Circles of Ciridia: The Windtalker's Amulet

Chapter Thirty-Nine ~ The Legend of the Stars

Brandir brought over some meat a while later and set the sizzling strong-smelling meat on the table on a clay plate.

"Brandir, could Tajana have some fruit or bread?" Thea asked while Chadwick jumped from the bed to the table to begin eating.

"Of course," Brandir said once Ganli translated for him. He returned with a piece of bread so big Tajana nearly dropped it when he set it in her hands.

"Thank you, Brandir," Tajana said as she sat down with the bread in her lap. She looked at Thea and Kiäna and burst out laughing. She tore at the bread and held out some for the other two girls.

While they began to eat, Thea asked, "How far will we need to fly to find the lilacs?"

Once Ganli translated the question, Brandir said,
"They are about a thousand paces to the north."

That sounded far, when the paces were Fulgarian-sized. It seemed they would need to fly there. Kiäna hoped the flying Chimaeras would be well rested for the journey they'd be taking in the morning.

"You use the lilacs to turn to mist, don't you?" Ganli asked.

Kiäna nodded. "The mist makutu is one of my people's strongest makutu."

"I think it's brilliant," Chadwick said from over on the table. He spoke with his mouth full. "I wish I could do that myself. But all I have is my boring earth magic. Nothing nearly as splendid as mist magic."

"But there has to be something splendid about earth magic," Kiäna said.

"The root Chakra has earth magic," Thea said. "You guys remember how the Earth's Chakras were all fractured by the First Alchemist, right? So the Fragments were made up of a Conversion from each Chakra?"

Chadwick and Tajana nodded, though it sounded like nonsense to Kiäna.

"So I think that there are seven kinds of earth magic that are all powerful. I'm sure you'll be able to learn some really cool things with your magic, Chadwick."

"Well, I hope so."

"I wouldn't be surprised is the earth magic includes shield magic," Tajana said.

"Yeah, that could be," Thea said.

"Well, I have to admit, that sounds like very handy magic," Chadwick said.

Then as the sun started to set, Ganli invited everyone to step outside for a while and watch the sunset. It painted the cloudy sky with purples and oranges and blues. It was beautiful. They stood for so long, just watching the colors as they faded away to dusk, and the first stars peeked out from behind the clouds.

"There is a Fulgarian legend of the stars," Ganli said. "My people say that the stars are the eyes of our holy ancestors who look down on us from up above. Not everyone dies and becomes a star. Only those who have a zvierah get to go to the sky and then be reborn. The ancestors see all and know our hearts through our actions. They choose which families they will be reborn into. So everyone always tries to live good lives to honor their ancestors so they can be blessed with a child with a nobleman's spirit."

"Huh, that's interesting," Chadwick said. Everyone else nodded.

"This is important, because the nobles get to bond with zvierah," Ganli said. "It creates a bond that withstands death. So, if someone is born with a bond to another person, the two people become nobles, and their entire families will be brought to the godstone to live the easy lives of nobles. The bond is so important it even pardons slaves."

That must be similar to our soulmates, Vespera said.

You're right, Kiäna replied. I think they must have soulmates like we do, because the Värians also help them bond with their zvierah.