Moon Blessed

Chapter 34 ~ Reminiscent of Home

    The journey to Seena was just as uneventful as the journeys that came before it, but Nastasia didn't mind. Just as Josephine had said, they traveled at an easy pace which gave everyone a chance to recuperate from the challenge in Lake Pontus.

    By the time they crossed the border and Eldon's lush forests gave way to the white sands and coarse grasses of Seena, Nastasia's aches were all but forgotten. Now, her attention was captured entirely by the land surrounding her.

    It was astounding, but not in the same eerie way that Blod's lands had astounded her. She'd always heard about Seena's cool desert terrain, but to see it in person was almost surreal. It was what she imagined walking on the face of the moon might be like.

    Everywhere she looked, her eyes were greeted with endless waves of ivory and the faint rustle of wind blowing through sparse vegetation. The white sands were disturbed only by random patches of grass, yuccas, and colorful deposits of sea glass.

    Every few feet, sunlight glinted off the shards of blue and green half-buried in the sands. Nastasia already carried several pieces in her pocket to give to Alexei. She couldn't figure out why there would be sea glass strewn across the desert. Her studies had never mentioned that small detail.

    She knew that Seenanites were well versed in the art of glass making. Their ample sands made the perfect source material after all. All of the stained glass used in Nyctoli came from Seena, but sea glass? Her answer finally came when they passed through a settlement only a day's journey from Jalil.

    The procession had made camp for the night and Nastasia accompanied Josephine and Elise through the town's market. Between the three of them, they could speak enough of the Seenanite's native language to converse with the merchants who didn't speak the Common Tongue. It was from an elderly woman that they'd heard the tale of the sea glass.

    In ancient times, she told them, when the lands of Blod were still riven with war and Nyctoli belonged solely to the Dwarves, Seena was a kingdom underwater, engulfed completely by the Caeles Sea. As the years wore on, the shoreline began to retreat, leaving white sands and deposits of sea glass behind. When Andrian began pushing its border past the Ina River, during the same lifetime as Saint Oleksandr, the shoreline settled at its current point.

    Once her story was finished, the woman had gifted each of them with a necklace she'd strung while speaking. Upon every piece of sea glass, she had carved a different rune. Elise had tried to return her necklace immediately but the woman merely took her hand in her own dark one and closed it over the stones.

    "We can't wear these," Elise explained. "Many of the people we travel with would kill us if they saw these runes."

    The woman patted her hand with an understanding smile, but replied, "You are in Seena now. Ismene protects her children and blesses them. These will offer you her protection."

    They took the necklaces without protest after that, although they kept them in their pockets. Many of their companions, the Eldons especially, made no move to hide their distaste at the Seenanites' open appreciation for Mages. Everywhere they looked, there was sage burning in circles of amethyst and worshippers of Ismene watching over them.

    Many were obviously Mages, who proudly flaunted the runes tattooed on their skin. Nastasia couldn't help but think of Danitza and wondered if she would maintain her secrecy even here. It would be the wiser thing to do considering they would leave for Andrian and then Nyctoli afterwards.

    But perhaps being somewhere accepting of them would coax more Mages out of hiding. She just hoped they would be careful. The next day, Nastasia's concerns vanished at her first glimpse of Jalil. The sight of the city sent a pang of homesickness through her so sharply that it brought tears to her eyes.