The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, NovDec 2023 by The Magazine of Fantasy && Science Fiction & Sheree Renée Thomas Editor

Author:The Magazine of Fantasy && Science Fiction & Sheree Renée Thomas, Editor
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science fiction, Fantasy fiction, Short fiction, Magazine
Publisher: Spilogale, Inc.
Published: 2023-11-02T00:00:00+00:00

• • •

My life with humans ended with a sudden halt.

I was living in the city of Kistur, quietly as a merchant. There is much to love in anonymity. Kistur was magnificent then, a powerful center of trade, grand buildings crafted from cedar and stone, copper and lapis lazuli blazing its city gates. The rooftop of its mountainous beehive temple was dusted with gypsum, as were its municipal buildings. In the sun, the gypsum sparkled and Kistur was a dazzling diamond set in the diadem of a god. The god Nin, they of a thousand crystal wings. It was Nin who ruled the city.

I often went to the buzzing markets to amuse myself. Nin had decreed that all creatures must be welcomed within their city walls. So they came, from far and wide, twisting and turning Kistur’s expansive granite streets with a torrent of languages, costumes, smells, stall after stall catering to every taste. One morning, the sun locked in brume, I saw the most remarkable woman. Eyes like frosty green jade. Hair, a field of flax in bloom. I felt a deep connection—penetrating, disturbing. In a flash she was gone—the market was swelling with waves of people carrying all manner of stuffs, including live animals. I did not think I would see her again, but there she was the next morning, and the next, flashes of jade, flax, and then nothing.

I had to know who she was, and yet I was afraid, something fighting inside of me. I would follow her, I decided, find out where she lived, her name, her people.

As soon as the sun rose, I was at the market, searching, searching, day after day. She was nowhere to be seen. In a fever, I was losing hope, when suddenly, she was there. In the main square, walking briskly. She glided along several streets. She continued through the city gate, walking, walking, into the woods, her steps now very quick. In a secluded meadow, she began taking off her clothes, neatly folding each item of clothing into a large shawl. She hid the shawl in a tree she’d clearly used before. And then she ran, her face beaming with joy, until she was flying, high up into the sky, the most terrifying dragon I had ever seen.

I did not wait to take off my clothes. I flew after her, determined never to lose sight of her again. My courtship of Isth had begun. And it was glorious!

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