Extremely Distressed, part 2, 1 NSR

Ice Quarter, 1 NSR. Mahali zan-Ku is 31, Rivadya zan-Carmela is 25, Yoshan zan-Li is 6, Daran zan-Ku is 1.

It was nearly nightfall. Nearly time for Daran's naming ceremony.

He was still napping in the tent, but already guests were arriving. Headwoman Etan and the three shamans, as well as the extended zan-Carmela clan, were there. Oddly, none of Mahali's brothers had showed up, even though they were kin to Daran, and Rivadya's family technically wasn't.

As she finished laying out the feast dishes, Mahali ran through all the calming techniques she knew. Daran would never remember this day, but it would be the first indicator of how her son would grow up, and his place in Kulo Seeri. She was determined not to ruin it.

Hanis had already spoken to the family about what might be causing her to lose control of herself. Now she could see the other two shamans, Rivadya's cousin Pel and Dill, coming over to her. 

Most times, she would have appreciated - or at least tolerated - Dill's awkward attempts at flirting. Dill tried flirting with everyone, after all. This was not most times. Whether it was a sign of possession or just nerves, Mahali wasn't having any of it tonight.

She didn't care that he was one of the highest-ranking Sims in the village, or that he was kind of cute when he was being socially useless. Just... no.

While the guests chatted and danced, Mahali and Rivadya discussed the implications of Serendipity's omen reading with Etan and the shamans. She'd said that Daran had one Wood and one Metal trait as well as a stronger affinity towards Fire, which was hardly surprising - both his parents had Fire traits. He was likely to be a little volatile growing up. Then again, what toddler wasn't?

The worrying thing was that Serendipity had seen a slight Void affinity in Daran, too. There was some sort of darkness there, maybe relating to Mahali's demon trouble? It was rarely clear at the point of naming what the omens meant, but Void traits were nearly always bad news.

The sun was starting to set, anyway, and Daran had woken from his nap. Mahali picked him up and carried him out into the fading daylight. He was always sulky after waking up, but as his mother lifted him into the air and announced his new name, he started laughing. Although he couldn't yet understand the significance of the ritual, he was no longer a baby. His name was now Busuteta zan-Ku.

Busuteta meant "Thirteen Fish" in Maltiatzi. It would have been a very strange name choice where Mahali came from, but Serendipity had explained that fish [busu] were linked to the water elements, hopefully balancing out his Fire affinity. Thirteen [teta] was the number that represented wholeness - the eight elements, the physical world and two otherworlds, and the cosmic forces of Fate and Chance - and was intended to counter the Void aspect of his personality.

Well, Mahali thought, we'd better hope that it does. All this talk of bad omens was creeping her out a little. She could handle it herself, but when it came to her little boy... she'd never really aspired to have children, but she did want the best life for her son.

But soon she was distracted, finishing off the food they'd prepared for the naming feast. Etan took the opportunity to have another discussion with Rivadya, alone.

"I didn't want to say this in front of Mahali, but I'm starting to wonder if there's something up with the entire zan-Ku clan," she told him in a hushed tone. There were several children at the gathering, and while they were all distracted by food too, Etan didn't want her words reaching the ears of little Sims who would blab anything to their friends if they thought it was a grown-up secret.

"Like a family curse?"

"Maybe. Or they're just all a bit too unbalanced. I don't know, but strange things are going on around most of them. Lydia says she heard Kenan talking to Jethro last night, when he wasn't even there - and he's never there any more, he just sleeps all day. And Kenda says Sophos has hardly spoken to her the last few days. They're usually at each other's throats all the time, now he's suddenly gone quiet about something."

Etan's words had found their way to Shazia zan-Ave, though. As ward of the headwoman, Shazia found a way to overhear most things.

"...and now he's suddenly gone quiet about something. They didn't say what."

"It's like a mystery!" Yoshan whispered excitedly.

Although she hid her secret knowledge behind a mask of tiredness, all Shazia could think about as she trudged home to bed was finding out what could be going on.

She'd have to bring Yoshan over tomorrow. She knew some great hiding places for snooping on the council meetings.