Superharmony

 I feel, as I present this work by my beloved Kivrin Aiun, the first "guest post" on here, as it were, that I have just completed a long swim through a peaceful ocean, and come up on the shore to shout, "Come on in, the water's great!" at whoever happens to be present. Please enjoy,

Superharmony

Kivrin Aiun

This is a promotional selection from the Entekosiaddi, available in retailers across Nova Pelanda, including Sakkarbooks, Books-An-Eighty (and its sister store Books-A-Hundred), and Kinokuniya.

===

Purity wasn't at ease. Her supermodel hip-sway had an edge to it, and there was disdain in the tall Priestess of Dendara's eyes.

"I can't believe you're still mad, sis," sighed Addisyn, Priestess of Entekos. "Like I said, you can't expect a Geo's everything bagel to literally have everything. At least now how you'd define it."

A subdued smile played on Purity's lips. "That's not it, sweetie. I'm just… I guess I'm not used to this place, in general.” This place being ReDaLaMall, not merely a West Karantes social hub but a Nova Pelandan youth mecca. They were both excited to be here, but that didn’t stop someone who lived full-time in a temple’s timeless beauty from being critical. “The architecture's not as… robust… as it is back home, you know?" She placed her hand against a support, her hand almost wrapping around the whole thing.

Addy grinned, her smaller body pressing close to Purity's. "Yeah, Jernotix just doesn't do pillars like you do, babe. But it's what's inside that counts. And there's a lot inside. Something for everyone. Didn't you want to go to Star Twins?"

Purity had seen the many cute outfits and pretty, shiny things that Addy had worn since the two had become ritual sisters six months prior. Of course she wanted to go to Star Twins.

So the two skipped over, hand in hand. When Purity was first chosen, she hadn't warmed to Addy right away, but Addy was soft and there and didn't give up, and within a month they were holding hands everywhere. Addy was the first person Purity had held hands with.

They almost-skipped in, Addy's warmth spreading to Purity. They made their way into the Star Twins store, well-lit and silvery, passing under the classic logo of two girls, always officially unnamed for maximum religious inclusivity, touching a cartoon star together.

Addy picked out a cute belt with flower patterns; Purity giggled as she tried to fit a tiara over the crown-braid Addy had tied her flaxen hair into that morning, and then settled on some pretty globe earrings showing off Genertela, Pameltela, and the East Isles. (She almost got some squarish ones - she asked what Addy thought, but Addy said they were too old-fashioned.)

The two bounded up to the cash register, each taking out enough Wheels - which were, of course, just paper bills with very pretty pictures of giant wheels printed on them, nowadays - to cover their purchases.

But just as they were paying, a funny thing happened. The storeminder, a cute thing who had more than a bit of Country in her, happened to mention with a twinkle in her eye that she'd taken a walk during her lunch break and seen, past the lunar expanse of the park-and-ride lot, above Palanku (the suburb) and Daxdarius AFB, and up the steep faces of the sevenfold (some say eightfold) peaks that Jernotix had reraised upon eir triumphant return--well, she had seen the clouds collecting up on Mount Jernalf, and she knew it was going to rain.

She described this. "Back on the farm," she said, velvety and a little conspiratorial, "they used to call it 'Dendara veiling Entekos.' I think that's charming, don't you?"

Addy grinned widely at that, but Purity blushed terribly, and once the pleasantries were exchanged, she nearly dragged Addy out of the store bodily, despite her willowy frame.

"You don't think she recognized us?" Purity stage-whispered.

Addy's gaze briefly met Purity's backpack, on which were printed the Life, Earth, and Harmony runes, and the phrase "Rune Priestess of Dendara."

After a beat, she shook her head.

"I wouldn't worry," she said warmly. "She's not Uthenean, and who else would have seen us? Neither of us have been across the mountains since we were chosen as priests." She considered the matter further for a moment, as they headed up the escalator, Addy leading them. “Not to say that it’s impossible. Someone might have sketched us, or guessed by our auras. But it’s pretty unlikely.”

"You're probably right," said Purity. "But that's… it was so specific. Addy, what does that phrase mean? You know. I know you know."

Addy’s lips curled ambiguously; she looked away a little.

"Dear, you'd blush. You said not to make you blush."

Purity nodded, slowly. "For the sake of my makeup. But for other reasons, too. I wanted this to be just a good time for the two of us, and not anything that would attract attention. Or be… something we could do at home.”

Addy saw Purity’s eyes, and in that moment she knew they’d be doing ‘things we could do at home’ whether or not they did them here. And, in her mind, it was better to do them in the ReLaDaMall, not only under the protection of Jernotix and an equal meeting place, but one where minor scandals would be unlikely to filter back to officials back in Utheneos, at least not before they had a story straight, so to speak.

So she nodded thoughtfully, and smiled gently, and said none of this for now. She was a good listener.

“Addy… I may not want it to mess with our whole day, but there's something about this I can't let go. You felt it, right? Can we talk about it before we leave?"

"Of course, beloved sister," said Addy with assurance, and they went off to a sweets shop, where  the priestess of Dendara got chocolate liquor cups, and Addy got cotton candy in the Eight Colors.

After working up a sweat on the Dance of the Northern Sky arcade machine, the sworn-sisters, no longer Associate but full Priestess and Priestess of Dendara and Entekos in Utheneos as of one month ago, staggered, sweating, back to the food court, Addy taking the lead and ordering both youths noodle bowls from the Water Blue stall, fresh and delicious and totally hitting the spot, a key part of their long-delayed celebration.

Addy contemplated their encounter as she ate. Clearly, the Star Twins clerk hadn't actually known the clerics by sight, but something - perhaps her previously stated theories; perhaps some connection with Esus, or non-obvious Illumination, more theories she didn’t want to worry Purity with - had given her some sort of insight into their situation. Purity’s backpack normally would have been hidden in plain sight, but it would have made the line irresistible to the store clerk, and she’d pushed things forward even if she hadn’t really been sure.

The big question was whether the two of them were ready. Addy, in theory, was; she’d paid attention during the process of induction and advancement to the story of Jaseen and Ledashta, to a degree and extent that she highly doubted Purity had. She knew well not just the success those two had had—a well-known story, even many centuries later, as it had established the sister-priestess dynamic that many Nova Pelandan cities still used. But she'd also read the sources carefully, read between the lines (not that it was hard), and even cornered the previous generation of priestesses, though their answers were ambiguous.

Much was up to Addy. She knew the potential for a dynamism far beyond the dry and bureaucratic priest-norm. She also knew this was not an opportunity to screw up. She certainly shouldn’t at some late hour corner her sister and say "Entekos-down-below is frisky, and her addi friskier still; you have to do this or our crops will burn and freeze on alternate days.” Maybe it would have been better for the land than nothing, but Addy wasn’t going to do anything unless Purity was genuinely into it.

But she wasn’t without some ideas as to how she might pull it off. One place, in particular, had just seemed right, ever since she’d first spotted it upstairs, hours before.

They recycled their food trays, the sun starting to dip in the sky by now. "I know a place," said Addy, and it was her turn to tug Purity gently, up the stairs, around a corner, into a semi-hidden store for audiophiles that her companion would never have seen.

#

Superharmony was improbably cavernous, with CDs and cassettes and even vinyl, high-end audio equipment, but in the back they were selling full surround-sound systems. Addy staked many of her remaining Wheels to rent a room, and more still to select a record. She pointed to a sign – soundproof.

“Now, you girls be good,” said the nose-ringed clerk, her voice wavering.

“I intend to be,” said Addy evenly, and before Purity had quite parsed her meaning she’d locked the door from the inside, started the hour’s rental, and put “Set the Controls for the Heart of Uleria” on the stereo.

The seats were plush leather, a loveseat meant for two, and they were used to holding hands. They settled in, hearing a gentle harp, then drums and distant horns. The song seemed shapeless at first, and Purity was clearly more interested in the couch and Addy’s hand than the tune. But it gathered more and more momentum, the parts picking up speed and starting to interweave with an astral koto and a divine voice singing lyrics of love.

This song, nearly forty minutes long on the record, told the full, epic story of how Uleria first traversed the heavens, and how Entekos helped, easing some winds and encouraging others until she had achieved metaphysical escape velocity. These lyrics were in Storm Speech, which only Addy fully knew, but Purity started to piece them together, and at length, as the singer was vocalizing ethereally, she turned to Addy.

“This is beautiful,” Purity said.

“Yeah,” said Addy.

“You’re beautiful,” she said.

“So are you, my dazzling star,” said Addy.

And things progressed from there. And it was often, at first, said that it was the soundproofing in the room that was meant when those in Utheneos, and later all over Pelanda, said that Dendara and Entekos had veiled each other. But the clerk, who had been watching the whole time, said that while Dendara did hold the microphone, it was Entekos who had broadcast. And when the clerk rose to a honored position in the Entekos cult later, that gave credence to her words.

Still, everyone has their theories, and the grand new dual temple in Karantes has neither confirmed nor denied any speculation. High Priestesses Addy and Purity have simply pointed out that the Air and Earth have stayed in balance, the crop yields have been good and the storms moderate, and about that, there is general agreement.