Library of Rain

Worshipers of The Goddess

There was something exciting about going on an adventure with someone you loved that was just better than going alone. Walking hand in hand with Ise while trailing Runt made the potential of danger behind every building fun rather than simply frightening. Of course, the Mid Ring wasn’t very dangerous yet. 

It wasn’t until the three of them got to the Low Ring, where the building started to crumble and the scent of rot clawed its way out of the wet piles of ash, that they had to start changing routes.

“This way, there's fewer people,” Ise said, pointing to a deserted side street.

Rain agreed that that one felt right, and when Runt didn’t say anything, the three of them went in that direction. The street was completely silent except for the sound of their shoes slurping in the wet ash. Rain wanted to break the silence, but the heavy feeling in the air didn’t encourage chatter.

Not long after, Rain caught a sour whiff on the cold wind blowing through the street across the intersection from them.

“Let's change directions.”

Runt nodded at the statement, his eyes also focused on the ominous-smelling road. Ise pulled on Rain’s left hand as they diverted to a street to the left.  

A few streets later, Runt pointed to a crude symbol scratched into a wall. 

“It's a good thing we didn’t go in that direction; that area is Irlter territory. They’ve been going after girls lately.”

Rain frowned; the city guard had been stopping all organization in the Low Ring, so how had these people made a name for themselves? She made a note of the symbol. Something needed to be done about these people. She didn’t want anyone in her city who might hurt Ise. Just hearing Runt's description of the people sent a shiver down her back as memories of dark places and cages floated before her eyes. 

Taking a long blink, Rain refused to be scared.

“Don’t worry, Runt, we would have protected you.” Rain said in her best imitation of Svend’s annoying voice. 

“I’m not a girl!”

Rain could hear Lon saying something from wherever he was hiding, but she refused to listen. She didn’t want to be reminded of how awful she was. She was going to be hopeful.

The moons were bright and the sky was beautiful tonight. Even if there were problems, Rain could fix them with enough time, especially now that she had a family. The thought made Rain think about the tragedy of Pardeth. She could understand why his father wanted to live forever; even if things were bad now, time could heal it. 

When they finally made it to the entrance to the Dead Ring, the guards stationed there didn’t so much as ask their names as they left. Rain did notice a few of them leering at her group. She got the feeling that reentering the city would be far more challenging than leaving, at least for most people. Fortunately, Rain didn’t plan to walk home anyway.

“Alright, which way are we going?” Rain asked, looking at Runt.

Runt paused for a minute before walking further down the cleared road. To each side of the road were walls of wet ash that looked like giant piles of melting wax. Rain inhaled the pleasant smell. The Dead Ring smelt better than the Low Ring; there was no waste mixed with the soothing earthy smell of wet ash.

“We're gunna need to go off the road from here on,” Runt said, pointing to the right where two ancient buildings held the ash back creating a narrow path.

Rain felt a slight twinge of unease at the narrow path. The last time she was in the Dead Ring, she tricked the merchant killer. There had been no news of him since that day. Hopefully, he wouldn’t attack them tonight. Rain tried to squeeze Ise’s hand at the thought, but her crippled hand wasn’t strong enough to do much. If anything did happen, how would Rain save Ise?

“We’re here, Goddess!”

Rain jumped at the unexpected voice in her head. Swift-tail usually spoke with Runt, so she hadn’t been expecting it.

“What's wrong, sis?”

“It's nothing. What are we looking for, Runt?”

There was a brief pause before Runt answered.

“There should be a small hole in the ash around here.”

The three of them looked around for a bit before Runt found what they were looking for: a small hole a hand length wide that someone had dug into the wall at knee height. 

Rain wondered what Swift-tail would do now. If he wanted to go in and talk to his family, then he would need to reveal himself to Ise. 

There was a brief moment of silence before Swift-tail scurried out of Runt's bag and fled into the hole. A very confused Sunrise looked at the hole, clearly trying to figure out what they were doing. 

The three children waited for a bit before Swift-tail reemerged from the burrow. Then, a flood of little furballs with bright blue eyes popped out of the opening behind him.

Rain’s eyes widened at the flood of squeaking fluff. There had to be close to thirty of them. Most were smaller than Swift-tail, but there were a half-dozen that were bigger, with one that was quite a bit bigger. 

“Goddess, Mama is grateful that you would come to see our family.”

It took Rain a bit before she could tear her gaze away from all that soft looking floof. 

“I’m happy to. Why doesn’t she talk to me? Are you the only one who can talk to humans?”

“She says she isn’t worthy of talking to you after failing to accomplish your task for her.”

The biggest beautiful ball of fur seemed to wilt as Rain looked at it. Its eyes refused to look Rain’s way.

Rain couldn’t understand why, but something about that behavior bothered her. This creature had been loyal to Rain despite Rain never thinking twice about it. This wasn’t right. 

“Tell your mama that I want to speak with her directly.”

There was a short pause before a voice touched Rain's mind, like a frightened child asking a violent adult for help. 

“I answer, Goddess.” 

Rain expected Swift-tail’s mama to sound mature, but her voice sounded no older than Swift-tail. But unlike Swift-tail, who only conveyed words with his mind, Rain could feel emotions along with these words: shame, regret, longing. 

“Are you the biggest one?”

“Yes, Goddess.”

That was all Rain needed to hear. Letting go of Ise’s hand, Rain carefully stepped up to the big Uffter, careful not to step on any of the little ones who seemed to be struggling to stay still, and scooped it, no her, up.

“Thank you for everything you’ve done for me.”

And with those words, Rain cradled the little uffter to her chest in a gentle hug. It took a moment for Rain to realize that she was crying. Those same emotions that this Mama was feeling were emotions that Rain was all too familiar with. They were the same feelings that pushed Rain to try to save the world, to keep trying despite not being good enough, to make her past self proud, and to prove that it wasn’t a mistake for her past self to give everything so Rain could be born.

Finally, Rain found someone who understood, and Rain, Rain was the cause of this pain.

“I’m sorry for not realizing sooner. I'm sorry for making you feel like this.”

Rain felt something cold and wet brush across her cheek. Looking down, she saw that Mama’s bright blue eyes were trained on her, and poking through the fur was the tip of a little black tongue. 

“Don’t cry, Goddess.”

Rain snuggled Mama even tighter. “Do you have a name?”

Mama squirmed in Rain’s arms. “My children just call me Mama.”

Mama was a title, not a name. Rain thought for a moment. “Do you want me to give you a name?”

The little ball in Rain’s arms stiffened at those words. Then, like a child being offered a delicious dessert for no reason, Mama hesitantly asked, “Are you offering to give me a name?”

“Yep”

“Then please do, Goddess.”  Mama’s blue eyes shyly looked away as she spoke. 

Rain looked at the little ball of fur in her arms as she thought of good names. Looking at Mama’s white fur made Rain a little sad that Ms. White was already taken. She couldn’t use snow either. Looking up for inspiration, Rain saw a shining moon pass from behind the clouds. Hmm, moons were bright and round kinda like these uffters if the uffters lost their long tails…

“What do you think of Moon?” 

“I love it!” 

Rain could feel the pure joy in Moon’s words as she snuggled closer to Rain. 

Before anything else could be said, one of the smaller fluffballs lost control of itself and broke formation, yipping and bouncing up to Rain until it stood on her foot, nuzzling against her leg. And like that, all order was lost as every Uffter came rushing in to say hi to Rain.

“Hi, goddess!”

“I’m fluffy-belly; pet me, pet me!”

“Play! Play!”

Rain's mind was assaulted by dozens of tiny voices clamoring for her attention. Laughing, Rain gently sat down and let the tide of precious fluffballs sweep over her.