Chapter III
Jahandri still worked for Marí. She went about doing her chores and never found the right moment to tell the woman who she really was. Sometimes it made her feel guilty but the more she thought about it she didn't have to tell Marí everything.
Everything was going well until the one day that Marí started ask Jahandri if she wanted to get married again, "Have you gone to see the matchmaker yet?"
"No, milady."
"You should! You are not going to be a child forever, I should know," Marí smiled. She was talking about the baby she as about to have. Finally she would have someone besides Jahandri to keep her company.
"I know, I just haven't had the time. I will go, soon. Actually I think I will be going sometime within the next week." Jahandri had been looking for an excuse to go visit her mother and she really didn't need to see the matchmaker. Her mother was taking care of her marriage to Prince Derique.
The more she thought about her upcoming marriage the more Jahandri worried. What if Derique did not like her? What is she did not fit in with the royalty? Even if she was part goddess she had gown up as a servant and that was the only lifestyle that she had ever known. A servant becoming a princess only happened in fairytales, never in ordinary life.
It took another two months before Jahandri finally decided to go into the town. Marí was elated when Jahandri finally told her that she was going to talk to someone about her marriage. Of course Marí didn't know that someone was her mother who just happened to be the goddess Geshri, she thought Jahandri was going to talk to the matchmaker.
Jahandri hurried through the streets of Tset Zhan on her way to the temple, her cloak pulled up to cover her hair, as always. When she got to the temple she saw some people inside. She knelt down in the back of the temple to wait until they left. There were two men in the front of the temple. Jahandri realized after a while that they were not praying, they were arguing about something.
"I want her found! I don't care if it's been over a year!" the voice was extremely familiar, but who was it?
"We've searched everywhere, master. She's gone!" the second man's voice was different. He had a strange accent that reminded her of Qántir, Sirizia's neighbor to the north. Why would someone from Qántir be in Tset Zhan? Qántir was a poor country and most people were of the lower class. The main thing it was known for was the skill of the king's spies. Most people knew that even though the king's head spies got the credit for the information they do not do much spying. They hire out talented peasant to do their work for them.
"She's got to be somewhere! A fifteen year old girl doesn't just drop off the face of the earth!" Jahandri could not hear the other man's response but it caused the first man to knock him to the ground with a hard blow, "Find her! I don't care how long it takes you but it better not take much longer! She has white hair! How hard could that be to find? You best not mess this up, Rhuhan."
Jahandri gasped, it was Yujri Greshem! He was still looking for her and he had hired a Qántirian spy to find her. She quickly covered her face with the cloak and bowed low to make it look as if she was praying. What she really was doing was grabbing hold of the stone that was underneath her dress.
After what seemed like days the two men's footsteps echoed as they left the temple. Jahandri remained with her head bowed for a long time after that. She was trying to calm herself down so she would not look suspicious to the people on the street as she approached the altar.
Out of habit Jahandri lit a stick of incense and placed it in the shallow metallic bowel on the altar. She bowed low and then realized how foolish she was. This was her mother! Jahandri stood up and pulled out the stone from to purse under her dress. She enclosed it in her hand and waited. Geshri had said that that was all she had to do and she would be there instantly. As she held it in her hand the glass doors again became covered with a dark green smoke. The same bright lights sparkled in the air in front of her as her mother appeared.
"Hello, darling. Why are you calling upon me? Has something gone wrong?"
"Of course not mother. I just wanted to talk to you about my wedding plans."
"Really? So you have accepted the fact that you are my daughter and that I can arrange a marriage for you?" Jahandri's face turned pink and she looked toward the ground, "I thought so. What is it you would like to know?"
"My mistress, Marí is always asking me to go to the matchmaker and arrange a marriage for me. I can't tell her that I'm already spoken for because then I would have to tell her about you and I don't want to do that."
Geshri thought for a moment. It would be complicated getting her away from Marí. She could always say that she was betrothed to a servant in that northern country but Marí would want to meet him, "You could just disappear. You've done it before and gotten away with it."
"Got away with it? Did you hear those men that were in here twenty minutes ago? They are looking for me to have me punished! I ran away once and I won't do it again! Besides, I had a very good reason to last time."
Geshri frowned, "No, perhaps running away isn't the solution this time." What other options did she have though? "The only way I can think about it is to tell her the truth. I played with her head before so that she would give you a job, not that you could not have gotten that job yourself," she added quickly, "but maybe I could do it again."
Jahandri thought about it. She did not really want her mother playing around with anyone's thoughts, especially not Marí's, "Isn't there something else you can do?"
"We are running out of time, Jahandri. We only have six months before you are seventeen and I promised Derique's parents you would be ready by then. This isn't-" Geshri was interrupted by a crack of thunder. The candles in the room all went out at once leaving Jahandri and her mother in complete darkness. Suddenly a glowing yellow ball of power began to concentrate in the middle of the room about five steps away from the two women. The ball began to grow until it was the size of Jahandri's head.
Wish another quick flash the ball transformed into a man that was nearly twice Jahandri's height. He had long gray-streaked dark brown hair that was held back into a horsetail with a leather tie. His eyes were the color of copper and his skin was tanned. The robes that he wore were the colors of the earth. His cloak was green, his tunic the color of sand with his belt and boots a darker brown.
When Jahandri saw his eyes she gasped and backed away, he looked ferociously outraged. He started walking toward Geshri, she just stood still with a tight look on her face. When he saw Jahandri he lifted his arm and a lightening bolt flew from his fingers hitting her square in the forehead. She fell to the ground and the man returned his stare to Geshri. He looked her up and down as he walked until he was about a hand's width away from her.
"Are you teaching others to be like you? Marrying your daughter off to a mortal when she is a goddess?" Geshri could not look away from Jahandri. The man let out a loud sigh, "You know she is going to be fine. I just knocked her out for a few minutes. Now answer my question!" His voice was like that of a roaring lion and he seemed to have a powerful command over Geshri. She looked terribly frightened to say anything.
"Ithrán, I..." Geshri could not say anything to her brother. She was completely terrified that he would do something to her daughter just like he had done to the man she loved.
"You what? You're sorry that you are going against tradition with your bastard daughter? Letting her marry a mortal when there are dozens of gods who need wives. If you do succeed in letting her marry that so-called prince at least any talentless mortal children she has with her degenerate husband will be born within marriage unlike you. First you sleep with a mortal and then you get pregnant. He didn't even have the decency to marry you."
"Just because he didn't ask me to marry him does not mean that he was not going to. You never gave him the chance! You killed him as soon as Jahandri was born!"
"And I should have killed him sooner! He disgraced our family by getting you pregnant with his wretched daughter!"
"There is nothing wrong with my daughter you spiteful, heinous old man! You just don't want anybody to be happy with something you didn't create! You hate it when things happen that you have no control over! Leave my daughter in peace! None of this is her fault! She didn't even know she was my daughter until a few months ago!"
"That's not my fault, it's yours! I will not have any niece of mine, even if she's noting but a worthless bastard, marry a mortal! They are not like us Geshri. Mortals are war raging and resentful beings! She'd be better off dead than married to one of them!"
"This is between you and me! Leave her out of this! Just because your angry does not mean you are going to kill my daughter! Now leave! This is my temple and I don't want you coming here ever again! Don't you have your own wife and children to get back to?" Geshri threw her arms into the air and forcefully shoved as much magic as she could right at Ithrán.
"Don't think you have heard the end of this! Before this is all over I swear blood will be shed!"
Finally he disappeared and Geshri collapsed to her knees gasping for air. She remembered Jahandri on the floor and hurried to her side. Geshri tried everything possible to wake her but nothing worked. She knew that eventually she would wake up but not when that would be. Hours, days maybe a week, Ithrán's spell would not last any longer than that. What would Geshri tell Marí? Normal girls don't fall into a coma for a week.
Jahandri still worked for Marí. She went about doing her chores and never found the right moment to tell the woman who she really was. Sometimes it made her feel guilty but the more she thought about it she didn't have to tell Marí everything.
Everything was going well until the one day that Marí started ask Jahandri if she wanted to get married again, "Have you gone to see the matchmaker yet?"
"No, milady."
"You should! You are not going to be a child forever, I should know," Marí smiled. She was talking about the baby she as about to have. Finally she would have someone besides Jahandri to keep her company.
"I know, I just haven't had the time. I will go, soon. Actually I think I will be going sometime within the next week." Jahandri had been looking for an excuse to go visit her mother and she really didn't need to see the matchmaker. Her mother was taking care of her marriage to Prince Derique.
The more she thought about her upcoming marriage the more Jahandri worried. What if Derique did not like her? What is she did not fit in with the royalty? Even if she was part goddess she had gown up as a servant and that was the only lifestyle that she had ever known. A servant becoming a princess only happened in fairytales, never in ordinary life.
It took another two months before Jahandri finally decided to go into the town. Marí was elated when Jahandri finally told her that she was going to talk to someone about her marriage. Of course Marí didn't know that someone was her mother who just happened to be the goddess Geshri, she thought Jahandri was going to talk to the matchmaker.
Jahandri hurried through the streets of Tset Zhan on her way to the temple, her cloak pulled up to cover her hair, as always. When she got to the temple she saw some people inside. She knelt down in the back of the temple to wait until they left. There were two men in the front of the temple. Jahandri realized after a while that they were not praying, they were arguing about something.
"I want her found! I don't care if it's been over a year!" the voice was extremely familiar, but who was it?
"We've searched everywhere, master. She's gone!" the second man's voice was different. He had a strange accent that reminded her of Qántir, Sirizia's neighbor to the north. Why would someone from Qántir be in Tset Zhan? Qántir was a poor country and most people were of the lower class. The main thing it was known for was the skill of the king's spies. Most people knew that even though the king's head spies got the credit for the information they do not do much spying. They hire out talented peasant to do their work for them.
"She's got to be somewhere! A fifteen year old girl doesn't just drop off the face of the earth!" Jahandri could not hear the other man's response but it caused the first man to knock him to the ground with a hard blow, "Find her! I don't care how long it takes you but it better not take much longer! She has white hair! How hard could that be to find? You best not mess this up, Rhuhan."
Jahandri gasped, it was Yujri Greshem! He was still looking for her and he had hired a Qántirian spy to find her. She quickly covered her face with the cloak and bowed low to make it look as if she was praying. What she really was doing was grabbing hold of the stone that was underneath her dress.
After what seemed like days the two men's footsteps echoed as they left the temple. Jahandri remained with her head bowed for a long time after that. She was trying to calm herself down so she would not look suspicious to the people on the street as she approached the altar.
Out of habit Jahandri lit a stick of incense and placed it in the shallow metallic bowel on the altar. She bowed low and then realized how foolish she was. This was her mother! Jahandri stood up and pulled out the stone from to purse under her dress. She enclosed it in her hand and waited. Geshri had said that that was all she had to do and she would be there instantly. As she held it in her hand the glass doors again became covered with a dark green smoke. The same bright lights sparkled in the air in front of her as her mother appeared.
"Hello, darling. Why are you calling upon me? Has something gone wrong?"
"Of course not mother. I just wanted to talk to you about my wedding plans."
"Really? So you have accepted the fact that you are my daughter and that I can arrange a marriage for you?" Jahandri's face turned pink and she looked toward the ground, "I thought so. What is it you would like to know?"
"My mistress, Marí is always asking me to go to the matchmaker and arrange a marriage for me. I can't tell her that I'm already spoken for because then I would have to tell her about you and I don't want to do that."
Geshri thought for a moment. It would be complicated getting her away from Marí. She could always say that she was betrothed to a servant in that northern country but Marí would want to meet him, "You could just disappear. You've done it before and gotten away with it."
"Got away with it? Did you hear those men that were in here twenty minutes ago? They are looking for me to have me punished! I ran away once and I won't do it again! Besides, I had a very good reason to last time."
Geshri frowned, "No, perhaps running away isn't the solution this time." What other options did she have though? "The only way I can think about it is to tell her the truth. I played with her head before so that she would give you a job, not that you could not have gotten that job yourself," she added quickly, "but maybe I could do it again."
Jahandri thought about it. She did not really want her mother playing around with anyone's thoughts, especially not Marí's, "Isn't there something else you can do?"
"We are running out of time, Jahandri. We only have six months before you are seventeen and I promised Derique's parents you would be ready by then. This isn't-" Geshri was interrupted by a crack of thunder. The candles in the room all went out at once leaving Jahandri and her mother in complete darkness. Suddenly a glowing yellow ball of power began to concentrate in the middle of the room about five steps away from the two women. The ball began to grow until it was the size of Jahandri's head.
Wish another quick flash the ball transformed into a man that was nearly twice Jahandri's height. He had long gray-streaked dark brown hair that was held back into a horsetail with a leather tie. His eyes were the color of copper and his skin was tanned. The robes that he wore were the colors of the earth. His cloak was green, his tunic the color of sand with his belt and boots a darker brown.
When Jahandri saw his eyes she gasped and backed away, he looked ferociously outraged. He started walking toward Geshri, she just stood still with a tight look on her face. When he saw Jahandri he lifted his arm and a lightening bolt flew from his fingers hitting her square in the forehead. She fell to the ground and the man returned his stare to Geshri. He looked her up and down as he walked until he was about a hand's width away from her.
"Are you teaching others to be like you? Marrying your daughter off to a mortal when she is a goddess?" Geshri could not look away from Jahandri. The man let out a loud sigh, "You know she is going to be fine. I just knocked her out for a few minutes. Now answer my question!" His voice was like that of a roaring lion and he seemed to have a powerful command over Geshri. She looked terribly frightened to say anything.
"Ithrán, I..." Geshri could not say anything to her brother. She was completely terrified that he would do something to her daughter just like he had done to the man she loved.
"You what? You're sorry that you are going against tradition with your bastard daughter? Letting her marry a mortal when there are dozens of gods who need wives. If you do succeed in letting her marry that so-called prince at least any talentless mortal children she has with her degenerate husband will be born within marriage unlike you. First you sleep with a mortal and then you get pregnant. He didn't even have the decency to marry you."
"Just because he didn't ask me to marry him does not mean that he was not going to. You never gave him the chance! You killed him as soon as Jahandri was born!"
"And I should have killed him sooner! He disgraced our family by getting you pregnant with his wretched daughter!"
"There is nothing wrong with my daughter you spiteful, heinous old man! You just don't want anybody to be happy with something you didn't create! You hate it when things happen that you have no control over! Leave my daughter in peace! None of this is her fault! She didn't even know she was my daughter until a few months ago!"
"That's not my fault, it's yours! I will not have any niece of mine, even if she's noting but a worthless bastard, marry a mortal! They are not like us Geshri. Mortals are war raging and resentful beings! She'd be better off dead than married to one of them!"
"This is between you and me! Leave her out of this! Just because your angry does not mean you are going to kill my daughter! Now leave! This is my temple and I don't want you coming here ever again! Don't you have your own wife and children to get back to?" Geshri threw her arms into the air and forcefully shoved as much magic as she could right at Ithrán.
"Don't think you have heard the end of this! Before this is all over I swear blood will be shed!"
Finally he disappeared and Geshri collapsed to her knees gasping for air. She remembered Jahandri on the floor and hurried to her side. Geshri tried everything possible to wake her but nothing worked. She knew that eventually she would wake up but not when that would be. Hours, days maybe a week, Ithrán's spell would not last any longer than that. What would Geshri tell Marí? Normal girls don't fall into a coma for a week.