The Etra Anthology

98th of Nemulum, 336 EA

Ishikar, Athal

There was a slump to the end of Belmaia’s days, a sort of slow collapse from the shape she held herself up in. The coming of the night’s dark brought out this routine comfort, her settling at the kitchen table with a cup of the bergamot tea that Livia had first planted in in their garden long years before her first leaving.

A present chill came over the room, setting Belmaia’s spine to tingle. She felt the hairs of her arm stand suddenly on end, and felt for all the world as if she was being watched.

She turned, slowly, to survey her surroundings. She could see into the kitchen, down the long hallway through the living area past to the stairwell leading up to the second floor. She was along, and yet still she felts that clinging embrace of the cold. She reached up in fearful care, resting her hand on the amulet that was he holy symbol. 

It was just then that there was a knock at the door, breaking her out from her anxious flow. Belmaia allowed herself a steadying breath. This was normal, and everything was fine.

She could hear the sounds of conversation outside, the shuffling of feet. She opened the door to two figures, both women. The first she noticed was scowling. She stood tall and carried a thin stave. Hanging from her ears were two cast-silver birds skulls. The other was more striking, wiry and wild looking with her nest of hair and the runic tattoos scrolling across her body.

“Good evening.” Belmaia started, lingering inside the threshold of the temple. “How can I help you?”

The taller woman looked back over her shoulder, as though she wanted to leave. Meanwhile, the shorter woman’s gaze bored into her with bug-eyed intensity.

“We have come to inquire about lodging here.” She started. “I am called Svaljna. My compatriot is named Mepka.”

Belmaia ushered them in, that ragtag pair, gearing herself back up into working order. 

She found that when contrasted with the outdoor air the chill she had felt in the house had faded. Still, though, as she conducted the conversation, she could not help but feel that that unsettling presence had been real in some strange and eminently worrying way. 

She knew that in taking her oaths to the faith she had made it her calling to welcome travelers, to care for them. Still though, bringing these two in made the house feel noticeably more empty after so long between just her and Livia, and for that she silently mourned.