Tales of the Gleamwind I

At the time, the most uncomfortable piece of knowledge for me was the fact that I would become the next Oracle, no matter what. After the death of Tullip I was the only heir left; the choice was between me and a full scale rebellion followed by an era of anarchy on our Shard. What I did and how I behaved in front of the Heads ultimately did not matter: they could not afford to negate the title of Oracle from me for the sake of local stability. At the time, I did not know where all my frustration came from, but I know understand how the knowledge that nothing one can do really matters can have a dulling, straining effect on one’s brain. - Memoirs of an Oracle.

“I am glad to see you are awake.”

Cold, calculating, distant. Even with her eyes barely open and her head splitting in two Sonora could not have mistaken her father’s voice for anyone else’. She raised a hand to her temple, slowly, and touched a chilled, wet fabric.

“What happened? The last thing I remember is entering the palace with you.” Sonora was glad her voice held steady. Was that really the last thing she remembered? The more she focused on what happened after that, the more her head threatened to split in two.

Rose Sitak-Lazio’s eyes narrowed as he stepped closer to her bed. The warm bronze lanterns in the room outlined his stark silhouette and his hand moving to send the servants out of her quarters. The men obeyed silently.

Her father waited a few seconds to make sure they were alone, but did not glance away from Sonora.

“Do you remember what you said before losing consciousness?” His voice was barely more than a whisper. “Tell me, child. Do you have any idea what words left your mouth?”

Sonora swallowed and her dry throat gave a pained, rasping sound. She pushed herself up on the soft cushions and reached for a white porcelain pitcher placed on the bedside table.

“Answer me!” Rose was still not shouting, but the words sounded deafening to Sonora. “Do you remember what you said?”

She did.

She did now.

She recalled the overwhelming thoughts she had experienced as she had entered the vast hallways of the palace. The mere idea that all this time she had been walking in a building that had been constructed in a time when humanity still lived on the solid ground… The image was terrifying and marvelous at the same time. She needed to become an Oracle of Magnet and learn how to nurture her powers to help her Shard, and possibly all the others as well, by keeping it far from the all-devouring Frontier of the Gleamwind. She had to defy her father and become Movra.

However, that was not something she had the guts to say in front of Rose Sitak-Lazio’s scrutinizing look.

“I don’t recall saying anything, Father.” She finally reached for the pitcher and poured herself some of the clear blue liquid.

It was as if invisible lances retracted from Sonora’s throat. Her father nodded and took a step back. He adjusted the light blue hood of his tunic and took a few moments to recollect himself.

“Very well, that is how it should be. As soon as you regain some energy you should visit the seamstresses. They are eagerly awaiting you.”

Of course, the ceremonial tunic for her Anointment Ceremony. Despite everything that had happened the schedule had to be respected. Sonora forced herself not to flinch at the thought.

“What happened at the docks? What about the refugees? What do the Heads think of my… fainting?” She asked. “I thought my testing had to take a couple more days at the least.”

“Everything has been smoothed out.” By Rose himself, obviously. “You’ve had quite the eventful and frightening day; meeting with the refugees, then escaping the Gleamwind. The representatives understood you acted the way you did because you saw the particles approaching a few moments before the others did. They know you acted to defend them.”

A few moments before the others… Sonora kept a straight face at that and nodded in silent approval of her father’s words.

“Your exhaustion was to be expected,” Rose went on, “as for your testing: you’ve been in a trying situation and you did your best under pressure. The refugees have safely been escorted to our welcoming camps and I managed to set the date of your Ascension closer than originally planned to avoid any more… unfortunate accidents. ”

Her father emphasized every word, as if to make sure Sonora understood the story she needed to tell if anyone asked her about what had happened. She nodded once again, wet cloth slipping on her forehead.

After her father left her Sonora felt incredibly alone. As she sat there on her warm bed, surrounded only by the dim light of the torches dancing on the white walls she realized how nobody would understand what she was going through.

Rose Sitak-Lazio was always occupied, both physically and mentally, with their family legacy while her mother was now merely a ghost, a shell of her former self. After Tullip disappeared from their lives Sonora and her parents dealt with the loss in three different ways, none of them healthy.

The old, wrinkly officer, Rinaer, showed her more compassion and support than her father lately, but Sonora saw the man looking at her with raised eyebrows whenever he caught her losing herself to the curious resonance of the Shard Core. The resonance only she could feel in the palace.

Then there was Movra. A weird, almost pitiful man who carried the responsibility of being one of the five Oracle Heads. He understood the resonance, and made sense of what Sonora felt towards the Core; an ancient connection through the Magnet. However, he was one of the Heads. Sonora couldn’t just go to him in private to make sense of the mess that she was feeling. Not without endangering her reputation with the other Oracles and, in turn, bring upon herself the wrath of her father.

Sonora clutched her head. It was really about to split open. She took a deep breath and to prevent herself from crying tucked herself back under the clean sheets. She really did need to regain her strength for the days to come.

Some time later, when the several rows of bronze lanterns that adorned the marble halls of the palace had been dimmed for the evening, Sonora thanked her past self for wanting to have that short nap. She stood on a short pedestal, surrounded by a trio of bustling seamstresses who had been taking her measures in every single one of the Seventy-seven Ceremonial Poses. They had to make sure that her robe would fit perfectly on her body no matter the situation.

Sonora felt her muscles tremble. After nearly four hours of this, even the thinnest piece of fabric laid on her arm felt like a person clinging to her. Despite being exhausted, she did not feel annoyed at her situation. She knew this had to be done, and at least it gave her some time to think through her options.

“Lower, Rosevy, if I may ask.” Lehita, the oldest of the seamstresses faintly touched her arm. Servants were forbidden from coming into bodily contact with the Oracle and their family, so this softest touch suggested that Lehita had been asking Sonora to move for a while.

“Of course.” Sonora replied and made sure to avoid eye contact with the older woman, signaling that the touch had been excused.

The three servants worked in silence as Sonora held her gaze on the dozen of fine rolls of selected fabric lined by the wall of the enclosed space.

“Has my mother come by to fit her ceremonial robe?” She asked. After their short encounter the previous morning Sonora had not seen the faintest sign of Dayana.

“She did not, Rosevy.” There was a pause, as Lehita chewed on her dry lips. “She did not come to her appointment two times in a row. I really don’t know what to do with her robe…”

The woman’s voice trailed off. The other two seamstresses buried their faces into their work, hoping that if Sonora was displeased by Lehita’s comment she would leave the two of them be.

“I am worried for her.” The words came out quickly and unexpectedly.

She had never expressed her concern for her mother in front of anyone. To this day, the death of Tullip drew so much emotional attention from everyone in the palace that mentioning the troubling state Dayana Sitak was in felt like a taboo.

Sonora now locked eyes with Lehita, who swallowed hard while fidgeting with a handful of pins.

“You may speak out of line.” Sonora told her softly.

Lehita’s dark eyes widened even more, but her hands finally stopped the nervous fidgeting. The woman took a quick glance to the other two seamstresses, then seemed to make up her mind about something. As Sonora waited for an answer a low, but firm vibration sent shivers down her spine. It took all of her willpower to not shake off the measuring pins to hug herself. Something was happening with the core.

“The Oracle Queen…” Lehita’s voice almost made Sonora jump. “Queen Dayana has suffered a lot since the disappearance of the Roseqi. More than anyone else, perhaps. And she has been alone a lot. A pained mind closed off in solitude can do a lot of bad stuff to a person. The Oracle’s had a lot on his plate lately, but the way the Queen has been left alone and ignored is…”

“The Roseqi… Tullip, didn’t disappear.” Sonora knew the woman only spoke her mind, as she had instructed her to do, but she had to lash out to somebody.

Even the slightest insinuation that Sonora had not been there for her own mother made her see red. Even more so because she knew there was some truth to it. “She didn’t just take up one day and leave. He died. He killed himself!”

Lehita lowered her eyes and raised her hands to her mouth, wishing she had never said anything in the first place.

Sonora took a deep breath. This behavior was not fit of the Rosevy. She was the one who asked the seamstress to speak her mind and she should have accepted whatever the woman said with dignity.

But this was no time for dignity.

“We will resume the measuring at a later time.” She shrugged the pins off herself and stepped down the low pedestal.

The other two seamstresses pressed themselves against the far wall of the room, almost into the showcased fabrics, in the hope that the Rosevy forgot about their presence.

Sonora couldn’t care less about them. Her whole world was crumbling down around her. She felt like she was hung a thousand paces above the clear sky, grabbing on to broken pieces of a glider.

Slippered feet brushed on the narrow lilac carpet of the third level of the palace. Deep below the ground the only lights were those of the bronze lanterns hung along the hallway. The faint brush of her steps echoed in the emptiness around her.

Her mother’s quarters were just one staircase above her current position. All Sonora needed to do to talk with her was walk up straight and knock on her door. She stopped at the bottom of the steps and did not move for a couple of heartbeats. Silent servants took a few steps closer from the shadows in case she needed something from them.

Her mother was only one staircase away. She had been this close to her all this time and she knew it. The only thing separating Sonora from her were two pairs of double doors and a couple of guards, who could have been dismissed with a few words.

One step.

One tentative step on the staircase was all she managed to do before her belly shook with another resonance coming from down below. This was stronger and kept on for a longer time than the one she had felt before. Her heartbeat doubled; something was happening with the Shard Core. Something only she could feel.

Sonora would curse herself for years to come for what she did next: she stepped back from the staircase leading up, spun around, twirling her toga around her feet and strode down to the Core Chamber.

The short journey that took her two levels deeper into the rocky palace grounds passed in a heartbeat. She passed some officers and servants on her way there, but she merely nodded to them as they pressed themselves against the cold marble walls of the hallways and eyed her with raised brows. The Rosevy never rushed anywhere, not with such a lost look on her face.

The vibration did not become stronger, but it did not stop either. Sonora forced her arms to remain by her side and not hug herself. She was so focused on what her body was feeling that she almost crashed into someone in the middle of the wide hallway.

“Sonora, dear, watch your step!” Trieno’s melodic voice carried just the slightest hint of an edge.

Next to the woman in bright yellow robes Aspyo, Oracle of Lineage, regarded her with a condescending look and sniffed, rearranging his hands into his spotless white mantel.

“My apologies, I was just on my way to the Core Chamber.” Sonora said.

“That’s quite alright, my dear.” Trieno stepped around her and was already looking somewhere up ahead. Maybe she was waiting for someone. “You’ve had quite the morning. It would be better if you just took it easy today.”

Aspyo sniffed, but did not move to follow the woman. Trieno took a quick glance back at him, then left them with a shrug. Wide hips swaying, the Oracle of Idol hurried out of sight.

Sonora looked back at the tall, middle aged man standing before her. Aspyo’s flawlessly brushed white hair and thin mustache seemed to come to life under the dancing lights of the torches. She realize this was the first time she stood alone with him and bowed her head to accentuate her apology.

“I am just going to make this clear, just to make sure there are no misunderstandings between us.” His voice was strong and hurtful to her ears, like the razor-sharp blade of a dagger. “You have defied you father more times in these few days than most Oracles of Lineage in their whole life. We value the hierarchy and unity of the Oracle’s family above all and you, child, seem to be standing against everything we represent. In an optimal world, you would not even be an Oracle at all, but since Rose does not have another heir all I can do is deny you the choice of becoming Aspyo.”

Sonora knew she was supposed to feel like she had failed one of her options to become an Oracle for her people, but Aspyo had never even crossed her mind for more than a moment. For a brief, sweet second, she imagined how this pampered porcelain white man would react to the fact that she had been considering Movra over him.

“I understand.” She said calmly. “I am well aware that I was never a viable candidate for you.”

Aspyo’s dark eyes tightened. She had not been exactly rude to him, but he probably expected her to be more heartbroken by this revelation.

“I am glad you understand. I wouldn’t want to humiliate your family by rejecting you…”

Sonora couldn’t help herself. A burning rush of sudden defiance flooded her mind as she rolled her eyes, made a quick bow and resumed her way to the Core Chamber. She heard Apsyo’s baffled gasp behind her and smiled to herself. If the man thought this was Sonora’s biggest concern now, he was widely mistaken.

The low hum of a par of halberds intensified as Sonora got closer to the entrance of the Core Chamber. As soon as they saw her, the two guards stationed at the door moved their weapons clear of her path and saluted her.

Inside, Sonora took a deep breath. She was alone at last. Relief washed over her, but only for a few moments. The resonance was still strong and constant, coming from the Core itself. The broken, yet beautiful shape of the thirteen feet tall crystalline blue rock floated mid-air, surrounded by a thin line of bronze railings. It was so… powerful and pitiful at the same time. To think that the whole reason the Shard and everyone on it was still safely up in the sky was down here, caged in like an unruly child. Sonora took a step closer to it and raised her hand, as if to reassure the Core that it had not been forgotten in the depths of the palace, all alone.

What was she doing? Was she really chasing this weird resonance again instead of focusing on her duties as a soon-to-be Oracle? Sonora shook the thoughts away as quickly as they materialized in her head. Of course she came to the Core Chamber. After what Movra had told her about her sensing the movements of the Shard itself she needed answers now more than ever.

The bronze felt unusually warm as she rested her hands on the railing. She stood there, staring at the rotating piece of rock.

I need answers.Why is this happening? Why me? Are you there?

Sonora had no time to feel silly or dumb for wanting the Shard to speak. A small, pulsating white light came to life in the dead center of the Core. Her breath caught. This had never happened before. Without thinking twice, Sonora pulled her toga up and climbed over the railing.

She did not look down into the dark hole that lead out into the open sky hundreds of paces underneath her. She only had eyes for that small, white light. It was an orb. No, an oval. She squinted, then ultimately came to the conclusion that the light had no shape, it was just… a presence.

She extended her slender arm towards the Core and leaned forward, catching herself on the railing with her other hand. The rock was only mere inches away now. Her fingertips froze, then came to life again with a burning, tingling sensation. It was too late to go back now, with a last push, Sonora closed her eyes and placed her hand on the Shard Core.

When she heard his voice the world ceased to exist around her.

“You have grown so much… sister. I miss you.”

Sonora yanked her hand away and clutched it. Her vision blurred with burning tears as her heart throbbed in her chest.

“Tullip…?” She muttered in a broken voice.

“Rosevy!” Rinaer rushed to her, thumping down the wide steps of the Chamber.

Rough, firm hands clutched Sonora by her shoulders and waist. For a moment, she was floating. She felt herself being hoisted back to the other side of the railing away from the Core, away from Tullip’s voice.

Away from the abyss.

“Let me go! Let me go now. Tullip!” She thrashed, but Rinaer did not let her go until he’d managed to take her half a dozen steps away from the floating rock.

Sonora’s knees wobbled, but she kept herself standing. “Did you not hear him?” Her breathing and heartbeat did not slow, but she did not care.

“I did not hear anything, Rosevy.” Rinaer had let her go, but his hands hovered close to her, just in case. The man’s face was wrinkled more than ever; worry did that to people. “You need to see a healer.”

Was she going mad? She had heard her brother’s voice so clearly it could not have been a hallucination. She shook her head. “I am fine now. I am fine.” She knew well enough that this would not be enough to fool Rinaer, especially after what he had seen. “It’s still the splitting headache from this morning.”

Rinaer did not move an inch. He had seen Sonora grow up: he knew this was a blatant lie. But she was the Oracle’s daughter.

“You need to see a healer.” He repeated.

Suddenly, she knew what she had to do. There was nothing wrong with her. She had powers, a gift that very few people in the world had these days. She could try to explain what she had been feeling all these years to Rinaer, or her father, but they wouldn’t understand. Only one person she knew had answers for her.

“I will go see my father.” Another lie.

She had to speak to Movra.