A Priestess for the Blind God (Legends of Rahasia Book 1)

BONUS Part 2/3: Festival of Shab (شب) The Festival of Night

🎶A three-part story for the Rahasian holidays. 🎶

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*

Being a goddess renders the whole gift-swapping tradition of Shab defunct. I already see all the presents ahead of time. Ryu is getting Elio a finely-crafted sword with a hilt decorated with roses. (Elio had decided to replace the former symbol of Cato's sun for the Rahasian Empire with a rose, to show solidarity for Ryu's ill-gotten brands).  Elio gets Ryu finely crafted dancing slippers embroidered with diamonds. General Ibrahim gets Imperator a whole honey cake to devour. Ratu gives everyone four gold pieces in honor of her wager with Arno (which, for the former thief, is a huge offering). Serkan gives Riyad some of his old war trophies since the boy's such a fan of his. And Riyad gets Serkan a generous offer of yet more disgusting herbal tea since he knows that my father's been dumping it in the plants.

I startle when I feel tapping on my shoulder.

"Do you miss them?"

I smile sadly up at Kane. "Every waking moment."

Since gods don't need to sleep, that's forever and a day for me.

He kisses my brow softly and rubs my back. "Come along, love. I've got a test of sorts for you."

"Forty-two." I answer instinctively.

He laughs. "Not that kind of test." He points in front of him, and on an elaborate table with clawed lion feet and a cloth spun from threads of gold, there are three objects. A glass bowl filled with water, an aloe plant, a bird with a broken wing.

I raise a questioning brow. "Are we keeping pets now? I believe birds need food alongside water. They're not the same as plants."

Kane points to the bowl of water. "Try it. See if you're goddess of water."

I start splashing around in the bowl. I succeed in nothing but looking like a child.

We move to the next test. "Goddess of nature and plants?"

I touch a single stem on the plant. The entire thing shrivels up, turns brown, and dies.

Kane flinches as we move onto the bird with the injured wing. "Maybe healing or animal nurture is more your specialty?"

Before I can even touch the bird, it hops off the table, screeching. I cover my ears, and Kane murmurs a few words and the poor creature's broken wing heals. His silver eyes turn a little dimmer since mankind, not bird-kind, is more his domain for life. "Maybe not, then."

I stay far away from the bird as it coos softly and glares at me from its perch on Kane's shoulder. Nasty little demon. "I appreciate the support, Kane. But I don't think I'm the goddess of any of those things."

He releases the bird, and it transports back to Rahasia. "Worry not, Ode. We'll find your gift before Shab."

I shrug, smiling back into those hopeful eyes of his. "I hope so, joon-am."

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*

Elio holds a ceremony for me down at the palace in Rahasia. He unveils a statue that Ryu designed and Valentina modeled for, a statue of my likeness standing at twenty-men-high. I'm staring ahead with an icy look to my eyes, holding a fox pup in my arms with my Divine mirror at my feet. I look dreadfully heroic, but also terrifying at the same time.

They know me so well.

My father smiles in gratitude at the young Emperor's gesture, but Ratu leaves the ceremony early. "Where are you, Ode?" She murmurs to herself.

I'm right here. I never left you.

"I wish there was a way I could visit them." I clench my fists as I sip at some honeyed tea, back at the golden table that's thankfully empty of any angry birds. Kane sits across from me, watching me with a measured expression.

"Gods can wander the mortal realm, you know."

"It hurts too much to be down there." And my heart aches just at the memory of wearing human skin, how it made me crawl to be trapped in that prison of flesh, my bones a cage. "It's still too soon. The starscape makes me feel safe. It's home. Freedom from sorrow. From mortal pain."

Kane is at my side in the blink of an eye, holding my hand to his chest, running his fingers over the back of my hand. "There's dreams then. Gods do that sometimes, especially when they're feeling dramatic. Announce prophecies. Spiteful ghosts wanting their princely sons to avenge murders and things like that. I believe they had a version of that legend in Idriola. What was it called, Piglet?"

I put the cup of tea down. "These dreams. Show me how."

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*

The dreamscape feels much the same as the starscape, little more than stardust and mortal imaginings. Magic, nothing has more magic than the human mind, brimming with imagination, overflowing with hope and passion.

"Is this a memory?" Ratu murmurs. I've set us up in a garden, the same one I was in that night I left her, the night of the wedding party. "Or will you leave me even in my dreams?"

I smile, my heart aching from the bite in her words. Instead, I point up at the stars. "I'm up there." I press my hand against her heart. "In here." And finally, I get to my feet, gesturing to the space around us. "A little bit of everywhere right now."

She squints at me. "Your eyes. They aren't red-tinged anymore. Now they're black. No whites surrounding them. I feel like I could get lost in those." Her face scrunches up, eyes brimming with tears. "I have gotten lost. So terribly lost."

I hug her to me as she cries. "Don't cry for me, Ratu. We'll meet again."

I hold her until morning comes, and I, alongside her dream, vanish.

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*

I see Arno's face.

I scream.

It feels like getting stabbed, but there's no body to stab into.

So, instead, it feels like pain.

A pain that occupies your very soul.

Then, like a dream...

...it just vanishes.

It's not every year that Shab turns into a total nightmare.