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ANW: TotE PTI-Chapter 5

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Personal Revelations


The sky turned dark as the sun set behind the curve of the earth.  The stars, like diamonds, poked through the blackness, twinkling their light.  The moon was yet to be seen, but its light expanded from beyond the horizon.  Iris had never seen such a flat, featureless horizon in her traveling, even the ocean had some character to it.  The plains, however, for the past two days have shown nothing to her.  When she looked west during the day, she could see the very tips of the range she called home, but that would soon go away as well.

The group was heading towards the independent province of Jarusaneth.  The province was a long ago assimilated into the empire because it didn’t want to go through the expenses of war.  As such, they keep their own borders and guard, and still have their rulers, but paid homage to Emperor Verin and gave tribute to the Empire.  About 15% of their total harvest and 11% of their treasury, along with their undying loyalty was all that was asked of them.  So now, the province still acts as if it were its own nation.  Since the group are citizens of the Empire, they can go in and out of the mini-kingdom with relative ease.  But, they had to survive the expanse of the dry plains before they can think of the beautiful cities of Jarusaneth.

Currently, the only sign of life are the trees and river that they were following that would take them through the province and up into the edge of the large and mysterious forest known as Yör Vinle, or “Ancient Vine” in the ancient language of earlier humans.  It was named after the elves were supposedly rooted out of both the continent and the forest.  Now they were chasing fairy tales, which is what Iris heard Trelin say when he thought no one was listening in.  They had made camp next to the Aklin River, just a mile west of the fork in the river where the Aklin River from mountains behind them met the Kirsian River that flowed from the east and flowed north into the Tolmier Sea.  By this point in their travels, they were running low on supplies.  Ishtan had gone off to hunt for the group and to find some of the wild vegetables n’ herbs that their group required in order to survive in the harshness that was ahead of them in the plains of Killym. So far it was verdant and tame, but once they passed the fork of the Aklin River, the land got rougher and drier.

Kraot found a tiny grove of aspens growing next to the river and declared it the spot fro their camp.  Iris couldn’t help herself but buy herself a quick glance at Trelin before she put her day pack up on a branch and started to set the tent that she and her brother would share.  She was half way done when Ishtan’s triumphant cry came over to them from above the trees.  Everyone looked up to see him flying at a slow pace with a large Elk in between his bloodied talons.  Elk were rare this time of year, but they certainly were available from the small mountain range to their south, which is where Ishtan was coming from.  This was good,  because that one Elk would feed all of them until they re-stocked in Jarusaneth, as long as they supplemented it with some hares along the way.

Iris quickly went back at her task.  She ignored as the rest of the group hungrily gathered around Ishtan and helped him carve out the steaks that would make it easier to pack it to their destination.  She had finished her and her brother’s tent before the others had finished carving the meat, so she decided to unpack her bedroll.  In it, she somehow found her old belly dancing outfit.  When she and her sisterhood visited the Solom Oasis in the Solm Desert, the people were so pleased that they had come to heal them that they taught the whole group how to belly dance.  They even outfitted everyone with an outfit, hers came with a translucent blue veil, a tan bikini top that had blue fire designs, a translucent blue skirt made of two different sheets of material and overlapped and hung down to her mid thigh, and tan bikini bottom which had a sheet of square fabric that came from the front of the bikini bottom, was about 6 inches wide and went down to just above the knees and also held blue fire designs.  She hadn’t put that outfit on for at least two years, but she thought that group needed a treat, especially Trelin, so she took the outfit and placed it into her washing sack and came out of the tent.

“What’re you up to sis?”  Ishtan asked and looked at her suspiciously.  He eyed the bag and back up to her eyes.

“I’m going to go bath in the river.  I’ll be back before dinner is done.”  She looked over at the campfire and saw that Mirlon was preparing a stew for the group.  The rest were sitting around the campfire and sharing tales, except for Trelin, who was no where to be seen.  She visibly drooped her shoulders but quickly recomposed herself.  She wouldn’t have her older brother know what she is thinking, or have his suspicions confirmed that she fancied the young prince.

She picked her way through the aspen grove to the river.  Just down stream was an outlet creek that culminated into a small but deep pond perfect for bathing.  She walked over, feeling the twigs snap underneath her bare feet, but not the pain she had often heard other bare footed people experienced.  Then again, she was a draconian, and as such her feet were tougher than other species.  When she reached the waters of the pool, she made sure that there was no one else around, and then she placed her bag on a boulder near by.  She tested the water with her tail tip.  It was cold from the snow melt that fed the river, but it was tolerable.

She disrobed and entered the pool of water to the point of where it went up to her neck.  She washed while thinking of the dance she would do for the group.  After being sufficiently cleaned, she got out, dried herself off, and then put on her Solmish dancer clothes.  “Alright,” she whispered to herself.  “Time to dazzle and amaze.”  She picked up her robe and placed it into the bag and headed back to camp.


                                       *     *     *

Ishtan walked up to the stew pot that was now over the campfire and filled up his bowl full of the elk stew.  He looked around, he was the last one to get his food, as was usual.  He did patrol to make sure that no nearby thieves or marauders were coming towards their camp.  Luckily, there wasn’t a soul in a five league radius.  So, he was free to take the rest of the night off.  As he sat down, he heard footsteps approaching the camp.  He knew it was his sister coming back from her bath, so he didn’t worry and continued to eat.  But after his third bite of stew, he heard Uthar whistle and exclaim “Boy Miss Iris, don’t you look down right pretty this evening.”  Ishtan nearly choked on his the bit of meat in his bite of stew as he turned and saw his sister in the revealing Solmish dancing clothes.  He knew she had them, but he didn’t think that she had brought them with her, nor that she would even wear them.

“Ilashti!  What in Ninua’s name are you thinking!!!”  Ishtan exclaimed, but soon gained himself his own composure before he spilt his stew.  He then remembered he had to swallow the meat that was at the back of his throat.

Iris ignored Ishtan and said to the group “I wanted to perform something special for everyone.  It is a restoration dance that channels the energy of Ninua herself into our bodies.  If everyone would be kind enough to sit close by to the fire, I’ll start when everyone is ready.”  Ishtan couldn’t believe his eyes.  His sister was planning on dancing in front of a bunch of non-draconian men.  He knew that their father would never approve of it.  He saw Iris get into position by the fire, and he also saw the eyes of everyone draw to her curves.  Then she started to chant and move.

The dance was more modest and slow than Ishtan expected.  Her words were indecipherable to common ears; however, he had learned the old age language that had been passed down from the beginning of Draconian ancestry.  It was called Dracol, and it was, to him, the most beautiful language of them all.  She spoke of the sun giving light to the world because of how Ninua had convinced Belan the sun God that the inhabitants of the planet would worship him.  It was a story about giving the Draconians and other life in the world the energy it needed.  Her movements were slow and deliberate, her arms swung from a 12 O’clock position above her head and moved clockwise while she slowly stepped sideways until it completed a circle.

Her dancing continued in similar slow, careful rhythms that soon escalated into fast beat moves that moved her whole body, especially her mid section.  Ishtan soon felt something come over him as a refreshing wave.  It started out as a tingle at the tip of his snout that soon moved through his nervous system and reinvigorated his whole being.  He felt as if he could walk the whole distance to Jarusaneth, and even fly the whole distance to Yör Vinle Forest.  When she finished her dance, she put her left foot out to her left, her left hand on her waist and her right hand down her right leg while her head hung down.  The camp clapped and gave Iris praise.

“That was really nifty Miss Iris,” Uthar said.  “I feel as if my whole body is on fire.”

Iris smiled and gave an upbeat response that Ishtan was shocked to hear.  “Hehehe, why thanks Uthar, I learned it while on my sanctuary’s trip through the Solm Desert.  More specifically, I learned it from the people of the Solom Oasis.”  She smiled, took a glance at Trelin, who appeared to have gone back to his stew.  Ishtan then watched as she walked back to their tent.  He finished his stew and tailed her.  Just when they were outside of the tent, he grabbed her arm and turned her to face him.

“What was that about Ilashti?  You went behind my back with this stunt, and mostly, you ignored me.  Is there something wrong?”  Ishtan asked of his younger sister.

Instead of her usual calm demeanor, she put on a sour demeanor.  “I was just doing something nice for everyone Ishtan!  Why are you being so defensive?”  She growled.

“I’m just worried about you, for you are my only sister, and both of our parents aren’t as young as they used to be.”  Ishtan looked worriedly at Iris.  “I just don’t want them to hear that their baby girl got herself killed from something stupid.”  He then saw her eyes dart from him back at Trelin, take a breath, and then look back into his eyes.

“Well brother,” she exhaled, apparently calming down a little, “I have a confession.  I- I think I like the crowned prince.”  She blushed and then hurried inside the tent before Ishtan could recover.  He just stood there, and then looked over at Trelin.  ‘Trelin,’ Ishtan thought.  ‘I will be watching you, and if you hurt my sister, I will turn your world upside down, despite who your father is.'
Well, here is the 5th Chapter of my online novel, I decided to upload it before I left, haha, so read the chapter and tell me what you think! Oh, and btw, I also edited the other pages, so I will be updating the chapters that I edited :D

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