Sometimes - Always

The greens, blues, deep reds and white shades with the gold and silver stitching hung down it draped like fashion from the brown fabric which made the roof of Islana's portable home. Her green eyes stared at the richness of the scarfs as she lay in bed.

It was the time of morning before the birds awoke, before the sun began its voyage towards the sky, before the sounds of the Horde began to stir. It was quiet, still and those moments of only true peace Islana had throughout the day.

The morning was usually spent having breakfast with her advisors, which was enjoyable enough but inevitably talk of the impending war would come up. Days were spent in meetings. Many of them had to do with plans to move the Horde forward to the winter pastures. Something that would happen soon. Other meetings had to do with things the Horde needed, various concerns people had or, more on the war, strategies, questions about those of the Stone City, questions about Ostiarium, itself.

Evenings were dinner, sometimes with one or two advisors, sometimes with more. She would have to carve out parts of her day to spend time with the Sk'elep, who had his own cover for shade from the sun. She had Kaithak with her a great deal so that time was a given. And maybe an hour or two to practice with her bow, though normally that was interrupted by someone, because something needed her attention.

Then came the others, the sisters which resided within her. Sometimes they were quiet as if they weren't there at all. Sometimes they were bombarding her with thoughts, ideas and comments about one thing or another. Most days it was somewhere in between with the occasional thought or two from some of them.

Most of the time Islana felt like herself, just with all the extras inside of her. Other times, however, it was as if she was watching herself from inside her own body. As if one or more of the sisters had taken over. Her posture, tone, walk, attitude all were different when this occurred. Sometimes it seemed as if she was fighting to get out of that place, other times it was so easy to let another sister take over, it was concerning in the aftermath.

Then came the nights which were filled with dreams of memories and thoughts that were not her own. Each sister wanted to be remembered and heard. All attempting to push themselves forward in Islana's mind

Eventually though the voices inside would quiet down, the memories would become, once again, that of the red headed young woman. That time only seemed to truly occur now, in the still darkness of morning.

Slowly, almost one at a time the sounds of the Horde arising from its collective slumber could be heard. As voices and preparations for the day grew in sound. Islana closed her eyes, took several deep breaths and then sat up, the day was calling.