Avondale: The Golden Door

Dragon Spine Temple

I woke up to a knock on my door, the room was filled with inky blackness and I was not in the mood.

I grunted and rolled over, "What do you want?"

The door opened and I squinted against the light, seeing Suruli's face come into focus. "Are you up?"

I sat up and rubbed my face. "I am now," I muttered.

She smiled, "Good, because breakfast starts in a few minutes and Nisvārtha wanted us all rounded up before we head down."

I sighed and nodded, "Kay, give me a minute to get dressed and I'll be out."

Suruli gave a cheerful grin before closing the door.

I pushed my hair back from my face and got out of bed. The people who had brought me to this room had taken my wet clothes and left me with two garments.

In place of my bra they gave me a simple, yet ingenious garment. It was a wide strip of cloth that connected in the front by a cross lacing of string which I only had to pull tight and tie off to keep it in place. Over that went the simple dress of undyed cotton. They had also left me a large piece of blue fabric that I had seen the women wearing on their heads. I just draped it over my shoulders like a shawl, seeing no reason not to keep it on me.

I opened the door, walked into the hall, and joined my friends. Everyone was wearing the undyed cotton clothing of the Temple. Dresses for the women, pants and shirts for the men.

Nisvārtha was waiting in the hall with his arms crossed, leaning against the wall between two doors.

I walked up to him, "Morning Nisvārtha."

He glanced at me, "Good morning."

I looked at the two open doors next to mine. Within I could hear the sounds of Havala and Suruli trying to wake up Sanna and Śarat.

"Should we help them?" I asked.

Nisvārtha smirked, "Why?"

I shrugged, "Well Śarat is so strong and Sanna is so much bigger than Suruli."

Nisvārtha chuckled and looked at me. "While strength and size may be in their favor," his eyes glittered. "Havala and Suruli can be quite terrifying when they need to be."

I laughed and watched with a smile as a sleepy looking Sanna and a disgruntled looking Śarat exited their rooms. They were followed by Suruli and Havala, who both wore identical looks of triumph.

"Are we ready?" Suruli chirped.

There were several grunts of affirmation and then we were off, down the long hall until we reached a wide spiral staircase. Suruli let out a girlish giggle before she sat on the thick wooden handrail and started sliding down, her headscarf billowing out behind her.

Sanna turned and grinned at me, dropping into a bow, "Would the lady care for a ride?" he asked in a fake, pompous voice.

I laughed and hopped in his back, "Let's see if we can beat her down the stairs, yeah?"

"Heck yeah!" And Sanna shot down the stairs in a blur, me laughing all the way down.

We stopped at the bottom of the stairs before Suruli was halfway down, Śarat was coming down that way too, while Nisvārtha and Havala were walking.

I laughed and pecked Sanna on the cheek before sliding off his back.

He turned and snorted a laugh before touching my hair, "Oh wow, sorry, Sūrya."

I laughed again, only imaging what my hair must look like, "It's fine, just fix it."

Sanna sat me down in a chair and started braiding my hair in a crown on my head, but he left much of it loose in their natural waves down my back.