Today is a SUPER EXCITING BLOG POST! For my 40th entry I would like to tell you that I have succeeded in raising $2500 for my KICKSTARTER!
And for that I am going to reward you, dear reader, because it was your belief, your encouragement and your faith in me that has gotten me this far!
And without further ado, here it is!
Chapter 1:
The cold breeze of the mountain did
everything it could to throw her off balance. It howled and moaned, spitting
out snow to cloud her vision. Grandmama, however, had prepared her for this—and
more. She walked along the wire, stretching out her arms to help balance her
delicate body structure.
One, two, one,
two. She counted her steps mentally, focusing on the numbers instead of the
wire underneath her small, yet stable, feet. Each step brought her closer to
her destination, and so she eagerly began to quicken her pace. Her slow and
focused counting had become a mantra that she was now chanting faster and
faster in her head. She looked up to see the red flag and smiled victoriously.
She was almost there. She was tired of walking the wire, and now she wanted to
just rip through the air and capture the red flag. She hunched down on the
wire, used her body weight to press herself down, and leaped. As she cut
through the cold mountain air, she reached out and grabbed the closest rock she
could find, securing herself.
Hoisting herself over the rocky
edge, she stepped up to see what she had seen every day of her life for the
past two years. Grandmama stood there twirling the red flag between her
fingers, a smug smile on her withered face. Once again, as always, she had
gotten there before Aaliyah could.
“You concentrate too heavily on the
prize,” shouted Grandmama over the howling wind. “You must observe and
calculate before taking the leap.”
Aaliyah stepped towards her and
reached out to touch the fiery, red tip of the almost frozen flag. “I didn’t
see you anywhere.”
“That’s because you were too busy
watching the prize instead of your opponent.” Grandmama draped a hand over
Aaliyah’s shoulders and began leading her home. “My dear Hummingbird, it will
be too easy to lure you out. You must harden your heart and learn to sense and
see things like a warrior, and not like my granddaughter.”
Aaliyah sighed. She had heard her
grandmother’s instructions to strategize like a warrior multiple times, but
could not bring herself to do so—especially not when her opponent was her own
grandmama. The seventy-three-year-old woman was the only family she had left,
and she wanted to remain the little girl her grandmama had raised her to be and
not become the warrior she was currently trying to sculpt.
“Maybe tomorrow,” she
murmured, contemplatively. They walked towards the old village, the snow
crunching loudly underneath their feet. She saw what they always saw on their
walk back from Snow Mountain: loud vendors advertising the rainbow of freshly
caught fish, a sprinkle of small huts depicting warmth as smoke escaped from their
chimneys, and the familiarity of villagers as they prepared for the day. All of
them were very fond of the couple, especially of her grandmama.
Grandmama was the village’s healer; she had
been taking care of the villagers for as long as Aaliyah could remember.
Aaliyah loved the story of how they came to live in Shankshaw. It was their
story, and she heard it every night after dinner.
“Good morning, Aaliyah,” Cercie
shouted from his fish stand. “I have the usual ready for you.”
Aaliyah smiled and waved at him.
“Go get it.” Grandmama nodded her
head in his direction. “I am going to go get the fire started. My legs could
use the warmth, especially if I’m going to make it through tonight’s
festivities.”
Aaliyah grinned widely and made her
way towards Cercie’s fish stand. She smiled as her eyes first caught sight of
his crooked teeth and then his hazel eyes. They were a familiar and comforting
sight for her. It was his parents who had taken them in when Grandmama had
nowhere to go. Cercie was only seven moon years at that time, but for some
reason, he was highly intrigued by the child and her grandmother.
“Are you excited about the Lunar
Festival?” Aaliyah asked him eagerly, clasping her hands together, her brown
eyes big and bright with excitement. “My dress is almost complete,” she added.
“Grandmama just has to put on, as she likes to call it, ‘the finishing touches’
and ta-da!”
“You know, most girls sew their own
dresses,” Cercie informed her with a raised eyebrow, although his voice hinted
no signs of accusation. “And here you are making your poor Grandmama do your
bidding for you.”
Aaliyah rolled her eyes. “Nobody can
make Grandmama ‘do their bidding’,” she rebutted. “And not that it’s any of
your business, but I did help Grandmama plan out the dress and designed the details on the sleeves.”
“Always unconventional, that’s what
you are and no one here knows you better than I do, Hummingbird.” His eyes gleamed mischievously as he pushed her
buttons.
“Don’t call me that,” Aaliyah
snapped. “And, no, you don’t know me that
well.”
Cercie smiled as he tied the paper
around the fish. “I know you well enough to know that you lost to your
grandmama again today.”
Aaliyah opened her mouth to argue
with the fisherman but decided otherwise. She pressed her lips in a firm line,
stopping herself from giving into the bait and exhaled softly. “Tonight is my
nineteenth Moonday, and I am not going to let you spoil it,” she replied
cheerfully.
“Ah, the nineteenth Moonday. The birthday of
all birthdays; it’s your Initiation into womanhood.” Cercie winked at her, a
slight smirk making its way on his face.
Aaliyah’s eyes widened momentarily,
and she blushed red. She looked away, her eyes finding refuge elsewhere. Then,
without looking back at him, she mumbled her good-bye before he had the chance
to ridicule her important day any further and ran off.
He is only making fun of my
nineteenth Moonday because he doesn’t see the importance of the day, Aaliyah
thought, huffing. She remembered his Initiation and how excited everyone was
that the strong and valiant Cercie had now officially become a man. He was
pronounced the protector, the highest level of honour one could achieve in Shankshaw.
He didn’t need to work at his fish stand anymore, but for some reason, he was
still there. It was something about keeping his identity strong.
That was two years ago.
Aaliyah shook her head twice,
dismissing her thoughts and continued home. Grandmama would be waiting for her.
Hugging the fish close to her, Aaliyah looked around the familiar landscape.
Today, she was looking at it through the eyes of a child, but tomorrow she
would see it through the eyes of a woman. She remembered hearing that there was
wisdom in a woman’s gaze. A woman saw things differently than a child did.
Aaliyah had always wondered what that meant.
What would the mountains look like
through the eyes of a woman? Would the grass around her be any greener? Would
she suddenly find a new purpose in her everyday life?
There used to be a time
when humans had demolished every ounce of nature, delving into technology and
creating inventions to make their lives easier. But all of that had
unexpectedly backfired.
Humans were consuming more
than they were producing and soon it caught up to them. In school, she had seen
images of the riots and the chaos that had spread. With no food and no clean
water left to drink, human life had become endangered. Aaliyah couldn’t fathom
the idea that there were only a handful of humans who knew how to grow their
own food.
The dirty water and the
lack of produce had an enormous impact on human society. Crime rate rose,
making human life disposable and soon the population had become miniscule. The
individuals who had survived had chosen to reconnect themselves with the Earth
and its resources.
Aaliyah smiled as she
waved at her neighbours. She preferred this life to the one she had learned
about in school. Her eyes softened at the comforting sight of the house she had
grown up in. It was a small and cheerful place, covered with colourful flowers
and exotic herbs. Aaliyah couldn’t help but beam with pride when she saw the
ceremonial wreath hanging on the door. She ran to take a closer look at her
Initiation present from the elders. Every year, individuals undergoing the
ceremony were presented with the wreath to honour their Initiation, and today
it was Aaliyah’s turn. She ran her fingers over the wisteria branches and the
mistletoe circling the wreath and couldn’t stop the smile from turning into a
grin.
She placed her right hand on the
doorknob and turned it, letting herself in. Maybe she would see things
differently tomorrow, when she was a woman, but for now she was going to stick
with the choices that had been laid out for her as a child. After all, it was a
good life.
***
It wasn’t until after lunch that
Grandmama commanded Aaliyah to heat the water for her bath. It was Grandmama’s
job to prepare the baths for the Lunars. As a healer, Grandmama knew every
herb, root, beet, and plant known to mankind, and she would use only the
sweetest smelling ones to prepare the baths for the girls who were on their way
to becoming women. Aaliyah had watched and helped her grandmama draw up many,
many baths for the other girls, and today Grandmama was finally drawing up
hers.
“It’s all set up,” Grandmama
gestured towards the steaming tub. “Now hurry in and wash yourself up before
the water turns cold.”
Aaliyah leaned in and breathed in
the sweet smells of honeysuckle and lavender. This was her favourite part;
there was something magical about these smells, and Aaliyah couldn’t help but
revel in it. Her grandmother had made sure to use her favourites. “Thank you,”
Aaliyah’s voice sang out as she called out after her grandmother’s retreating.
Quickly undressing, she stepped into the invitingly warm water and felt her
sore muscles relax almost immediately. After the training session in the
blistering cold this morning, the water felt immensely soothing. She sighed
loudly and let the water submerge her into blissful abyss.
***
The dream started as it always did.
She was floating in the darkness,
unable to see anything. Aaliyah moved her head restlessly, from left to right,
trying to peer through the black.
“Hello,” she called out. “Is anybody
there?” This time her voice was hushed with the uncertainty of what was yet to
come.
A water bubble floated up, stopping
only a few inches away from her face. It was as if she was looking at herself
in the mirror. Her caramel face was dominated by large, haunted eyes, which
were as brown as mud. Her black hair was streaming about her in waves, and her
lips were painted a ghastly blue. She kept her gaze fixed on her image as she
reached out to touch it. The bubble popped, and she found herself holding a
black feather.
She woke up with a start, choking
out the water. Grabbing onto the ends of the bathtub, Aaliyah hauled herself up
and coughed out the water. It’s the same black feather, she thought.
Her breaths were now coming out in
slower counts, but she continued to exhale forcefully. She ran a hand over her
dark hair, slicking it away from her face, and sat back down in the water.
The dream always ended with the same
black feather, Aaliyah mused, but why? What was the big deal about this feather?
The water had turned awkwardly cold,
and her fingers were now as pruned as Grandmama’s—maybe worse. She pulled
herself out of the tub and wrapped a soft, white towel around her body. She
couldn’t stop her thoughts from circling around the feather. It had been
haunting her dreams for quite some time now.
Aaliyah began to comb the water out
of her hair with her fingers. The wise elders of the village had taught her to
pay close attention to the language of nature. The colour black, as far as she
was concerned, had never been associated with anything good. “It could be a
feather of a crow or a raven,” she whispered to herself. Either way it couldn’t
mean anything good.
“I’ll ask Grandmama about it first
thing tomorrow morning, after the Initiation,” she reasoned with herself as she
finished getting dressed.
***
As the sunset painted the sky with
hues of pink, orange, and purple, Aaliyah sat herself at her grandmother’s
mirror, waiting for Grandmama to work her magic on her hair.
“All right, we have an hour before
you need to be prepped for the ceremony,” Grandmama informed her as she closed
the door behind her. “Now, let me see what needs to be done about my
Hummingbird’s hair.”
Grandmama picked up her silver
brush, her only prized possession, and started brushing the tangles out of
Aaliyah’s hair.
“Tell me our story, Grandmama,” she
pleaded, knowingly.
Grandmama laughed out loud. “You
probably know that story better than your old grandmother does by now.”
“Probably.” She smiled
affectionately at the old lady. “But there isn’t a better storyteller than you
for miles and miles, Grandmama.”
Grandmama placed the silver object
back on her table. “Flattery will get you everywhere.” She winked. “All right,
where do you want me to begin?”
“From Snow Mountain,” Aaliyah
blurted out without hesitation.
Grandmama shook her head and began
her story. “It was after a five-day walk that a woman with salt-and-pepper hair
saw a smoking chimney. She pressed the child closer to her chest, transferring
every ounce of her warmth to the child and started running towards the first
sign of life she had seen in days. Her fingers were numb, her toes were blue,
and her lips were a deep shade of violet, but she kept pushing herself forward,
focusing on the wispy, thin trail of smoke rising from the hut she could now
see in distance.
“The snow had started falling
harder, making every step a struggle, but the woman was determined to get the
child to safety. The numbing cold was travelling up her body quickly,
compelling her to surrender, but the child’s steady heartbeat kept her going.”
Grandmama picked up the laurel
wreath, an essential representation of an Initiator, and placed it gently on
Aaliyah’s head. Aaliyah’s eyes, however, were fixed on her grandmother’s
reflection. “The woman somehow made her way through the piles of snow with her
frozen feet and pounded on the wooden door. A little boy with hazel eyes opened
the door…”
“Cercie,” Aaliyah interrupted
hastily with a knowing smile.
“Yes,” replied Grandmother. “Little
Cercie opened the door, and I all but fell inside the house, I mean, the woman all but fell inside the house.
The last thing she remembered was the little boy screaming for his mother
before the darkness enveloped her, and she passed out at the front door.”
“You woke up to a warm blanket, a
burning fire, and white bandages all over you.”
“Yes, but what was the first thing I
checked for?”
“The child,” Aaliyah said with a
grin.
“And where was the child?”
“Getting fed the usual by Cercie,”
Aaliyah replied with a roll of her eyes.
Grandmama’s eyes were as gentle as
her steady hands. She cupped Aaliyah’s right cheek and smiled at her.
“Sometimes I feel you tell the story better than I do,” she said. “And you are
going to be most beautiful Initiator yet.”
“Am I done?” Aaliyah asked, raising
a hand to pat her hairdo.
“I believe so, my Hummingbird.”
Aaliyah stood up and turned around
to face her grandmother. “How do I look?”
FIN
So, what did you guys think? I have poured love into these words and bound them together and I need you guys to pledge and pre-order your copies of the novel so I can get the FIRST INSTALLMENT of the book out! So, SHARE, PLEDGE, and SPREAD THE WORD!
The Sky Realm.
Until next time, smiles up and doubts down..
isheeza
