-4-
Embrace Thy Kin
„Listen to my words carefully, but do not follow them blindly. Analyze them, contemplate on their meaning, and take them into your practice only when you truly understand that I want all the best for you."
Finally real rays of warm sunlight appeared reflecting on smooth walls of the cave. Seth and Sotira were excited to walk out in a bottom of a deep canyon. Above them, a pink sky. The teenage priestess started dancing out of happiness. It was quite understandable for Seth, she spent more than a year in a cave after all. Sotira splashed the water from a stream with vivid swings of her legs and her eyes closed, still adjusting to the brightness.
Seth examined the area. The canyon was thin and high. The stream lead up to a high waterfall. It seemed somewhat clear that they had to climb it up, go up the river. However Seth was confused about where he was. It looked like the end of the one and only kaghatian river. How far did they get?
While Sotira was having fun, Seth stood still with confusement. She grabbed him by the hands and encouraged to dance, splash the water. He did as she wanted, unwillingly though. He lacked the enthusiasm of simplicity.
Early in the morning, agent Vanto set out from the barracks to take care of his business in time. All of imperial facilities lied on a lone piece of cliff, looking almost like an island, separated from the rest of the city. On the bridge that connected both places, several imperial officers awaited for him with messages and news, most of the inessential.
'Agent Vanto, we still have issues with those locals not understanding what "registration" mean.' said one of them.
'Didn't I tell you to screw off with that and come back with something that could help my investigation…' said Vanto with disdain. Without even looking at the man.
'Agent, are confiscations helpful to the investigation?' asked another one. Vanto stopped with curiosity and looked at the officer.
'Confiscations, huh? What have you got?'
'Again, a secret stash of liquor. However this time it was a particularly well hidden stash and an arrested local who was quite defensive about it.'
'Interesting… I will look into it' Vanto said and carried on. Other officers kept bothering him and he send them off. All walked away with humility except for one, a lady carrying a data pad.
'Agent Vanto!' she yelled from a dispersing crowd.
'I told you I am busy!' he replied.
'Admiral ordered me to talk to you!'
Upon hearing that Vanto stopped and smoothly turned around his toe. It was unwise to ignore anything associated with the director. Agent approached the lady officer and examined her.
'Well, well… So mister Morin believes you can help me, officer… Landa.'
'Admiral Morin believes I can help you see the bigger picture.'
'And what do you believe?' Vanto asked with a bizarre, flattering voice.
'I believe we can help each other.' Landa said with a smile, but then took a deep breath and sniffed a couple of times.
'Oh… Let me guess, I stink of booze?' Vanto asked ironically.
'No… I didn't…' Officer began but agent interrupted her:
'It's alright. I was just about to go and get some more. You want to come officer?'
'No… Agent, I need you to see something, sir… We have discovered a mysterious wall…'
'A wall? Well that's helpful for sure.' Vanto joked, but officer's irritation grew bigger until she looked around if there weren't any imperial witnesses around and pushed the agent against a stone fence. She whispered to him aggressively:
'Alright… Listen you... I don't care that your Security Bureau insignia outranks me and that Morin gives you a free hand to do whatever you want around the city… There is something strange going on around here. This place does not appear on any records older than twenty years… Those people seem to live in a completely different world and deep underground we found something we cannot eve comprehend… Just come with me and let me do my job. I don't want to know what happens if the boss gets disappointed…' once Landa understood what she did, she backed off nervously. Threatening an imperial agent was not a good idea for a simple officer. After a long and uncomfortable silence Vanto chuckled.
'Convincing… Tell me where to go and I will meet you there in an hour.' he said. Landa sighed with a relief, straightened her back and turned on her data pad. The two continued walking in direction of the city center.
Disguised and unnoticeable, Kainee eavesdropped on a view balcony right next to the bridge. Unlike to the rest of the group, Seth's seeming death did not disdain her, but quite the contrary… It filled her with even more hatred for the Empire and that particular agent. She tried to fight those instincts, for they were not the kaghatian way. Unfortunately, Kainee was born into the imperial reign and in her early youth she never got a chance to learn about kyllogynai from priests and priestesses. That did not make her evil, but for sure served as an origin for her moral struggle.
Kainee dispersed her depressing thoughts and focused on an objective she has given to herself. After adjusting her cape, she set out two follow the two imperials.
...
High walls of the canyon were bright, but still covered the Twin Stars. Seth and Sotira finally reached the top of a high waterfall. The ongoing path lead to some buildings in the distance, still located deep down between the rocks. The two looked at the trails of civilization with cheerful relief and ran towards it. Only later did they realize that there was no reason to be happy.
Seth and Sotira snuck behind the building and from around the corner looked upon the city. The streets were patrolled by stormtroopers and the sounds of imperial machinery echoed through the canyon. The city was located right when the canyon began, on calm slopes leading out to the open and of course, the river in the middle of the city, much thinner and shallower than in Khalos.
There was only one way out, straight through the city… Full of imperials… All ordered to arrest men, women and children that participated in cult of Khal Kaghatia. Sotira's clothing was still, quite revealing and her tattoos very easily recognizable. There was no other way but to sneak out.
Sotira and Seth nodded their heads to each other with understanding and entered the city, carefully lurking around the corners and walking through thin alleys. Just as in Khalos, the streets were mostly empty, what gave an eerie feeling to the city in the canyon. The two snuck through halfway of the city and encountered a problem. A long alley a]crossing the city, patrolled by groups of stormtroopers and an imperial chicken walker, that stomped on the ground violently. Seth and Sotira hid in a doorway to one of the houses and looked around nervously.
'Damn it. What do we do know…' Seth asked while lurking at the imperials approaching closer and closer. Sotira suddenly calmed down and leaned on metal doors 'We should get out of here.' Seth said and made a step out. Sotira stopped him, grabbed his arm and pulled to the doors. She showed him pointing finger as if she wanted him to wait. And so he did for a while, being once again confused by the actions of her companion.
Suddenly the doors opened and the two fell inside, they crawled further into a dark building and the doors closed behind them. They looked up. The little light that was inside shed a light on a face of a young kaghatian man. He looked at Sotira with disbelief and excitement.
'I cannot believe it… A priestess!' He groaned with happiness. Sotira noticed his excitement and stood up in front him. He hugged her enthusiastically and they held in each other for a brief while 'I have missed your kind for so long.'
It was a sort of uncomfortable situation for Seth. The two have probably seen each other for the first time in their lives. It was an openness that Seth was never accustomed to and neither anyone from the outer worlds. The kaghatian then turned to Seth and approached to hug him as well. The different skin color made no difference. He could have accepted it or not. What kind of impression would he make if he didn't? He had to. Seth uncomfortably hugged the stranger. It was short and not as bad he thought. Only after such a friendly welcoming the kaghatian said:
'My name is Groucho. And you are?'
'I am Seth…'
'And what is your name?' Groucho asked again while looking at Sotira. She didn't answer and looked back at him with a confused smile 'Hello…?'
'She doesn't speak galactic basic.' Seth explained. Groucho smiled to Sotira and asked once more:
'Posa a leana?'
'Ennoeite "linea"?' Sotira replied.
'Nai… linea.'
'Eimai Sotirae Metaurenia.'
'Well…' Groucho began 'That is not kaghatian neither.' both him and Seth were confused. Sotira turned away from them for a while and began examining the dark house.
'For real…' Seth asked.
'It must be the old kaghatian…. A very old dialect… But it doesn't matter...' Groucho said and looked at her. Sotira summoned the ball of flaming light to lighten the room. The host nervously approached her with the intention to cover the light 'Onus…' as he touched the ball it burned his finger. He backed them of with pain 'They will see us.' he said and pointed at the window. Sotira understood that and grabbed the ball with no pain and held it until it disappeared. Groucho continued 'Like I said, it doesn't matter. What matters is that a priestesses of Khal Kaghatia are still out there… And that one visited us. Others should meet her as well!'
'Listen… We need to get to Khalos as fast as we can.' Seth said boldly.
'Khalos? That is a long way.'
'Long way… What do you mean? How long… Where are we anyway?'
'We are in the far south, in the city of Farangha… Days away from Khalos.'
'How is that possible…' Seth mumbled and looked at Sotira mysteriously 'A couple of hours ago we were in caverns right under Khalos.'
'You mean the sanctuary? Ancient Khalos?' Groucho asked with excitement.
'Yeah… I guess.' Seth replied with a shallow voice. Groucho laughed in disbelief.
'Do you even know how lucky you are, dude?'
'I landed there by accident.'
'Well… It must Khal's providence then… No worries, I will help you get out from here. It is not safe for you here anyway. All non-kaghatian that are not one of them course suspicions and Sotira… Well I think that is obvious.'
...
In the suburbs of Khalos, stormtroopers ravaged an entire house with it's owner looking at it with sadness. He was held in handcuffs. Next to him and a group of imperials, stood two crates.
Agent Vanto drove over in his speeder. Officer Landa sat next to him on passenger's seat.
'Wait here.' He said to her while leaving the speeder. Vanto examined the crates and opened them. Inside lied about a dozen of small bottles, secured from breaking by ridiculous amount of foam. When no one was looking, agent grabbed one of them and hid it in a sack on his belt.
Despite the resistance of the stormtrooper guarding him, the kaghatian tried to approach agent Vanto.
'You can't take it! You do not know what you are doing!' he yelled. Agent tried to ignore him and began walking away. Kaghatian started acting even more desperate.
'No! Please! You can't!' in reply, Vanto turned around angrily and straightened his back, making himself much taller than the kaghatian.
'Listen you little anarchist…' Vanto began with a threatening voice and pointed at his insignia plaque 'This is the sign of what I can and cannot do. And it says that I can do basically anything I want. So cut the whining, because it won't make a difference.' agent finished and turned his back on the kaghatian who asked hopelessly:
'Will at least keep it safe? Please?' Agent Vanto stopped. It was quite an unusual attachment to a stack of liquor, intriguing.
'Take it to the werehouse.' He ordered to his stormtroopers and a lieutenant. Vanto came back to the speeder and drove off. He and officer Landa spend the entire road in an uncomfortable silence.
...
The next day passed and as the Twin Stars set down, coloring the sky with purple and orangish red, kaghatians slowly snuck to Groucho's small house in the middle of Farangha. Seth observed the entire event from the corner of the room, with a hot drink in one hand and a snack in another.
It was quite hard to believe what kind of fuss one person could make. About fifty kaghatians squeezed into the building and surrounded a small fireplace. Next to it sat Sotira and spoke to them in her language. They understood some of the words, probably enough to comprehend the meaning of her speech. Their faces showed unbound happiness and excitement.
Seth didn't understand what Sotira spoke about, but he had a feeling that it was something beautiful. It was bizarre for him. Such things did not bother him for a long time, but the few recent days in the land of the Twin Stars made him appreciate beauty, made it intrigue him. Only now did Seth realize, that he was happy about Sotira coming with him. She was an interesting character and he understood that it was an honor to be her companion.
Once the speech was over, every visitor waited in line to hug the priestess. It was something that kept intriguing Seth as well. It seemed as if it was a such a common act that it served as a substitute for handshakes, however it was something more than ordinary kind welcoming. There was something intimate about it when kaghatians held each other in their arms, even if they were strangers. Was that love? It may have been to some degree. A love for all life, as proclaimed by Khal Kaghatia. Perhaps Sotira's speech made the crows more sensitive to it. Seth wish he could understand her. He felt like an outsider. Different looks, different mind, no knowledge of language.
However, once everyone was done, Sotira walked through the crowd to the dark corner where Seth was sitting.
'Den yparchoun senfoi.' she said and embraced him with compassion. The touch of her soft skin was relieving. He felt as if he was one of them… He felt true happiness for the first time in many years.
Groucho slowly approached the two and waited until Sotira let go of Seth, but she held him for as long as he needed her to.
'If I understood it, Sotira meant "there are no strangers".' Groucho said. Seth looked at him and the priestesses.
'Thank you…' He said emotionally to both of them.
'I don't mean to throw you out, but if you are willing to get out from the city unseen, now is the time. Sooner or later the ignorant will know of the crowd here. You two sneak out through the back door and go up the river.' Groucho warned.
'Dalemai.' Sotira said and nodded to him. He smiled and said:
'I should tell you that further north you will encounter the sea of Limani. Do not go around it. Those places are swarming with the ignorant, but they do not sail. On the southern coast you will find a shack with a family living inside of it. They will sail you across the waters to the city of Limani. From that place you will have to trust Sotira, she seems to know what she is doing.'
'We will do so… And thank you again.' Seth said. Groucho hugged him for the last time and said:
'The honor is mine. I hope to see you again someday. If there will be any way I could help in Khalos, I will be trying to get there as well.'
The sky was still quite bright, but the canyon was already sunken in darkness, to their advantage. While the imperials with their flashlights began to investigate Groucho's house the two snuck out with their supplies. There was no good reason for them to do anything bad to him, or at least Seth hoped so while him and Sotira snuck through the stairs leading up the thin streets on the edge of the town.
It didn't take long for them to leave the canyon to sandy dunes and once they did, they looked south. The Twin Stars were just setting on the horizon. For Seth it was indeed a beautiful view, however Sotira was frozen for a while and tears began to slide down her face.
'Kyria mou…' She mumbled. It took a while for Seth understand what was going on inside her head. The Twin Stars were obviously a symbol of two basic kaghatian values, beauty and kindness. They carry an important meaning for them, especially priests and priestesses of Khal Kaghatia. Sotira hasn't seen their light in years. However, they were standing out in the open and had to hide. Seth gently grabbed Sotira's arm and directed her towards the bushes around the river.
In the distance stood a group of steep rocky hills, which seemed like a safe place to make a camp. Seth and Sotira spent the entire time until the nightfall to get there and set up a miniature camp with two blankets on the sand and a simple fireplace. The hills were very close to the river, so there was a decent amount of flora surrounding them and giving an even safe cover.
...
Officer Landa led agent Vanto through mysterious cobblestone corridors leading deeper and deeper underground.
'Was someone really bored or they had a good reason to come down here.' he said ironically. She did not answer. 'How do you people even find such places…'
Once the time of their journey already began feeling ridiculous, the two entered a medium sized room, full of imperial scientists. About a dozen of strong lamps were pointed at a big, flat and seemingly empty wall.
'Well… I have to admit… An impressive find.' Agent said again with irony. Officer Landa gave him an irritated look, but strayed from saying anything unfortunate…
'It would be just a wall if only every single wasn't somehow unnatural.'
'And what is that supposed to mean?' Vanto asked. Landa approached one of the computers standing against an opposite, normal, wall.
'It is unnaturally flat. Crafting something like this out from this kind of stone would be impossible. After a longer examination my scientists have found miniature cracks, but recently I have discovered that it is something more, a very precise carving…'
'Yeah… Very interesting…'
'Please, just hold on agent… After running some scans we found out that inside of them lies some sort of substance we do not really understand, but once we finally got the entire picture…' officer stopped and pressed a button on the computer. A blue hologram appeared in front of them, showing what seemed to be the picture hidden in the wall. It was a beautiful woman with a very long hair, standing on some kind of a rock and surrounded by circular ornaments. In her asymmetrically held hands she carried something that looked like stars, and under her was some kind of text written in a mysterious alphabet, but not the kaghatian one.
'Well, she looks attractive… But why are showing me this?' Vanto kept asking.
'Admiral Morin asked me to show you the bigger picture. We must know what we are dealing with and the kaghatian are not willing to share much about their culture with us. And like I said, there are plenty of bizarre thing going on around. Like for example… Why is this wall here at all?'
'Did you at least translate the text below her?'
'Barely… I spent weeks working on it. I am still not sure if I got the meaning right and there are two words I still cannot translate… "Her will stands on heights of...Gipha, possesses the… Kyllogynai… to release the doors".'
'And who might "she" be?'
'Well, Khal Kaghatia I presume. Apparently their entity…' Landa said, but Vanto did not listen to her and mumbled under his nose:
'...to open any doors… You think those are doors, officer? This wall?'
'I thought of that, but we checked every possible option and there is no possibility. Maybe it is something entirely different, some of the old kaghatian texts spoke of a mysterious and powerful power source… I am not sure. However this wall has a meaning and I am quite sure it is very important.'
'However…' Vanto said ironically 'It seems to me that it takes us no further into any kind of understanding…'
'It needs patience, agent… And perhaps some inspiration.'
Agent Vanto chuckled ironically and approached the actual wall. There were no new leads, no urgencies in the city… for now. He didn't really have anything better to do than this, so he sat down, pulled out a bottle and tried to examine seemingly empty wall with his eyes. His lips gently touched the bottle of his new kaghatian liquor, but he didn't take a sip… for a longer time.
...
'Where is she?' Mida asked worryingly.
'Don't worry… She is a handy kaghatian.' Enetin calmed her down.
'It is late.'
'That I cannot deny.' Enetin sighed and looked at the fireplace right next t0 them. It was the only source of light left in the big, dark apartment, for Argo and Vela already went to sleep.
'I am just afraid…' Mida whispered and took Enetin's hands. 'Seth is gone after such a short time… And Kainee… is so lost. She might go after them… I don't want her to do that…' Mida's head fell on Enetin's arm and began to sob. He caressed her puffy hair for a while, until Kainee suddenly rushed into the apartment through the main doors. Mida suddenly stood up and embraced her.
'Kainee!' She yelled. 'What is going on?'
'The ignorant… They found something underground!'
'The sanctuary?' Enetin asked 'That would be almost impossible.'
'No… I do not think so. It must be some kind of archeological find, but I do not know what that is. There is plenty of security at the entrance.'
'We will need to get there.'
'They will never let a kaghatian in.'
'Can you get us the white armor then?'
