The Age of Light (The Ava'Lonan Herstories Book 1) Read Online Free Page A

murmured
softly.
     
    “Cool as
starlight
    Cool as mist,
    Cool as palm
from unclenched fist:
    Dull the heat,
    Ease the strain,
    Cool to blue the
red heart’s pain.”
     
    Jeliya froze in mid-thrash. Her limbs flopped back
to the bed, no longer responding to her tormented brain. The hands then covered
her eyes and the feeling of coolness from them seeped down through the blind,
through her lids, her eyes, into her brain where it spread like sweet clover
and gently, inexorably smothered the pain out. Mouth open in a gasp petrified,
Jeliya hovered on the dividing line between euphoria and blazing agony, the
consuming pain, but the coolness pushed her further and farther away from agony
and into floating beds of mint and nutmeg. Her senses were set adrift, totally
detached, with false lights and calm, cool colors forming swirling patterns on
her retinas. Her body, far away, relaxed totally. She took a deep breath of
mint and clover with a touch of honey, sighed, felt a smile touch distant lips.
    “Is that better?” the voice asked her, floating in a
silver-green sphere beside her.
    “Oh, yes, thank you. It is very nice,” she heard her
voice murmur dreamily, also beside her in a golden sphere. The thought for some
reason struck her as funny. She heard herself giggle, which was also funny. A
far away part of her knew that something was not quite right with the way she
was feeling, but she could not figure it out.
    The owner of the voice looked down at his patient,
chagrined. He had not wanted to use that method to help her, but he was afraid
that if he had left her alone to get stronger medicine she would have hurt
herself. What he had done was a last resort, but there had been no other
course. With deep regret he picked up the bowl of cooling broth. It would not
taste as good now, but in her present condition he doubted very seriously she
would care.
    “Drink,” he said, supporting her head and raising
the calabash to her lips.
    “All right,” she said, laughed as some missed her
mouth and dribbled down her chin. She drank about half the bowl, then pushed
the rest away. She curled up after he wiped her chin clean and with a contented
sigh fell asleep.
    He pulled the covers up around her and left her to
sleep off her euphoria.

 

CHAPTER II

    slowly the light turned...
     
    The
light of Av’dawn was just turning, driving the wild dance of the stars and the moons before it,
green lances tearing through the music of eve.
    With the vanquishing of the last shred of eve and
the turning of Av’dawn, the Queens
all assembled in the Great Laine, the place of gathering for the royalty of Ava’Lona .
    Soku sul Doan arrived at the Great
Laine from her Lan’mba half a san’chron before the commencement
ceremonies of the Bolorn’toyo . One of
the last Queens to take her place, she av’tunned to the Westernmost receiving suite of lains within the
outlying compounds of the Great Laine. The av’tun ,
a tunnel of light capable of bridging vast distances, was a construct of her
own magic, her av’rita .
    Up two san’chrons before dawn, Soku had had just
enough time to offer Av’dawn praise and
perform the Rite of Solu , bathe, dress,
and last, have her Dakua crown redone,
before her required arrival at the hall. The fancy headdress consisted of her
own long, tightly spiraled hair tamed in long guinne .
Her hair was arranged in to the traditional crown of her Tribe using bands of
gold and Doan cloth of her Tribe colors.
    She had av’tunned down to
one of the minor entrances of the Great Laine .
Being the least of the lesser Queens in her Yakan’tsu ,
she was the last to assume her place before the High Queen entered.
    Before the entrance to the Great Laine she bowed her head and folded her arms carefully over her chest, seeking the
blessing of the Supreme One before entering the huge hall. A small tum’tyn drum sang in time to her murmured prayer.
     
    “May all find
peace within Your grace,
    May all find joy
within Your