Daughter of Three Suns

Chapter 14

It didn't take long for the pain to begin. The light struck across my shoulders like a fiery brand. I could feel the blisters begin to bubble on my face and arms. Rosalie glanced at me when my breathing became labored.

"Take a long deep breath, Bella. Hold it for a moment, then breathe it out in three short pants, like this." Rosalie took a deep breath then released it in three puffs. "Try to relax and slow your heart when you breathe in."

I did as she instructed, and it seemed to help. Concentrating on controlling my breath and slowing my heart took my mind off the pain for a while. It also seemed to lessen as additional blisters formed and covered more skin. When I was comfortable, we began walking again.

We crested a tall dune, and I turned to look back at our home island. It seemed very small, and I could no longer see anyone under the overhang. There was a slight movement, and someone stepped from the dark opening into the sunshine. "Is that Mother?"

Rosalie nodded her head. "Yes. She's still watching, as is Alice."

"You can see them?"

My sister chuckled. "My eyesight is very good."

"Oh." I thought again how wonderful it must be to see the world in more detail. "What is that?" I pointed to a dark speck in the sky.

"It's Emmett. It is …" Suddenly, Emmett was joined by more specks. They grew larger as they flew toward us. "The basherti, sister. They're coming to honor your journey."

We watched them approach. Soon they were overhead, wheeling and calling, chirping hello and goodbye. Charles dropped from the sky and flew around me. It did not try to land on my painful shoulders but circled and circled, trilling a song of comfort. Emmett alighted on Rosalie's shoulder. Its great golden eyes regarded me intently, and then it began to squawk and shake. Vague images and half-forgotten memories filled my head. I remembered a deep voice and a strange figure.

Rosalie shrugged Emmett from her shoulder. "Go home and take care of our daughters," she told it, chuckling. "And quit laughing at my sister."

Once more, the basherti circled above us, then veered and headed home.

"Rosalie," I asked after we had walked a bit more. "What happened at the Anamnesis?"

"What do you remember?" she asked.

We were climbing a tall dune, and I paused to catch my breath. The pain was beginning to shift from my shoulders to my back. I tried to pant through the hurt, but it built and built. "Sister," I gasped. "It hurts; it hurts."

"Bend over, Bella. Your back will sear over quicker. Scream if you have to."

I did as she told me, leaning on my staff, feeling the skin boiling on my back. I tried panting but when the agony became too much, I screamed. And screamed. And screamed. Suddenly it was over. The relief was immediate, and I stood, trembling. "How much more?" I asked when I could speak again.

"Your stomach and chest will hurt, but your legs will be easier."

"Will my whole body be covered in blisters?"

Rosalie nodded. "It won't hurt so much then."

We walked a bit farther before I spoke about the Anamnesis. "I remember breathing the herbs. They made me dizzy and everything blurry. When the basherti came, I felt such longing. Even though I knew I didn't have one yet, I kept searching for mine. Things were very strange after that. The women and their basherti were in the shadows. They looked …" I paused, trying to remember what I thought I had seen. "The basherti were changing. They looked …"

I stopped again when an image of a person who said its name was Emmett formed in my head. "Rosalie! I fell down, and Emmett picked me up, but it wasn't a basherter. It was a person like us, only it was different. It said it was a man."

I stared at my sister, expecting her to laugh and tell me the herbs had made me see strange things, but she only stood there, waiting for me to finish. "Was it true?" I finally whispered when she was silent.

Rosalie nodded. "In the darkness of the Anamnesis, when Mother Sun is gone from the sky, the basherti are able to change their shape. They become people like us. With bodies almost like ours."

"You …" I thought of her words about becoming one with her basherter. "You join with your mate. You become one."

"Yes. It is one of the blessings that Grandmother gives us. We experience great ecstasy."

"Oh." I thought of what she said, and then of something else. "Babies come after the Anamnesis. Is this great ecstasy when the babies are made?"

My sister smiled, and then laughed softly. "Yes, sister mine. That's when babies are made."

"When I meet my basherter, will I experience this feeling?"

"Yes," she chuckled again. "You will understand when you have mated with it." She glanced down at my legs. "Do they hurt?"

I looked down to see both legs covered in red blisters. I had only noticed a slight discomfort. "Perhaps the talking distracted me? That is a good thing, right?"

Once again Rosalie laughed. "Yes, it's a very good thing."

…..

We walked for a long time. Grandmother's breath blew across us, but it did little to relieve the heat of Daughter Sun. I panted through the pain and talked to my sister to distract myself when my stomach and chest began to burn.

"Where are we going, Rosalie? How do you know where we are? Can you find your way back to our home? Have you ever been lost?" I asked every question I could think of to take my mind off the agony that was beginning to build again.

"We're heading toward the opening that will take you to that world, Bella. I thought it would help shorten your journey." She glanced at my chest. "This will be over soon. Scream if you have to."

I nodded and panted. "Talk, Rosalie!"

"Something happens after we change. We always know our way. It's as if one of Irina's maps is in our head. I know our home is that way." She pointed behind and a little to our left. "The small island where Irina is living is there." This time she pointed off to our right. "The door we are headed toward is in front of us, and the place we are going to stop is just over this dune."

Once again, she studied my body. "Come, sister. We're almost there."

She led the way, and I struggled to follow. Something seemed to be happening inside me. My muscles were weak, my bones felt like they were melting, and I could barely breath. "Rosalie, what is happening to me?"

"The Metanora is beginning. Hurry, Bella."

"But I thought … I thought the burning …"

There were two upright stones before us. "Lay down between them." Rosalie instructed. She took my staff and planted it deep into the sand. From her pack, she took a braided rope. "You must tie this around your ankles, and then to the staff."

I did as she told me. As soon as my legs touched, the blisters began to spread. I could see them forming a hard scab around my legs. It began to creep up my body. "Sister?"

Rosalie crouched beside me. "You're going to be okay. Listen closely now because we don't have much time. Everything you'll need is in this pack. There's food, water, and clothing. Your knives and the throwing disks as well as the sheath for holding them, everything is here. When you wake, you'll know what to do and where to go."

"Rosalie, what is happening to me?" I cried out. The scab was expanding, forming a hardened shell around me. It covered my chest, binding my arms to my side, and crept up my neck. Then, it was flowing over my jaw and face. "Sister, sister!" I struggled against it, but it was no use.

"You are being reborn as a woman." I heard her whisper. "Close your eyes, little sister, and dream."

…..

I floated in a great darkness. It was warm, wet, and very peaceful. I did not hunger, did not sleep—I only existed. From time to time, I could hear voices. Some were louder, some were softer. One spoke more often than the others. "Mother"—the name came into my head. "Sisters"—I thought when I heard the others. Gradually, I became aware of a constant thudding sound, a thumping that echoed deep within me. Somehow, I knew it was Mother's heart and that mine beat to the same rhythm.

I drifted there, beneath her heart, where time had no meaning, and I dreamed.

I dreamed of innumerable worlds and countless suns. I dreamed of endless space, a cosmos of unceasing change. I saw life begin as a one-celled organism and divide over and over until all manner of plants, animals, and people sprang from it. I watched it spread from one world to another until all of existence pulsed with the spark of life. That spark was Grandmother Spirit. It stretched across the universe, connecting all things, and it glowed warm within me. I grew around it, expanding to hold the essence of life inside me. And I knew great joy.

Tiny pricks of pain began to catch my attention. My bones ached, my skin hurt, and I was increasingly uncomfortable. I stretched, trying to relieve my cramped position, but I was wrapped in something too small and confining. I could feel it pulling in on me, trapping me within its grip. Suddenly, I was terrified and desperate to escape. I opened my mouth to scream, but fluid rushed in. I choked and could not breathe. My arms flayed at the covering. I twisted and turned. My fingers caught on the wrapping, and with one frantic swipe, they tore it apart. I sat up, vomiting the fluid out of me and drawing great gulping breaths of air into me.

The hard shell that had cocooned me lay in shreds on the ground. The moisture from inside drained quickly into the sand and evaporated almost instantly from my skin. Skin that was now a hard, brown woman's skin. Long, sharp claws extended from my fingers. I flexed and rotated my hands, studying them from different angles. Seen from this position, I suddenly realized they were just like a basherter's talons. Why had I never noticed this before? A memory of riding the wind beside my mate and using my claws to snag a fish for our meal played in my head. I shook it, knowing this could not have happened.

Glancing down, I understood why the shell had felt so confining. I was tall. My legs were long and muscled, my hips curved, and I had small round breasts on my upper body. There was something shiny just above them. With the pad of my finger, I touched the hard, round circle imbedded in my skin. It was the bit of chain Irina had given me. The braided thong it had once hung from had burned away in the searing heat, but the metal ring had fused to my skin. It had changed, just as I had, and was no longer dull and dark. Instead, it shone bright and red like Grandmother Sun and the openings to the other worlds. You will wear my sign to remind you that I will never desert you. Her words repeated in my thoughts, and I knew this was what she had meant. I lifted my hand and ran it over my head. My girl's braid was gone. My head was smooth and hairless.

Rosalie had left the pack with my supplies tied to my walking staff. I opened it to find clothing, which I quickly donned, and food, which I quickly devoured. The sheath and long knife were strapped to my thigh, and the holders with the smaller knives and throwing disks were placed across my chest. After drinking my fill from the water gourd, I hoisted the pack with the rest of my supplies, and then turned to study the land around me.

Just as my sister had described, the world was a wonderous place of colors, scents, and sounds that I could never have imagined before. I felt as though I could stand here forever and just bask in the stunning beauty before me, but it was the shining red glow that beckoned to me in the distance that grabbed all my attention.

My doorway was a sparkling arch of dark red. I could see other colors shift and gleam within it. It glowed in the white heat of Daughter Sun and called to something deep within me. There was no denying its summons. My Moirai, my destiny, lay within its pulsing light. Without any conscious thought, my feet began to move, and then I was running toward my fate.

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.AN: Thank you for reading and special thanks to Sally for correcting my mistakes.