A Rarefied View At Dawn by David Farland (best story books to read txt) 📕

brother," Bann's mother said, bowing her head in gratitude. Of all the strange things that Bann had seen that day, this last was the strangest of all--his mother bowing to the grizzled old ape-like man.

She turned quietly, pulled Bann behind her, and they began the long climb back uphill.

Bann was too stunned to say much for a long time. They walked up through the trees, and as they did, the sun dipped below the horizon, leaving the jungle in darkness. One Valkyrie took the lead and the other walked behind, both cranking their running lights to bright, so that the group traveled walked in a haze of glory.

"Why did you bow to that man?" Bann asked as they walked. "He didn't deserve such honor. You can't trust him to help you."

"All people deserve respect," Tuyallah said. "Besides, he is already helping us. His ship carries goods between the sanctuaries. His troops in their little fortress keep monsters from the lower reaches of the mountain and frighten of pirates. Its men like him that do our dirty work. And they do it because they are noble and generous, despite what some of our sisters may say."

Bann had never heard such talk before. Men could be noble and generous? It was a daring thing to say, blasphemous.

They reached their own market after sundown, and Bann ate four skewers of shish kabob and half of a honeydew. He danced with the girls in the town square, drinking peach juice sweetened with cotton-blossom honey. He got so full that he felt 'drunk on food,' as the saying went.

Well after dark, Maya came out. She wore a white sleeveless tunic, cut low in the front. The white contrasted sharply with her dark skin.

Bann was eager to tell her of his adventures, but she seemed timid, as if she wanted to talk later, in private. A group of women came out to play music, and many of the women began to dance.

Maya seemed to reach some decision, and she put bells on her anklets, as women do when seeking a girlfriend, and she pulled Bann into the street.

She clapped her hands above her head to the sounds of shrill pipes, and danced around him, whirling, eyes riveted on him, her white teeth flashing in a smile.

Her face was radiant, her rosewater perfume intoxicating. Bann raised his hands and clapped, too, as Maya danced for him.

For the first time in his life, Bann wondered what it would be like to take her as a lover. Many sisters took each other for lovers, but Bann was too young for such a thing. Indeed, he had no idea what he would do with her. Hold her? Kiss her? Caress her.

Cherish her.

He longed to kiss her, and as she danced, her pert young breasts bouncing and swaying, for the first time he wondered what it would be like to touch them, to stroke them, or to explore the sacred place between her legs.

He gritted his teeth as he danced, fearing that others might somehow guess at his shameful thoughts, his desires were so strong.

She smiled, drawing so close to that her breasts brushed his chest, then whirling away. "What?" she laughed. "What is it?"

Bann wanted to speak, to tell her what he was feeling, but couldn't find the words.

Suddenly her expression changed and her eyes went wide, as if she had guessed at his thoughts. She drew close and whispered, "After the dance. Meet me behind the flower-seller's stall."

Bann made no answer, but when the dancing ended and the shadows got deep and the stars lit the bowl of heaven, he made his way to the flower-seller's stall. In the shadows behind it, Maya was waiting.

Up on the towers of the fortress, the city's beacon's were ablaze. A beam of light flashed over them, and Maya pushed Bann a little, nudging him forward, and laughed. "I know," she said. "I know."

"Know what?" Bann asked.

"I love you, too," she said.

She leaned forward then, and Bann could smell her sweat, and the sweet oils in her hair, and for one moment the weight of her chest was fully against his, and he felt intoxicated by her presence. Almost, he wished to reach out and put his arms around her, to claim her, the way that women did when they married. She leaned into him and kissed his lips.

He reached up and stroked her hair, pulling her close, enjoying the moment. But his heart was beating so fast that he could not really savor it.

Fearfully, he reached up and touched her breast. It yielded beneath his touch like the softest clay. He explored it, running his fingers from her armpit down to her nipple. Maya's eyes went wide and she smiled broadly, as if at a shared secret. She pulled him roughly, pressing her lips into his, as if by pushing hard enough they could join permanently. She hugged him, her whole body melting into him.

"Someday," she whispered fiercely in his ear. "Someday . . . you and I will build our spirit temple together." She pulled back as the sanctuary's beacon pulsed again. He saw tears sparkling in her eyes.

Then Maya pushed his chest and ran away, giggling.

It was not until he was lying in bed late at night, after having relived his moments with Maya over and over, trying to make sense of them, that Bann thought back to the ugly men that he had seen, and recalled that his mother had told him that he would have to make a decision soon.

But what had she been warning him about? He had never heard. He reminded himself to ask her in the morning.

*****

Bann forgot to ask in the morning. He got too involved in playing with his chick, Yusaf.

Over the next two weeks, the chick became the center of Bann's life. Yusaf, Bann soon learned, loved to go to the fruit seller's stalls, where he strutted atop the melons and flapped his stubby wings.

The chick grew fast. Yusaf's legs grew long