Smoke curled up from stone chimneys as Yamini took me through the village to a modest cottage surrounded by herbs and climbing vines. The houses in the village all looked the same—modest with a sense of serenity around them.
He talked the entire walk home, showing me around while I shivered and held his hand. There was the weathered mill where his Pa worked sharpening tools for farmers, the river that flooded every spring and an old oak everyone believed housed restless spirits. I smiled at that part because our worlds were very similar.
His voice carried more warmth, curiosity and trust, and that pleased me.
As we came closer to the village centre, the hum grew louder in my head, my eyes pinpointing glows from within cottages and a few people milling around.
“Pa!” Yamini called from outside their cottage. Chickens scattered from the pathway while he pushed open the wooden gate. The man who emerged from the cottage almost made my frail heart stop. He was tall, broad-shouldered with a full beard marked with grey despite the strength in his arms. His glow was brighter than Yamini's.
I was taking him all in when my breath caught at the sight of the beautiful, slender woman who stepped out from behind him with an easy smile, wiping damp hands on her apron. Her light carried the scent of a cool breeze mixed with dewy plants.
Three vessels in one family! My Thalara would be very pleased even though I knew she could hear the hum through me and like a beacon, it would bring her to this village soon.
The woman's kind eyes took in the state of my clothes as Yamini moved closer to her. “I found him in the swamp, Ma. I think he's hungry and cold.”
“Of course, he is,” she said, chuckling.
The man patted Yamini's back. “Good lad. Go stoke the fire while your Ma takes care of him.”
“Yes, Pa.” Yamini bowed and rushed inside. I watched the interchange between the three humans and their connection was enchanting. Indeed, my Thalara would be pleased with me. She had searched other worlds for decades without finding a compatible host but I had done more in just one search.
When the woman wrapped a thick blanket around me, I stiffened for no one outside my world had touched me with such gentleness. Once I washed and settled into their formal room, their lights intertwined like strands, running across the rooms in the cottage to surround me. I closed my eyes to sleep.
“Hölgbê….hölgbê, we have come.”
My Thalara's croaked voice in my head stirred me awake. Night had settled over the village and rain tapped softly against the windows. The air had changed with their presence.
I rushed to the window and there was my Thalara with two of my male kin standing beyond the garden fence, looking weak and worse than when I left home.
I pushed the front door open and opened my arms to them. As they hovered and drew close to me, Yamini's parents stepped onto the porch carrying a lantern. Curiosity and confusion warred on their faces.
“Can I help—,” Yamini's Pa started to say when one of kin stepped right into him, slowly merging with him. Yamini's Ma was going to scream at the unnatural scene playing before her when Thalara raised one hand and pulled the woman to herself. In a blink they were merged as one.
There was no pain, just wonder and recognition as their connection became complete. We did not steal life as you might have imagined, we merged with it. Two souls would awaken in one body, living in harmony.
“Pa?” Yamini trudged out then, sleepy with a smile. Before he could ask questions, I nodded at Thalara and stepped right into him.
His eyes widened in shock as we gazed at each other inside the mind we shared. His light, visible and stretching to wrap around me. Lost and alone in a strange world, he rescued me and became my friend.
Now, he was my home.
I hope you enjoyed reading this short piece. It's inspired by the Freewrite #dailyprompt phrase "butterfly effect”.
Thank you for visiting my blog.
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