Devotia Ch. 25: Devotion

25 - Devotion

"The Goddess found the world in darkness, and saw that it was cold and frightened. She brought forth her fabric and her loom and spun forth a blanket for the world, wrapping it in her warm, nurturing embrace. But the people were not happy, they had grown used to the dark and the cold, and were unsure of Suul's gift.

They sent forth a brave woman to petition the Goddess to restore its prior ways, but this woman looked upon the Goddess and loved her, and the Goddess looked upon the woman and loved her. So, the Goddess took her loom and spun a new blanket, and the woman took her kiln and forged a beautiful container of glass, and the two objects they bore forth as their proposal to one another. Delighted by her gift, Suul blessed Yala with the gift of eternal life, and amazed at her new wife's love for her, Yala brought their gifts together and rose into the sky.

So, for half of the day, Suul would cover the world in her warm embrace, and for the other half of the night, Yala would give the world its darkness, lightly reflecting the love of her wife to comfort them still. And so the world was happy."

- - -

Callie always loved the night.

In Rookwell, night was when she had been most like herself. Removed from the pressures of day and business, left to her own devices, unseen by all, she experienced herself as something timidly divine.

She remembers the unrelenting honesty of the mirror. Staring into it for hours on end, she'd constantly asked the question of why. Why was this her form? Why was this body punishing her?

And why did no one seem to understand?

In those days, she would take long walks under a different name and different sky than she had in Solva. She was lonely constantly. She loved nothing beyond the night and Mykah, her only friends.

And she loved the moon most of all, for it seemed to see her as nothing else did.

When Yala first appeared to Callie, she'd said the two of them were like one another. That Yala, too, was threaded. That Suul had looked upon her and seen her for who she was, for what was true of her.

When she'd fled Rookwell under cover of night, reshaped by Mykah's magic from the sun, Callie looked again to the moon. Even in those days, it seemed to understand her pains, her longings. And once, on that road to Solva, she even thought it had told her:

I will protect you.

- - -

Callie feels as though she is flying once more.

Not flying, floating.

And for a moment, she feels as though she had always been meant to fly, to float, to leave the ground and its burdens behind.

The pain leaves her. The ache of her heart leaves her. She feels nothing but the cool comfort of a gentle night, and quiet, and peace.

It's peaceful. It's peaceful within her form. It's peaceful within her heart.

So, she inhales deep and sighs, loving the absence of all that could have weighed her down. Before, her body was energy, was aloft by stress and nourishment, those constant functions of life and mind.

But this feels good. So she rests in it as long as allowed.

You have done well, says the Goddess.

"I'm not worried about that any longer," says Callie.

And the Goddess glitters with laughter. You will not die. I have protected you, as you have protected me.

"My heart is gracious."

I will reward you.

"I want for nothing but the love and life I've had in Solva," Callie replies contentedly.

And you shall have it. I will return you in but a moment.

Callie thanks her, and opens her eyes to see nothing. Nothing like the expanse of night. Nothing like stars and light and dark and all together.

"I would like to ask, if I may."

Then ask.

"Why me?"

And the Goddess glimmers.

Why not?

- - -

Callie's breath heaves like she's drowning. Suddenly there isn't enough air, there isn't anything holding the oxygen in her lungs. Her limbs flail through nothingness, scramble like she's falling. But she isn't, she's rising once more.

And it's Yala who holds her.

The cascading mandala of mirror drops descend upon Callie as she opens her eyes once more, spiraling and dancing into her skin and filling her like a cool spring of water. The raw, tender skin of her body slowly soothes. The aching, crumbling pain all across her form weathers.

It occurs to her that without her threading, she'd lost all the transformation of Suul.

So Yala intervenes, bathing her in a shimmering silver light that throws bright shadows across the courtyard. Like her body being wrapped with ice, Callie feels herself be unmade and undone.

Only for Yala to shape her once more.

Callie returns to the ground in a pool of water, where the surface isn't disturbed by her entry. It shines back at her as a mirror, and there, in its center, Callie sees herself for, perhaps, the first time.

Mykah had worked art with her form, gifted her with a body like she could never have imagined. She'd thanked him a million times for it.

But now - it's as though Callie recognizes herself perfectly for the first time. The differences are subtle, almost unrecognizable, but it's as though this is the only way she could have ever been - the only possible appearance of her form.

No longer the reflection of her birth.

No longer a gift of threading.

Now the mirror beholds her as a kindred soul - the first to be blessed by the shimmering magic of Yala. A woman of mirror drops and moonlight.

Callana. Hal Devotia Yalani.

She rises from the water and gazes out over her city, turns and turns around the courtyard as she accepts that somehow, she has survived. And she bows to them, smiles at her home.

And as Junivere and Calvin scramble towards her, their faces glowing with relief, with love, Callie smiles brighter.

Perhaps she is meant to bring a new Age. Perhaps Suul need not gift her love alone. Perhaps Yala join her as a wife of true equals for all. Perhaps their blessings be cast far and wide, full of love and adoration and peace and goodness.

So, with Calvin holding one arm, and Junivere the other, Callie turns to her city and beams. A miracle has occurred.

An Age of Sun and Moon. Of Light and Dark.

An Age of Love for Solva, and all those people she so dearly loves within.