Chapter 1: The Desert Planet (10yrs ago)
Delitana Asel shivered in the cold night air of her desert homeworld. Gazing up at the sea of sparkling white stars scattered across the velvety red-black sky, she wondered if there was anyone else out there. She took in a deep breath, exposing her lungs to the rising smoke from the fires below. The scent brought a taste of open flame cooking and strong spices. Foods native to her undeveloped planet.
Delitana gripped the rough cloth of her gown, let out a longing sigh, and shifted her gaze from the heavens to the small village below the watchtower, then out towards the darkened horizon. The security torches of the distant villages still licked the sky like a giant serpent's tongue. Everything looked normal. But she had not come up here to check on her neighbours, who were, at the very least, four-sunturns away on the fastest beast. As usual, Delitana was here to dream. Ever since she was a young girl of no more then three-sunlives, Delitana Asel has been dreaming of life beyond the heavens. Of other worlds with different looking people with the ability to travel without the use of a beast of burden. Her world, her monotonous planet, had nothing. In thousands of years, her people still have not bothered with evolution or invention. Her planet was and her people were the same as they always have been.
"One day," Delitana sighed again and looked back at the endless sky. "One day the people with the flying device will find us and come down from the heavens. They will show us all that we have missed, that we have blinded ourselves from and this world will change. We will grow stronger and we too, will fly away towards the stars." Delitana laughed inwardly and shook her head. "That's right, Asel! Keep dreaming like this and you will be cast into the desert mid-sunturn without any water."
But her dream felt so real. Almost like a vision. And they were always about the same group of people. Ones with pointed ears and up-slanted lines of hair above their eyes. They don't look to much different then us, Delitana mused as she pushed a thick ringlet of hair behind her own pointed ear.
"DELA!"
Delitana leaned over the side of the tower rail to see who had called her. Much to her dismay it was Teva Asel, her female caregiver. A flood of guilt rushed through her, as she realize she had lost track of time...again! Now that she had seen 13-sunlives, she had been given the responsibility to see the youngest ones to bed every night. So far, her record was not promising. Delitana ran recklessly down the steep tower ramp, not bothering to pay attention to footing; the cape of her gown flowing out behind her. She wasn't sure how she managed to make it to the bottom safely.
"I'm sorry!" She gushed staring at her caregiver apologetically. "I just-"
"-Lost track of time," Teva Asel finished. To the other's surprise a smile stretched out across Teva Asel's face. "I know!"
"Do you not feel anger?" Delitana asked, slightly taken aback. She let herself be lead away from the watchtower by her caregiver.
"Anger? Never towards you, my dear!" Teva Asel gave a hoarse chuckle and ducked through a stone entranceway, spiraling down the ramp to the lair below. Delitana at her heels.
"I do not understand. You should feel anger. I have disobeyed you, yet again. You assigned me a duty in this house and I have not fulfilled it yet. I have failed you. You should feel anger."
Teva Asel spun sharply on her heals to face her charge. The oldest of all those she cared for. The only charge she had ever thought of as her own child. She stared deep into Delitana's eyes with a cold penetrating glare. A scornful expression fell upon her face.
"Never think of yourself as a failure, Dela! Never! You dream, you see! That is a rare gift. You are special and because of that, I can never feel anger towards you. You have learned all that I am able to teach. You will pack your things in at the beginning of sunturn. You have no more reason to stay."
Teva Asel turned away and hurried off towards her sleep area without another word. Her charge stood motionless in the middle of an underground burrow that was her home. She stared down the tunnel which her caregiver had vanished through, wanting so badly to follow her, but knowing that nothing she could say would change her caregivers mind. No, Delitana thought with tear-blurred eyes, she does not feel anger towards me. It is stronger then that. She feels hatred.
Teva Asel choked back tears as she stared at the ironbound walls of her sleep area. She pulled the pelt blankets around her, hugging her knees like a young child, and made a small whimpering sound as she let her tears stream down her reddened skin. Being a caregiver, she was not supposed to cry. It showed weakness. But sometimes feelings can't be restrained. Especially in the case of losing a child.
"Sorrow is for the feeble! Delitana was never your child and yet you weep for her."
Teva Asel wiped her tear-stricken, dark green eyes and turned towards the tunnel which lead into her room. A figure stood there. Blackened by the lack of light. His voice low pitched and authoritative, with a rusty feel. You could tell he held great power without even knowing him, just by his voice.
"I've know you to be stronger then this, Yendeliv!" He continued, moving into the ring of flickering torch light.
Teva Asel flinched at the use of her full given name. She much preferred the shortened version of it: Yenna. The version her consort, the man standing before her, used most often. And much as she hated his bluntness, he was right. Dela was not her child. She never was. Dela had grown to be a potential prophet. She needed a proper teacher. There was nothing more that Yenna could teach her anymore and sending her away was maybe the hardest thing to do, but it was the right thing to do. Yenna knew that.
"Perhaps you don't know me that well then, Jolibae" Yenna lied. She stood up, blew out the candles that provided the light for the room, returned to bed, and closed her dampened eyes.
"Perhaps I don't anymore!" Jolibae stood in the darkness and stared at his consort. His second eyelids opening so that he could see her clearly in the dark. Then he turned and strode away.
To be continued...
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