AN: Thank you for the warm reception to this story! How about another chapter to get us off to a good start? I should mention that no copyright infringement is intended.

Daughter of Three Suns

Chapter 2

I remember very clearly my first Anamnesis celebration. We climbed the long winding staircase carved into the cliff face that marked the edge of our bare-rock island. I had never climbed so high and was afraid. My mother, Renee, carried me on her hip while my two sisters, Rosalie and Alice, walked ahead of us. I gripped my mother's neck, eyes closed, head buried into her shoulder, refusing to look at the cliffs falling away so far below us.

When we reached the top, she stood me on my feet, telling me to go play, but I was still frightened. I clung to her leg until Rosalie took my hand. "Open your eyes, Bella," she urged. "It's beautiful!"

My sister told the truth. I opened my eyes to a rosy wonderland. The top of our home island was a flat, hard surface stretching out around us. From its great height, I could see massive piles of rock rising in the distance. I wondered if there were more little girls living there and if they, too, were playing in the red light.

Above us, Grandmother Sun hovered in her place barely peeking above the horizon and bathing the world in her weak light. It made the rocks beneath our feet gleam and the great sand dunes that covered our world glimmer and sparkle as they shifted in the cool breeze. The sky was darker than I had ever seen and was littered with tiny specks of twinkling lights.

"Where is Mother Sun?" I cried, frightened that her golden glow was missing.

"She has gone to her long sleep," Rosalie answered. "She will come back after Daughter Sun takes her turn ruling the sky."

"And Grandmother Sun? Will she go away, too?"

"No, she will stay in the sky, but she will be hard to see because Daughter Sun will be too bright. Grandmother will never leave us, though."

Rosalie was the oldest of my two sisters and knew more things than I did, so I accepted her explanation. I had never seen Daughter Sun and did not understand the changes that were coming. Before I could ask more questions, Alice grabbed my other hand and we ran, giggling and screaming as young girls do, to join our cousins. Shadows shifted below and beside us as we played in the magical light. Sometimes, our mothers and aunties joined in, laughing when they caught us and swung us up into the air.

The sky darkened as Grandmother Sun gradually made her circle around the horizon. By then, we were tired and hungry. Our mothers called us to gather at the edge of the flat expanse where the seers were ready to begin the ceremony. I sat in Mother's lap, Rosalie and Alice beside us, with my aunties and cousins all around as we listened to our wise women tell the story of our homeland.

They chanted the names of our foremothers, all those who had left to seek the sand. Stories were told of their courage, songs sung in their memory. We toasted them with food and drink: tender fishcakes spiced with wedrok algae and wrapped in kowi leaves, sweet, juicy rubus berries and chewy, dried appa fruit.

After we finished our meal, the seers led us to the edge of the cliffs. We recited the Three Prayers to Grandmother Spirit and sang the Three Blessings she bestowed upon us. Alice and I tossed flowers over the edge, laughing when the wind caught them and lifted them to twirl above our heads.

Mother took handfuls of dried sweet herbs and ground them between her hands. She leaned over, breathed deeply, and inhaled their scent. Then she instructed Rosalie to do the same. Curiously, I watched my sister crush the herbs and draw in their fragrance. Mother nodded and had her repeat the crushing and the breathing twice more. They tossed the remaining leaves into the air where the breeze caught and swirled them around them, coating their heads and shoulders with fine powder. Before I could ask what they were doing, Alice handed me more flowers, and we began tossing them over the edge once more. All the while, the seers chanted the names of our lineage, from the first woman and her basherter, to our mothers' names and their basherter and children.

"Where is Charles?" I asked mother, only then realizing that none of the basherti were with us.

"It will come later," she answered. "This part of the ceremony is only for us."

I looked at the dark sky above us, the rosy light shimmering off the sand and rocks, felt the cool breeze play with my hair, and wondered what it would be like to be a basherter, to be able to spread my wings and soar above the land. Before I could say anything, there was a great rustling overhead. I looked up to see the air filled with the basherti. They wheeled above us, rising on the updrafts from the cliffs, then dipping down to circle before soaring into the sky again. I laughed when Charles swept down and brushed its feathers across my head before landing on mother's shoulder.

They stared at each other for a long moment. Mother's eyes filled with love and a smile graced her lips. With a soft chirp, Charles leaned forward and rubbed its head on mother's cheek. Then, with a hopping turn, it looked down at my sisters and me.

"Bella," mother whispered. "Hold out your hands."

I stuck my hands out, cupping them together. Charles flapped its wings once and landed on them. It was heavy and mother quickly reached down to help me hold it. I had never held her basherter before. It cocked its head, then leaned toward me and slowly placed its head on my cheek. Its feathers were slick and cool on my skin, and I felt the tip of its beak touch my ear before it lifted off and flew to Alice's outstretched hands.

Alice was bigger and stronger than me. She gathered Charles into her arms and hugged it to her chest. It trilled softly before flying to land on Rosalie's shoulder. Rosalie was taller than both of us, although not nearly as tall as our mother. Still, she was able to support its weight. It seemed agitated as it shifted to peer at my sister's face, and several times, it seemed to be smelling the herbal powder that coated her hair. Its huge black wings unfurled and wrapped around her head while it rubbed its beak on her cheek and chirped quietly. Rosalie murmured something that I didn't understand, and then mother called it back to her shoulder.

I looked between my sister and mother, trying to understand what was happening. Neither said anything, but a great sorrow washed across my mother's face as she stared at Rosalie. My sister nodded resignedly, then reached for my hand. "Time to go, sisters," she said and began leading us toward the stairs where we joined the rest of the children who were being guided by the seers.

Just before we stepped over the edge to descend, I glanced back at my mother. She was seated on the ground facing Charles. Perhaps it was a trick of the dim light or the darker shadows, but for a moment, it seemed to be growing larger, its form shifting and changing shape. Then, Rosalie pulled on my hand, urging me to move, and I followed her down the cliff stairs.

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AN: Thanks to Sally for making me look good and to Ipsita for the wonderful banner.

Most of you probably know that TwiFanfictionRecs just posted their annual top ten favorite fics for 2020 contest. It's an amazing list of 120 stories that were completed over the last year. I was surprised when I realized I had three stories on the list. Nothing major, just a couple one-shots and a short story, but it did make me feel better about my writing. Then I also realized I had rewritten La Sua Bella Mente and published it as Her Beautiful Mind. So, except that I haven't seen my son in Oregon for over two years, and it's been over a year since I've seen my son in Texas, maybe 2020 wasn't so bad after all. Who am I kidding? It was tough, but we're all hoping for a better 2021.

Hugs to all,

Janet