Twelve Realms

Chapter 2

Lucia

"You're awfully quiet today, Lucia," Vara comments. 

"What?" I say, diverting my attention from the flowering shrub before me. 

She sighs. "What's bothering you?" 

"Nothing," I say, taking my pair of long metal forceps and separating the flower from the stalk. I hold it above the wicker basket and let it fall. Eternia flowers always float much slower than any other flower. Vara says it's because they have the spirit of Dea within them. 

"Lucia," Vara says, touching my shoulder. "I know something is wrong. You're never this quiet, and you're never this slow to harvest the flowers. Tell me what it is."

I take a deep breath. I suppose I'll have to tell her sooner or later. 

"I had a dream last night," I confess. "A visit. From Dea."

Vara's eyes widen. Temple maids are never visited, especially not by Dea. 

"What did... what did she say?" Vara's voice is hushed with awe. No one in the Temple of the Winter River has ever received a visit from Dea. She's too new. She only became the Great Goddess of the Twelve Realms during my first segment. No one in the Twelve Realms, at least no one in the Realm of Eternal Winter, knows what to make of her. The old great Goddess, Ainne, sent constant visits and omens, not just to the Temple of the Winter River, the most important of all the temples, but to all of the Twelve Realms. 

I squint my eyes, trying to remember the dream, which is already beginning to go fuzzy around the edges. 

"I was by the river, and it had iced over. The snow was heavier than usual. But I don't remember being cold. I went down the bank to look closer at the river, because I had never seen it iced over. The ice was clear. I saw a reflection in it, but it wasn't... it wasn't my face. Then the ice started to crack, right where the reflection was. 

"And Dea emerged from the river. I don't know how I knew it was Dea. I just did."

"What did she look like?" Vara asks in awed anticipation. 

"She was tall. Taller than me, even taller than Priestess Kina. Her hair was pale, like the snow, and her eyes were blue and clear like ice. She didn't look unkind, but she didn't seem particularly friendly either. She took my face in her hands, but it felt like she was touching something deeper than just my skin. Like she was pressing into my soul."

Vara nods. It's common for visiting goddesses to do something of the sort. 

"Then she let go of my face, and I knelt to kiss the ground at her feet. When I looked up, she was gone, and the snow was swirling around me, in a storm so violent I could not even see the river. I called out to her, but she did not return. But I heard her voice, I knew it was her voice, in the snow around me. She said... she said, 'Lucia of the Temple of the Winter River, do not let the people forget me. Do not let them take my gifts and give me no thanks. Do not..."

My voice falters slightly as I remember the last of what she told me. 

"Do not let the river be hungry. Do not let another escape."

Vara covers her gaping mouth with both hands. 

"Of course," she says. "That's why Dea has not given us a sign before now. She's upset about the Thief." 

 "I'm not surprised," I say. "The Thief cheated fate. He's a disgrace to everyone in the Twelve Realms."

Vara nods. "I've heard he's run off to the Realm of the Forest. Lots of places to hide there."

"Have you been?" I ask, surprised.

"Once," she said. "During my third segment, and briefly. "Ainne let me visit the realm to visit my brother, who had just been sworn in to the high temple there."

"What was the temple like?" I ask, eager. I've never left the Realm of Eternal Winter, even though it's my second segment. When I pledged myself to the Temple of the Winter River, I accepted that I would have to spend the majority of my life here. I'm not allowed to move from Realm to Realm every hundred years, like most people do. 

"It's beautiful," Vara says, her eyes glazing over as she recalls. "It's made entirely of trees, with their branches woven together to form walls. All different kinds of trees, a tapestry of a hundred different types of wood- red wood, dark wood, light wood, deep, shiny wood. The top of the temple was rimmed with leaves, but there was a hole in the center where, when it rained, water poured into a great basin in the center of the temple." 

Rain. I've never seen it. The closest thing we get here is sleet. It sounds magical. 

"But enough of that," Vara says, snapping herself from the fond memory. "Lucia, you need to tell the High Priestess about your dream."

"I do?" 

Vara shakes her head as if she cannot believe what I am saying. "Lucia, you had a visit from Dea herself. Do you not understand what this means?"

I furrow my brow in confusion.

Vara sighs, then smiles brightly and takes my hand. 

"Lucia, you're going to be the next High Priestess of the Temple of the River Winter."