Chapter 2 - Safe Place
After a few days of traveling, Hessa and Saya had finally reached Galaansira. It was a beautiful city, rich with culture and history. It was believed to be the oldest city in Voriaad, and was the capital for many centuries before Abaansira was made the new capital. Before entering the city, Saya gave Hessa her cloak, and told her to pull the hood over her head. The two went directly to Saya's house on the outskirts of town. It was a quaint little place, with a garden, a stable, and a small chicken farm. The interior was densely decorated in a Hebilaoan style. "I've never seen a place like this before…" Hessa said.
"Everyone's house looks like this where I'm from." Saya replied. "I'm gonna patch this up real quick." she said, motioning towards her shoulder with her head. As she tended to her wounds, she asked Hessa "So, you going to make good on your part and tell me what's going on with you? I did risk my life and all trying to protect you."
Hessa paused for a moment, the gruesome scene repeating in her mind. She didn't want to talk about it, but she did make a deal. "My father, the king was murdered by his advisor, Haziyaan. I found my father dead on his throne, with my own dagger planted at the scene. I ran and ran until I collapsed. That's when you found me."
"Why do you think he did it?" Saya asked.
"Haziyaan is a very old fashioned Vorian national. He probably hated my father the entire time he spent with him. He values things like strength, and conquest. He killed my father so he can control Voriaad. He's gonna make it into a warring superpower, like it was in the past." Hessa explained.
"What would make him hate your father?" asked Saya.
"My father used his power over Voriaad for the sake of peace. He ordered our soldiers out of the countries we occupied, gave reparations, and shrank our borders. A lot of people hated him, especially the more conservative crowd. I knew Haziyaan had his differences, politically, but I never knew he felt strongly enough to murder my father over it." Hessa said.
"People will do anything for power." Saya said.
There was a slight pause before Saya looked at Hessa with a serious face. "You know what you must do, right?" she said in a quiet tone.
"Yeah… I have to kill the bastard. Not just for vengeance, but for the sake of my country. I have to protect the peace my father worked so hard for." she said. "Thanks for everything, but tomorrow I have to leave you… It's my responsibility."
"Don't be a fool" Saya replied. "The entirety of Voriaad is looking for you, you won't get close to Haziyaan. Right now, you need to get out of the country."
"The country? This is the first time I've ever even been outside Abaansira!" Hessa protested.
"Don't worry, I'll help you. I have a place down in Hebilao where you can stay." Saya said.
"Why are you going through such lengths for a stranger?" Hessa asked.
"Well… No. It's my turn to keep secrets."
Noticing Saya's discomfort, she changed the topic. "Hey, I got a question. What happened when I kicked that soldier's ass? We never talked about it. Everything was red and it felt so hot. I got this sudden urge to beat the shit out of that guy, and before I knew it he was on the ground." Hessa said.
"That, is your Aspect." Saya answered.
"Aspect? I think my sister told me about something about that from a book she was reading, but I wasn't paying attention." Hessa said.
"Very rarely, someone will manifest a special power or ability. Nobody really knows why; the phenomenon is somewhat of a mystery. I have an Aspect too." Saya said.
"Is that how you made his sword go flying? It bounced off of your blade without you moving at all." Hessa asked.
"Yes, I've named my Aspect Parry." Saya replied.
"Parry? What a boring name!" Hessa exclaimed.
"What will you name yours?" Saya asked.
"I haven't thought of that, actually." Hessa said, holding her chin in thought. A name… What do I name my Aspect…? she thought to herself. "When I was fighting, there was this huge rush of heat, it was like my body was moving on it's own and I was just along for the ride." Hessa said. "Oh, I know! I'll name it… 'Heat Rush'!" she said excitedly.
"That's stupid. Try again." Saya said in a flat tone.
"Tell me what you really think, why don't you?" Hessa replied. She paused for a moment, brainstorming. "I got another one, how about 'Ride The Fire'?" she proposed.
"Badass. That one's a keeper." said Saya confidently.
"So how does yours work?" Hessa asked.
"At will, I can instantly reverse the momentum of any moving object that comes in contact with my hands or whatever I'm holding. Sharp, concentrated points of impact can pierce through though. That's why the soldier's spear managed to get past my sword." Saya explained.
"So, what if someone shoots an arrow at you? Could you deflect that?" asked Hessa.
"No. I could block it with a sword but it'll go the same way as someone without my Aspect. If I tried deflecting it with my hands, It'll probably go right through." Saya replied. "When you defeated that soldier, was that the first time you used your Aspect?" she asked.
"Yeah, I didn't know I could do something like that." answered Hessa.
"For those with the potential, an Aspect usually manifests when they're under stress or if their life is in danger." Saya explained. "I'm surprised you weren't educated on this like your sister." she said.
"Yeah, well, I never took my schooling seriously." Hessa remarked.
"Too busy guzzling mead by the barrel?" Saya asked.
"No!… Well, yeah, but you didn't have to say it like that. Hessa said in a defeated tone."
"Go bathe, you stink. I've got some clothes that'll fit you. Tomorrow we set out for Hebilao." Saya said as she showed Hessa the way to the bath. After the door closed Saya's face changed to one of sadness, and grief. A single tear rolled down her face, as she cried silently.
"I'll have some clothes on the bed for you in the room right across from here." she told Hessa while hiding her sadness.
Saya went to the aforementioned room, but hesitated to enter. After mustering up the will to go through the door, she prepared the room for Hessa. Saya looked through the closet and pulled out something for Hessa to wear. She stood still, looking at the clothes, and after a few moments, she folded them up, and placed them on the bed, before exiting the room.
Next she started preparing their meal. She took a chicken from its enclosure and slaughtered it. She prepared the chicken into meat to be cooked then set it aside. Next she lit the fireplace, then got a deep pan hanging on the wall, and placed it on down. She then got an onion, some garlic, peppers, and tomato, chopped them up, and sautéed them in lard. As they cooked she added black pepper, cumin, salt, and turmeric. Once the vegetables were almost done cooking, she added in the prepared chicken, and more salt alongside enough vegetable stock to cover everything. Once the chicken was cooked, she added rice to the pan, and covered it with a lid. After some time passed, all the stock had evaporated and the rice was perfectly cooked.
After Hessa's bath, she went into the room and put the clothes on. She looked around the room and wondered why there was more than one room in this house if Saya apparently lived alone. Maybe there was someone else in her life? She wouldn't ask though, as Saya seemed to be protective of her personal life. Maybe that's one of the secrets she mentioned earlier…? she thought to herself.
Just when the food finished cooking, Hessa came out of the room and sat at the table. "Perfect timing, I just got done." Saya said. "Feeling better without all the blood and mud?" she asked.
"Yeah, this place is paradise." Hessa replied.
"I made a lot if you want seconds." Saya said before placing a plate of food in front of Hessa.
Hessa looked at the plate, and as her face got closer she could smell it. The fragrance of the meal was mesmerizing, almost intoxicating. As she lifted the spoon to her mouth, and took a small bite. After a short silence Hessa gave her feedback. "Holy shit…" was all she said before continuing to shovel the food into her mouth. She ravenously scarfed down everything on the plate. If Saya hadn't removed the bones, Hessa would have probably eaten them too. Eventually Hessa accepted the offer for seconds, then thirds, then finally fourths. Hessa had eaten everything that wasn't on Saya's plate. Saya looked at Hessa, stunned. "Wow… You like it that much?" she asked.
"This is the best thing I've ever eaten… It's better than anything the royal chefs have ever fed me… you're a genius Saya. When I'm on the throne I'm hiring you as my cook." Hessa said.
"It's just something I whipped up in a hurry. I can do better than this." Saya replied.
"I find that hard to believe but I'm open to being proven wrong." Hessa said followed by some light laughter.
Saya smiled slightly, happy to see Hessa enjoying herself after going through such a traumatic experience.
"You still want to know why I'm helping you?" Saya asked.
"Sure, if you don't mind telling me." Hessa replied.
"This is where my daughter, Zaani and I lived. The room you were in and the clothes you're wearing were hers." Saya said, looking down at her half eaten meal.
"What happened to her?" Hessa asked.
"She's dead. She died many years ago from disease. Nobody knew what was wrong with her, and she withered away." Saya replied.
After a pensive silence, Hessa spoke. "What was she like?" she asked.
"She was quiet mostly, shy, very reserved, but also very passionate about what she liked. She loved the garden. She grew the most beautiful vines there." Saya said. "You look almost exactly like her. Sorry if that's weird… I'm not expecting you to replace my daughter or anything, it's just that when I see you, I'm reminded of her. it makes me wanna be there for you."
"Huh. I thought you were just some weird wandering foreigner. Turns out you're actually a pretty caring person." Hessa replied, in a somewhat inappropriately casual tone for the somber moment.
"Thirsty?" Saya asked as she got up and grabbed a bottle of wine.
"Nice! We're partying tonight!" Hessa said excitedly.
"Have a little self control. if I have to peel you off of the floor tomorrow morning, I'll be pissed."
Hessa nodded in acknowledgement.
"So now it's your turn to tell me about you." Saya said while pouring their glasses.
"Well, I like Martial Arts, grilled pythons, and my favorite color is sky blue" Hessa said.
"Oh come one, I got all personal and in exchange I get the boring stuff?" Saya asked.
"Hmm… Okay, how about this? When I was 10 I killed a Vorian boar with my bare hands" She said.
"No way. That did not happen." Saya stated.
"It sure did! I got a scar on my leg where it's tusk stabbed me" Hessa retorted playfully.
"Say I believe you, tell me how you felled the beast." Saya said.
"I was wandering around town and the boar had came running in from nowhere! Apparently some hunters had been chasing it for a while but couldn't kill it before it ran into the city. The beast was running straight towards me, and suddenly I had a horrible idea. I grabbed a nearby soldier's sword, and stuck it, blade pointed outward, between some rice sacks that were stacked on top of each other behind me. Once the boar got close enough I dodged out of the way, and the beast had run face first into the sword! I didn't dodge fast enough though, hence the scar." Hessa explained.
"So… not with your 'bare hands.' That's a little more believable." Saya said.
"All good stories deserve embellishment." Hessa replied. "Anyway, the shop I was standing in front of got wrecked and covered in the boar blood. My father would have made me clean it all up if I didn't get injured. The shop owner was so pissed!" Hessa said followed by a hearty laugh. "What about you? Any childhood stories?" Hessa asked.
"Uhh… There was one time I swallowed a fish alive" Saya said.
"What!? Why would you do that!?" Hessa asked between bursts of laughter.
"I was a little younger than you at the time. I was fishing for dinner and my bastard of a little brother kicked me into the water! In the panic, a small fish managed to wind up in my mouth somehow, for a reason unbeknownst to me to this day, I swallowed it." Saya said.
"That's disgusting. Please elaborate." Hessa said with a huge smile on her face.
"Oh it gets worse. As soon as I got out of the water I puked so hard it hurt- and the fish actually lived! It just swam off after I puked it into the water like nothing happened!" Saya said.
"Oh god that is horrible. I would never eat fish again if that happened to me."
"Ironically enough, I love fish." Saya said.
The two erupted in laughter as they kept exchanging stories. Eventually the bottle of wine had run empty. "Oh no… I think we both overdid it…" Saya said, looking into the dark glass bottle. The two were shitfaced before they realized it.
"That's some really strong stuff… I thought you adults were supposed to be all responsible and shit?" Hessa slurred.
"Be warned Hessa, I'm what delinquents like you grow up into." Saya replied.
The two wheezed in laughter, to the point of tears. Then, suddenly, as if to interrupt them, there was a heavy knock at the door.
"You expecting company or something?" Hessa whispered loudly.
"Go to your room, hide!" Saya said quietly.
Hessa went to the room, and Saya answered the door.
She opened it and was greeted by two soldiers. "Hi! Nice to meen you- I mean meet you. How… how's it goin?" Saya said. The two soldiers looked at each other, then back at Saya.
"Erm… We're looking for a girl. She's Vorian, with red hair, golden eyes, and fancy clothes. You know anything that can help us?" one soldier asked.
"Nope. She a runaway or somethin?" Saya replied.
"She's wanted for murder. If you hear or see something that can help us track her down, let us know." the other soldier said.
The two started to walk off, then one stopped. "Wait." he said with his back turned. "I heard laughter before you opened the door, yet I didn't see anyone inside…" Saya froze, panicked at their suspicion. "Is there anyone else here?" he asked.
"…No." she replied.
"Then why were you laughing?" he asks, with growing suspicion.
"It's… my cat. He's hilarious!" Saya said with a stupid smile.
An awkward silence transpired before the soldier spoke again. "Never mind. She's not hiding anything, she's just a drunk idiot. he said to his partner before the two walked off."
Saya closed the door quickly but quietly. "I would kick your ass if I wasn't harboring a fugitive…" she mumbled beneath her breath. She then got Hessa and informed her that the coast was clear.
"We should be okay for now, but we leave early tomorrow before they start getting suspicious." Saya said.
Hessa stared at Saya with an amused look. "Your cat? Really?" she asked.
A moment of silence passed before the two started laughing yet again.
When they'd calmed down, Saya told Hessa it was time to sleep. "We've got a long journey ahead of us. The road to Calavaana is twice as long as the one from here to Abaansira." she said.
"Alright. Goodnight then, Saya… Oh, and, I'm glad I met you. I'd surely be in a dungeon or at the end of Haziyaan's blade if not for you." Hessa said.
"Happy to help, kiddo." Saya replied.
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Astrology Sweet Notes
Moon in Earth Signs have this unique love for nature like no one else, they love to be in nature and enjoying the environment. They are nature lovers and love to spend their time in nature
Air Risings love to socialize and communicate, is their thing, they love communication and you can feel this thing of talking about everything with them, they can listen to you all day and also give you advices and helping you when you need
Fire Suns have literally so much energy, they can do a lot of things and at the end of the day still having much energy for doing other things
Water Moons are physic gifted, they can sense the emotions inside and being in touch with everything around them, a lot of Water Moons can often have paranormal experiences and most of them can believe in superstitions such as ghosts and myths paired with Air Moons who can also believe in the same things like aliens and witches
Neptune/Moon in the 1st house give this vibe of angelic person because the way they look might be very kind and charming. A lot of attention on them because of their eyes, their eyes are magnificent literally the vibe of "You can see the moon in their eyes"
Neptune/Sun and Moon in the 12th house can be also physic gifted because of their extremely high intuition, they can feel people's intentions of them way before someone is telling them. They can aslo be helped and guided by their ancestors or their spirit guides and often recieving/seeing signs (angel numbers, names, colors, feathers, etc)
Neptune in the 7th house can develop this fake illusion" over their partners and can also end up romanticize their partner a lot and living into a fake illusion most of the times.
Neptune - Juno aspects can mean that you and your partner have both a great spirituality sense together and also your relationship can be influenced by spirituality. Sometimes these aspects have dreams of their partners of future partners.
Saturn in the 7th house or 7th house ruled by Saturn is a great indicator of having/or going to have a very serious relationship and a very serious spouse about you, idk why people think this placement is bad when is one of the best to have related to love relationships. (I have this aspect myself in the Sidereal chart and I could never be more prouder) . Saturn will learn you about relationships and about seriousness in them. But also the sad part is you gonna met this serious partner kinda later in life😭 like you kinda need to wait for that moment to come 😭😭😭😭
Having Sun in the 7th house or 7th house ruled by the Sun means that you tend to focus a lot on your relationships, you really give your best and without a doubt these people have this thing of wanting their partners to be obsessed with them (especially Leo in 7th house gives that energy). You also have a chance to have this partner who is obsessed with you at some point in your life 🤭 but be careful with that tho
Having Moon in the 7th house or 7th house ruled by the Moon gives this energy of someone who loves really deep and seeks soul connection in the same time, this is also a bit risky because you love too hard and enough to sacrifice yourself for love which sometimes cannot be worth it. You tend to focus also a lot on your partner's needs and to forget about yours... Please give yourself some love and respect because you deserve it
Having Jupiter in the 7th house or 7th house ruled by the Jupiter can mean having good luck and usually luck in finding good relationships but can also mean that Jupiter helps you and wants the best related to love so it can give you some times to wait until you actually find that perfect partner you wish to have. And also your partner is that type of person who is very jovial and always happy + this can also mean that your partner can be foreign or to met your partner in a foreign place or land
Taurus and Scorpio placements (especially Moon and Venus) are getting soo jealous and possessive when they are in a relationship, is like they want to protect their partner and themselves in the same time but also trying to love them and showing them love. Virgo placements are the only ones i know after Taurus and Scorpio being posesive about their relationships
Capricorn and Aries placements can also tend to be posesive and getting jealous in relationships but since they are searching for something serious they will mostly try to work out and to fix things if there is a problem involving possessiveness
Lilith aspecting Venus gives fatale energy, you can attract people very fast but also very kind of posesive partners
Lilith aspecting Moon is literally one of the most powerful and intense aspects in the astrology without being biased is something very intense to have, women can tend to be jealous of you and you can find men being very mean and rude to you for no reason because you radiate this powerful energy that makes their insecurities to rise up. Also this can indicate problem's with the natives mother and a difficult childhood in some cases
Lilith aspecting Neptune can literally drain people into them without them knowing, have you ever had experiences with people coming to you and talking to you for no reason?? Exactly bestie... They feel your energy
Lilith - Sun aspects can literally get hate for being themselves because of their magnetism, people really see how powerful they are and they don't want that to happen. These natives could have been accused of things they never did and things that never happened. Very rebellious yet attractive.
Moon - Jupiter aspects expands the feelings of the native and make it to always feel emotionally supported when they are feeling bad, these natives can be highly spirituals and have very a strong soul
Moon - Mercury/Venus aspects makes the native to have an addiction for music and art, they adore the music and art/poetry/theater etc related things these aspects are the definition of the word "artist" and "lyrical genius" i imagine these aspects as the Angel who sings at harp
Moon in the 9th house/Sagittarius can have a deep love for other cultures/history they appreciate the cultures and the beliefs so much and tend to be very respected because of that. Moon in the 9th house is always in the search for knowledge
Moon - Mars/Uranus aspects gives much energy to the aspect beside the angry issues, they can be really great dancers and can love to dance and learn dancing. Moon - Mars might put very much passion in their dance tho, while Moon - Uranus will dance based on their mood
Saturn - Venus aspects can struggle with their emotions when they are in a relationship, it can be a bit rough for them but with them they learn more and more about the "True love" and the relationships
The most painful someone can do is to hurt someone with Saturn-Venus aspects/Saturn - Moon aspects/Venus in the 10th house/Saturn in the 7th house/Saturn in the 5th house/Venus in Capricorn cuz baby karma will come for you
Saturn - Lilith aspects can have a very strict family household where their sexuality could have been restricted (This applies to the LGBT+ natives with these aspects). You need to learn to stay your in power and to not lost your soul in the sadness the others want to provoke in your heart ❤️🩹
Saturn in Cancer/4th house could have struggles with their mom and their household, these natives are having such strong heart and inner child, no one can break their heart because the karma will beat your a$$ if you try to hurt those. You are a very powerful person and never forget that
Saturn - Moon aspects: native had very impactful a childhood/something could've happened in their childhood to make them hurt/sad. Remember you are invincible and no one knows what you're going through more than yourself, you are very wise and very strong 💞 bless your heart
👑 Hello queens and kings, hope you have a good Friday. Today is a new day so a new post is coming 💞 i tried to posts some aspects i didn't talked that much about and to talk about more topics. 💞👑 Much love and blessings for you 💘
Remember if you ever feel like you're alone in your story of life, better times will come for you and you will see the sun coming after the dark storm. You will bloom like a spring flower and with confidence and courage you will go through all the challenges this life has. You are strong, brave and beautiful. 💘
Harmoonix 💋
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