Ashamin

When only three arrived, the Haruspex wanted to be disappointed but could only be relieved. A small gathering was an easier one to manage, and he was too emotionally drained to handle any more social interaction than that.

The first was Ki'irha, strong and polite as always. It was strange to see her when the sun was still setting. She was a creature encountered only at night, a sliver of that patterned sky herself. The Haruspex saw her now as if she were out of her element entirely.

And she was, in some ways. Not a scholar but here, to study gods with him. Or maybe she was there for some other reason--one that didn't occur to Ashamin. Maybe she was just passing through. Of course, he was getting ahead of himself. Only a moment to listen, a second after murmuring a gentle "Ki'irha," and she was explaining herself.

He wanted to draw closer, pull her into his cave with a hug of the neck and his own warmth, but he heard another and saw the faint spilling of Lochan's smoke at his own doorstep. Two could not be greeted as such at once.

Eden arrived, Lochan beside her, and apparently seemed flustered. He nickered, casting both mares a warm look. "Eden, it is good to see you as well. Both of you please, come in. I was hoping to hold a meeting," he said.

But before he could provide any further information, his gaze was caught. If the sunset had camouflaged Eden, then Hotaru was almost invisible. He could only make her out by the faint shimmering of light around her frame before she drew closer. It was Alice, really, that gave Hotaru away as his lady and not yet another ghostly visitor.

"My lady. I'm honored you've joined us for this," Ashamin said. His voice was diplomatic, perhaps more so than needed, but he felt as if he had to overcompensate, given the familiarity of their last meeting. She had told him so much, and stayed the night as if his company was a necessity. But what did such a need mean?

Ashamin hadn't the heart to tell Hotaru that the night was in fact the time when he was most awake, the hours in which he and Lochan traveled across the Basin's icy expanse in pursuit of further understanding. "Of course," he had told her, "stay."

And then, eyes wide and heart struggling to keep up with his head, he had watched her all night as she had slept.

What did it mean, now, that she had come? Surely she was just showing support as a herd leader, he had mentioned to her that a meeting would come shortly after Tallsun's arrival. Surely he should show nothing other than the stiff acknowledgement he gave her, now.

As if sensing his bonded's confusion, Lochan drew closer to the painted buck and let dark mists circle the haruspex's socks. Ashamin stood still on shaking legs, feeling pain along the red burn mark that would never leave him. Perhaps even just three mares was too much, for this evening.

Still, there was nothing he could do about it. He had to do his job, he had to speak up, and he had to teach or at the very least learn. Anxiously, with a flick of his tail, he gathered himself.

"Thank you all for coming," he began with a nervous glance towards his bonded. "I would like to discuss the gods. Helovia's four deities are great beings, but I fear the Basin's knowledge of some of their reach is lacking. I think it would be wise to gather as much information as we can about the gods, especially now with one still unaccounted for and the other three arriving under such strange circumstances." It was an ominous and unpleasant truth, but one nonetheless. The rift and the gods return (though no one had really noticed them being gone) was troubling.

"If we could all perhaps share what we know, I think it would help us begin," he offered. Ashamin was used to silence, but when there were so many other present and in such a small space he began to fear it. He thought of Ode, the young stallion with so little and then so much to say at the last seer's meeting. Now, he was absent--Ashamin wondered if that was a fault of his own.

Surely it must have been. Weren't most things?



Holding my heart
cradling my head
raising the youth up
in empty beds