The Oracles of Tomesh [ON HOLD]

7 | I Hope You Have a Plan

"Aren't you going in?" Kalesch asked.

"I can't sleep."

"Maybe get inside your tent and try?"

She looked at him. Sometimes she wondered why people looked different the more she spent time with them. Or maybe it's just because she noticed more things every time she did. His nose did not look as high as she disliked nights ago. They complimented his high cheekbones if she looked at him at an angle. His jaw was still worthy of being carved on a stone. His eyes looked different now that it seemed alive with firelight. It felt like they were talking to her, saying she should feel safe because he was with her. And maybe she should really try seeing him as her rayeshka because, after all, he was.

Her eyes dipped down to his mouth. Not too thin, not too full either. Just ordinary. And someday, she would have to kiss it. Her sisters said so. And they shared that they liked it, kissing. They enjoyed more as well, they said, and she would also discover them with her rayeshka in the future.

The thought made her face heat up so she looked away and rolled on her knees. "Fine," she murmured. "I'll try."

Inside her tiny tent, she knew Kalesch had not moved from his spot. For a while, she led herself to believe he was staying so she would feel safe. And it gave her just enough time to calm her mind and finally ease into sleep.

She was a heavy sleeper. It took her longer than most to get into it, but once she did, she was gone. The world could shake and she would not even realize she's dead until she was. And that night, Nascha felt nothing when someone entered her tent later and gagged her mouth with a cloth. In her dream, she was with Kalesch and he was smiling at her like he did with Alika when Nascha saw them together in the market many years ago before their wedding. She did not also realize she was being bound by one of the guards because her dream Kalesch was holding her hand. It was an interesting twist of reality because in the dream, she liked him. And she could read Kalesch's mind and feel that he liked her too.

It was strange. In reality, she did not like him, but her dream self felt otherwise, so she obliged. And with curiosity, she tried to listen to Kalesch talk. But like in most of her dreams, she had trouble hearing anyone. She just knew what they were saying. He was talking about her hair. She frowned. What was wrong with her hair?

"White," he was thinking.

She looked down at the tresses over her shoulders. She did not see it entirely, but her dream self knew everything had turned silver. "They're silver," she corrected, but she was not talking. She was just thinking it because she knew the dream Kalesch would understand. Because he was her rayeshka. They were one. He was her soul, her being.

"Ugly," he was trying to say.

Now, that's just plain harsh. Silver hair was not ugly. It was beautiful! No one in Tomesh the same age as her had the same hair. Messy. No, they were not messy! They were just a little unkempt. Why were they talking about her hair too much? Should they not be talking about something else? Much better, should they do something? Like kiss? Or take a walk in the dunes? Like proper rayeshkas would.

And suddenly, they were. Not kissing, but taking a walk. He was still holding her hand, and he was smiling. Careful. Yes, she knew what he meant. Air pockets. She should not step on one. If you die, I'll have to marry Alika.

"No," she murmured, shaking her head. "Not Alika."

Then don't step into a pocket.

Yet she did. Her foot stepped on sand and did not plant there. It fell through, into a large air pocket in the sands, and she was falling. Kalesch tried to hang on, but he had to let go or else he'd also fall. Why? She knew why. As she fell into an endless space beneath the desert, she saw him standing on the edge of the hole. Beside him was Alika in her priestess white dress, Nascha's yeshka hanging on the gold band around her neck. Kalesch was wearing his too.