Salt Lotus/Eclipse-3
By MunificentPerception Back to: /Night-3
Inside the tea hut…
Fia’s hands trembled with restrained anger and fear as she knelt on the floor at the room’s center. Her characteristic calm had fled, and her inner self railed that her life should be made forfeit so near to freedom. Though her face remained composed, primal Essence surged within her body as a fundamental urge towards continued existence. Behind her, the floorboards creaked softly as Leda shifted under the weight of her armor, waiting for the signal to take Fia’s life. The young Dragon-Blooded had been furious when Lord Sesus had explained to her that she had been unknowingly entertained by one of the Anathema. On Fia’s left, at the back of the long room, Sesus Bera bided his time, seemingly at his leisure. The Dragon-Blooded lord reclined on two large pillows and watched his daughter’s maidservants on the other side of Fia perform a simple, if enthusiastic harmony. His astrologer sat beside him, cross legged and with perfect posture.
Hard-eyed men and swaggering women entered the hut and made their way among the pillars along the sides of the room so as not to interfere with the entertainment in progress. They delivered whispered reports to Lord Sesus’ majordomo. Normally, the light-skinned, high-collared man would relay a summary, but on occasion he invited a courier to Sesus Bera’s raised platform to explain hers or his observations in tones inaudible to Fia. Orders were issued, and the messengers departed.
Aside from the passing couriers, Fia was left with only two polished pillars and an empty expanse of wall to contemplate. She had been told not to move, and it had been explained to her that she would forfeit a hand and a foot if she stirred from her position. She had much experience in sitting silently and still, but none in facing her imminent end. At one time she had thought that she would greet death gracefully, thankful to be released from the bonds of a lifetime spent in slavery. Now, unexpectedly, she wished desperately to live. Even in her fear, she could no longer abandon hope for the here and now.
Her heart stirred as the young Twilight scholar passed before her, apparently on his way to address Lord Sesus. He encountered a messenger who was departing, and as the two walked by each other, the courier’s long, curved dagger disappeared from its sheath. Fia blinked, she had been looking directly at the two, and yet no one, including the messenger, seemed to have noticed what had just transpired. The young man moved on out of her field of vision, and as the maidservants continued to sing, she could hear the scholar speaking in an earnest voice. Bera’s laugh rumbled in response as he dismissed whatever suggestion the youth had made. Fia could hear her fellow Solar walk away and take a place with servants waiting alongside the wall behind her, behind Leda as well.
The maidservants’ song faltered as dawn-like sunlight illuminated the hut’s rice paper door, silhouetting the guards outside. In an instant of panic, Fia looked to her left. Sesus Bera was sitting bolt upright, his still-sheathed sword in one hand, and the other hand on the hilt, prepared to draw and strike in a single move. He nodded to his daughter; then both his and the astrologer’s expressions collapsed into shock.
From behind, Fia the young Twilight scholar spoke.
“Don’t move Leda.”
The air-aspected’s sharp intake of breath was audible over the screams of men and calls for reinforcement.
Next: /Dawn-4 Back to: /Night-3
Back to: Salt Lotus
This is a work of fan fiction set in White Wolf’s Exalted fantasy setting and is no way meant to challenge White Wolf’s copy rights or trademarks. The characters Joyous Gift, Mirror Flag, Ribbons of Sorrow, Shield of a Different Day, Spinner of Glorious Tales and Weaver of Dreams of Victory, as well as the city Great Forks are trademarked White Wolf Property.
