Chapter 29
Târêt
January 3020
Mheydar looked down into the city from her balcony. From the height of the tower, the people bustling down the streets and into their homes before the sun set looked similar to ants. Hind was behind her, cleaning up the table from their shared supper. It had become a regular part of their days that they ate together, though even after months of doing it, she still worried about being caught. For if it was discovered that a slave was eating at the same table as a free person, they would be harshly punished. The thought of Hind being hurt for breaking the rules was frightening, but after finding that she would often be left alone in her room for days with no one but Hind to keep her company, she felt confident that no one would discover them. Even Yusraa had stopped coming up as frequently as when Mheydar had first woken up.
The small freedom that Mheydar experienced in being allowed to leave the palace and wander the city of Târêt was hardly a freedom at all. She would be accompanied by several of the palace guards, and often by the shadow figure of Cel as well – Mheydar had seen the bird transform and it had thoroughly terrified her. This complicated any attempts to communicate with (or meet in general) the people of Târêt, and those who did speak to her spoke in a tongue that Mheydar did not understand.
"You seem troubled tonight, Lady." Hind's gentle voice carried across the room.
"You know you don't have to address me formally so long as we are alone. Please call me by my name," Mheydar said. Hind's whole body froze in hesitation for a moment before she shook her head.
"It is not for me to say, Lady. Please understand." Hind bit her lower lip as she focused on the plates before her. Mheydar sighed and stepped in from the balcony. As she took a seat at the table, she took Hind's hands in her own.
"Why don't we go and explore Târêt tonight?" Mheydar gestured towards the balcony. "There's something going on down there and we should go to see it."
"I'll go and inform the guards." Hind began to turn but Mheydar kept a firm grip on her hands.
"No. I think we should go out without the guards." Mheydar watched as Hind's mouth fell open and her eyes widened in surprise.
"We cannot!" She whispered and glanced towards the doorway, as if she was afraid someone had arrived and heard Mheydar's words. "The lord –"
"Don't worry about that." Mheydar cut her off. "We won't be gone long enough for us to be caught." She pulled Hind's wrists, turning her friend round until their eyes met once more. "Please, Hind, I don't want to go alone, but I have a mind to explore the city without the guards and Cel to block my way." Her eyes searched beseechingly into Hind's. "Please?"
Hind sighed and slumped forward, "We will do as you wish, Lady." She picked up the plates from the table. "Stay here for now. If you go into town in any of the clothes you have here, you are likely to be recognized and stopped by the guards. I will find you something you can wear." Her eyes scanned the room until they fell onto the cold fireplace. "Take some of the ash and rub it on your hands and face. It will somewhat hide your features."
Mheydar nodded to Hind. "Thank you, Hind," she kissed her friend's cheeks. "I will wait here for you." As Hind left, Mheydar did as she was instructed and moved swiftly towards the fireplace, searching for ash.
The sights and sounds were like something completely new. When Mheydar had explored the city before, while the guards had been present, all those they came near to would speak in hushed tones, if they spoke at all. Now people jostled and haggled with each other in loud, boisterous tones, talking over the other noises. Most everyone ignored her and Hind, but Mheydar caught a few people studying her. She had never seen anyone else in the city with skin as light as hers and clearly it made her a bit of an oddity among the people of Târêt, but no one ever approached so she didn't work to avoid their attention.
The sunset did something a bit magical to the colors within the town. As the sky turned a dark golden, the colorful flags, blankets and other cloths hanging from windows or balconies complimented the warm color. Men and women passed under hanging sheets that turned the streets into corridors, lit by small lamps hanging on wooden posts. The incense that smoked inside the corridors and in some corners beside different buildings was so strong that she could nearly taste it. Some of the sensations were familiar, though she couldn't place them, while others were completely new.
Down one of the streets, the sound of haunting music wafted towards them. Mheydar halted her voyage down the main street and paid close attention to the sounds. After a few moments, she hurried down a narrow alley towards the music, holding onto Hind's hand so they wouldn't get separated.
As they got closer, Mheydar could hear the lilting music better. Voices sang in a soft language that was similar to the one that she had heard from vendors that day, but the trailing way they carried the sounds took the place of the guttural words. As she peered at a great fire, women danced as if they themselves were flames allowed to exist outside of the wood, moving fluidly. Their shirts were cut away just below their breasts, exposing their flat stomachs. From their brightly colored skirts hung golden coins that chimed together like bells with each sway of their hips. Behind them, muscular men pounded rhythmically on drums that were made from the dried skins of animals. Other men, who were more slim, though they still showed signs of muscles on their tanned skin blew into horns of varying sizes as well as flutes. The song filled the air with a final flurry as it finished and the dancers fell gracefully to a bow, holding little empty bowls out to the crowd while their faces remained to the ground.
A few seconds hung in absolute silence, as if the people were waiting for more from the players, and then they broke out into an excited chatter and the sounds of coins falling on top of coins within the little bowls could be heard, pealing into the night. Most of the crowd began to disperse and once again the guttural words fueled conversations, leaving the fire and the people beside behind. A few of the people from Târêt remained for a minute or two, but when they saw that the dancers stood and the musicians were focused on the ground for any missed change, they too turned and walked away. Eventually only Mheydar and Hind stood in the shadow of a building.
She was thinking of leaving as well. She had been sad she hadn't been able to watch the whole performance, but knew there was little she could do about it now. They had already been out for longer than she had meant to as the sky above had darkened into a black sheet with the stars shining down.
She was about to leave when she saw an elderly woman with a loose gray knot of hair tied behind her head smiling in their direction. "Kamisal mheydar om sildar. Delas dun gurto om esiko?" Mheydar turned expectantly to Hind, hoping she understood the words. Hind's eyes showed her instant recognition.
"Kamisal echinn defar. Esiku welee sil om cun reksa te ness ut." Hind turned her attention back to Mheydar for a moment. She cleared her throat. "I'm afraid my friend does not speak the Kahla juom."
The woman smiled kindly to Mheydar and nodded. "I speak Westron well enough, though I haven't had the chance to practice it in many a year." She turned away, waving with her hand towards the fire. "Saksar lom pe teksani. Please take a seat where there is room and we will hear your stories. Just as I have not spoken Westron in a long time, it has been equally as long since I have met one of the moon's blood."
"Moon's blood?" Mheydar echoed before shaking her head slightly. "I don't understand. Did I meet you once before? When you were speaking to us in the other tongue, you called me by my name." Both she and Hind took a seat on a rolled up blanket with their feet towards the large fire. The woman finished her short journey towards her own place in front of the fire. One of the young women who had been dancing jumped up, reaching for her arm, helping her down.
"And what is your name, child?" Her eyes were filled with the hint at a vast knowledge that Mheydar could only guess at.
"It is Mheydar." She stared as a soft laugh escaped from the younger woman's lips though she cut off as soon as the elder looked down at her.
"That is not your name." She was so quiet that Mheydar had to strain to hear the words, but besides the fire, the street had become nearly silent. "It is what you are, but not what you are meant to be called."
"I don't think I understand. Perhaps you have me confused with someone else?" Mheydar glanced over at Hind who was busy studying the ground nearest to her feet. After a moment of silence, the woman's raspy voice spoke up once again.
"I am an echinn defar, a wise woman, but that is not what I was named under the sun and stars. I am Sha'ana. Names can have great power. If one can make you forget your name, ofkalo ke ut." Sha'ana looked up at the darkened sky and sighed. "Is there anything you can remember at all?"
"I'm sorry, but I still think you have me confused for someone else." Mheydar smiled, but still she thought back, trying once again to remember something, anything from her past. As she did, a feeling like when she had first woken up to see Yusraa and Na'man pricked at her. Her head began to pound until finally she shook her head, clearing her mind. "There is nothing."
Sha'ana nodded, as if she had been expecting such an answer. "There is little I can do to help you. Perhaps if we had more time, but alas, we leave at first light."
"Why couldn't you just decide to stay?" Mheydar glanced to the others sitting around the fire. Most had produced bowls and were passing a single large bowl around, taking a thick liquid out with a spoon. It continued on until it reached Mheydar and Hind who both took some of the warm liquid. When she tasted it, it was spicy and she saw there were small clumps of meat among a kind of oat Mheydar had never seen before.
"Firstly, we have overstayed our welcome in this city. Our people tend to be distrusted by many who live in the rooted cities, as many nomads who do not sell any goods. Even if all we sell are stories and songs, people believe we search to take advantage and bewitch them. But that is not the only reason," Sha'ana sighed and glanced about a bit, searching for something. "The sands are moving strangely around this city and it worries me. I do not wish to continue in a place such as this until the sands have settled."
"Well," Mheydar's voice was quiet, "how can I repay you for such a fine meal? I'm afraid we didn't bring our purses with us."
Sha'ana looked at her steadily for a long moment. "We require no price from you. You were invited to share our meal. It is not our way to exact payment for a new friendship." She smiled kindly. "But perhaps you would like to share something with us in return?" Mheydar nodded expectantly. "Do you know any songs or stories? Since that is our trade, we love to hear all kinds of them. Even if it is one we have heard before, the voice usually is not the same as our own."
Mheydar smiled brightly. "I would be honored." She thought for a moment, but as she tried to remember any songs the headache descended again. The skin between her eyebrows puckered slightly as she tried to concentrate. She took a deep breath and tried to think back to songs or stories she might have heard in her past, but like everything else from that past, it was gone.
"Ut resam tep kolb. " The voice of a little boy chimed in. Mheydar's concentration fell as she searched for the boy. He stood about five paces away, clutching at the arm of a young woman who bore a slight resemblance to Sha'ana's face. Mheydar could see that the boy was missing his two front teeth as he smiled. "Kokkefar jususee we kistamos omon rem nums ov misku," he tapped his temple lightly, "sok skirku." He tapped his chest proudly. Although Mheydar didn't understand any of the language the boy had spoken she understood the message clearly. Closing her eyes, she didn't try to think of any songs, she just waited for the right song to come to her. Eventually everything in her mind faded away and she was picturing flat grasslands as far as the eye could see. She remembered no such place, but before she could think on it, the song came to her.
Although she saw nothing, it was as if the sound of horses galloping, their hooves beating rhythmically against the dry earth and grass. A wind blew over the grass and along with it, a melody of flutes, and a man, shrouded in shadow so that she could not see his face, began to sing, and she sang with him.
Where now the horse and the rider?
Where is the horn was was blowing?
Where is the helm and the hauberk, and the bright hair flowing?
Where is the hand on the harpstring, and the red fire glowing?
Where is the spring and the harvest and the tall corn growing?
They have passed like rain on the mountain, like a wind in the meadow;
The days have gone down in the West behind the hills into shadow.
Who shall gather the smoke of the dead wood burning?
Or behold the flowing years from the Sea returning?
She kept her eyes closed as whispers of knowledge came and faded within her. Nothing remained for more than a few moments before fading as if she had never remembered it in the first place. It was as if the knowledge of her past hung, waiting for her to embrace it, but she couldn't. If she tried, it only slipped away even faster. At her back she could feel the presence of a large man. She wondered at why she didn't feel any fear as she felt his breath on her ear. He whispered her name. She didn't try to grasp at it as she had her other memories, but instead let the name sink into her and overwhelm every other feeling within her.
When she opened her eyes, she was more clear headed than she had been in months. Her eyes took in everything and she knew she was not native to this land as she had been told by Yusraa. She was not Mheydar.
"Though who you are is still a mystery to you, I think you know your name now." Sha'ana quietly directed her attention.
She nodded, her eyes solemn. "I am Lothíriel."
Translations:
Kamisal mheydar om sildar. Delas dun gurto om esiko? (Greetings moon blood and sun blood. Please share my fire and my meal?)
Kamisal echinn Defar. Esiku welee sil om cun reksa te ness ut. (Greetings wise woman. Your meal looks warm and we would like to join you.)
Kahla juom (Sanded tongue)
Saksar lom pe teksani. (Make room for our guests.)
Ofkalo ke ut. (My pity on you.)
Ut resam tep kolb. (You think too much.)
Kokkefar jususee we kistamos omon rem nums ov misku, sok skirku. (Grandmother says a song must not come from your head, but your heart.)
