"So. Now has come the time to discuss the warriors during the battle with the isagedakru." The heda looked up from the head of the table. Anya sat there, along with the other strong geda. Juram and Corin sat to Tohru's left, Connor and Anya to his right. The rest of the geda along the table. The sekons stood behind their firsts, all except Costia, who sat in a place of honor to the right of Tohru. There hadn't been time to find her a second geda mentor, but the problem would be solved along with the mountain of others lined up in front of them.
The geda nodded their heads solemnly. Lexa noticed Anya had the slight crease in her forehead she always got when she was worried, but the crease was mixed with her bottom lip that she always tightened whenever she got mad. It was an odd combination, but it summed up what most everyone at the table was feeling. The sekons stood still and quiet behind the geda. They knew now was not the time to fidget and play like they sometimes did at the tribe meetings.
"Milo has given his life honorably, along with several other geda during the battle, and we give a moment of silence for his memory." Everyone at the table, geda, healer, sekon, bowed their heads for a moment. "But now has come the time to avenge him. Tregedakru do not take offense lightly. Now, not only has isagedakru become enemies with us, so have these warriors of unknown origins.
"To begin, we need to discuss everything we know about them at the moment. There were several witnesses at the table to the event," Tohru continued, and then paused. He turned and looked at Lexa. She froze for a moment, unsure of what to do. She glanced at Anya, who gave the slightest of nods.
"Sekon Lexa," Tohru said, speaking Lexa's name with his deep, commanding voice. She looked into his face. Lexa had never had a chance to look into Tohru's eyes. He was a tall man, dark skinned, with his black hair combed back. During battle he left it wild and untamed, a black curly mane. Usually their heda was clean shaven, but there were beginnings of a beard (understandably so). His dark brown eyes looked into Lexa's for a moment. His nose was a sharp, hooked nose. His teeth were bright white. Lexa watched him take a breath. "You were the primary witness to the event. I need to to tell the geda everything that you saw. Can you do that?" The last question wasn't directed at the table; it was spoken softly, to Lexa herself.
Lexa's throat felt suddenly dry, and the urge to urinate flew through her lower stomach, disappearing as fast as it came. Her knees trembled ever so slightly. And she hadn't even begin to remember what happened. But she swallowed, and inside she shook off her nerves. The geda would understand what happened.
Lexa closed her eyes, seeing the event burned on the inside of her eyelids. About to be victorious, when suddenly a new enemy had flooded into the area. Dark, huge men, all male. Their faces were hidden under hoods and skulls and masks, their arms huge, their body bearlike. They had reached out with talonous hands, their fingernails great dirty claws as they had gone straight for Milo's stallion, reaching out, their finger scrabbling as they had torn open cuts in the side of the horse. The stallion had screamed and gone down, Milo disappearing into the crowd of warriors. No, warriors was too honorable. These men were devils, evil. They were reapers of the geda. Reapers of death. They had ripped him apart, blood spurting everywhere, staining their faces and masks red. Their arms were covered in it, wet and dark -
Suddenly Lexa's eyes flew open as she felt wetness spreading out on her legs. Blood rushed to her cheeks as she choked on her own words, swallowing the whole story. Tears came, hot and furious down her cheeks and she couldn't see, but she felt strong hands grab her, lift her up as her sobs suddenly burst out of her lungs, throat-wrenching screams, enough to make her voice crack into pieces.
It was Anya who had carried her out and set her underneath a tree. Roughly she wiped her sekon's eyes with a dirty handkerchief. Lexa's sob died down and she panted for a few minutes before she finally had regained enough self control to take a deep breath and regain control of her body.
"That's enough," Anya said. Lexa looked up. "It's awful. I know. Let's get you cleaned up." Anya lifted Lexa up, dragged her over to the sekon's tent, got her a clean pair of pants, wiped away the tears as Lexa dry sobbed, eyes wide open, shocked. Anya returned Lexa to the tree, gently tucking her hair behind her ear, staring into her eyes. "I'll be back soon." She rubbed her finger across Lexa's tear tracks, wiping them away before disappearing into the tent to return to the meeting.
Lexa stared into nothing, the image was buried again. Reliving it was too painful. She couldn't even imagine if Costia had been in her position, or worse, if it had been Anya pulled under instead of Milo. Both pictures were too repulsive to imagine, Lexa quickly buried them. She put her hands over her eyes, closing them to the pain she was in.
She sunk, slowly but surely, into the ground below her, felt her entire body sinking down as her mind cleared and the darkness behind her lids grew, slowly she could see the reds and browns and yellows behind her eyelids. The sun came out and suddenly it was a fiery red, a color that oddly made her think of Costia.
And then she knew. For Costia. She had to tell the geda for Costia. There was no other reason in Lexa's mind. For Costia. She opened her eyes, the sunlight blinding them. She blinked a few times, staring up into the sky, almost like she was a newborn again, experiencing the sun for the very first time in her life. Soon, her eyes were used to the light again, and how on earth could she have ever left? The light was so beautiful, so bright. Costia stood up, feeling her muscles stretch and pull, her toes in the dirt, wiggling and feeling the cool earth underneath. She took a deep breath, pulling all of her focus, all of her concentration. She was ready.
With confident steps she walked to the tent flap. She stopped for a moment, as though she was about to go into battle for the first time, a hand resting on the fabric, feeling the hides beneath her skin. Another deep breath, and she pulled aside the flap. Her heart was pounding in her chest, the blood rushing in her ears. She couldn't really hear what the heda was saying. She couldn't comprehend the words. But with a pause, the heda stopped speaking, and the geda's heads turned to face her. But Lexa didn't see the sea of eyes. She saw three pairs: the dark, dark brown of the heda, the hazel eyes of Anya, and the bright blue eyes of Costia at the end of the table.
Lexa opened her mouth and this time, the story poured out. She ignored the growing look of horror on the heda's face, nor the mixture of satisfaction, pride, and fear on Anya's. The only thing she could see was the widening blue sea of Costia's eyes, unblinking. Tears began to form under them. The story rolled out of her throat, a rolicking sea, a rainstorm, unabashed and thunderous, even though her voice was no louder than a gentle murmur.
And then it was over. The story told, the event relived through. And Lexa had made it out the other side. Alive, still. Because, after all, it was only the past. The heda nodded. "Thank you, Lexa. You may take your place behind Anya, or leave if you need to."
"No. My place is behind my geda," Lexa said, then walked slowly behind Anya. Her first, unseen to the rest of the table, bent her hand back, holding her fingers out. Lexa leaned imperceptably forward and touched her first's hand for a moment, for a little bit more courage. Her eyes met the blue of Costia's one more time, seeing the fear in them, but seeing the trust in them too. It was thrilling.
Lexa didn't hear the rest of the meeting; then again, she didn't really need to. The heda dismissed the warriors, and Lexa poured out with the rest of them, to go off and do the rest of the village duties to the best of their abilities.
That night the ceremony of sending off the warriors was held. Their bodies, or at least the bodies they had, were burned on the pyre, the whole stack of wood going up in a huge blaze of flame. The heat burned the geda if they stood to close. Lexa stood between Anya on one side, watching the flames with a look you couldn't tell what the feeling was behind it, and Costia on the other side. Costia, facing the fire as the heda spoke the words, "Yu gonplei ste odon," gently reached out and brushed her fingers against Lexa's. Lexa felt a shiver run down her spine, and caught Costia's hand, intertwining her darker fingers with Costia's pale ones. The warmth spread out, and even though they stood in front of the fire together, Lexa felt warm for the first time that night. She closed her eyes. The vigil would be long that night, but she would spend as long as she needed. She had the two people she cared most about by her side. Nothing would harm her.