Here I Am

JP with Omni and Lorem:

The convergence of people amassed in and around the square, swallowing the streets, heads tilted up toward the sky and the temple. As Gonyaul and Voah approached, the silent awe was broken by shouting praises and waving weapons in the air in servitude.

From behind the scarves and raised arms, Voah caught sight of a man holding a staff high, clearly the sorcerer priest responsible for the coalescing dust storm overhead. Then Voah saw a blaze of familiar red hair upon the head and shoulders of the so-called ‘Prophetess’ she stood dumbfounded, her mouth agape in confusion. Could it possibly be? Islana?

She was alive. Voah didn’t know much about the girl but she had taken her for a quiet, submissive beauty, albeit one whom was skilled at hunting with a bow. She thought back to what Alcuin told her about how the witch had an interest in her and had given her to her men as a plaything. The thought of it disgusted her. Now it seemed the witch had other plans for her.

She didn’t know anything about the pilgrimage of penitents and how it all worked, so to Voah it didn’t seem voluntary and she struggled to make sense if it. Did the witch somehow convince or force Islana into this? The thought enraged her.

Voah’s brain felt frazzled at the mental gymnastics of the possibilities; questions of how and why the young Helian woman could or would become caught up in this and become some sort of mystic to a foreign entity?

She turned to Gonyaul whose expression projected a very different internal reaction.

Gonyaul, upon recognizing Islana, was beside himself with joy. Tears released in relief as a reward to his heart that had been holding onto the dear hope that she was alive and well, ever since he heard the fake Alcuin’s account. She was so close and yet so far. How to get up there was the first thought that went through his mind, his eyes quickly scanning the temple facade to see if he could climb it.

His smile beamed up at her and he lowered the desert head wrapping so his face was visible. His arms were waving and he jumped up and down in the attempt to get attention from those up above. Normally, he had been so careful to stay concealed; however, the sight of family had him throwing caution to the wind. Most likely it wouldn’t matter, since everyone’s attention was upward and elsewhere.

He yelled at the top of his lungs in Vauxian repeatedly.

“Aiaf no Urag! Aiaf no Urag! Aiaf no Urag!” He hoped she could hear him and he wasn’t getting lost in the sea of others celebrating with their bodies and voices. He hadn’t yet given any thought to the fact she was the new prophetess. His mind was simply anchored on the reality that Islana, his friend, was here.