As is the Mother, so is her Daughter.
31st of Saun
Arc 711
(Obriviyanah: age 14)
(Zihaqihs: age 11)
It was quieter here.
In Uleuda, it was quiet everywhere. Hidden within shared Yludih mindscape, their sanctuary city was a dazzling, crystalline place that would still the heart of any poet. Winding continuously through the diamond spires was a persistent song of slow, percussive chimes. Meanwhile, its people moved along in slow, uneasy rhythms. Each of them were crafted of the same glimmering crystal as the structures in they built together.
Several times, Ylanikinteh had taken Obriviyanah on awkward tours through the city, introducing him to older Yludih. Most looked very much the same. Others were shrouded and deeply colorful.
He thought it was strange that in the waking world they each had so many faces, but in this one, it was difficult to tell them apart.
But mostly it was quieter here, in the Crystal Forest beyond the amphitheatre. Obriviyanah sat on the long, smooth incline of a gigantic jutting crystal shard. He gazed out over the hatched skyline of the landscape into the black of the nothingness beyond.
He wasn’t sure how long he’d been reclining here. A few hours maybe?
The Yludih, he had quickly learned, were a people of suffering. Most had lost close family, others were rejected or betrayed by those they trusted. Although Obriviyanah had watched the murder of his own mother, a story he was reluctant to tell, it seemed not to matter here. His tragedy was only another drop in the well.
Well, so what? He had nothing to prove. He didn’t want sympathy, nor did he have the energy to sympathize with anyone else. Obriviyanah felt just as alone here as he did in the waking world.
At least he did, until his solitude was interrupted by a small voice piercing through the soft din of gentle chiming.
Obriviyanah ignored it at first, not certain what he was hearing.
“Mom?”
Mom?
Obriviyanah propped himself up on an elbow and leaned over the side of the crystal he’d perched on. A little Yludih wandered beneath him, twisting around frantically as she searched the diamond maze around them.
“Mother?”
“You shouldn’t wander out here too far,” Obriviyanah called down from his ledge. “Not that it’s dangerous, but the nothingness is…”
Well, he didn’t know. But it felt unsafe.
Obriviyanah pushed himself up, rolled onto his knees at the edge of his platform, and then dropped down to the ground below. The force of the impact threw him to one knee, but it only hurt a little.
“Ow.” He stood up and dusted himself off. As if there was anything to dust. “Are you lost?”
