There have never been secrets between Iano and his twin brother, Miano. But that changes when his brother marries an heir of the most powerful fief of the village. With such power comes the right to see the face of the Goddess. Only, Iano's twin mus...
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The first time Iano remembered questioning an established truth, he had been a kid. Around four years old or younger.
After making himself and Miano believe they had been the ones killing a boar Ramakai had brought home after a long three days of hunting, their father took both to the banks of the Uluh where they would dispose of the blood of the animal.
Lenakai led the prayers and thanks to the forest, and when Ramakai finally leaned down with the bucket of blood to give it back to the mother of waters, Iano questioned, pulling at Lenakai's garment, "Why does the Uluh need the blood back?" His mother made no case of it. She smiled at him and nodded to Ramakai, whose face twisted in disapproval.
Perhaps it would have been better if at that moment Ramakai had been violent to Iano so that he would have understood it wasn't his role to question things whose inner workings he did not understand, things that had been done in the same ways for centuries. There must be a good reason for it.
But Ramakai didn't do such a thing. He never raised a hand in that way to the twins. The result: Iano's habit of questioning the most obvious things festered. Until now everything he had latched onto had been inconsequential. He had even been able to tame all the questions about Mother Forest that he had had for years now. But everything had changed after Miano's marriage and the arrival of the barelanders in the forest.
The vow of secrecy was one thing. But not having Her intervene when there was what the very council qualified as a big threat roaming around was beyond Iano's understanding. Something was wrong.
The thought of Mother Forest obsessed him, latching onto him even in his dreams. Judging by the bluish color of the light coming through the window inside the chambers of the youths, the sun hadn't even risen past the horizon line yet, yet here was Iano, awakened too soon from a nightmare of Mother Forest.
In his dream, her body was both dematerialized and with solid boundaries and she had the face of a male and the reprimanding voice of his father. Still, she lured him inside the Uluh and when Iano realized what she was doing, it was too late. She was drowning him.
