The Lioness of Shadi

6 - Stories Amidst the Grass

"We still have some days until we reach Aham-Nishi," Menes said as he buried the ashes of their fire from the night before. "I think it would be wisest for me to scout the road ahead and then return."

"Are you certain?" Ilati rubbed her eyes. She was still tired, but Eigou's lessons had done much to exhaust her into dreaming and thinking of nothing. The blisters on her hands had all but disappeared thanks to the sorcerer's medicine. So far, Eigou's efforts to open her perception, that inner eye, had failed. It was hard not to be discouraged, but he insisted that she would need time.

Eigou set a skin of water down beside them. They had made progress away from the River Esharra, but the land between two rivers was full of marsh and creek-threaded landscape. They were never far from water in Kullah, a boon to farmers and hunters alike. Thick green grass crowded around them on all sides, tall as a man's midsection. It had helped to hide them the night before by concealing both their bodies and their fire. "I think the suggestion is a good one," the sorcerer said. "Ilati and I will wait here. Do not engage any bandits, Menes. Better we go around than risk injury."

Menes nodded as he pulled on his leopard skin and then belted on his bronze sword. "I will be careful. Keep your heads down. We are not far from the road and any could come upon our camp if given a hint to search."

"I assure you that we will be well behaved," Eigou said, a glint in his golden eye.

The warrior grumbled something under his breath as he turned away. Menes vanished into a copse of small date palms, trying to find a more hidden path.

"Now that he is away, I have a lesson for you."

Ilati frowned. "Why does he always absent himself when you have a lesson?"

Eigou sighed at that question. "Menes has suffered much at the hands of magic, though the practitioners of his homeland rather than people like you or I. He seldom sees much of a distinction, however."

"What happened?"

"That is not my secret to tell, Ilati. Let us focus on your own power and trust our leopard to hunt out any sign of trouble." Eigou steepled his fingers and then tapped them against his lips. "I have a different idea for accessing the world of spirits."

Curiosity caught Ilati's tongue. "How?"

His expression kept the same composure that she had seen before going into the desert, unreadable to even her trained eyes. "What do you know of true names, Ilati?"

The priestess ran her fingers through her hair, breath coming out in a sharp sound of something approaching fear. "I know that they are powerful and can be used in spells. Any priestess knows that invoking the name of a god is central to treating with its heavenly might."

Eigou inclined his head slightly. "This is so. Gods, however, are wise enough to protect their true names. They give those that supplicants can use and keep their nature hidden close to their hearts. For the moment, it is most useful for us to turn our eye to the nature that surrounds us. All things, in the world of the physical and the world of forms, have names that are the summation of everything that they are." He plucked a blade of grass and twisted it between his fingers. "What is this, Ilati?"

"Grass."

"And what does such a name tell you about the nature of the thing?"

Ilati considered the question carefully. "It tells me that it is a plant of a particular type with a particular sort of use."

"A category imposed by men, no different than a birth name given by parents. Both are less than useful, as neither have any true knowledge of the subject." He flicked the blade of grass at her and then turned his attention to another growing blade of grass, surrounding it with the circle of his thumb and forefinger. He leaned close to it lovingly and parted his lips to speak.