The Oracles of Tomesh [ON HOLD]

2 | Because Tomera is Sacred

rayeshka (ra-yesh-kah) noun

Self. Soul. Being.

***

Their people did not believe in coincidences. Everything happened for a reason, and words, when spoken, were intentional. Even a lie.

Because Tomera is sacred.

Nascha, however, wanted everything to be just a coincidence. She stepped out of the door, the gold bangles around her ankles jiggling as she stopped, turned, and walked back into her room to frown at nothing on the wall, thinking with a frown.

It must be a coincidence. She could not have foreseen it, right?

The king burned in his bed. He should not be the only person who burned to death, right? But how many had burned without the fire eating everything else around them?

Her eyes narrowed at a question.

What if she...

She whirled on her feet and shook her head. No, it could not be her. She was the worst candidate.

They were a myth. None had been born for centuries. But then, everyone in Tomesh believed them.

What if she was the one? Born three centuries after just as predicted? She turned and paced again. No, she could not be.

Or she could be.

And if she was, her world would dramatically change. If she could prove she was the one everyone was waiting for, she would live like a princess. She did not have to work in another tomb. Everyone would kneel at her feet, everyone would praise her. She would live in the palace in Kgosi, dine with the royals, and seat beside the reigning king. She would be higher than any administrators, even the advisor.

She turned around and stepped out of her room, this time reaching the kitchen where her mother was cooking. "Prepare the table, Nascha," her mother said. "We have much to do later for the ritual." She did not hear her mother's words. Her mind was elsewhere, living in a dream again. A possible future. A beautiful one. "Nascha."

Nascha the Great Oracle.

"Nascha!"

She blinked and found her mother sternly looking at her. The woman was wearing her most beautiful headdress today, a yellow silk cloth wrapped around her head. Her earrings were especially bright, as well as the gold cuffs around her arms.

"Yes," she absently said, setting the table not because she heard her mother, but because she knew it was what the woman wanted. "Mahl," she called later as she ate her meal. "Do you believe the Oracle will come soon?"

"Of course," her mother said, kissing her thumb and raising it in the air. And Nascha knew her mother had been praying the Oracle would be born within the Yakine family. "Why do you ask?"

"I'm curious. What if the Oracle is already here with us?"

"It's possible."

She swallowed. "How did he discover his gift?"

"He had strange dreams that came true, of course. Visions given to him by the sand god. He saved Tomesh many times. He objected to his sister's marriage with a man from another tribe. That was, of course, as we know, a very good premonition. The man turned out to be Ashmun."

The destroyer.

"And because of him, the entire Umoji empire was saved from Ashmun and many others like him."