#uhrat

[sublecturas]

"De aquí para allá", de Hebe Uhart en la Línea C

[fracturedbloodlinesmanga-blog]

Uhratian Legend - Mother of Nations

There is an ancient story in Uhrat. That there was once a beautiful woman, who could not bear children. In her grief and loneliness, she laid down and cried, refusing to move. For years she simply laid there, imagining every child she would ever have had. She imagined their children, and their children’s children. She imagined the generations that would have been, but could not be. 

So long did she dream and lay, that her body soon withered away and became sand. So long did she cry, that her tears became the sea. The gods, so moved by her sorrow and grief, took a single strand of her hair and with it gave life to the first of the generations she had dreamed of. The gods told them “Tell us where you would like to live, and we will offer you that paradise.”

“We will live here, in the desert by the sea,” they said. The gods were confused. Why would anyone choose to live in such a harsh place? Perhaps it is because they do not know what the rest of the world looks like. So they showed them the great mountains to the north, with crystal water and snow capped peaks. They showed them the lush plains to the west, golden and green. They showed them the green forests of the south, with trees as tall as mountains. But still, they chose the desert. “Why?,” the gods asked. 

“To be with our mother,” they replied. Sha’yuma, the gods then called her. Mother of nations. For it is then, the nation of Uhrat was born. 

[fracturedbloodlinesmanga-blog]

The Garden of Uhrat

Wandering had gotten Missy into trouble all her life.

  “Don’t stray too far from the house, Missy,” her Aunt would say. What she really meant was, “Don’t you go playing with those kids across the river.”

  Missy didn’t know why her Aunt didn’t like the Uhratians or the idea of her niece visiting the Settlements, that large collection of funny shaped wooden buildings and huts across the river from her home. To the eleven year old girl, it had always been the most interesting thing around, though. Her Aunt’s house faced the Caldaen River, so she could see the shanty-city through her window. To her, it looked like a fortress, or a maze, with so many twisting roads and homes stacked on top of each other. So, of course, when she saw other kids her age playing on the other side of the river, she decided that it couldn’t be that bad. Anyways, why should they get to play in the maze-town and not her?

  She’d been eight the first time she’d snuck across the bridge. Her Aunt had spotted her and instantly called her name, but Missy had run off after some of the kids, quickly losing herself in the many twisting alleys. It had been nightfall by the time she’d found her way back, with the help of a few new friends. It was one of those very same friends that was waving at her from across the river, trying to get her attention from her perch by her bedroom’s windowsill. A huge grin spread over her face as she saw the familiar red-headed girl. Within moments, Missy had thrown on her dirtiest pair of boots and was tiptoeing down the stairs, listening for her Aunt.

  “Of course, Margaret, I can have the journal bound and delivered with the stationary set by Friday. The boy’s father must be so proud. In the Arcaeni and yet so young!,” she heard her Aunt saying, speaking to someone in the shop she ran just below their home. Her Aunt made book bindings, journals, pens, and inks. She also made really pretty birthday cards. Missy always got the neatest birthday cards.

  The raven-haired, eleven year old girl slipped out the backdoor of the shop, taking the long way around the alleys so that her Aunt wouldn’t see her through the river. She’d learned that crossing the bridges weren’t the best ways of getting into the Settlements unseen. The kids of the Settlements had many ways in and out of the city, and it was one of the more commonly used ones that she took across now. The river that wound between the Settlements and the Capitol was bordered by many docks and a long walkway on either side, so that if you rode a boat into the city, you were bordered on either side by a tall wall, bridges over your head. If you took the stairs down the riverway and under one of the bridges, you could look above your head and find a rope that crossed all the way to the other side of the river. Someone had put it up ages ago and it was how many of the Uhratian kids snuck into the city. She was likely the only person who chose to sneak into the Settlements, though.

  She climbed upside down across the tight rope, dropping down easily onto the other side to see Cantara waiting for her. The Uhratian girl, like many of her people, had bright red hair, which she mostly wore in a high ponytail, tied with a piece of leather. Her eyes were a brilliant green and almost as bright as her smile. She was the prettiest girl Missy knew, tall and shining for a girl of twelve.

  “Did your Aunt see you leave?,” she asked, glancing down the way towards where Missy’s home was. She shook her head, black hair tossing about in front of her face, the green, beaded stone necklace she always wore jangling with the motion.

  “Laa, ukh’dama,” Missy said, carefully sounding out the strange Uhratian words. It was hard to believe it was possible, but instantly Cantara’s smile got even larger.

  “Oh, that’s great! You’re getting better. But it’s ukh’dima,” she corrected.

  “Ukh’dima, ukh’dima. Got it,” Missy said, nodding her head. The red-headed girl gave a little giggle. She did that often when Missy said things, and the sound was one of her favourite things. It reminded her of the stories her Aunt told her when she was younger, about fairies and pixies. How they giggled like crystal bells. It never felt like she was laughing at Missy, either, which was nice.

  “So, are we going to the Garden, Tara?,” she asked, eagerly. The other girl’s eyes cast down and her smile fell away. “Oh, come on, Tara, you promised,” she pleaded. The girl looked around nervously, as if she thought someone might be listening in on them.

  “You aren’t even supposed to know about the Garden, ukh’dima,” she said with a little pouty face, letting out a slight huff. “Stupid Mika, always opening his big mouth,”

  “I don’t think Mika’s stupid,” Missy defended. She regretted it right away, as that grin returned to Cantara’s face instantly. She blushed wildly, staring down at her dirty boots and adjusting the bottom of her flower-print dress. Mika was a boy her age, from the Settlements, and another one of her friends. He didn’t play with most of the other kids, though. At least, not anymore. Ever since his brother died, he was too busy trying to help his family. She wasn’t sure what sort of work he did, or how he helped his family, because everyone refused to say.

  “Well, even you didn’t deny that he has a big mouth,” Cantara teased. “Kharaji aren’t even supposed to know about it,”

  “I thought we were ukh’dima…,” Missy said, her voice low. Cantara looked around once more, then leaned in and said in a low whisper.

  “Today, you’ll need to be more than bloodsister…you’ll need to be asha’kahn’s lady,” she said, the smile returning as she leaned back to meet Missy’s blue eyes with her own green ones. Missy’s eyes widened.

  “Like a ghost,” she said in a whisper. Cantara nodded, before glancing around once more and taking Missy’s hand. Instantly she pulled her away from the bridge and up into the Settlements. It was still several hours until nightfall, but you wouldn’t be able to tell within the twisting maze of this refugee city. The buildings were stacked up so high and the roads twisted in such strange angles that you could often go for several minutes without seeing the sun. Today, it was as if Cantara was purposefully avoiding the light, though. She pulled her along beside her, hand clasped in Missy’s as she led her through a path so strange that she was struggling to keep up with where they were. Left, left, right, down, up, through a few homes, over some rooftops, under some wooden bridges, left, right, right, left, and suddenly Missy had no idea where she was. If Cantara were to leave, Missy didn’t think she’d be able to find her way back to the river. In fact, this was the furthest she’d ever gone. Aunt Ella is gonna be so mad if she finds out…, she thought briefly. But the thought was banished as Cantara came to a sudden halt.

  “Wh--,”

  Cantara brought a finger to her lips, before peaking her head around a corner. Most of the view into the small alley was obstructed by clothes lines that crossed from one side of the street to the other. Rugs and long flowing sheets of white and red and blue and purple shifted in a light breeze that wound its way lazily through the alleyways. One of the sheets drifted to the side just enough so that they were gifted a brief view of what lay at the end of the alley.

  It was a dead end, with a single wooden door the only exit or entrance other than the way they came. There was nothing remarkable about the door, nothing to indicate that it was important in anyway. Except for the fact that it was an actual door. Most of the buildings in the Settlements simply had rugs or heavy curtains to close off their entrances, except for the occasional shop or place of business. This place was far too removed from the main part of the Settlements to be either one of those.

  Cantara, however, wasn’t paying attention to the door. Her eyes were scanning all the windows in the alley, looking for anyone that might see them. They stood there in silence for what felt like an eternity. Missy shifted from side to side, wondering what it was her friend was waiting for. And then without a word, Cantara took hold of her hand once more and made a quick dash for the door. They danced around the sheets, avoiding touching them as much as possible, as if they were playing a game of tag with the fabric. Then quickly she opened the door and led her inside.

  The inside of the building didn’t seem like anything important. In fact, it was practically empty. There were a few barrels, some wooden crates, stacks of rugs and carpet and cloth. It was a storage room, it seemed. Missy was about to ask if maybe they had taken a wrong turn. Afterall, weren’t they supposed to be going to a garden? Gardens have flowers, and trees, and sometimes even ponds. But before the question left her lips, Cantara had lifted off the lid of a wooden barrel to reveal the true nature of this room. For inside the barrel was a long, dark shaft with a wooden ladder descending down into the shadows.

  “A secret garden,” she said, barely containing her excitement. Cantara was smiling, but simply raised another finger to her lips, before climbing into the barrel and heading down the ladder. Missy glanced back at the door, wondering for a moment if this was a good idea, after all. Then she climbed into the barrel and followed after her friend.

  Down, down, down, they descended into the darkness. Soon enough the light from the room above was gone and Missy was having to feel carefully for the next rung below her, lest she slip and fall into the seemingly endless hole. She didn’t look down, focused completely on feeling with her feet and hands. So, when she felt her boot hit solid ground, she was more than a little surprised.

  “Where are we, Tara?” she asked, turning around…and stopping dead in her tracks. In front of her was the biggest cave she had ever seen. Okay, it was the only cave she had ever seen, but still. It was enormous. A great cavern, deep underground. Light filtered in from above a great waterfall, which roared down into a veritable lake! Trees and little fields dotted the view, covered in flowers of all different kinds. There were more kinds of flowers and plants here than any she had ever seen, including in all the flower shops of the city. They ranged the entire spectrum of colour, from purple flowers with strange orange fruits beneath them to tall green stems that rose up almost as tall as she was before twisting out in a bush of red leaves and what looked like black berries that were so ripe they weighed the vine-like branches down to touch the ground once more. Butterflies and fireflies danced in and out of the ribbons of light that cut through the shade.

  “This is amazing!” she yelled, her voice echoing into the distance. She ran forward towards one of the strange looking flowers with the orange fruit at the bottom, leaning down to smell it. It had a sweet scent that was unlike anything she had ever smelled.

  “Try this,” Cantara said, drawing her attention. Missy looked over to see the Uhratian girl climbing up into  a tree and picking a yellow fruit from its branches. She tossed it down to her and Missy caught it with both hands, turning it over and inspecting it.

  “What is it?,” she asked. It was shaped kind of like an apple, but it was yellow, and rather than a stem sticking out of the top, it seemed to be covered in what felt like soft fur. Cantara dropped down from the branches with her own fruit.

  “It’s a Uhratian fruit, kind of like your peaches, but sweeter. It’s really, really good,” she said, taking a bite out of it. Missy stared down at the strange, fur-covered fruit, unsure. Finally, she closed her eyes and took a small bite out of it. Juice poured down her chin and her eyes widened. It was delicious!

  “Are all of these plants from your country?,” Missy asked. The red-headed girl nodded.

  “My mom says that they spent years trying to make it so they could grow here, in secret. Some of these plants are used for our medicine. Taste the water! There’re plants that grow at the bottom of the lake, that at night glow like fireflies,” she said, rushing over to the lake. Missy followed, leaning down and cupping some of the crystal clear water in her hands. It was ice cold, and when she took a sip, she couldn’t believe how great it tasted. Even the water tasted sweet!

  For what must have been hours, Cantara led her around the great cavern. There were tunnels that led to other caves, as well, but they never even left the first one. Before she knew it, the room had become dark. She looked over at the lake, noticing that Cantara had been telling the truth. Strange, seed-shaped plants were rising up from the bottom of the lake. They shone a beautiful blue colour, making the water shine as if it were glowing, as well. Within a few minutes, all the seeds had risen to the top of the lake, where they suddenly unfurled into flat, glowing blue flowers with red stems at their center. She’d never seen something so beautiful in her entire life.

  “Cantara, what have you done?”

  They both turned around in an instant at the sound of the new voice, eyes widening as they saw the man standing before them. Dark lashes surrounding accusing green eyes, long red hair pulled back into a ponytail. Behind him, she could see a few other people standing in the shadows, watching her. His eyes locked onto Missy’s right away, holding her there. She swallowed nervously. Wandering had gotten Missy into trouble all her life. And staring at the man in front of her, the sword hung at his waist, she got the feeling that that life might not last much longer…