The Firmament Saga: Book I: The Rains of Sorrow

Chapter 6: Fresh Clams For Breakfast

Chapter 6: Fresh Clams For Breakfast (Eri)

Waxday, Week 74, Month Octus, Year of God 488

The day began like many others. Eri woke from a deep sleep, refreshed but still partly tired. She had spent the entirety of the previous day gathering clams, and her muscles still ached. She opened her crusty eyes and looked around the room. Her roommates - her parents, aunts, uncles, cousins and a couple of friends with no blood families - were stirring and resting on their mats. Everyone in Mossflower Hold slept on woven reed mats, with a blanket below them to soften the reeds and a blanket above to keep the warmth in. Eri sat up and stretched. The room was dimly lit by Lux-infused spheres whose light fluctuated depending on the time of day in wall sconces. She stood up, shucking off her blankets. She stumbled to the nearest chamber pot and relieved herself, then took a long swig from a pitcher of water.

Already some of the other household-chambers were bustling, and the sounds of people talking in other rooms and the hallways became louder and louder with each passing second. Eri, who was clad in an undershirt and trousers, began to put on her coat and boots. Her mother and sister Sye were waking up, practicing the time-honored, universal morning rituals of urination and hydration.

"Morning, rainshine!" called Sye. "I see you're already up!"

"Yeah," Eri groaned groggily as she slipped her left arm into her coat. "Too early to talk."

The fact that it was early in the morning did not dissuade Sye's omnipresent upbeatness. "Never too early to talk, sleepyhead. So, any dreams?"

That comment sent a shudder of unease flashing through Eri. She had, in fact, had a dream. In the dream, she was standing in a dark room. She was wearing green armor and was carrying an object that looked like a large metal tube with various protrusions on one end. The outline of a glowing green human hovered in the air above Eri. Then, the figure had spoken - or rather, it spoke directly into Eri's brain with no sound.

"See, my daughter," the figure had said in a wise and confident, yet soft feminine voice. Then, images had rapidly passed through Eri's mind - huge domes suspended on stilts above an ocean. As the image zoomed in on the dome, Eri could see a man clad in green armor carrying the same metal item that Eri held fighting a sword-wielding man made entirely out of pale crystal and a hunched man with bloodshot eyes, furry goat legs and curled ram's horns wielding a two-pronged, wickedly barbed spear.

The dream had abruptly ended then, and the rest of Eri's sleep was dreamless. It was a surreal and probably meaningless dream, but Eri felt some sort of... connection to the green feminine being. It deeply unsettled her. Was that supposed to be God? If so, it was unlike any interpretation of the God of Rain Eri had heard the Rain Caste priests bring up. It would be prudent to not share anything that could be interpreted as blasphemy with anyone, even trusted family.

"No," Eri said quickly. "Dreamless sleep." Her mother, who had been listening, saw in Eri's eyes that she was lying, but chose not to press. Sye probably took Eri's statement for the truth. She had trouble reading people's facial expressions.

Eri picked up the water jug and swigged another mouthful before stepping out into the hallway. The denizens of Mossflower Hold were up and about, stumbling groggily around the hallways. The smell of soup wafted down the stone-hewed corridors, causing Eri's stomach to emit a hungry growl. She eagerly hurried down the hallway to the mess hall.

The cooks had gotten up half an hour ago, and were dishing the clamshell soup into wooden bowls. Eri waited in line for a few minutes, then gratefully picked up a bowl of soup and a chunk of mossbread. She exited the line, and sat down on one of the stone benches lining the room. She dipped her bread in the soup, and began to eat. She shoved the bread in her mouth and slurped down the soup, barely taking time to chew.