Previous Chapter Table of Contents
Topiara - Epilogue
"Do I get to go with you this time, Father?"
Jilan glanced over at Lyara, sitting by the firebowl nursing their little daughter, to make sure that she still had his support. Her dark eyes met and held his tightly as she gave him a sad little nod. With that, he looked down at his son. "Your mother and I agreed that this year you could come with me – provided you can rein in your curiosity enough to do exactly what I tell you to do and not run off without permission."
"I want to go, Father," Chivan insisted eagerly. "I'll be good – I promise."
"That's what you told Uncle – that you'd be good and watch Shi'an – and yet you almost broke the thin branch you were on with her two tendays ago," Lyara chided. "You were told it was dangerous…"
"I told you - she wasn't supposed to be out there!" the towheaded lad cried, suddenly seeing his trip with his father in jeopardy. "I told her to stay on the pathway…"
"Jumping up and down to make the branch sway like that is dangerous, whether you are out there by yourself or with your cousin. You've been told that how many times over the last few seasons?" Jilan repeated the lesson that he and Farranby had been pounding into the adventurous little boy's head since the near-accident had happened. "How am I to know that you can listen and do what I tell you in places where you could get lost very quickly when this is what you do…"
"Father, please…" Chivan's voice sank to outright pleading.
"Do you know what the Talandri would do with you if they caught you acting like what they think of as a savage?" Lyara grumbled. "Do you remember Aunt Ista's stories – my stories?"
"I remember," the boy answered sullenly. "I'd end up a slave."
"Or worse," Jilan nodded. "You own seven Turns now – you can't act like you don't have responsibilities to others anymore. Can you imagine how your mother would feel if I come back to the trees and have to tell her that you wandered off?"
"Father…"
"Of course, I'll have Uncle to help me keep an eye on you," Jilan added seriously. "But still…"
Chivan's great dark eyes, so much like his mother's, bulged. "Uncle is coming with us?"
"IF you go," Jilan massaged his point in once more, "yes. Uncle Farranby will be coming with us."
"Momma…" Chivan's gaze turned to his mother. "I want to go this time. I'm already a gatherer – I'm big enough…"
"We have a tenday before your father leaves," Lyara said after a big sigh. "That is one tenday that you will have to prove that you can do what you're told without needing to be reminded – and to prove that you won't do things you know better than to do." She lifted her forefinger in warning. "One tenday without us needing to talk to you at all – and you can go. Otherwise, you'll have to wait until the next time."
Chivan was nodding vigorously already. "You'll see – I can be good." There was no way he was going to wait another two Turns to get another chance to see beyond the Great Forest to the cities of stone and paths that were on the ground. "I swear by my vri'ih'sun that I'll be good," he added, a hand tightly clasping the little cylinder of wood that he'd worn ever since he could remember.
"You will also have to speak Talandri with us for the next tenday," Lyara insisted. "We will not answer you in Vri'ia'ani, nor answer you if you ask questions in Vri'ia'ani – do you understand."
"I do," the boy answered in barely accented Talandri.
"Go on, then," Jilan waved at his son, easily switching into the language of his birth. "Uncle wants to see how well you remember what he taught you about aiming your blowpipe. He's waiting at Ista's for you."
"Thank you!" the boy was nearly bouncing out of his skin, and in his excitement, reverted to Vri'ia'ani as he dashed up the ladder to fetch his prized weapon, presented to him at his Turning ceremony a season earlier. On return, he slid down the sides of the ladder expertly and dashed across the platform toward his Uncle's shelter.
"I can hardly believe that it's time for you to go back already," Lyara said softly as Jilan crouched down next to her and put his hand on his daughter's silken head. "Mi'isha is only two seasons…"
"She's getting so big already," Jilan kissed his little girl, and then kissed Lyara tenderly. "She'll be that much bigger by the time I get back."
"I'm glad Farranby decided to go with you – especially if you're taking Chivan with you," she stated as she smoothed her daughter's hair. "He won't get much of a chance to stray if there are two of you watching him."
"We'll have three – no, four – keeping an eye on him when we get to Tandri," Jilan reminded her. "Bandriel insists that we stay with him while we're there, and you know Lyndon will be very interested in meeting and getting to know your son."
She sighed again. "The next tenday is going to fly by. I'm going to miss you."
"There's plenty of time between now and then," he soothed her and watched with a smile of absolute devotion as she straightened her shi'ili breast wrapping and put her daughter on her knees and bounced her gently to dislodge the air bubble. "And we won't be gone forever, you know…"
"It takes a full season to get to Tandri, Jilan," Lyara reminded him, "and another to get back again. Mi'isha could be walking and talking by the time you return."
"You could always come with us," Jilan suggested, knowing what her answer would most likely be. "Mi'isha will be as old in a tenday as Chivan was when we left Tandri…"
"No," Lyara shook her head. She'd felt the trip from Tandri to I'ilansru'an a necessary one – and hadn't let on how difficult it was to travel with an infant in arms – this trek to Tandri and back wasn't a necessary one for her. "I'll come with you when Mi'isha is Chivan's age – when she's independent and can be taught to sit her own pony. I'll stay with Sharin and her family while you're gone – one of us can take care of the girls while the other helps either with the shi'ili or with gathering fruit. And I have my time with La'un." She smiled up at him. "I'll stay busy – and hopefully the time will pass quickly."
Lyara watched her best friend, her i'ilim and her son disappear around a turn in the pathway that took them out of sight of I'ilansru'an at last and then sighed as she gazed down into the sleeping face of her infant daughter. She hadn't anticipated how hard it was to see both Jilan and her oldest child leave her behind – or how much she'd wanted to travel with them as the time for their departure had grown near.
She turned away from the railing and walked slowly across the platform toward the shelter she shared with her family so that she could put Mi'isha in her net to nap. Her eyes gravitated toward the corner where Chivan's net normally hung – he'd untied it and packed it away earlier that morning with an expertise that had been both painful and satisfying. It and a personal water carrier just his size were his burden between I'ilansru'an and Caranth, where he would be given Surefoot as his first mount. She didn't even want to look at her own sleeping net, which would feel very empty and cold without Jilan in it beside her.
Still… She moved quietly away from the baby's net to look back out and over the railing. This was home. She felt at ease here – she knew her place and her task in life, and they were a place and a task she'd chosen rather than had forced upon her. When she wasn't taking care of a baby, she and Sharin and Ista had become quite busy as producers of shi'ili for all of I'ilansru'an and much of the north-western quarter of the Great Forest; and then there was her learning the arts of herbal healing from La'un. She wasn't alone – not really – she had family around her, and good friends too. Yiren and her family made two treks to I'ilansru'an every Turn; and Lyara was more than willing to make the trek to Ta'alanru'an twice a Turn as well, even without Jilan this Turn.
She just was going to miss Jilan terribly.
How odd, she thought as she leaned against the railing, that a Kauwlut slave and a Talandri nobleman would find happiness in a Vryies aerie. She touched her vri'ih'sun reverently, and then let her fingers slip up to touch the old fetish of wolf fur and teeth that she still wove into her hair every morning without fail. She wasn't exactly sure if the Wolf-Faced One could see her all the way up in these trees, but the thought that she was still under his protection gave her some comfort.
Her hand touched her chest again, as if seeking something else that used to hang about her neck – and once more, as she often found herself doing, she listened for a whisper in the back of her mind. Jilan often did the same thing, she'd discovered – although they both tended to dismiss the habit most of the time when caught by the other in the act. It was as if something very important lay just out of reach within her memory – something she missed greatly.
Behind her, Mi'isha began fussing. Enough fuzz-gathering, she chided herself mentally and went to rock her baby to sleep. Life was too short to be wondering about things that she only imagined she remembered.
She patted her chest, stowing the questions about what it was that she couldn't remember anymore in a safe place for study when she didn't have other responsibilities pressing in on her, and bent to pick up her child. Slowly she walked and rocked her daughter, crooning a soft lullaby that she could remember hearing her mother singing to her – the Kauwlut words promising warm skins and a sound tent while winter winds howl outside sounding very much out of place in her treetop home.
Gone were her days of roaming – of never staying willingly in one place more than a Turn or two. She was happy here – her son was a cheerful and capable gatherer and learning to be a skilled hunter like his Uncle, and now she had a new daughter that she was determined would never know the kind of heartbreak or hardship that she had. She gave a last glance at the pathway that Jilan, Farranby and Chivan had taken, knowing that her i'ilim and her best friend would see to it that Chivan was introduced to Talandri society properly – and that she could do the honors for Mi'isha herself when the time came.
They would be back in less than a Turn, if all went well.
oOoOo
"Auntie, what is that?" Sha'in reached upwards and backwards from her perch on Lyara's lap to touch the small circle of darkened and wrinkled skin at the base of her aunt's throat.
"That's where the Chu'ichi fa'un sat," Lyara answered gently.
"Did it hurt?" Sha'in had her father's eyes, and they were full of concern.
"It did at the time," Lyara replied truthfully, "but not as badly as it would have if I'd been lying. I was told the bite of the fa'un kills."
Ista nodded, her hands moving the shuttle back and forth in a blur to produce a long and even strip of shi'ili. "We cannot lie to the fa'un, Sha'in – anymore than our vri'i can betray the trees. The fa'un protects the forest – protects the Ru'an – from those who would through deceit and betrayal bring us or them harm."
"Why did the Chu'ichi Ru'an think you were lying, Auntie?" the little girl wanted to know next.
"Because I was not Vri'ia'ani – I come from a place far, far away."
"Is that your home?"
Lyara chuckled. "No, little one. Your Uncle and I live here now, in I'ilansru'an. THIS is our home."
"But not before?" The grey eyes were filled with curiosity.
"No," Lyara answered patiently. "I come from a land where the water in the air freezes and falls to the ground in the cold seasons – where the people live in tents made of wood and animal skins on the ground and ride ponies to get from one place to the next as fast as the wind."
"You've heard that story before," Sharin chided her daughter.
"I just love hearing it, Momma," the little girl responded with a fond smile for her auntie. "Auntie, how did your vri'i live on the ground?"
Lyara saw the amused glance that Ista gave Sharin. "What?" she asked the other women.
"It's a question that several of the children have asked me over the years," Ista smiled, "and I know what my own answer has been."
Lyara turned to Sharin. "She's asked you too, I'd imagine…" When Sharin nodded, Lyara added, "What have you told her?"
"I told her that I found my vri'i when I came to live in the trees with her father," she replied with a shrug.
"It was the same for me, I suppose," Lyara told her niece. "Di'iani Rotal gave me my vri'ih'sun, and I think it already had a vri'i in it. And when the fa'un was testing me, I had a vri'i for it to see I was being truthful."
"Sha'in, you need to bring us more h'si'il fibers now," Ista directed her half-sister. "There's a new bag hanging on the peg inside."
Lyara gave a supportive and motivating push to the little girl in her lap to climb to her feet and go do as her Sister asked.
"You look tired," Sharin commented once the girl had vanished. "What's the matter?"
"I didn't sleep well last night," Lyara sighed, brushing back stubborn short curls from her face that refused to grow long enough to trap in her braid. "I was so hoping they'd be back by now."
"It's only three seasons," Ista shook her head. "Be patient."
"I'm tired of being patient," Lyara grumbled, not wanting to offend. "I want Jilan back – and I want my son home."
"I'll be glad when Farranby's back too," Sharin sighed in sympathy. "The net is awfully big…"
"Look!" Ista exclaimed and rose to her feet, her shi'ili loom tumbling to the platform from her vanishing lap.
Lyara glanced in the direction her friend was staring and slowly rose to her feet. Smiling broadly, Jilan was striding quickly across the platform from the entrance ladder toward her – with Farranby matching his gait just a pace of two behind him.
"Jilan?" she whispered and then ran to him.
"Lya!" Jilan whispered reverently and caught his i'ilim to his heart. "I have missed you so!"
"Chi…" Lyara looked all about and then turned a panicked look on him. "Oh Jilan – where's Chivan?"
"Shhhhh…" Jilan soothed with a comforting smile. "He stayed behind, with Bandriel. He's fine – and Bandriel has sworn to foster our son for us for two Turns, so that he can move easily between the trees and the cities." He chuckled. "Lyndon has promised to foster him off and on too – maybe even begin to teach him Guide skills and self-defense."
"He's only seven Turns…" Lyara gasped, feeling the distance between herself and her son more now than ever before. "He's so young…"
"Bandriel told me you'd be worried," Jilan cupped Lyara's cheek. "He sent a letter along to explain everything. He said that Chivan will begin a family line closely linked to service to the Oracle – and that he would need his training this early."
"You should see the school," Farranby was telling Sharin after swooping his daughter up in his arms. "Many of the university scholars are quietly attending evening classes. And even the King has formally endorsed the curriculum – and one of the princes is a student."
"Come," Jilan pulled at Lyara. "I want to see our little girl – and I want to hear all about what you've done here while I was gone."
Lyara slipped her hand into Jilan's. "Did you see Iliria in Tandri?"
Jilan chuckled. "She sent you a LONG letter – and a demand that the next time I come to Tandri, you'd better have returned the favor. I think her husband's almost afraid that she'll decide to visit the Great Forest one of these days – and that he'd have to come with her in order to preserve appearances."
Lyara chuckled. "He's right – she's capable of that…"
Hand in hand, the two of them walked into the shelter and towards the ladder to the sleeping area, where Mi'isha was napping in her relocated net. "Oh my!" Jilan whispered in awe as he saw how much his baby girl had grown in his absence, and then turned to Lyara to hug her to him again. "I'm so glad to be back."
"Welcome home, my heart," Lyara whispered to him in Kauwlut – their private language of love – and melted into his embrace. With her son safely under the watchful eye of the Oracle, the one person who could predict trouble before it even occurred to her adventurous and daring child, and with the other half of her vri'i back in her arms again, her world straightened again.
"I'ilim," Jilan murmured to her softly and kissed her.
FIN
Previous Chapter Table of Contents