33ish

“Can we wind this vine up and around the statue,” Tsuda asked a gardener, twisting the woody tendril to demonstrate the effect she was after. She took another small lamp from a pile that sat on a nearby patch of grass, and hung it from the outstretched fingers of one statue. It was morning, but the guests would be arriving around sundown, and the party would continue late into the night. ]
Tsuda was so nervous that he hands trembled while she adjusted the wick on the lamp. “There, that one should be ready, now where is the next one?” She turned to pick up another lamp, but before she could do so, she found one of the small lights pressed into her hand. She looked up to see Mede smiling there, with her finacee Jukad standing next to her. “We came to see if you need any help! Is there anything we can do?”
The first girl nodded, and gestured toward the pile of lamps. “These need to go up before tonight. Anywhere that will cast lighnt and look nice will be fine. “ She ran her hands through her hair, and looked around, trying to decide what needed to be done next. Mede handed the lamp to Jukad, and said in a low voice to Tsuda, “It’s alright, stop worrying. The monks aren’t due to stop back by here for another month at the very earliest, and they have not been very prompt about keeping their rounds ever since their numbers split. I have even heard rumors that they are being driven out of some of the central islands, and it may be that we will see them overthrown in the end. The only worry you will have tonight is how to find the time to speak to everyone who wants to praise your work.” She smiled, ginger hair falling into her face, and turned back to the lamps.
The sun was just touching the tops of the trees when the guests began arriving at the Ambassador's residence. It was one of the largest buildings on the island; the ambassador had built it outside of Leti, saying that he didn't care to be surrounded by the hubbub of the larger city all the time. He had a large house in the city, but spent as much time in the house in Leti as possible. Many times, the children of the village had watched as the torches were lit in the walk that led to the ornate garden, and seen guests from the city entering in rich fabrics and glittering jewels. But this evening even the children were invited, and the gates of the garden were open for all to enter.
The rosy red light of the sunset turned the sandstone walls to a glowing orange, and a servant ran up the path, lighting the torches that hung in metal posts along the way. Tsuda stood at the gate, watching the crowds stream in. She smiled, but felt a tight knot of fear in the pit of her stomach. Even though the small sculptures had been successful, she had never shown most people her large figurative statues.
As she turned back towards the garden, she saw Kaedti walking towards her, resplendent in her blue robes. She wore the typical skirt of the Astaldi, but over the strip of cloth wrapped around her torso, she had draped a length of fabric. It was richly beaded, and swathed her shoulders with blue before sweeping up and wrapping around her hair. Tsuda thought she looked less like a child than she had ever seen her; Kaedti was in her element, and definately looked the part of the hostess as she greeted the guests. When she reached Tsuda, she pulled her aside, and whispered, "Doesn't everything look wonderful? My father wanted everything to be perfect, and everyone seems so excited to be here! Come on into the garden! Dont' you want to see how everyone reacts?"
"I'm not sure," Tsuda whispered back. "What if they hate them? What if they think I'm mocking them? What if--"
"Oh, dont' be silly. We kept your request, only a few people know for sure where the statues came from. But I'm sure everyone knows anyway, since you are the onyl sculptor for miles around. And moving them was a rather large and...well, visible...operation, even if they were kept covered." she smiled, and put a hand on Tsuda's arm. "Don't worry. We made sure all the preperations were made when the monks were elsewhere. As nearly as we can tell, they know nothing of it. Relax. come in, and see."
Tsuda and Kaedti walked through the grassy lawn, and come upon the garden proper. There were eleven large statues dotted around the garden grounds--Tsuda had planned to add a twelfth, but had run out of time. The last light of sunset was fading, and the stars were coming out in the dark sky above the garden. The light from the torches cast broad shining circles on the grass, and each flower seemed edged in gold.
Her eyes flickered over the guests present, and slowly the delight on their faces seemed to sink in. She saw a couple stadning before one of the larger statues. It was a figure craved from a large piece of driftwood that she had found on the beach, and it had taken her the better part of a day to lug the wood up to her own garden. After months of careful scraping and sanding, it had taken the form of a young man; he stood calmly, staring outward with open eyes, and in his hand he clutched an open seashell. A river poured out of the shell and made a pool at his feet. The figure was simple and stylized, standing calmly like a column, but something in it gave it a hint of life, and the overall effect was stunning. The man and his wife seemed captivated by the image, and Tsuda’s heart rose. She moved on through the garden, and found a large vine of winecups, just beginning to turn red. As she knelt to smell the small flowers, she saw the ambassador walking up to a man in a rich red robe. She recognized him as one of the members of the tribunal, and crouched lower near the bush. Tsuda berated herself for eavesdropping but couldn’t bring herself to leave.
“So, Mei Kel, what do you think of my country gardens? I was so pleased when I heard that you would be able to attend.” The ambassador’s voice was loud and booming, somehow seeming to match his red hair and beard.
The other man took a moment before responding. He stood in sharp contrast to the ambassador: Kel was trim and elegant in his build, and he was usually silent, preferring thought to speech. His skin was so dark that at times it seemed that he was wrapped in shadow, even when he stood in the light. Now in the torchlit garden, Tsuda could see the flames reflecting off his skin.
“I am very impressed, lord Maedik. The lighting is excellent, your vines and flowers are incomparable, but I am very curious as to where you procured the statues. My people do not believe in making images of soulish things, you see, or at least, have not done so in a very long time. Since the first contact with the Temaltans, I believe, or soon after. Yet most of these appear to have been carved from the local sandstone, and a few made from the driftwood that washes up on our beaches so frequently. Tell me, where did you find them?”
Maedik chuckled, and shook his head. “No, I cannot reveal my sources, or soon everyone would have statues like them, and mine would no longer be unique! But you are correct, the artist is a native to this island, and has asked not to have his name revealed; after all, the Temaltans might not approve. But I think we are safe from their prying eyes here, and you still have not told me what you think.”
Tsuda held her breath, waiting to hear what Kel would say. He kept his usual silence for a few moments, then she heard him laugh under his breath. “Yes, Maedik, they are stunning. In my youth, I traveled quite a lot over the face of Ersada, and saw many statues in other lands. These have a wonderful simplicity, and a striking sense of presence. One almost feels that they are acolytes standing in some temple. As if the great dome of the sky was the dome of their temple.”
Maedik and Kel began to walk around to examine the statues, and their conversation was soon lost to Tsuda, but the compliment to her work continued to ring in her ears.
The sun was completely set now, and the sky overhead was dark save for the stars. At the horizon, a faint silver gleam could be seen where Lotha would soon rise. She heard the sound of running feet behind her, and before she could turn, she found herself caught around the shoulders by Mede.
“Tsuda, it’s beautiful! I can’t believe how wonderful everything looks! The lights are wonderful, and the statues look like they were made to go here! I even saw Mei Kel looking at them!”
“I know, “ Tsuda whispered, taking her friend’s arm, “But I still feel uneasy about it. Something just doesn’t feel quite right. I don’t know what it is.”
“I know how nervous you were about this, but the night will be over soon enough and then you’ll wish that you had spent more time enjoying it. Please, Tsuda, just…” Her voice faded away as Jukad caught up to them and whispered something in Mede’s ear.
She darted her eyes to the gates of the garden, and saw a long line of black-robed men making their way towards the celebration. The music of the flutes died away as they entered, and conversation ceased. For a moment, silence fell upon the scene under the stars.
“Why the sudden silence?” called out Vedek, green eyes shining in the light from the torches. “After all, we have come here to be one with your people, should we not celebrate together? Unless of course, you are celebrating the death of our people in the central islands? Or perhaps you are rejoicing because of the riots in the channel islands which have left many of our company homeless?”
Maedik stepped forward calmly, facing Vedek without any sign of fear on his broad face. “We do not rejoice in any such things. No-one here is happy for the death of anyone else, and you know that we have never had any quarrel with you.”
“You are well-paid not to, Lord Maedik.. You continually forget, you are not Astaldi. The Astaldak lands have always been eager to see us go from here, despite all that we have done for them.” The other monks began to spread out across the green lawn, and the guests retreated. Only Maedik held his ground. Tsuda and Mede were somewhat hidden by one of the staatues, but both knew that Vedek would soon find them. Mede looked at Tsuda, and wondered if one of them would leave this life that night. She whispered a quick prayer for both of them, and glanced over at the disc of Lotha that was beginning to peek over the tops of the trees: the moon’s cold blue light seemed to cast the tableau in an unreal light.
“We have given you peace, security, freedom to live and trade. We have brought you the truth sought out by millennia of our philosophy, and you repay us by celebrating the deaths of our monks, by creating a garden of blasphemous images that mock the struggle of all spirit to free itself from earth? And how did you think we would respond? Did you really think that we would simply turn away and run?” Vedek waved an arm; with a crash, one of the statues toppled to the ground, pulled down by two of the monks. It lay in three pieces at the foot of the pedestal; the monks threw the pieces against the ground until nothing was left but rubble.
Tsuda let out a small cry as the statue hit the ground, and turned away. She heard the dull crunch as the sandstone crumbled, and the soft thumps as each piece landed in the soft grass.
Vedek moved to the wooden statue of the young man, and drawing his sword, slashed it viciously across the face, leaving the blade stuck in the weathered wood. Mede heard the swish and thwack of the blade cutting into th wood and winced, remembering another sword, in a sunlit courtyard and blood falling onto dry stones.
In a moment, the other statues were under attack, until one of the monks was knocked to his feet by a flash of blue. Kaedti stood over the stunned man, eyes flashing. “Leave them alone, you sektha!”
Maedik shouted out, “No! Kaedti,stay back!” but the monk was on his feet, eyes flashing. As Vedek raised his voice to warn him to hold his temper, the man struck Kaedti across the face with the face of his fist, knocking her to the ground. Maedik roared in rage, and ran across the lawn to defend his daughter, and in a moment, the garden was a whirling mass of bodies; the unarmed Astaldi trying to bring the monks down with sheer force of numbers, and the monks lashing out with sword and fist, feet flying through the air to land ferocious kicks on their opponents.
As Vedek swung in a wide circle with his sword, he looked up, scanning the crowd for any sight of the Suktisian girl. At first he could not see her, but in a lull in the battle, he saw a flash of white hair as she darted across the garden to kneel beside the ambassador’s daughter. “Get her!” he shouted, gesturing wildly, and kicking away a woman who had latched onto his shoulder. “Get the one with white hair, and her friend! They are the ones who are the cause of all of this!”
He broke free from the struggle around him, and ran across the garden, but was too late. Judak had slipped away when the monks first came, and discovered a place where the wall of the garden might be climbed, and had gone back to find Mede.
“Please, Mede, go; they may find this part of the wall at any moment, and then you will never get out. I will find you again when this is all over, but please go now.”
Mede shook her head, and pulled away. “No, I can’t go without Tsuda. Help me find her, and then I swear to you that I will go.”
It took them a few moments to catch Tsuda’s eye; her vision was dim, blurred by the tears, but she finally saw them beckoning to her. She pulled Kaedti to safety under one of the large bushes, and prayed that she wouldn’t be seen, then ran across the lawn to where Judak and Mede waited. In a moment, they were winding through the undergrowth at the neglected corners of the garden where the vegetables were grown. Once or twice Tsuda caught her foot on a dried vine, but she kept going, following Mede and Judak. When they arrived at the wall, Judak helped Tsuda over first, then circled his arms around Mede’s waist. “Please, go, I will find you when this is over. Right now, I want to know that you are safe, and well away from here.”
Mede touched his cheek gently, and smiled. “I promise to stay safe. I will take Tsuda, and hide on one of the central islands, if we can get there. Find me there.” And then in a swish of fabric, she was over the wall, and running through the silent streets, close behind Tsuda.
Vedek yelled in frustration as he saw them disappear into the dark growth of the garden, and tried to make his way towards them, but the press of bodies held him back. When he finally reached the wall, Tsuda and Mede were gone.
He eyed the dust of the streets, and noticed that a small cloud of dust was settling in an alley that led towards the sea. He turned down the alley, and saw a set of hurried footprints in the sand ahead. He followed their trail, moving as fast as he dared, not wanting to lose the trail in eagerness. As he emerged from the alley to the cliffs above the sea, he saw two forms dash across the sand, carrying a large tree branch between them. He slid down the cliff, and began to run after them as fast as his booted feet could carry him.
“Hurry!” Mede yelled, as they tossed the log into the waves, and swam after it. “Push it out further; we have to get beyond the pull of the waves, or he’ll be able to follow us. Our only hope is to drift farther out than he can swim, and hope that we catch a current before the other monks can find us in their ship.”
Tsuda nodded, and coughed as the sea water flooded her mouth. The two women pushed the log in front of them, kicking as hard as the could to make headway against the waves. Vedek paused on the shore long enough to strip off his tunic and boots, knowing that they would only slow him down. He ran into the surf and plunged into the waves, striking out with a strong swimmer’s stroke.
Looking behind her, Mede could see the white foam splash up as Vedek’s arms cut through the waves. The foam shone almost pure white in the moonlight, and she increased her kicks. “Keep kicking, Tsuda, he may yet catch up.”
Vedek’s arms were burning with pain, but he shook it off and forced himself forward through the surf. He could see the log just ahead of him, and the feet of the nearest girl were only a few yards out of reach.
“Keep kicking! Keep it moving! Only a little further, and we’ll hit the current!” Tsuda shouted, glancing ahead. The edge of the current was a few yards ahead, curving through the sea like a pathway on the waters.
The monk’s lungs ached for more air than he could give them; he lunged forward, fingers brushing the heel of one of the girls. He was so close that he could hear her scream at the touch of his cold fingers.
Mede shoved the log further ahead and swam to catch up to it, adrenaline pulsing through her as she drew her feet out of his reach.
Vedek thrust forward through the water once more, and again felt his fingers close around a thin heell; but before he could bring his other hand around to grab the entire foot, he felt the heel jerked out of his hand. He looked up, flinging his sopping hair out of his face; as the golden light of Lede flooded over the face of the waters, the log moved into the current, the two women still clinging tightly to its branches. He could see them pick up speed, and knew that he would never catch them now.
He could feel his legs like lead, barely able to move anymore. Vedek rolled onto his back, and concentrated on breathing. He had no energy for anything more, and his lungs burned. The twin moons shone down on the three in the water as the waves carried them further apart.