To see the woman theyd dubbed the Sun.
Kavya waited until exactly noon to ascend the altars few makeshift granite steps. This moment was her burden and her joy.
Standing tall, she sucked in a shallow breath. So many.
Before her extended a valley, like a deep bowl being held by rocky, jutting fingers. Evergreens were scattered throughout, but few dared set their roots in the valleys steep walls. Worn canvas tents of varying sizes were packed side by sidecountless grains of rice in that mountain bowl, seasoned by smoke from small cooking fires. Despite having grown up in some of Indias most populous cities, Kavya had never witnessed an assembly to rival this, with so many minds and senses working in concert, focused as one.
On her.
A gust of cold air rushed down from the slopes. Whispersthose given voice and those passed from mind to mindfaded to nothing. That late autumn wind blowing through crevices became the only sound.
So many of you, she said, with volume enough to be heard. Welcome. Oh, thank the Dragon. Welcome .
She worked to steady the pitch and cadence of her voice. She hadnt dubbed herself the Sun, but thats what most had come to expectradiance and incandescent light. Kavya had fostered that image for years, for her own anonymous safety and to promote the growing influence of her cause. People responded to symbols even more readily than to earnest people. People could have agendas; symbols had the power to transcend suspicions born of rational thought.
She needed to become everything to everyone. No sudden movements. No reason for anyone to turn around and walk up the valley pass.
Especially the Indranan.
Her head already throbbed from the effort. After all, she had been born as one of three triplets. She possessed only a third of the Dragons gift.
Im humbled by the distances youve traveled and the seas, mountains, and plains youve crossed to join me here. You are the first of a new age. Northern and Southern Indranan together, sharing the same air and the same hopes for a future forged of trust, not continued spite. Some of you come to us from the other four clans. I welcome you and ask for your aid as we of the Indranan work to heal old hurts.
Even members of Clan Garnis were present. They were known
as the Lost, but they werent extinct. She could pick out those rare minds as if finding diamonds among dust. They were skittish among the press of so many bodies.
Our people are dying, she said bluntly.
Many gasped. Some cried out in quiet despair.
Kavya extended her hands before clasping them togethera woman giving a gift, a woman begging for help. She was both. Please help me. We must not be the ones to bring about our own extinction. Previous generations turned away from the truth. We will be the last if we follow their example.
Looking out, she couldnt identify any particular face. Instead she saw blackthe ceremonial robes and saris of the Dragon Kings, each accented with their clans color. The Indranan were the exception in that they did not wear a uniform shade of blue. Those from the north of the Indian subcontinent wore the pale turquoise of a high mountain sky. Those from the south wore the deep ultramarine of the ocean coastlines they called home. A trio of Indranan women, roughly eighty years old in middle age, stood nearest to the altar with upturned faces. Two Northern and one Southern.
Holding hands.
Astonishing.
Each of our Leaderships know that conception has become nearly impossible. Not even the Dragon King Council can deny that we are a dying racewe, who have shaped the civilizations of this world from their infancies. What would each culture, each continent, be without our influence? This has led many, dare I say most of our kind, to believe us better than humans.
She paused, breathed, recentered. An Indranan could only touch one mind at a time. To mentally project the image of an appealing yet unassuming womanone who radiated the indescribable shine her followers longed to worshipshe individually brushed that impression over every mind in the valley. Over and over again. She used her gift at a speed beyond conscious thought, a skill shed honed through the years as the number of faithful increased. If she became too impassioned, she lost her trancelike concentration. Yet passion was exactly what she needed to impart.
Those few followers she knew personally were out there somewhere, among the rapt throng. She wished she could find one of them, to derive a measure of comfort, like a familiar blanket to hold during long, frigid nights. Knowing she was in the right would have to shore up her courage.
Whats the use of thinking ourselves better if we cant hold children of our own? The time has come for reconciliation, and through reconciliation will come solutionsand the future we long for.
Her words mustve touched her followers because the murmurs that had threaded through her soliloquy strengthened into applause and even shouts of approval.
At dusk this evening, I will make an announcement to reward your faith. Some call us a cult. The Sun Cult. But we are not a religion. We all have our means of worshiping the Dragon. This, our gathering, is a meeting of forward-thinking individuals. And finally, with hope, I can say that two such individuals are here among us, joined in a vow of cooperation.