Page 58 of Unfinished

“What do I need to do?” she asked as the first person already approached them. The woman stared at Sienna, a small doll already in her hands.

“Just be here,” H’viss said quietly. “Your presence is enough.”

The woman stopped in front of them, and she made a sign with her fingers towards Sienna.

“Lady, you bless us,” the woman said, bowing her head low.

“Sienna is a daughter of the Lady, just as you are,” H’viss told her gently. He held out his hand for the doll. “Your offering, please.”

The woman placed the little doll in H’viss’ palm with trembling fingers. Then she pulled a small knife out from beneath her belt and nicked her palm, letting a few drops of blood fall on the offering. Sienna looked out over the rest of the people lined up behind her. Most were women dressed in similar outfits to her own. She wondered if they were all packing knives beneath their fancy belts.

“The Lady’s blessings upon you,” H’viss said. He nudged her side and handed her the little fertility doll. “Attach it to the cord there,” he said, indicating a large skein of gold colored rope beside another large basket like the ones in the maize field.

Sienna grabbed the end of the cord and started unwinding it. Little clips were attached every few inches, so she clipped the doll onto the first. The next woman came up, and the process repeated, except she used one of the corn husk dolls Sienna had helped make the other night instead of her own.

After a while, she and H’viss had settled into a pretty steady rhythm. The basket was quickly filling with the blessed dolls. They’d been told during the Mate Portal orientation that Xithilene generally had fewer children than humans, but it seemed that it wasn’t for lack of wanting. She’d watched the way the women and men approaching them looked at her and H’viss, like they might grant them their greatest wish.

Sienna looked down at her stomach, surprised that she didn’t feel that same ache any longer. There’d been times she’d felt as desperate as the women here, just hoping and longing for the day when she could have a family of her own. It wasn’t that she wouldn’t still welcome a baby, but she didn’t feel that sharp need, the sense that something vital was missing, that’d plagued her during the last year of her relationship with Edgar.

Veesha had done that, she realized. Veesha and R’kash. Maybe she’d cut her finger and do her own offering today, but she’d be okay no matter what it brought. Sienna looked up and smiled at the next woman who stepped up to them. The woman’s dark feathers lifted up and she smiled back, and Sienna felt more at peace than she could ever remember. It truly felt as if this were where she was meant to be.

The drummers had taken up their instruments again, but it was a relaxed beat that just added a welcome rhythm to the activities. The sun was still high in the sky, but she could tell it was getting later. It wouldn’t be too long until those streaks of coral and violet lit up the horizon. When H’viss handed her the last offering, she attached the doll and let it fall into the basket with the others.

She smiled at H’viss. “What next?”

“Enjoy yourself. Faseeth should’ve brought Veesha out by now. We can see if she’d like something to eat. You should get some food for yourself—you’ll see most of our northern delicacies represented,” he added with a slight grin. “I’m going to find some friedjalathiroots. I haven’t had those in too long, probably since the last festival.”

Sienna waved as H’viss left before she turned around to scan the grounds. It shouldn’t be too hard to find Faseeth and Veesha. Faseeth was the only Xithilene here with green scales, and Veesha was the only winged child. It was a bit shocking really how homogenous the population here was after her time on the ship and the admittedly brief trip through Verkissat. She’d seen scales in every shade of green and gold, feathers in red, green, yellow, and even blue, and some of the people even displayed all the colors at once, their plumage as bright as any parrot’s. Here there were uniform bronze-gold scales everywhere she looked and predominantly black or brown feathers. A few flashes of red caught her attention, but she could see why R’kash was concerned about Veesha feeling at home here.

In the end, Faseeth was the one to find her first. “Sienna!” he shouted.

She was pretty impressed with herself that despite the translation device she was already able to pick out some of the differences in his accent. She turned to see him leading Veesha by the hand. He hadn’t dressed up for the festival as far as she could see, but Veesha was wearing a little dress that mimicked her own. It had the full, stiff skirt and sleeveless bodice, complete with a thinner version of Sienna’s belt.

Sienna knelt down and smiled at Veesha. “I’m so glad you’re here now. I love your dress. You havev’tushliflowers, just like mine!” Veesha’s dress was the same rich red as the priests’ robes, and the violet-blue flowers were embroidered all across the fabric. It looked like a veritable garden had exploded across the little gown.

Veesha looked up slowly and flashed her a shy smile before she reached out to touch the biggest flower on Sienna’s skirt. “Pretty.”

Sienna held out her arms, and Veesha jumped into the hug. Her tiny nails dug almost painfully into Sienna’s back, but she didn’t mind. She was just grateful Veesha felt comfortable enough with her now to want to be held.

“Faseeth, can you take a picture? We match, and we should have something to remember our first harvest festival by.” Sienna released Veesha and stood up, taking her hand as she looked over at the tutor.

“You want a picture of everything, don’t you?” he said, but he was still pulling a small device off of a hook on his belt.

She’d learned quickly that Xithlene didn’t share humans’ need to document every special occasion with photos and vids, but that wasn’t something she was willing to budge on. Even if she hadn’t planned to share the pictures with her family and friends back home, she wanted to preserve these memories for herself.

She smiled at Faseeth and waited for him to take the photos. He held the device rather carelessly and depressed the button on the side while his feathers flicked up and down like he was tapping his foot.

“Those better turn out, or I’ll have to have you do it all over again,” she said with a grin as he put the device away.

“This was meant for collecting specimen images of the plant life here, not to feed your human obsession for static images.”

Sienna laughed. “You’ll be glad we have them later, I promise. H’viss suggested we get something to eat. He mentionedjalathiroots. Do you have any idea what he was talking about?” she asked.

Faseeth’s face wrinkled up, and he hissed in disgust. “We’re not eating those.” He flashed one of the many Xithilene signs she was going to have to learn very, very soon and looked like he was about to spit. “Cursed ground food. It’s bad luck to eat such things in the forest.”

Sienna shook her head as they started walking towards the ring of parked gliders. “Ground food? Do you mean root vegetables? Onions?”

“Yes, food dug up from the ground.” He glanced around at the plains and shuddered. “I suppose it makes sense they resort to such desperate measures in a place like this. They have no great forests here. Someday you must have R’kash take you to see the rest of Xithilene. A pod ride’s time in Verkissat isn’t enough to count. We truly have a beautiful planet.”

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