Chương 4: A Tale of Old Gods, Part II

Aethra had never heard of a flying creature that dared oppose her mother like this, so this was a novel experience for her.

"The old man said you would have a daughter fit for me to ride, elder horse! I did not come for you!" she told the ki-rin, somewhere between pride and humbleness in her words. This ki-rin was likely the servant of two other powerful gods, not meant for her. Two gods who could look DOWN on her mother. She found the thought rather funny. The ki-rin's golden tail swished.

"The old man? Picking on my daughters now, is he?" the horse huffed, stomping the ground.

"Mmm. Go, down to the second peak, to the pool there. My daughter Windsilver alights there at highmoon to drink. If you can win her favor, perhaps she will serve you, little goddess."

"Thank you, elder!" Aethra beamed, and zipped off down the mountainside, undeterred as the golden steed looked after her.

The area about the pool, really a great crystalline lake as smooth as a mirror, was as calm and sacred as the night sky it reflected so wonderfully. The cool breeze blowing past stirred nothing in the waters as Aethra waited, enjoying the mountain trees and valleys that seemed to have been carved with a perfection of nature sorely missing under her mother's storms. The arrival of the ki-rin's daughter was heralded by the beating of soft feathery wings, and silvery hooves treading upon the winds.

The celestial pegasus, her hide as softly white and silver as her father's had been armored gold, swept down upon the lake out of the sky, prancing easily down upon the glittering stones of the shore, themselves almost a painting or sculptured artwork, and drank deep of the clear waters. Aethra waited politely until the wary horse was done, before gliding over to stand next to her and appreciate the lake beside her.

"Why do you drink here?" she asked the pegasus, appreciating the fine lines and beauty of this princess of skysteeds.

"This is Skymirror, where one can read one's destiny in the stars. I have come here to see what my future holds." The two of them looked down into the lake, which so perfectly reflected the stars above... and the maiden and the celestial horse, standing side by side, all the stars in the sky wheeling about them as they traced a path across the heavens.

"I have to go on a long journey, and see many things, and learn many things," Aethra said earnestly.

"The old man said I would need a mount to see them all properly. I would like you to come with me, as a friend and partner, for to travel alone means you do not share joys or wonders with others. Would you come with me, Windsilver? I am Aethra, and I have much traveling to do..." Windsilver looked at the picture of herself and the goddess together, and trails across the moon and stars.

"I will come with you, Aethra," the celestial steed agreed, seeing her destiny before her, and allowed the young goddess to mount her back as they turned from Skymirror.

They rode up on the old man, who was tending a fire and a pot of rabbit stew cooking there. He had his old dog and horse with him, but across from him was a great bear of a man, hairy and bearded and in worn armor, his spear and axe set aside, sitting back against a great silverback of a bear more than tall and mighty enough to carry him with ease.

"Ho, old man, I have returned with a mount! This is Windsilver!" Aethra waved cheerfully at him.

"She is welcome by my fire," the old man said, gesturing her to a spot, as the silvery horse sidled over next to the old, scarred warsteed and drooped her head in greeting. Aethra claimed her own position cheerfully, eyes fixed with both challenge and curiosity on the big, strong man, who looked more like one of Hurn's berserkers than anything else she knew.

"I am Aethra!" she announced loudly to him. He just grunted, golden eyes looking to Mithar instead, and she blushed at being treated so. But she could feel the air about the man, heavy and somber, but waiting to erupt with a terrible ferocity. She had felt that air about her mother in her dark and brooding moments of rage, but on this man, it seemed as natural and composed as a heartbeat made of thunder...

"Young lady, this is Master Val, an old student of mine. He's rambunctious, unruly, affected by perpetual wanderlust... and the mightiest hunter in all these realms. He has been a great many places, including a great many he was not supposed to go, together with that old rug he's leaning on. If you seek a guide, there is none better. If you seek a teacher in the ways of a Champion and a Hunter, there are also none better." A faint smile cracked the face of the huge, bear-like man at the honest praise.

"Old man, your tongue can be as silver as your sword there yet!" he guffawed, and held out his bowl.

"I hope you at least taught her to cook. You know how good my stew is."

"I did indeed." The old man scooped out a big serving to him, and Aethra eagerly held out the wooden bowl she had proudly carved out herself.

"He can burn water, and that's when he's paying attention." Aethra blinked, looking to the big man, who just shrugged.

"You'll be doing all of the cooking, because you'll want to eat more than char." The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. Aethra considered that as she regained her seat.

"Well, at least you don't eat things raw, right?" she had to ask him, to which the big man guffawed.

"I eat a lot of fruits and roots, because I can't cook to save my life, so yes, I eat things raw all the time!" His eyes gleamed, and Aethra laughed at the joke despite herself.

"Old Granite here has a good nose for all the best berries and tubers, too." He reached over and patted the head of the great bruin, who just yawned at him.

"Where are you looking to go, girl?" he asked her plainly.

"I am not a girl! I am Aethra!" she immediately retorted, fixing his eyes with a steely glare. The gold in his eyes flashed in appreciation for her spirit, holding her gaze for a moment or two, and no, her knees were not trembling at the strength in his eyes, by her mother!

"Aethra it is, then. You will call me Uncle Val, then," he stated firmly.

"Where are you looking to go, Aethra?"

"I do not know where I can go, so anywhere is fine, Uncle Val!" she replied quickly. Uncle Val looked to the old man.

"Wiser than you ever were, old man!" he chuckled.

"A vacation is fine, Val, but some of us do like to have a home to return to," the other chuckled, and if a light of regret flashed through the big man's eyes, who was to see it? Aethra watched the light banter between the old man and his former student, and could feel the weight of long years and old bonds between them. It was very plain they were two very different people, yet they held great respect for one another despite all of that.

But Aethra was not one to be ignored, and as she was the reason they were together, she firmly intruded on their time by asking questions, eagerly pressing where they would be going and what they would be doing, how Uncle Val was qualified to teach her, and some of the things he had fought and beaten. The morning came, and the two men greeted the sun, and Aethra did, too, as she had been taught by the old man, a simple thing her Mother had never bothered to teach.

Then the old man mounted his old scarred horse, and his lean hound trotted at his side as he turned away. Aethra in turn went atop Windsilver, and watched as Uncle Val mounted the great bear, looming over the goddess on her steed after he did so. Yet she had no sense of being looked down on.

"We're going to hunt an old bastard of a creature that's been waiting for a lesson for a long time," Uncle Val said.

"Or rather, you're going to make a lesson of him, and I'm going to watch." Aethra nodded eagerly as he pointed down a side trail she'd never ventured down, and she was off on her second adventure, eagerly waiting to see what the wider world would bring her. ========= Tiya had half-dozed through the whole story, the whole tale like a dream playing out in her mind as she did so. When the tale of the young goddess ended, she started as she realized the sun was almost coming up.

-I would like to greet the sun on my first day, - Deuce said quietly. It was an old custom, fallen out of favor with the disappearance of most of the gods, meaningless platitudes offered to those who had abandoned their followers. She didn't even know the words before, but Deuce had told them to her, and the Salutes, the old prayers to the Gods of Heaven, that were the cornerstones of Faith in them and their people.

She held him to her breast, facing the sun as it crept towards the horizon in this wild and unknown area of the Empire she was in. With him prompting her, silver eyes narrowed, they faced the east and the lightening sky there as she spoke, slowly and deliberately, feeling the hum of a melody in her mind that she didn't know quite yet, as she hadn't been allowed to express the Salute while in the camp, for fear of the attention it would draw.

The fallen god Aru was a man's god, after all, and there were only goddesses, now.

"Dreams of the wind at dawn, A new day has begun. Light chases back the dark, and the future lays before us. Will it be something bright and new? Walk the road before you now, and leave the night behind, Today is a new day, and the light comes to warm you all. Let go the shadows, and behold the sun! The Light has come, as ever it must. Behold the new day!"

As she finished, it was somehow right at the time the first ray of sunlight broke through in the east, washing over her with the same kind of warmth that was emanating from her son. She could feel a lightness in her heart, a hope for the new day that hadn't been there before. Her breath steamed out in the morning chill, diffusing around her. Such a simple thing, a prayer said at dawn to start the new day... and yet, she suddenly felt just plain better than she had just before.

"How many Salutes are there?" she asked Deuce, turning her eyes from the sun lest she be blinded. -There is one for each deity in Heaven. The other powers have their own Rituals, of course. Four to six are traditionally performed over the course of the day. The Salute to Aru begins the day at Natural Renewal. The Salute to Mithar marks the midday of work, and the High Renewal. The Salute to Amana starts the evening meal for the assembled family.

The Salute to Aethra marks the sun going down, and the start of the Long Watch against the Darkness, the Dusk Renewal. The Salute to Sylune marks midnight, and the moon guiding those in the darkness towards the dawn, the Highmoon Renewal. -"What of mighty Valus? His stories were the favorite of my father and brothers, he was the patron of our people, long ago..." His silence, and the rise of Eryl and her Amazons, had devastated their culture.

Not even the fabled erhiar, the Shield-Maidens of Valus, could rise with the God of Valor being so silent. -The Salute to Valus is given for the beginning of new ventures, and when courage is needed, such as before a duel or battle. -It is appropriate for today, I think. Face the direction we will travel, and salute Valus, who wanders all the trails and new roads, that He accompany us on ours. - She took a deep breath.

"We... do not know the Salutes any more. The last Priest and Champion of the God of Valor died generations ago..." -It is fine. Repeat after me... - he replied gently, able to see how much it pained her not to know the truth of the god of her forefathers.

"There is Thunder in mortal souls. Before you lies a choice, wrought in Free Will. None but you can seize it. With every beat of your heart, that Thunder builds anew. A chance to take, and to be embraced. A future to determine, none have the right to take from you. Dare to take the road untraveled. Dare to say the words unsaid. Dare to sing the songs unsung. Dare to fight for what you believe. Dare to live, and to not regret! Embrace the Thunder!"

The quiet hope in her chest seemed to blossom, filling her with a strength of resolve she had never imagined possible, as if her heart was too big for her chest.