An Earther in the Fonlands – 3
“Order, order!” a voice called loudly.
The walls of the room were a cool blue color and an Earther might describe the space as a conference room. There was a large bench at the front of the room that was elevated above the large thrones arranged before it. The thrones were carved of gray stone with high backs that were adorned with veve, or symbols, of the owners of each of the thrones. There were six of the thrones arranged in a semicircle before the large bench at the front of the room that was also carved of gray stone, and the floor of the space was obscured by a glowing, light blue mist that moved around the entire space.
All of the thrones before the large bench were occupied, save one. The empty throne displayed the veve of Lêgba. The occupants of each throne had been having a lively discussion as Xêvioso sat in the high chair behind the bench and then called the gathering to order. Xêvioso’s face was stern, his eyes were sharp and his lips were full. His skin was like polished mahogany, and his face was ringed by a large, elaborate headdress that was made of reeds and slats of golden that created a circle. Two sets of horns extended from Xêvioso’s handsome face, two long horns extended from the side of his head and curved up like a wildebeest, and two shorter horns extended from behind each of his cheeks and curved down.
The gathering quieted and turned its attention to Xêvioso, who spoke to them all.
“It is my honor to welcome you all, my brothers and sisters,” he said. “All except our brother Lêgba who we assume is doing his duty to the great mother-father, Mawu-Lisa.”
A murmur rose from the thrones and died down as he continued.
“But, I received a message from the mother-father requesting the presence of the true Lêgba. Apparently, a powerful iteration of our brother has been tending to his duty to our parents for some time now.”
A murmur rose again and Xêvioso was forced to pause long enough for the outrage at his words to settle. It is scandalous to hear that Lêgba had allowed an iteration to interact directly with the mother-father in an attempt to deceive them.
“I have gathered you all here today to do the duty of the mother-father who has decreed that Lêgba present himself before the Seat of the Lofted Disc. It is ordered that we return to our discs to confirm that Lêgba has not been hiding out there, and then we must enter Lêgba’s disc to confirm that he is not holding up there. Gû and I have completed the search of our discs, so we will proceed to Lêgba’s to conduct a thorough search there. We must leave immediately, the mother-father would have words with their wayward son as soon as possible.”
As he finished, a bolt of lightning struck the bench and thunder rumbled through the gathering place. Portals of various colors, all shaped like ovals, opened before each of the thrones and all of the Vodun left the room to complete their searches. Gû approached the bench in his glistening armor that looked pristine and unblemished despite the many battles he had had seen over the course of his existence. An oval portal of red opened behind Gû as Xêvioso descended his high bench and stood next to Gû. They faced the portal together.
“Why did you choose me to search Lêgba’s disc with you?” Gû said bitterly. “I hate his disc above all things. I usually get vertigo when I’m forced to travel there.”
Xêvioso approached the disc and Gû followed behind him.
“I trust that you will be both swift and thorough with the search,” Xêvioso explained. “I’m sure you want to find him so that we can get out of there as soon as possible and bring him before the mother-father for punishment as payback for forcing you to inhabit his disc.”
“That is true,” Gû said. “But this is all a charade, you know where Lêgba is. Since we found that living universe, he has visited it multiple times.”
“Maybe that’s true,” Xêvioso said, “but the mother-father wants us to be sure he’s not in the Fonlands before another Vodun leaves to find him outside of everything.”
“They should see by now that he is plotting something,” Gû said.
“They know their son,” Xêvioso said as they entered the oval portal that closed behind them.
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