Thear Advent Story: Orla (parts 1 – 5)

[k_a_webb]

Orla wrapped an arm around her waist as she looked at the priest of Anubis who had led the winter solstice ritual. He wasn’t a true priest, but one of the many fake priests who had no connection to his deity, and for that reason she didn’t think he had the right to lead a ritual. Unfortunately there was nothing she could do about it. Artemis had told Orla, several times, that she needed to keep her head down and not draw attention to herself in order to keep herself safe. As the only person in her village who knew of the existance of North Square, and had some warning that change was coming soon, she had to be there for her people when they needed her.

The priest of Anubis was one of the leaders of a Tein-Igni movement that was said to have been created as a way of protecting their race from the Dorma supremacist movement. Orla understood their point of view. She didn’t want to live under the thumb of the Dorma, and their image of Herne, but the Anubis movement was no better. They looked at the Dorma and the Uisdro as though they were less than the Tein-Igni, even though the Uisdro had been their trading partners for a very long time.

“Good morning, Orla,” a voice said from beside her, making her jump.

Shaking her head, Orla turned to look at Yannis. “Make some noise next time.”

He held out a mug. “Peace offering.” He smiled at her. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”

Orla smiled back. “I know, Yannis.” She took the mug gratefully. “I was just thinking.”

“About?”

“Priests, priestesses, and why I have to keep my mouth shut.” She sighed. “I don’t like being in this position.”

“If I could have taken the burden for you I would, but you are the chosen one.”

Rolling her eyes, Orla sipped her soup. “I am not the chosen one.”

“How many true priests and priestesses are there?”

“There are currently ten deities and each has one priest and one priestess, so twenty, plus the priest and priestess of Hecate.”

“Do you know who they are?”

“Not yet, Yannis, but I will do before we have to leave for North Square. The more I know the more people I put in danger if someone finds out what I am.”

“Have people really died because they’re a true priest or priestess?”

“Artemis tells me that they have, but I have no way of knowing for sure.” Orla looked at Yannis curiously. “Why are you asking so many questions?”

“My cousin, Logan, is one of the High Priests and I worry about him because I think he might be a true priest.”

Orla thought for a moment. She could remember Logan, but she hadn’t seen him for a long time and din’t know him at all well. “It’s possible, but there’s no way I can know. What makes you think he might be a true priest?”

“He’s changed so much since he entered the Residence. I saw him last month, when he came back to visit Auntie, and I almost didn’t recognise him. The only thing he still talked about in the same way was Anubis.”

“The Residence is said to be a poisonous environment for all the Highs. If he is a true priest, and he has been so badly affected by his situation, then he might not be a priest for much longer.” She looked at Yannis, feeling bad for what she was about to say. “We need to be very careful about the people who know what we are, so if he’s a danger to the other true priests and priestesses, or Anubis feels uncomfortable having Logan as his priest, he might make the choice to walk away.”

“Is that likely?”

“Yannis…” Orla sipped her soup. “I don’t know. It’s not something I can know and it’s a choice for Anubis.” She reached out and squeezed Yannis’ shoulder. “Normally a deity won’t turn their back on a person, even one of the fake priests, so I think it’s unlikely, but at the same time we’re in a situation that means we have to be especially careful.”

“Why did you tell me that you were the priestess of Artemis?”

“I trust you.” She smiled. “If I didn’t then I would never have said anything to you because you could have put me in danger.”

“I still could.”

Orla looked at Yannis. Their eyes met and she found herself wondering whether he really would tell someone, maybe their town’s priest of Anubis, that she was a priestess of Artemis. It wasn’t something she believed her would do, but hearing him say those words, that he still could tell someone what she was, filled her with an inexplicable terror. She couldn’t see any emotions in his eyes and that really didn’t help.

“Why would you?” Orla was surprised how calm her voice was when she felt so scared. “We’ve been friends for a very long time.”

“We have, haven’t we?” Yannis smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “I guess the only reason I would tell anyone is if I felt it was better for the Tein-Igni to know who you are.”

“The Tein-Igni?”

“Our race is very important.”

“All the races are important.”

“They’ll destroy us, Orla.”

Orla shook her head. “I really don’t think that either the Uisdro or the Dorma could destroy us, Yannis, even if they wanted to, which is something I really doubt. I’m not saying that what they want is really any better, but using the word destruction is slightly over exagerating things.”

“We won’t be the Tein-Ingi any longer, so is there really much difference between saying that they are out to destroy us and what they are actually going to do.”

“I agree that it’s going to be difficult and our races’ identity may change slightly, but I would say there is a lot of difference between change and destruction.” Orla sipped her soup and hoped she was getting through to him. “It might be good for us to change.” She looked over at the group of people who surrounded the priest of Anubis. “Life on Thear would be much easier if all the three races worked together. We’re all very different and that’s good, because it means we can learn from them while they’re learning from us.”

“What do you think we could learn from the Dorma?” Yannis asked, drawing Orla’s attention back to him.

“Practicality,” Orla replied. “We’re very good at knowledge and learning, but we have very little practicality. The Dorma grow almost all of Thear’s food, so everything we get from the Uisdro technically comes from the Dorma. I think it would be useful for us to have our own food supplies.”

Yannis nodded. “How about the Uisdro?”

“I’ve always thought that it would be great to learn how to fish.” Orla smiled. “I don’t know how good I’d be, but I’d love to try. They also seem to be good at getting along with other people, even if they don’t necessarily like them, which is something we could do with.” She bit her lip. “What do you think life will be like if we do end up in the dangerous position of not being able to trade with the Uisdro?”

“Difficult,” he replied, sighing, “but we should never have relied on the Uisdro as much as we have. You are right to say that we could learn from the other races. I just think we should have already learnt from them and be working towards being able to be self-sufficient as a race. That’s something I don’t think we’ve ever had to do, so I’m terrified that if the time comes that we do have to be self-sufficient we’re going to fail.”

Biting her lip, Orla sipped her soup again, knowing that the vegetables in it had been grown by the Dorma and traded to the Tein-Igni by the Uisdro. “Yannis, have you ever thought about living in a mixed blood town?”

“It did cross my mind when I realised what was coming. I just don’t think they’re going to be permitted to exist if the Anubis movement does really start taking full control of the Tein-Igni.”

“They’re going to have to fight the Bast movement.”

“The Bast movement? I’ve never heard of them before.”

“Most people haven’t. Every one of the races has two deities they think of as their deities, and what’s happened is that the people of the three races have split into three main groups. One is a patrichal group, led by the male deity, like the Anubis movement. The second is a matriachal group, following the female deity, which in our race is the Bast movement. Finally there are those people who don’t want to be a part of either group because they feel they’re a part of the Thearan movement, which wants all three of the races to work together.”

“Which group would you say you’re part of?”

Orla smiled. “The Thearan movement. I would love to see all three of the races working together, but I don’t think it’s possible.”

“Surely that would lead to all three of the races being destroyed.”

“What do you mean by destroyed?”

“The Tein-Igni wouldn’t exist any longer because everyone would, eventually, be Thearan, as you put it. Breeding with the Uisdro and the Dorma would change us into the Teindro or the Dorigni or something like that.” Yannis sighed. “I’m not sure that’s what I want. I like being Tein-Igni. I like knowing that both my parents are Tein-Igni, that all four of my grandparents are, and I don’t want to think that somewhere in my bloodline there is an Uisdro or a Dorma, because it changes who I am.”

“So you wouldn’t marry someone with a mixed bloodline?”

“I don’t think I would.” He looked at Orla and she could see that lack of emotion in his eyes again. “If I had a choice I would much prefer to marry someone I know to be pure Tein-Igni as far back as we can find out. Maybe that makes me a bad person, but it’s how I feel and I’m happy with that.”

“What would you do if your wife had a child that was obviously mixed heritage?”

“I would love for there to be somewhere I could take that child to be raised by someone who would love him or her for who they were, but I don’t think I could bring the child up myself.”

Orla raised an eyebrow, because that was the last thing she thought he would say. It made her realise that he really had changed. For the first time she didn’t feel safe around him. There was no knowing what he would do and she made the decision that she would be best off leaving town as soon as possible.

“Are you a part of the Anubis movement?” she asked, trying to seem normal while she planned how she would leave and where she would go.

Yannis shook his head. “I don’t believe in their Anubis, so I wouldn’t ever be a part of that religious group, even though I do agree with some of their aims. The Tein-Igni needs to stay pure, but I wouldn’t say that we should force that belief on everyone. Some people do want to marry outside of our race and I don’t think they should be stopped.”

“What about Logan? Does he have any thoughts on the subject?”

“Logan is religious and he thinks that religious freedom is more important than anything else, as long as it’s his sort of religious freedom.” Yannis smiled. “My aunt is a very deep believer in the fact that Bast and Anubis belong to the Tein-Igni, so as far as Logan is concerned there could never be a Dorma priest of Anubis, or anything like that, and that deeply affects how he believes the world should be. If it wasn’t for that I would say that Logan is Thearan.”

Orla nodded, remembering the lessons her father had given her about religion. If it wasn’t for Artemis she could easily see herself believing the same things that Logan believed, because that was what her parents believed, and she knew a lot of the Tein-Igni believed the same thing. A few didn’t believe in any of the deities, which meant their view of Thear was very different to the other Tein-Igni and the other two races.

“What does your mother think?” Orla remember Yannis’ mother and had always respected her, even though she didn’t always agree with her. “I remember her regularly visiting the temple of Anubis when we were younger.”

“She still does now. Father and Mother regularly argue about how best to protect the Tein-Igni, especially from the Dorma supremacist movement. Mother believes that the Anubis movement is the best thing for the Tein-Igni, but Father wants to put an end to their group because he doesn’t think that any of the priests are honestly connected with Anubis.”

“He’s too late.” Orla looked over at the group around the priest again. “The Anubis movement has a lot of powerful followers and no one is going to stop them from doing what they believe is right for us, any more than I think anyone can stop the Bast movement.” Her eyes met Yannis’. “Or the movements in the other two races, and I can see Thear being divided between the different groups.”

“What do you think will happen to the Thearans of that happens?”

She shrugged. “We’ll find somewhere.”

North Square was on the other side of the country to where Orla’s village was, so that was going to make the journey more difficult than she would like. If it wasn’t the winter solstice then she would have taken the coach and tried to hide herself in amongst the other Tein-Igni people travelling, but she knew she shouldn’t wait, which meant she was going to have to ride. Riding wasn’t something she much enjoyed, and it would draw the attention of people who might be watching. She hated feeling paranoid, as though someone was planning to get rid of her, even though it made sense to be under the circumstances.

“What are you thinking about?”

Orla sipped her soup. “Anubis, and what he’d think of the priests. I agree with your father, because I can’t see Anubis being a deity who wants control over a race of people, any more than I can see Herne being like that.” She sighed. “Maybe I’m just weird.”

Yannis shook his head. “I don’t agree with Logan’s belief that each of the deities, apart from Loki, belong to a specific race. They should work together because they all have different priorities and I think that it is important to have a Thearan religion, even if I don’t agree with mixing the races together.”

“Having a Thearan religion wouldn’t stop some people from choosing a deity that they believe is better than the others. You could still end up with this sort of situation, but it’s possible the movements would be in the minority rather than the majority, and then people would feel less like they have to pick one specific deity to follow.” Orla sighed. “It really doesn’t help that all the priests and priestesses seem to be working towards their own aims rather than the aims of their deities.”

“If you weren’t the priestess of Artemis which deity would you choose?”

“I honestly don’t know, Yannis. Father brought me up to believe the same thing that Logan does, that Bast and Anubis are Tein-Igni deities rather than Thearan. I doubt in that sort of situation I would even know about the Bast movement, so in this town it wouldn’t really be a choice.”

Yannis nodded. “I remember what you were like before Artemis chose you to be her priestess. You were a very different person back then, so I’m glad that she did choose you.”

“Even though you don’t believe in her?”

“Orla, I know, without any doubt, that you are connected with a deity, and I believe you when you say that it’s Artemis.”

“Do you honestly think that my connection to Artemis makes me a danger to the Tein-Igni?”

Yannis smiled. “Personally I think all of the deities are bad for the Tein-Igni, but I would say that you are harder to understand. You have much more information that everyone else does because of that connection and I think you should share it with us all, although I do understand why you don’t.” He looked at her. “When we were younger I looked up to you, because of what you are, and I still do now, but I have my own beliefs. This morning I told Father about you.” He sighed. “I don’t know what he’s going to do with that information, but I did it because I felt I had to.”

Orla nodded. There really wasn’t anything else she could do. Biting hard on her lip she forced back the tears that were threatening, because Yannis had been her best friend and the person she trusted with everything, and knew she had even less time that she needed. Going home was impossible, even though she wanted to tell her parents what was happening. Trying to seem calm she put the mug down.

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t, Yannis, please. It’s done now.”

“What are you going to do?”

Turning her back on him, Orla wiped a tear off her cheek. “Tell my parents what you did.”

Artemis had been right, but that wasn’t really a surprise. Orla was just thankful that she had taken Artemis’ advice and written letters for both her parents, as well as the few people she truly believed might need to travel to North Square. When Artemis had told Orla that Yannis might, under certain circumstances, betray her, she hadn’t wanted to believe that it was possible. They had been friends for a long time and she couldn’t imagine what circumstances would lead to him telling someone about her, but it had happened, so all she could do was put her hurt to the back of her mind. She had to focus on leaving.

Orla walked, trying to seem normal, but going to the stables on the winter solstice wasn’t normal for anyone who didn’t look after the horses. Unfortunately she had liked horses enough to spend all her free time around them. She was much more likely to be seen in the library. Often she spent afternoons sitting in the corner, going through books on subjects that interested her and copying down anything she thought might be important. Sighing, she glanced towards the path that led to her home, but she couldn’t go back. Not when someone might be there waiting for her. Everything had to be left behind.

With every step Orla took towards the stables she wanted to look back, to see if anyone was watching her, but that was a bad idea. As she walked she thought of people she knew who might be in the stable, so she could pretend she was looking for them if someone asked. There were a few people she knew, in passing, who often worked in the stables, but they weren’t people she knew well enough to go looking for, and she finally came to the conclusion that there really was no reason for her to go to the stables. Other than the one she had.

The stables seemed futher away than normal. It was understandable, because Orla was waiting for someone to stop her and ask where she was going. When she finally got there she couldn’t help breathing a sigh of relief. She stepped into the stables, hoping that no one was in there, and was disappointed, but unsurprised, to find that one of the boys she’d shared a class with once standing in the stables. For a few moments she watched as she brushed one of the horses.

“I’ve been waiting for you,” he said, without looking at her.

Orla shook her head. “Why would you be waiting for me?”

“You’re not the only one here to have a connection with one of the deities.”

“They told you to wait in the stables for me.”

He nodded, still focusing on the horse. “If you weren’t here soon I was going to leave without you, but I never have been very patient.” Shrugging, he glanced over at Orla. “Pick a horse and then we can leave. Your bag is in the corner.”

“My bag?”

“I took it from your house.”

All Orla could do to begin with was stare at him. She didn’t know him and yet he had gone into her house, taken her bag, and filled it with her things. It was hard to work out whether she should be angry and feel slightly violated or grateful that he had taken the time to do it. As she attempted to work it out she walked over to her bag because she didn’t know what a man would pack for a woman, especially when he didn’t know the woman he was packing for.

Orla smiled when she saw her favourite pair of trousers, and she was glad to see that he had, somehow, found her notes and packed them. She closed it, turned to look at him, and found herself at a loss for words, because she still didn’t know how she felt. Having her things was good, because she would have missed them, but that didn’t change the fact he’d gone into her home without her permission.

Before Orla could find the right words he said, “You need to hurry up.”

Nodding, Orla picked up her bag. It was good to have an excuse not to talk to him, even though she felt like she should at least thank him. He didn’t have to get her bag for her, and having her notes did make her feel slightly better, but knowing that anyone could get into her home without permission terrified her. Pushing her thoughts, and her worries, to the back of her mind, she started looking at the horses. She had no idea which one she should pick, so in the end she chose the one that seemed to be smiling at her.

“North Square is about five days ride away, depending on how often we need to stop,” he said, making Orla jump. “How often do you ride?”

“About once every six months,” Orla replied, staring at the horse and wondering how she was going to spend five days on top of it without going insane.

“Great…” Gently he pushed Orla out of the way and began putting things on the horse that Orla had no understanding of. “What did you plan to do, exactly?”

“Get a horse and ride to North Square.”

“Were you going to ride bareback or were you going to saddle the horse?”

Orla stared at the back of his head. “I don’t know how to saddle a horse.”

“I thought so.” He sighed. “No wonder I was told to wait for you.”

“We all have different priorities.”

He turned to look at her. “I didn’t mean to insult you, but there is no way you would have got to North Square alone.” Shaking his head, he walked over to the horse he’d been brushing. “Why don’t you try mounting? If you need help then use the bucket on the floor.”

Mounting a horse was one of the few things Orla did know how to do. She didn’t know much about the saddle or the other bits that he had put on the poor horse, but that didn’t mean she was totally ignorant about horses. There had just been no real reason to learn about everything, although she wished she had. Being with him made her feel stupid and she didn’t like feeling stupid. Sighing, she stood on the bucket, because it would make things easier, and swung her leg over the horse.

Once Orla was on the horse all she wanted to do was get off again. Having a breathing animal underneath her made her feel weird, but she knew she needed the horse if she was going to get to North Square. Gently she patted the top of the horse’s head and looked over at him. She hated not remembering his name, because she felt like she should remember it. There had been something about him and… she sighed.

When he was finally on the horse he looked at Orla. Their eyes met for a second before he lifted the reins and started riding towards the stable door. Orla followed him, because she owed him already for all the help he had given her. She kept looking at him, trying to at least remember which class they had been in together. It had been some time ago, when they were both still under twelve she thought, because she didn’t remember him being quite so tall. Most Tein-Igni males reached their full height by the time they were twelve, so it made logical sense.

Orla didn’t look around when they had left the stable. Being on horses would draw attention to them, but as they were together she thought it might just seem like a couple going for a nice winter solstice ride so they could be alone. She hoped it would. That would give them a few hours before someone, probably Yannis’ father, realised that she was gone and not coming back.

It didn’t take long for Orla to remember why she hated riding. Every movement the horse made jolted her back, her legs ached where the horse was between them, and all she wanted to do was get off. Walking to North Square seemed almost logical by the time the sun began to set. She pulled her cloak tighter around her, which didn’t help. Instead she started shivering and wished that she was somewhere warm. Back at home in front of the fire sounded nice, but she knew that she would be putting her family in more danger if she’d stayed.

Tears rolled down Orla’s cheeks as she thought of what she’d left behind. Her parents would be worried about her, because she hadn’t stopped to tell them that she was leaving. She should have done. They didn’t deserve to be kept in the dark, but she knew that not telling them was probably keeping them safer than they would have been in she had told them. It would have taken hours to even get them to believe that she was really the priestess of Artemis, because her father believed that a Tein-Igni priest or priestess would only be chosen by Bast or Anubis, and hours were something she didn’t have.

Of course Orla didn’t know for sure that Yannis’ father would have hurt her, but it was safer to leave. Artemis had told Orla that if one person she didn’t trust found out about who she was then she would have to leave. Priests and priestesses had ended up dead, and dying wasn’t something Orla really wanted to do. That didn’t stop her from feeling like she had let her family down by running for her life.

“Why were you leaving?” she asked, needing to take her mind off her problems.

“I wanted to.”

“Aren’t you leaving behind family?”

“When my mother died in childbirth my father passed me onto my uncle because he couldn’t cope. I haven’t seen my father since. My uncle already had three children, so I was just a burden. He’ll be glad that I’m gone.”

“That’s…” Orla shook her head. “I can’t imagine how difficult that must have been.”

“I don’t need your pity.”

“Who is your deity?”

“Epona.”

“Is that why you’re so good with horses?”

“Possibly.”

Orla sighed. “My deity is Artemis.”

“I really don’t care.”

“Maybe you don’t, but I feel like I should at least talk to you. You did help me.”

“The best thing you can do is not talk to me. I’d much rather be alone, but Epona told me to wait for you because you’d need my help, so that’s what I did. I don’t want to answer your questions or talk to you about anything.”

Nodding, even though he couldn’t see her, Orla wrapped her arms around herself once more and tried not to think too much about what had happened. It was hard. Yannis had betrayed her, so she’d had to leave behind everything she knew. She knew she would have to leave at some point, but she’d always believed that she would have had time to make proper plans, and there would be time to convince her family to travel with her. Instead she was with someone she couldn’t even remember the name of, who didn’t want to be with her, and the only things she had were the things he had packed.

More tears streamed down Orla’s cheeks and for the first time she realised exactly what it meant to be a true priestess. Ever since Artemis had chosen Orla she had been in real danger, but she had never really believed that someone would hurt her. Part of her still didn’t. If it wasn’t for the knowledge that people had died before she probably wouldn’t have left. She would have stayed and waited to see what was going to happen, which would have been a mistake. Until she got to North Square she would continue to be in danger. People would be out looking for her once they realised she hadn’t got back and she felt guilty that he was with her, because being with her meant he was in danger even if people didn’t know he was a true priest.

Originally posted at dreamwidth.org as kajones_writing.

Mirrored from K. A. Webb Writing.