Page 41 of The Seeker
Rhys tapped his messenger bag with the toe of his boot. “I brought everything.”
“And you want me to show you mine?”
Yes!
He let the smile come. “I believe you’re the one who made the proposition, darling.”
“Did I,darling?” She pursed her lips. “I suppose I did. Though I’m not sure you’re ready to see it all.”
Wariness and animosity had fled. In their place a new awareness was growing along with the playfulness she’d teased him with since their first meeting. They had stripped away their disguises in more ways than one, and the exposure wasn’t strained. It was freeing.
“I’m very difficult to shock.” Rhys couldn’t stop himself from provoking her. “Try me.”
“I’m not trying to shock you, but it’s rare that I reveal myself, especially to a stranger.”
“Are we still strangers? I thought we’d become rather familiar.”
We could become more familiar. I would not object to that.
Meera lifted a sweating beer bottle and reached across to the bottle opener mounted on the counter, revealing an enticing hint of cleavage. She cracked the bottle open and set it in front of Rhys before she opened the second and took a long drink. A bead of perspiration rolled from the bottle down her neck.
“Feed me,” she said. “Then I’ll show you what you want to see.”
“The Uwachi Tomaweren’t the only Irin people on this continent, but they were the largest and most dominant group.” Meera’s hand hovered over a map of North America. “The Irin people in the East fled as soon as Norse humans arrived.”
Rhys and Meera were in her office, a large map spread out on a library table in the center of the room.
“It’s a big continent,” he said.
“It is. There were Irin groups in the Great Plains and on the West Coast like the Dene Ghal, but they weren’t as active or organized as those in this region. The only thing close were the Koconah Citlal in Central America.” Meera rolled open another map on the table and placed small weighted bags at the corners. “The Irin from the East moved to the South. They integrated into the existing Irin communities here, which concentrated the population.”
The new map was a closer detail of the Gulf Coast region. Rhys immediately spotted the precise writing in the margins where Meera had made notes. He leaned over to read a notation farther north on the Mississippi River. “The Uwachi Toma were a mound-building culture, correct?”
“Correct. First in the northern Mississippi Valley, then moving south and into the coastal regions. The Uwachi Toma—‘people of the sun’—mostly came from Uriel’s blood, though they looked outside their immediate area when they mated, so bloodlines became very mixed.”
Rhys pulled a stool from under the table. “Uriel was known for keeping the peace and had very few enemies, even among the Fallen. He was also incredibly powerful.”
Meera grabbed another stool and sat next to Rhys. “Which was why they had such an extended period of calm. There was one major battle that we have recorded songs for. The Pakup Kun—the red water—where the archangel Nalu and his sons attempted to eradicate the Uwachi Toma. They failed.”
“According to written accounts I could find, Nalu failed because the Wolf slew him with her song.” Rhys raised his eyebrows. “Her song alone. It’s the only account of an angel being killed without a heavenly blade in Irin history. Do you understand why Sari and Orsala went a little mad when your mother said she might be alive?”
Meera ignored the question. “That victory led to something of a golden age for the Irin in North America. There were roughly five hundred years of peace before new angels came with European colonists and there were further conflicts. But during that peace, Uwachi Toma culture thrived. We just don’t have much record of it because written tradition wasn’t as valued as oral.”
“But you have some of the songs.”
Meera smiled softly. “Pieces. I’m always looking for more.”
Rhys was fascinated. “Social structure?”
“Matrilineal but surprisingly patriarchal for Irin people.”
“Agricultural?”
“Their economic base mirrored the native people. They did farm, but they also hunted in the bayous. Fish, shellfish, and alligator mostly.”
“Mound building…,” Rhys muttered. “Did the native people in this region build mounds in the bayous? How is that possible? The bayous look like flooded forests.”
“They are.” Her face lit up. “But go deep enough and you’ll find many, many shell mounds where small villages flourished. The Uwachi Toma lived all along the rivers and bayous here, most escaping notice by humans for years.”
