She didn't feel hot, but she was warm. A pleasant warmth though, the type of warmth that came not from the burn of a fire or the blaze of the sun, but from the warmth of a soft blanket. And as she shifted in her rest, the comfort of the surface under her was unlike the sandy soil of the plains or the reed mats in the villages, it was an actual bed. A comfortable, inviting bed.
Slowly cracking open her eyes, she took in her strange surroundings. Sunlight poured in through a round window that was open to the outside. She appeared to be in some kind of a wooden house or hut, but not made of boards. She winced as she saw masks adorning the walls, but the smiling, inviting faces did not seem like the violent faces of Spirit Masks. Shelves of potions, alchemy ingredients and books lined all the free space on the wall. A large curtain covered an entire wall, maybe even another room. Taking a deep breath as she sat up in her bed, the sweet smells of dried herbs and flowers tingled in her nose.
Her mouth still felt dry, looking around herself Daring spied a platter with several bowls of water and even a bowl of fruit. Lifting the tray into her lap, she greedily engulfed the offered food. Biting down on a soft yellow fruit that tasted like persimmons, she wondered how she had gotten here, and where her generous host was.
With a start she remembered her guide. "Timur!" she shouted, spreading her wings to flap out the curtained door. But as she extended her wings, a sharp pain made her cringe with agony. The memory of her torture floated back into her mind, and extending a wing she was surprised to see it bandaged and smelling of herbs. From behind a curtain in the room came a groan.
Limping over to the curtain, she pulled it back to see Timur laying on a cot, rubbing his head. With a short laugh of relief, Daring helped her guide to a sitting position. "Ugh, where are we, Ms Do? What happened?"
"Take it easy, we were captured by N'dutu, but I got us out. I don't even know where we are," Daring said as she glanced around herself.
Timur squinted at some of the masks on the wall, struggling to stand with his injuries. Walking over to the round window, he poked his head out. Instantly he drew it back inside, a look of horror and rage on his face. His eyes shot back to Daring, shooting daggers at the pegasus. "Of all the villages in Zebrica, you bring me to this one," he said in a low hiss to Daring.
"Hey! Don't give me that crap, I got us far away and they brought us here!"
"Who brought us here?!"
Daring slowly backed into a corner as Timur got closer, an inquisitive anger in his step. Gulping down the lump in her throat, she replied, "Some zebra mare in red, she and bunch of warriors."
Timur went pale and his jaw slowly fell. "She knows I'm here, grab your things! We leave now!" Timur grabbed his saddlebag and Daring's pack, tossing them on his back as he bolted for the door. The curtain of the door parted, and Timur was suddenly face to face with the zebra mare in red. "Oh no..." muttered Timur, his ears falling back on his head. With a sheepish grin he took a step back. "It is good to see you, after so long."
The mare took a step forward, her brow furrowed and her teeth grinding as she advanced on Timur. "Hivyo, hatimaye alikuja nyuma," the strange mare growled to Timur.
Timur held up his forelegs defensively. "I can explain-"
The mare interrupted him continued her attack, getting right up in his face. "Je, si kuzungumza na mimi kama hilo! Kukimbia mbali na Equestria na kuniacha hapa kukua mzee sana kuoa!" she yelled, jabbing a hoof at Daring.
"Woah lady, whatever you two have goin' on there, I don't want any part of it," Daring said in her own defense.
The strange mare continued her very colorful rant to the zebra stallion for a few minutes, all the while Timur simply stood there and took it. On occasion his cheeks would bloom red, and other times he would cringe from the ferocity of his tongue lashing. Eventually the mare lost her steam, even having to stop and catch her breath. Shaking off the rage, she threw her head high and exited the hut.
As soon as she left, Daring poked Timur with a hoof. The stallion stood stiff as a board, hardly feeling Daring. "Um, call me a bit of an eavesdropper, but who in Tartarus was that?"
Timur licked his lips, trembling slightly. "That...was the princess of the Din'Jaro. She and I do not get along very well. If it isn't clear by now, the Din'Jaro rescued us and brought us back to their village." The curtain parted again, the mare entering once more, but this time with a bulky stallion who had the look of a warrior.
The warrior walked up to Timur, raising a hoof and punching Timur square in the jaw. Timur recoiled from the hit, working his tongue over a tooth to see if it had been loosened any. "Still punch like a gorilla, Zitali. And I say with all humility that I deserved that one," Timur said to the other stallion as he stood up.
"Our argument is square, not so much for my sister over there," the stallion known as Zitali said as he nodded to his sister.
Timur stood in his own defense. "Zitali, I will explain this one more time. My father sent me to Equestria, and there I stayed until I learned everything....and now you see I am back." While the stallions argued in various languages, the strange mare approached Daring and motioned for her to sit down.
"I am sorry you had to see that, but you and I must have a little chat," the mare said to Daring as she inspected her bandages.
Daring winced as the zebra prodded at her sore wings. "Who are you?"
Satisfied with the condition of her bandages, the zebra sat down next to Daring on the bed. "My name is Zecora of the Din'Jaro tribe. And to what name do you ascribe?"
Daring held out a hoof. "Daring, Daring Do," she tried to think of a title. "Of Equestria."
Zecora stared oddly at her hoof before taking it. "I have heard tales of an angel of gold. I believed them hopeful myths to be told. Is it true you come from the pony land, where the Sun Daughter rules with a fair hand?"
Daring raised an eyebrow. "Sun Daughter?" she asked inquisitively. "Oh! You must mean Princess Celestia. Yeah, I actually live in Canterlot, I've met the Princess once or twice. She actually sent me here."
Zecora sat stunned, a wide smile coming up her face, her eyes sparkling with wonder and admiration. "You have met the Daughter of Yeye? Tell me everything, please do say!"
Daring rubbed her neck with a hoof. "Well, there isn't much to say. I mean, she's the Princess and ruler of Equestria." Zecora's childlike eagerness kept her going. "And she raises the sun every morning. I've seen her in person many times. She's really tall, with fur as white as snow and a mane that has many colors that all flow like a soft wind is blowing through them. She's wise, really wise. And they say she's immortal. Here, I think I can draw her for you." Daring searched around for her pack, finding it on a small table. The stallions had moved their argument outside, giving the mares some quieter room to speak.
Pulling out her notebook, Daring turned to a fresh page and began to sketch Princess Celestia from memory. Her first memory of the Princess in fact. As a little filly, she and her mother had traveled from Hoofington to Canterlot to see Princess Celestia raise the sun for the Summer Sun Celebration. She remembered how enamored of the beautiful Princess she had been, how regal and graceful each movement seemed to be. Capturing her flowing mane on paper turned out to be harder than she believed, but it still turned out great. After around an hour of Zecora waiting patiently while Daring enjoyed her hobby, she presented her sketch.
Passing the notebook to Zecora, the zebra mare was awestruck. "Truly a beautiful sight, so much grace and so much might."
While Zecora took in the detail of the sketch of the Princess, Daring finally gave in to curiosity. "So Zecora, what is the deal between you and Timur?"
Zecora set down the notebook, snorting at the mention of the stallion. "Tell me, why do you travel with that warthog? He is a miscreant and worthless Gochano dog."
"He's my guide, we came here to stop N'dutu. But you still haven't answered my question."
The zebra sighed. "There is more to this than you presume. Timur was meant to be my groom."
Daring's eye twitched, the corners of her mouth trembling with contained mirth. "Hehe.....HAHAHAHAHA!!" Daring wailed in laughter. It all made so much sense! Timur was the prince of the Gochano, Zecora is the princess of the Din'Jaro, and Timur got cold hooves and bolted! She rolled on the ground with belly shaking laughter, giggling so hard that she began to snort. That was his big, scary, dark secret? "HAHAHAHA!" she nearly screamed.
After a minute, Timur poked his head past the curtain. "What is so funny in here?" He met the smug gaze of Zecora, sitting on her bed as Daring rolled with laughter. "Oh damn it, you told her didn't you?!"
Zecora nodded with a touch of smugness. "Yes I did, ngiri."
"Don't you call me that, cow! Learn to speak a civilized language! All I hear from you, Zecora, is 'moo moo moo'!" Timur barely dodged a strange vial of potion as it whizzed past his head. The stallion stuck out his tongue at the mare before ducking back out.
Daring had to breathe hard to recover from her bout of the giggles. Wiping her eye with a hoof she asked the zebra mare, "What did you call him there, Zecora?"
Zecora glanced at Daring out of the corner of her eye, smiling. "I called him 'warthog', it always puts him in an angered fog."
Daring gave Zecora's shoulder a friendly pat. "I can tell this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship. Now how do you pronounce that word exactly?"
Zecora leaned her head back and laughed with her new friend.
*********************************************
After a few hours Zecora decided her charge had enough strength to go out and stretch her legs. Daring learned with a mild amount of annoyance that it had taken Zecora two days and her best medicines and potions to bring her back from the precipice of death. With Daring leaning on her as they walked to the curtain door to Zecora's hut, the zebra mare pulled open her cloth door.
Daring was greeted by a sight more wondrous than Canterlot perched on the side of a mountain or Cloudsdale drifting through the sky. "Watch your step and keep avast, one false move could be your last," warned Zecora. The boughs of a massive tree surrounded the hut, bridges of planks and ropes connecting all the huts of the Din'Jaro village. Looking down, Daring saw it was only a sixty to eighty foot drop to the ground, but it was not the drop that amazed her.
The entire Din'Jaro village lay in the boughs of a titanic tree. Hearth and candle lights flickered through the open windows of huts formed from the living wood of the tree, some perched on precarious branches, others emerging from the heart of the great trunk. A spiraling walkway led down to the ground, zebra farmers, warriors, crafters and even children walking among the boughs of the great baobab tree with grace and practice.
Zecora walked with Daring around her home, Daring's eyes trying to see in every direction at once. Vials of potions and gourds of liquids hung suspended from many branches, ready and available for anypony to use. The thunk of her hooves on the wooden planks of the rope bridges and platforms seemed deafened by the songs of birds and the laughter of the tribe's children as they played on the skinny branches and down below on the ground.
"Wow," Daring said under her breath. "What is this place?"
Zecora smiled as she replied. "Nyumbani, the tree of homes. A place of rest for one who roams."
Daring noticed that Zecora seemed to be walking her somewhere, instead of just escorting her. "Where are we going?"
"To see the chief of my clan, and find your place in Yeye's plan." Again with that strange name. These zebra seemed to toss it around like ponies said Princess Celestia's name in times of vain. Coming closer to the great hut that sat at the center of the crown of the tree, the zebra there took on more mystical and mental roles in their community. At least three young stallions balanced head down on top of a carefully balanced pole, facing the afternoon sun and sending their prayers to the spirits. The closer they got to the chief's hut, the more ritual masks and ceremonial fetishes hung from the branches.
The pair of red tunic warriors at the entrance bowed to Zecora, allowing her entrance and audience with the high chief of the Din'Jaro. Walking under the ornately patterned rug that served as a door, Daring beheld a large, circular room. Despite the heat, a fire crackled heartily in a brazier in the center, and just beyond the flickering flame sat the High Chief in a throne of living wood. The zebra that sat there looked ancient and decrepit, his striped fur wrinkled all over his face and his head slumped forward onto his chest.
Zecora escorted Daring in front of the throne, setting her injured charge down and walking over to the throne. Bowing before her chief, Zecora took her place next to him. Leaning over, she whispered into his ear. The ancient zebra lifted his head, murmuring something that Daring could not hear. Zecora spoke for him. "Father says, 'Who comes before me in such dark time, whose actions the Nyika say with a chime?"
Father? Well, Zecora was the princess after all. Daring licked her lips, preparing herself mentally. "Greetings, oh mighty one. I am Daring Do, agent of Princess Celestia and seeker of artifacts."
Zecora nodded and relayed the message to her father's ear, whispering it in Din'Jaro. The extremely aged zebra croaked back to his daughter. "And what would the servant of the Sun Daughter ask of us?"
"You know of the threat in your lands. N'dutu comes to destroy your nation, and after he is finished with you, he will march on my home as well, with the whole world in his sight. I simply ask for guidance. N'dutu seeks the Eyes of the Demon, and if I get them before he does, I can keep them safe in Equestria."
Zecora went pale in the face, the mention of the Eyes making her nervous in the presence of the chief. Trembling, she relayed her message. The chief snapped out of his torpor, lifting his head. "Macho ya Pepo!" he said as loud as he could. Daring stared at his face, only now seeing the pair of vertical scars that ran over his milky white eyes. The chief was as blind as a bat, yet he seemed to know Daring's position, even smelling the scent of her sudden fear. He went on in Din'Jaro, angrily ranting to Daring as Zecora stood by.
"Father says, 'None yet have proven themselves worthy of Grinwa's Promise. I know where they are, but only those who have been judged to be pure of heart may seek them. Even I am not pure enough to make the journey, but I am burdened with the knowledge of it, and so I have blinded myself. The Eyes must be kept safe from the world at all costs, even if it means the death of my people.'" The chief returned to a more dignified rest, then whispered again to Zecora. The mare nodded her head, then turned back to Daring. "Sorry, he says, 'The world must be kept safe from the Eyes at all costs.'"
"What do I have to do to get the knowledge? If you tell me how to get there and maybe what to expect, then I can save tens of thousands of lives from death and slavery," Daring said to the chief.
This time Zecora did not confer the message to the chief, instead calmly replying to the pegasus herself. "Your heart must be weighed by the greatest of spirits. And if you are worthy, the legend of the Eyes shall you hear."
Despite the pain of her wings and the soreness of her legs, Daring stood before both zebra. "What do I have to do, huh? Slay a dragon? Rescue some helpless pony in distress? Donate all my money to charity? What do I have to do to prove myself pure to you guys? Please, just tell me what I have to do!"
"Only a god may judge your heart, Ms Do." Timur walked into the throne room, taking a spot next to Daring. "Anypony else's judgement would be flawed by mortality."
Another, deeper voice interrupted Timur as Zitali followed him in. "And only the bloodline tribes may be tested! Any other would easily be bested. This pony thinks she knows how we should fight, but she has only her own goals in sight." Zitali walked to the throne and took the other side of his father.
Timur stamped a hoof at Zitali. "There is no tradition that only the blood of Talib may seek the Eyes, only those who bear his blood have been bold enough to do so!"
"KIMYA!" the ancient chief shouted, slamming a hoof down on the arm of his throne. All of the zebra present cringed at offending the High Chief. "Moja hii inaweza kuwa tu kile Yeye alimtuma hatimaye kuondoa yetu ya laana Macho." The chief waved a hoof at Daring, somehow knowing exactly where she sat. Zecora and Zitali stared stunned at their father's declaration.
On the Chief's right hoof, Zitali bore his teeth in a scowl, on his left Zecora nodded to her father before relaying the message. "He says, 'This one may have been sent by Yeye as a champion to finally rid us of the curse of the Eyes. What harm could come for an outsider to try what we are too afraid to do?"
Zitali burst out in rage, stomping his hooves so hard that a decorative mask fell off the wall. "I forbid this outsider from profaning our most sacred rite! Only zebra of a bloodline tribe deserve that right!"
"Then I adopt her."
The entire hall had gone silent, everypony staring silently at Timur. Standing proud and tall, even the guards at the entrance holding their mouths agape at Timur's declaration of adopting Daring. Shaking herself out of incredulity, Zecora relayed her message. The Chief listened intently, then nodded.
"Father says, 'If this be the will of the spirits, then I shall allow this. Be warned, Daring Do, not many survive the ritual.'"
*****************************************
Daring walked with Timur back to Zecora's hut, the sun setting on the distant horizon. All around the pair, the creatures of night began to emerge from their daytime hiding. The flicker of lightning bugs among the branches endowed an otherworldly quality as the pair sat in front of their host's hut.
Timur stared out at the setting sun with a grim and dour look. She considered what he had done, sticking his neck out for her like that. "Thanks," Daring said to the guide.
His eye drifted over to Daring, concerned for her. "It should not be you, Ms Do. You have no idea what kind of danger I have put you in. Yeye is not known for being gentle with those she deems unworthy of her favor. I should be the one to risk myself."
Daring rolled her eyes, groaning at the zebra. "You guys like to toss that name around, who is this 'Yeah-Yeah' person and when do I meet her so I can get the stamp of approval?"
Timur sat in mild shock. "Daring, Yeye is not of this realm. Yeye is a god, an immortal spirit that is everywhere and in everything."
"Woah woah, a god? You guys are some kind of cultists?!" Daring suddenly looked on her guide in a new light, as if the signs hadn't been clear enough. As a part of her adventures, encountering cults worshiping snake gods and demon gods was nothing new, but the treatment she received from them was always a thorn in her side. Being ritually sacrificed was not something she wanted to go through again.
"We are not cultists, Daring Do. Yeye is not a god that demands praise like the false ones of the cults. She simply asks of us to see the harmony of all things, and the bond between all creatures of this world. And tomorrow night, when we perform the ritual, it is Yeye we ask to judge your soul. Now rest, for tomorrow, you seek favor higher than any chief or shaman."