Listen to the Raiyn

6 - Déamois

Keria woke up to the autumn sun shining brightly in her eyes. she was slightly alarmed that she was in her parents bed, but the alarm faded when her last memories came back to her and she realised she must have fallen asleep in her mother's grasps. she stretched slowly as she thought of her dream.

Asrailyn had been singing a lullaby in the old tongue, braiding Keria's hair in the way of the Yikléa Sajèk. Keria did not know what the words meant yet, but she still believed the old tongue to be beautiful.

 Keria had been watching a wight fox paw at it's reflection in the small pool that was placed between the forest and the rocky cliff, the forest continuing not far from the top. there was a small clearing around the cliff pool - as Keria called it - where an ancient, gnarled blossom tree sat.it was nearly as tall as the cliff, which was about the height of eight grown men and the trunk was so wide that even the largest of men could not put their arms all the way around it. the tree grew  leaning over the water of the pool. the small, wight, delicate flowers were in a perfect bloom, a slight breeze blowing through the branches causing petals to drift from the tree, dancing as they came to the ground, the sun shining bright.

 Keria watched the petals drift for a short while before turning her attention to the fox. it raised a graceful wight paw, about to strike at the water when it stopped, paw still raised, and looked into Keria's eyes. it's eyes where silver. Keria watched the fox when it dawned on her that foxes where not wight. she watched, transfixed as the fox opened a silver eye, one between it's other two eyes. it raised another, smaller set of ears slightly behind it's first pair of ears. Keria realised that this magnificent creature before her was not a fox, but a foix.

 the foix inclined his head in a slight nod, and struck the water.

 then Keria woke up.

 Asrailyn had told Keria that a foix was a puzzling sign in a dream. Keria had often dreamt of the foix, something that intrigued Asrailyn. Keria did not know why, but she did not much care either.

 Keria's feet dangled off the edge of the bed as she sat there, ponder her dream. not much time had passed and the sun was still high. she hopped out of bed and entered into the kitchen. she saw some left over bread on the table and walked over, taking the remains of the bread before looking at her mother, waving, and walking out the door again.

 Keria walked as she ate her bread. when she finished, her walking turned into a jog, which in turn became a sprint. she ran along the edge of the village, not wanting to be stopped be the bustling of village life. she ran straight to her grandmother's cottage, and slowed only when she reached the small clearing surrounding it. she stood panting for a few moments and walked up to the door. she knocked softly and entered without waiting for Grandmother to open the door.

 Grandmother was sitting at the table reading a book that had most likely been written many, many years ago before she had been born.

 Grandmother was a collector of old writings, many of which were in languages she could not understand. when Keria had asked why she had so many books she could not read, Grandmother had told her that she enjoyed looking at the words. Keria knew that this wasn't the reason, but she did not press for the truth. she knew that if she waited long enough, Grandmother would tell her one day.

 Keria swept her eyes around the room and stopped her gaze at he small cub. it was turned away from her towards the fire, but as Keria's eyes landed on him, as though sensing that he was being watched, he sat up and turned around. now that the cub was dry, Keria could see that it was indeed a little furry. Keria walked up to the cub and sat herself on the floor next to him and began to pet him. the cub stood up and took a few clumsy steps before collapsing in Keria's lap.

 Keria narrowed her eyes. cubs were not suppose to be able to walk this soon after birth. they should not be able to open their eyes either. suddenly a thought occurred to Keria and her eyes widened. she lightly slid her hands behind the cub's left ear, only to find nothing. Keria's faced dropped from the small gleam of hope that she had held. she began to stare absent minded into the distance, still petting the cub, when her hand stopped mid stroke behind his right ear.

 Keria smiled to herself, her face lit with delight. she picked up the cub and placed him on the ground. he looked up at her with a puzzled expression and stood up so he could clamber back into Keria's lap, but she got up before he could put a paw on her. he looked up at her and saw her smiling at him. she turned and walked to the older woman sitting at the table and asked for something that the cub could not understand. the older woman smiled and got up, coming back with a basket and handed it to Keria.

 the cub was still watching as Keria came towards him, clutching the basket. it looked to big for her small stature and the cub found it amusing for some strange reason. Keria placed the basket on the ground and then placed the cub inside of it. she than placed a some larger scraps of cloth in the basket and arranged the cub so that he was sitting on them. as Keria had been arranging the scraps her face had contorted in a look of frustration as she thought that she should have put the cloth in first and then the cub.

 when she was content with the arrangement of cub and cloth, she picked up the basket and headed out the door, waving to Grandmother as she left. the cub stood up only to fall back down again as the motion of the basket made his paws unreliable, and the sudden shift of the cuds weight made Keria stumbled forward a few steps before regaining her balance.

 "do not try that again you little demon." she said with a slight hint of amusement in her voice.

 the cub looked at her and then set his head on his paws in a restful position. a thoughtful look came across Keria's face and she spoke to the cub.

 "if i am to be looking after you, you shall need a name, and i believe i have found the perfect one for you. Déamios. do you like that boy?" At the word of the old tongue his ears pricked and he looked up at Keria.

 Keria smiled. "that shall be your name then. Déamios."