RTYY 079 – NimMai
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Tall and lean, the woman in front of him was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.

Although she couldn’t be said to be young, her skin was as smooth and unblemished as a child’s, her features delicate and petite. But what really stole his breath away was the obvious golden color of her almond-shaped eyes. Although several hues darker than the little girl’s, they still swirled the same hypnotic way, a few flecks of gold shimmering here and there. Her golden hair should be equally long, but she wore it braided and tied at the top of her head in a intricate way, all held up by small, white pearls.

Like the little girl, she was also dressed in white but, although her gown might look simple at first glance, the light, almost transparent outer layer had been carefully embroidered with flowery motifs, its wide sleeves falling all the way to her knees even though she held her hands beneath her chest. Elegantly covering her entire body, the light fabric pooled softly around her feet.

Holding his blanket closer to his body, Snow looked right and left, wanting to make sure that no one else was there, maybe waiting for an opportunity to grab him.

The woman in front of him smiled softly, a smile filled with sadness and understanding.

“You don’t need to be afraid. No one will come,” she repeated and he looked at her, all initial amazement gone, replaced by a deep distrust. “It’s the little one’s doing, not mine,” she added, looking at the little girl happily jumping around, and Snow followed her golden gaze.

Unlike him the little girl seemed completely unconcerned, obviously ignoring the both of them.

“As long as she remains happily playing no one will disturb us, no one will wake up, no one will move.”

Snow frowned, clenching the blanket over his chest.

“No one will wake up …?” he whispered, disliking the sound of those words, and she smiled at him again, with that annoying expression that told him she completely understood his concerns on her face.

“No one will be harmed either.”

A little bit more relaxed, but still not believing a single word she said, Snow stared suspiciously at her.

“Who are you?”

“You mean to ask my name? I was called NimMai1 Literally nim (gentle) + mai (hand)..”

Snow’s frown deepened.

“And you’re a Celestial.”
“I am. So is she. And so are you,” NimMai declared in a soft voice and Snow pulled his blanket lower over his forehead, making sure that not a single strand of hair was visible.

“You … live here?” he asked, doubtfully. From what he’d gathered all the other Celestials should be safely kept in the Palace, especially the little girl.

“I don’t. I was born in Wei, though. And so was the little one. Although we closely bind ourselves to our Chosen One’s Province, there’s always a strong connection to our birth place. And since the little one remains unbound her connection is even stronger,” she explained, looking at the child again, and Snow thought that there was something very similar to pity in her saddened eyes. “To tell you the truth we aren’t even here. Not really.”

He couldn’t help feeling surprised at that.

“Not really here?!”

“Not really, no. Like I said, this is all the little one’s doing. I simply asked for her help.”

“So you’re at the Palace,” he concluded and she gave him another of her gentle smiles.

“She is in the Palace Temple's care, yes. And she’ll remain there until a date for her first Haehir2Literally hae (blessed / sacred) + hir (ceremony / ritual). Blessing Ceremony held so that Tien’Elhar may find their Chosen One. is set.”

“And you?”

The fake smile she gave him told him he wouldn’t receive an answer to that question.

“I came here especially to see you. I’ve been feeling your presence for a long time, now. But in my present state I’m unable to show myself outside sacred ground. It was really good fortune that you should come here yourself. Even if you’d gone to another Temple I probably wouldn’t have been able to talk to you like this. There are very few Temples that are really sacred places.”

Snow looked at the room around him. Sure he felt at peace in there but, beyond that, he couldn’t say what made that place sacred or not.

“Why did you want to talk to me?” he whispered, his voice echoing eerily through the open space, and she smiled.

“Like I said. I’ve been feeling your presence for a long time, now. After all this time you’re finally here. Which means I can finally rest.”

“What … do you mean …?”

“Have you found your Chosen One?”

Snow’s heart jumped in alarm.

“I … don’t know.”

“Well, if you haven’t found him yet you must find him soon.”

“What if I don’t want to? What if I don’t want any of that?” he demanded, angry again, hating the idea that he had to follow those stupid rules, and she looked confused for a change.
“What do you mean? All Tien'Elhar3Literally tien (Heaven) + el (supreme) + har (girl child). The Heavenly Beings also known as Celestials in the common language. have to find their Chosen One. It’s the reason why we are born into this world.”

“That may be so for all of you. But I’m different! I’m nothing like you!” he declared and, although he had wanted to say those words with pride, they actually sounded lonely and bitter, which only doubled his frustration.

“Not like me? How so?”

“Can’t you see?!” he asked, uncovering his head, showing her his silvery hair, but she looked like she couldn’t understand what he meant. “And I’m a boy!”

"Mhm, so you are.”

“Aren’t you all suppose to be girls?!”

Understanding finally dawned in her perfect face.

“Oh. Yes, so they say. But you know? Facts don’t become unbending truths because someone decided to write them on a piece of paper. Sure, up till now all the known Tien'Elhar have been girls. But that doesn’t mean that they can’t be boys, or that there haven’t been other boys born before you that were simply killed at birth, because they didn’t conform to what the people decided to believe is true,” she calmly declared, even though Snow couldn’t help shiver at the thought of babies being killed just after they were born, no matter the cause.

“If you ask me, the color of your hair and eyes is more peculiar than the fact that you’re not a girl. But it’s still not strange enough to make me think that you’re not like us. Sure, you do feel different from the rest of us. But that difference isn’t neither in your hair color nor in your sex.”

Snow blinked in bewilderment, all tension gone from his body.

So he wasn’t … strange? Abnormal? Everyone he had encountered so far had clearly thought he was.

“How am I different, then?”

“That I can’t really tell. You just feel different. To me it is a very pleasant, fulfilling difference. But others are bound to feel it as a threat. This little one, for instances, seems to enjoy your presence very much. She normally can’t hold such a long-distance link for so long, but she’s managing it just fine.”

Snow looked at the little girl, still playing around the pillows. He couldn’t understand what she’d meant by link, or that their presence there, even though they weren’t really there, was the little girl’s doing. But, for now, he decided not to think about that.

“Were you really being honest about not wanting to find your Chosen One?”

Snow averted his gaze and nodded.

“Why?”

“Why should I want to be bound to someone I don’t even know? I’ve been a prisoner most of my life. I just want to live whatever is left of it on my own terms, according to my own wishes.”

Her expression became even sadder, her golden eyes darkening, and he couldn’t help feeling a bit guilty, as if he had somehow disappointed her.

“I wish I could say I understand. But for someone like me, who waited for her Chosen One for so many years, I can’t envision something more important, more fulfilling than that moment when you know beyond any doubt that you’ve finally found them.”

“Even if that means you’ll never be free.”

“Maybe because Tien'Elhar were never free to begin with. We were never prisoners, but we were never free either.”

Snow looked away from her beautiful but saddened expression.

He, on the other hand, had been both. And he really wanted to go back to being free, even if that meant that he had to look for scraps of food in the trash like he used to do when he was a child.

“How do you even know that you have found this Chosen One?” he grunted, wanted to cheer her up a bit and, at the same time, truly curious about the answer. As he had expected, the gentle smile quickly returned to her face.

“You just know. It can be really scary at first. You feel overwhelmed, as if your entire being is about to be swallowed by their presence alone. But once a bond is established it’s very relaxing and fulfilling. You finally feel like a whole being and you feel connected with the land. Like a lost tree that is finally able to grow roots and firm itself of fertile ground.”

“Even when your Chosen One does things that make you sick?”

Her dreamy smile immediately faded away.

“You heard about that.” She sighed. “That rarely used to happen. But now … everything is wrong. And no one can say if it is our Chosen Ones who make us sick, or if we are the ones tainting our Chosen Ones’ hearts. We’re no longer the pure beings we used to be,” she whispered, her voice even softer than his, her golden gaze turning to the child happily playing around. “Even this little one, she’s already tainted. And it will only get worse. The Heavens are displeased with how the land is being ruled and they are punishing all of us.”

Snow looked at the little girl but, just like before, he couldn’t see anything wrong with her.

“But not you.”

He looked back at her with a startled expression and she smiled again.

“Not you. You’re not tainted. You’re still pure. Maybe that’s where the difference lays.”

 

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