A/N: Hey hey! I know it's been awhile, but I'm back to being internet-capable and putting up more chapters. Let me know if all you out there in reader-land like this one.
(What are you doing?)
Astrana sighed, her concentration lost. She looked up and saw Tobias perched in a nearby tree. "Either stay there, perfectly still and don't talk to me or go away."
This puzzled him. (Why?)
"I need to concentrate for this. It's a ritual of our people, and I need a small animal to get close to me." She explained.
(Oh, like Ax's morning ritual.) Now he thought he understood. He decided to stay and watch. He was always interested to learn new things about alien culture.
"I very much doubt that." She muttered darkly, settling back into the meditative position and closing her eyes. Focusing all her attention of her senses of smell and sound, she could tell there were rabbits nearby. Sure enough, not too much time passed before one of them came to investigate this strange creature.
It edged closer and closer. When it was right by her knee having a sniff, her hand shot out and grabbed it. She stood up, wrapping her hands around the squealing rabbit in her grasp.
She held it high above her head and said aloud in her own language, "May this life, offered now to my ancestors protect my own in the battles ahead." In one quick move she broke its neck. Bending back down, she pulled out one of her daggers and slit its throat. "As the blood of this creature mixes with the earth," she said, rubbing it into the dirt, "may mine be spared from flowing." In the red dust, she drew a symbol of two intertwined tails. "Ancestors, grant me the courage to aid my comrades in their fight. Strengthen and guide me. To you I commend this life that my cry will be heard. May my time be well spent."
Tobias was shocked. He'd had no idea she would do something like that. (Okay, that was NOTHING like Ax's ritual.)
She shrugged. "It's a traditional thing. Do you want this?" she indicated to the rabbit which was still in her hand.
(Is that allowed?)
"It doesn't matter what happens to it afterwards. Once the life has been offered, the body has no significance. Usually I'd eat it, but I'm not hungry. Do you want it or not?"
Hesitantly he said, (I suppose so.) She tossed it to him and he caught it in his beak. He felt a little strange about it, knowing what it had been used for, but food was food. He flew down and began tearing into the flesh, trying not to think about it.
Astrana felt a little guilty lying to him, but the final part of the ritual dictated that one of the people she would be joining in battle with had to eat it – raw. Somehow she didn't see any of the others jumping at the chance to have raw rabbit.
Astrana was running. Running on nothing, or so it seemed. And running to nowhere as well, there was nothing on any horizon, not that she could see.
"Wait," she thought, "there IS something out there."
There was a tiny pinprick of light in the distance. Slowly, it was getting closer to her, whether she kept running or not. She decided to stay still since it kept coming no matter what she did, so she might as well just wait and see what was going to happen.
The light got nearer and nearer until it enveloped her completely. She laughed out of sheer wonder, it was so beautiful. She watched as shapes started to form and colors develop around her.
The light cut off and she was standing in front of her birth-tree watching a Caranius making graceful patterns with its wings. It was an insect similar to a butterfly, except it had six wings instead of four and the body was underneath it, not in the middle.
"Oh no." Said a small part of her in the back of her mind. "Not this memory." But that part of her was powerless to stop what was happening.
A ground-zoomer touched down behind her and Astrana turned to see her father and Lorthan getting off it. She went to greet them, but stopped when she saw his expression. "What's wrong father?" she asked.
"You're test. It came back." He said gravely.
"And?" She asked apprehensively.
Her father sighed. "You're infertile. Now your betrothal to Lorthan will be shifted to Naria."
"Naria? That krashan?" She laughed. "Tell me this is some kind of joke."
"I won't have you talk that way about my future mate." Lorthan snapped, anger on his face and in his voice.
"But Lorthan, I thought-"
"You thought wrong!"
Astrana jolted awake, something that you shouldn't do while sleeping in a tree. It meant that she tumbled out of her new nest and right onto Aximilli who had been sleeping underneath it.
(Aah!) Aximilli was awake instantly, his tail raised. He was ready for the threat – whatever it was – only to find that there wasn't one. He did see Astrana however. She was sitting on the ground, rubbing a fresh bump on her head. She looked up sheepishly at him.
"Sorry about that. I haven't done that in a long time."
(Done what?) he asked, curious.
"Fallen out of the nest because of a dream. And a really nasty one at that, too." She looked away into the night, remembering her shame. She sighed. "Haven't had that one in a while."
(Do you want to talk about it?)
"It's silly really. It was just the memory of my father telling me that I'm infertile. The problem is, the Puruna – sorry – high-born are never infertile. I let down my entire family."
Aximilli was silent for a moment, thinking about that feeling. Having lived in his brother's shadow his entire life, he definitely knew how she felt. (You cannot blame yourself for something you had no control over.) he said reassuringly.
Astrana smiled sadly. "I suppose you're right." Her ears pricked up and she turned her head towards the sound in her nest. "That's my com!" She exclaimed in surprise.
Jumping back up to her nest she picked up the communicator and flipped it open. Ferbale's face was what occupied the screen. "What's the news?" she asked him, not bothering with formalities.
"Well," he replied, "Some good, some bad. What do you want first?"
A knot of anxiety formed in her stomach. What could be wrong? "I might as well have the bad news first." She said resignedly.
"The bad news is that I couldn't convince the Council that we need to join in this war, so they're refusing to help."
Astrana bit her lip. Why had the Council refused to help? "Who had the audience?"
Ferbale's expression became momentarily bitter. "I wasn't allowed to go in, because apparently I'm 'just too common'. Lorthan had to speak on my behalf. He said that he tried his hardest, but he just couldn't get the council to agree to send some help."
This puzzled her. Why would Lorthan speak for Ferbale? They'd hated each other as long as she'd known them. "So what's the good news?" she asked.
"Ah, the good news!" he said happily, "I'm coming to pay a little visit. There is one mar on this happy occasion, Lorthan is coming too. He won't tell me why, but insisted on tagging along."
Astrana sighed. "Great. Just great. When do you arrive?"
"Two Earth days from now. Don't get into any trouble till I get there okay?"
She laughed. "Alright. But only because you asked. See you soon." She closed the communicator, her mind racing. What could Lorthan want with her?
