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Topiara - Chapter 61
"It was good to see Yiren so happy," Lyara chirped as the three resumed their journey, with the next stop Chu'ichiru'an.
"Remember when she was worried about whether or not she'd ever be able to find an i'ilim from among her own people after being among the chan'vrii for so long?" Jilan responded and touched Lyara's hand. "I'm just sorry that we can't stay until her child is born."
"That's my fault," Bandriel admitted with some regret. "I'm having trouble understanding how time moves here in the outer world – but I'm certain that I need to be in Tandri within the space of what you call a 'Turn'."
"We'll come back and see her again," Lyara promised herself with a meaningful glance at Jilan.
"If you want," he promised her solemnly. "I'd better see about gathering fruit for this next leg of our trip." He turned a mischievous gaze on Bandriel. "Are you willing to see how well you do off the pathway yet?"
The tall stranger from the mountain shook his head vehemently. "It's bad enough that we are so far away from the ground but on platforms of woven vines. I don't see any benefit in climbing out on branches that offer the opportunity to slip and fall to one's death…"
"Did you see La'un's face this morning at those leaves you left?" Lyara kept up the commentary with Jilan. "You'd think we'd given him precious treasure."
"Considering how often these people let their feet touch the ground – and how apt they are to want to take hikes up onto that mountain once they ARE on the ground – those leaves ARE a small treasure." Jilan grinned. "Hodi'ia may have prescribed the wrong medication for you, but her recommendation to gather these leaves and hand them out on our way back was nothing short of genius." He looked at his i'ilim. "Speaking of La'un, what were you two whispering about last night before the Telling?"
Lyara blushed. "I just wanted to talk to him about not feeling so good lately – wondering if it had anything to do with the consequences of ipsi'il poisoning. He was able to set my mind at ease…"
"You haven't been feeling well?" Jilan was immediately concerned. "You haven't said anything to me…"
"It isn't anything major," Lyara hurried to reassure him. "At least, once we figured out what was going on, I didn't have to worry about poison anymore."
"So?" Jilan demanded. "What's going on?"
Lyara stopped walking and turned to the two men behind her. "Bandriel, do you think I could talk to Jilan alone for a moment?"
The brilliant blue eyes in their tall friend shone with an understanding light. "I'll just walk ahead a bit – call me when you want me to wait for you."
Lyara waited until Bandriel was several paces ahead and mostly out of earshot. "La'un just confirmed what I had suspected, Jilan." She smiled up at him. "I'm pregnant."
Jilan's face slowly split into a wide smile. "A child?"
She nodded. "We'll need to spend some time in Tandri – I won't be able to travel again for a while."
"When…" He cast about to try to think of his question. "Will it be safe for you to travel the rest of the way to Tandri?"
"We can't afford too many long rest stops," she informed him, "but everything should be safe for me and the child until we get to Tandri. After that, it may be a Turn or so before I'll be ready to travel again."
"Did you tell Yiren?" Jilen asked, and then shook his head. He'd seen the two women with their heads together – and then giving each other a very tight and warm hug. Of course she'd told Yiren. "What did she say?"
"That it's too bad that we can't be in the trees when it's born," Lyara remembered fondly. "But she spoke to her uncle, and I have a vri'ih'sun that should be put on it as soon as its born – and that should protect it's vri'i."
"A child," Jilan mused to himself, and then swooped down on Lyara to pick her up and twirl her around. "I love you!"
Lyara let her arms twine around his neck, and she kissed him gently. "I love you too." She gazed down at him. "Do you remember asking me once where I wanted to call home?"
"Mmm-hmmm…" Jilan nodded and set her feet back down on the pathway without letting her entirely escape his embrace. "What about it?"
"Would you be very disappointed if I told you that I'd just as soon come back to the trees?" she asked simply and hesitantly.
He shook his head. "Not disappointed at all. Of all the places we've been, I have to admit I feel the most comfortable with the Vri'ia'ani."
"Then we'll leave as soon as its safe to travel with a baby," Lyara nodded, glad that everything was finally out and in the open between them at last. She looked down the pathway toward Bandriel's slowly retreating form. "I suppose we should catch up with him now…"
Jilan looked up to follow her gaze just in time to see their new friend cast a backward glance at them. He raised his hand in a gesture of waiting and then let go of Lyara except to capture her hand in his. "Let's go – the sooner we get to Tandri, the sooner we can come home."
oOoOo
"LYARA!" Farranby bellowed and rushed over to catch Lyara up in a bear hug. "Sharin and I had almost given up on you! Sharin! Look who's back in I'ilansru'an!"
"Never count me out, Farranby," Lyara chuckled as he finally let her go and set her back to take a good look at her. "Do I pass muster?"
"You glow, little Guide," her old friend murmured fondly and then stepped aside to give Jilan a hug so that Sharin could also get a hug from Lyara. "You've taken good care of her, I see…"
"It was touch and go there for a while," Jilan admitted. "I'll save that for a personal Telling, though," he told his friend conspiratorially.
"Farranby worried so much about you when you didn't come back in seven tendays," Sharin shook her head at Lyara chidingly. "I worried for a while that he wouldn't just take off and go looking for you the way he came looking for Ista."
"He wouldn't have found us, I'm afraid," Lyara told her quietly and then pulled her friend over closer to Bandriel. "Farranby, Sharin, I'd like to introduce you to Bandriel, the next Oracle."
Farranby's eyebrows rose almost to his hairline. "Is THAT what your quest was that just happened to coincide with my search for my daughter, then?"
"She didn't even tell me until long after we'd left here," Jilan added with a twinkle in his eye. "I knew she'd had a letter from the old Oracle…"
"Nilyaron," Bandriel pronounced the name with reverence. "May his memory be honored."
"Something tells me we'll have a good Telling of our own, after the Time of Telling tonight," Farranby stated. "You'll be staying in our shelter, of course."
"We need to talk to the Rotal," Lyara said hesitantly. "Is there a proper way to petition for an audience?"
"There's a public audience tomorrow afternoon," Sharin answered, "although it wouldn't surprise me if, once the Time of Telling this evening is finished, she'll be summoning YOU and your Oracle companion." She moved to put an arm about Lyara's shoulder. "Come on – let me show you where Farranby and I have been living this past Turn."
"Are you happy," Lyara asked her friend as she was guided toward a ladder.
"Yes," Sharin smiled at her. "I've found a home here – and Ista has been training me in making shi'ili."
"So you two won't be coming back to Tandri with us then?" Jilan asked from behind the two women.
Farranby answered before Sharin could. "Only if Sharin wants to leave. I'm perfectly happy here – my daughter is here, my grandson is here."
"We can talk about this later," Sharin told Lyara firmly, electing not to even think about the matter for the time being. "Let's get you settled into a nice, quiet corner of our sleeping area, get your new friend set up with a sleeping net of his own, and send word to the Rotal that you've returned and need to speak to her."
Farranby watched the two women and the tall stranger move toward the ladder up to the sleeping quarters with quiet indulgence. "I keep asking her what she wants," he told his young friend in explanation, "but she doesn't want to think about it. I know she's happy here – and yet, I know she at least wants to go back to Tandri once more."
"Lyara wants to come back after we've delivered Bandriel to Tandri," Jilan nodded in sympathy, "but she's going to have to wait for a while. By the time we get back to the city, our child will be ready to be born…"
"A child!" Farranby caught at his friend's shoulder with a wide grin. "You're sure?"
"The healer in Tala'ansru'an confirmed it for us," Jilan nodded.
Farranby's hand patted assurance into Jilan's shoulder. "How much do you want to bet that Lyara's telling Sharin about it while we discuss it back here?"
Sharin gave a small cry of surprise and delight, and Jilan chuckled. "I know better than to bet on things like that, Farranby."
The Rotal walked sedately into her audience room, her eyes apparently glued to the tall and golden-haired visitor that Jilan and Lyara had brought back with them from their travels. Her necklace of green leaves looked as if it had been freshly picked and woven into an emerald collar, and the feathers in her hair shimmered like jewels. For his part, Bandriel's serene gaze widened ever so slightly at the display of color.
"So, you are the new seer who will lend wisdom and insight to us all," she commented appreciatively.
Bandriel greeted her with the outstretched palm and a bow. "I am Bandriel," he stated very simply. "I am here to express my gratitude for the hospitality I've encountered here in your trees during my journey, and to reassure you that my abilities are not monopolized by any one people – that when the time comes that you need my help, I will give it freely."
"My predecessor left a message for me from your predecessor," the Rotal smiled. "I was told to expect your arrival." She glanced to an aide at her right and nodded slightly, and the aide gestured to an attendant who had waited silently at the back of the room. "Please allow me to gift you with a vri'ih'sun – a small shelter for the soul that those of us who dwell in the trees believe will keep your vri'i safe while your feet touch the ground. May it help you find peace of mind and spirit as you lend your abilities to the service of the people."
Bandriel bowed and accepted the ornately carved vri'ih'sun and looped the braided thread cord about his neck. As he backed away from the Rotal, her twinkling green eyes landed on Lyara and Jilan. "It is good to see that you return to us safely…" And then her eyes rested on the spots of darkened and curled flesh at each of their throats. "Who challenged you to fa'unshah?" she demanded indignantly.
"It's of no consequence, Di'iani Rotal," Jilan shook his head. "It was a misunderstanding that, with but a little discomfort on our part, was quickly handled." He could feel Lyara shift at the dismissal of so much of her suffering as 'a little discomfort', but knew that making the Rotal any more disapproving of the renegade Ru'ans would accomplish little good.
"Where?" the Rotal insisted.
"Chu'ichiru'an," Lyara answered finally. "But Jilan's right – it was a misunderstanding, and it didn't survive the fa'unshah."
"I should hope not," the Rotal exclaimed in exasperation. "Fa'unshah is more than a little extreme. I would have thought the vr'ih'sun you'd been given would have been enough…"
"Those who do not listen to you wouldn't recognize the validity of your gift," Jilan explained patiently. "But as I say, it's of no matter now. Even his own people were unhappy with the way the fa'unshah was conducted – so…"
"Interesting to hear," the Rotal nodded thoughtfully. "I have a feeling that I will want to be present for the Time of Telling near the firebowl shared by Ka'an and Fa'aranby." She smiled and bowed to them. "Thank you for coming – and thank you for your generous offer of help in times yet to come," she aimed at Bandriel. "May the ties between I'ilansru'an and the Oracle remain strong as always."
Jilan and Lyara bowed in the formal Vri'ia'ani manner while Bandriel once more gave the Rotal his open palmed salute, and then the three of them walked from the audience room.
"Was that what you needed to do?" Lyara asked their tall friend.
"It was," Bandriel answered simply. "My service to the outside world will not be restricted to any one people. Just because the center of my service shall be in Tandri doesn't mean that I will not offer my visions and insights to the Vri'ia'ani as well as the Kauwlut."
Lyara blinked. "I don't the that the Kauwlut had any contact with Nilyaron," she told him with a slight frown.
"The contact had been lost, it's true," Bandriel nodded. "The time will come that, with your help, it will be reestablished."
Her brows rose toward her hairline. "MY help?" she asked in surprise. "I'm afraid I'm going to be fairly occupied with raising my child once we have you safely delivered to Tandri - and Jilan and I will eventually make our home here, in the trees."
Bandriel merely smiled at her. "These things will happen – you will raise your child and eventually make your home here in the trees. Nevertheless, the time will come when you will be the one to help me set forth the lines of contact between me and very special healer even now growing into his own in the Kauwlut territories."
Lyara and Jilan looked at each other and shook their heads. It was bad enough to have their power objects giving them visions and glimpses of what might be – to have an Oracle himself telling them what they would be doing far in the future was troubling.
"Not for a long time," Lyara commented hopefully.
"No," Bandriel answered. "Not for a long time."
"Good."
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