~Bilana- in Wunerigohable, a small village~

I was saved from my pondering by a knock on the door.

“Come in!” thamade called out and we heard the door open. Someone called out from the door, clearly in too much of a hurry to take their shoes off and come in. “Bilana guaşe!”

Lady Bilana!

I felt their nerves catch on to me as I jumped up and went to the door. “What, what is it?”

It was one of the villagers, my friend Guşina’s husband. He looked sweaty from the running and the nerves despite the cold air. “My wife is in labor! Please, come quickly!”

I peeked my head back in the kitchen and bid farewell to my thamade, “I will be going now, thamade. Please, excuse me.”

“Hurry, hurry! We can talk another time!” she urged me as she shooed me with her hands from the divan.

I gulped and nodded.

The poor man hardly managed to wait as I put on my coat and boots and closed the door behind me. “Come on, let us go.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The birth went without any major problems, thank the great Tha.

The only problem was that it took a long time for the baby to greet us so Guşina, the mother, was absolutely exhausted by the end. But still, when I showed her baby to her, a tired smile stretched its way across her sweaty face, her eyes blurry with tears as she said “hello, you” to her daughter for the first time.

I smiled at the affection, maybe a little envious, and called the father in. His eyes when he saw his wife and their child together for the first time… That was something I would never have. But this wasn’t about me, so I smiled as I gave them advice for the next few weeks and then bid farewell, “I will be going now. Please call me if you need anything.”

I was about to leave when-

“Wait.”

It was Guşina.

I turned back. “Yes?”

Her eyes fluttered sleepily, and she gulped. “Please be the one to give our daughter her name.”

I looked at the father and mother, who were only awake at this point thanks to the adrenaline pumping through their veins, and the little baby between them.

“Are you sure?” I asked. “Thamade should be the one to give her a name, don’t you think?”

She smiled. “We were going to ask her, yes, but you’ve delivered our child safely to us. We want you to name her.”

I blinked and smiled back with an, “Of course,” and reached out with my hands. “May I?”

They gave the baby to me, and I held her carefully, supporting her head and body. She was a tiny red thing, scrunching her face at me, ready to cry at any second now.

She was beautiful.

And she would be loved, unlike me, so I whispered her name in her ears so that she would hear and know her name.

“Guşef.” One who wins hearts.

She started crying, and I gave her back to her mother, who was smiling tiredly.

“Guşef. A beautiful name,” she whispered as she hushed and cooed at Guşef. “Thank you, Bilana.”

I blinked away tears, feeling happy for them. “You’re welcome,” and excused myself.

The father saw me off and went back in, closing the door behind him. I heard happy noises from inside the house, mixing weirdly beautifully with the soft crying.

I smiled to myself and let loose a tired breath.

It was late night now, and I was exhausted, but I would be sleeping well tonight.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~Psetha- in Elbruz, City of Watchers~

I sighed, “This one was no good either.”

I closed the book I had been reading and massaged my temples. I watched the soft light of the candle on my table covered with thin and thick books and sighed again. I had read the whole day away with no result.

“Were you able to find what you were looking for, your majesty?”

It was Guşipsa. I turned to him and answered in a tired— and a little frustrated— voice, “No.”

“Then I suggest you retire for the night, your majesty.”

I opened my mouth to complain, but, really, what other choice did I have? I sighed for the third time in the last few minutes and nodded.

“Okay.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I woke up to the sound of…water and wind?

I frowned and sat up, confused. Where was this noise coming from?

I couldn’t see much in the dark room, but here was my bed under me. There should be my dresser, and, I lit a candle to better see, over there on the floor…a whirlpool?

“What?” was the only sound that left my lips as my sleepy eyes grew round like the sun and the moon. I stood up and walked closer, the smell of salty water and sugary sweet magic greeting me.

Okay. There was a whirlpool in my room that came from and went to who-knew-where.

I threw a pen I had found lying around into the whirlpool, and it threw it right back out, forcing me to put up a barrier to protect myself against the pieces the pen had been reduced to. They stabbed the furniture all around me, leaving me safe thanks to my ball of air.

I waited to see if anyone would come in because of the noise, but nobody did, so I went back to considering this anomaly for what must have been hours, no, minutes… more like seconds, really, but could you blame me?

Here was something so out of the ordinary it shouldn’t exist, right in the middle of my room, and there was no reason why I shouldn’t give it a try. Even if I died, no one but my family would be sad. And it would be better that I die by a whirlpool than being killed by someone else. So, I secured my ball of air around me, I wasn’t completely suicidal after all, and jumped in, thoughts of freedom dancing around in my head and stretching their way across my lips as a grin.

This could be my way out.