Raen followed his father's request. After finishing his work in the kitchen on a very cold winter's late afternoon, he went up to his parents' room in the residential tower. He was about to knock on the door when he heard their voices from inside.
"Some people never leave their choir, why do you want to travel?" He heard his father ask.
“It's just a request, Roman! Let's at least visit my sister in Rinpal. I want ... oh, how many times have I tried to explain it to you ... "There was
silence.
"Roman, I want to see what's behind the mountains, I want to be out and about, and see other things!" The plaintive sound in his mother's voice worried Raen. He was still listening illegally at the door.
"And then? What are you doing after? Do you want to see more and more, travel more and more, sometimes here and there, and leave the place where you are needed! Are you not satisfied with your life here? ”
“ Yes, of course I am satisfi
Raen woke up with a scream. Confused, he looked around, but finally found that he was lying in his bed in the nursery. He sat up and pressed the heels of his hands over his eyes. He had dreamed something bad, but he didn't know what anymore. Only his father's voice boomed ominously through his head: “It's a secret, Raen, and you must never tell it, you hear! Never! ”Since the evening that this conversation with his father had taken place, Raen had strictly kept his promise. That wasn't difficult for him, as he hadn't dreamed anything special since then, but his trust in his father was still shaken. Raen avoided him wherever he could and instead sought the security of his mother.But something had changed. The dream he had just had had been different from usual, he felt that. Raen closed his eyes tightly. 'No, I will not break my promise,' he said to himself. 'I must not disappoint my father!' He began to bob his torso and let out a pained groan. Andra stir
Raen felt fine since talking to Hyaun, but the bad dream kept coming back. Every evening he bravely fell asleep and shook off the creeping fear in the morning together with the leaden tiredness. He tried not to let it show, but soon his exhaustion was written on his face and he often just fell asleep during the day. Loenka's suspicions solidified and he decided to speak to the boy about his behavior at the next meeting. Another event, however, thwarted his plans.Because the next day Raen's mother went into labor and everything was mixed up. There was great excitement when Alea, who was sitting in her workshop, started to feel pain. She was quickly taken into the birthing room and the door closed again on Roman's nose. Again he had no choice but to wait. Raen and Andra sat next to him on the bench and pestered him with curious questions, which he gladly answered, thankful for the distraction.It was getting dark outside and there was still nothing in the birthing room.
But the next morning didn't bring any relief either. The bright light of day only made it all the more brutal to see the fact that Alea was no longer alive. Meanwhile, her body had been taken to the temple, where it was ritually cleansed. Roman had accompanied them and then retired to the Upper Sanctuary. There he had completely collapsed. Richol and Loenka had stood by him with the sensitivity that a mourner needed. In the course of the morning Roman had finally found some sleep in one of the small side rooms after Loenka had given him some Veda to calm him down. The priest, deep in prayer, watched over his sleep.Raen was lying in his mother's bed with a high fever. He was fantasizing. The harrowing events of the previous night had simply been too much for his slim, small body. The old medic sat next to him on the bed and changed the cold compresses around his calves at regular intervals."It's my fault," he heard t
Roman squeezed the girl and took a deep breath. "Your mother is dead," he said straight out. "She will go to the ancestors of the winds." Then he was silent.Andra felt her father's tears fall on her hair. She was crying softly, too, clutching his arm tightly."My little girl, just cry, just cry," she heard him say. His deep voice sounded comforting in her ear.There was an oppressive silence in the Shari-Chorten. Everyone knew how strong the love bond between Roman and Alea had been, which had now suddenly been broken. So surprising, overwhelming and devastating - for everyone a reminder of the vulnerability of happiness. A terrifying hint of fate, in the face of which every human being had to humbly bow in its little helplessness. Zaizura had demonstrated her power!In the main room of the temple, Alea's body was laid out in front of the altar. Her body had been wrapped in a red cloth from which only h
At noon Roman went to the tailor's workshop to pick up his jacket. He was greeted warmly. It hurt to see his wife's former workplace - without her. Like all the other rooms in which Alea had been and exuded her sympathetic spirit, this one now also seemed empty and deserted. Alea's best friend came up to him, she too wore a red scarf around her neck in memory of her son Hroenka, she was holding Roman's jacket, which she had reworked for him. Roman silently took the dari and put it on. He now had, according to tradition, red laps and sleeves below the elbows. The red glowed ominously in contrast to the black of the rest of the clothes, but Roman nodded in satisfaction. He wanted to wear this red as long as his grief would last, even until the end of his life! He left his second dari and thanked the seamstress. Then he left the workshop, which again bitterly reminded him of how often he had come and gone here. As soon as he was outside he was overcome by heartbreaking grief. He gave a
The night passed its apex, and Raen was still sitting stiffly in front of the statue, the shadow of which reached gigantic under the roof. The flickering light of the few, still burning lamps gave Hyaun liveliness, and in front of Raen's tired gaze it even seemed as if He was breathing. Again and again he slipped almost imperceptibly into sleep, only to start again immediately, full of fear he might have dreamed something. Desperate, he threw both hands to his temples and begged Hyaun for help. “I can't do it! I can't do it. I will bring mischief again. Please help me! ”Raen wished disaster would come for him next. But nothing happened, neither one nor the other. The boy held up bravely until the early hours of the morning, when he finally lost the fight against sleep and his eyes finally closed. And of course he was dreaming.But the blood horse did not come to him, and the door to the future also remained firmly closed. Something else visited his dreams.
He was up to his knee in the water. Waves gently washed around his legs. With the city at his back, Kanaima looked out to sea. The bright sunlight glittered on the infinite surface of the wet element and blinded him. Wind caressed his face comfortably.How many times had he stood here with the wet sand between his toes?Many countless times, he thought, as countless as the many varied feelings that had always accompanied him. Kanaima looked down at herself. Through the clear water he could see the bottom next to his feet. It was five years since he left his aunt. In Boltha City he had matured into an upright young man with an alert look. Under the strict training of his uncle, his character had taken on more moderate traits, and his angry youthful impetus had been tamed and steered in the right direction. Kanaima remembered not liking Karlis-Renandi at first. His uncle was a tough man who had treated him as he would all his other common soldiers and not as a member of
It began to rain. The heavy drops pelted the wooden veranda in front of the school building. Raen shivered and pulled his jacket tighter around him. The warmth of spring had not yet prevailed. He averted his gaze from the window and looked back into the classroom, which had grown dark despite the burning oil lamps. The class was in cultural studies and on the wall was a large map of Hy and its immediate neighbors. At first, Raen hadn't known what to do with all the lines and curves and the names embedded in them, which were arranged without any apparent sense. But by now he knew them almost by heart and knew exactly where the mountains and the great rivers with the national borders were, where the sea was, where the capital Tena-lo-Ghan, where the Doban Pass led over the Junghal Mountains and of course also where the lost provinces were. He only knew the names of the neighboring countries. He found it all very interesting, but one question preoccupied him: why should he have to know