They walked on cobblestone pavements with orange grass slipping between the grouts. Different sizes of bell tents were lining up on either side of her. Each with the same beige color fabric stretching across the entirety of the structure. And the tents were held up with columns and foundations made up of dark heavy wood and stones.

She remembered using an iron basin earlier in the morning and wondered why they didn't use iron to hold up their structures for stronger integrity. Iron trumps wood naturally, but who was she to judge? This wasn't her world anymore. The same laws that governed her entire life no longer applied to where she was now. If this truly was a deepening psychosis, she'll have to ride it out until it ends.

"Fashion no more steel, blacksmith" a deep rumbly voice said, sounding furious. "It is a luxury we cannot afford. The prophecy is drawing fast, the Great World has just begun pulling forces beyond our universe, and we must be close to Natura Brumcia to accept her fate."

The scratchy voice of an old man was laden with sarcasm, "I assure you, elder shaman, the steel I'm forging is given through the Great World himself, he would want me to use it as I see fit."

"It is unnatural." he said, looking to be in his late 30's. He wore a red cape over his leather tunic like every other male she found in the sun tribe, and his mutinous glare alone would have been enough to raise hell itself. "Steel is what you made it out to be, not from sacred resources of Brumcia herself. Abandon this sacrilegious smithing immediately before another damned behagthi appears again."

"You're just pissed because you didn't translate your prophecy properly as his highness had expected of you. Why don't you go away and leave me be, teh? I'm not going to be the one responsible for unprepared warriors without their proper steel. Unlike you, I know how to do my job."

"You think to belittle my profession, blacksmith?" he seethed, veins popping up on his temples.

The older man was unfazed, "I think to belittle your incompetent efforts, Bla'keh. Surely, your late elder shaman taught you better than that."

Bla'keh had his jaw set, looking like he was about to argue some more but he met U'tu's stubborn gaze and changed his mind. He turned to walk away in long strides, radiating fury. When he found her standing there, he didn't even so much as stop but spat on the ground behind her as he left.

U'tu muttered, "Clearly, they don't teach good manners where he is from."

En'tum tutted the kid, "We try not to judge him severely, U'tu. He is what we have got."

"Still." he muttered, pouting.

"You must be the one they call River," En'tum greeted, his voice was rough as if he had just woken up "I heard the kids going crazy about you."

"I was told to deliver you this," she smiled politely, handing over the wrap-around leather package from Russ'lo. "It's nice to meet you, En'tum, the blacksmith."

"Just En'tum is fine," he said, passing the package to U'tu, "Don't overheat them this time, will you?"

U'tu grumbled, "Fine."

"And remember to follow the writing!" he called after the kid's retreating back. Then, he threw a gesture for her to follow him inside the tent.

Like the other domed tents she had seen before, the blacksmith's tent had several smaller tents connecting to the main tent, its floor was made of rocks clumped together in the shades of burnt sienna. Its interior had no trace of wood material. The walls were glowing fabric of sunlight but inside there were only rocks, clay pots, and metal equipment which she would probably guess as made of steel and iron.

She followed him through a narrow tent that boasted his craftsmanship in display boxes which she thought was impressive. He seemed to craft each of his weapons with such ornate intricacy that it must have taken huge stretches of time working on its delicate art. Then, they entered the main tent, settling down at the center space where a campfire was burning inside. It looked much the same as Russ'lo's, although this tent boasted decorative red quilts thrown on top of a log bench.

River gulped at the sight of a serious fire hazard but thought better of it. Once again, she reminded herself that this wasn't her world. She won't presume to know any better.

She started, "I was hoping to learn about the prophecy and what a behagthi is? Also, what's the relevance of the wolf? Oh.. but please if you know anything about how to go back to my world."

En'tum sat on his log bench and leaned forward to the warmth of the fire, his bones creaking at the movement, "That takes a whole lot to cover."

She sighed, nerves wringing with pent-up curiosity "Is there anything I should be worried about? Any expectations I'm set to live up to? Because there might be a chance you might be mistaking me for another person."

He stared into the fire for several beats with a sort of deadly calm that made her nervous. "Do you know the story of creation called the Red Spider?"

"No, sir. I'm hopefully guessing I'm about to find out." She was way out of her element. Any information she can use to make the world make sense again was welcome to her.

He chuckled, "Has anyone ever told you that you are too polite for your own good?"

"My grandmother taught me my manners well, especially with my elders. How I'm raised is something I cannot help, but I'm certainly willing to positively contribute even at my disadvantages."

"It was a rhetorical question, River." he sighed, his gaze glued to the fire.

"Oh." she said, blushing furiously.

It was 5 years ago when her grandparents died in a car accident. Ever since then, she has managed to improve her own independence by voicing out her will, asserting her capabilities, and owning up to responsibilities. Shamefully, being around elders retrogrades her progress by a whole large stretch. They prove to have a backsliding effect that leaves her feeling diminished like a futile kid.

At her silence En'tum continued, pointing at the red quilt stretching across their seat. It had a design of an odd-looking spider. "This is our most holy goddess, Natura Brumcia when she was only in maiden form. It was how she looked before her marriage. Four hairy spider legs and her body shaped as a brown circle signifying her wildness that cannot be tamed. She was both creator and destroyer: creating chaos and wildly destroying everything on her path."

River had a vague feeling about what was going to happen next. "Let me guess," she said, mouthing off before she can think better of it, "A man fixes the girl and saves the day."

En'tum didn't catch her pejorative tone. Instead, he looked deeper in thought to have even noticed her dry tone of distaste. "Even better, a behagthi saves the day. He had no name. No title. No family. He was an outsider-- our first behagthi who has fallen from another universe."

He stood, moving close to the window and watched the sky above. "It was the call of madness, you see. Her madness was a devastating magnetic force that had pulled him into the path of Natura Brumcia, a wild madwoman, spinning deliriously and wreaking havoc in her own universe. When he first laid his eyes upon her, he was terrified, trembling in shock and fear."

Lost in his thoughts, he continued to stare outside the window "But his perspective was fresh and his wisdom was untold; having come from another universe. He began looking at her like she was a discovery, resolving to use a distant and calculating point of view. He realized there was a certain logic to her madness. She had been a creature of habit, spinning in circles that produced a geometry of artful shapes. Each time, over and over again, she produced her pathways as a pattern so profound and astronomical that it would have been impossible to see with normal eyes. But, a behagthi is never normal." he said, glancing back at her.

She peered down at the red quilt blanket, noticing the geometry of circular shapes that made it seem like petals of a fully bloomed lotus flower. It was a pattern of Natura Brumcia's movement, it looked insane but at a wide-angle view, she found it had a certain geometric beauty to it.

"He tried many things to stop the madness," En'tum continued, "Even by blocking her habitual path. But by the force of a goddess, he was thrown off her path many times. Then, in a flash of inspiration, and at most, he probably had been influenced by her foolishness because he took a wild stab in the dark by making a dangerous move." he said in an ominous tone.

River was riveted by his story, not realizing she was holding her breath and gripping the blanket tight.

"Not caring for thought or risks, he reached out to her and grabbed a limb. When he did, the force of her momentum stretched her outward, extending her limb to the point of breaking. Just as she couldn't stretch no more, she began launching backwards toward him. But, the limb was damaged by the push and pull. It was stretched thin, elongated in the furthest lengths-- as it was pulled back by force it became something else entirely. It no longer resembled her limb. It became an ebony fabric stretching across our universe looking like the blackest sky of the heavens. It is how the dark space of the universe was created, it was transformed from a spider limb of a young goddess. Yet still, it was not in Brumcia's nature to stay put. So she abandoned her newly transformed limb, cut it off herself, and began spinning wildly once more."

She gasped, "That's insane."

The old man grinned, "She is a creature of habit. She would spin. As she had always done before. Young ones are stubborn that way."

U'tu appeared from inside an adjoining tent, carrying a wooden bucket filled with pale beige fruits. His grin matched the elder man's, but his was cocky and more sure of himself, "Don't stop on my account."

"Slacking away again, aren't we?" En'tum sighed, taking a seat next to the window on a rocking chair. "Hand me over a Kiyerlia."

U'tu tutted, wagging a finger, "The healer said you are not allowed to eat right before your afternoon nap."

She suppressed a smile, "How old are you?" she asked U'tu.

"Twelve." he answered, taking a seat next to her on a log bench and began tending to the fire.

"Barely twelve." The old man grumbled.

U'tu puffed up his chest, "Age is a state of mind."

"By Brumcia, are you talking to Lei'la again? I thought I told you to stop hanging out with that know-it-all poof." he griped.

The young boy sneered, leaning forward "You don't get to talk about her like that. Only I get to call her that. Take it back, old man."

"Please, that big girl has enough fat to make another human." he retorted with derision, taking a deep breath and closing his eyes to sleep.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

The nerve of the old man made anger simmer through River. Clearing her throat, she was surprised her words came out steady. "Having large amounts of fat is not a disadvantage, En'tum, the blacksmith."

He replied back with his eyes closed, his tone dripping with sarcasm. "If a behagthi says so, then it must be true."

U'tu hurled a pale beige fruit at the old man, hitting right at the face of his sneering condescension "Take it back!" he said, before hurling another fruit at him.

"Damned kids. If you like her that much then why don't you marry her!" he yelled, slamming down a fist on the arm of his rocking chair.

It wasn't clear if the kid was embarrassed or furious, maybe both. "Just you wait, old man. I'm getting you back for this! An insult to Lei'la is an insult to me." he said matter-of-factly, looking every bit like a young mafia boss whose honor had been disrespected.

River followed after the angry boy as En'tum grumbled a few strings of curses before wiggling his bum back to sleep.

Outside the tent, U'tu walked briskly with his chest bowed over the overflowing bucket of fruits, covering it so that nothing dropped in his haste. Right then, he looked to be on a mission.

"U'tu" she called after him, "Don't take off. I can't move that fast."

She was finally able to catch up when he stopped in front of the smallest cozy tent out of every other grand tent they passed by in the avenue. This one didn't have any smaller tents adjoining to it. It was a lone single tent that was colored white with an abundance of colored flowers on the front lawn. He stepped in, pushing the flaps of the tent entrance to the side with a sweep of his arm. Knots of tension leaving his shoulders at the moment he got inside.

"Kiyerlia!" She heard Lei'la squeal in delight from inside, "I thought you hadn't cared enough to notice."

He set it down besides her, crossed his arms and scoffed. His cocky demeanor returning back in spades, "I notice everything. What kind of player would I be if I didn't notice the game? We played. You played." he said, offering the fruit bucket like a prize. "And, Lei'la, you won fair and square."

Ohh, the little charmer, she thought, peering in the doorway and waving at the little girl sitting with her knees on the floor, back straight and her buttocks resting on her ankles. She was wearing a dreamy smile, her cheeks flushing pink. On her thighs draped a red quilt blanket that took up half of the room space and she was holding it with a needle on her hand.

"No campfire?" River noted. The dome-like structure of the tent boasted six large windows in every direction filling the quaint room with a wash of natural daylight.

Lei'la jumped startled, clutching a palm over her chest, "Brumcia forbid! A fire burning in a weaver's hut."

"Not if you build it right" U'tu said, casually observing her quilt blanket in closer detail.

The girl shooed him away but he didn't budge. He stepped even closer, pretending to be engrossed in the artful details on her quilt. "I bet you wouldn't finish this in a day."

"I bet you two buckets of Kiyerlia I could make it in less than a day." she said, raising a brow at his challenge.

"And if I win?"

She shrugged, "Same as before. A victory blanket in your honor. The design will be in your choosing, of course."

U'tu hummed in thought, "My design garners a whole lot of details, Lei'la. My accomplishments are innumerous. You could end up weaving it for seven years or more."

She was unfazed, looking bored as she continued her needlework. "Do we have a deal or not?"

"Deal." he said, pushing a stray lock of pale yellow hair behind her ear. "An original customized quilt is such a prize, Lei'la. I'll do whatever it takes. No matter how many games it's gonna take for me to win."

"Then prepare to lose some more. By the end of the season, you will have done all of my fruit-picking chores."

River took a seat across the girl, matching her sitting posture. "How old are you, Lei'la?"

"Fifteen."

She darted a surprised glance to the boy. "Wow, that's three years ahead of you, U'tu."

"Age is a state of mind" he repeated, raising a stubborn chin.

"Ain't that true" Lei'la agreed, an expression of tenderness flashed across her face, to which U'tu returned with a pleased look. Then she returned to her needlework and asked "How is your grandfather En'tum?"

He snorted, "I swear the second he reached old age was the moment he abandoned all sense of civility. He has gone insane. I swear. That old geezer is on a mission to drive tribespeople away. Not one student came today. Not. one."

"He is in the twilight of his years, he is allowed to tell his truth. Also, elders aren't insane. They're divine, a blessing by the Great World. We ought to be glad to have him." she chastised, rapt in the attentive detail she was creating.

"Without filter." he said, getting pouty. "It's impossible to converse with him, let alone live with him."

"It must be the stress from anticipating a long-awaited thousand year prophecy." she said, looking up from her work, "River, I'm sorry you had to see him that way. He isn't always like that. With the added arrivals of new warriors, and not to mention the demands of new armors and weapons, it's just that this season is our busiest time of year. Plus, he is stuck with a half-wit apprentice who doesn't know the difference between iron and steel."

"Hey!" U'tu said, pulling on her loose blonde hair that fell down in tresses to the floor. "I asked that one time. Besides, I've got a lot of things on my plate."

Lei'la bit back a smile, and shrugged "If that were true, then you wouldn't be running around playing games with me." she said, running a hand through her corn-yellow hair and frowned at it "Make me a crown."

Rolling his eyes, he scoffed "As you wish." and began gathering her long hair to braid with his deft fingers.

"What did you guys talk about?" Lei'la beamed, going back to her quilting.

River replied, "He was telling me about the Red Spider story"

She nodded. "Yes, the story of creation. It is a common blanket design. One that takes a whole season for a weaver to complete."

"I didn't get to hear the end of it though."

He said, "Haven't you made hundreds of these Red Spider blankets already?"

"U'tu, I'm fifteen. I've only made about ten of them. However I do know the story by heart. I can tell it for you, if you like." she offered.

"I'd like that, if you please."

"Where did my old man leave his story before dozing off?" he murmured, his eyes never leaving Lei'la's hair.

River said, "The Red Spider, aka Natura Brumcia, just had her limb torn off when it transformed to the blackest sky of the heavens, she cut it off because she wanted to spin again."

Lei'la tilted her head to the side of the room where the red blanket she was working was rolled out over the whole floor. The side she indicated had the telling weave of a red spider detaching free from the darkest night sky.

She took a moment to gather her thoughts. "The first behagthi knew he was onto something when it happened. But, the violence of her self-harm made him doubt himself. He liked to think of himself as a man of honor, he would never have wanted to do anyone harm but curiosity got the better of him. Against his better judgement, he caught another limb, stretching her apart. Then, when the red spider got pulled back, her second limb had changed into something else entirely. It turned to a big hulk of a dry rock, anchoring her to one place and leaving her hard-pressed to spin once more. It's how the earth was created. But she needed to spin so she cut off her earthly limb and fell into her discordant spinning once more. The behagthi was even more curious than ever, he certainly didn't have a hard time catching her the third time around. He now knew that Our holy goddess, Natura Brumcia, was bound to an eternal order of rhythm that was invisible to the eye. An eternal order that no one else can see, save for him. He grabbed one more limb, pulled her back after she stretched out taut then her spider limb transformed to water. This is how the whole matter of ocean was created. From the very limb of Natura Brumcia herself. However she didn't know what to make of it at first. It was certainly the first time anyone has ever encountered anything like it. And by the time she realized what it was, she was already drowning."

"That's awful." River said "What did the first behagthi think he was doing? He wasn't helping her at all."

"Change is a powerful thing." she murmured, her pace in needlework growing faster "The bringer of this change relies solely in behagthis, whether we see it as a force of evil or good is inconsequential."

U'tu was on his knees behind Lei'la, braiding her long impressive hair. A feat that can take a couple of hours to finish. But his fingers were deft, it stabbed and weaved through the tresses of her hair in sure movements. Like he had had done it many times over before.

When it seemed like Lei'la was all too taken with her work, U'tu continued "He felt guilty from watching her struggle in silent agony. Flailing like that while helpless to escape icy waters; it was a pathetic sight that struck at his heart. So began his tireless work to rescue her from the deep cavernous depths of the ocean, but nothing he ever attempted had worked. The waters were like ice, chilling him to the bones and the depths she arrived had too much pressure that anything he put in to fetch her went broke the minute it got too deep. Just as he was about to go insane from worry and lack of sleep, he noticed the giant ball of rock floating in the black space of the night sky. He put all his energy into pushing the large boulder of rock into the icy waters and then suddenly, the water began to recede. The dry earth was absorbing the water, it rose up floating above the water like one huge island."

Lei'la pointed to a quilt patch of a white pale spider and continued, "Natura Brumcia was found shivering cold on the dampened soil of the island. You see, icy water is like poison. It had sickened her to the bones, paralyzing our goddess to near death. The first behagthi felt sick to his stomach, he truly believed he had killed her. He wept and wept over her stilled body. When he reached for her final last limb that was still attached to her body, he found it was soft and pliant to the touch. A sudden flash of intuition prodded at him, he stretched her limb one last time, covering her body with it until she stopped trembling from the cold, hoping the embrace would warm her. Then, after he stretched it to its fullest capacity around her stilled body, the limb began wounding back like elastic, turning into something else entirely. The more it wounded back, the more heat it grew and grew until it turned into a sun, growing fiery and hotter by the minute. Soon, the last limb came off completely on its own, as if moved by its own gravity, it slowly floated up into space, taking the highest place in the heavens. All at once, it began warming every single thing around its orbit; the dampened earth, the icy waters and the cold space of the darkest heavens but of course, it also warmed our pale cold-stricken Brumcia back to life."

"What happened to her?"

"She saturated everywhere." U'tu said with pride "Earth, sky, fire, and water. All of her was simply everywhere, taking up space in the highest places and in the lowest."

"I thought her body was poisoned? She was healed just like that-- by warmth?"

"Not at all." Lei'la said "See here? This pale circle here is her body detached from all four limbs. It had turned ashen and white as it was weakened from the touch of ice, so she made a request to the behagthi who was already sick with worry and guilt. By that time, he would have given her anything she asked for."

"And what was that?"

"To be as close to her detached limbs as possible so she would never feel their loss. The first behagthi agreed without hesitation, he carried her detached body away and seated her close to the sun among the heavens. Not close enough to burn, but just at the right spot so she warmed from it. He made sure she was placed just right so she could watch over the earth and its ocean waters be pushed as it was pulled by the passing of time."

She gasped, "She became the moon."

"Her frozen-ice pale body became the moon. What once was a brown circle that was her maiden form transformed into a white orb in the heavens."

River noted, "She transformed. What about the part about her marriage?"

Lei'la straightened with a pleased look, "Yes. The Great World is Brumcia's marriage form. We call it a 'marriage form' because she has successfully joined with all four limbs after a painful separation. On the other hand, Natura Brumcia is her maiden form; a wild, muddy circle signifying her youth and wildness. It was by using the first behagthi's gift that she was able to transform from her maiden form into her marriage form."

She frowned "Gift? You've mentioned that before. Said something about behagthis bringing gifts."

She nodded, "Each behagthi bring different gifts. For the first behagthi, his gift was the utility of numbers and measurement. It allowed him to figure out where the best place to put her in the sky. A specific place, sort of like a throne, that brings perfect balance with every element involved. Once she was set into her throne, she had more power than she could have ever imagined. She controlled tides of water, she could pull and push the earth itself, and her body was a source of light. She was no longer a wild madwoman spinning in the dark. She became something more powerful, into a master of elements, therefore we call her, the Great World in her marriage form. Brumcia and the Great World are the same person. A maiden and a master. Both in one divinity."

"Hermaphroditic, I get that." Their gods and goddesses weren't that much different from her world after all, "But, whatever happened to the behagthi?"

"As soon as peace was established, he got pulled back to his own world."

"The push and pull worked both ways." River noted.

Both of them drew confused, the girl asked, "What do you mean?"

"Isn't it that Brumcia was getting pushed by her own gravity of madness into spinning and spinning some more and then she got pulled by this behagthi many times over? At the same time, the behagthi was pushed to the brink of his own limitations. Once peace was established, he got pulled back to his own universe just as he was pushed into this universe by Brumcia's madness. It's like a great big dance, don't you think? They pushed and pulled together. It went both ways for them."

Lei'la looked upset, frowning at the thought. "What is a dance?"

U'tu chuckled, shaking his head. "Behagthis. Let me guess, you wanna know what do these all have to do with what's happening with you?"

River can pretty much guess the gist. "Wild stab in the dark," she said in a dry tone, "I'm pulled here by a wild madness that needs fixing and hearing as the first behagthi never got a clue to what the problem is supposed to be in your story, then I'm guessing I won't know what I'm looking for until I find it."

The boy nodded with a cocky grin before getting madly pinched in the cheek, "Don't interrupt me." Lei'la said, "River, you were talking about this strange thing called dance?"