3. Mashë

Whenever the village settled in a new spot it was with the knowledge that they would remain only for two years, even less if necessity dictated it. During those times, the old huts were emptied out and left as they were. After travelling for a few days to a few weeks, they built new homes from the land.

However, there was one exception.

In the centre of the village, the largest building of all acted as their axis. Unlike the huts dotting the hills, here the interior walls were made of wood and stone, forming tunnels delving deep into the largest hill. The entrance jutted out of the mound and was supported by wooden pillars along a third of it. Dor grass grew on its surface regardless, a welcome coat of paint that granted it as much secrecy as the other habitations from a distance. Three entrances were punctured along the patio, including the central gate which could have let a strider through.

A structure of that scale was not worth recreating everywhere they migrated.

Rather, it was already there, amidst the remains of an old village.

Similar buildings existed in several places, like beacons telling them when their feet could stop wandering. Old houses would have been invaded by the Dor and devoured. New houses were built, new habits were made, new marks were taken. The temple alone was a blatant anomaly to the rule, and in this it became a constant they would not imagine the world without. Tuläp had seen seven such buildings throughout her life.e

Not just anyone could come and go within those walls. Tuläp of clan Fal was not influencial enough to be required on important matters, and for some she was too young to be summoned in normal circumstances as well. That had only changed a few months ago.

As soon as the wooden pillars and the green gate came into sight, a knot formed in her stomach. The sun disk was as high as it could be. The sky had taken on the yellow hue of noon while a deeper orange lingered over the horizon. Her hooded silhouette eventually stepped into the shadow of the patio marking the border between common life and sacred grounds. Considering her role on this day, she was already an in-between of those worlds and she had her place at the main gate.

Next to the entrance, two figures stood guard and signaled her to stop. One of them was wearing a brown cloak, but the other one had the green garb of a Watcher – he was wearing an embossed helmet with horns sticking out of each side, half of his face was concealed behind a cloth. Tuläp didn't find it right for a Watcher to be a sentinel here. Had it always been this way?

"Duty binds me and I would see my oath fulfilled." She would rather announce herself than to be asked. "For now, my duty is to be here."

"That I will not question." The Protector, a woman from clan Desi, was the one who stepped forward. "Fal Tuläp is invited to the first inner chamber, I am told."

After ascertaining her identity and taking her staff, they let her in without further formality. None of what was said or done came as any surprise, before even setting foot here she knew where to go and how it would unfold. Nowhere was more steeped in principles and rituals than this temple, after all. And so Tuläp made her way from one corridor to the next, following the light of braziers with her eyes unaccustomed to the obscurity.

Once within these subterranean hallways, the temple felt so much vaster than it looked on the outside. How much of that was true, she couldn't be certain. She had never explored it in its entirety nor would she be given the chance. The first inner chamber was as far as she had even been allowed, beyond that lied the personal quarters of the people living here.

For indeed, it was a place to live like any other, with inhabitants unlike any others. A temple was meant to house humans' connection with the heavens.

Those who dwelled in it were that connection.

At intersections, there were holes in the ceilings Daylight spilled in from them, bringing a part of the outside into this closed boundary. A piece of sky, it seemed to naturally find its place here. Tuläp had traveled this path enough times to make her legs remember it, yet she still made sure she wasn't straying. She took the four turns she had to and made her way into a wider space.

The first inner chamber was larger than the hut she lived, shaped like a rectangle and abundantly lit by the lamps in each corner. Half of it was a floor of dry dirt, the rest was elevated by a wooden floor, upon which rested a pedestal. Three large cushions laid there, but the only other person in the room was Ulle, a black-robed domestic. She and Tuläp were familiar with each other already, she was the first person visitor met. Tuläp also remembered her as a young girl in the village, not yet pledged in service to the temple.

Within this sanctuary though, the meaning of their role was amplified. Their mutual greeting was silent and stiff, and ended with Ulle bowing respectfully. Then her thin silhouette disappeared through a double leaf door beside the pedestal.

From there, it was waiting. Those who had summoned her would come here to meet her, just like they had done during her previous visits. Yet to her surprise, Ulle returned alone.

"The elders are demanding your presence in the second inner chamber, Fal Tuläp."

"The second...?"

"They are waiting for you."

There was little to say. If they had given a reason, Ulle would have conveyed it. When the servant turned around and walked back into the hallway, Tuläp followed without a word. She made a mental note of the turns to take, if only by habit, but the tunnels they traversed were more of the same. Their destination was a room even larger than the first chamber where the darkness receded against a light too gentle to come from a flame.

Tuläp was stunned by the spectacle before them – the second inner chamber was a garden.

The light of the sun didn't reach this place, the species of plant growing here were unlike those she was used to see. A few seemed familiar, but it didn't take much to guess that this flora was the type to grow naturally inside caverns. Whether they crawled on the stony walls or grew upstraight to unfold their angular leaves, each of them produced a diffuse pale glow. This granted a nocturnal beauty to the garden as a whole. For a moment Tuläp forgot where she was.

Plants were not the masters of this domain, a wooden ledge rose above the vegetal carpet and circled the room. Many more doors led deeper into the temple. But that was as far as they had to go.

"Approach, young Fal."

A voice arose, dry and low but carried by the echo of the underground garden. Further down the passageway, three persons were standing. The air about them was similar to the ring of their voice, dignified and austere as though carved from a rock. A gravity refined through a lifetime of upholding their roles.

Yes, an entire life – these three were the oldest living members of the tribe.

Two old men and an old woman. The youngest of them looked to be older than even Tano, and he was the only one who stood with a straight back. Their faces were the same every time Tuläp saw them, hard and sharp. When they spoke, their mouths moved so little that she wondered sometimes if they were stuck that way. She couldn't even chuckle at the idea; wrapped up in clothes lavish with ornaments and colours, it was possible to forget they were living beings and not idols to worship.

Such were the elders, inheritors of divine blood, the ones who held the reins of the tribe.

The temple was home to the sacred families who traced their lineage back to the gods who had made this world. When the time came to migrate, the decision came from them. When unrest threatened the village, they cut the question and dispensed either justice or reassurance. They were the Chosen.

"..." Tuläp obeyed and stepped forward. But she couldn't help tensing up the more she stared into those placid faces. She lowered her eyes. "As promised, I'm here."

"And promise you must." The youngest elder was Lödel, the most talkative. "For months we have welcomed you into this sanctuary, so that vows once made may be renewed. All men and women of your rank had to learn of their duty, but now the hour calls for it to be fulfilled. Your sacred mission demands diligence and faith. Do you have that much?"

"I do." She replied immediately, perhaps too strongly.

"Can you affirm your devotion? Will you see your mission to completion even as your blood is drained and your life stands on the line?"

"I will."

"The essence of the gods runs thick in this temple. Lies will burn your tongue and your throat. So tell us then: what are you?"

"I am..."

She took a deep breath. Those weren't difficult words. She had repeated them out loud in this very temple, she had repeated them to herself; such an evident truth that it shouldn't need to be stated. But it wasn't something she ought to say with her head lowered. Tuläp looked back up and stuck out her chest, trying to appear taller so dearly that she could feel everything else shrinking. She stared into the wall of eyes before her and spoke clearly.

"I am a Protector. The peace and prosperity of our people rests on our legacy, and I live to preserve it until my last breath. If danger comes to threaten, I shall be the shield to fend it off. If peril must be faced, I shall be the blade to carve a path. For the sake of harmony, at the service of the gods and of those who speak for them, I will never cast aside the oaths I've made."

Silence followed her declaration, with the faint echo of her voice growing into a whisper. The elders were not fazed, inscrutable just like the place they dwelled in. Be as it may, they had heard. They could also see that her tongue wasn't set on fire. After a few seconds that weighed like minutes, words came out like a cough from the man next to Lödel, the elder Naël.

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"It is good. You haven't wavered once in all the times you were brought here."

"You have been assiduous in your training as well, so we were told." The last elder was Täpishe, a woman made of wrinkles who seemed curled up on herself. Her raspy voice turned anything she said into grouching. "Good, good..."

"All the tests have been passed with flying colours." Lödel added. "The heavens expected you to be ready and we may assure them that you are. At the Hour of the Snake, it will be declared once more for all to hear."

Tuläp's tension fell down. She kept herself from sighing in relief and had enough sense to maintain her posture. It helped that the elders were still reflecting the temple's sobriety, so that even an oblivious dunce would stand to attention. It had to be an exaggeration to call this a test; it wasn't any different than what she had always done, she hadn't had to prove anything. Then again, who was to tell when the elders were watching or what they were hearing?

Her position would no longer be called into question. She wasn't merely joining the pilgrimage, she had been selected in advance among all Protectors, whereas the rest of the expedition would be decided later tonight. Under the eyes of heavens, she represented not only her kin but the village.

"So this is the place where the final vow is made?" She gave the secret garden a new look.

"Not in particular. The first inner chamber would have sufficed." Naël waved his hand. "We choose the time and place."

"Get this over with..." Täpishe mumbled.

The old woman wasn't even looking at Tuläp anymore. The young Protector was confused by their behaviour until Lödel's voice restored the august atmosphere of the temple's depth.

"If we have accepted you this far into a realm that isn't yours, Fal Tuläp, it is because your burden must be carried from this very moment. Bring her."

He made a call in a tone neither higher nor lower than his usual speech. Yet as soon as he gave the word, noises were heard around the garden. Ulle and another servant were making their way along the walkway, but they were not what caught the attention: alongside their footsteps, there was a third pair. Lighter and more energetic, it got ahead of the domestics and made the turn.

"Tuläp!"

A young voice squeaked with excitement. Following the heavy atmosphere of the temple and the austere presence of the elders, it was like a soft breeze that breathed some life into the garden.

"Lady Dol Mashë."

Tuläp bowed in direction of the newcomer, although it looked more like a nod. As she did so her face lighted up before she knew it. Her role in this place contained it to a smile, one that couldn't match the beaming joy coming from Mashë. A childlike candor that fit her age – the little girl was walking awkwardly because of the large clothes she wore, similar to that of the elders, but she waddled up to Tuläp all the same.

She was Dol Mashë, another one of the temple's inhabitants.

The elders were far from the only Chosen, as it was another status passed down by blood. They had clans of their own just like the Protectors, but Tuläp only knew so much about those. There were the things everyone knew and the things they didn't need to know. It was common to see the younger Chosen outside of their sacred home, to mingle with the rest of the tribe and ensure the well-being of the village. The elders were cloistered in their temple most of the time though, the servants were forbidden from talking about their lifestyle with outsiders.

This little girl was another part of that mystery.

"You're here to see me again?" She asked with eyes that oggled Tuläp enthusiastically.

"Yes, I'm here for you."

"What are we doing then?!" She grabbed the rim of the brown cloak.

"I don't know..."

Obviously Mashë had games on her mind, but it might not be wise to mention that in front of the elders. But it was true that every time Tuläp was summoned here, she got to spend some time with Mashë in the first chamber, and it was hard to call these moments spiritual. She had a child's priorities and since she was a Chosen, Tuläp wouldn't refuse her most things.

More importantly, those were occasions to understand who that child was. She wasn't part of the same clan as any of the elders. When Lödel addressed her, it was with the same detachment he would show a Protector.

"Dol Mashë, you remember that tonight you will depart on your pilgrimage, correct?"

Mashë pinched her lips together and gave a sheepish nod. The spark she had brought into the garden was seized by the old Chosen and the present became a time of duty once again. Lödel knit his eyebrows together.

"You will leave the temple now, to ready your spirit for the journey ahead. Your mission is the most sacred, do not ever forget. Harness your faith and bring us prosperity. Returning empty-handed is a disgrace."

"Yes..."

The child didn't want to look at her elders head on, and it didn't seem to bother them. She didn't need to be tested, for hers was a different role. Tuläp could say nothing, she was a bystander until given the permission to speak. Lödel hadn't forgotten about her though.

"Fal Tuläp, you are to watch over Dol Mashë from this very moment on. Her luggage will be brought by the servants but she is not to come back here, even before the Hour of the Snake. Consider your mission begun, Protector. Do not forget the promise you have made."

"I understand."

Tuläp bowed her head. But the only thing she truly understood was that it wasn't her place to question that decision. She couldn't grasp their intention. It wouldn't make a difference if Mashë left the temple now or tonight. Perhaps that was indeed the tradition; pilgrimages happened so rarely that Tuläp barely remembered the last one. She threw a glance at Mashë. The little girl could be making any face, she was lowering her head until the adults were done deciding. But when Tuläp reached out her hand and told her it was time to leave, she looked up with a new spark of joy.

"We're going outside?"

"We are. There are still a few preparations to make, and I'll show you around. If we stayed here, you wouldn't be able to see the village during the day, would you?"

"Hmmhmm~."

She didn't need to be convinced.

Together they made their way back through the same tunnels Tuläp had traversed before, in company of another servant. All they carried with them was proper headwear for the young Chosen, a braided crown girdling a white veil. Since Tuläp had insisted to be the one carrying it, the domestic was merely here to guide them. Mashë was keeping up with fast, small steps like a birdling.

"Tuläp, I wanna see your house!"

"It looks the same as everyone else's."

"Really? Then, I wanna see your garden!"

"I do not have one."

"Don't have one? Are you saying that because it takes too long to get there?"

"No, that's only inside the temple." Tuläp chuckled. "Your house is very special, Mashë. There's not enough room in mine for a garden. It's unlike anything you imagine."

"Reallyyyy?"

"Definitely. You're in for a surprise."

"What do you have in your house then?"

"There's a bed, there's a fireplace, a folded chest to keep rations and my clothing dry..."

"But I have all of that in my room!"

"That's true, your room is also quite big. But everything in my house is important."

"What do you do there?"

"I'm... not inside most of the time. If I want to be the best bodyguard for you..."

"What's a bodeegard?"

"Someone who stays with you and keeps you safe."

"You're gonna stay with me, Tuläp?"

"Through moons and miles." She nodded. "To do so, I have to prepare as much as I can. And outside is where we're going to be."

"Isn't it boring?"

"Anything but! There's so much to see, you'll love it."

Mashë agreed musically, or maybe she was only humming to herself. Tuläp had to keep track of their guide: the little girl was only half her height, so if she kept looking down they might miss a turn. At the same time, she made sure to stay behind so that her protégé couldn't get lost by herself. An unwarranted concern, seeing as Mashë's small eyes were glancing back and forth between Tuläp and the woman leading them through the tunnels. She managed to keep up the pace, yet her strides were still irregular and uncomfortable.

"Wait a moment, Mashë."

The Protector had her slow down and leaned over to take a closer look. Since they currently stood near an air vent, there was just enough light to make head of the rish garment she was strapped in. Tuläp wasn't familiar with that style of clothing, she was used to more practical attires. Even so she could tell the issue was not only the size, but that Mashë wasn't wearing it correctly.

"Did you dress up by yourself?"

"Mhmm..." The little girl nodded.

"Hold on, don't move."

It took some improvisation but Tuläp managed to rearrange her clothes in a way that would make it easier to walk. If the weight was distributed properly at the very least, Mashë wouldn't have to make up for it with more effort. Still, her guardian was almost scratching her head at how that girl had managed to fasten her robe in such a way. There had to be some expertise to it, even though it ended up being a mess.

After Tuläp had improved her getup, Maphë ran a small lap around her and bounced up.

"It's light!"

"So it's better?"

"It's incredible! Can you teach me, can you?"

"...Of course."

Thanks to the obscurity, she couldn't see the face Tuläp was making. In short time, they passed the first inner chamber and crossed the confusing corridors; the afternoon light was waiting for them at the front gate. When Mashë saw it, she suddenly started past the servant and ran toward the exit all by herself. Tuläp let out a dumbfounded gasp. Her body kicked into action and she hurried after her, though by that time the child had already dashed past the guards at the entrance.

"Look, Tuläp! There's so much light!"

A tiny white figure was spinning around under the sun, as though to take in her surroundings all at once, and she looked up at the sky with her arm to shade her sparkling eyes.

"Dol Mashë!"

And the poor girl supposed to be looking after her had to run up to that oblivious child. She barely remembered to pull her cowl over her head while leaving the patio. She reached Mashë with her crown at the ready and passed the white veil around her head.

"Don't forget to cover yourself! Come on!"

"A cloud!" She was still trying to spin in spite of Tuläp's efforts, giggling at the comparison her mind conjured. "Your cloud is covering the sun, Tuläp!"

"You can't stay under the sun for too long. It's dangerous, you know?"

"Okay!"

It was easy to picture her smile underneath the veil. That was the Chosen who was about to begin her holy journey. Until a few months prior, Tuläp had never really seen that child around the village. Now she was certain: Dol Mashë did not grasp the meaning and the scope of their journey. Those from inside the temple didn't always understand what lied outside their divine realm, but this child didn't even have the chance to realise she didn't understand.

Tuläp looked over her shoulder at the building buried into the hill and at the grand gate. The gaze of the elders might still be on them; for the span of a heartbeat she scowled back at them with all her bitterness. Now that she had left its boundary, she was more Tuläp than Fal.

But it didn't matter anymore.

Turning away from the sacred depths, she grabbed Mashë's hand and they walked together under the sun.