Heirs of Prophecy - Lisa Smedman [43]
Larajin nodded, realizing that she must have inherited her stubborn streak from her mother. Like Trisdea, who had refused to divide her devotions, instead worshiping three goddesses in a single, triune form, Larajin had chosen a difficult path. She balanced her devotions, giving praise in what she hoped was equal measure to both Sune and Hanali Celanil.
Having heard Doriantha's story, she now wondered if, like Angharradh, the two goddesses she had chosen to worship were a single whole-two sides of the same coin. One with a human face, the other with the face of an elf.
"Is my brother Leifander also a cleric?" she asked. Doriantha nodded. "He pays homage to Aerdrie Faenya, queen of the winds. He's a skinwalker." "What's that?"
"He can shift his form from elf to bird and back again."
Larajin nodded, savoring the wonder of it. She tried to imagine how riding the winds high above would feel but could not. If her twin could fly, no wonder she had not seen him on Rauthauvyr's Road. She said a quick prayer for his safety, bidding the goddesses to protect him on his journey south and his return to the Tangled Trees.
A realization came to her then. In five hundred years of adulthood, her elf mother could have given birth to many children.
"Do I have other brothers and sisters?" Breathlessly, she awaited the answer, imagining an entire clan of relatives waiting for her in the Tangled Trees, soon to be met.
"Only one," Doriantha answered. "A sister, who was born and grew old many years before you and Leifander came into this world. Her name was Somnilthra, and she was a great seer. She foretold many things during her time among us. She prophesied that Trisdea would die, were she to bear children again, and her prophesy rang true. Trisdea was much too old to be going through the rigors of childbirth-impossibly old to have become pregnant, some said. Somnilthra also foresaw-"
Doriantha stopped abruptly. Larajin waited, but the silence only lengthened.
"What?" she prompted at last.
"I am overstepping myself," Doriantha said. "I forget that some stories are not mine to tell. Suffice it to say that Trisdea did not heed her daughter's warning and now lies buried in the Vale of Lost Voices in a tomb befitting a warrior of her stature."
Larajin let this go without further comment. Instead, she mused over all she had just been told and started to see a pattern. Her mother worshiped the triune goddess, of whom Hanali Celanil, the goddess Larajin prayed to, was one aspect. Her brother Leifander worshiped a second aspect of the triune, the winged goddess Aerdrie Faenya, and Doriantha had said that their
elder half-sister, Somnilthra, was a seer, gifted with foresight by the gods.
"Was Somnilthra a cleric, too?" Larajin asked.
Doriantha nodded. "She worshiped the Lunar Lady, goddess of dreams."
Larajin was puzzled for a moment. The elves seemed to have a dozen different names for each god and goddess.
"Sehanine Moonbow?" she guessed. "The same."
There it was: a pattern, woven into all four lives. A mother who worshiped three goddesses in one-and three children, each drawn to one of that goddess's aspects. What other strange and unseen patterns were the gods weaving through her life? Larajin could only wonder.
"You spoke of Somnilthra in the past tense," she added. "Is she dead?"
Doriantha placed a palm over her heart. "She has entered eternal Reverie. She dreams in Arvanaith."
Arvanaith. Larajin had read about it in one of the books in Stormweather Towers's library. It was said to be a final resting place-a heaven-that the souls of venerable elves slipped away to when their time on this earth was done. From all accounts-all of them hearsay, since the author of the book was human-Arvanaith was a beautiful place, a paradise where an aged soul prepared for its eventual return to this world. Larajin