Illuria
Avilena was seized by a passion for visiting the shops of Illuria. She often
looked into clothing stores where they sold various objects of art created by
Syrinx creators over many centuries.
In the spacious halls, where little sunlight fell due to the colossal towers
blocking the sky, on numerous shelves there were ancient figurines made of
an unknown material, depicting winged creatures in various poses in
fluttering and flowing robes. There were many compositions with explicit
love scenes. Their grace fascinated the princess, and she spent a lot of time
looking at them.
One day, in one of the halls, a salesman, a handsome, hazel-eyed, brown-
haired guy, approached her and asked:
"Any help? What does catch your eye?"
Avilena glanced at him and replied:
"I'm just looking, there's nothing to do, I'm walking and admiring."
"My name is Tain, my family owns this store. I've been seeing you often
on the streets recently. Did you come from another city?"
"Avilena!" She extended her hand to him in greeting and looked into his
eyes.
He recoiled from her in fear:
"Are you a syrinx? This is the first time I've seen a woman of your race."
"Why do you say that?" Avilena was puzzled.
"Your star-shaped pupils give you away, but you don't have wings?"
"Oh, yes! I forgot that I was slowly turning into a syrinx. But don't be so
scared. I am a half-breed and lived among people on another planet. The
xantarian officers brought me here. And I don't really need wings. This way I
can go shopping like a normal person."
Avilena smiled welcomingly at the guy.
"Is your husband a stellar officer?"
"Yes, and not just one. I have two husbands."
Tain looked at her with surprise:
"Wow! You must be a very unusual woman, since you have two noble
spouses."
Avilena laughed good-naturedly.
"Nothing unusual, I'm quite ordinary. No special talents, just very
curious and sociable. Do you mind if we be friends?"
"Syrinxes are not friends with people," Tain said dumbfounded. "They
don't even come down to us and don't go shopping, especially women. It's
amazing that your husbands allow you to be here."
"They love me and don't forbid anything! On my planet Zaria, syrinxes
communicate closely with people. Each has a mortal wife and son, but they
have only recently become friends, and were previously at enmity."
"How did they get it?" Tain asked in amazement.
Tears suddenly fell from his eyes.
"Oh, why are you so upset?" Avilena became worried.
"My girlfriend was kidnapped a year ago, and I never saw her again. This
is not fair! We have no agreement with the winged ones. They do what they
want!"
Tain covered his eyes with his palms.
"Sorry!" Avilena said sadly. "What is her name?"
"Neylira! I can't forget her," he looked at her pitifully. "Can you find out
what's wrong with her now, or talk to her? Please! I would like to meet her."
"It's not easy, unfortunately. Usually, none of the syrinxes know about
other's wives and are not familiar with them. Everyone's privacy is protected
by spells."
"Aren't you a sorceress?"
"I could find her, but I can't use magic yet so that the clairvoyants won't
find me."
"Who are they? And why are you afraid of them?"
"Special agents - clairvoyants are monitoring throughout the city so that
syrinxes do not walk around on the lower floors and do not use magic. It is
forbidden! I was brought here secretly, the authorities do not know about
me. If they find me, it will be the end of my happy life - they will force me to
give birth endlessly, and I don't want that at all. I see that you are not at all
aware of the life of syrinxes: you have such surprised eyes."
"Our worlds are very isolated, no one returns from the towers, the fate
of the kidnapped girls is unknown to us. They remain there for the rest of
their lives. We have no information about the celestials."
"Where then do all these things created by creators come from?"
"They exchanged them for food for their wives. They do not grow
vegetables and fruits themselves. Sometimes they pay in crystals, but the
trade is closed, we never see the sellers. We come to special offices where
prices are indicated, leave the products there and take away what they
offered to choose from. This could be clothing and jewelry, household and
luxury items, elegant furniture. Only by these things can we judge how
syrinxes live."
"I'll try to help you with Neylira. I'll ask my husbands to find her, but
don't get my hopes up."
"Will you come here again?"
"Yes, we can be friends, despite the fact that I'm a syrinx," Avilena
smiled.
Tain joyfully shook her hand, and she said goodbye and left through the
exit, disappearing into the crowd of passers-by. He decided not to tell anyone
about such an unusual new acquaintance for now. He didn't want to scare
her, because she was his only hope of meeting his stolen bride, besides,
Avilena told so many interesting things, and who knows how much more he
could find out from her.
Tain has long dreamed of meeting the syrinxes in order to find out why
their peoples are so divided, living in the same city. By what right are their
girls taken away from them? Who is behind all this? Giant Archons?
No one has yet managed to even exchange a word with the syrinxes.
These arrogant creatures very rarely appeared on the streets, unless they
were looking for someone, but they never entered into negotiations with
people.
Throughout his life, Tain tried several times to communicate with
several warriors who happened to be near his store. They just glared at him
angrily and turned away. And then such luck, the beautiful half-breed herself
offered him friendship. Tain walked around the hall for a long time, exited,
worried that she would never come into his store again, he hoped for her
help.