AN: Busy day tomorrow so I'm posting tonight. Thanks for reading.

Daughter of Three Suns

Chapter 11

Rosalie and Irina were eating first meal when I entered the cave home. My sister stood as soon as she saw me. "Bella, I'm sorry. I should not have—"

I silenced her with a raised hand. "You did what you thought was right, Rosalie, and I understand why. I'm not angry, just upset. You should have told me what you wanted to try." Pulling another pillow closer to the table, I joined Irina and my sister, who sat down with me. "After I left here, I ran a long way into the desert and to the top of the tallest dune I had ever seen. The desert surrounded me, and the sky above was endless. I watched the world turn around me, and it was beautiful. I slept there and felt safe. That was something I could never have done in my girl's body. So, I thank you for that gift.

"For a moment, I considered running into the desert, finding my own island, and making a life for myself far away from this task you say I was chosen for, but then something happened." Reaching across the table, I took my sister's hand and stared into her face. "I saw it, Rosalie, off in the far distance, deep in the desert. It glowed red just as you said it would, and it called to me. It was my doorway; the one Grandmother has chosen for me. I thought of the women who needed help, of my basherter waiting for me, and I knew I could not turn away from my duty.

"Mother Sun is going to her rest, and Daughter will be here soon. We don't have much time. Teach me what else I need to learn. Tell me what I need to do. Help me complete this task so I can return to this world."

Rosalie managed to smile at me, although her eyes were filled with tears. She reached out and gently ran the side of one of her claws down my cheek. "I am proud to call you sister," she whispered. "Long after our time is ended, and we have sought the sands, your name will be sung with honor at our Anamnesis. May you be remembered forever."

Then she handed me a bowl of cooked fanio meal mixed with appa fruit and rubus berries. "Eat," she urged. "You must be hungry, and we have much to do."

…..

My sister was correct. We had much we needed to do, and we were busy from first meal to last meal, trying to complete all she thought we should do. I practiced with my staff, with my knives, and with the throwing disks until I was proficient with both my left and right arms. I could reach, aim, and throw in one smooth motion.

Irina finished the two carrying sheaths for the small knives and the disks. The pieces crossed my chest and back and were made from toughened fish skins that were lined with pockets. We placed a disk or knife into each one. She also fashioned a bag from fish skins that held two shaping stones. It hung from a belt that tied around my waist.

Rosalie continued to cook all three of our meals, but she no longer added the herbs to my food. Instead, she set a small bowl with the crushed leaves on the table. It was my choice, she told me. I added some to my food each time we ate. I could still feel their effect, but it no longer bothered me.

After our last meal, I went to Irina's home to ask more questions about the grays and their tower. "After I climb down the ladder in the elevator shaft, where do I need to go to find our women?"

"There are two places they could be," she said. "Here, let me draw more pictures." She picked up a piece of charred wood from her last fire and began to add more to the bottom of the building she called The Tower. "Most of the people live in this place. Remember, it is not as ruined as the other buildings. The big, mindless ones live on the higher levels because they can tolerate more sunlight, but the smaller, weaker ones live on the bottom and in spaces underground. That is where our rooms were and where the bad things were done.

"After I killed the one who carried me, I tried to find where our women were. The rooms are shut off with barriers called doors that can't be opened without another metal thing called a key. I didn't know where to find these keys, and I was too weak to break them down or force them open." She shifted around on the floor to face me. "These doors are old and unstable. I think a strong woman could probably push them in or use the shaping stones to break the handles that open them.

"Only two of our women answered me when I called to them. I could hear some gray ones talking and getting closer, so I fled. Laurent told me later that some of the women had probably been taken to this other building where the basherti were kept."

Irina drew another much smaller building some distance away from the first. "From the outside, this one looks like no one lives there, but there are places below the ground where they do. There is a tunnel—an underground passageway—that connects the two buildings. I never saw it, but Laurent says it's there. If you have to go to the other building, do it outside when their sun is shining so the grays can't follow you.

"I should explain about their sun. They have only one. It is yellow like Mother Sun but much, much smaller. It rises in one direction then moves very quickly across the sky, and disappears on the opposite horizon. When it is in the sky, they call it 'day.' When it is gone, they call it 'night.' There is no other sun in the sky during the night, so it is very dark."

Shaking my head, I frowned at her, trying to understand what she was telling me. "Only one? How can that be?"

Irina laughed. "It is a strange thing," she agreed. "Think about our Anamnesis when Grandmother is the only sun we can see. Then take away her red light, and that is what their night is like."

"Are there tiny lights in their sky, too?" I thought about the darkness of Alice's room and how I had not been able to see anything. "Will the lights be enough for me to find my way?"

"Yes, but it is very dark. Remember, your eyes will change during your Metanora, you'll be able to see quite well. The grays can see in the darkness, too, so be careful when you do anything or go anywhere at night.

"I have something for you," she added, rising from the floor and walking to a storage basket. She returned with the shackle. "I don't know if this will make a difference. Alice seems to think it will. When you come back with our people and all the remaining basherti, you must be the last one through the doorway so that it will close forever and no one else can enter. As you step through, throw this back into their world. It does not belong here in ours. We hope it will sever all ties to that evil place."

I took the metal thing from her and put it into the carrying bag she had made me. "Thank you, Irina. I hope I won't disappoint you."

"You won't, little cousin. Now, go sleep. I think Rosalie is planning to leave at next cycle."

My sister was packing our belongings when I returned to our cave. "It's time to go, Bella. We'll leave after sleep cycle. Get some rest."

Irina and Laurent were waiting at the island entrance when we left our cave. She checked the knife sheath on my thigh and the two that crossed my chest, then made sure I had the shackle and the shaping stones in my bag. When everything was to her satisfaction, she pulled me to her in a hug. "May Grandmother's spirit guide you," she whispered. As we drew apart, she removed a braided cord she wore around her neck and placed it over my head. I looked down to see one of the metal circles from the chain hanging from its center. "Wear it for good luck."

With a nod, Rosalie and I stepped out into the warm glow of Mother Sun and began our journey back to our home island. I turned once and waved to Irina, who was still standing at the entrance. With a loud cry, Laurent suddenly launched itself from her shoulder. It flapped its wings awkwardly for several beats, and then it was rising into the air, riding a thermal it caught with ease.

"Look," I shouted. "Laurent is flying." Rosalie and I followed its flight as it circled and soared above us. We could hear Irina laughing happily.

"This is a good thing," my sister said with a smile. "A very good thing."