Journey of the Messenger Cycle 2 Part 7a

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Ijah

The winter solstice was only a day away. Dovarr had managed to put together two sets of clothing that were very close to the traditional garb they would have worn had they been at home on the islands. Of course, as Merhaj had repeatedly pointed out, if they had in fact been home, they would have been celebrating the summer solstice. They were not home, here in the north it was winter. In fact it was snowing outside for the first time in West Port this year. Not that it was staying, instead it melted as it settled, for which Ijah was very thankful.

Merhaj and many of the other more recent arrivals to West Port were griping about the cool, damp weather. Ijah did not blame them for their disgruntled attitudes, she had felt much the same way eleven years ago and again every winter since. She was rather pleased to be here, to experience what she now considered a mild winter. If they had been in Swampdon it was highly likely that they would be experiencing their second or third massive snowstorm. A fact that she had not mentioned to her daughter, Merhaj was having a difficult time adjusting to the north as it was, she saw no point in adding fuel to the fire of her daughter’s discontent.

Ijah was looking forward to tomorrow’s dance. Most of the Kereshi and many of their initiates would gather at dawn and dance through the day and the night until the following dawn. Ijah had not danced among a large group of her people since she had last been in West Port, there would be over twice as many present for tomorrow’s dance, the enclave had nearly doubled its Kereshi population over the past decade. During the solstice, those who were most gifted would be using the energies from the dance to make powerful magic. Magic that would help protect the enclave and hopefully settle some of the unrest in the city.

Goddess, the city and its inhabitants needed all the help they could get. Strife and unrest had swept across the West Port shortly after Berri had gone to the east side. A Freeman uprising had left the well-to-do inhabitants mostly trapped atop the hill and left sections of the waterfront in burnt ruins. There was still fighting between the count’s men and the rebels. The rebels also manned boats and barges and often attacked anyone who tried to cross from one side of the river to the other. The uprising had been followed by a raging storm, blown up to the city from the south. Apparently the Maldorn air-mages had been able to keep the worst of the winds from hitting West Port directly. Still, there had been a lot of rain and the outlying regions had been inundated, waters of the East Sister River had risen to the high water marks. The storm caused problems getting food and aid to the tens of thousands of refugees in the west side, riots and looting had swept across most parts of the city on this side of the river. Necromantic magic had been used throughout the west side of the city. Some blamed the Tannicans for that, while others claimed it had more to do with the alchemical drug known as shadow essence, in conjunction with all the deaths caused by the unrest and the storm.

In the enclave their routine continued, nearly unchanged. One of the biggest differences for them was that the warriors of her people, including herself and Merhaj, now patrolled the outlying streets. Food had become somewhat scarce, but there was always plenty of fish, seaweed and other gifts from the waters.

As of yet she had not heard from Roddarra nor Berri, she hoped the two of them had stayed out of the fighting and were sheltering in the manor. Hopefully the navy’s efforts to clear the rebels from the river would prove successful and the flow of traffic between the two sides of the city would resume shortly. Ijah wondered why the airships had not been used to keep river passage clear, though most such craft had fled the city ahead of the storm, she had seen increasing numbers of them over the past few days. She wondered how Lady Felitta was doing.

Despite feeling some disappointment about not being able to gather with her northern friends and associates for the solstice, she was very happy to be spending time with her family and to be able to participate in tomorrow’s dance.

“Thank you, Jun. That’s enough for now.”

“Are you sure? I don’t remember you ever holding so much tension in your body. You have a lot more scars than I remember.”

She turned over and looked at her husband, she still was not used to seeing grey facial hair on the man, though she felt it made him more handsome, “Lay with me for a while.”

He put the stopper in the bottle of scented oil and lay against her side, settling into the crook of her arm. She had missed Jun greatly, being with him like this was a blessing, “I think your massage skills have improved.”

“Oh, I’m glad to hear that.”

“I’m also very happy that the three of you are here. It is a comfort.”

“I’m glad the new Emra decided to send us earlier, I’ve missed you all so much.”

That was something she was still having a difficult time adjusting to… A new Emra. Hard to even imagine it. The previous Emra had held that esteemed position for three hundred and forty two years. She had conceived and initiated the first phase of The Plan in the early part of her second century leading their people. The knowledge that had been gained about the world in the century that followed had lead to the present phase of The Plan. Of course everyone had known there would be a cost, but most had felt that trying to shape the world into a better place would be worth it. The situation with Elquin had changed many people’s opinion, however. As she understood things, it had been a close decision as to whether or not The Plan would even continue at all. Equally close had been the decision not to send a fleet of warriors to Elquin to exact revenge for the Kereshi who had been slain and brutalized. Instead, the new Emra had chosen to continue the second phase, the Elquinian misogynists would be dealt with in due time. Sending the Kereshi men, nearly a decade earlier than planned, had, in Ijah’s opinion, been a very smart move.

After a long silence, Jun shifted a bit, leaned on an elbow to gaze upon her face. He smiled and kissed her gently on the lips, then said, “You have become a more thoughtful woman over the past decade. Have the others changed so much?”

“I would assume. But with the exception of the past half year I have been with them nearly every day, so I’m not the best person to ask… Merhaj has changed considerably, given her age that’s not unexpected, I realize. Still, a warrior, I had thought she would become an artist of some sort if the gift was not in her blood.”

“She wanted to ensure she would be chosen when the next fleet departed for the north. She took your departure hard, as did a lot of others who were around her age. The younger ones fared better, but the melancholy that settled over the youth in the months following the fleet’s departure was profound and very troubling to the rest of us. She dealt with it by committing herself to the warrior’s disciplines and she excelled. Some have likened her skills to such warriors as Mahroddi and Tojdah.”

That surprised Ijah, “Is that paternal pride? Or were such things said in earnest?”

“I am certainly proud of her, but those things were said and not by our family.”

“I’ll admit she is good, especially when it comes to the johr-ne-gahl, the spear as well from what I’ve seen. However, my initiate Berri, out-fought her during the unarmed training we did…”

“Berri has been in a war, has had your personal attention for the past six months and I think there is more to her than meets the eye.”

“Hm, your intuition is not wrong. However, Merhaj is… stubborn, overly critical of others and holds a number of biases that I find difficult to deal with.”

Jun smiled, “She reminds me of you, when you joined the family. You came across very much the same way and you have changed considerably since then.”

Ijah looked at him skeptically. She said, “You may be right about that.”

“I really like the changes I see in you, Ijah. Your maturity is very attractive.” He kissed her again.

She returned the kiss and pulled him on top of her, wrapped her legs around him and encouraged his desires. They spent much of the rest of the afternoon so engaged, there had been other things she had learned over the past few years and she enjoyed showing him some of what she now knew.

The rest of the day was used to prepare for the solstice dance, Dovarr fussed over them and their clothing for most of the evening. Merhaj wondered how such a small group of women were going to generate the energies needed and whether or not it would be smarter to exclude the northern women as they no doubt would be more of a distraction than contribute much to the ceremony.

Ijah, as delicately as possible, pointed out, “Is it not the purpose of The Plan to bring all women of the world together under the harmony of the Goddess? If we exclude them from our sacred rituals, how then do we accomplish this task? If you deem a woman unworthy because she has not had the training either you or I have received or because they were born with an ancestry different than ours, how then do we succeed? They have to be included so that they can learn.”

Her daughter receded to a sullen silence, it appeared as though it was a thoughtful sullen silence.

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