The boy who was the watcher didn't get the call for relief. So he stayed. He saw the movement within the small settlement of the people. He knew that something was causing the disturbance but surely the lack of the signal was simply the fact that this disturbance was the good kind. If there was going to be a festival, he might even get to drink the rare alcohol that their clan reserved for important functions. He was old enough now. The thought gave him some delight. Usually, the festivals were simply too dull a matter for him to truly enjoy. The dancing was fun but other than that and the food, the rest of the symbolism escaped him. Akan Tor expected him to remember the whys for the festival's decorations and the placements of the people but it always escaped him. It made no sense to his senses.

Why everything couldn't be simpler he thought inwardly. There was a time when he had wished that but then even he understood that things usually were a lot more complicated than he gave credit for. Still, it was good here. His few friends were already with the watcher whose role he had to fill here, as guards. The Tor clan had few watchers and this clan wasn't huge like some of the other clans. This was a clan whose numbers had always been scarce and now there were only forty people in the settlement including the children and old people. In short, they were one of the few pacifists of the entire nation of the people. That was not to say that they weren't warlike. It was simply that they didn't have the resources with which to fight, namely people. Their reputation hadn't diminished though. They were still considered one of the better clans to be a part of. The clan Tor was held in high esteem for honour and courage, hence the reason why they were still unmolested by the other clans despite the small size of their holdings. The boy had great pride in his name. He once held a name before he came here. He'd forgotten the name now or it would rather be more appropriate to say that he never knew that name. He'd remembered very little from his youth. Now he had a name of power. His name was Guren Tor. He was given that name by his surrogate mother, the sister Tor. It was a good name. It was funny to think of it but he liked the way the r's rolled in his throat as he spoke his name.

The night fell in earnest but he could still see. The light of the moon and the starlight along with the light of the settlement were enough for him to see in the darkness of the night. He gazed up to see the two distant moons. The moons were sacred to the people. Guren prayed.

Like all of the people, they believed that in the beginning there was only the light and the dark. At the beginning of all things, after the world had been created by light and dark, there was no life due to the heat of light's eye, for that God was a one-eyed man. So the darkness took pity and made three Gods to make life on the world, that the two Gods had built, bearable. It made the night, a Goddess who had no eyes, no ears or mouth or human features. Her domain of her powers was that she ruled the darkness and the shadows but she was kind and holy. It was she who blanketed the world from the regard of the Lord of light. She held no name and she was not worshipped. That was her desire, it was said. It was because she loved the creatures who lived on the ground, mortal as they were, so much and a mother had no reason for respect and adoration from her children. She only required the love of her children and that was all the prayer that she desired. Then there were the twin sister Gods. Hasd'tir and Adsa'tir. They were the moons in the sky. They were children who wished to see what changes life made to the lands. These were the children of the light and dark. Light wanted children after seeing that the Goddess Night was a good thing and he as well helped in the making of these two. These two hence held both the dark and the light. They were the moons that shone in the sky beautiful as could two heavenly bodies could ever be. Their full names were never used as a form of respect as their whole names were used only to invoke the Goddesses to the mortal plane or so it was said. It was a custom to never call their whole names even if they never came to the mortal men now.

So the moons were usually called Hasd and Adsa. Hasd was the larger of the two and shone duller with a light that was a soft bluish in tone. Adsa, smaller, younger and far brighter always shone with a white light that dazzled even after looking at that light for all of one's life. The people worshipped the twin moons and the last and youngest God. The youngest God was formed by the Night and not by the Light or the Dark. It was formed from her blood as she bled to save her children, the people of the sands from the beasts of the void. This God was the God of water and of war and he had no name of his own. He was the one they revered with no names or song but with every time they drank water remembering that this was the body of a God that they drank. It was a divine gift, in other words, to allow the people to thrive after the Gods battled the older ancient creatures that belonged to the Dark. That Goddess of the Dark never could control her creatures since she hadn't tempered their souls with the power of the Light. However, now none of the children of the Dark existed except for Night, Hasd and Adsa. Or so it was said in the tales of the people. For the creatures of the void were killed, destroyed by the armies of the God of light and the strength of the remaining children of the night.

He always liked the night. It was good. There was a breeze with the slightest hint of a chill. He smiled, the night air was comforting compared to the heat of the day. It was now that he could simply stop thinking and let go of his sense of self. He sent his awareness far and wide and he was surprised to sense that a bird of prey hovered over his head. It was strange, no bird of prey would ever fly at night and that too, this close over one of the settlements of the people. He sensed that this great hunter was so high that only a watcher would be able to see it. He wondered why the creature would do so unnatural a thing. Then he realized that the noise from the settlements could have drawn an inquisitive animal quite easily. After all, the Tor clan was quiet on most nights. He let his mind wander freely. It was a good night to be outside of the settlement walls. The breeze didn't let up and it was gentle enough that the sand it pulled along was like watching the waves crash down upon a beach, gently and minutely. He hadn't seen an ocean yet but the tales told by the storytellers were quite detailed about large bodies of water. That was because well, the people of the desert were always drawn to the tales of the water and the travelling storytellers knew of this desire on the part of the people and so they obliged. It was a kind thing to do and the people rewarded these bards and travellers quite generously for the tales. Many a number amongst the people wanted to go on a pilgrimage to go see the large ocean which was said to be the womb of the mother, from where all life came from but then most never left the sands of the desert. There was always too much to do and not enough time or lives to do it in. The older clan members oftentimes left the safety of the harsh desert to seek out these large areas of water. They never returned. It was hoped that these few brave old souls had obtained their heart's desire.

Guren slowed his breathing. There was no reason to be on the alert. The people in the settlements were already alert enough to any foul deed. He was merely here because he knew that he would get in the way of everyone else. Why else did a call not come to take him? He wasn't hurt or handicapped in any way. This was the way things were. He hadn't yet learned the right ways of the people. His 'mother' was to blame for that. He had been taught and grown not amongst the rigid ways of the people but amongst the others. Those who were people yet not people. They were those who had been excommunicated from the people due to some of their deeds or skills. He had learnt from all of the fifty men and women of that tribe. He banished this thought deep inside. He was not to reveal where he had learnt anything to anyone. Those were his orders when he left. He agreed not out of fear but out of love. Those people had been family to him when he had none. Those people had treated him as one of their own without asking why they had to do so. He wondered then briefly if the people were really that good. Their excommunicated seemed to be better than the people. Still, it was his lot to try and live here with the people and so he struggled to keep with the strict rites of the people. His reverie was broken suddenly as he saw the signal fire from the settlements. This was very odd. He was asked to return to the settlements. His role as watcher was over. He was to return at once. This was before his appointed time of return. He still had to stay here for another hour or so. This was very odd. He knew not of when a watcher was asked to return before the time of duty was over. However, the order was given. He would comply. He could do nothing else.