Free Lunamae by April Sadowski

my wood?”
    “You must be the mysterious Guardian, then,”
my aunt said without missing a beat. She was clearly not
intimidated by this woman or her magical skills. “We are just
passing through on our way to Fanarion. We will not tarry.”
    “Indeed,” Toryn said. “I know what business
you have there. Perhaps you should listen to the Kyrians. Or even
Taros the bard. He had heard that tale long before. I remember him
in my woods during the battle of Wortha Hill saying soon it would
all be over. He did not mean the battle.”
    “Our journey is certainly not a wasted trip,”
my aunt said firmly. “It is always best for diplomatic relations to
occasionally visit those who are still peaceful.”
    “Kyrie does want peace. You are the one who
has chosen not to accept it,” the Guardian said. Before the chief
dame could argue, the woman had disappeared. We could only hear her
voice in a whisper leave us with, “There is much in store for
Feyris. More than you realize.”
    Lunamae and I looked at each other, mouths
slightly open in awe. This was actually the first time we had ever
seen anything remotely magical, not to mention someone telling the
chief dame she was wrong about something. The Guardians, always
closely intertwined with nature, were also very avid followers of
the Creator. It was a close connection they shared being ones to
promote life and new growth rather than death and destruction. Even
in death, we are told by the Text of Illumination that there is a
place for us in the heavens and we are reborn as immortals. I could
only assume that the Guardians worked their power with the help of
the Creator.
    “That was interesting,” my aunt said and then
urged my father to continue the caravan forward into the village of
Moir Awin. The obstacle in the road was gone and the only thing
ahead in our paths was the river Shibher but it would be low enough
to easily cross this time of year.
    Lunamae courageously gathered her needlework
project up but was quickly reprimanded by her mother saying the
last thing she needs to deal with is a bloody finger spraying all
over the place, especially when we were going to be meeting her
grandparents and a good first impression was desired.
    “Why don’t we go over the Text of
Illumination?” I asked her, sensing that she was bored which was
quite easy to be in this cramped coach.
    “That would be appropriate,” my aunt
commended, allowing Lunamae to sit beside me. It was a bit
difficult to switch positions in the coach but my aunt must have
done it before, because in no time at all, Lunamae was sitting next
to me.
    I took out the large book, the gifted one
from Lunamae’s altram ceremony. Lunamae had always been asking for
more to read as there was only a small collection of writings
available in the keep. She said she always wanted a big library,
the kind spoken of in other places. Books were expensive and not
easy to make, although I heard from Gaius that Kyrie had started
working on a press that would put ink on metal word and letter
plates. Those plates transferred to paper and could be rapidly
duplicated—much faster than a scribe.
    I dug through the pages until I found the
section I was looking for, the part where the Creator came to us in
human form. We called him the Teacher. It was hard for Lunamae to
get her head around the fact that the Creator could be more than
one entity at once. I compared the Creator to water which made much
more sense to her. Water can come in many forms, the tangible
liquid and solid, as well as the air. I read about the Teacher and
how he performed miracles, which was long before magic was ever
discovered. It was in Old Orinda when the world was all one
community. The Teacher traveled to all edges of Orinda—even to
Cragash. We don’t speak of Cragash much anymore. It’s a desolate
land home to humanoid creatures called the gorlags. They used to be
servants of the humans but when Orinda was split, the humans left
them. Maybe one day