The Book of Terrus: The Ghosts of Goran

Chapter 2 - The Gift of a Pearl

Ten years later

OoOoO

The energy in the air had little to do with the high summer sun. Even the gulls seemed to pick up on the excitement hovering over the coastal town of Utunma.

Hanging onto the southernmost tip of the Gorian peninsula, Utunma was a hub for all enterprises that came from the sea. Fishing, crabbing, pearl-diving, all these made up the bulk of the livelihoods of those living under the hot southwestern sun. Today however, the fishermen would hang up their nets and the crabbers would put aside their traps. Today was not a day for working, but for celebrating. Two of their own were to be wed by the seashore at midday.

            Vinie PearlDiver stood at the center of a flurry of activity in the home she shared with her widowed father, Bakko. Her usual work-worn attire had been slung across a screen on the far side of the tiny kitchen. In its place she wore twisted wraps of white cloth around her chest and waist. Pure white cloth was hard to come by in Utunma, and when her betrothed's mother, Kor NetWeaver, had produced the bolt of fabric, Vinie had pounced on her with a delighted kiss. 

            "There you are; black, white, and gold, the colors of a bride."

            Kor stood back to admire her handiwork. The squat weaver had just spent the better part of an hour twisting, fastening, and arranging the white cloth against Vinie's ebony skin. They had to be worn just so, as per the customs of southern Goran. As for the gold, Vinie's best friend, Sahar CoinDancer, was hard at work painting Vinie head to toe with whirling, intricate patterns of shimmering golden paint. Gold was adored by southerners, in all its forms. The coins woven into Sahar's dancing skirt and top clinked against one another, dangling from her curvaceous hips as she moved, and casting fiery sparks of light across the wooden walls.

            "Is it supposed to be that tight in the..." Vinie made a vague gesture behind herself.

            Kor laughed. "You're just not used to the style! I wore my wedding wrap even tighter than that. Sahar can tell you all about it; her CoinDancing outfit is much the same."

            "And it's horrible." Sahar laughed, tracing her brush up the inside of Vinie's shoulder blades. "Imagine trying to dance for hours with that riding up your-"

            "How is everything coming? They'll be waiting for us."

Bakko, Vinie's father, stuck his head in from the bedroom just off the kitchen. A diving accident a few years ago had broken and twisted his right leg, permanently retiring Bakko from diving for pearls. Then a teenager, Vinie had taken over the family trade for her father. She dove for the pearls, and Bakko sold them at the Utunman marketplace.

            "It would be going faster if you men-folk didn't keep interrupting us," Kor said tartly. "It looks like your dad is eager to get you married and get rid of you, girl." She winked conspiratorially at Vinie.

            "Oh, is that so?" Vinie feigned hurt. "Well then, I guess you won't have to put up with me anymore after today."

            "I would put up with your cheek forever if I thought it would convince you to stay."

            Bakko laughed as he said it, but everyone heard the wistful sadness beneath the words. Vinie was Bakko's only child. It had just been the two of them ever since her mother had died in the jaws of a shark over fifteen years ago.

            "Someone call for a sea sponge? I think I see floods on the horizon," Sahar whispered loudly enough for everyone to hear.

            Blinking hard, Bakko smiled rather meekly.