Diadem from the Stars Read Online Free PDF

… and suddenly she was avid eyes fixed on a succulent worm crawling through sun-streaked shadow.
    Drifting … floating like an errant soap bubble … trickling back into herself.… Once again she felt the hot press of the suns on her neck and the glide of the railing under her hands. She slid her fingers over the rail in a delicate caress, delighting in the time-worn smoothness of the hard wood.
    Feeling warm, contented, at peace with herself temporarily at least, she moved on, the sand creaking cheerfully under her sandals. She lifted her head and smiled at the part of the Mari’fat she could see rising above its surrounding flounce of trees, its vivid eccentric splashes of orange, yellow, red, blue, and purple glowing in the quiet clarity of the morning light. She laughed with delight and kicked at the sand so that it flew up and sang in time with the joy beating in her veins.
    A path split off the main road, its mouth marked by tall thin Heshan daisies. She brushed her hand lightly across their blue-petaled heads, sending the heavy blooms dancing. The bell trees lining the path tinkled as the morning breezes shook their seedpods and the muted whisper of the river blended with the darting drones of shash, szuhm, and khasrat. Suddenly the gentle morning sound drowned in the rich harmonies of a barbat.
    Aleytys threw up her hands and danced exuberantly down the path, joy spurting like a fountain through her body, joy so intense she felt it exploding out of her, spraying the morning with its golden glory. The morning’s colors intensified, while her skin vibrated to sounds like the taut membrane of a drumhead. After a few more steps, her hood flipped back and her hair streamed out, each separate hair tingling with life.
    She rounded the last clump of zardagul bushes and saw the majestic old horan. Vajd was sitting on a huge smooth root, his back fitting into the curve of the trunk. Aleytys smiled tenderly at him, watching unseen as he danced music out of the barbat. He wore a dark blue and silver abba that fell in graceful folds around his lean strong body. The barbat he held was his favorite, an eccentric crescent of hand-oiled ballut inlaid with silver in the intricate naizeh patterns. As he let his fingers wander over the strings, he stared dream-caught into the water flowing past his feet. The gentle breeze drifting along the water ruffled through the fine black hair barred with streaks of white that straggled in shaggy curls around his thin sensitive face.
    â€œVajd.”
    He looked up and saw her. “Leyta.” A warm smile lit his sunburned face. He patted the surface of the large flat rock that nestled against the root. “Come sit down. I’m working out a new song.”
    â€œNot working too hard, I see. Is it for a dream?” She knelt beside him.
    He chuckled. “It comes. A dream?” Humming lightly, he stroked the tips of his fingers over the back of her hand. “No. A marriage blessing.”
    Smiling, she rubbed his hand against her cheek. “Who is it? Do I know?”
    â€œYara’s youngest daughter and Nilran Gavrinson.”
    â€œOh.” Swinging her feet around, she dropped them over the edge of the rock and watched her dusty toes wiggle. She lowered her head and smiled at him from behind the curtain of her hair. “Coming here it happened again.”
    He set the barbat down and touched her forehead. “No heat. Strange.… When I started dreaming … I was younger, of course. What did you see?”
    â€œWell …” She stared dreamily into the water rushing past her feet. “I looked into the river and it was like … like I melted.… I felt a part of … of everything, trees, grass, water; then it broke.”
    â€œYou’ve been doing the exercises?” He caught hold of her arm and pressed his fingers over the pulse. “You’re too excited, Leyta. Calm yourself. Can you?”
    Aleytys sucked