Yther

Elsewhere

Islana dreamt. A peaceful dream. She floated in a sea of tranquility and content. Her eyes were closed in her dream as she floated away in the serene currents of some unknown river. She could feel a cool breeze kissing her brow, gently, like the soft hand of a loved one. She was at rest. The pain that had bothered her mind and body momentarily forgotten in the distant waking world.

She opened her eyes and stood up, her delicate feet touching the soft sand at the bottom of the river. She could not see the shores to either side of her, in fact she could she very little apart from water the sky and a bright sun that warmed her skin without burning.

The current gently lapped at her skin around her slender waist, comfortingly, as if she was being held in a warm embrace. Her eyes were drawn to its surface, and a few metres ahead it seemed to bubble with ripples. She watched in fascination and adoration as the figure of a dark haired and dark skinned woman, dressed in a thin blue robe, emerged from the waters.

She wore bracelets and a veil made of shells and in her hand she held a large conch. Tears filled Islana's eyes because she knew who this was. Yther, the Twin God of Water. Mother of the Ozainae, Lifebringer to the Desert of Skulls.