Legacies: The Heir

Chapter One

Eliez ran full tilt down a dark alley, her booted feet pounding on the pavement beneath her. She didn't take the time to glance back to see how close her pursuers were - she could still hear them behind her. Her dwanku and chenshan, the loose trousers and tunic she wore, allowed her to move unimpeded, and the weijin, a light-weight material usually wrapped around her head and face was askew, the edge of the fabric trailing down her back. She turned a corner, still running, her doeskin boots skidding on the cobblestone street.

A stitch in her side forced her to slow, and she knew that in a moment, her persuers would close the distance before she could reach the safety of the inn where her four elder brothers believed she was quietly and safely sleeping. The gaming halls of the Den of Thieves were far removed from the quiet center of the city of Lothiaren and she had more than a mile to go before she could be certain that the men chasing her would be intimidated enough by their surroundings to give up. She had to find a place to hide, and quickly. The alley was coming to an end, and the street ahead was nearly empty of people, she would be in the open – exposed and helpless to the faster and stronger men she could heard swearing behind her.

Eliez slowed to a quick walk and her eyes caught the piles of debris stacked against the walls on either side of the alleyway. Two stacks of crates and an old canvas cloth were sat on one side while the other boasted several more crates, these ones empty. The canvas cloth was propped against the crates to her right, creating a kind of enclosure between the two stacks of crates big enough for her to hide. Eliez ducked into the narrow alcove, her movements hidden in the shaddows of the alley and sank to her haunches, pressing her back against the rough brick of the building. She made herself as small as she could and took shallow breaths through her mouth – nearly inaudible beneath the stampede of booted feet that thundered past her a few moments later. They were still shouting curses that made her ears burn and she quelled the urge to shudder at some of the more violent threats to her person.

The men, rough sailors all, stopped suddenly as they found themselves in the middle of a main thoroughfare without their pray in sight.

“Where the hell is she?” the largest man, red-faced with a bulbous nose, demanded. “Damnit! Where did she go?”

Eliez could see their silouettes through a space between the canvas and the crates, and for a moment, she thought they would return and find her still. Then one of the other men pointed up the main street.

“There! I see her!” he shouted, and they were off running again, away from Eliez’s hiding place.

Eliez waited for several long moments until the sounds of their pursuit had faded into the night. She sent up a prayer to all the gods for saving her and then slowly she rose from behind the stacks of crates. Her eyes searched the corners of the alley around her, but there was no one left – they had followed someone else and she would not hesitate to use that opportunity. She moved the canvas back and stooped under it, turning back down the alley from whence she had come. With one hand she jerked the weijin back up to cover her ebony curls and much of her tawney face.

To many, the Den of Thieves was a place of dark corners and dangerous men, where prostitution and gambling were the primary sources of income, along with the sale of all kinds of spirits in the taverns that lined street after street between the more respectable parts of town and the cliffs that overlooked the Gulf of Tehria. To Eliez, it was as familiar as her father’s tent in the Nephtali encampment on the other side of Lothiaren. Weaving her way back through the maze of alleys, she kept close to the walls of the buildings, one hand on the hilt of her knife. She did not stop looking behind her until the alleys began to grow wider, soon they were no longer alleys, but rather open streets lined by inns and taverns. Eliez stepped out into the crowds of people milling about.

She had rarely seen so many people in Lothiaren at once – despite the onset of autumn and the exodus of most of the Nephtali tribes, the streets were packed with revelers. They stumbled along the cobblestones in groups of two or three, moving from tavern to tavern. Eliez wove her way through the crowds of people moving along the street, using her weijin to conceal her features as her eyes scanned the crowds of people. She sent up another desperate prayer to the gods that she would not see any one of four faces that would be the death knell to her midnight lark. She knew both Michael and Cade, her two youngest brothers, frequented taverns in this part of town and the possibility of running into them kept her senses at high alert.

The narrow dock streets soon gave way to wider lanes and the taverns gave way to respectable inns. The buildings were in better repair here and there were fewer people in the streets, and Eliez slipped down an alley between two buildings without notice. At the far end of the alley a brick wall stood and hanging next to it, from a window on the second floor, hung a knotted sheet. Taking a leap, she caught the end of the make-shift rope and braced her feet on either side of the corner created by the side of the building and the short wall at the end of the alley. Hand over hand, she pulled herself up the sheet until she reached the window ledge. She wriggled through the open window into the dark room.

As her foot hit the floor, there was a creak of the floorboard, quiet, but enough to make her pause, listening for any sound coming from the next room. Silence reigned beyond the shadowed door and after a moment, Eliez turned and jerked the sheet rope up, stowing it under the bed. Pulling off the dark, hip-length chenshan, she tossed it over a small satched lying on the floor nearby. She also removed her boots and set them next to the chenshan. She unwrapped the weijin and let it float to the floor next to her boots. Dressed only in her dwanku and the short (tank top) she moved to the bed, pulling the covers back. A door slammed open in the front room, the hindges creaking as it rebounded on the wall. She slipped into the bed, forcing her body to relax into the mattress and her breathing to slow. She closed her eyes and feigned sleep.

“Eliez! Damnit, if you are not here, so help me, I will kill you myself!” A deep voice rang through the thin walls from the other room.

“Jerith! I did not expect you back so soon.” Another familiar voice soothed Eliez’s taut nerves. “Jerith, she’s sleeping, I haven’t heard a sound from her all night.” The voice moved closer to the door – Indigo was following his brother, trying to calm him.

With an oath of frustration, Jerith threw open her door. “Eliez!”

Eliez’s eyes flew open and she jerked up as though awakened in surprise. She blinked and rubbed her eyes, squinting at her two brothers standing in the doorway, their forms outlined by the lamplight from the front room. “What is the matter?” She yawned and frowned at Jerith with confusion in her face. Jerith stormed across the room and took her by the shoulders, intending to shake her. Eliez’s eyes widened and she placed a hand on each of his arms. “Jerith!” There was fear in her voice as her eyes widened on his. “Why are you angry?”

“Are you out of your mind?” Jerith demanded, his face only inches from her own.
Eliez recoiled and allowed the fear and confusion in her face to grow. She threw a glance to her other brother, who came to stand at the foot of the bed.

“Jerith, she does not understand.”

Jerith’s glare grew hotter and in the semi-darkness, Eliez could see the flush of fury that covered his face. She immediately adopted an attitude of righteous indignation.

“What do I not understand?” She shot at Indigo. “Don’t you dare shake me!” She raised her arms and flung off Jerith’s hold, returning his glare now. “Just what am I supposed to have done to deserve this scolding? Perhaps you have come up with another insult to throw at me for leaving the caravan? Or did you think of another threat to hold over my head, I assure you, Jerith, I am well aware of the consequences of my actions and I have no doubt that Father will make certain I pay for it for the rest of my life. If you feel such a burning need to yell at me again, would it be possible for you to wait until morning?” her voice rose with each question, and Jerith was unsettled enough to step back from the bed, his expression warring between confusion and a dying anger.

“I came across Ivan ben Sevanmist on my way home tonight; he told me that you provoked a game of chance in the Boar’s Head. Card-playing with locals is dangerous enough, but he also told me that once you had won the pot, you were accused of cheating and fled from the place, pursued by some of the roughest men in Lothiaren! Are you out of your mind?” His voice rose once more as he repeated his earlier question. “Do you realize that you might have been killed, or worse?”

Eliez’s eyes narrowed and she flung back the covers, jumping out of the bed to confront her brother. “I have been asleep for hours, Jerith. I care not what Ivan ben Sevanmist says; I was not at the Boar’s Head tonight. How can you take the word of a laushi of another tribe over that of your own sister?” Hurt infused her voice, and she felt a twinge of conscience when she saw the anger in her brother’s eyes turn to guilt. She sighed. “I assure you, that whatever Ivan told you cannot be true – I have not stirred from my bed, ask Indigo.” She waved at her other brother.

Jerith took another step back, His eyes searching hers as though trying to descern whether she told the truth. He glanced at Indigo, who still stood at the foot of the bed, saying nothing. His gaze swept the room, taking in the discarded clothing, then straying to the open window. He crossed the room and looked down to the alley below. He sighed then, conceeding that there was no way she would have been able to get back into the room from that vantage, even if she had managed to jump the two stories down without injury. He turned back to her, his eyes narrowing as they searched her face once more. Even in the dim light, Eliez was careful not to betray any triumph, she cocked her head to one side and gave him an irritated look.

“Was there anything else? Perhaps you ran into Horace ben Urider in the taproom below and he told you that he saw me drinking ale with a band of Damian sailors at some tavern on the docks?”

Jerith’s glare returned. “Do not press me, Eliez, you are treading on dangerous ground. You are in disgrace and although it appears you could not have left this room tonight, you will answer to Father for your conduct in leaving the caravan without an escort as well as defying him – which you know will continue to grieve him until you beg his forgiveness as you should.”

True anger flared in Eliez’s eyes at this. “I begged Father for one more year, but he would not even consider it – how can I be in disgrace if he is the one who broke his word to me?”

“Next year you will be nineteen, Eliez, you are reaching an age where few young men would consider you for a wife! Do you wish to shame father and all of us by remaining unmarried and barren? It is your duty to marry and bear children; just as it is the duty of every Nephtali woman! That Father gave you his word to allow you to choose when you marry was not permission for you to refuse to marry at all. You showed no interest in fulfilling your duty – Father did what he knew to be right, and still you defied him!”

Eliez stepped forward, fire flashing in her jade eyes as she opened her mouth to respond, but Indigo came between them. He laid one hand on Eliez’s shoulder and shook his head. “It is not the time for this argument, Eliez. I know that you feel justified in your actions, but Jerith is right, you ought not to provoke him. Perhaps he was wrong to accuse you so quickly of gaming in the Den of Thieves, but you could not have done so, and he has conceded that he was wrong. You are weary and it has been a long day for us as well.” Here he shot Jerith a solemn glance. “It would be best if we all retired to our beds and reserved the more difficult conversation for the wise light of day.”

Jerith nodded almost immediately, Indigo’s calm and rational solution soothing his still simmering anger. Eliez hesitated for a moment, the wound of her father’s betrayal and the fear that she would never escape the fate that he had planned for her increasing her anger nearly beyond her control. Then, her eyes fell on her discarded clothing on the floor and she remembered why she could not dally in a fray with Jerith at the moment. Satisfying as it would be to renew the furious argument of why she had chosen to run away from their parents and friends, it was imperative for them to leave her room soon. She frowned at Indigo, then let her shoulders drop and the anger drain from her stance and face. She turned back to her bed, not bothering to bid her brothers good night. Indigo followed Jerith out the door, shutting it behind him and leaving her in the dark silence once more. Eliez smoothed the coverlet on the bed while she listened to their footsteps move towards their own beds – Jerith was sharing a room and a bed with Cade, who was still absent from the inn, while Indigo and Michael made do with palets on the floor of the front room.

Certain that they would not return to her room, Eliez slipped her hand into her right pocket and drew out a small leather purse. Loosening the drawstrings, she turned it upside down, dumping the contents into her other hand. Then, she moved to the window, letting the moonlight spill over her treasure. Four small, but perfectly round pearls lay in her palm. She rolled them around in her hand for a time, admiring their translucent glow. She knew she had taken a risk, perhaps the most dangerous risk she had ever taken, but it had been worth it. The pearls would bring her the one thing she wanted most; freedom.

Freedom from her father’s edict; from his anger and Jerith’s as well; freedom from the guilt that plagued her each day as she watched the disappointment in her mother’s eyes grow. Eliez reluctantly slid the pearl back into the purse. They would serve their purpose – she would be free of the burden than hung over her head, and her family would be free of her disgrace. She pulled the drawstring tight and then looped the leather thongs over her head so that the purse hung between her breasts, resting against her (tank top), the pearls rolling against each other as she climbed back into bed. As she drew the covers up, she relaxed a modicum more, tomorrow would be soon enough for her to explore what possibilities she still had of escaping her brothers’ protective custody.

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Chapter Two

The early morning light slid through the open window, gilding the room in a golden-pink light. Eliez rolled over in the narrow bed, frowning as she cracked open one eye. She judged that it was just after dawn, only a few hours since her late night escapade. She groaned and rolled onto her back, flinging a hand over her eyes. Images from the night flashed through her mind and she groaned again. Jerith wouldn’t be so easy to talk around in the light of day. She removed her arm from her eyes and sat up in the bed, shoving the coverlet back. She yawned and stretched and considered her options. She could sneak out the window with her newly won treasure, slip into the city and disappear and her brothers would never be the wiser, however, she still did not know where she was going and a plan was essential to a clean escape. Eliez slipped out of bed, still clothed in only her dwanku and (tank top) and stood before the window, looking out over the alley below. The sounds of the awakening city reached her through the glass pane; cartwheel clattering over the cobblestone streets in front of the inn, peddlers hawking their wares and haggling over prices with the merchants of the trading establishments in the neighborhood, and the faint sounds of children laughing as they played.A plan was what she needed, a course of action that would ensure her escape and that her brothers wouldn’t be able to catch her a second time.

Her own tribe, the Nephtali clan of ben Isai, was but four days gone from their summer encampment outside of Lothiaren, and as soon as Jerith was able to contact the captain of the Correllian ship that would carry the last of the needed supplies, her brothers would saddle their horses and rejoin the tribe once more. She judged that she would have only a few hours to herself over that time and most of those would be at night, time when her brothers were either away from the inn or asleep. Her hand curled around the purse between her breasts and she felt the comforting weight of the pearls nestled there. A plan was essential, indeed.

She could not leave Lothiaren without a destination and she had never seen any other city in the Three Lands. She had three options, and she mulled these over in her mind one at a time. She could buy a horse and ride across Tehria until she found a town she liked. She could settle there, set up a house, and live quite comfortably. She dismissed that idea almost immediately, she would quickly grow bored with nothing to do. Having lived all her life in the bosom of the Nephtali tribe, sharing duties of the household, she could not fathom the idea of living alone without any form of activity to take up her day. Her second option was to hire a horse and travel to Alaecim, the Holy City and from there she could board a ship and sail to either Correll or Damia.

Travel had always appealed to her and she had enough money to travel for as long as she wished before settling somewhere. Her third option was the least appealing of the three; she could travel to Alaecim and settle there, in the city. The city itself did not appeal to her, although she imagined that for a while, she might enjoy the utter difference between her previously sheltered life and the possibility of anything that living among the people of Tehria would provide. She sighed, resting her forehead on the windowpane.

All three options ended in the same problem; she could think of nothing that she wished for beyond freedom from the restrictive life of a Nephtali wife. She had no way to support herself outside of the tribe, except possibly by gambling, and there was nowhere in the Three Lands that she truly desired to go. There was no end, no destination that she could conceive of, that she wanted to find once she escaped.

Still, she considered, perhaps the pursuit of her freedom would give her the answers that she did not yet have. She pushed away from the window and turned to her pile of clothing that still lay on the floor. There was no noise from the front room, so she tugged the chenshan over her head and reached for her boots. There was dried mud on the toes and she brushed her fingers across each one, eliminating the evidence of her late-night adventure, before pulling them on and securing the ties. She grabbed her weijin and walked with purpose out of her bedroom.

Indigo was the only one there, sitting at the small table in the front room of the chamber. He looked up with a worried frown in his eyes as she came to join him. Eliez willed her heart to maintain a steady beat and smiled at him with all innocence, belying any guilt she might have felt.

“Good morning, gege.” She greeted him, dropping a light kiss on his cheek before taking the chair next to him. “I trust you slept well?”

Indigo hesitated for a moment, watching her intently, then he gave her a small nod and Eliez relaxed a little more. She reached for a pitcher that sat in the center of the table and sniffed its contents before pouring the creamy, white liquid into a glass.

She raised one eyebrow at him. “You were able to find goat’s milk?”

Indigo’s mouth quirked up on one side. “It is a talent of mine, you know. I have a few of them, although they are less exciting than slipping in and out of the Den of Thieves.”

Eliez met his gaze with a bland expression and raised the cup to her lips. She took a sip and savored the taste of the milk. “I believe that haggling for goat’s milk here cannot be easy, but then, I cannot vouch for the difficulty of the other.”

Indigo’s eyes narrowed. “You are not going to tell me why you were playing cards at the Boar’s Head, are you?”

Eliez blinked, her eyebrows lowering in confusion. “I do not know what you are talking about, Indigo. I was asleep all night. You saw me go into my room; you and Jerith.”

Indigo just shook his head. “Keep that story, meimei, and you might escape Jerith’s wrath. He spoke with several more people from the tavern this morning, and the story of your rather remarkable gambling talents have spread quite a ways in the few hours since you’ve returned to our inn.”

Eliez shrugged. “I cannot explain why anyone would tell such a tale. I was here, in bed, all night.” She maintained stubbornly. She reached for the plate of bisquets that were sitting to one side of the jug of milk. She shoved one in her mouth and chewed in pensive silence. When she had swallowed, she fixed Indigo with a challenging stare and said, “Besides, you taught me everything I know, you should know how ‘remarkable’ my talents are.”

Indigo’s lips curved again. “Ha! Had I been able to teach you to read other’s thoughts, I might have set up a school and made a fortune. No, Eliez, you may take all the credit for that uncanny gift; you lie better than any one of us.”

Eliez glared at him. “I am not a liar. I do not lie unless it becomes necessary.”
“I was not censuring you, Eliez,” Her brother’s smile faded and he leaned toward her. “consider this a warning; Jerith is no fool, and he will find a way to catch you. You have angered him greatly with by disgracing our father and then fleeing from him. You befuddled him last night with your pat answers and your anger. He truly does not know how to deal with you, no more than Father does, but you must beware. He will not be so easy to rout this time.”

Eliez snorted, but chewed on in silence. As she ate, she mulled over her brother’s words. She really could not fault him for being blunt. She was courting disaster with every step now. Her defiance of their father’s orders concerning the Sojourn of the Chunyu, then leaving the Nephtali caravan without permission. The previous night’s indiscretion could only add to her troubles. If only her luck at cards would play out in the rest of her life. She considered this, too. There had never been a time when she could not simply know things. She would look carefully at a person, looking into his eyes and know what was in his head, his heart. Intentions would flit across her mind; names, memories, even a hand of cards. Eliez took another bite of the bisque and looked over at her brother again. His worry for her ran deep; there was no subterfuge in any of her brothers. They all loved her and wished happiness for her, but what they perceived as her happiness would kill her spirit and that was unthinkable to Eliez. She did not want their idea of happiness, she wanted freedom. She wanted freedom. She washed the bisquet down with a large gulp of milk, no closer to an answer.

The door swung open and Jerith entered along with Cade and Michael. All four brothers were rough and wiry from years of traveling the steppes of Asirac. Jerith and Indigo both possessed their father’s sun-bleached hair and pale blue eyes, while Cade and Michael had darker hair; brown with sun-streaks and soft, aqua-green eyes like their mother. Eliez, in contrast, was pale with ebony locks that flowed to her waist. Her eyes were green as well, but different than either Cade’s or Michael’s. The color of spring grass, Eliez’s sharp, clear gaze held shards of gold within its depths. When she was angry or frightened, the gold would swallow all of the green, shimmering with emotion. Eliez cocked her head to one side and considered these differences. Besides the lack of familiarity in their features, Eliez had long-since passed all four of her brothers in height. None of them were as tall as the few Correllians she had seen in Lothiaren, who often stood well over six feet, but they were all of average height for Nephtali men. Shortly after she began her menses, Eliez had experienced a sudden growth spurt and within a year was taller than her mother. Since then, she had grown to surpass even Jerith, who was the tallest of her brothers. Her height had often embarrassed her; the other women of the tribe saw her as a freak and many of them stopped speaking or even looking at her, and the men considered her height an offense to their preeminence in the tribe, as though it was something she had done to offend them. Eliez inwardly sighed and looked up at her brothers, setting aside her private musings and girding herself for the inevitable confrontation that was to come.

Indigo stood to greet the other three. “Did you speak with the Correllian?” He asked
Jerith shook his head and moved farther into the room, allowing Cade and Michael to enter as well. Cade shut the door behind them. “Their trade office tells me that the Correllian ships have been late all season because of the illness of their Lord Protector. He is fading quickly and country is unsettled because he has no heir to take the throne when he is gone. Captains are reluctant to leave their motherland, for fear of returning to find her taken by the Damians once again.” He shook his head. “I do not understand these people who choose to unite themselves under one ruler instead of the wisdom of a council of men from their tribes.”

Michael frowned at his brother. “I did attempt to explain this to you when we left the office, Jerith. They do have a council. Their Assembly of One Hundred governs the country through representatives from the many tribes. It is only the highest power that lies in the Lord Protector and that is by the laws set down by that very assembly. They believe that he guards the throne with the blessing of the God.”
Jerith snorted. “Guards it for whom?”

There was a pause, and then Michael shrugged. “There are those who believe that the dead Queen Hanisha left an heir. The Lord Protector holds the throne in abeyance for her.”

Jerith glared at Michael, his irritation evident. “In any case, there is nothing we can do until the Correllian arrives at the trade office. We will stay another three days, as that is the time they had determined when he will arrive. Cade, I will depend upon you to speak to the inn-keeper here. Make it known to him that we stay another three days and pay him accordingly.”

Cade nodded and turned to go.

Eliez stood suddenly, an idea occurring. “Could we go to Alaecim for a short while?” She asked.

All four brothers turned on her in accord. “No!”

Eliez flinched at their immediate, violent denial. Her shoulder sagged. “Why not?”
Indigo shook his head. “There is no reason to go, Eliez.” He told her. “You know that Father is going to be furious with you as it is. You cannot wish to add to your troubles by running off again.”

Anger sliced through Eliez, but she held it in check. She kept her voice as light as she could. “I am not going to tell him, and why should you?”

“You wish us to lie to Father?” Jerith’s voice rose again, as did the color in his face.
Eliez glared at him. “Why do you always assume the worst, Jerith?” She demanded. She took a deep breath and set her jaw. There were easier ways around her brothers. Yelling would do little. “Do you truly want to confine me to these quarters for the next three days? I cannot imagine that any of you have a great deal to do in an official capacity here in Lothiaren and someone will have to stay at my side every moment, unless you wish to risk my running off again.” She paused, watching his eyes as he considered this. He glanced each of the others, asking without words who wanted to stay with her. There was not one volunteer. Eliez knew the thrill of victory. “We do not all have to go, Jerith.” She told him in a somber voice. She turned to Cade, who was watching her with laughter in his eyes. He knew what she was doing. “Cade could accompany me. He would keep me out of trouble, and it is only an hour’s ride from here, so we need not be gone all day.” She looked back at Jerith.

Jerith glanced at Cade, who shrugged. “It is not as though we would be missing the excitement that permeates the air here in Lothiaren.” He grinned at Eliez. “I could easily keep her out of trouble.” He glanced at Michael, whose mouth was also curving in a smile. “Michael could accompany us.”

Michael considered, then nodded his assent.

Jerith’s frown was still fierce as he stared at Eliez. “You should have stayed with the tribe and gone back to the oasis.” He muttered.

Eliez said nothing, holding her smile of triumph from showing.

At last, Jerith sighed. “I suppose it would be better for you to spend time doing something worthwhile rather than sitting here thinking of new ways to defy me. You may go.”

Eliez squealed and threw her arms around his neck. “I swear to you, I will give you no cause to regret this decision!”

Jerith patted her on the back and shook his head. He glanced at Cade. “You will be responsible for her while you are in that city. Will you be able to make certain that she does not make trouble?”

Cade gave him a somber nod, but his eyes still glittered with mirth. “I shall be as strict as a shudojo.” He vowed.

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Chapter Three

The city of Aleacim lay just to the south and east of Lothiaren, along the coast. It was a haven for pilgrims; a holy place for many within the Three Lands. It was the place where worshipers came to burn offerings and pray to the God. Shisutas, the priestesses of the Order of the Saint, were always there to direct appropriate demonstrations of piety and to accept the offerings that were brought to please the God. They had built a temple to His Name atop the highest hill, and the city spread out around it in concentric circles out to the cliffs that overlooked the Gulf of Tehria, which separated it from the land of Correll. The temple was made up of a collection of buildings surrounding the (sanctuary), the outer buildings serving as living quarters for the shisutas.

The dormitories were separated from the rest of the city by a high wall and a wide meadow where merchants and peddlers set up their tents during festival days. Many of the older shisutas were married and lived in the city proper with their families, but returned to the temple each day to pray and to study.

The people of Aras, the southern province of Tehria, from Corning in the far south to Felice in the north, were a well-settled, merchant race that traveled from city to city, trading wares and news. Occasionally, Nephtali tribesmen traveled from Lothiaren during their summer stay to trade with these merchants. The pale, dark-haired Damians arrived by ship from Teriks Abjad or traveled by land across the Green Mountains that formed the southern boundary between Tehria and Damia.

Kierlian Veaste had spent fifty-seven of her sixty-three years in the holy city. Her parents, poor and unable to feed another mouth, offered their only child up to the Order of the Saint at a tender age. She ascended to the position of Muchin, the highest-ranking shisutas of the Order, under the reign of Ivar Il Sieah, First Lord Protector of Correll. Her wisdom and knowledge of the God were well-known throughout the Three Lands.

The morning of the First Day of the Fall Festival, Kierlian rose before dawn, troubled by fitful dreams. Leaving her bed, she hurried down to the walled cloister to meditate. She paced between the well-trimmed hedges, enjoying the solitude. Riona, Kierlian’s lousu, her pupil and confidant, found her there a few hours later.
“Jeje Kierlian, what troubles you so that you would not break the fast with us this morning?” She asked the older woman.

Kierlian did not cease her slow, steady pace, but with a wave of her hand, invited the girl to join her. They strolled on in silence around the garden for a long while before Kierlian answered.

“I have been trouble by dreams this night past, meimei. The God speaks to me and I ponder the meaning of such visions.”

“Tell me of these dreams.” Riona begged.

Kierlian raised her wizened face to the sky, taking in the majesty of the clear cerulean canopy overhead. “How old are you, meimei?” She asked.

Riona frowned. “I passed my fifteenth year last month.”

“What do you remember of your homeland, Correll?”

“I do not remember much, I was very young when my father brought me to the temple.”

The Muchin nodded. “Do you feel that you time here has been well-spent?”

Riona smiled. “I have learned much at your side, Jeje Kierlian, it has given me much that I would not have, had I remained in Correll.”

Kierlian fixed her with a stare. “Yet, do you harbor regrets? You may still have family in Correll, do you think of them at all?”

Riona shook her head. “I do not desire to leave the temple to join them, jeje, my life is here and I am content.” There was another long silence. Riona considered the woman pacing at her side carefully. “What troubles you, Jeje?” she inquired once more.

Kierlian stopped and turned to face her fully. “Your mother was a martyr for the God. She supported the Queen and then Syansheng Ivar until the day she died. Now, the evil of the Usurper’s wrath has passed and he is dead, yet there are still difficult times ahead for Correll. I do understand your desire to stay within these walls; much is still unsettled in that land.” She paused. “Do you believe, as some do, that the child of Princess Isacara, the true heir to the throne, still lives?”

The question startled Riona. The subject of the Heir of Correll was a fractious one among the higher shisutas in the Order. Kierlian had never mentioned it before. She hesitated briefly before answering. “Ming shi Hanani says that if the Heir still lived, she would have been revealed by now.” She frowned. “It does seem strange that if she does yet live, she has not shown herself. When I was in my third year, an older shami showed me an unmarked grave behind the (sanctuary); Laosu Sebille puts fresh flowers there each week. It is whispered that Isacara’s child is buried there.”
A sparkle of amusement flashed in Kierlian’s eyes. “Indeed? And what do you believe?”

Riona frowned, her mind working to see Kierlian’s final purpose in this strange conversation. At last, she spoke, her words slow and measured. “I believe that if the God so desired it, He would have saved the Heir’s life and protected her from harm, but it has been nearly ten years since the death of the Usurper and still no Heir has come forward to claim the throne. I cannot pretend that this does not give me doubt.” She looked into Kierlian’s face. “Do you believe?”
Kierlian smiled. “I do.”

Riona cocked her head to one side, considering her mentor. “Why?”

Kierlian laid a hand on the younger woman’s arm and indicated that they should continue their walk. “I must confess that my belief is not one based on faith, such as some hold; but then, I know what they do not. I know where the Heir is.”
Riona’s jaw fell open and her step faltered, bringing them both to a stop.

Kierlian paused only briefly, then gently urged her young protégé to move forward once more. “Each year since I became Muchin, I have prayed for wisdom to reveal what I know. Each time Syansheng Ivar came to me, asking to know if the Heir yet lived, I struggled whether to tell him the truth, and each year, the God held me mute; speaking patience to my heart. I have prepared many messages to send; summons to bring the Heir back to us, but each year it finds its way into the fire as I find I cannot send it.” She glanced at Riona who was mute with shock. She sighed and shook her head. “Syansheng Daniel Il Sieah is here to see me this year in his father’s place. He, like his father, will ask me if she lives, and where she might be. Tell me, Riona, what should I tell him?”

Riona, her mind still reeling, could not speak at first. The implications of Kierlian’s revelation were staggering. “Why do you ask me this?” She whispered at last.
Kierlian stopped walking and turned to her. The older shisuta’s blue eyes were sharp and clear. “You are the only laoshu I have ever taken on, Riona.” She told the girl. “Did you never wonder why?”

Riona could do little but shake her head.

“I knew your mother well; she was but a few years behind me during our earliest studies here at the temple. I respected her well for the choice she made to defy the Usurper. When your father sent you to us, I watched you carefully and saw how the God blessed all you did. Each one of us has a destiny, and yours became apparent to me very quickly. I have kept the secret of the Heir in my heart for nearly eighteen years and I believe that the God brought you to me so that I might fulfill the final step of my destiny and in turn, grant you the ability to take the first step in yours. For the first time in eighteen years, I did not prepare a message. Night after night, I dream of the Heir and I believe she is very close to us, closer than even I can say. The God is guiding her footsteps, even as he guides yours and mine.”

“What do you mean to tell me all of this?” Riona’s confusion consumed her.

“Elizabeth Il Sieah, who will be the First of that name, Heir to the throne of Correll, has been eighteen years without understanding of her own duty. She will need much guidance to become the queen that she is destined to be. Her heart belongs to the God and I have faith that she knows His Voice even now, though she may not yet know His Name. She will need a teacher and a companion to tell her all that she must needs know. The last four years, I have tutored you in the faith of the Order of the Saint. You have absorbed all that I set before you and I know that though your knowledge is yet incomplete, your faith is strong and you will be well-suited to accompany the Princess to her new home.”

Riona’s mouth dried. “You would have me leave you, jeje?” She asked. “You would send me forth so unprepared for such a monumental task?”

Kierlian smiled at her, raising a hand to her face and cupping her chin. “You have been as a daughter to me, Riona, and I would not, truly, wish that you leave me. Were it my choice, you would remain at my side forever. Yet, the God gave you to me, but only for a time. You must, as must we all, be open to the God’s Will for your life.”

Tears shimmered in Riona’s eyes as she bowed her head. “His Will is my will, jeje.” She said at last. “I will do as He asks.”

Kierlian sighed, a sound of relief. “Then, all will be as He ordains it.” She glanced at the sun, which was nearing its zenith. “Come, Syansheng Daniel will soon arrive and we must spend time in the presence of the God, meditating on His Will to determine the right course of action to take.” With one hand on Riona’s arm and the other resting on her cane, Kierlian set them in motion once more, their hearts and minds following the direction of their steps toward the (sanctuary).