Chapter 1
Cave walls glistened with a rainbow of crystals, reflecting as points of light in the purple water of the lake Alessia often retreated to. She swam through the beautiful water, appreciating the occasional fish or turtle that crossed her path. This lake was found in the Najwa, the lowest-populated level of the ground that she and her fellow citizens of Gizem inhabited. Najwa was a well-kept secret from others across the world. It was the heart of the entire oasis in this land, where the water flowed into Gizem’s underground rivers and waterfalls, and fueled the aquifer that provided for them and Inanna - the city above the ground - relied on.
Although their planet was hot, harsh, and composed of just desert and oceans, Alessia’s people had found refuge in this cave system many generations prior. She took pride each day she awoke to see the sizable community they had built into the walls of the caves under the desert. Some descendants had eventually made Inanna, or the Over, long ago when some ancient Gizem citizens desired the sun and wanted to grow more crops, so they learned to pull water from the aquifer using qanats to sustain themselves. The two cities became distinct over the course of many years and now considered themselves to be totally separate populations.
Alessia had pulled herself to the bank as she began drying herself, taking a few breaths to appreciate the glimmering cave ceiling. Giant stalactites bore downwards with clusters of multicolored crystals embedded across their surfaces. The constant rainbows of colors and the beautiful purple of the water in Najwa, so similar in color to Alessia’s own eyes, brought her a peace she didn’t know anywhere else. Peace that was soon to be disturbed yet again as thoughts of an upcoming meeting poked through the calm waters of her mind, rippling out into new waves of anxiety.
Gizem and Inanna were totally independent of each other, except for one large aspect of contention: the aquifer. While the aquifer was underground and therefore could be considered Gizem’s territory, treaties long ago did guarantee Inanna rights to water above a certain level of the water table. But due to irresponsibility in Inanna, their water use had gone out of control long ago and they were facing water shortages. Kenrik, the Minister of Inanna, had summoned her to discuss this. Alessia had only been the Guardian of the Gizem - an elected position as the governmental head of the city - for ten years, yet had discussed this same topic with Kenrik’s predecessor at least once a year. This was Kenrik’s first time summoning her for a discussion as he had only recently been elected as the head of Inanna, but she always found the topic frustrating: the Over could have solved this issue by simply rationing water more responsibly years ago. Their current use was set to completely deplete their aquifer within five years due to them using water quicker than the underground water cycle could replenish it.
She had dressed and walked briskly while braiding back her dark blue hair, smiling at the few inhabitants who spent more time in Najwa than Gizem. Najwa also featured many homes carved into the stone walls of the lower caves but saw more homes built along the open expanses of the cavern out of stones of varying colors. The entirety of Najwa was rainbows, gentle lights, and something like magic - a stark contrast to Gizem’s homely, plain, but comfortable atmosphere. Everyone in Gizem - also called the Under, as the sister city to the Over - held the secret beauty and resources of Najwa close to heart. The Over didn’t know that Najwa housed what Gizemians believed to be the heart of the water in their oasis and Alessia would make sure that secret would remain kept.
Alessia trudged up one of the many narrow tunnels that led back to Gizem, popping up from a hatch in a general store. “Hi, Hal,” she sang as she saw the storekeeper jump a bit at her entrance.
“Oh, Alessia, hello,” he chuckled. “You’ve got to stop changing where you come up at, you know.”
“I’m honored you think I do it on purpose,” she winked as she pulled herself up before closing the lid again. A bit of magic, bestowed to them through specific crystals that housed special abilities, offered a glamor to the door so it was nearly invisible. The only way to see it was to know precisely what you were looking for.
“We all know you’re quick as a whip, Alessia,” Hal said. “You and Verena are two sides of the same coin.”
Alessia smiled and bid her goodbyes to Hal and the shoppers, heading to work and to meet up with the aforementioned Verena. Along the way, she was greeted by many of the citizens, and she happily stopped to chat as they desired, a welcome distraction from the work she was going to face at the offices. “Desiré, did the road by your store ever get repaired?” Alessia asked one store owner as she passed the older woman sitting outside her home’s doorstep.
“Yes it did, Verena made sure they made quick work of it too,” the woman nodded.
Alessia smiled to herself as she departed, knowing how Verena sunk her teeth into things like this. Her life-long friend and trusted advisor filled in the many gaps Alessia knew she had as a government official and as a person. Where Alessia was more emotional, Verena was logical, and when Alessia couldn’t get her scattered thoughts straight, Verena probably had an organizational method to help. If only Alessia could learn to do these things herself after ten years as Guardian, and after her sixty years of existence.
A tall building carved into a cave wall framed by sharp edges came into view - the government building. Alessia entered and headed to her office where Verena was ready to greet her. “Have a nice swim?” her friend asked.
“As usual,” Alessia smiled. “Any word from the Over before we head up to meet them tomorrow?”
Verena shook her head. “We should be set to go.”
The rest of that afternoon Alessia dealt with paperwork and mundane tasks to prepare for a few days out of town. Verena would also be joining her while a few other staff members would be making sure all was well in Gizem, so the two women had to take care of sensitive tasks that others couldn’t be left to. To Alessia’s annoyance, those tasks were usually monotonous, and Verena had to keep her on track more than once. While she might appear to be too relaxed or careless as a leader to some, Verena and others close to Alessia knew the truth: she simply focused far too much on the larger issues and felt these smaller maintenance duties took away from important items.
Regardless of her flaws, the people of Gizem somehow trusted Alessia enough to keep her in office, and it was an honor and duty she truly did not take lightly, even when her curiosity and adventurer’s heart pulled her off course from her official duties. She regularly paused during the day when sudden thoughts of thankfulness flooded her - between Verena being by her side and her Gizemians being under her protection, Alessia knew any strife she might endure was always, always worth it. So she trudged through mountains of paperwork and boring meetings, day in and day out, but secretly always looked forward to going home and binge reading with Verena while drinking wine or eating their favorite snacks, as they were likely to do tonight before their big trip the following day.
