Ripples - Children of Y'Dahnndrya: Book 1

Chapter 19

Tsifi'ra's face peeked over the horizon when Yetsye hurried back to the secluded niche she stumbled upon the evening before. But first, she made certain to place a written note on top of her desk where one of her siblings or Tsadok would find it. She really needed some time alone to focus on her purpose.

A roughly hewn bench she hadn't seen the night before faced the alcove where the stone Lady stood. She shook her head. This really wasn't the best place for her to focus but she eventually spotted a shwi'ich tree, it's long tendrils blooming with tiny white tubular blossoms. Their soft perfume teased her senses with thoughts of home. She parted the dangling branches and discovered a small spring at the foot of the tree which bubbled up and over three specially placed stones.

She raised her hand to the trunk and the harsh, stringy bark tickled her palm. In the season of Iki'shi when storms raged, these trees whipped around wildly. Yetsye wondered at the strength of their roots. After the storms passed, they leafed and bloomed again, redoubling their efforts. She couldn't think of a more perfect example of how she should live – pliable enough to bend and twist with the stormy trials of life, warmth and strength enough in her core to withstand the frigidity of loss and still bloom with beauty and grace in seasons of plenty.

Yetsye lifted her eyes to look through the verdant umbrella and saw the sky above, lightening from muted deep blue to pale purple. A few stars still winked at her but the moons had long since said their good-byes and those brilliant stragglers would soon follow after them. The silence of the garden was broken only by the laughing spring and a few early-rising insects and beasts. She sat on a flat rock beneath the tree and decided to lean her back against the trunk, rather than lay upon the dewy grass beneath the branches.

Yetsye allowed her eyes to flutter closed as she opened her senses to immerse herself in the beauty of this place. Krichte fiddled their happy tunes, serenading mates. Himmers darted here and there, leathery wings beating the air only a few times as they flitted...glided...flitted...glided their way around the tree-tops. The scent of freshly washed earth and grass surrounded her, mingled with aromatic saghitan and grekh and sweet chimah.

She felt a cold push against her fingers and waited. Her patience was rewarded when she felt the brush of soft, fuzzy warmth snuggling against her hands. A bizhal! She'd only seen them once before, at a vendor's stall. Their loving natures enriched the spirit and many people enjoyed adding them to their households. She kept still and the bizhal clawed its way around her lap and settled its round body in her loosely clasped hands. When the bizhal no longer fidgeted, Yetsye opened her eyes.

Yetsey found, not the two sets of icy blue eyes she expected, but three staring back at her. Had it not been for the bizhal in her lap, she would've darted away from the scowl that was entirely too close. She blinked and bowed her head, then flipped over one hand for the bizhal's inspection. It bowed its head and nosed against her palm begging for a good scratch behind its tiny ears. She couldn't help smiling at the palm-sized ball of fluff. She picked it up carefully, cupping it in her hands, and ignored the thunderclouds darkening Tsadok's brow.

"Are you lost?" she asked it, delaying the inevitable scolding. "Lonely? Separated from family?" She desperately wished she knew its language. She'd have to find a scroll on bizhals when she got a chance. She nuzzled her cheek against the creature's black down and admired its two iridescent antennae. "Aren't you beautiful?" She felt the bizhal nuzzle back and reluctantly set it softly on the ground. "Alright. Is it time to return, then?" She asked the question without taking her eyes off the bizhal who bobbled away into the shrubbery.

"Yes." His voice revealed only slight annoyance. She wondered why she hadn't smelled the wood and leather she had come to associate with Tsadok.