Ayan stood in the Yub temple, where her mother had once been a priestess. She gazed at the dark halls and statues around her, thinking of her mother's coming of age, which had ended in her vows to the temple. A priestess in a royal blue robe and veil approached her. "How I may I help you, child?" She sniffed slightly as she said it, and Ayan got the impression this woman knew exactly who she was--the girl who had attempted to steal the princess's jewels.
Ayan chose to ignore the contempt in the woman's voice. She no longer cared about how she was treated in this temple. "Why did you throw my mother out of the temple?"
"She was a defector." She seemed to speak with more vitriol about Ayan's mother than she had of Ayan."Defector? Is that what you call falling in love? Don't people throughout the world love and marry and have children?"
"They have not taken vows of chastity," the priestess growled, "the goddess chose your mother, and asked her to love none above her. She broke her promise."
Ayan put her hands on her hips. "And when someone loves anyone on Nideon, they cannot possibly be also devoted to a god." She didn't add that she got the impression the goddess hadn't chosen her mother--the priestesses had.
The priestess drew herself up straighter. "When you love the immortal, as we are asked, your head cannot be turned by the pettiness of the mortal world."
"So you cast her out."
"She cast herself out by proving she was not prepared for the duties her goddess called her to." She turned away from Ayan and set about lighting candles on the front altar."
And I supposed you believe she deserved to die." Ayan spat. She could feel a coil of rage within her, unraveling and threading across the floor between them, tangling into the hem of the priestess's habit. The priestess didn't notice."
If the goddess chose to deliver such a fate to her, it is not my place to argue."Ayan stepped in front of the priestess so she had to see her. Only eleven years old, she was not particularly tall, but she looked up through the woman's veil as if staring down a snake. "You were the ones who made that decision when you sent her from here with nothing but the clothes on her back."
The priestess gave no sign of how Ayan's words affected her and continued to light candles. "We connect here to the goddess. Though we may speak on behalf of others, it is ultimately her decision what dreams to bestow upon them. I am sorry for the loss of your mother, but it is a fate she brought upon herself."
"No. It is a fate you doomed her to." Ayan turned on her heel and walked quickly toward the temple door. As she did so, her strands of anger tugged on the hem of the priestess's habit, which unraveled and caused the woman to stumble, almost dropping her match.
The priestess looked down on at the shredded mess of her robe and called to Ayan, "those who wish harm upon the priestesses of the night will bring down the wrath of the goddess of nightmares."
Ayan stood with the door half open, the daylight spilling in across the temple floor like a flashlight. "Let her do her worst. I'm off to find a new goddess."
Ayan woke and looked out the window. The sun wasn't quite up yet, but the sky was light. She was vaguely surprised Miriam wasn't up already. Ayan had often heard her roommate walking and intended to make the girl some quieter clothes as soon as she got the chance. After a week, Faraday was feeling less like a dream, but it was still hard to believe the strange sequence of steps that had brought her here. She lay in bed for a short time, but once she determined she would not sleep again, she dressed and went to the common with her embroidery hoop.
She found a place on one of the couches along the wall, near a standing lamp and settled down with her work. It was a complicated piece of artwork. The embroidery itself resembled clockwork, and it was done in several shades of metallic thread. When she finished, it would be a bag which could make carrying heavy objects lighter. Among other disciplines, such magic could be dangerous, but the beauty of artistic magic, like sewing, was its ability to stabilize workings.
She had been working for some time when she heard the smooth swish of cotton step into the room. She knew from the sound of the fabric that it was either Key or Tisheet, the student head who was also Thisaazhou."I thought at first you were Mat," Key took a seat on the couch. Ayan could hear her fiddling with something in her hand, wrapped in paper.
She continued her embroidery. "I have noticed he spends a lot of time in the common."
"Yeah, I supposed he's having trouble adjusting to his roommate..." The rustling continued.
Ayan looked up and resisted the urge to put a hand on the small wrapped item in Key's lap. "I noticed they don't get along."
This time, Key stopped. "You mean you've met him? Mat's roommate?"
"We have history together. But Mat never seems comfortable in class. I don't understand why. Reed seems nice enough, and Mat..." She sighed. "Mat tries to be nice to everyone he meets, doesn't he?"
Key nodded. "He does. Um... by the way..." Key handed the package to Ayan. "I was going to leave it outside your door, but I saw you when I came down the stairs."Ayan set the package in her lap and pulled off the paper. Inside was a translucent yellow stone in the shape of a heart. When Ayan looked closer, she could see there were purple flashes of light that spiraled in a sun pattern, similar to the one on her cuff.
"I did it last night," Key said, "the lightning, that is. I've had the stone for a while."
Ayan cupped the stone in her hand. It was warm to the touch. "It's beautiful."
Now that Key didn't have it in her lap, she wrung her hands. "I learned stone carving as a kid, and when I found out I had magic, I learned how to put light in them. I know you said you weren't Pelan, but... sorry, it's stupid."
"It's lovely." Ayan did not tell her it was the kind of thing she might have stolen in the past. It could have paid for some kid's school supplies. But no one had given her something like this before, especially not something they made. "Thank you."
"That's what I was going to say."
"You were going to thank me?"
Key looked at her lap for a moment and then looked up at Ayan. "For taking care of Mat. I mean... it's been a while since he's had friends other than me, and..."
"You can't do everything."
Key bit her lip. "There are some things I don't know how to do. There are things he doesn't talk to me about. But you... well, you two have something we don't."Ayan smiled despite herself. Key was almost as awkward as Miriam when it got down to it. "You're welcome."
