Zafiil: FireDancer’s Hand by Hogarth M.C.A

Author:Hogarth, M.C.A.
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Studio MCAH
Published: 2022-07-28T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

It was as the Fauldii promised; her days in Qodii were pastoral, shaped by soothing routine. Every day she picked up a scroll from the house of her beloved mentor, and every night she sought the blessing of the FireMother and became part of the universe in the sacred Dance. Her foster parents, on return, welcomed her for weekly dinners, and introduced her to their newest set of fosterlings, a pair of twin boys as rambunctious as Duzai ever was. The seasons unfurled like gradually-revealed banners; she touched the leaves that flew through the air in autumn, breathed the heady scent of grain in the late summer, Danced through the pollen-laden breezes of spring and gloried in the freezing rain of winter, remembering her icy misadventure by the lake and the revelations she’d earned there.

She stopped counting the hours and lived them, swayed with their pulse. The upheaval of her time on the Hearth was forgotten in the peace of simpler things, and the nearness of nature. She was peripherally aware of the growing pride of the village in her, and the affection she felt for them in return; that the crowds of visitors to the FireBorn Festivals of Qodii swelled each year was something she noticed without thinking herself responsible. She walked in the forests and gave no credence to the rumors that the tourists thought her some mystical creature, that the word of her brought more trade and prestige to Qodii.

At times she climbed the paths of the Sainai, clutching at the slippery rocks as she struggled against the heights and sheer drops. Inevitably she thought of Daqan; had to, because he had made it his habit to take a retreat there, and she refused to visit the mountains when he was in them. Sometimes she thought she went there to be with him in the only way she could bear, with his childhood ghost. But inevitably those thoughts slipped away at the majesty of the mountain vistas. When she stood atop the cliffs with the wind sweeping the lengthening locks of black and white from her shoulders, she would throw her arms up to the sun and sky, and her feet would be part of the rocks, and her body a trembling remnant of the hidden stars.

It was one of these times among the heights that Zafiil turned luminous eyes to Qodii, the rising sun shedding coral and molten gold across the tiny blot it made in the distance. The sight filled her with pity and love, so powerfully that she wanted to reach out and embrace the village, the world, both worlds to her breast. To protect them forever, and to ensure that they were loved.

She wondered if this was how the God felt when He looked upon His people.

How long she spent, feeling that love, and that need, she didn’t know. But eventually she turned from the sight and made her way back down the path. It was not the last time she returned to the mountains, but it was, somehow, her first.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.