Chapter 4
“Be quick now, Mastras,” Catty shouted as she ran down the dirt road to class. “I shall get to the board beyond any of you!”
She found herself being the leader of the seven mastras during the past month. At first, every female wanted to befriend her since she was so good at using her being – that and she was the wealthiest child in the entire tribe. However, Requai and Glani took the responsibility of making sure no one intruded into their ranks beyond the original seven.
Aly wouldn’t have made the “cut” if it wasn’t for Catty, though. The other mastras didn’t like the thought, initially, until they realized Aly could carry their books and scrolls. So, the mastra could never race after the rest of her “friends” to school, given she was too preoccupied with holding everything.
“Delay me not!” Catty shouted as she kept running. “And that includes you as well, Aly. Come now!”
“Truly, Aly,” Requai said as she turned around. “What delays you?”
The other girls heard her yelp. They turned around and shrieked when they saw what all the fuss was about.
“What has this one done?!” one of the girls cried. “Alytchai, you dolt! Why not be more careful?”
“Apologies!” Aly ran off the dirt road to catch the papyrus flying away. “I tripped over a rock and stumbled.”
The mastras rushed back to grab their belongings for themselves.
“This one cannot even carry others’ items, let alone control her being,” another Little One joked. “Silly Aly.”
Catty playfully laughed off the insult as she went over to help her friend pick everything up.
“Hold,” Requai said as she held her back. “Why trouble over this? Truly, are you not the field lord’s offspring? This one has no need to toil over this. Was this not Aly’s error?”
The others around her chimed in and agreed. Aly, who was still trying to grab everything, stopped and looked at her. The helpless stare struck a nerve in Catty, who remembered how Aly never intervened on her behalf whenever Requai made fun of her. On top of that, she wasn’t too sure if she could deal with such a needy person always begging for pity. Still, none of this seemed right.
Catty stepped forward and the mastras gasped. She paused as she studied everyone’s face and realized they were going to be disappointed if she didn’t meet their expectations. And why would she want to disappoint them? They were her friends.
“A...good point,” Catty eventually said, avoiding eye contact with Aly. “Surely, you can handle this yourself, yes?”
“Well, truly,” Aly answered.
The Little Ones’ ears twitched when they heard a ringing sound in the distance.
Catty shrieked. “Nay! We are to be late!”
The rest of the mastras ran off to start a new school day. Aly took her time picking up the rest of the scrolls since there wasn’t a point in rushing anymore. She’d be late, regardless. That wasn’t on her mind, however. Her grades were coming back around. They weren’t great, but manageable. The sparring grounds, however, were still another story.
While everyone else had the extravagance of talking about being a blacksmith, or a merchant, or even a maid in Catty’s house when they grew up, Aly just wanted to control her being. She still wanted to be a bakery priest, of course, but she had plenty of time to learn how to do that. She was good at everything else, so she needed to keep her priorities down to the basics. In the meantime, she’d better make sure she didn’t leave any of her own books and scrolls behind.
When she finished picking everything up, the Little One strolled down the road, still struggling to keep a grip on everyone’s belongings. She came across a winged creature called a sila perched on a branch. It had to be a male, due to how red the chest was. The majority of his body was scaled while all four wings were feathered. The antennae protruding from the creature’s head twitched from left to right as Aly headed to the tree. The sila was chirping a happy tune, so Aly set the scrolls down to listen. She might as well use the extra time for all its worth.
The sila sensed he had gained an audience and looked down at the little Goolian with his blue compound eyes. Knowing that the child wouldn’t harm a bug, he went right back to singing.
“Truly, that be a happy song,” Aly said.
The sila added an extra note to his song and sped up the tempo, like he was telling her “thank you.” Aly tapped her left foot with the beat, letting the rhythm make a pattern, honing in on the notes, absorbing the essence that the creature emitted with every pitch. She closed her eyes, cleared her throat, and the sila stopped.
“This one would not mind if I try, nay?” she asked as she opened her eyes.
The sila tilted his head from side to side, not making another peep. Aly took in a deep breath and gave a note. Her voice was frail and weak, but wasn’t bad for a Little One trying to sing on her own.
When she sounded a little flat, Aly stopped and let the sila cut back in again. She giggled as she clapped to the tune.
“You are so grand at this,” she said as she hopped once. “Very well. Hmm, I see. May I not try again?”
The sila kept singing, as if telling Aly that she could, but he wasn’t expecting much. Aly flapped her wrists a little, straightened her neck, and tried again. She got the note on cue, but it still wasn’t as strong as the sila’s. Even so, the creature didn’t stop singing that time, so Aly felt more self-assured.
With every pitch the creature gave, Aly answered back with more confidence in hers. The sila tried overpowering the Goolian’s voice, but it became too strong. Aly realized she was getting too bold when her singing partner stopped and backed off a little.
“Apologies. I beg, continue.”
The sila accepted the Little One’s apology and chimed in again. Aly followed the melody an octave lower and the sila rocked back and forth, content with his masterpiece.
However, Aly wasn’t satisfied at all. There was something missing. She stopped when she tried to figure out what it was, and the sila frowned when he didn’t hear his singing partner anymore.
“Nay!” Aly said, holding up her hands in defense. “I beg, I merely wanted to try something different. This one would not mind, nay?”
The sila’s head went completely upside down, not an odd thing for it to do. Aly waited for his answer, and it came in the form of him simplifying the tune. Perfect.
The breeze got colder as Aly’s eyes grew brighter. The other creatures around the forest went silent, as if an unknown sensation enveloped everything. The mastra’s lungs suddenly felt more powerful than ever. She just wanted to scream out as loud as she could, but no. That wouldn’t be right. That wouldn’t be fair.
Instead, two measures into the sila’s song, Aly slid into the melody with a harmony that bounced off it like morning dew dripping off the leaves. It was foreign, but wondrously natural at the same time. The Goolian smiled as she closed her eyes and let the soul of the song direct her tune.
A ray of sunlight poked through the shade of one of the trees as the two sang. The sila led on as long as he could, but an unspoken force insisted that he wasn’t fit to lead anymore. Without missing a beat, Aly’s voice rolled ahead into the lead as the sila became the support.
Sailing. Soaring. Higher and lower. That was what the aura to the song did. It was powerful, but gentle. Precise, but smooth. Direct, but natural as the song carried on into the air. Before he knew it, the sila was cast underneath a spell from Aly’s song. And while the angelic voice from the Little One kept soaring, the sila stopped, overwhelmed by the secret the song whispered. He couldn’t comprehend with such a young creature singing on a level that the forces of nature never realized. So, the sila listened, and listened some more, succumbing to his role of no longer being a partner, but a privileged audience and receiver of a wonderful gift.
Aly heard the school bell chime again and stopped. She opened her eyes and looked at the sila, not noticing the glazed look he had in his.
“A fun tune that was,
indeed,” the Little One said as she bowed and picked up the scrolls. “Truly, I shall hum it all the way to class, very good? Be well, little friend.”
Aly turned around and skipped down the road, humming the song, just as she promised. Because of that, she didn’t notice the bugs not buzzing or other silas not chirping. The aura of her essence was still sailing in the air.