Break- K'veer
So I worked to find my healing. With the aid of my father, the love of my mother and much time spent in the warmth of many Ages- I attempted to close the wound which was cut deep into my soul.
I still try...
The time came, though, when I might no longer stay with my parents or my friends. The city called to me and I knew I must return to its walls.
Have you heard of the city? The deep city, the ancient Uru? Where there was power to write worlds. For thousands of years the city lived, lived beneath the surface.
-
Part 8- D'ni
In the streets of the city the mist coiled on the cold stone of ancient cobbles like something living. Yet nothing lived there now; only the mosses and fungi that grew from ever niche and cranny. Book of D'ni
Crumbled walls and broken bits of stone spilled over onto the streets, giving off an air of being cluttered. Large sections of walkways had gashes in them or were uneven from massive upheavals from within the living rock beneath. Once beautiful mosaics laid into the streets were smashed and destroyed and in sections edges of the roads and the intricately fashioned iron handrails were lost to the waters.
The streets of this once great city were deathly silent. Few walked about D'ni anymore, only shadows and ghosts of the past, remembering how things once were. Those and the city's own dreams, which lingered about the edges. For D'ni slept, waiting to be awakened, and only needing one to revive it.
In the great, permeating silence, Yeesha's booted footsteps sounded more akin to thunderclaps then what they really were. Of course, things never were as they seemed in D'ni.
Turning down another street, Yeesha made her way down into the J'Taeri district.
J'Taeri , it transpired, had been a Guild district, and this something of an anomaly in that the families who had once stayed there were not from the locality, but drafted in to oversee Guild activities in the lower districts. Book of Atrus
Only the wealthy lived here, many of them Guildmasters or other highly thought of Guild members. The houses and buildings here were rich and spoke of wealth and power through their very design. Elaborate and uniquely fashioned, each one was slightly different from the next.
Walking down through the district to reach the dock where her boat was moored, Yeesha allowed her mind to wander at will.
It was almost ironic that this part of the city was what Atrus was shown first when he was brought to D'ni by Gehn. This part which housed the members of D'ni who gained the most from the burden of the Least. They were the ones who built the most off of the backs of the Least, even the ones who wrote the Ages where the Least originated from.
Stopping and staring at one particularly elaborate house, one made of the special jet black stone streaked with red, Yeesha couldn't help but shake her head in sorrow. The D'ni held so much power and wealth yet they never noticed the cries of the Bahro, the ones they took everything from. In the end then, it was justice that the D'ni city fell to ruin, that the wealth and power was stripped from them just as they had stripped it from so many others.
Three years now had she seen the black center of the D'ni empire. For three years now she delved deep into the past and the secrets of the D'ni and uncovered it all. She had heard the cries of the Bahro and seen the atrocities performed on them. Now she would do something about it.
Turning away from the large house, Yeesha continued her walk down to the harbor. Along the sides of the streets, old, withered trunks of trees stood in front of houses.
They were dead, just as her Tree was dead. It was nothing but an empty hull, devoid of life. Yet that tree would grow again and life would once more fill that hull and green leaves cover the bare branches.
There is just so much more work for me to do first, she thought, overwhelmed by the steps that needed to be carried out before anything else could begin.
But she would do it because it was her path.
-
Yeesha felt her arms grow stiff the moment she released the oars of the small boat. On some days the distance from Ae'Gura seemed nothing while on other days it stretched into infinity.
Today is one of those days.
With what strength she had left, Yeesha pulled herself up from the boat onto the small landing platform where it was easiest to dock. Tying the rope that was attached to the boat securely around a poll, Yeesha stood upright and stretched her arms above her head, trying to loosen them. It didn't do much good for her arms but her back felt better for the effort.
Giving up, she picked up her pack from where she had thrown it on the dock and headed for the door to K'veer.
"Home sweet home," she mumbled, pulling the heavy door open with a grunt.
K'veer was a remarkable building, its walls and stories climbing up to the very top of its stalagmite shaped base. Each massive room was full of history, the study where Gehn had worked, the room Atrus was confined to, the Book Room where Ader Jamat once rested and where Anna was refused the right to link, and even the room where Aitrus had purposely linked to his death, saving his family from the madman. The walls practically vibrated with the past.
Walking into her study, Yeesha couldn't help groaning at the mess before her. Books, papers, empty and full inkwells and pens lay scattered about- mostly all over her desk. She was going to have to clear it off before she could work on any other projects.
"I should have done this before," she said, dropping her bag on the ground and beginning to grab papers and put them into piles. Not orderly piles but she would have to work on that part later.
She had just piled five large Age books on top of each other and was struggling to lift them, when another voice said,
"Here, let me help you with that," and the weight was lessened.
Yeesha peered cautiously over her stack at the newcomer, wondering who it was that had come unannounced to K'veer.
"Anna!" she cried, almost dropping the books in surprise and delight at seeing her old friend.
"Careful!" was all Anna said in response, reaching out a hand again to steady the pile.
Hastily, Yeesha placed the books on her desk again and embraced her friend. Then, letting go, she stepped back and looked up into Anna's face. She was still just as pretty as she had always been, with her unconscious grace and warmth. There were a few more lines about her eyes and mouth but not enough to be counted as a deterrence and certainly after all these years, they couldn't be unjustified in being there.
I'm sure I look older too, she thought with a smile.
"I'm so glad you're here!" she said, grin widening. "How long has it been since I last saw you?"
"Oh, I'm not sure. I think close to at least four years, we talked a little after you came back to stay with your parents, but I haven't seen you since."
"I hadn't realized it was that long...time gets away from me, I suppose."
"Ha! Yes, for you it always has!"
Acknowledging the jest, Yeesha laughed too then motioned for Anna to sit, asking at the same time,
"And how are things going? You look wonderful- just like always."
"Things are doing fine, thank you. I've gotten married-"
"To who!" interrupted Yeesha, thrilled by the news.
"His name is Corfan. You might remember him from when we were children- he used to follow us around and spy on us with the other little boys."
Wrinkling her nose at the memory, Yeesha laughed again.
"You mean those nasty little boys who always thought we were up to something?"
"Yes, one of those," replied Anna. "But he's not like that anymore, he's grown up and is everything I could want him to be."
"I'm happy to hear that. You seem extremely happy and I wish you both the best of luck. I only wish I might have been there."
"We tried to find you, but every time we came you were never around," said Anna, her eyes instantly full of worry. "I even left you a note once."
"No, no! I didn't mean it like that- I'm certain you tried to contact me, though as you can see, any note you might have left would be lost in one of these piles here."
"I noticed. What about you though, no one has heard from you in so long, what have you been up to?"
Spreading her arms and indicating the entire room, Yeesha answered,
"Working. All of this you can see I have been working on. Nothing has changed."
Anna glanced about the room for a minute then, turning again to face Yeesha, she cocked her head to one side.
"No, Yeesha, thing have changed. You have changed." Then Anna leaned forward and touched Yeesha's forehead gently, as if hypnotized. "Such as these marks, I've never seen them before... their beautiful... and somehow they suit you now when they wouldn't have before."
They wouldn't have before, thought Yeesha. They are the mark of the Desert Bird...what I have become.
"Thank you," Yeesha said softly.
For a second more, Anna stared into her eyes, a new light shining in them. Yeesha knew instantly that Anna's view was changing regarding herself- just like others had before Anna.
"I'm sorry," said Anna abruptly, averting her eyes. "I should stop trying to avoid all of this..."
"Avoid what?" asked Yeesha, puzzled.
"What I was sent here to tell you. Your mother would have come herself but she was too distraught and looked too tired and then there was all the preparations she was having to work on, so I volunteered to come instead and..."
"Anna! Stop rambling and tell me what it is!" Yeesha almost shouted.
Oh Yahvo, what it is?
She didn't want to admit it but deep in her heart she knew something terrible had happened. She had never seen Anna try so hard to avoid talking to her in all her life. Anna could usually tell her anything, so for her to stumble about and ramble on over nothing filled her heart with fear.
Anna sighed and looked solemnly at her.
"It's your father, Yeesha. He...he died yesterday."
Her entire body went numb at Anna's words the only sensation coming from her fingertips, which tingled slightly. Her father. Not her father. Never her father!
"No," she whispered, shaking her head stubbornly. "No, that can't be."
"I'm so sorry, Yeesha, I know how close you two were. It came as a shock to everyone."
"I don't believe it," she insisted.
"No one else thought that could happen either," sympathized Anna. "We all believed he was healthy, the Healers thought he was too."
But Yeesha wasn't listening, her thoughts were blocking out all of Anna's words. She knew her father couldn't be dead. He was too strong and healthy to have died at such a young age!
No, she insisted, he's not dead.
Anna was still talking.
"It happened so suddenly. He had been sleeping in his study the Healers said when it happened. He didn't feel a thing."
Yet Yeesha was already linking to Tomahna by the time those words reached her.