| |
And now, it was over. Legaba had been defeated by the new god. The Matile had forsaken the Jagasti, just as the Jagasti had abandoned them. The destruction had been immense, although not comparable to what had happened during the Storm Wars. That time had marked the first retreat of the Jagasti from involvement in the Beyond World. But that retreat had been only partial. A minimum of contact with the ephemeral lives of the people of that world had been maintained – just enough to offset the continuing ambitions of Legaba.
Now, Nama-kwah reflected as she hovered in the water of the borderland and watched the corpses and the wreckage continue to defile Khambawe’s harbor, the withdrawal of the deities would be complete. Legaba was no longer a threat. He would remain dormant in his Realm for a long time, even as its passage was perceived by the Jagasti.
And now the Matile had Almovaar. His coming had disrupted the equilibrium that had kept Legaba in check. That was the danger of which she had attempted to warn Tiyana during First Calling.
And now, Tiyana was gone from Nama-kwah. The vessel had abandoned the Mask of the Sea Goddess, and Nama-kwah had no had other means to contact her Vessel. And the Beyond World was lost to Nama-kwah as well.
But what was that world, compared to her Realm, and those of the other Jagasti? Her Realm belonged to her; she could shape and reshape it as she pleased, unlike the Beyond World, which shaped itself.
Still, she felt a lingering attachment to the Beyond World and its impermanent, intractable people. And she knew something else. Her Mask had fallen into other hands ... the hands of one who was not an Amiya, and had not been trained in the ways of communing with the Jagasti. It was only a tentative link, and not a very strong one. But it was the only connection Nama-kwah had left. She would maintain it, because she did not trust this new god, Almovaar.
Almovaar had made no attempt to communicate with the Jagasti, and his Realm was impenetrable to any incursions from them. Nama-kwah wondered what he was hiding in his Realm. But of all the Jagasti, only she had expressed any curiosity about the newcomer. The others, like Ufashwe, were content to leave the Beyond World to its own fate.
So, too, would Nama-kwah. Still, she would keep her connection with the holder of her Mask. That was all she had left of the Beyond World.
Turning away from the aftermath of the carnage, Nama-kwah swam through the border waters and back into the clean, clear blue of her Realm. Her Children trailed behind her in a long, luminous line. And behind them, the scavengers of the sea continued their grisly work of devouring the dead.