A Division of Souls - A Novel of the Mendaihu Universe by Jon Chaisson
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Consequence
…Denni picked herself up off the grass.
Grass?
She was facing a line of trees bent from the wind, set back and slightly downhill, marking the edge of an outcropping of grass and rocks. A small footpath cut through the brush and down towards…? She was at the Crest again. How had she gotten up here? That’s right…Nehalé had taken her away from the warehouse and stepped into Light. So why here? Why now? Frustrated, she shook the jumble of questions out of her head, and faced the city.
Above the storm front, it was clear as day.
She caught her breath. The immense, muddy gray clouds hovered over the city, obscuring the entirety of it save the uppermost floors of the Mirades Tower. Its weather beacon blinked in a steady warning pattern, almost in time with the sway of the searchlights that tried in vain to cut a swath through the storm. She felt an icy chill…an inner chill that dulled her senses and made her lethargic. She stepped back, for all the good it would do, and willed herself not to fall prey to it. She remembered her conversation with Ampryss, and shuddered.
Denysia. Amna was calling out to her. Denysia…do not worry. I am only waiting. She was close by, though she could not tell where.
Amna? Where are you?
“She is safe,” he said behind her.
“Nehalé!” she gasped, startled by his voice. “Why are we up here? Where’s Amna?”
Nehalé bowed his head, but it seemed more out of shame than reverence. He was well aware that he’d been the cause of all the events up to this point, and he could no longer hide from the guilt. “I brought you up here, Denysia, so you can see what is happening from a distance,” he said quietly, a hint of anxiety in his voice. He gestured at the blanketed sprawl with a sweeping hand. “The Rain of Light…the cloud covering you see before you…”
“It’s consuming us,” Denni said gravely. She bit her lip and watched the cloud cover in silence, holding her arms tight around her in another attempt to escape the chill. It was so ominous, so unnatural to her. When she was last up in that otherwhere, this was exactly what she’d seen, knowing what it was even before she could understand it. She’d seen thousands of satellite clouds like this, covering nearly all the cities up and down the coast, even in the inner Wilderlands. “I had hoped this wouldn’t happen,” she continued. “I’d hoped I could have avoided everything by accepting those two Shenaihu women.” As soon as she’d said it, she knew that would not have made a difference. Something else…something to placate the Rain of Light, to retain the balance, had to be performed.
“That was the problem,” Nehalé said. “You see, it was your simple act of unconditional love that took them by surprise. The Shenaihu are not always as peaceful as the Mendaihu may be, Denysia. The Mendaihu tribe is the spiritual manifestation, they gather intellectually; it is their nature. The Shenaihu are the physical manifestation of the Trisandi energy. They gather physically, as that is their nature. The nuhm’ndah are Shenaihu extremists...they gather out of a deep physical want.”
“I understand that now,” Denni said. She shifted position again in another attempt to keep warm. Where was this cold snap coming from? Outside the Rain of Light, it was a humid eighty-three degrees and not a cloud in the sky. She eyed the Rain again and huffed. There was something she had to do, to clear it all, make it all good again. But how?
“Denysia?” Nehalé said. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine,” she said, waving him off. “So…what I don’t understand is what’s going on now. You caused this, Nehalé Usarai. You caused the Rain of Light to wake itself up when you woke me up. But I am equally to blame now. It reacted when I touched those two women, as mundane as that act may be. Perhaps it resonated with my actions?”
Nehalé nodded. “I’m certain that’s it.”
“What I don’t understand is why the Rain is acting the way it is. ”
“Here,” he said, and held out a hand. “Let me show you.”
Consequence
…Denni picked herself up off the grass.
Grass?
She was facing a line of trees bent from the wind, set back and slightly downhill, marking the edge of an outcropping of grass and rocks. A small footpath cut through the brush and down towards…? She was at the Crest again. How had she gotten up here? That’s right…Nehalé had taken her away from the warehouse and stepped into Light. So why here? Why now? Frustrated, she shook the jumble of questions out of her head, and faced the city.
Above the storm front, it was clear as day.
She caught her breath. The immense, muddy gray clouds hovered over the city, obscuring the entirety of it save the uppermost floors of the Mirades Tower. Its weather beacon blinked in a steady warning pattern, almost in time with the sway of the searchlights that tried in vain to cut a swath through the storm. She felt an icy chill…an inner chill that dulled her senses and made her lethargic. She stepped back, for all the good it would do, and willed herself not to fall prey to it. She remembered her conversation with Ampryss, and shuddered.
Denysia. Amna was calling out to her. Denysia…do not worry. I am only waiting. She was close by, though she could not tell where.
Amna? Where are you?
“She is safe,” he said behind her.
“Nehalé!” she gasped, startled by his voice. “Why are we up here? Where’s Amna?”
Nehalé bowed his head, but it seemed more out of shame than reverence. He was well aware that he’d been the cause of all the events up to this point, and he could no longer hide from the guilt. “I brought you up here, Denysia, so you can see what is happening from a distance,” he said quietly, a hint of anxiety in his voice. He gestured at the blanketed sprawl with a sweeping hand. “The Rain of Light…the cloud covering you see before you…”
“It’s consuming us,” Denni said gravely. She bit her lip and watched the cloud cover in silence, holding her arms tight around her in another attempt to escape the chill. It was so ominous, so unnatural to her. When she was last up in that otherwhere, this was exactly what she’d seen, knowing what it was even before she could understand it. She’d seen thousands of satellite clouds like this, covering nearly all the cities up and down the coast, even in the inner Wilderlands. “I had hoped this wouldn’t happen,” she continued. “I’d hoped I could have avoided everything by accepting those two Shenaihu women.” As soon as she’d said it, she knew that would not have made a difference. Something else…something to placate the Rain of Light, to retain the balance, had to be performed.
“That was the problem,” Nehalé said. “You see, it was your simple act of unconditional love that took them by surprise. The Shenaihu are not always as peaceful as the Mendaihu may be, Denysia. The Mendaihu tribe is the spiritual manifestation, they gather intellectually; it is their nature. The Shenaihu are the physical manifestation of the Trisandi energy. They gather physically, as that is their nature. The nuhm’ndah are Shenaihu extremists...they gather out of a deep physical want.”
“I understand that now,” Denni said. She shifted position again in another attempt to keep warm. Where was this cold snap coming from? Outside the Rain of Light, it was a humid eighty-three degrees and not a cloud in the sky. She eyed the Rain again and huffed. There was something she had to do, to clear it all, make it all good again. But how?
“Denysia?” Nehalé said. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine,” she said, waving him off. “So…what I don’t understand is what’s going on now. You caused this, Nehalé Usarai. You caused the Rain of Light to wake itself up when you woke me up. But I am equally to blame now. It reacted when I touched those two women, as mundane as that act may be. Perhaps it resonated with my actions?”
Nehalé nodded. “I’m certain that’s it.”
“What I don’t understand is why the Rain is acting the way it is. ”
“Here,” he said, and held out a hand. “Let me show you.”