Timestamp: 45th of Fall, 522 A.V.
The Kois Quas Dominion : Gold Lake (first season)
She woke in decadence. There was no other way to put it. Tazrae lay beneath silk sheets that cooled her in an already warm world. There was no immediate memory of when or how she arrived, not at first. What she noticed initially was the dryness of the air as it blew in the open stone windows and tossed gossamer-thin curtains about. The curtains themselves had dandelion-like flowers and free-floating seeds embroidered on them, so when the wind tossed them, it gave the impression of seeds scattering free of a field of flowers.
The scents in the cooling breeze were all wrong, hot and spicy and not tinged with the fragrance of green growing things and the sea. There was the smell and weight of the earth, a heaviness, and scent of some sort of pine and other smells that Tazrae was unfamiliar with.
She rose slowly, noting the gown laid across the foot of the far untouched side of the bed. The bed itself was made of swirling brass, beautiful, and draped with organza that acted as some sort of insect repellant. Tazrae had to push back that fabric to rejoin whatever world she was apparently living in. She took a moment to dress, finding the gown strangely light, and exotic, and colored the deep hues of a desert sunset. With that task completed, she walked out the open double doors that lead to a balcony that overlooked a lake that reflected the golden mountains all around it.
Desert.
She was in the desert. The only green around was low-growing brush that dotted the lake line, a few palms, and an elegant garden that seemed to be carefully cultivated below her. Unlike her cool refreshing jungle, the heat outside was insufferable. It had a baked quality to it that was like nothing Tazrae had ever experienced, not even in The Outpost. She shifted, trying to see further out, and felt a tug at her throat. She reached up, fingers finding the collar-like item of jewelry around her neck. There were no mirrors in her room, so she looked at it with her fingers, trailing them across its length. It had a particular pattern to it, Tazrae remembered suddenly, like interlocking medallions, that all bore the symbol of the Kois Tribe hammered in the gold ornamentation. It was a beautiful thing, more like a very tight-fitting torc with medallions than something one would fit around say a dog’s neck.
She remembered it because it had been in her hand just yesterday morning. The chest had arrived on The Veronica the same day the smith and several other new folks to Syka had joined the Settlement – mainly tourists. She’d been busy settling in the visitors and giving them tours. In fact, that busy had curried over for several days afterward and she hadn’t gotten back to looking at the large chest that was big enough for an entire person to crawl into. The weird part of it was that it hadn't been heavy. She’d left it, instead, to set on The Protea’s deck, out of the weather to be addressed at a later date when she had more time.
It hadn’t been addressed to her. It had been addressed to Estra Aradicus from Matari Arcadius, then forwarded to her being Estra’s only surviving kin. Her father, who hadn’t been her actual father, but her uncle, was dead. And his wife, her aunt, who had only pretended to be Tazrae’s mother was also gone. Estra, her aunt had been sent the chest from her twin sister, who was actually Tazrae’s mother. It was a confusing mixture of absolute Ixamshit and one Tazrae had been avoiding dealing with, half afraid of what the contents of the chest might be. And it wasn’t until the 45th, that Tazrae had worked up the courage.
It was a day off because the Inn was unexpectedly empty, so she’d hung a sign on the front doors and let it be known throughout the community the day before that she wouldn’t be around today and instead be on some personal mission. She hadn’t fooled anyone though. Most people knew she was finally going to open the chest and left her alone to do so.
