The Winds of the Past [Rune Factory 4]

Chapter 60

I looked at Chanda sharply. “Our wedding night? Why would that be so terrifying to her? I was there, damn it, and fear was the last thing either of us was feeling!”

Chanda shook her head slowly. “No… not your wedding night. Hers and… and… his.” She shuddered, and another tear slowly trickled down her cheek.

I felt the room begin to spin for a moment as her words hit me. “Her… her wedding night? Hers and whose? Just what are you saying?”

Dylas angrily stormed over, quickly joined by Arthur. “What are you people getting at? What do you mean by ‘her wedding night’?” Dylas demanded.

Rishi sighed. “Avani has now slipped from unconsciousness into slumber. I’ll try to explain as best I can while she rests. Perhaps if we return to the fire, we will be less likely to disturb her. I think she needs to sleep for now.”

I shook my head. “No. Absolutely not. I’m not leaving her until she wakes up. I don’t understand what’s going on, but I don’t want her to wake up frightened and alone.”

Chanda stood up and looked at me. “Go ahead. I’ll stay with her.”

“Who are you, anyway?” I asked, frowning, reluctant to just hand my wife over to a total stranger. “Another relative? A sister?”

“I’m her wife,” she replied calmly.

I jumped up angrily. “What the hell!”

Sharmila raised her hand, cutting me off. She turned to Chanda with a reproving look. “Chanda… you know that isn’t true. We can do without unnecessary provocation right now. Things are difficult enough as it is without you making them worse.”

Chanda crossed her arms over her chest and looked down at the floor with a sullen expression. “It should be true. She won me fair and square.”

“What? What is with you people? What do you mean, Avani ‘won’ you? Will someone please explain what’s going on?” I felt anger and frustration displacing my bewilderment, and clenched my fists as I struggled to maintain some composure.

Sharmila took me by the arm, and led me and Rishi back to fire. I glanced back and saw Chanda sit in the chair I had just vacated, watching over Avani as she slept. I sat down in the chair Arthur had previously occupied, from which I could keep an eye on my wife, and glared at the couple on the sofa and waited. Arthur sat down in the other chair, and Dylas stood leaning against the mantel, shifting impatiently.

Laying a hand on Rishi’s arm, Sharmila said, “Perhaps it would be best if I started. You can correct me or add things as you see fit, but I know the story is difficult for you to tell. At least, parts of it.” He hesitated, then nodded agreement, and she looked over at me.

“To begin at the beginning, since you know nothing of us or our people…. As Rishi mentioned, we call ourselves the Ventuani. We once were a great nation, many centuries ago, but we have dwindled both in number and in power. Only a few of us remain, though our blood flows in the veins of many. We were the original Avanani, or what you call ‘Earthmates’. We serve Ventu, the God of Creation, and the manifestation of his will on our plane: the Native Dragon that bears his name, Ventu’s Will.

“Though we once reigned over much of the continent, our people grew decadent and apathetic, and our line became dilute as we intermingled with other races. Eventually we were overthrown, and a new civilization replaced our own—the forefathers of the current monarchy, I believe, though of that I am not entirely certain. The few surviving Ventuani became nomads, wandering to and fro across the continent, crossing borders undetected, before finally settling in the hills and mountains in the far south of your kingdom. In an effort to preserve what was left of our bloodline, we banned marriages to outsiders without explicit permission from our leader, the Ra’mara of the Ventuani. Although once all of our people had been powerful Avanani, now few of us are born with any such power, and even then greatly diminished from our prime. The hallmarks by which an Avanan of our people is known are green eyes or green hair. The more pure the green, the greater the power, and both green eyes and hair represented the greatest potential. Avani was the first child born with both true green eyes and true green hair in many, many generations, and her birth caused a sensation on that account. By comparison, Rishi’s hair is greenish yellow, and his eyes are a very pale blue-green; therefore, he possesses far less runic power than his sister. I have neither, and so I am not an Avanan at all.