her troubled heart, her lying mind

The moons’ light welcomed them to the small town under the Mersa mountains in southern Ihai. Larjah set out to find a smithery as Rudra sought a place to pray. They had agreed to meet at the town’s inn. Larjah released her winds, pleased when they returned the faint scent of Salali, the nightseeker she was hired to kill. 

Dropping off her damaged sword, she couldn’t help but feel frustration building toward their situation. How had Rudra’s pilgrimage turned into a cross-country hunt for a nightseeker?

Larjah’s mind was focused on vengeance as she made her way to the town’s inn. Salali’s heart would be at the end of her blade tomorrow so she could find peace.

In the inn’s courtyard, Rudra was singing a song of worship to Rala, the Goddess of Water and Healing. With her maiju she fetched water from the fountain that she used to float around her as she prayed. Her dancing made the water pulsate out around her. Water arched high, making rainbows in the droplets as the moonlight kissed it. 

Rudra was beautiful. Her gold eyes and brown skin glistened as she brought praise to her goddess. Looking at her, Larjah knew that Rudra would make someone a lovely wife. 

“Jaha!” Rudra raised a hand in greeting before she went back to her dance.

When Rudra was done, she joined Larjah, who was consulting with the innkeeper about their room. Again, Rudra had gotten one room for them. Larjah glanced at Rudra, frowned at the lingering traces of the desert’s sand on her, and asked for a bathing tub. 

“We don’t have time for that, right?” Rudra asked. 

“I don’t want to lie to your Temple Mother when she asks if I treated you respectfully.” 

“Couldn’t it wait until we finish the hunt?”

“No.”

“Are you two here on a hunt then?” the manager asked as he turned to them. “Did you come because of the disappearances?”

“So people have gone missing” Rudra said. “You weren’t able to find the bodies?”

“Not at all. It’s gotten so bad that we sent for Jahla’s priestess to help — so are you the maijuns they sent?” 

“Actually, we were hired by a Lord across the valley! Maa jaha’s a hunter.” Rudra aimed a smile at Larjah who looked away. “She’s skilled in hunting monsters.” 

“Oh!” The manager was pleased. “Are you a kakaja and an anaka? We are truly blessed then that a bonded maijun pair has come to help us!” 

“It’s our honored duty, sir.”

Larjah didn’t have the energy to start a public fight because of Rudra’s stubbornness in lying about their relationship. “Please bring our meal to our room.” 

Larjah walked away as Rudra said, “She’s tired. Please excuse my kakaja—.”

“I’ve heard that kakajas can be easily angered — why don’t you go calm your kakaja, anaka mahila?” 

“Rudra.” Larjah called as she followed the servants carrying water to their room. 

While she waited for the tub to be filled Larjah was silent. She ignored the exasperated looks Rudra tossed her way when she finally joined her. When the servants left, Larjah readied herself to speak but Rudra did first. 

“Why won’t you accept that we’re bondmates, jaha?” Rudra was in front of the mirror, twisting her black hair into a bun for her bath, as she watched Larjah. 

Larjah shook her head. “Why won’t you accept that your spouse is in Dumvasi? You’re going to end up hurt if you keep lying.”

“I’m not lying.” Rudra turned toward her. “I’m not the one who cuts off my maiju’s connection to you. I’m not the one who won’t accept that we’re interwoven with each other, that each day only proves our maijus call for each other. That I’m your anaka. That you’re mine.” 

“You’re not mine,” Larjah said. “You’re meant for something so much greater than anything I could give you; so don’t pin your aspirations on me. Your goddess, Rala, speaks through you—you want to throw that blessing away to be a cursed person like me? Mother Rasa would never let you—”  

“Since when do you care what anyone thinks?” 

Larjah looked at the beautifully stubborn girl in front of her. One day, Rudra would accept her fate, but tonight was not that day. Rudra had promised since childhood that Larjah would be hers, and that remained her goal.

“I’m going to get another room.” Larjah didn’t linger for Rudra’s reply.

#

The next day as Larjah neared Rudra’s room, a foul smell drifted toward her. Her first knock was unusually ignored given that Rudra didn’t hold grudges and woke at dawn. 

“Rudra!” Larjah knocked louder. Unease rising, she forced her way into the room. 

Larjah stepped on glass. The mirror was cracked, the bedsheets tossed to the floor, and the window was opened. The smell was stronger now, barely faded in the early morning winds.

Rudra had fought. The black blood belonged to a nightseeker and the stench belonged to Salali. He had come for Rudra— though there was no red blood, that didn’t mean that he had taken her alive. It wasn’t necessary for a nightseeker to bleed a maijun like a human.  

Her temper flared as winds gathered around her, spiraling out the window to gather up the nightseeker’s trail. Salali had drained dozens of maijuns and killed even more humans over a couple months. That monster had Rudra? 

Rudra, a priestess, who was considered a healing prodigy thanks to her water maiju, who always had to help, who was the beloved of Rala and—Larjah reached for her blade only to remember that it was gone. 

The winds returned, bringing faint traces of Salali’s scent. Larjah let herself drop from the window, releasing the wind to call upon the earth, feeling it shift to accommodate her as she ran to the smithery. She switched between her wind and earth maijus, fighting to keep his trail fresh in her mind and hurried to get her sword. 

 Larjah fetched her blade from the smithery and moved out of town using the ground to push her forward. When Larjah was outside of town, she let the wind circle around her to send her rushing toward the mountains. 

The mountain’s face gave way as she switched to using her earth maiju to soften her landing. The strain of switching between earth and wind was draining, but if her cursed multi-maiju use would help her save Rudra she’d survive any pain, any further shortening of her life.  

  She passed through empty cave after cave as her maijus fought within her. Each part of her was seeking Rudra’s maiju signature. Her core was unfocused, forcing her winds to slam against her skin as they returned without Rudra’s scent. 

Larjah landed in a cave’s entrance, ready to let the winds carry her to the next one. 

Then she saw him. Salali. His skin was white, fragile as paper, his eyes cloudy grey. Larjah couldn’t focus clearly on him, eyes sliding past him, past the villagers’ corpses, to Rudra against the cave’s floor. Larjah let their maijus brush and Rudra looked at her. She looked pallid from Salali starting to drain her maiju. 

“Salali.” Larjah’s voice was layered with disgust, her anger making her maiju become frantic, as she released the wind and planted herself into the earth. She felt the earth extend her senses as he laughed, a mocking sound from him. It would be his final mockery as she pushed up with her hands to force him back. 

Salali twisted out of reach. He had grown stronger— how many maijuns had he claimed? How many lives had been taken to fuel him? 

Rudra’s maiju was touching Larjah’s maiju eagerly, as if sensing her rage, urging her to calm down. Larjah let Rudra in, let their maijus mingle properly as she pulled her sword from her thigh, switching maijus and letting her winds give her the extra push to force her blade into Salali’s heart. 

He shifted so that it hit his shoulder instead, and he was laughing again, even as she forced him back toward the wall while his cold blood coated her hands. As she pulled the blade out to try to reach his heart, and twisted himself into a tunnel in the wall. Larjah reached out, fingers closing around his cloak but he escaped, hiding deeper inside the cave’s tunnels. 

She let out a scream of frustration, and Rudra’s maiju flooded into her, amplifying her sight. Larjah could see Salali crawling out of reach of her blade, yet not out of reach of her earth maiju. She stomped her foot and collapsed the tunnels throughout the cave as he reached them. He would have to escape or be buried alive. 

Salali burst out of a collapsing tunnel teeth bared. She locked stone braces around his wrists and ankles. His screaming mingled with hers, but she kept focused as she prepared her sword for him. As she switched from earth to fire maiju, a whimper from Rudra reached her. 

Her concentration slipped. 

Salali threw himself at her, teeth bearing down into her shoulder as they slammed to the floor, her sword fell from her grip. Larjah reached for her dagger, fingers closing around the hilt as her vision swam. She felt powerful as she stabbed the blade into his back. Fire maiju swept from her fingers, and down the dagger to engulf him.  

She felt him burn, felt the fire lick against her skin as he turned to ash on top of her. 

Then there was Rudra drained yet angry above her, repeatedly saying, “Don’t die.” 

I can’t promise that, Rudra, Larjah thought before she drifted into dreams. 

#

After they let the villagers know where their dead rested, it was time to go. 

“I felt you,” Rudra finally said after watching Larjah pack their beasts.

 Larjah looked at the fence where Rudra was waiting for her to finish. “You shouldn’t have.” 

“Larjaha, how can someone named after love itself be in so much pain?”

“I’m not.” How much of her core had Rudra seen? It had been careless of her to have allowed Rudra in after trying so long to keep her out. “Forget everything you saw.”   

“Maa jaha, how could I?”

“Rudra, enough.” Larjah stepped away from their beasts. “It’s time for you to go home.” 

“Larjah.” 

“What?” 

Rudra took hold of Larjah’s arm. “If you kiss me and can still say that we’re not bonded, I’ll go home without a complaint.” 

If it was that simple… Larjah to kiss her cheek. “We’re not bonded.” Rudra rolled her eyes. “You promised, Rudra.”

“I meant a real kiss.” 

The way to deal with Rudra sometimes was to give in. Mother Rasa said it spoiled her, but now Larjah could only look at the still drained girl. Rumors said that a bonded maijun pair could restore their maijus from contact… but Larjah didn’t know if it’d be fair to kiss Rudra based on a rumor. It also wasn’t fair that Rudra was demanding it from her. 

There was no god she could ask for guidance as she shifted and kissed Rudra. Rudra gripped her shoulders as the world quieted. This could be their everyday, Larjah thought as she let herself feel the depths of Rudra’s love for her. She could feel Rudra’s maiju replenish itself, drawing on Larjah’s own reserves. Feeling that was enough for Larjah, it gave her resolve that Rudra needed to be safe. Neither could be selfish when Rudra could do so much good for the world, would do so much when Larjah was gone, left only to memory. 

Larjah broke the kiss. “You’re going home.” 

Rudra sighed. “See how much potential we have?”

“You promised, Rudra.”

Rudra rolled her eyes. “Okay, jaha.”