Chapter 3: The Oracle: The Beginning

*The words of the oracle are absolute and resolute in the land- By anonymous* ---------------

Ten years prior…

A little girl tossed and turned on her bed totally lost in her dreams. She had a little frown on her face as she lay on the bed oblivious to her surroundings. In her dream:

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[An old woman walked down a dusty footpath in the middle of a serene forest environment. She had walked down this path countless times during her life that she could even do so with her eyes closed. She was in her late sixties but still looked quite young and well-kept for her age.

She wore a simple brown dress with pleated patterns all around the lower part of it and had a shawl around her shoulders to protect her from the slight chill of the morning. The dress was worn out and displayed her simple yet poor life but was surprisingly very clean. She had on her arms a small basket which she sometimes used to pick fruits and even flowers for her return. She had simple facial features and will be passed over or not spared a second glance if mingled with a crowd.

The path she walked was a small trail she loved to take, usually in the mornings to enjoy nature as she was now alone in her life. As a single child, she grew up closer to her parents and never actually had any friends; but with her parents passing, it was now a distant memory for her. Her husband had also passed the year before after a short ailment.

In as much as she loved children, the oracle had never granted her wish to have one of her own which was one of the only regrets she had in her life.

"If looks could only tell what we have experienced in life", she thought to herself and sighed as she walked to her morning destination; the small stream she used to visit with her husband before he passed.

When she arrived by the small waterbody, she closed her now dull and sad-looking eyes – (a result of her life experiences) and inhaled the fresh breeze. She felt a calm settle on her very soul. She stayed that way quietly for a few moments but suddenly opened her eyes and turned her head sharply. Listening attentively, she thought she heard something.

Nuama was her name. When Nuama heard nothing after some time passed, she visibly relaxed, but again, she heard the same sound, a baby crying! This was coming from deep in the forest to which Nuama was at the end of its trail. She wondered to herself, "what parent would bring their child here?".

In as much as the forest and its path had its beauty, it was home to many unmentionables and people rarely visited or came there. For this reason, Nuama liked it because she could temporarily move away from the pitiful eyes of others, after her husband, the last living member of her family died.

She put down her basket and walked gently towards the sound, which was now loud and continuous. After a few manoeuvres around long grass and a few trees, she now had scratches on her arms with red looking-skin visible.

Of all the scenarios she envisioned, what she saw was the least probable; a baby wrapped in a thin cloth under a huge tree that the locals revered. Not far from the baby was a wild pig, dangerously close and seemed to have been attracted by the baby's cries.

"Oh, dear! What should I do?" Nuama thought with panic written all over her face. Even though it was just for a second or minute, Nuama gained immeasurable courage and bravery. Nuama attributed her actions to the unfulfilled desire to have children.

She slowly picked up a big stone and threw it as far in the opposite direction of the animal while simultaneously taking out a pin from a small wooden case in her pocket. She coated it with liquid from an even smaller bottle in the same case, inserted it into a blowpipe and shot the pin at the wild pig. She added two more pins consecutively. Nuama had done this numerous times with other animals on her short trips to the stream or through the forest.

Even though she wasn't sure if this would work, she had some reassurance that she had dipped the pin in a strong poison. She carried this bottle of poison with her all the time as Nuama had contemplated taking her own life severally. She had not mastered the courage yet though. The poison in question was very strong as Nuama had not decided to give herself a chance to reconsider or recover if she ever took that step.

Her accuracy was precise, as the small blowpipe had been her companion for as long as she could remember. The sharp pins embedded themselves in the tough hide of the pig, one after the other. After a few staggering moments, the pig slowed down and fell sideways.

Nuama without a second thought, moved as fast as her old legs could carry her, while she put the small, wooden case back into her pocket and picked up the baby. Without a second look at the animal, she made her way out of the dense bush and back to the stream. After she attained a safe distance, she carefully looked around but saw nor heard any sound from a human. When she got to her basket, she was terrified out of her wits but tried to maintain her composure.

The baby had long since stopped crying when it was picked up. Nuama lowered her hands gently, parted the thin cloth and looked at the baby, who in turn was watching her with interest. "Oh my", she said softly, "aren't you the most beautiful little thing I have ever seen?", she whispered the last part.

The baby had the most striking blue eyes she had ever seen. With her smooth and rounded face, pucked lips, full eyebrows, with a small patch of black hair on her head, she was … just perfect! The most interesting thing about the baby was that it had dark ebony-like skin, which made the eyes stand out more, but she looked unique and breathtakingly beautiful.

Nuama sighed and thought with a smile: "The oracle finally answered my prayers and granted me one!"]

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The little girl was startled awake by someone calling her and briefly reminisced about the dream she just had with confusion.

"Lendon!!!, " the voice called again, "why are you still in bed? Get up right now!" A female voice shouted, and this could be heard even by the neighbours as the house in which they lived was a relatively small chalet. Lendon sat up abruptly and rubbed her little eyes. She had had this dream multiple times and had no idea why it kept recurring or what it meant. She did not have anyone to talk to about this as she had other things to worry about in her life even at ten years. The most peculiar thing was that the dream started and ended the same every time, only with slight changes sometimes, but the content was the same. Pushing the thought of the dream to the back of her mind, she got up from her sleeping mat, rolled it up and stored it in the corner of her room.

Her room was a small square-like space with a high window. She had a small bag in which her clothes were stored, in one corner of the room. She picked up a stool that she also had in the room and placed it underneath the window. Lendon stood on it on tiptoe and looked outside. She sighed at what she saw because it was still dark out and thought she had overslept. Upon hearing the voice of her adoptive mother, Narin. She wasn't overly surprised at this, as it was a somewhat frequent occurrence.

As she had no recollection of her parents and how she came to be with her current family, she accepted whatever she got from them and was very content. At least she had a whole room to herself, she thought with a smile. Lendon was going to miss this small private space of hers where she could freely express herself out of everyone's eyes and business; she was being sent to the King's palace today and only the Oracle knew what was in store for her. There were many tales from the palace on what happened to people taken there. She had heard some adults talking about it, but there wasn't anything to be done as her current adoptive family had already taken a whole pouch of gold in exchange for her.

Lendon understood that her adoptive family had to do what they could to survive, and she also had a role to play after being cared for from childhood. To the best of her knowledge, they needed the money to secure a good marriage match for their biological daughter, Blossom. The palace only accepted young children as they were easier to train. If the family waited until Blossom was qualified to be registered with the marriage committee, then the chance would be lost as she was only two years younger than Lendon.

Lendon got down from the stool and stretched out her little arms high above her body on tiptoes. As she was only wearing a short nightdress that barely covered her thighs and her underwear, one could see the ample rounded behind and beautifully formed legs even at her age when she was far from being developed as a maiden. With a surprising firm gaze, she picked up one of the only dresses she liked wearing; a long dress that fell to her toes with no form or shape whatsoever and dashed out of her room before a third call came from her adoptive mother, which was never a good sign.

She dashed through the narrow corridor and passed by her sister's room while she imagined her being sound asleep. When Lendon arrived in the kitchen, she found her mom with her hands on her waist and a stern look on her face. Narin was a petite woman with no womanly curves at all. Her chest was almost as flat as that of a man, and her back was no different either. As she was still in her nightdress, she looked almost like a teenager with the face of a 40-year-old woman.

Narin gave quick instructions to Lendon on what to make for breakfast and swiftly left the kitchen while she yawned loudly… back to bed. With the sound of the bedroom door closing softly behind her, Lendon took a broom with a handle that was rather long for her tiny body and started sweeping the house. After this, Lendon thoroughly wiped the house clean with a little rug and duster; she used a small stool at places where her current height was a limitation. After this, she prepared a breakfast of flatbread, tea, eggs, and bacon and was just barely finished with laying them on the dining table in the middle of the kitchen when the family of three walked in. This included the couple, Narin, and her husband Atiba as well as their eight-year-old daughter Blossom who was still rubbing her eyes from sleep.

Atiba Moe walked into the kitchen, looked at the little girl and frowned. He had had this conversation with his wife numerous times, but the stubborn woman seemed to see things in a way that he did not. He decided that it was no use talking to someone who would not listen and was adamant about a little girl doing almost all the house chores. He remained silent and took a seat. Including Lendon, all four of them sat down to eat. Lendon put a flatbread on her plate, poured herself tea from the main jug and started eating, while a plate filled with a lot of eggs and bacon as well as flatbread was served to Blossom by her mother. Narin filled hers and Atiba's plate as well, however, Lendon ate her meal with relish and a small smile pasted on her face, which Narin scoffed at.

In the middle of the meal, Atiba took a strip of bacon and placed it on Lendon's plate, to the dismay of Narin. Narin looked at her husband and said: "You indulge her too much". Atiba did not say anything but winked at Lendon and continued eating. The breakfast went event-free after this.

After everyone had finished their meals, Lendon quickly cleaned up and prepared herself for the move to the Palace.

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When the carriage came for her, Lendon bowed to her adoptive parents and left with the Palace maid.

With a few clothes and possessions, in her small bag, she alighted from the carriage at the servant's entrance of the palace, which was a small gate at the back of the palace. She was joined by several other girls all about her age. They walked behind the Head maid of the palace with nervous but excited glances.

The Head maid Alba looked at the young girls in front of her and told them in a stern voice, "Follow me, and keep your eyes down". Her voice made the girls tremble and all excitement dissipated entirely.

Alba turned and started walking while the girls quickly followed. They were almost practically running to keep up with the adult in front of them. Alba walked for some time and realised that she could not hear the little feet behind her anymore. Turning slightly, she saw that something seemed to have caught their interest and they had all stopped at an opening to a corridor she had just passed. She walked back to them and was about to reprimand them when she saw that one of the girls, was running along the said corridor leading to the Palace back garden, and this had caught the attention of the other girls.

Lendon, as if in a trance, along the corridor and into the garden. There she saw the king, Indicy standing with his back to her and his attendants standing a few feet away from him. Lendon walked straight to him and caught his pinky finger in her tiny fingers. A surprised look crossed King Indicy's face at the girl's touch and he looked down at her with an almost annoyed look as his thoughts were interrupted. What the girl said next made his eyes widen even more; "It's nice to finally meet you", Lendon said as she looked up at the king with her innocent brown eyes.

Everyone sucked their breaths in, including Alba, as they waited for the worst from the king.

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CREATORS' THOUGHTS
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[Sorry i do not have much control over differnt font types in Inkstone so for the 'dreams' in this book i will start and end them in a thick continuous line and encase them also in [square brackets] just like i have done with this comment. I hope that provides some clarity :) ]

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