Dralin

Chapter 10

A few days later, Frath was back in the barracks with his squad.  They greeted him with cheers and claps on the back, but also with some hesitation.  No one would look into his eyes for long.  He couldn’t blame them.  Frath had looked in a mirror.  The glow was gone, but they were still dark purple in color.  The irises glistened like amethyst gems around the pupils and the whites had a lavender tint to them, much like the combined light of the two moons.

It was the middle of the night and he sat on his footlocker feeding Pelya.  Everyone was asleep in their bunks and it was quiet in the room even with the door open.  Pelya kept staring into his eyes.  What unnerved Frath was that he got the distinct impression that Distra was staring back at the baby.

A shadow wiggled along the wall, amusing itself in the steady light cast by the lone lantern.  Frath remembered paying attention to shadows when he was a child, but they had faded from his mind as he grew.  Now he noticed them all the time.  They moved, they danced and they wiggled, but mostly they were sad.

He wondered again why the shadows were sad.  Were they sad only in Dralin, which was a city filled with pain and suffering?  Perhaps shadows in other cities were happy and danced for joy.  Frath wished he knew.  Perhaps it was because Distra was sad.

The thought of the goddess brought his memory back to the incident at the church.  She still touched his mind and he knew she would never let go.  Distra wasn’t there all the time, but she could peek in whenever she wanted to.  Frath didn’t know if that fact should upset him.

He didn’t like priests, gods or churches.  They had tried to convert him when he was in the orphanages, often by means of a whip.  He still had thin white scars on his back from some of the beatings received when he had refused to pray or worship.

The lonely church in the Forlorn District was the only place he had ever felt safe.  As a boy, he would escape to there whenever possible and curl up underneath the statue.  Judging by his current condition, Distra had accepted him as a follower whether that was his intention or not.

Frath sighed as he considered his feelings.  It wouldn’t be fair to ask for a lifetime of comfort and solace, only to reject the one who gave it.  At that moment, he decided to give his heart to Distra, especially since his mind was already possessed anyway.  Perhaps the goddess needed a friend too.  So it was settled that he would follow Distra, but the church wasn’t a good place to raise Pelya if they couldn’t stay in the guard.  He worried about her fate.  The world was a terrible place to raise a child and Dralin was worst of all.

He had been unconscious for three nights before waking up and staggering back to the barracks.  The healers had given him nourishment and healed his body as much as they could.  Even then, it had taken some time to recover enough to speak.  His voice was still hoarse.

“Frath?” Bava said from the doorway.  “I’m sorry, I didn’t hear her cry.”  She wore the basic cotton leggings and shirt that were standard issue for men and women in the Guard, just as he was wearing.  They were cool and comfortable.

“She didn’t.  I was awake and she made noises at me, so I changed her diaper and I’m feeding her.”  He attempted a smile at Bava and managed to turn his lips up a tiny bit.

She pushed her hair back over her ears to keep it out of her face and then came over to sit down next to him, her leg touching his as she leaned over and waved hi to Pelya.  The child stared at her solemnly as she tended to do.  Frath felt Bava’s left hand on his back and her right placed on his thigh.  Then she looked at him questioningly.  “Would you like company to help ease the stress?”

It wouldn’t be the first time they had lain together, but it would be the first since Frath had met Sheela.  The City Guard had a very liberal policy of letting guardspeople share each other’s beds as long as it was never forced.  Life in the Guard was hard and the chances of death were high.  Casual relations were encouraged to help keep everyone relaxed and morale high.  They were also very liberal about same-sex relationships.