Ulst Rekaa - The Long Road Ahead

[Genkos Adea]

We've had a right old journey in this mission, and apart from the excellent Mary Daniel, we've had an unsung hero written by @Karrod Niac who's final sim here is a beaut. I can even forgive the ENT reference.

 

((The Outskirts of Yanthi Village, A Simple Tent))

It had been days since the strangers had so abruptly departed her city but they had left behind ideas that were as indelible as the scars on her hands.  She regarded them as the wind whipped around her tattered home, so far from the Emberhearth and all she had known only a short time and whole lifetimes ago.  Her mottled hands had once been a mark of pride, of her faith, devotion and piety.  Now they looked ugly, the relic of a foolish devotion that she could no longer fathom.  The wind picked up and cut through the tent like a chill knife, finding her and her small fire, wrapping her in a bitter cold that threatened to steal the breath from her lungs.  

She had returned to the Emberhearth after the strangers had vanished but the place that had once so filled her with warmth and purpose seemed entirely devoid of both.  She tried to explain what she had seen and been told to the Upper Cleric but he had called her addled and, when she would not recant, had the skraats of the Morality Patrol strip her of her few vestments and eject her from the village as either a heretic or a lunatic.  Practically speaking there was little difference in their eyes.  Ulst had once looked to them for kindness and guidance but in her hour of greatest need she'd found only cruelty and small minded fear.  Rather than listen to her or inspect their own beliefs, they had cast her out into the cold, never to return.  They assumed the frost would put an end to her 'ravings,' but Ulst Rekaa had survived the frost before and would not be a victim to it now.  Not when she had such truth to guide her.  

She realized after the first horrible night that her ejection had been a blessing in disguise.  Had she remained in the Emberhearth she would've come to doubt her own mind, setting aside that which she had seen and known to be true for the comfortable illusions of the Ember.  She'd known so many to do so, even taught and guided so many in the means of doing so that she knew well it's seductive power.  After a time it would've consumed her truth and she would have remained small, and unimportant, and quiet.  Now she would be so much more.  

The flap of the tent opened and the first of her new disciples entered cautiously.  Ty'sen, the largest man in the village and the strong right arm of the Morality Patrol himself, had been greatly troubled by their shared strange evening.  Though he had awoken with barely an injury minutes after the strangers had departed, the memory of their might and fury lingered in him.  A man who had never known defeat before, who had never known fear before, had tasted of both.  He needed truth to make that bitterness palatable and had come to Ulst for it.  Others came as well...some who had been there that night.  Others who had seen the odd goings on in Yanthi in the weeks leading up to that night outside the barn.  They knew not what had happened but were no longer satisfied, if they ever had been, with the Emberhearth's narrow philosophy.  Within a span of minutes there were nearly a dozen in the small tent, huddled for warmth and sharing food, drink and blankets with one another in a charitable display.  It was affirming to all she had done so far and spoke of all she would do in the days, months and years ahead.  For she had been Blessed...and now she must share the great truth with as many as she could.  The travelers settled and even the wind quieted as Ulst stood and looked to each face with a passionate glint in her eye.  

Ulst:  Brothers...sisters.  You risk much to come here, yet you do so gladly because you are brave.  You are wise to doubt, clever to listen and noble to spread the Truth to others.  Our congregation has grown so much already that we will soon need to find a new meeting place.  But we'll discuss that at the end of our evening.  First though, let us begin what we came here to do.  

To a one her flock stepped outside the tent and into the chill night air, turning their faces skyward.  It was hours pre-dawn and her tent was situated on an outcropping on one of the tallest hills in the area.  The view below was of nearly undifferentiated white but skyward, when the clouds shifted just right, there was the new Enormity.  It took her breath every time she looked upon it now and she wondered how its magnificence could've gone so unnoticed before.  Delicate motes of light against the unfathomable deepness of shaded blue and darkest black.  Tears of joy froze to her cheeks as she looked upon it and she knew she was not alone in it.

Ulst:  Look upon the Enormity and let your hearts be glad, brothers and sisters, for what is our First Great Truth?  

Ulst spoke in unison with all assembled.  

All:  We are not alone!

Ulst:  Though we struggle, though we suffer, there are those among the deepness who are friends to us.  And that is the Second Great Truth!  

Again, they spoke as one.  

All:  They have come unto us!

Ulst:  Yes my friends, yes!  They have come unto us, hidden among us, to learn and do justice, but not to harm.  For that is not their way.  No, theirs is a way of service!  Theirs is the path to righteousness!  

It was the Third and Fourth Great Truth.  

All:  For They Are Just!  They Are Righteous!  

Ulst:  And we must prepare ourselves for their return, my friends.  We know not when but we know that they are watching and waiting, their hand ever gentle, guiding us ever towards them.  So live justly!  Harm none!  Move and act with deftness and in secret until the day comes when they return!  And how shall we know them, friends?

All:  It Points the Way To the Stars!  

Ulst knelt and began drawing against a large stone nearby.  Her mutilated fingers traced the lines from memory now, wet snow contrasting against the light stone in the torchlight.  Though they had tried to hide it from her she had seen this symbol upon their strange devices and others had seen it upon magical machines brought to the village foundry.  It was their mark, their symbol, and she would ensure all her people knew it so they'd be welcomed upon their return.  She stood back and the congregation grew silent, following the flowing lines to the sharp point at it's zenith, pointing towards the stars above.  She did not know it was called the Delta, or what Starfleet was, but she knew this symbol meant divinity and it would on her world forever more.  

[End for Ulst Rekaa!]

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Ulst Rekaa
First Prophet of the Enormity
V239509GT0

Edited April 14, 2022 by Genkos Adea

[+ Vitor S. Silveira]

This time you were the one beating me to it Doc.

I loved this final scene for Rekaa, great job @Karrod Niac