(no subject)
Naraht had been sleeping most of the day. Still fitfull, although his dreams were nowhere near as disturbing as the delerium from the night before. All day long, he would twitch and shiver in his sleep until one particularly bad spasm woke him. The first few times, he tried to force himself to eat the food Ray had left for him, but at last this stomach flat-out refused it.
Fortunately, Horta vomit is rather dry and neat compared to human.
And so the cycle went. Restless sleep to bleary, painful wakefullness and back again.
Until...
The confused images of his dreamscape suddenly clear away. He's in a cavern...one he knows very well. The Cavern of the Ages where he and all his siblings were born. Where they would come again to mate and die. It is the most hallowed place on their homeplanet.
Dahai
Naraht all but jumps in joy. "Mother!" he cries. No one else would dare address him by that name alone. But how he got here and what she is doing here with him...no matter! A Horta can see in 380 degrees so there is no need to turn and face the door as she enters the Chamber.
But the Horta who enters is not his Mother. She feels like her but...she's different. Somehow bigger and denser while at the same time seeming as insubstantial as air itself. And then it dawns on him. There is one other being permitted to call a Horta by his Mother-name. He suddenly remembers his condition in the waking world.
"Is it time?" he asks, fear and regret mingling in his thoughts. It is said that the First Mother only comes to those on the verge of rejoining her, so that she might comfort and prepare them for the journey.
But the Mother waves her fringe in an equivical gesture. You are close to it, my child. I will not deceive you in that, she says with infinate tenderness. If this ravager holds sway in your body for another night, you will join be before the next day is done.
Naraht sighs and tries to summon up his courage. "I feared it would be that way," he says. "Will I have a chance to say good-bye to my friends? The ones here, at least?"
Your friends come to you now, the First Mother says. But have a care not to be too quick with farewell. There is still a path that might lead you away from this death...if you can find it. And if you have the will to take it. For it will be a strange path, Dahai. And you will never be the same again.
Naraht chuckles. "You know the strange has never scared me, Mother."
No, it does not, she agrees. Helplessness and betrayal of trust, those you fear. But never the strange. That may be your saving, child. She reaches out to brush his surface with her fringe. But whatever your path...whatever your choice, know that I love you and I will always be here to welcome you when your time does come. Be of courage now and trust in the friends you have found among the strangeness. Your end is not certain.
"I'll try, Mother," Naraht says. "But it's hard not to be afraid."
I know, beloved. But move through your fear and you will feel me holding you...
Naraht woke with a tremor that felt like it was going to shake him to pieces. His temperature was falling again. Whether Raven's charm had faded or his condition had simply outstripped it, Naraht didn't know.
But one more night, the First Mother had said...and she only comes to the dying.
Fortunately, Horta vomit is rather dry and neat compared to human.
And so the cycle went. Restless sleep to bleary, painful wakefullness and back again.
Until...
The confused images of his dreamscape suddenly clear away. He's in a cavern...one he knows very well. The Cavern of the Ages where he and all his siblings were born. Where they would come again to mate and die. It is the most hallowed place on their homeplanet.
Dahai
Naraht all but jumps in joy. "Mother!" he cries. No one else would dare address him by that name alone. But how he got here and what she is doing here with him...no matter! A Horta can see in 380 degrees so there is no need to turn and face the door as she enters the Chamber.
But the Horta who enters is not his Mother. She feels like her but...she's different. Somehow bigger and denser while at the same time seeming as insubstantial as air itself. And then it dawns on him. There is one other being permitted to call a Horta by his Mother-name. He suddenly remembers his condition in the waking world.
"Is it time?" he asks, fear and regret mingling in his thoughts. It is said that the First Mother only comes to those on the verge of rejoining her, so that she might comfort and prepare them for the journey.
But the Mother waves her fringe in an equivical gesture. You are close to it, my child. I will not deceive you in that, she says with infinate tenderness. If this ravager holds sway in your body for another night, you will join be before the next day is done.
Naraht sighs and tries to summon up his courage. "I feared it would be that way," he says. "Will I have a chance to say good-bye to my friends? The ones here, at least?"
Your friends come to you now, the First Mother says. But have a care not to be too quick with farewell. There is still a path that might lead you away from this death...if you can find it. And if you have the will to take it. For it will be a strange path, Dahai. And you will never be the same again.
Naraht chuckles. "You know the strange has never scared me, Mother."
No, it does not, she agrees. Helplessness and betrayal of trust, those you fear. But never the strange. That may be your saving, child. She reaches out to brush his surface with her fringe. But whatever your path...whatever your choice, know that I love you and I will always be here to welcome you when your time does come. Be of courage now and trust in the friends you have found among the strangeness. Your end is not certain.
"I'll try, Mother," Naraht says. "But it's hard not to be afraid."
I know, beloved. But move through your fear and you will feel me holding you...
Naraht woke with a tremor that felt like it was going to shake him to pieces. His temperature was falling again. Whether Raven's charm had faded or his condition had simply outstripped it, Naraht didn't know.
But one more night, the First Mother had said...and she only comes to the dying.