Crystal Shade Episodes 01

she looked around. The breeze slowly shepherded the yellow leaves along the cobblestones of the main square. The torches and light crystals were already lit on the houses and the crowd gathered. Enraptured, along with her family she had watched the noble rulers of Odess’iana, Thobadzistshin and his graceful wife Hastseolti, who stood beside him, as they prepared to open the Feast.
    But instead of them, Grace looked back at the white fountain topped by a large alabaster statue stone angel statue, which cast its shadow at her. She specifically chose this place when they came in to watch the opening ceremony. This statue was her favourite. She couldn’t explain why, but it always drew her here.
    The statue, a mysterious High-Guardian woman stood on a pillar and embraced a baby, her wings spread defensively. Her eyes showed great love, as well as the determination and fear of one who will not lose her babe without a fight. The statue had enchanted her when she first saw it cycles ago; the motionless, winged statue that she called the Guardian Mother. Somehow, she also felt safe here, but she didn’t know why.
    In reality, the statue had no name. No one knew who carved this beautiful old statue, but Grace felt that the name that she called it perfectly described it. And the cold air, the atmosphere of Deciduous that she always loved, the night and the pale glow of Carenia Seli just made the Guardian Mother even more perfect and lovely in her eyes.
    In Odess’iana, most people secretly called the statue the Fountain of Time. Many have seen something in their mirror image when they looked into it. Some said old ones sometimes saw their long forgotten past and remembered who they were. Young ones said sometimes they saw their dreams, the image showed them the path to what they want or what is destined for them. And those who saw their own mirror image, they say, saw their present in the water, which meant those would remain the same throughout their lives.
    Like everyone else that didn’t experience the fountain’s magic, Grace never questioned these legends, never questioned the words of others. However, her soul also never fully accepted them until she saw it with her own eyes. Whenever she came here, she always tried to confirm the myths of the fountain. Regardless that she had never experienced anything before, she always feared a little to face the water. Like many times before, she was curious. As always, she hesitated to look into it and kept her distance from the edge.
    “Look. It has begun,” whispered her mother with great excitement. Grace turned around. The rulers looked at the people from the center of the large garden as they made wondrous the ritual opening of the Great Feast. It was a tradition that was well known in Odess’iana for the last hundred cycles or even more.
    In accordance with their duty as rulers of Odess’iana, every Great Deciduous Festival Thobadzistshin and Hastseolti planted a sapling in the garden. Those trees planted by the rulers before them and that they had planted in the last cycles had grown into a beautiful living heaven. Everyone watched as the noble rulers bent to the task of a gardener, but no one ever despised them for this. Throughout Eecrys Aredia, the rulers were behind many good works, but sometimes they did much more than the people had seen.
    Just as many Odess’ianans had, Grace also heard the legend of Thobadzistshin and Hastseolti. While they controlled the province, they sometimes also disguised themselves and mixed in the crowd. Some said sometimes they shared their wisdom in disguise. Others said they went out to the far ocean of Aesara Alira, which was the western border of the eleventh province or to their southern border to the large gulf of Inari and its fishermen to work with them. They helped farmers or built buildings and roads along with the people.
    No one ever confirmed these legends, but in Eecrys Aredia, it was the way of life. Despite their ranks, everyone was equal, even the rulers. They knew how hard the work could be sometimes and they shared the weight with their people.
    As Grace saw the shovels in Thobadzistshin and Hastseolti’s hands, she realized that the myths could be true. The rulers worked the hard ground with a smooth routine, just as her father and mother used to work the soil back at Seradelphia; the routine that only real farmers and gardeners would have.
    She never saw the rulers this close before, but as Carenia Seli’s