It was several house hard walking through the labyrinth of twisting tunnels before they finally came to the eder tomahn. The D'ni way station was built into a recess of a large cave, its black, perfectly finished marble in stark contrast to the cave's natural limestone. Book of Atrus

Stumbling wearily through the open door into the eder tomahn, Yeesha sought out the first bunk she could find and let herself fall face first into it. The bunks were hardly what she would call soft but after the tremendous hike she had made, her exhausted body wasn't complaining.

It was such a long way down to reach the city. She didn't wonder that Ti'ana grew lost when she was first stumbling down into the city. The path was vague at best, twisting and turning thousands of times with even more choices of interlinked tunnels with never a clear guide as to which one. Even with the map.

Forcing herself to roll over, Yeesha pulled the leather bound notebook out of her pocket. It was an ancient thing, twice as old as herself and maybe even more. The notebook was the very same one her great-grandfather, Aitrus, had used to provide a way for his wife and young son to escape the destruction of the city. Inside was the carefully drawn map he had created while even the disease ate away at him and he stumbled around in the dark striving to save what little was left to him- his family.

"They are dead. Everyone...dead. My father...I buried him. And D'ni...D'ni is ended. But there is a way out. Through the tunnels. I mapped it. My notebook..." Book of Ti'ana

Yeesha closed her eyes and let her hands and the notebook fall to rest on her stomach.

So many lives, so much destruction. So much pain, hurt, death, ruin and all their destruction and...

".fehnah chaiehts "

Yeesha's eyes snapped open and she stared wildly about the eder tomahn. There he was again, Devokan, watching her from the base of the bunk. But before she could speak, he raised a hand like before, this time pointed at her saying,

".kenen gor .kehnehmah trehpahts"

And then he was gone, just as the time before. Not linking, not walking... merely gone.

Still staring at the spot that he was up till a moment ago occupying, Yeesha wondered what was going on. Twice an unknown man appears before her and admonishes her to travel to D'ni. But why? What was down there besides the ruins of the once great civilization? What reason could he have that required her to come to D'ni.

"It is time...be at the city..." she murmured to herself, echoing the man's words.

It was time- time for what?

Rolling back onto her side, Yeesha curled herself up into a ball. Whatever it was time for, she would find it in D'ni but to get there she would have to sleep. And yet, even as she was close to falling into a complete slumber the words of Devokan still lingered with her.

...kenen gor...it is time...

-

Facing him was an enormous valley, six miles across and ten broad, its steeply sloping shores descending to a glowing orange lake that filled at least half the valley's floor. At the center of that lake was a huge island, a mile or more in width, two twisted columns of rock pushing up from that great tumulus to soar more then a mile into the air Beyond that, to its right, the great rock walls were curiously striped, regular tiered levels of colored stone reaching up into the shadows overhead...Within those levels great pools of orange water glowed. Book of Atrus

Yeesha couldn't help staring in awe as she stepped into the cavern. There it was, the great city of the D'ni, now in ruins but with an air of power and might still lingering hundreds of years after its Fall. That the D'ni people could build such an amazing structure, fashion it right out of the living rock and mold it to their every needs could not help but impress and create marvel.

They did nothing small, she thought with a slight smile.

Glancing one last time at the massive city before her, Yeesha turned herself and headed down towards the small harbor. There she knew one of the D'ni boats would be moored- one of the few salvaged by the group who had long ago tried to rebuild the city. They, led by her father, attempted what could not, and even should not, be done- building a new D'ni out of the old. And because they learned this, they left the city again to lie in its decay. From there, they moved to Releeshahn to start over and grow. But still, a few would return to the city, visiting it as it were to remember the dead.

Then others, like herself, felt constantly called to D'ni as if it longed to teach them something. As if a voice laying buried in the rubble was asking them to help it. Reveal what it was; become no longer hidden and unseen but alive and vibrant...seen.

Shaking her head in confusion at these new thoughts, Yeesha paused mid-stride and stared again at the great city.

What was I thinking?

Whatever it was, she couldn't understand it. She had certainly never thought of such an idea before! Yet, sometimes D'ni had that effect on her causing her to think of ideas before alien to her.

Sighing from both weariness and confusion, she was about to continue on when she spotted a shape moving towards her, up from the harbor. Small and slightly bent over yet with the keen aura of power and knowledge it could only be him.

".thoe kenem, nava," said Yeesha when he was within hearing range. She had decided during her long hike down the tunnels that anyone who could do things such as which he seemed capable of must be a Master of the Art. Or if not that, then some other great power. Because of that revelation, she would afford him every respect like he deserved.

".shorah b'shehm, Yeesha. I am well," he answered, stopping before her.

She wasn't surprised that he knew her name- somehow she could tell he would. It was almost as if he had been waiting for her all his life and just knew ever detail about her.

A smile softly creased itself into his face, the wrinkles around his eyes deepening and reforming with the movement.

"Your intuition is quick, young one."

"Thank you, Nava."

"And yet," he continued, reaching out and brushing a leathery soft hand across her face, "I sense an emptiness about you."

Startled, Yeesha glanced quizzically into his face, searching for an answer.

Why do you say that? she wanted to know. Is it so obvious I am not whole? Can you not fix it?

"What you seek," said the master with a small shake of his head, "I can only show you but a glimpse, you must take it yourself. It is you who must accept what you are."

"First I must be shown..." she supplicated, knowing suddenly he was what would point her down her path. He was the only one who could show her where her destiny lay.

"I will," he replied. "But you must make your first choice now if you would find your way. I will warn you- this choice is not easy. Yet if you seek the path the Maker has laid before you, then you must make it. So, the choice is this: give up all that you have learned, all that you know and come and learn what I would have you see. Or... hold tight to those things which you now understand and even love, and return from where you came."

The cavern was silent. A faint mist drifted on the surface of the water, underlit by the dull orange glow that seemed to emanate from deep within the lake. Book of D'ni

In the silence, Yeesha stared at the man before her, thoughts running madly in her head. What he was asking her to do, what he was forcing her to decide, was worse then anything she had yet experienced. Such a terrible option; give up all she had held close for her life or learn whatever it was he could offer her.

How can I make such a choice! she thought angrily. Lose and yet gain versus keep and lose...

"Have I no other option?" she asked, praying that there was. But the Master only shook his head no.

Oh Yahvo!

Yeesha shifted her feet agitatedly. It was all here, all at this moment. Everything she ever wanted was within her grasp- but she had never thought it would be accompanied like this.

In frustration, she glanced across the waters again. There stood D'ni, waiting...either to bring her home or reveal its secrets. She could see all the spindly, spires of the islands which surrounded it, could even faintly make out Kerath's Arch rising in welcome, waiting for her to enter through it just as it had for so many others before her.

Suddenly Anna's words, the ones she had told Yeesha the day of their returning to Tomahna from the Cleft, echoed loudly in her mind. "You learn to write better then anyone else. You learn everything. You have to do it- for all of us."

I have to do it for all of them.

Facing the Master once more, Yeesha raised her chin in determination and said,

"I choose to learn the Art. I choose to follow my path."

-

.fehnah chaiehts- Faulty story. (Or, as I used it, stories, although the literal translation come out as story. Also, fault is related more for a geological fault but it was bent a little to fit. )

.kenen gor- It is time.

.kehnehmah trehpahts- Be at the city.

thoe kenem, nava- How are you, Master?

shorah b'shehm- Peace to you.