#on the bright side‚ passing a standardized test will no longer be required to graduate high school

[dihalect]

also in massachusetts ballot question news: question 5, the ballot measure to eliminate the tipped minimum wage, failed by a 14-point margin. never underestimate the restaurant lobby i guess

[j-s-williams-blog1]

Ra’Athia Opening Chapter ‘Prologue’

"Sayura!" Several long fox ears perked up and the bearers turned to look. Zhesyn-Tsuas was very tall, about two meters in height. She had small gray ears that ended in a dull point. Her shiny gray hair flowed down from both her head and her ears to just above her shoulders. The hair shimmered like an ocean wave flowing off her head. She was wearing a flowing white robe that matched the wave-like look of her hair. The robe was sleeveless, revealing arms that were lightly coated with short gray hair. Around her wrists and forearms were four wide, thin silver bands. Each one had several deep black gemstones embedded inside deep engravings. The stones glowed brightly, as if they were on the verge of exploding. Her ankles and lower legs bore eight more similar silver bands, four for each leg. Her long silver necklace bore several deep black gemstones hanging by silver threads. Each one glowed as brightly as their counterparts on the silver bands. "Zhesyn-Tsuas." Sayura replied with a bow. Sayura was much shorter than Zhesyn-Tsuas. She was about one and a half meters tall. She had flowing red hair that went halfway down her back. Like Zhesyn-Tsuas, her hair originated from both her head and ears. Her red ears were slightly longer than her head was tall. Had they not perked up at her name being called, they probably would have dropped down to her shoulders. Her eyes glowed a deep ethereal red color. She was wearing a thin, sleeveless, form-fitting black robe which revealed the short red hair on her arms. Her feet were completely bare, but she had two wide gold rings, one around each ankle. Her wrists held matching pairs of gold rings. All eight of them had shallow engravings in the surface. Around her neck was a short gold necklace with a deep blue gemstone set into it. The gemstone glowed with an ethereal beauty, but it wasn't very bright. Sayura walked over to Zhesyn-Tsuas with her right hand placed over her chest and her left hand curled into a fist behind her back. Her ears stood perfectly straight without a twitch. Her eyes were closed tightly. She didn't stop her bow and stood perfectly still. Zhesyn-Tsuas gently tapped the tips of her ears, starting with the right one. As soon as she tapped the left one, Sayura stood up straight. Her hands went to her sides and her fingers straightened out. She did not open her eyes as she stood. Without warning, Zhesyn-Tsuas started walking. Sayura followed with opening her eyes. Her ears twitched occasionally as she listened. She didn't skip a beat as she walked carefully, making sure she didn't run into anyone. She was especially fearful of running into the person in front of her. Having been called out by the woman, her mind was racing. The Zhesyn council, leaders of the Ce'Enzo race, only had a limited number of reasons for calling someone. For Sayura, a member of the warrior class, there were only three. The first and most common reason was a combat report. Each member of the warrior class usually participated in combat alone. Teams were so uncommon that Sayura had never seen one formed in her three-hundred years of existence. Sayura knew it was unlikely she was being called in for a combat report. She hadn't been to the front lines of the war in over ten years. She had been called back by the Zhesyn council to begin her training to become a Xzhosa. Xzhosa were the second highest ranking members of the Ce'Enzo race, behind only the Zhesyn. Since she hadn't been in any combat situations outside of training in so long, she decided they must be calling on her for another reason. The second possibility was her promotion. Normally, a Ce'Enzo warrior had to train for fifteen years to become a Xzhosa. Training consisted of a three day on, one day off cycle. No break was permitted during the three training days, not even for food and water. Or bodily waste removal. The warriors had to be able to endure extreme conditions that most beings would consider deadly. A fully trained Xzhosa could hold their breath for hours without assistance, run or swim the distance of half a continent in only a day without stopping, climb the tallest of mountains in half that time, and many more feats of strength, speed, and stamina. Each Xzhosa was given a test every year to determine their progress. When they passed the test, they would graduate from training and become a fully-fledged Xzhosa. Every individual took the same test every year, but every individual was tested differently from all of the others. This insured the test was not compromised. While they had strict laws against revealing the test they took to anyone, even another Xzhosa, there was still a possibility of leaks. It had proven that even life imprisonment would not deter some from bragging about their results. The third possibility was that she was going to be charged with a crime. That was a guaranteed life sentence in the prison colony. With a few minor exceptions for the social etiquette laws, it didn't matter what the crime was. Every Xzhosa and Xzhosa-in-training were sentenced to life in the prison colony if found guilty of a crime. The Zhesyn were the only ones held to a higher standard. Their penalty for conviction was death. Such harsh punishments were demanded of the Xzhosa and Zhesyn because they were the leaders of the entire race. They were the role models of the Ce’Enzo race, and were required to act accordingly. Sayura thought back to a few weeks prior. Tsuzia had decided to play a prank on a fellow Ce’Enzo and accidentally caught one of the Zhesyn in it. Sayura had unfortunately helped her. Then she thought they had gotten away clean, but now she wasn’t so sure. Before Sayura could form another thought, the Zhesyn in front of her stopped. She stopped perfectly in line, exactly one meter behind. Zhesyn-Tsuas knocked twelve times on the door, spacing each knock out by several seconds. When she was done, the door opened. "Wait here." Zhesyn-Tsuas said with a stern tone. Sayura made no motion or sound. Zhesyn-Tsuas entered the building and the door slammed shut behind her. It rang ominously as a result. Sayura finally opened her eyes. No Ce'Enzo was allowed to intentionally look at a member of the Zhesyn council. As soon as they noticed one in the area, they were required to close their eyes. They had to use their keen hearing to follow the council members movement until the council member was out of sight. Once they were gone, the Ce'Enzo were allowed to continue with whatever they had been doing. She looked at the building before her. It was made of several metals and coated with a silver-gold alloy. The doorways and windows were lined with gemstones of varying colors. The style was similar to the wooden huts used millions of years ago by the first Ce'Enzo, back when they were still farmers and hunters. Like all of the surrounding ones, this building was only a single story high. Very few Ce’Enzo constructs were much higher than a single story. Sayura looked up at the roof of the building. She could just make out the gemstone roof glittering in the sunlight. Sayura felt herself being drawn to the glittering. She wanted to reach out and touch it, but she refrained. Still, the ethereal glow called to her and she felt a craving for it. Sayura turned her head gently and looked around at the other buildings. They were all fashioned similar to the one she stood in front of, but none of them had any gemstones anywhere on them. Only the Zhesyn's building was allowed the honor of being lined with gemstones. Without warning, Sayura heard two quick knocks from the inside of the door. She immediately bowed again. Her right hand moved over her chest, her left curled into a fist behind the small of her back, and her eyes closed. Her ears perked up and stood straight. The door opened with a muted screech. Zhesyn-Tsuas stepped out and gently touched the tips of Sayura's ears, starting with the right and moving to the left. Sayura straightened out and stood at perfect attention. "Follow." Zhesyn-Tsuas said. She turned and walked into the building. Sayura followed, making sure to keep her eyes shut. As soon as she crossed the threshold, she had to fight to keep herself from stumbling. Outwardly she showed no sign of anything being wrong, but only just barely. Inwardly she instantly felt the sudden increase in the energy of the atmosphere. The gemstones that made up the roof and lined the walls absorbed solar energy from the sun and converted it into a form of energy that their people could use to perform various seemingly supernatural tasks, such as energy shields. The inside of the building had a second set of crystals to emit that converted energy. The Zhesyn used it to keep their bodies from aging, giving them a form of immortality. A secondary use for the energy generated was the gemstones every warrior wore. The Zhesyn would store some of the energy in them and give them to their warriors. How many and what size and capacity was dictated by the warriors status and rank. Xzhosa trainees only wore a small one on their neck. It could provide enough power for a single day for the lowest class of warrior among their ranks. The Xzhosa warriors were expected to make the stone last for all three days of their training. It was a task in efficiency, which was the primary driving force behind their impressive feats. A fully fledged Xzhosa warrior would receive the same gemstone capacity as the Zhesyn had, allowing them to go for many years without recharging. The energy could be converted into sustenance, among other things, meaning they could survive without food or water or air for years. They only had to insure they never ran out of energy in the gemstones. Which was why their primary training was conducted on the smallest capacity gemstone available. Sayura felt her head lightening as she thought. The room began to spin. She was being overloaded with energy as part of her next test. No Ce'Enzo was allowed to spend more than a few hours of every year in the Zhesyn building. If the need arose, the Zhesyn would hold meetings outside to maintain this law. This insured that no Ce'Enzo other than the Zhesyn council ever became accustomed to the sheer volume of energy. The lack of routine exposure to the level of energy inside the hut was designed to determine the capacity of their warriors to ignore pain. The longer they could last, the better they were as warriors. Sayura was determined to not let the pain get to her. But it was hard. Every cell in her body felt like it was on fire. The gemstone on her necklace was glowing so brightly it felt like it was burning her skin. The rings she wore conducted the energy into their glyphs, but without her intervention that energy just rebounded back into her body. The areas where the rings touched burned more fiercely than the rest of her body. Eventually, Zhesyn-Tsuas stopped. Sayura heard her sit down, but then all sounds stopped. She knew by instruction what she was required to do, but she had never practiced it before. The last time she had been in the council chambers, ten years ago, she had failed both the pain test and the current one. This time, she was determined not to fail, no matter the cost. She stepped forward by one step, and then turned to her right. Without opening her eyes, she walked around the circular table without stumbling or hitting anything. It was impressive because the council chairs only allowed exactly one shoulder width of space between their backs and the wall. When she reached the exact opposite side from where she started, she heard a very minute change in the echo of her footsteps. Without stopping to think, she turned to her left and walked forward. She passed through the narrow gap in the round table with ease. At the exact center of the room, she stopped and stood at attention. She heard the sound of the Zhesyn council members rising. Once they were all on their feet, she bowed respectfully. She did not stop her bow until they had all sat back down. After they finished sitting, she stood at attention once again. "Why are you here?" One of them asked harshly. Sayura once again had to fight to stop herself from responding. The reverberation and volume of his voice made her ears hurt. "I am uncertain as to the reason I was called here." She said. Her voice did not waver, but it also contained no confidence, just as the law required. "Surely you must have an inclination as to your reason for being called." Another male said. Sayura had to fight to keep herself steady. The council was composed of twelve men and one woman. The one woman was Zhesyn-Tsuas. Every new generation of the council, a single woman was chosen. She was always a full Zhesyn, but she was also the ambassador to the outside world. The men had booming voices that would deafen a normal Ce'Enzo, even if the room wasn't designed to echo, and the one female was required to communicate the councils various decisions, decrees, and laws to the rest of the Ce’Enzo. Sayura knew it wasn't their fault their voices were so loud. The energy flooding the room affected males and females differently. Males gained louder, more imposing voices. To date, none of the Ce'Enzo scientists could understand why. Regardless of the reason though, the men almost never spoke when in the company of ordinary citizens. If they needed to say something, they would communicate via sign language. "I only have my assumptions as to my reason for being called before the Zhesyn council, Zhesyn-Tajoka." Sayura said. Once again, her voice was steady, but devoid of emotion. "And what are these assumptions?" Zhesyn-Tsuas asked. Sayura internally thanked her for being the next one to talk. Her soft voice was pleasant. Due to the effects of the energy, her voice became hauntingly beautiful. She was forced to quit singing at the yearly festival because her melodies capable of killing those who listened to them. "I assume that my presence here is related to my Xzhosa test, which I completed yesterday." Sayura responded. She hesitated inwardly, as she wasn’t entirely sure her assumption was correct. "Indeed it is. Do you remember the test?" Another male asked sternly. "I do." "Would you please tell us the tale of your test?" Zhesyn-Tsuas asked gently. "If you wish, I shall describe it in great detail." Sayura said. Her voice was still steady and emotionless. "Proceed." All of them said at once. The volume of all twelve men speaking at once was overwhelming and Sayura almost stumbled. She only barely managed to keep her composure in front of them.