Cali’s Journey of Discovery

The novel that Alban Lake has accepted for publication is called Cali; A Journey of Discovery.

Cali is an Atlan. But even among this race of unusual women, Cali is... unusual. She could pass for an Outsider.

Cali has brown hair. Unheard of for an Atlan.

Cali has brown eyes. Unheard of for an Atlan.

Cali has all three of her tribes’ birthmarks denoting power. Until her birth, each Atlan only had one.

No one knew what to think. It was reluctantly decided that birthmarks alone did not make her an Atlan, and she would be sent to her father as a child, as if she were male. As that day grew near, an aunt overheard Cali tell her playmates that ‘bad men’ were coming, and turned to find the girl had white hair and blue eyes, which quickly returned to brown.

Further testing revealed that Cali had all 27 Atlan powers, which she could call up by having her hair and eyes change to the correct colors, and tying them to the requisite birthmark. But training her was difficult, because no one else had to choose which power they would use; they only had one. And she was already late starting her training; trying to learn 27 disciplines put her further and further behind.

As a young woman, Cali accompanied two small children on a trip to the Outside. She had not completed her training, but she was both a BlackBird (warrior) and a Watcher, so she was chosen. However, Cali was not always a BlackBird, nor a Watcher. She never spoke of what was done to her, but she brought the children’s mutilated bodies back to her village for burial before she set off to find the men responsible. Blackbirds wanted to go, but the Doves told them she must do this on her own.

Sidek found her in a flooded river, and pulled her to safety. Uncertain she’s ready to continue traveling, he tagged along with her. For some reason, she didn’t object.

During this journey, Cali discovered far more than she ever wanted to know about the Outside world. Sidek discovered far more about the Atlans as a whole than he did about her. But when the trek was finally over, it was Sidek who helped a sick and weary Cali get home.

This story does stand on its own, although I have started the next story, where Cali and Sidek travel again the next year. And there may be a third story after that. We’ll see.