The trees sang as the violet sun rose. Amber fields awash with tendrils of sunlight. It filled Tehnar with warmth and brought tears to her eyes. She let the sun wash over her and breathed it into her very being. It hollowed her out and took her pain, leaving only a sense of vastness as though she was a shell for the universe.
She kneeled to the earth and took clumps of it in her hand. She smelled the dirt and spread it through her hair. She took more and washed it on her clothes. She rose and wandered to the brook and there took mud from the banks and masked her exposed skin. She was full with purpose now and rose to head towards the sea.
The sun was higher now but the sea still blinded. Tehnar followed the narrow winding path down the bluff to the beach. The sand was not yet hot and the roar of waves was deafening. She took two small vials from her pocket, filled one with sand and the other sea water.
Among the charred ruins of boats that lined the shore was one that escaped the fire. She searched the others and salvages what food and supplies she could, and filled the water barrels from the stream just before it met the sea.
Pushing it into the water she walked along with it until the water reached her knees and then climbed into the boat. It would take time to fashion a sail from the scraps she had recovered, but the oar was intact. She sculled the boat away from shore and did not allow herself to look back until the sun had passed its zenith.
The shore was small now, as was the feeling of loss that sat within her emptiness, but Tehnar returned to the way ahead and drove further from those lost shores. She thought of the vials and the mud and the dirt, and the life within her. She placed a loving hand on the small bump of her belly and sang a soft lullaby for the last daughter of Ruan.
No comments:
Post a Comment