said, "Mama won't like it if I get sick." She nodded once and took a few steps before stopping.

"I'll try and visit again soon, ok? I promise. I love you."

She took a deep breath and waded out of the water, heading to get her satchel and sandals.

By the time Wyli got back to the village the sun had vanished for the night and the chalky moon had already started to sweep the star-speckled twilight sky. It wasn't completely dark out, the sky was a wonderful clematis purple hue, but the lanterns had been lit and everyone was inside their homes, the lights of fireplaces illuminating every window. Wyli walked with her hands intertwined behind her back, taking slow steps. She felt her tail droop and she sympathized with it; she was thoroughly tired. Before taking the hour excursion to her sisters' seaside memorial, she had put in an eight hour shift at her family's store and before that she had been with the Chieftain for three hours—all in all, she'd been up since the crack of dawn. Taking her time, she made her way over the wooden walkway paths to her house: a two-story dwelling with the living spaces upstairs and the family store downstairs. Wyli smiled as she stepped up onto the familiar porch, glad to be home.

"Mama?" She said as she stepped inside. She closed and locked the door behind her and made sure the latch clicked into place before turning to look around. The store was just as neat and well-kempt as it was when she left. The store's counter stretched from wall to wall, sitting about ten feet from the door, it's surface smooth and shiny with whatever her mother used to clean it. Wyli walked to the end of the counter and lifted the hinged opening. She slipped through and, still looking around at the headed for the staircase in back. She climbed the curving stairs and opened the door at the top, walking deftly into a wall of wafting scents, most of them strong enough to instantly water Wyli's mouth. She took a breath to enjoy it further and headed for the kitchen, making a quick pit stop along the way to drop off her satchel and sandals in the doorway to her room.

She entered the kitchen to a pleasant surprise of a large pile of freshly cooked kabobs in the center of the table, surrounded by a few shallow saucers of red Windurstian Rarab sauce. The entire ensemble filled the kitchen with its delicious odor; a smell that Wyli couldn't resist but be drawn to.

"Welcome home."

Wyli looked away from the table to see her mother at the far counter, pouring some drinks into tall iced glasses. She was still in her work outfit, some green apron, and had her hair confined with a lacquered pin. Wyli took this as fact that the store was only recently closed and that it had been a busy end-of-day for her mother. A stab of guilt took action and Wyli grit her teeth just slightly as she made for the table.

"What's all this?" Wyli asked, pulling out a chair and sitting down.

Her mother picked up the two glasses and placed them at the table. She sat across from Wyli and grabbed the underside of her chair, pulling herself closer before talking.

"It's been a long day." She said, casually filling her plate with kabobs.

"It has." Wyli condoned, carefully taking a steaming kabob with the tips of her fingertips and rolling it in one of the bowls of sauce.

"I hope you didn't miss me while I was there." She said, pulling off the top piece of juicy, tender meat with her teeth. Her mother's cooking was fantastic, almost godly. Wyli had always suggested that she convert the store to a restaurant, but to no avail…'too much trouble', her mother called the idea.

"No, no." Her mother said, "Things were slow."

"That's good to hear."

There was quiet for a minute and then her mother spoke up after she finished her kabob.

"How are your sisters?" She asked, putting the slightest stitch of sadness into her voice; something Wyli was sure wasn't intentional.

"Good." Wyli responded. She searched perhaps for something else to say, some new piece of information, but as usual, there wasn't one. Nothing was new, it was all still the same. A road traveled so much that all the sights and sounds could be repeated verbatim, though Wyli chose to often not do such a thing. Her Mama took such conversations seriously and Wyli disliked, as any good child would she supposed, upsetting her mother.

Wyli reached for another kabob, "It's okay, Mama. Let's not talk about it."

Her mother nodded and after a few pregnant moments, she narrowed her eyes and leaned forward, "But I will talk about how little you're wearing."

Wyli rolled her eyes and put her free hand on her bare belly, "Mama, it's not like I'm the only one who dresses like this. Besides, you know I don't do it all the time. It was just hot out."

"I know." Her mother smiled, "You're a good girl like that, unlike the others your age on this island, prancing about nearly naked."

"It's even more aggravating now." Wyli said, snapping the strap to her bikini, "This top is wet and it's gotten a little smaller."

"You got wet? Oh, Wyli…you'd best get into a-"

"Bath, I know. I plan to."

Her mother laughed, "Good, and don't finish my sentences."

Wyli chuckled. The meal played out with a pleasant silence, broken only by words of either kindness or talk of the island around them.

"I'm going to bed, Wyli. After your bath make sure all the lights are out."

Wyli waved to her mother from the bathroom doorframe, "Ok, G'night Mama."

Her mother closed herself into her room and Wyli took a deep breath before heading into the bathroom, her change of clothes held under one arm. She shut the door behind her and went to turn start the bath. She dropped her change of clothes on the small chair next to the claw-footed San d'Orian bathtub and ducked down to a squat. She reached her hand into the brick square under the tub and tapped the fire crystal inside of it, feeling the heat it produced immediately. The first crystal activated the second crystal and so on, until all six fire crystals in the heating cube were on and warming the tub of cooled water. Wyli stood up and, much to her relief, peeled off her tight top and soaked-and-itchy shorts. She stood in the buff for a few minutes, thinking of her mother as she was caught in the silence. She thought of how caring she was, hold strong she was to raise three daughter and then lose two of them. Wyli was amazed at how well she had come to terms with half her family dying, already alongside the loss of her father.

The way the Mithran race was, males were the recessive of the gender genes: a Mithran male being born was a bi-yearly thing, at best. That being so, that male has to be treated like gold to make sure the Mithran race continued to thrive. Each male grew up and at age twenty-something, goes at it with a group of selected females. Each female has twins at least, mostly it's triplets or quadruplets. The human, Taru or Elvaan bodies couldn't handle such strenuous births, but that was the Mithran specialty. Wyli's sisters were fathered by a Mithran male twenty-five years ago and then after they died, the same Male came back to father Wyli. She was a single birth, something that rarely happened, so she always was treated a little better then most. As the water in the tub began to steam, Wyli stuck her tongue out at the thought of having kids to a father that wouldn't even stick around to watch them grow. She wondered, if they didn't stay, where did they go? She scrunched her mouth in curiosity and thought about it while she slipped into the misty water of the tub. It felt great against her sandy, salty skin—it was nice to wash away the day.

"I bet they all jump into the Cauldron." She thought aloud.

She laughed at the image of a line of Mithran males leaping to their deaths one-by-one at the edge of the Yhotor Volcano. Chuckling, she sat up in the tub and leaned out, over the side, and hit the brick-heating box hard with the her palm to shake the fire crystals and roll them apart from each other, reducing the heat. She fell back into the tub and sank down so the waterline was right beneath her nose. She closed her eyes and let all the concerns of the day seep from her worn body into the cloudy water. She let her ears droop on top of her head and exhaled out of her mouth, bubbles popping quietly on the surface of the water.

Thoughts of her mother and the Mithran way of life still floated around in her head. She had never longed for a father; she really didn't even know what a father was until she was almost six and she had seen a vacationing Hume family on the boat from Jueno and even after that she really didn't care that she didn't have one. Maybe that was how the Mithran culture persevered so long as a female society: they lived in isolation. Kazham was a nearly one-hundred percent Mithran island and Windurst was about eighty. Wyli raised her brow as she thought that growing up with a village of other fatherless people is an easy way to abolish the concept of 'fathers'.

So why so few males, then? She thought.

It was another question that irritated her. Was it an evolution thing? Or magical, maybe? Could it be that some ancient Mithrans used some equally ancient magic to somehow make males near-extinct in their species? Wyli smirked and laughed, leaning her head back to against the rounded metal tub. It was such a foolish sounding idea to her; using magic to get rid of men. Why would anyone use magic for such a purpose and even more, was there a magic that could do something like that? Wyli hadn't any hands-on experience with magic per se, but she had read all about it (the Chieftain always says 'Knowledge is what should propel the swing of your sword'). She had read about magic to cure wounds, to revive the dead and even magic to slow down one's flow of time. With all that magic could do, why not have a genocidal spell somewhere in the world?

Wyli huffed. She was starting to get tired of over thinking such a subject. Sure, the whole 'no fathers' thing warranted further thought, but the warmed water that Wyli was soaking in had slowly made her relax and now the want to just space out reigned high. She closed her eyes and sunk a little deeper in the water, one of her hands reaching up to grab at the bar of new soap that lay on a small shelf above the tub. She was relaxing, yes, but she also needed to wash.

This Mithran culture is so confusing. She thought before starting to scrub at her skin.

After taking her time washing and relaxing, Wyli got out of the tub, pulled the plug, then changed into her pajamas. Yawning casually, she walked out of the bathroom and to the kitchen to put the tin damper on the flickering flame, efficiently extinguishing it. Now in darkness, she put her arms out in front of her to feel her way carefully back out to the equally dark hallway and finally to her room, where a lone candle made an orb of light against the walls.

Tomorrow is another day. She thought and used her middle finger and thumb to flick out the candle's flame. She stood in the darkness for a little while, her eyes closed, ears and tail drooped.

"Islia, Mhical…" She whispered in a silent prayer, following her nightly ritual. She wasn't sure what God she was praying to, she wasn't even sure what God there was to worship to, but she prayed anyway…just to talk to her sisters.

"I love you two. Goodnight."

She took a deep breath and took the four steps to her bed and collapsed onto it, not bothering to tuck under the sheets. Her head hit the pillow and the question of fathers came back into her mind, but this time in a question: did her sisters know their father, despite Mithran tradition?

"If only you were here." She said and drifted to sleep, the insect orchestra of the balmy Kazham night pulling her to sleep like a natural lullaby.