~ Thank you for your reviews! This is the last chapter to this story but if you want me to write a bigger and better sequel you'd better tell me. I don't like tormenting people with my writings. Again thank you all for your support during the writing of this one- my first one. I promise the other will be bigger and I will also put the O'Connells in. ~
The first man Ardeth saw was Faris. He was running to meet him and learn news. Ardeth jumped of the horse, carefully holding Heterity's head. Surprisingly she didn't wake up. Faris reached him and took his hand, touching it to his forehead.
"Ardeth.. I am so happy you are back alive. We had no reports of other attacks of the thing you know."
The thing? Ardeth thought curiously. But then he knew that many names or things they'd better not pronounce, not to challenge fate. "You haven't heard because there is nothing to hear. She is gone. Heterity, this woman sent her away."
Faris glanced at Heterity for the first time with mixed feelings of gratitude, curiosity and some fear. "Who is she Ardeth? Where did you find her?"
"She is the one the prophecy was speaking of. She fought the thing and emerged victorious. She healed me with magic when I was semi-dead. She is devoted to helping the Med-jai and she rose from the dead to do that. But the details you will hear with all the others."
Faris nodded, eyes still pierced on the woman. It all seamed so strange to him. That was not what they have imagined. . .
~
Ardeth finished giving his account to the council about Heterity, the battle, the healing and the previous life. He hid nothing, knowing that if he wanted understanding and sincerity he should be true to them too. After all, here these matters affected everyone and not only him.
" You mean she is going to stay with us here, probably marry you and be as much a leader as you?" Rafic asked narrowing his eyes, after he had heard Ardeth's story.
" Yes. She will stay here, guide and protect us, I will certainly marry her and hierarchically she is not like me, but higher than me." Ardeth said plainly. The statement brought silence and confusion to the council. In all the years of the Med-jai nothing like that has ever happened. The heard, knew and understood it was right, but they still couldn't swallow it.
"In all my years never have I heard anything like that!" Abdul finally said. Everybody now was fixed on him. It was well-known that although he was loyal he had a tendency to disagree with Ardeth. "But if there is anyone who deserves it, it's her." He said finally, surprising everybody including Ardeth. The other leaders nodded in silent agreement. They were all going to be obedient and loyal to Heterity, though they didn't even know her yet. "Then so be it." Rafic whispered.
~ Three weeks later~
Heterity had exceeded everyone's expectations. There was not a single person who didn't like the silent woman who although was sometimes strict, was generally kind, just, eager to learn things she didn't know. She could now speak Arabic quite good, and could understand everything said. She was also famous for her singing and story-telling. The power and warmth Ardeth had first noticed in her voice was ever-present and when she was telling a story, whether true or not her voice had all the colors of the wind and she could make her audience cry and laugh.
There were of course some things she had to be taught. Cooking from Ardeth's sister for example, as she has never tried anything like it before. The results were unfortunate at first, but she soon improved. The truth was that things like that were mainly done by Ardeth's sister, Samira, as she was most of the day outside with Ardeth.
Everything appeared to be good, but Ardeth noticed that some evenings she would walk away alone and sit on a cliff, her eyes open but not seeing anything. He gently approached her one evening and placed his hand on her shoulder.
"Hity? What is going on? What are you thinking of?" He asked her in Arabic
The woman looked away from him, to the horizon. The fading light gave a strange, almost godly light to her face. "I am thinking of a saying I heard recently here: what happened once may not happen again, but what happened twice will surely happen again." She replied in the same language.
Ardeth bent his head. "I understand what you mean. That thought has crossed my mind many times. But Hity, we can hope that sayings are not always correct."
She now looked him directly in the eyes. "They are Ardeth. They are. And it is not only that. . . I miss my siblings. This is a strange thing. You may not be able to realize this but. . . I do not feel complete without them"
END IS ONLY THE BEGINNING