Our Little Gods 1: RABATEA, the first World of the Daughters.

Chapter 32.

"What happened! Where are they!?" Limero was shaking Maasil hard and screaming at the top of his voice. Never before the clever boy had looked so much his age. Tears running freely down his face, shaking hands trying to block his ears, eyes shut tight; the twelve years old was trying with every fibre of his being to escape the raging panic of his master. The warm calm hand that took hold of Limero's wrists was Sar Melek's and the carefully dosed pressure her fingertips administered through the skin on the joints and muscles caused the hands to twitch open and release the cloth of Maasil's robe. The child fell back into the arms of Sar Tanel who cradled him three steps away and sat him on the ground in front of her. Her body was blocking Maaz's view of Limero and Sar Melek, he could only see the large blue eyes of Sar Tanel in front of him, still crouching she open her legs and her arms and gathered him gently against her body resting her chin in his hair. They could hear Limero's rolling apology droning on, he even sobbed. Maaz lifted his fingers to the cheek of the Thiriik holding him; trembling, he touched her skin, she smiled and whispered to him:

"I am the mother of two daughters and one son, you know."

It hit Maasil that he had never thought of Sar Tanel but as a warrior, hired for their protection and skilled only in the art of man killing, but now he remembered that except when they were training T'tebera, dancing the slow dance of death of the Thiriik, Sar Tanel spent her days with them tending to the horses, mending her clothes, sharpening the cooking knife and preparing food together with her sisters. No, war and death were not the constant companion of the Thiriik, she was trained and ready to meet Natabs and Balà on the battlefield but her days were filled with amenities similar to those of the women at Keregan's Tall House. Maaz could almost smell the perfume of Lady Keregan's hair on the woman holding him. Yet the body was hard and the muscles filled with the tension of readiness like a trap sprung and waiting.

"They walked to the gate." he whispered. "They stood in front of it together. I tried talking to them but they did not answer. I wanted to know if there was anything written on the frame. Terrey reached out and touched the gate, there was a shift in the light coming from it and I saw them walk through it. I ran to it. but it was hard and cold and empty as before and I could feel it in me." Maasil pointed his ink stained finger at his chest. "They are gone." He looked up in Sar Tanel's blue eyes again and asked: "Can you feel it too?" Whispering back she said: "Yes, I can feel it too. They have gone very far from here, so far it is not possible for us to follow." They looked at each others for a while and Maasil's belly gave out a little gargle. Sar Tanel smiled and told him to go start peeling the vegetables "I'll join you with the water shortly."

As the boy was running back to the hall she turned sharply towards her sister and the old monk. She walked purposefully to them and looked at Sar Melek. "They are gone. Can we all feel it?" The older Thiriik looked down at limero still slumped on the stone floor as he attempted to collect himself.

"Yes, we all have the same sense of loss. Some more than others."

"Are they dead?"

"I don't know"

"What do we do?"

"We wait. We do the Manyfold Path, together tonight."

"How far do you want to go?"

"She was right on our tail, wasn't she? I give her three days before landing if Yïach's calm endure," Sar Melek looked in the direction of the main lobby where the ship had crashed, "If he is dead T'tebera won't find him, that way we'll know."

"She has never been that far before."

"She loves him. She will push herself. Can you sense how she is already casting her mind?"