Seekers call, p.13
Seeker's Call, page 13
Nimua pasted a smile on her lips, but glared at Darist. "Then maybe you should have left him to it," she said.
Iviana heard Darist whisper in Nimua's ear, "Ivi doesn't like him and you know how forward he can be."
She heard Nimua whisper back, "Maybe she will like him if you leave it alone."
When they started again, Iviana was glad to find that Darist didn't heed Nimua's words and remained at her side so long as Nico did.
As Nico often required her attention on him and him alone, they still were not quite able to keep time with the others. However, they did not fall as far behind as they had before. Darist's helpful comments assisted in this. "Would you like me to take your packs for a while?" he would say. "Your pace is getting a little tired." Nico would then pick up his pace and say that he simply did not want to tire Iviana.
Iviana shut up her mouth.
At noontime, they stopped for lunch. Iviana was happy to be among women once again. Things at the end of the party were getting a little tense.
"We've almost reached the waterfall I told you about," Iviana commented when they were sitting restfully together, enjoying the food that Brenna had prepared for them.
"Good!" Nimua huffed. "This is more tiring than I thought it would be."
Brenna laughed and reminded, "This was your idea, you know."
"Right," Nimua agreed. "And I'm not saying it was a bad idea either—just... phew." She rubbed her face. "I'm tired."
"Thank goodness for this breeze," Iviana said as another gust of wind blew through her curly hair.
"Here's my question," Nico began. "How can the source of this river be coming from up the mountain? It's not as though we have any snowcapped peaks or anything."
"That's why we're doing this!" Nimua said excitedly. "It's an adventure and who knows what we'll find in the end."
Brenna giggled. "It's a river's source. It's not going to be that exciting," she said.
"The waterfall is beautiful, though, even if the source isn't," Iviana said.
Brenna nodded. "I think I may have been there before—to the waterfall, I mean. It's brilliant."
"It is," Iviana agreed. "Did you see the cave?"
"Cave?" Brenna shrugged. "I guess I missed that. I haven't hiked up that far for a few years."
"Well, I, for one, am looking forward to whatever we find," Darist said cheerily. "I haven't been on a lengthy hike in a long time."
"How do you stay in such great shape, Darist?" Leilyn asked, casting him a brilliant smile.
"Well," he began, "it doesn't take much. Strength is my gift. I hate to admit it, but I really don't have to work too hard at it."
"I work out on a daily basis," Nico put in. "Swimming is actually a pretty good workout."
"Oh, it shows," Leilyn answered. "Too bad Iviana isn't as diligent in her daily regime or she would be able to keep up with the rest of us. We could actually be there by now."
Iviana choked for the second time that day. Everyone else was quiet.
"I think," began Darist, "we'd all be surprised at Ivi's pace if, perhaps, there were fewer of us in the group."
Iviana sent Darist a small smile and hoped Nico did not pick up on what he was implying. She did not enjoy Nico's attention, but she didn't want his feelings hurt either. She looked to where he sat and saw that he was contentedly enjoying the mango in his hand.
Leilyn, however, cast Iviana a solid, icy glare. Iviana noticed this, but hoped and nearly assumed she'd misread her. She did not need enemies.
Brenna stood to her feet. "I think that's a long enough break," she said.
Iviana was less pleased that Nico had not understood Darist's earlier comment when he was by her side again and slowing her pace. Darist was with them as well, however, which made Iviana feel more comfortable.
After a few minutes, Iviana was pleased to find that Leilyn had, for whatever reason, hiked back to where they were and set her pace to theirs. The girl then jumped into lengthy conversation with Nico, awing over his Swimmer's speed and making remarks about his biceps. This altogether removed his attention from Iviana, making it possible for her and Darist to pick up their pace a bit.
Darist leaned near Iviana and commented, "Looks like you may not have to worry about undesired attention anymore."
Iviana smiled at the thought and looked back to where Leilyn was, grateful that she had joined them. However, after sending Iviana another very clear glare, Leilyn quickly jogged up to where Iviana and Darist were and began flirting with Darist.
Iviana glanced back at Nico who looked bewildered and disappointed. He did not speak again after that—not even to Iviana. Meanwhile, Leilyn wholly ignored Iviana and did not allow Darist time to include her in the conversation. This left Iviana alone and confused until they reached the waterfall.
"Ivi, it's beautiful!" Nimua exclaimed excitedly.
There it was again: the water falling harshly into the fevered body of water below. The deep, clear water of the pond still sparkled in the illumination of the sun and all about them was like the sound of fireworks.
"Where is the cave?" Brenna asked over the sound of the waterfall.
"We have to swim to it," Iviana yelled and pointed beneath the water.
"Is it safe?" Leilyn asked, peering at the place where the waterfall hit the water.
"It should be if we swim low enough," Iviana answered.
When Leilyn looked doubtful, Brenna offered to share her Swimmer's gift so that she could breathe through the swim.
"No, that's alright. I want Nico to take me," Leilyn answered and tossed Nico a grin.
Nico smiled back, but looked confused and said he thought he would take Iviana.
"That's alright," Iviana assured him. "I've done it before."
"Just accept his help and stop playing with his feelings," Leilyn suddenly snapped at her and jumped into the pool without warning. Brenna rushed in after her. Everyone else stood blinking at Iviana.
Iviana didn't understand what had happened. She was embarrassed and her instinct was to run back to her hut where she could be alone, but she also felt compelled to confront Leilyn. Moving fast before she lost her courage, she leaped into the water and dove deep beneath the cascading fall.
About to swim up into the cave, she noticed a struggle between Brenna and Leilyn within the water. When she swam closer, she saw that Leilyn's toga was caught by something and Brenna was trying to pull her free. Iviana was thankful she still practiced the habit of carrying a dagger in her belt and swam over to them. She quickly cut the end of the skirt and urged Brenna to help her pull the exhausted Leilyn out of the water.
"Let go of me!" Leilyn shouted when they were able to take in their first breaths of air behind the waterfall. She kicked away from Iviana and pulled herself onto a piece of rock.
"What's the matter with you?" Brenna asked Leilyn, astonished. "She just helped you!"
"Oh, she did no such thing! All she cares about is getting attention," Leilyn replied angrily. "Attention from men, that is."
Iviana swam to where she was on the rock and tried to speak, but Leilyn turned on her full force. "I'm sick of watching you throw yourself at Nico and Darist. I don't know what girls are like in your world, but here, we don't steal other people's beaus and play with their heads."
"Leilyn..." Iviana hesitated. She didn't know where to begin. "I'm not trying to steal anyone's beau. I don't understand what I've done."
"Oh, of course. You're perfectly innocent. 'Darist, I need you to help me up the mountain,'" she said in a mocking voice. "'Oh, and Nico, will you carry my pack?' It's disgusting, Iviana! I mean, Nico is one thing, but do you have to steal Darist from me?"
Iviana stuttered, trying to think of something to say, some way of defending herself, but words would not form in her mouth. "Leilyn, I-" she tried.
"Save it, Iviana. You're just like your father and we all saw it coming. No one trusts you. And you should probably be aware that we see right through you. You don't belong here." Leilyn looked as though she would go on, but needed to catch her breath.
Their was an uncomfortable cough behind them and Iviana turned to find Nimua, Nico and Darist. Iviana was humiliated and thought she might dive beneath the water and not come up for a while. What was worse was that no one said anything. It was as though a spell had been cast and everyone was speechless.
Finally, Brenna spoke, "We're all... tired. Maybe we should head back."
Nico agreed. Leilyn dove beneath the water in a huff. Nimua and Darist looked at each other. Then Nimua spoke to Brenna, "We'll leave in a bit. I think we'll just rest here for a while."
Brenna nodded, took a disappointed Nico by the arm and led him away.
It was quiet in the cave then and Iviana was trying not to lose it.
Nimua said quietly, "Come on. We're going to find the source."
The sun was just beginning to set when Iviana, Nimua and Darist had nearly reached the top of the mountain. All across the sky were pinks and oranges with hints of purple trying to splash themselves into the splendorous mix. Then, finally...
There it was.
The three were made speechless by what they saw. They stared a while, exploring it with their eyes. There, at the very top of the mountain, was a small crater holding a gleaming pool of water. More interesting still was the beehive of a pinkish-gold hue shaped against a corner of the rock that made up the pool, surrounded by a few docile bees buzzing about. Honey flowed generously from their hive into the pool of water.
The water's intense blue swirled with a deep amber and shimmered in the rays of the sun, so still it had the appearance of smooth glass. Slowly, it flowed over the edge of the rock as though it were just full enough to offer what it contained with the mountainside. The atmosphere was thick as though a presence resided here and somehow the whole place was musical and ringing.
They bent near and looked for the bottom of the pool, but could not see it.
Iviana released a great sigh of relief and asked, "But where does the water come from?"
Nimua replied quietly and absently, almost whimsically, "Marquen says that, though we in the village do not see rainfall often, except during a certain season of time, it rains heavily and often over the rocky cliffs and mountains. That's why the early-morning fog is so thick at times. We don't always see the rain up where it's so high and in places where the forest and trees camouflage it. Often, it just appears as mist or fog; a blur in the distance, I suppose."
Iviana had a random desire, but wondered whether or not it was wrong to follow through. It was so quiet and lovely and perfect in this place and she did not want to force the peace out of it because of a self-indulgent whim. So, to quench her desire to slide into the quiescent water, slowly, she knelt down in her shorter white toga and lightly, almost gracefully, touched the surface of the pool with the very tip of her delicate middle finger, causing a small, willowy ripple to ring out from where she grazed it.
Then there were more rings and ripples and they were clashing with the ones she had made and she was in wonderment until she looked up and saw Nimua slowly placing one of her long, slender legs into the water and then the other until she fluidly pushed herself into the pool. Her movements looked like a dance making Iviana wonder if everything they did in this place was honeyed and lyrical.
Iviana didn't realize she was staring until a melodious giggle escaped from Nimua's mouth and she insisted to Iviana that wading within the water was not a crime as far as she knew. Iviana smiled, sat upon the rocky edge and dipped her legs in, resting back on her palms.
"I'm sure we're not the first to have found this place," Nimua commented, "but I've never heard mention of it."
"My great-grandmother used to say Latos spent a great deal of time in these mountains so that he could commune with the Great One," Darist offered, "and when he came down from the mountains, he smelled sweet as her honey rolls." He rolled up his pant legs and sat next to Iviana, dropping his bare feet into the water.
"I'm glad the others didn't come," Nimua said. Iviana and Darist agreed, but they did not say so—did not have to.
"I'm sorry for what Leilyn said," Darist spoke. "I didn't know she cared for me that way."
Iviana smiled, but wished he hadn't mentioned it. She didn't want anything to poison the atmosphere of this place. "Make no mention of it," she answered. "I shared friendship with no one before I came here, except Naphtali, and I'm just grateful for right now."
Darist looked her in the eyes as though reading how lonely and rejected she had felt all the years of her life and Nimua saw Darist see her and she wished she could see it too. She knew the two were kindred spirits from the start—they were so much alike—but she almost wished it weren't so. She couldn't help but want Iviana for herself. She, too, had been lonely at times, but it was a lonesomeness born of every day being the same and always wanting more out of life. She just knew there was more—that there must be more—and then there was Iviana and she hoped that Iviana held the key to freeing her from her suffocating cage.
Iviana felt him see her too and it made her feel vulnerable and so she dropped the rest of herself into the pool and was surprised to find that she could not feel its floor.
She bobbed her head back up from within the water and asked Nimua, "How deep do you think this is?"
Nimua smiled. "I don't know, but I'll bet it's pretty deep." Without a word of explanation, she dove head first into the pool and disappeared from sight.
"I wasn't expecting that," Iviana said hesitantly and a little laughingly.
Darist grinned. "She's always been like that: spontaneous, sometimes a little crazy. She makes everything fun, that's for sure."
After a few seconds passed, Iviana grew nervous and asked, "Should I dive down after her?"
Darist shook his head. "No, it's too dark down there; you might collide with her." He added a little nervously, "She better come up soon, though..."
It wasn't too much longer before Nimua's golden head popped out again and she declared breathlessly, pushing her long hair out of her face, "Honestly, I think I'd rather not know how deep it is."
THAT NIGHT, Naii appeared at Iviana's door. She informed Iviana that Rhimesh had regarded her passion for the exploration of the island and now offered her a visit to another of the nearby islands: the Isle of Knowledge. Iviana was thrilled, not only because she had secretly been longing to view more of the realm, but she could not help hoping that it meant she had gained some portion of trust from the islanders. She had felt that, over the course of time she'd spent on the Isle of Dragons, the people were growing friendlier toward her and perhaps more accustomed to her presence among them.
The thought of getting away for a while after what had happened with Leilyn did not discredit the chance either. She hastily agreed.
The following morning, Iviana met Naii at the shoreline where she'd spent some time on one of her first nights: the place she had seen the blue fish. She wondered if they were traveling to the island she had seen in the distance that evening.
It soon became apparent that they would be escorted by Swimmers to their destination. Though Iviana couldn't imagine how they would ever find the strength to make it all that way, she was intrigued by the idea.
Naii winked at her and asked, "You ready?"
Iviana grinned a little nervously and nodded.
She had had no need to worry over the trip, however. The Swimmers were anointed with great strength beneath the cover of water and Iviana and Naii did not have to move a muscle as they were pulled by the Swimmer's gift.
During the curious, underwater trip, Iviana began to worry that her first appearance on the new island would entail her skin being profusely prune-like and she hated the idea of looking like a fruit at her initial meeting with the people.
When at last they pulled up to the shore of the island, her first steps were extremely wet, but she was relieved to find that she did not look like a prune and assumed it must be part of the gift.
On the Isle of Knowledge, Iviana was warmly received and welcomed by the inhabitants. It seemed their friendship with Naii was so substantial, it spilled onto Iviana as well (a reality she did not mind at all).
Immediately, she was surrounded with Teachers and Healers who wanted to trade what knowledge she had of her home realm for whatever knowledge they could share. It became evident that these people took learning and knowing very seriously just as respect of the dragons was essential on the Isle of Dragons.
It was only the second day of her arrival when Iviana was asked to speak before some of the islanders to share facts and stories about Kierelia. Iviana froze when asked, as she had recently learned she did not do well in front of crowds, but she was so honored and ready to speak about her own world with anyone who would listen that she consented.
The place the lecture was held seemed to be in the center of the busiest part of the island. There were colorful tents of blues, purples and reds and curtains and flowers hung all around her. The place was busy with gossip and laughing and the people were affectionate with one another—a far cry from the cold feeling Iviana often felt when on the capital island. A good number of the people had gathered before her and were ready for her to begin. Looking over the crowd, she thought she might run. Even so, surrounded with warm hearts and eager ears, Iviana gave her address.
It was after her speech to the islanders that Iviana met a woman who was very much unlike the people of the Isle of Knowledge. Indeed, she was different from anyone in the Greater Archipelagos, she was sure.
Iviana was surrounded by well-meaning islanders, wishing to meet her and to ask her questions (she did not mind this at all and was actually rather enjoying the warmth and joy of the people), when her eyes fell upon a woman wrapped in a dark Kierelian cloak.
The woman stood in the shadows, watching Iviana from afar, her striking face hooded beneath the cloak. Iviana thought she might have missed her entirely had it not been for that cloak.
The mysterious woman nodded to Iviana and gracefully retreated the area.
