The Wind
The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become as legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth comes again. In one Age, called the Third Age by some, an Age yet to come for some, an Age long past for others, a wind rose above the great mountains of Altara. The wind was not the beginning. There are neither beginnings nor endings to the Wheel of Time. But it was a beginning
The wind moved over the plains, passing over babbling brook and long grasses waving in it’s wake. It passed over animals hunting people, and people hunting the animals, until it reached the sea. It rushed over the waters, dancing and making waves rise, before reaching the island of Tremalking. It passed over the shores, raising small veils of sand before reaching the grasslands that covered the shore before reaching the mountains. Passing over a humongous half-buried statue of someone holding a crystal globe, it moved until it reached a village.
Mother Selanda groaned as the wind whirled around her, shielding her eyes from the raised dirt. She’d been called to attend a birthing, Brundi having had several children with difficulty. She’d begged the Wise Woman to be there, not just for the ceremonial Seeing, but for the actual birth. “She’s had so many babies, at this point the babe can climb out on it’s own”, she groused as the wind whipped around her, and then died down. Holding her bag of herbs and supplies closer, she continued her journey into the hills, and arrived at the village where Brundi lived with her brood. Shooing the children away who were at the door, she walked in to find Brundi sitting on the bed, panting, with her face covered in sweat. Her man, Jusrit, stood there, holding her hand. ‘As if men know anything about this.’
“Get out, and leave me room to work. Do something useful, like draw some water to wash the babe, and then wander off into the hills.." She brushed his protests off. "Just get out, this is no place for a man. Send me one of the other women.” She says to him, but not unkindly. She’s said this exact thing to him, and every other man when she helped deliver their babes. She wasn't sure what it was that made some men want to stay and get underfoot. ‘Light, and they call it helping. Hmmppphh!!!’ He nods, and quickly runs from the room with his “Yes, Mother”, trailing after him.
A few hours later, the babe is born, and a difficult labor it was. One of the hardest she’d seen in her many years of acting as village midwife to several villages. But the babe had been born, a lusty cry sounding even before she could clamp the cord and sever it. She had smiled, washed the babe, and handed it to Brundi, and then announced to the whole village that had been gathered outside, that Brundi had a new baby girl. Cheers rose from the people assembled, the womens voices rising in praise to the Light, the men slapping Jusrit on the back. “What are you all standing around for?”, she asks acerbically. “And you, you idiot men. Why are you congratulating him??”, and she points to Jusrit. “He had nothing to do with it, not that any of you do.” all the women gathered snickered, having heard similar comments over the years. Having MADE similar comments over the years. “Go prepare food for Brundi. It was a hard labor, she’ll need some meat to replenish the blood she lost. Something easy, a nice broth.”
She walks back for the Telling. Most of the time they’re small, banal, but this time...this time it’s different, A swelling inside, like one of the great waves that completely engulf the lower sides of the island. Her Voice sounds different, a harsh, grating sound. She’s never felt something like this, and Brundi looks at her in concern as she begins to speak.
“For thee, at thy birth,I Foretell.
She will come for you, She with the sky fire on her heart.
She will cage you, to set you free
Break you, to make you complete
Together, your Light will drive back the darkness
And on the slopes of Shayol Ghul, you will battle the Forsaken
with the fate of the Dragon Reborn in the balance.
Brundi looks at her, holding her babe close. “Mother….what...what was that? What does it mean? Cages, and….and Shayol Ghul…..does the Awakening approach??” She’s never heard a Telling like that, not for any of her other children. Her face is white, frightened, and Mother Selanda shakes her head.
“I have no idea either. But it will be apparent eventually, Light be willing. For now, say nothing, lest you start a panic. Let the child grow, and tell her nothing. Many people have met their doom trying to avoid it. What...What are you naming the child?”
Brundi thinks for a moment. “Amee. She will be known as Amee.”
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19 years later
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It had begun like any other day. Amee had woken up, dressed, and then begun her duties for the day. Her siblings had mostly grown and married, making households of their own with their mates and children. Today had started out as no exception, her mother standing there, looking at the sky, wondering if it would rain. Her father was already outside, calling for her to join him at the docks, when her mother exclaimed. “By the Light!! What is that??” She pointed at what looked like a huge bird, soaring towards them. Amee could see ships below, oddly shaped craft with huge, ribbed sails, and smaller craft coming from them. “I….I think we should run, Father.