As preparation for the launch of my serial, Quest to Karantiri, I post this prompt I was given, to write a story that told of a character who was alien to their world, or otherwise did not fit in. Shadowhome is a kingdom to the east of Kalvara, beyond the woods that the people of Karantiri do not know of.
"What?"
The woman is gasping, still out of breath on the birthing table, but her eyes are wide. What the priestess has said cannot be true.
"I...do not take prophecy for truth, Ariia, but..." High Priestess Sahfa tucks her wings tightly to her back, shaking her head. "Lutha is kind. This...I must have..."
"Priestess, you have never...never in your devotion to Her..." She cannot stop the tears. "You cannot promise me that what you have seen is false."
Sahfi's expression is carefully blank. "No, Ariia. I cannot promise that. All I can tell you is what I saw, and what I know of you...and how the two connect."
"Then take her away." The new mother's voice is broken with pain. "Take her away, and name her, Priestess. You will be the only one who can help her."
"As you wish." The nurses stay silent. It is all they can do.
---
The girl was raised in the care of the priestesses, never aware that she was not the child of them. They were all her mother and sisters; they were her family. She had one sister, who was like a twin to her, but in one fashion they were like the moon-time and the bright-time. Her sister was a talented shadow-walker, one of the best in all of their land. Her sister walked paths that only Lutha had tread before, she was sure.
But she...
She could not walk the shadows. Nor could she walk the light, like the highest of the priestesses.
She was the only hawk she knew who could not walk the paths made for them.
Lutha has a plan for you, the High Priestess would say. Time and time again, she repeated the mantra. Lutha has a plan for me. The Goddess has a plan for me.
And perhaps the Goddess did have a plan for her, as she slipped out of the temple and made for the waters. Perhaps the Goddess' plan included her stealing a boat from the nearby fisherman, setting what few belongings she had in the bottom, and pushing it—and her—into the water.
Perhaps the Goddess' plan included her being somewhere other than Shadowhome.
Because it was clear that she was no longer welcome there.
For aldersprig's prompt of "the water of luck". I'm trying to write short ones this time, to keep you wanting more. ;) Set in the world of Quest to Karantiri, this time it's a mini jaunt into the world of the shadowhawks. 168 words.
The water here is sacred.
I'm not supposed to be at the fountain; people of my class aren't permitted. Only the light-walkers and the phoenixes may touch finger or feather to the water...but I do not have another choice anymore. The Goddess will forgive me.
...I pray that She will forgive me.
My feet are silent on the ground as I run. We are those that live in shadow, and I am the darkest of the nightwalkers – if I wish to be silent, I am silent. Only the wind rushes through my ears, and I cannot hear a thing.
Please hold on, sister. Please hold on.
She is the first of her kind on our island – the humans have never tried speaking with us before. And if I find the human and under my watch her health fails, I will be sentenced to death. I cannot let her fail.
Her clothing is beautiful. I think she is a queen.
