Chapter Twenty-Three: In the Dark of Night

 Yella, as promised, stayed until dawn. Long after the other three had fallen asleep, snoring to drown out their whispers. He was fascinated by Kyosti’s stories of Chithoobra, and especially interested in Kayla, who had further betrayed the Innis path by joining the Wizards.

“Why didn’t you kill her?” he asked, hand clutching Kyosti’s arms. “I would have killed her before allowing her to join those monsters.”

Kyosti lowered his eyes. “Don’t say what you would or wouldn’t have done, nephew,” he warned Yella. “Kayla and I grew up together, went to military school together, were in the same company in the army. We were never---” He hesitated. “We were never friends. But I couldn’t have killed her.”

Yella hmmed, shifting where he sat. “And these three? A bird, a Chith, and...whatever that woman is.”

Kyosti felt a twinge of unease. “From the North. She was changed by the Eagles as a child. It was the brightness of her hair that blinded me.”

Yella let out a long string of curses in Innis. “You’ll have to be careful with these three.”

“You don’t need to warn me of that,” Kyosti replied, thinking of the knife in his bag. Again, he wondered if he should tell Yella about it, even opened his mouth to do it.

For a long time they sat in silence. Kyosti was thinking of Rhoda, who was sleeping somewhere in this city. Was she also in the army? A servant? A laborer? A fisher? He hadn’t had cause to think of her in years, but for a moment he recalled their hours playing together in the tents and the snow, sliding across the ice, throwing snowballs and curses, braiding each other’s hair, pulling each other’s hair, avoiding their younger brother and their chores.

No, he didn’t want to see Rhoda. It would only complicate things.

He asked, “How many Innis in the city? Do you meet together at times?”

Yella snorted. “The city master has forbidden large gatherings of Innis, so we can only meet privately. As to how many….over seven thousand, I think.”

Kyosti gaped at him. “You must be joking. There aren’t that many Innis left in the whole world!”

“Many of them have been here since the time of Ella and Leon. They are almost like the Seers now, since they were born under the sun. But some of us know the language, and some even know the rites. Like my aunt.”

Kyosti shushed him. Yella hmmed again. “Yes, you’re right,” he said, sounding contrite. The sound of the snores hadn’t changed, but there was no telling who might be a little sleeper.

Kyosti lay down leisurely on his back. “Tell me an old story, nephew,” he ordered. “I want to know what stories my sister told you.”

This was easy for Yella. Innis had a treasure trove of stories, myths, and legends to pick from. “As the story goes,” he began, slipping easily into Innis, “my love couldn’t sleep one night and left their tent to walk under the stars.”

It was a crisp winter night, and the whale was flying peacefully, and the stars glittered their eyes, and a host of their children danced silently in the sky. My love sat observing the dance for some time, learning from the grace of the stars’ children.

After that some time, the Leopard Queen came slipping from the ice to join my love. “You have watched the stars’ children for some time,” she observed. “And I have been watching you. Do you have a love?”

My love answered the Leopard Queen, “Yes, I already have a love.”

The Leopard Queen became angry at this, for she desired my love for her own. She was a great admirer of beauty, and my love was the most beautiful of them all. “I congratulate you on your love,” she said. “Perhaps I could grant you a boon. What do you want more than anything else in the world?”

My love considered. They had everything they could want, except for one thing. “The stars’ children were beautiful, but I only see them in winter or at night. Can the Leopard Queen grant to me to see the stars’ children even in the light?”

The Leopard Queen almost scoffed. She disliked the daylight, and did not want her children to enjoy anything that had to do with the day. But she thought maybe this was the way to win my love’s favor.

“Of course I can allow you to see the stars’ children in the day,” the Leopard Queen told my love. “Tomorrow, we will prepare. For now, you must be cold. Lay your head on my flank---yes, there. Now, rest.”

When tomorrow had come, the Leopard Queen took my love to the sea, where the waves lapped against the edges of the ice. “I promised you I would find a way to bring you the stars’ children in the day. Behold! I keep my promises. Look into the water.”

My love knelt at the shoreline, their hands clasped in anticipation. In the reflection of the water, they could see the stars, and with them the children danced, heel to toe, their green, red, and white light dazzling off the edges of the waves. At first, my love did not understand. How could a reflection survive even when the original couldn’t be seen?

Then, my love saw the reflection in the water shift and split from the original in the sky and become alive. The Leopard Queen laughed joyously. “Do I not keep my promises?” she whispered in their ear. “Can even your love do that?

My love was struck speechless by the reflection of the stars’ children, which glittered and flowed in the waves, gamboling in their own dance, living their own lives. “My Queen, you are surely unparalleled. My love cannot do a thing like this.”

“Then lay your head on my flank---yes, like that---and we will stay here by the sea and watch the stars’ children until summer is come again, and then---” The Leopard Queen laughed again, for she knew she had my love in her hands now. “---then you will see. You will see the stars’ children even by the light of day.”

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Photo by Teryll KerrDouglas on Unsplash