26ish

Tsuda wound her way through the streets and headed for the river. The rock was bathed in sunlight, and she could see that the little winged figure was still perched on the edge where she’d left it the previous night. She picked it up gingerly; it was still warm from the sun, and had baked dry. She turned it over carefully in her hands, running her fingers over the wings.
Instead of throwing it into the river as she had planned, she carefully carried it home. The sun was still above the tops of the trees as she built a small fire in her own section of the garden. She had laid down a deep layer of sand and built the fire on that, tending it until it was little more than glowing coals. She reached down carefully and set the figure amidst the coals, as she had seen the potters do with some of their simpler pots, and raked the coals over it. She kept the fire hot until the sun was gone; she quickly raked sand over the coals to hide the blaze and went indoors to dinner.
Tsuda lay in her own hammock under the stars, dreaming fitfully.

She walked a stone pathway in the enclosed garden; green leaves spread on every side and delicate blossoms waved in the breeze, so different from the bold flowers of Leti. She turned and it was night in the garden. The two moons leapt across the sky, and silhouetted a dark figure; his eyes blazed green from out of shadowed sockets, and she cried out. Lightning of red and blue flickered across the sky, and the garden stood dry and dead in the sunlight. The wind blew dried leaves down the pavement towards a doorway, and she followed it. As she went through the doorway, she saw a figure at the end of the hallway; her face was a golden mask and her hair elaborately braided. The ground split open, and Tsuda fell, hitting the water with a splash.

She struggled to swim, until she woke and found that the waves were nothing more than the netting of the hammock. In the east the sun was just peeking over the horizon. She slipped to the ground, and made her way across the dewy garden to the spot where she had buried the coals in the sand. The sand seemed to be glowing faintly in the early morning light, and Tsuda assmed that it was still hot from the banked fire.

She found the rake, and gently brushed the coals back until the little figure lay within sight. She took two sticks and maneuvered it unto the sand, where she let it cool in the early morning breeze. After an hour or so she was able to handle it, and the cool clay felt smooth against her fingers. The little form seemed almost alive, desperate to wing its way out of her grasp and up to the sky.
“Mede, look what I made yesterday!” Tsuda thrust the little statue into her friend’s hands, setting down her water jar with a thump on the ground.
“Oh, let me see!” Mede took the figure, and examined it carefully, eyes glowing with delight. “Tsuda this is wonderful! I havent’ seen anything like it since we left…home. But I thought that the Astaldak did not make any figurative art?”
Tsuda, shrugged slightly. “I suppose not. I think the priests think that depicting anything with a spirit is an affront to the spirit. It’s not good to use material things to show the immaterial. But I wasn’t trying to make anything or any one in particular, so I guess it’s alright.” She fidgeted slightly, and added, “All the same, I’d appreciate it if you didn’t tell anyone about it. I don’t need anyone checking into my life right now.”
Mede nodded, and cupped the figure in her palms. “Kio came earlier today. He looked at my foot and said that if I’m careful, I’ll be able to start walking around again tomorrow. Do you want to go to the market with me? Our stock of food has run a little low since I haven’t been able to go buy the things we need, and I’d like to prepare some proper food for my father. He promised me that he’d come home from the temple to sleep at least three nights this week.” Mede lowered her voice. “He also said he would teach me a little more about how to reclaim memories of previous lives. He didn’t want to teach me any of that since it’s more risky here, but I persuaded him. I told him I’d do it on my own if he didn’t, and that seemed to scare him a little. I’ll let you know what I find out. I know there are some rituals that are more powerful when two people participate, instead of just one.”

After bathing the wound on Mede’s foot again, Tsuda settled in her accustomed place on the bench by the hammock. “So, have you found anything interesting in the scrolls since yesterday?”

Mede shook her head. “No, just the bits I read to you. Nothing else I read seems familiar at all.” She shifted her weight to get more comfortable and turned to look at Tsuda. “That’s part of what I want my father to teach me; I think I can learn to remember that past life, and see if you are there, since you remember some of the same things. I don’t know how we’d recognize ourselves, but…maybe there’s a way.”
Tsuda nodded, eyeing the scrolls nervously. “I…Mede, I want to be able to read them for myself. It’s not that I don’t trust what you read, I just…want to be able to see it with my own eyes.”

The other girl nodded. “I think so…it may take a while, though. Do you know your letters yet?” Tsuda shook her head. “Hmm, well, that complicates things a little. But don’t worry. We’ll start after market tomorrow.”
After Tsuda left to go home, Mede sat in her hammock, staring up at the sky and thinking. She heard a rustle, and sat up to see her father making his way through the garden. He looked tired, and his brown hair was mussed.
“Father, did you go another night without sleeping? You’ve got to stop this. There is time enough for your work without losing sleep over it too.” She blinked back the tears that suddenly prickled her eyelids. “I have never asked you to spend more time with me; I know your studies are important. But you don’t have to do this. You can study at the temple and still come home at night. How often are you sleeping there? Five, six nights a week? “
He held up a hand, trying to stall her questions. “I just came to see how your foot is doing. I saw Kio yesterday, and he said that you should be walking around again by tomorrow. I’m glad to hear it.”
“Yes, I will be walking again tomorrow. Tsuda and I are going to the market, since we are nearly out of food for the week. Not that you would have noticed,” Mede said tiredly, rubbing her fingers across her forehead.
Her father sighed, and leaned heavily against one of the trees. “Mede, you know that I was never a good father. I am a scholar by nature, and I find it difficult to involve myself in the lives of others. Your mother was the only person I’ve ever met who could break into my little world and she is gone. If I were a better man, I could learn to be a father to you, but you’ve known for a long time that it is not going to happen. I wish it was otherwise. But I am what I am. Perhaps in the next life, I will have learned enough to open up more, but not in this one.” He kept his eyes on the ground, and did not see the single tear slip down his daughtter’s cheek.
Her voice did not waver as she spoke. “I accepted that a long time ago. I know you, and I love you for who you are. I am just afraid for your health. You will waste away if you do not remember to eat and sleep more often.”
She reached out a small warm hand, and covered his cool hand with hers. “Besides, I am happy to have a scholar for a father. You taught me to read, and you have given me the temple training that I would have received if we had stayed in the Selides. How can I not be grateful for that. Very well, if you will not come back more often, then please make me a trade. I want to learn how to do what you do. Not comparing the stories, I can already do that. But the going inwards, going back. I know you can do it, and I can do a little. But I need to know more. There’s something important that I must find out.”
He looked into her eyes, then, and saw her sincereity and resolve. “You know how dangerous it is for you to know such things. They will kill you if they find out that we have the temple training.”
She nodded, and he let out a sigh. “Very well, then. I am here now, and there is no time like the present. But here, you will need to lie down. Make yourself as comfortable and limp as you can; the less you can feel your present surroundings, the easier it is to go back.”

Mede leaned back into the cushions and let herself go limp. “Good, good…Now. After a few moments, you will not be able to hear my voice anymore, so I’m going to tell you a little bit now. You’ll want to focus on the memories and images you have. Let them flow into your mind. Soon you should be able to see through the eyes of the memory; look around you and see what you can find. Try to feel the sensations that are present: if the sun is shining, try to feel its warmth. If you are near the ocean, try to smell the spray. One last thing: you may see something disturbing, or significant, something related to the lessons your soul was learning. When you see something like that, the first impulse is to wake up. You must control yourself, and stay in the memory. Jolting out of it can be jarring, and make it harder ot go back. The goal is to eventually establish a permanent connection, so that all the memories of all the previous lives are at your disposal.”

She opened her eyes for a moment. “Are you able to do that yet? Remember everything without going into the trance?”

He shook his head. “No, not yet. It was easier at the temple; these things can be done in groups if the previous lives are known to have linked, and there are simply more resources. Now, close your eyes, and let yourself slip backward…let everything go…”

Mede heard her father’s voice clearly at first, but it slowly faded into a low murmur in the back of her mind. She felt weightless, as if she was floating on the waves in a quiet bay. Flickers of images passed before her eyes like usual, and she swam down towards her center. At the core of her being, she found a tunnel and entered it. The sides of the tunnel seemed made of watery images; she found herself being pulled towards one of them. She could see a wide expanse of sand through the gate of a small garden…a stone well…a young woman with dark hair and purple eyes.
At the sight of those brilliant eyes, Mede nearly jerked awake, and felt the image slipping away. But she remembered her father’s warning, and calmed herself again. The image swam into sight again, clearer this time…larger…she could feel the hot wind off the sand, like an open oven…the smell of a garden, green leaves warmed by the sun…The breeze tossing the dark locks of the young woman standing before her…

"Ved..." The young woman whispered.

"Yes, lady?" Mede responded, taking note of her name in this life.

"Ved, tell me who you are."

"I am Ved, lady, manager of the household of Mushad, in Kemal, in the land of Kedon. which gives tribute and homage to the priests of the Temaltan isles." She spoke quietly and evenly, revealing nothing in her tone or expression.

"No,. I want to know who you really are. I will tell no-one, and will never ask again, but Ved, I must know." She squeezed the woman's hand gently, and looked bak out towards the setting sun.

"I am Madak, of the house of Lothel, in the Selides islands. I am a priestess, and was being prepared to become the head of my order." Her pale fingers twitched nervously as she continued. "Every year, in the month of Temala, we go out on our temple boats to the spot where Suktis fell into the sea. My people fled from Suktis when she fell, lead by a priestess of the Great Temple there. When they reached the Selides, and found shelter, they thanked the gods for sparing them, and promised to return and pray for forgiveness for the sins of Suktis. We return every year, say our prayers, and send our sacrifices down into the depths."

She looked down, and clasped the young woman's hand tightly with both of hers. "It is always a dnagerous mission. The warrior priests do all they can to stop us. Their ship approached as we were beginning the rite; we had just enough time to finish the prayers before they attacked. There was nothing we could do, and they killed my compnanions. I was knocked into the water, and hid underneath the wreckage of our ship until they were gone. I clung to a bit of deck that floated by, and managed to make it into a raft. I was picked up by your husband's ship two days later.

Mede’s grip on the memory weakened, and she felt it slipping away from her. As she flew upwards toward her consciousness, she desperately tried to remember what she had seen. Her eyes flickered open, and she stirred. Wincing, she sat up. “Why am I so stiff?” she asked.
“Well, you were lying there for three hours.”
“Three hours! It can’t have been. I couldn’t have been gone more than twenty minutes.” She stretched her arms and rubbed the back of her neck.
“Time runs differently when you’re going back. When you loosen yourself from your present time and circumstances, you loosen yourself from the passage of time as well. You’ll have to get used to it if you want to continue your studies in this area.” His voice was calm and measured as he examined her face, checking each of her eyes. “Good, it looks like you are intact, and made a safe journey. Do you remember anything of what you saw?”

Mede nodded. “I remember. There was a garden surrounded by a stone wall…and the desert beyond…and a young woman…Yes, her! She had purple eyes, I remember! Dark hair and purple eyes.”

“Hmmm….desert…not Ersa, then…none of the Selides islands…not likely to be Suktis, but near the beach it’s always possible…I think your best bet is Kedon. It’s mostly sand there, and has been for as long as we’ve had records.”

“But her eyes…her eyes were purple!”

“We’ve always known that a few of the survivors of Suktis landed in Kedon. It’s not too surprising that the eyes should show up. However, I think it highly significant that you were connected to her. Perhaps you are her companion in life. The question remains, who is the teacher, and who the learner…?” He wandered away through the garden, and Mede let him go without a word. He would probably stay up all night again, but she had done her best.
But the purple eyes…”Tsuda?” she whispered to the night sky, but the stars shone down in silence.