{"id":67,"date":"2013-09-13T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-09-13T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bestfantasynovel.com\/2013\/09\/13\/13-the-important-guest\/"},"modified":"2013-09-13T14:00:00","modified_gmt":"2013-09-13T14:00:00","slug":"13-the-important-guest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/2013\/09\/13\/13-the-important-guest\/","title":{"rendered":"13. The Important Guest"},"content":{"rendered":"
The Unfinished Song: Initiate<\/i><\/a>\"\"<\/i><\/p>\n
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(Start at the Beginning of the Novel<\/a>)<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"\"<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
“Shining Porcelain” by Lisalein<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
<\/div>\n

Dindi<\/i><\/p>\n

\u2026laughter and cheers from her family. She\u2019d never stopped dancing; they\u2019d stopped cheering. By the time she was five, the same aunties who had praised her grace and dedication complained of her clumsiness and laziness. Little girls should keep the platform white washed, and cover it with fresh reed mats, not dance there.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The members of the clan had seated themselves in a rough rectangle around the edge of the platform, smallest children on laps.<\/div>\n
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Hands passed back and forth the communal bowls of food. The clay bowls and platters held flat triangular bread, bean mash, goat cheese melted to a gooey sauce and bowls of crushed chili peppers and lemon juice to be added for flavor. Family members used their hands to make pishas <\/i>by wrapping the beans and cheese in the bread. The warriors sat nearest the door, the maidens nearest the ovens. Great Aunt Sullana and Mama and the other aunts sat against the wall, the matriarchs an isle of dignified manners amidst the chaos. Only matriarchs knew the secret of eating pishas <\/i>full of melted cheese without getting sticky fingers.<\/div>\n
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Zavaedi Abiono, the leader of the Tavaedi troop, sat in the place of honor, between the warriors and the aunties. He nodded to Dindi. Her heart drummed faster.<\/div>\n
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\u201cWhy, here\u2019s Lost Swan Clan\u2019s very own lost cygnet!\u201d cried Papa. He was a big, wry man with a spreading belly. Papa and Uncle Lubo led the others in cheers and whistles. Dindi blushed.<\/div>\n
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\u201cThere you are at last, girl,\u201d said Great Aunt Sullana. \u201cYour hair looks as though beavers had abandoned a dam there. Your face is smudged. Did you spend the morning rolling in dust? Never mind, Zavaedi Abiono is doing us the great honor of a visit. Comb your hair and wash your face before you join us. This is a kitchen, not a den of bears.\u201d<\/div>\n
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Flustered, Dindi took her basket of soap to where deep clay pots had been sunk as a cistern in the earth. This was the darkest corner of the kitchen, smelling of dirt hardened with aurochs dung and the memory of pools in ancient caverns. A single Blue nixie floated on his back in the depths of one of the jugs. He winked up at Dindi. Puddlepaws extended a tiny paw to reach him and almost fell in the water.<\/div>\n
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She took out a lump of soap, splashed water on her face and rubbed up a quick lather. The soap did not lather well, but rather than struggle with it, she rinsed her face again, dragged her fingers through her wild hair and hurried to the platform where everyone else sat.<\/div>\n
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She shoved herself between her female cousins, Jensi and Tibi. Dindi peeked curiously at Aunt Sullana, at Zavaedi Abiono, at Mama, at Papa, hoping for a clue to the real reason behind their visitor\u2019s purpose.<\/div>\n
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They stared back at her in amazement.<\/div>\n
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\u201cYes, I can see why you were asking about Dindi,\u201d Papa said to Zavaedi Abiono.<\/div>\n

\u00a0<\/i><\/i><\/p>\n

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TO BE CONTINUED<\/i><\/i><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\u00a0<\/i><\/i><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Download the complete book for\u00a0FREE<\/a><\/b><\/u>\u00a0or buy it on Amazon as an\u00a0ebook<\/a>\"\"\u00a0or paperback<\/a>\"\":<\/i><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Unfinished Song: Initiate (Start at the Beginning of the Novel)   “Shining Porcelain” by Lisalein Dindi \u2026laughter and cheers from her family. She\u2019d never stopped dancing; they\u2019d stopped cheering. By the time she was five, the same aunties who had praised her grace and dedication complained of her clumsiness and laziness. Little girls should […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[119,259],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-67","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dindi","category-initiate-excerpt"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}