The Journal of Dreams (The Tales of Tahana - Book One)

Prologue: The Message

Lara looked away from the windows and turned towards the tall silver-framed looking glass that hung on the eastern wall parallel to her chair. With the warm light from the hearth and the burning candles around her, she saw the face of a babidu she almost didn't recognise. She was once regarded as one of the fairest in Kanaraya, the entire western region of Serinaya. Now she looked as haggard as an overworked snow goat. She had only seen thirty-five cycles, the youngest in history to be raised as Bayanava, yet the babidu in the looking glass looked like she had seen sixty cycles, perhaps more.

Lara sighed, feeling quite dismayed, turned away from the looking glass, and went back to the stack of scrolls that lay open before her. The four candles in the candelabra on her desk were already burning low and she knew that she would have to rest soon. Focusing on the scrolls, she carefully looked through each of the lists, sums, and reports, making sure that she did not miss any detail. She was perusing through the list of items to be ordered from the market for the festival when the silver timekeeper on the mantlepiece suddenly chimed to signal the fifteenth hour of darkness.

"By the elements!" Lara exclaimed loudly, almost jumping off her chair. She felt her heart beating hard against her chest and found herself gasping for breath.

"Fool babidu! Getting jumpy over chimes!" Lara thought irritably.

A light chilly breeze blew into the room from the open windows, causing the candlelight to dance and made the shadows in the room look ominous. The cold was starting to bite these last few days. It was the tail end of autumn and winter was just a few days away. Not that it made much difference. The entire region of Timaraya was covered in snow regardless of the season, but their winters were unforgiving and almost fatal to those who are not used to Timari weather.

"By Suraya, there is still much to do," Lara thought wearily as she looked at the pile of scrolls on her desk. She pulled her robes closer to her skin, almost embracing herself. "Ah well, the morrow will come and I should have enough time to finish all these before the festival. I hope..."

With that last thought, Lara took her swan feather quill from its silver stand at the right side of her desk. She dipped it into the silver ink pot beside the stand and wrote a note about the things that she needed to do on the morrow in one of the pages of her large leather-bound ledger. After finishing her notes, she carefully blotted her quill and replaced it neatly back on the stand. She capped her inkpot, sanded the page on which she had written. When she saw that the ink was already dry, she marked the page with red lace, carefully closed the ledger, and placed it at the right side of her desk. Finally, she stacked the scrolls at the left side of her desk by order of importance. She liked everything orderly and clean as her Anya, her beloved mother, had instructed her when she was still a babinidu. She smiled to herself and closed her eyes to say a short prayer of gratitude to the Shalaramai for giving her the strength to work that day. She was ready to finally call it a night.

Lara was about to stand from her chair when she suddenly felt the room shift, causing her to feel lightheaded. She quickly grabbed the edge of her desk with both hands to keep herself from falling. She thought that it could just be her exhaustion finally manifesting. She closed her eyes momentarily and took a few deep breaths to ease her dizziness. She opened her eyes once again and started to walk, but before her left foot landed on the carpeted floor, she felt the room shift once again. The walls began to move and spin westward. It spun slowly at first, then faster and faster by the second causing her to stumble and fall to the floor. She tried to stand up, but the embroidery at the hem of her white woollen robes was caught at the foot of her chair, making her fall to the floor. 

"What on Tahana is happening?" Lara thought nervously as she tried to make sense of what was going on. The walls of the room continued to spin furiously, making a howling cry that chilled her blood and made her skin crawl. Desperately, she held on to the foot of her desk and closed her eyes to stop the vertiginous sensation she was feeling. With her eyes still closed, she gingerly tried to stand up.