Tales of the Gleamwind I

Before my time as Oracle, a sky-burial was our people’s way of returning our dead to their origins. It was shortly after our second fake burial, where we had to pretend to sanctify and drop my mother’s missing body where she had already chosen to go, that the idea of changing some of our customs took hold in my mind. Why the secrecy? Why pretending? If a man wants to live and die on his Shard, it is his prerogative to do so. If he wants to visit Mother Earth, he will find a way even without our made-up burials. - Memoirs of an Oracle.

Sonora could not look away. Cold, cutting wind blew against her face, drying her already reddened eyes out. But she could not lower her head, like everybody else was doing. What if they dropped the Black Kite just as she was looking somewhere else?

She would miss her mother leaving her. Again.

How could she have not seen it? How could she have been so blind? Her hands clenched the front of her obsidian-black toga, knuckles whitening in the morning mist. Two attendants moved over to the Black Kite and made sure the small gemstone representing Dayana Sitak was promptly secured to the base of it.

Nobody spoke. It was believed that spoken word and the thin airflow created through it would compromise the descent of the Kite onto the Motherland. Sonora blinked once, expecting tears in her eyes, but she had spent the night curled up in a ball on her bed, expending every last teardrop she had.

Her father, Rose, moved almost imperceptibly at her side and nodded to the attendants to release the Black Kite. They obeyed, and Sonora watched in silence as the last thing representing her mother slowly drifted off the steep cliff side and away from the Shard. Small gusts of the Gleamwind enveloped the Kite and made it dance around before their eyes as it disappeared through a soft, pink cloud.

“Come, child. Let’s head back inside.” Rose turned away from the scene almost immediately.

Sonora did not move. It’s not that she did not hear her father’s words, but her mind still reached for that disappearing Kite in the morning light.

“Sonora.” Her father’s voice did not change, but he stopped to look back at her.

“I will stay a little longer, father.” Sonora said.

“I understand this might be hard for you, but you still have a duty to fulfill. You will be Anointed as Oracle as of today and-”

“Might be hard?” Sonora breathed in, trying to keep her voice from cracking. She heard her father’s soft stutter, as she cut him off for the first time in her life. “I have lost my brother and my mother within a year! I am… I don’t know what I am, honestly. Devastated, maybe? Confused, certainly… And what about you? You lost a son and a wife. Are you not even a bit moved or crushed by these things?”

Soft spurts of mist swirled around her legs as Sonora turned to face her father. The attendants helping with the ceremony shot each other some confused looks, then hurried to retreat out of earshot of the apparently uncomfortable conversation between their Oracle and the Rosevy.

Rose’s eyes pierced Sonora with their intensity.

“I don’t intend to discuss such matters here, where anyone can hear us.” He said.

“So then, where do you want to discuss them, father?” Sonora’s grip on her toga tightened. “Not out here, because people can listen. Not in private, because you are afraid of… what exactly? Looking weak in front of me? Do you think showing your emotions is a sign of weakness? Or do you really not care about the deaths of your loved ones… if they really were your loved ones.”

Rose took Sonora’s outburst in stride. He inhaled sharply and folded his hands over his own obsidian black toga.

“The Heads were right.” He said. “No matter how much I tried to hide it, you are far from ready to become and Oracle. It is a pity that you are our only option.”

Sonora shook her head. More in silent rage than disbelief.

“Is this really what’s most important to you?” She asked, voice quivering. “Is this what being Oracle is about? Forfeiting love and care and empathy for… for a title?”

Rose’s facial expression barely changed, but Sonora knew how to read her father. The slight droop of his mouth told her that his disappointment only deepened. To her surprise, she did not care anymore. She could not.

“Because if that is what being an Oracle entails,” She trudged on before her father could interject. “It is the last thing that I want in my life.”

Sonora turned back to face the steep drop into the pink morning clouds. The painful rage and the piercing cold made sure that she could not reign in her shaking hands. She stared blankly over the edge of the Shard and waited.

Waited for a reply. An answer. An anchor. Anything that told her Rose was more than a calculating, emotionless statue of a man. Anything that reassured her that she was not alone in her grief.

Moments passed, then minutes, maybe hours. Sonora lost track of time as the sun slowly rose over the horizon, warming up the rocky outcrop she stood on. Under the gentle, reassuring sunlight Sonora gradually retook control over her shaking hands and thought through the confrontation with her father with a clearer head.

He did love her mother. He did love Dayana. Muffled, half-forgotten memories of the four of them eating, playing and laughing together came back to her. Pictures of a childhood that felt like a lifetime ago. That smiling, bright-eyed, sweet girl could not possibly be the same standing out here on the edge of the Shard in full face paint and an obsidian toga, mourning her mother. And the stern, but always fair and supporting Rose could not be the one who was trying to force Sonora to move on without giving her time to come to terms with her emotions.

Grief had different effect on everyone.

Sonora sighed and turned to face her father, maybe even apologize for saying all those horrible things about him. But when she turned her back to the Gleamwind, Rose was already gone, retreated back to the palace.

“You look a little worn-out, dear.” Trieno smiled at her over a cup of steaming hot tea. “Did you not get enough sleep?”

“I slept just fine, thank you for your concern.” Sonora droned, not really concentrating on the conversation.

She had changed back to a plain, pastel colored toga right after returning to the palace. Her mother’s quick burial was to be kept a secret even from the other Heads until after her Anointment ceremony, to avoid ‘ruining the exalted mood.’ Her father’s words, not hers.

“I’m sure you can try to fit some beauty sleep in before the ceremony this evening.” Trieno said almost too casually. “I would hate to raise you to be an Oracle of Idol with those dark circles under your eyes.”

“Sonora Sitak-Trieno?” Sonora asked, more to humor the clearly oblivious woman, than anything else.

“I like the sound of that, do you?” She smiled at Sonora.

“It does have a good ring to it.” Sonora admitted. “But I have to say I’m surprised I’m still in consideration to become Trieno after I dismissed you and your pretty little companion so quickly on Silver Night.”

Trieno chuckled and flipped her flowing brown hair over her shoulder, then placed her teacup carefully on the small table.

“There is nothing we cannot improve on with practice, diligence and some more… charm.” Her voice was slowly transforming from sweet to nauseating.

Sonora did her best to finish her morning tea as quickly as she could without offending the other woman who had requested to share breakfast with her. Braziers hung on the stout pillars lining the marble chamber and her chair had double fur cushioning, yet Sonora could feel the cold gripping her bones.

She was tired. Oh, so tired.

All she wanted to do was close herself in her rooms and cry her face paint away, then sleep for a whole week.

“But jokes and jests aside, dear.” Trieno continued. “What do you really think of becoming an Oracle of Idol? I can tell you in confidence that I would not be against it but… well, I would appreciate it if you told me before the ceremony so I can prepare with an appropriate speech.”

Instead, Sonora had to deal with this. This frivolous, pitiful game of power that somehow felt hard and incredibly easy at the same time, and it drove Sonora mad. Every Oracle Head seemed determined to squeeze every bit of information of her character and personality out of her at any given moment, yet she knew she had nothing to lose. They had to Anoint her. There was no other option.

“I…” Sonora breathed in. She concentrated on her tea to keep the rising pain and sorrow off her chest. “I appreciate your support and kind words, but I don’t think I would be a good fit as an Oracle of Trieno.”

“Oh? And why is that?” Trieno kept smiling. She did not look disappointed, only mildly intrigued.

“Aspyo already rejected me.” She said, almost too casually. Trieno’s eyes widened, if only slightly. “And having other people idolizing me is quite outside my comfort zone. This leaves only three viable choices for me as I am trying to make a decision based on exclusion.”

She wasn’t. Not really. But Trieno did not have to know that there were other things on her mind other than her Anointment.

The other woman smacked her lips and shook her head softly.

“Such a shame to see a beauty like you get carried away by another Oracle, but I do understand your logic, dear.” She glanced at one of the servants standing in the shadow of the pillars and the man dashed to the antechamber to grab her overcoat. “So, you will follow if your father’s steps?”

Sonora arched an eyebrow in silent question.

“It’s either Lazio or Kayfe, is it not?” Trieno said, standing up. Sonora stood with her. “And you don’t look like one of the closeted bookworms that choose Kayfe, so that would be a surprise.”

“You forgot Movra.” Sonora said.

Trieno cackled as she let the servant dress her in her bright yellow overcoat. “Yes, well. Who doesn’t?”

Left alone with a tray of soft, sour biscuits and a cup of tea getting colder by the minute, Sonora looked after the Oracle Head disappearing through the distant doorway. She steeled herself. She had to get through this day. Not for her father, or even the people of the Shard, but for Tullip and her mother.

Sonora had to show them, wherever they were now, that there was a way to push through and overcome even the worst of times.

Times like these.

“Rosevy.” Sonora turned to see Rinaer approach her with a careful look. “You still have a couple of hours before the final preparations. You might want to rest until then after… after what happened tonight.”

Sonora set her jaw and looked the old, grizzled Officer straight in the eyes. “I’m fine, Rinaer. Tell the Priests, Secretaries and Camphorettes to meet me in the anteroom of the Audition Chamber at noon.”

“Noon?” Rinaer paused just a moment, then caught himself and bowed. “Not to be disrespectful, Rosevy, but the ceremony won’t start until-”

“I know what I said, Rinaer.” Sonora stood, then gestured to one of the body servants to fetch her own overcoat. “This is what I want you to tell them.”

Rinaer eyes the servant as he hurried to Sonora’s side to help her into the long, heavy coat. He was clearly biding his time to try and come up for a reasonable response to Sonora breaking the centuries-old rituals surrounding the Anointment ceremony.

Sonora did not blame him for it. But she was also not up for a discussion on the matter. She tilted her head and carefully raised an eyebrow, to which Rinaer snapped back to the present and left the chamber after quickly nodding to her.

“Oh, and Rinaer.” Sonora called after him. “My father does not have to know about this.”

Sonora did not know the lines on Rinaer’s face could go even deeper.

The rest of the day passed in a concentrated blur. Sonora just walked through the motions of preparing herself to the Anointment ceremony with her mind racing to come up with counter-arguments to not become an Oracle of Movra.

The main problem was: she just did not care anymore. She did not care what her father thought and did not care what the people of the Shard thought about her. She knew Movra was the only right option. The only option that gave her a chance to help humanity escape the slow, but inevitable drift towards their own demise.

A chance to do something good. And she did not need the approval of anyone to do that.

As the two Priests finished reciting from their bundle of holy parchments, Sonora nodded to dismiss them. She quickly signed the stack of official documents presented to her by the Secretaries, then let the group of Camphorettes wash her down with a wave of fumes and vapors to cleanse her of any previous attachments, loved ones, beliefs and possible crimes.

Sonora blinked in the perfumed mist and caught sight of Rinaer, standing by the door of the antechamber. He had followed the ritual with a stern look on his face, but only nodded when Sonora met his eyes.

The old Officer waited for everyone to clear the room, then stepped closer to Sonora.

“Your father is still holding open Audience.” He said.

“I know.” Sonora adjusted the colorless toga over her shoulders. The fabric was intentionally kept to a misty-gray tincture until she would choose the type of Oracle she would become.

“You will have to wait until he is done to start the ceremony in the Hall.” Rinaer continued.

“Are the Heads with my father?” Sonora asked.

“Yes, Rosevy. They are listening in to the open audiences.” Rinaer nodded.

“Very well, then I shall not make them wait.” Sonora brushed past a stunned Rinaer and made for the door.

“What are-?” Rinaer cleared his throat, embarrassed.

Sonora stopped and looked at the old man. She knew all of these last minute changes without her father’s approval made Rinaer uncomfortable. So uncomfortable to make him question a decision of the soon-to-be Oracle. Sonora smiled internally and waited for the inevitable confrontation.

“May I speak freely, Rosevy?” He asked, holding her gaze.

“Go ahead.”

“I do not know what you hope to achieve by defying the authority of your father, who is still Oracle until you take over from him, but this is not you.” Rinaer said, words almost too rushed.

“This is not me?” Sonora smiled, coolly. “And who exactly am I, then?”

“I- I know this year has been extremely hard on you, Rosevy.” Rinaer averted his eyes. “And I am sorry for your loss… your losses. It has been hard for all of us to accept it and-”

Sonora waved a hand and Rinaer looked back at her.

“I thank you for the support you’ve given me during these last trying months, Rinaer. You aer one of the few people I know I can always count on. But if you think today, of all days, I should still defer to my father, you do not know me at all.”

Rinaer narrowed his eyes and Sonora did not look away. She could almost feel the old man’s testing conscience scanning her. After moments that felt like days, Rinaer bowed to her and retreated from the room with a hint of a smile.

“I’ll be announcing you to the Hall, Oracle.”

Sonora clenched her jaw and shut her eyes to prevent tears from ruining her ceremonial face paint.