for him.”
They chattered on throughout the day. The younger children came to visit their mothers. Arlais was the only one with fully grown sons. The evening meal was served, and afterward Ahura Mazda’s first wife excused herself from the group.
“I got no sleep last night with Cinnia’s labor. Minau, will you watch over her this evening, and see to the baby? I am going to bed.” She stood up from her seat by the fire.
Ahura Mazda entered the common room, and after a quick visit with Sapphira and a peek at his daughter, looked to Tyne, and beckoned to her. With a grin at her fellow wives, Tyne led their husband into her bedchamber and firmly closed the door.
Arlais entered her own bedchamber, washed, and changing into a sleep robe, lay down. She could scarcely keep her eyes open, and wondered if she would even hear the young queen of Belmair’s call, but of course she did. The silvery-gray mists swirled about her as she walked toward Cinnia’s voice. And then the mists parted, and the two women met. “Sapphira had her daughter early today,” she told Cinnia. “Both are well.”
“I am happy for her,” Cinnia replied. “Have you spoken with your sons?”
“I have,” Arlais responded. “They beg you to call them to the Dream Plain tonight so they may speak with you themselves. I humbly ask that you do this for me.”
“What is it they seek from me?” Cinnia asked her, surprised.
“Reassurance,” Arlais said. “They are young men. Yafirdom beneath the sea is all they have ever known. And yet they long for the land. It is almost as if it calls to them,” she explained. “But they need to know from you, Belmair’s queen, that they are welcome. They must eventually beard their father and his authority in this matter. It will not be easy for them. The Yafir grow restless for the bubbles are full, and cannot expand any farther. There is no room for growing or grazing. When asked for more Ahura Mazda refuses to even consider the requests.”
“That is because none of it is of his making,” Cinnia told her. “Cronan made a place for the Yafir to hide themselves, to live their lives. Then he left them to themselves but times have changed.”
“Call to my sons then, and let them hear this from your lips,” Arlais pleaded.
“Behrooz, son of Arlais. Sohrab, son of Arlais. Nasim, son of Arlais. Come to me upon the Dream Plain,” Cinnia intoned three times.
The mists again swirled around the two women, and when it began to clear the three sons of Arlais could be seen coming toward them. They looked both amazed and perhaps a little frightened as they came. When they had reached their mother and Cinnia, they bowed politely, Behrooz speaking for them.
“We greet you, Cinnia, queen of Belmair.”
“I greet the sons of Arlais,” she responded. “What is it you desire from me?”
“Forgive us for our concerns, but did you speak truth to our mother? Is there really a new province that has been created for us, for the Yafir?” Behrooz asked her.
“There is. I have not been there myself, but my husband showed it to me in a reflecting bowl. Nidhug, Belmair’s Great Dragon, was with the Shadow Princes when Belbuoy was fashioned. She says the land is a perfect paradise,” Cinnia answered him.
“I lived in your world, sons of Arlais. It is gloomy and dank. Come and live in your province of Belbuoy, and you will live again in the sunlight. You will feel the breeze and you will feel the rain upon your faces. Your animals will grow fat upon its sweet grasses, and your crops will thrive in its rich soil.”
“And the king will truly welcome us back to Belmair?” Behrooz inquired.
“My husband desires peace for all of Belmair’s peoples, and the Yafir have lived in this world for aeons. You are a part of us as we are of you,” Cinnia replied to him. “He will welcome you, and there will be others who do, too. But there will be some who will not welcome you. This is why Belbuoy was created. So that the Yafir have a place of safety until that day when our differences no longer matter, and we accept each other for who we are and nothing more.”
“How will you accomplish this?” Behrooz asked Cinnia.
“The Shadow Prince, Cronan, will make it happen. It was he who gave you Yafirdom all those centuries ago. Here is the tale he told us. He had just come to Belmair from Hetar when Napier IX decided to banish the Yafir. Such an action angered him, for the Shadow Princes believe that all life is precious and sacred no matter the form it takes. He knew, of course, how the Yafir have gone from world to world over the years. He knew their place in the magic realms was lowly, and not greatly respected. But still he felt sorry for them, for they were being driven out of existence, and had nowhere to go. Cronan does not believe that one people has the right to destroy another people. He studied the Yafir, and chose Ahura Mazda as the one to lead the them.
“He brought your father to his own dwelling place. He told him what he would do to protect the Yafir. Then one night while they slept a drugged sleep he surrounded the Yafir, which he had divided into small groups, with the bubbles. The bubbles were already individual self-contained worlds with their villages, and the lord’s castle. These he transported beneath the seas of Belmair. When the Yafir awoke the following morning they were in their new world of Yafirdom. Ahura Mazda told them it was his magic that had done all of this. That it was he who had led them to safety, and would now rule over them. This was as Cronan wanted, and for the first time the Yafir were living as normal folk do, and not being driven from place to place.”
“So our father has no magic,” Behrooz said.
“Nay, that is not so. Ahura Mazda has magic. It is just not great magic as he claims. He can transport himself from place to place easily, and do other small enchantments. But the Yafir have never had the greatest powers of necromancy,” Cinnia explained to Arlais’s three sons.
“We have been taught nothing. The ability to move from here to there seems inbred in us, but we can do no wizardry, nor can any that we know. Only our father seems capable of magic. Or so he has claimed,” Behrooz told her. “We have never been witness to anything exceptional. Tell us, though, what will happen to us when we come up from the sea? Many of us are centuries old. We reach our maturity beneath the sea, and then remain there. Those among us who once lived in Belmair remained the same ages beneath the sea as they were upon the land, and are the eldest among us. Will this moving from sea to land kill our elders?”
“Nay, I have been told they will not. A spell has been fashioned and put into amulets for each of the Yafir so they will begin to age again from the age they are now. When you awaken upon Belbuoy you will all have your amulets, and you will be safe. Have you asked all your questions of me then?” Cinnia inquired of them.
“We have,” Behrooz said, “but for one. When will Yafirdom be transported to our new province of Belbuoy?”
“I know you must speak with your people first,” Cinnia said.
Behrooz looked to his brothers, and they nodded. “We have already consulted with our friends,” he told her. “We are ready. The Yafir are ready. Take us all. We will deal with our father ourselves when it is done, my queen.”
Cinnia smiled at him. She had not missed his respect. “I will speak with Cronan on the morrow,” she told them. “I believe the sooner this is accomplished the better for all. Your father seeks to provoke a war between our peoples. Help us to stop it, sons of Arlais. There is no need for war between us.”
“As you help us,” Behrooz said, “so we shall aid you, my queen.” He bowed to her. “It is time for us to go, my brothers.” And suddenly Arlais’s three sons were fading away back into the mists.
“Belbuoy will need a duke,” Cinnia told Arlais. “Your eldest son, Behrooz, would make a fine lord for his people.”
“What of Ahura Mazda?” Arlais asked softly.
Cinnia shook her head. “He will never accept what is to happen, Arlais, and you know it. I think it will end badly for him, though I would wish it not.”
Tears sprang into Arlais’s eyes. She nodded, unable to speak at first. “I love him,” she finally said. “He was not always as he is now, Cinnia. After the Yafir were driven from Belmair his grandfather and father filled him with anger and bitterness. Perhaps you should leave the bubble with the castle and its village beneath the sea.”
Cinnia shook her head. “Nay. All must come. It is better that way.”
“Ahura Mazda is no fool, Cinnia. We have not spoken to those within our bubble yet for fear of my husband learning of our little plot. But many are old, and long to see the land again. They will not be unhappy to awaken and find themselves upon the land once more,” Arlais said.
“It is time for us to go,” Cinnia said, feeling a tug of wakefulness.
“Will we meet again?” Arlais asked as she felt the same pull.
