“Aneh,” he chuckled, “When have I ever not told you the truth?”
“Probably most of the time,” Olei said with a smirk.
“I promise, I’m telling you the truth now. He said I needed some more time for thinking and working, time to grow up and mature. At first I wanted to argue with him and prove him wrong. But then I thought some more. It doesn't sound that bad to wait for a woman. It will give me time to play around, get nagged by our mother some more, ogle pretty girls at the market…”
“That’s likely what will happen,” I said cheekily. Though my tone was teasing, I was proud of my brother – for seeking Rhys, for accepting his reading and searching for the best. Contented, I relaxed back in the water and stared up at the sky, lazily holding hands with Olei.
Fall was coming soon. It was evident in the relaxing evening air, tired and lazy from so many hot days. Fall meant harvest and hard work, but life was intensely satisfying. No longer would we be confined to the shade during the day.
The pockmarked face of the moon was just peeking over the red cliffs as we finished walking home. Olei and I swung our hands back and forth to match the heavy steps of our happy feet. Yakeh was well ahead of us, running to try and catch Mana and Kai when he noticed a stray goat. “Oi!” He yelled and pointed.
“Why do they always want to get out?” Olei asked the sky.
“Probably because you keep them next to your outhouse! Ha ha!” Yakeh laughed loud and clear before taking off in a trot towards the fence.
Lucky for us it was not too late and most of our goats were not very clever. We herded them back in, even the aggressive young billy, who went with some resistance. I went to check on the chickens as the boys went for the fence. They set about fixing it as I collected several eggs from my fat hens. The rooster threatened me with his spur, so I tossed a little pebble at him. Humbled, he sped away. I turned out of the coop just in time to see the billy catch my brother square in the buttocks with his little horns, throwing Yakeh forward on his face and knocking over Olei at the same time.
Yakeh was reeling in laughter but I sprinted over. Olei was clutching his ankle and making noises that were somewhere between winces and laughs. Light from the house grew stronger as Khati burst out and came running to the mess.
“Yakeh, that goat made you look like the fool you are,” I grumbled, crouching by Olei and asking what happened.
“I think my foot went into that hole there,” he pointed to a vermin’s hole and some rocks. “After that I heard my ankle crack, but it all happened so fast.”
“Brother,” I forced authority into my voice, “I need you to quit rolling around and either mend the fence or help me take Olei in.” He sobered up immediately and got to his feet.
“Wait, I can still help,” Olei said. I had come to find he was the type to sacrifice himself for others, even if it wasn’t necessary.
I looked at him and cocked my head. “I don’t think so.”
"Oooh, stern woman. Just my kind," Olei tried to joke but his face was twisted in pain.
At this point Khati had caught the billy and was returning him to the pen. I showed her Olei’s foot, which was swelling remarkably. We left Yakeh and Deins to mend the fence.
Back inside we could see Olei’s foot was getting bigger and uglier as we spoke. He would not be walking much for the next few weeks.
“I’m sorry I got hurt Aneh,” He said apologetically.
I smoothed back his hair and kissed his brow. “It’s not your fault. It was dim and that billy is always dying to prove himself. We’re lucky his horns aren’t any bigger, otherwise we might have more dire wounds to tend to.” I got a smile from him as Khati nodded. “I won’t mind doing your chores for a while.” I added.
“Oh, I can still do my chores,” he offered.
“No.” Khati and I said simultaneously.
“Well son, you’ll be alright. It’s not your heart or your head.” Deins patted his belly as he walked in. “I’ll have you a nice set of crutches in no time.”
“Yakeh you better get yourself home,” Khati interjected. “Borrow a mule to ride. I’d rather only one nice young man get injured tonight.”
“Even if Yakeh got hurt, there’d still only be one nice young man to get injured tonight,” I said through a smile. Yakeh pretended to scoff. My new family had welcomed my silly brother with wide open arms. I was glad—in so many ways Yakeh’s presence was a comfort. He claimed to be there only on the off chance he might get to flirt with Ive, but I knew he came because he missed me.
Olei kissed me sweetly as I helped him into bed that night. Heavy lidded from a drink or two of wine, he pulled me into his arms, “Oh Aneh, you are so wonderful.”
I let myself be held in his safe embrace until it slackened and he was asleep. “I love you,” I whispered.
It took Olei a few days to adjust to life without a left foot. The crutches his father had made helped him move swiftly and with surprising agility. I had to alter my routine to help with Olei’s injury. I liked the change though I seemed to work constantly. The weather had gone from terribly hot to wonderfully mild. The heat from the day lingered long enough into the night, however, to make for pleasant stargazing on the porch.
I was out moving the goats one morning when I saw my father coming down off the road towards the house. Without thinking, I ran to him in a way that made me realize just how much I missed him. Our embrace was tight, quick, and loving.
It didn’t happen often, but Papa was full of gossip and stories. The night before he had caught a traveler trying to steal bread from the back porch. Wanting to help more than hurt and spurred by curiosity, Papa offered him some food, a bit of shelter, and hot lemon water. He said the man spilled out his story like he’d been waiting to tell it. He had come from Guila, an eastern land past Saansanti and all its many border towns. Hard times and illness had fallen on his lands and family. He traveled as a last resort to Remiste in search of the Goddess Ameya. They say she was born from some of the first waters of the earth and had incredible healing powers. In other lands people believed she was the Unmarked One, the embodiment of the Elements.
“That wasn’t what troubled me, though,” father had said. The man had brought rumors from Saansanti, rumors of an unwanted kind.
I knew very little about Saansanti except that it was far away and supposedly a greatly religious and powerful city. I knew that the Saans worshiped all five Elements and the five great men who embodied the elements and the Unmarked Ones.
Here in Koyote, we really only worshipped two elements, Kote and Aether, earth and heaven, and we didn't spend too much time demonstrating our faith. We tried to live in harmony with the earth as much as possible and we sometimes looked to the heavens for guidance, as when Rhys read the stars for pairings.
Our village's namesake was for Kote, but as far as I cared that was all we had in common with the Saans. In Koyote, we didn't believe that the men could really compare to, much less embody, an Element or the Unmarked Ones. I'd heard one or two Koyotes say that it is blasphemy to compare a human to the Unmarked Ones. Humans are but little animals with clever minds and short lives, that's all. We are not spirits, we are not immortal.
The news was that the Saans had lost one of the five, SaanKote. Saans were very holy men, but they were mortal and they died like everyone else. The man said that the city was mourning the loss of the great one and that there were rumors they would be replacing SaanKote soon. He advised our village to take care, in case the Saans came this way. He cautioned us that as well as looking for a new SaanKote they might be looking for young men to take as underlings, too.
“What’s an underling?” I asked.
“I believe they are servants of the Saans and also Saans themselves. Like helpers,” Papa said.
I was a little curious about this news but more preoccupied with what was for lunch. I stood around the kitchen, listening to Papa and Olei talk while I mindlessly cleaned.
&nb
sp; Olei was a lot like Papa in his reaction to things, perhaps that’s why I liked him all the more. Both seemed to process the news thoughtfully and optimistically.
“I can’t imagine that this news will affect us very much. It might simply be more gossip spreading from a far off city that we have nothing to do with,” Olei said.
“I have to admit I am a little unsettled, the man seemed so nervous and agitated. It’s possible he saw something that he didn’t tell me.” My father frowned.
“Have you told Rhys yet, Papa?” I asked.
“No, he was out when I called this morning. I'd be curious to hear his thoughts on the matter. He once was part of the Saans you know.”
Everybody knew that Rhys was a foreigner, not just in the way that he looked – he was shorter and his features were more pointed – but also in the way he talked. He was more educated than anyone else and often used words the ears of Koyote had never heard before. I was glad that Rhys was here, in Koyote, with us. He had taught us to read books, to think carefully, and not to believe everything we're told.
A Koyote Story, from the Old Ones
After the Great Flood, the brothers were separated from one another by the widest of oceans, distances farther than the heaven from the highest rocks. Kote wandered the lands, making his peace with the Earth, speaking with the animals and learning the plants' names. Kote listened and saw. People began to talk of his ways and ask him for advice. The townspeople brought him gifts and sought out his wisdom though he lived in a little cave on the side of the desert hill with nothing to his name but his peacefulness and his calm harmony with the Earth.
Kote lived hundreds of years on the hill, his messages to the people he did not speak, only showed. Kote did not preach or pray, he did not beg or demand. Kote lived quietly and thoughtfully, careful not to take what was not his or leave traces of where he had been. He was like the Unmarked Ones so much that the people began calling their village for him and changed their ways to be more like him.
All of the Elements were important to Kote, not just his namesake Earth, but the heavens, the water, the wind and fire. The people revered them too, careful to read the heavens, keep the water clean, let the wind blow and yield to the fire. Kote did not believe he was one of the Unmarked Ones for he had a name, a face and humility. The people saw this was so, and treated him well and fair and sought to live as he lived.
Chapter 8
Yossinda
"Yossy, you have to come see this!" Yeidi grabbed my arm and was dragging me through the Keep's kitchens. I had so much to do and didn’t want to accompany her, but I didn't fight back. She pulled me up the stairs and into the great hall, through masses of people waiting to see the King and Queen and profess their love or make small claims that usually went ignored. From the great hall we exited through the few stoic guards that protected the entrance to the Keep. Yeidi charged into the commons, the gathering area in the inner city that separated the Keep from the Citadel.
There, working its way through the commons was a large, elaborately decorated parade of people. Exotic creatures and painted people walked next to the caravan, they spoke in a tongue I couldn't recognize and tied their dark thick hair up in knots and ribbons.
"Oh my, goodness," was all I could say.
"Isn't it amazing! I heard these are people from the far far east, they say they traveled over seas to get here, to pay their respects to the Saans and visit the Domi.”
A man with a painted blue body rode on top of a horse. Gold beads decorating his horse’s mane shimmered and danced in the sun.
“I bet that's not the only reason they came here though," Yeidi said, gossip in her voice.
"What do you mean? Those are both respectable reasons for coming here," I replied.
"Oh Yossy you can be so daft. Why would a people travel thousands of miles just to say 'Sorry a Saan is dead,' or visit some King and Queen?"
"Because the Saans speak the truth, they represent everything that is wonderful and powerful on this earth. I think that traveling far for what you believe in is commendable. You should be more respectful." Yeidi rolled her eyes in reply before adding more of her thoughtless opinions.
"Well, it's not as if they came to marry the Domi, those inbreeds. Frankly Yossy, I think there's more to this."
Just then a great brown creature they had brought reared up and bellowed loudly, thrashing its painted horned head against its captors. I gulped and ducked my head in fear even though it was half the commons away.
Loris, a greasy man from the kitchens who mainly dealt with meat poked his head between us, breathing like a sick and dirty cow.
"I've heard that the new SaanKote is in there," he whispered between yellowing teeth. Yeidi and I stared harder, hoping to peer through the doors of the great litters carried by the small brown people. The new SaanKote...I hadn't even thought of that.
"Or, maybe…” Loris rolled his eyes up at us and grinned. “…It's a great warrior, come to chop of your heads!"
"You stupid ass," Yeidi said, "Saansanti has too much power and money. There's no other city on Earth that could fight us and win."
"Do you really think it's the new SaanKote?" I wondered out loud.
"Ladies I know you think me stupid, but it's what everyone's saying, that the new Saan has arrived."
I didn't know any better, and Loris seemed fairly serious so I believed him for the time being. It made sense that the new Saan would come.
"Yeidi have you heard anything in the Citadel about the new Saan?" She stood, absently chewing on some wax. She shrugged.
"They haven't told me anything more than just that there were some eastern people here. But I've been doing a lot of work for the few Saans that stay in the Keep most of the day. I like it better over there where the Domi are, there are more men, more wankers."
"Yeidi!" I scolded her under my breath. Loris probably had slept with Yeidi already, but I still didn't want us to seem indecent!
"So, did the new SaanKote come?" I asked over a meager evening meal of bread and cheese. Every few nights the family would all be together in our little house half way down the hill. I relished these times. Many nights Yeidi or I, sometimes even both of us, would have to sleep at the Keep. I never wanted to, but did it for work. Yeidi always wanted to, for work or for play.
"Oh, that," she answered with a mouth full of food, "This cheese has gone bad Father."
"Eat it anyway. It won't hurt you," Father answered. Our little brother ate greedily, snot dripping down his nose almost into his mouth.
"Don't eat so fast, Raini," I gently scolded, "Yeidi, what did they say?"
"Well, Katrine didn't really talk to me about it, but Asja said that these people had come to do some mourning. I guess they are part of the Saans too though I haven't ever heard of them. The Terrinites or Termatites or Ermites or something like that. They are supposedly Terro's people, windy people. She said something about replacing SaanKote too but I didn't really catch it all."
"Will there be a special blessing for them in the Blessing Yard?" My father asked.
"I don't know. Probably," Yeidi answered, disinterest spreading across her face. She had put her feet up against the table and was picking at her leg. I sat, legs crossed, and watched her disrespectful actions.
“Sometimes those blessings make the city too congested for my liking. Too many people, too many smells, too much emotion,” Father added.
“It’s a wonderful thing that so many people want to hear the Saans. We shouldn’t speak ill of them,” I added.
Ignoring me, Father leaned over to swoop up Raini, who had finished eating and was looking quite sleepy. "How's my little man," he said, "Do you want to hear some bedtime stories?"
"Oh, let's clean him up first," I made for the wash bin, taking extra time to study Yeidi.
"I'm going out," Yeidi said.
"Don't you have to go to the Citadel again tomorrow? It's not a holiday."
"I know," she re
plied.
"Wouldn't it be better to stay here and get some sleep? It's safer and I won't worry for you."
"No, I'm going. I don't want to be here tonight."
I didn’t reply. I really didn't want her to go and I thought she was stupid for wanting to, but I was powerless. My father wouldn't think twice to stop her, he hated arguing with anyone.
"I don't care what you think, Yossy. And you don't have to worry about me," she said without looking up from her leg.
I shook my head in reply, taking the wash bin to the next room with my brother.
My sister didn't come home that night. I lay awake listening for her footsteps or the creaking of a door. I felt myself flush with worry I saw her later the next morning in the courtyard, flirting with some young servants of the Domi. She had dark spots on her neck, the kind you get from a lover.
Chapter 9
Aneh
Weeks passed with no news from afar. We settled back into our quiet lives enjoying sunsets and making simple meals.
On a day perhaps three weeks later, a light zephyr pushed fallen leaves onto the patio where Olei was shucking beans and peas. Out in the yard, I called for Mana and he didn’t come. Much later, as I was weeding near the ditch, I found him and a pile of black tarry vomit.
Mana was breathing and had a steady, if slow, heart beat. I put my head on his abdomen to listen to the rise and fall of his body. He whimpered a little in his sleep, but didn't respond when I shouted his name or pinched the sensitive spot between his toes. He was completely sedated, like he had gotten into some of my monthly tea. Curious, I took a closer look at the pile of vomit.
To my stomach's horror, the black pile contained the distinct shape of some kind of fish. It looked, at least, like a fish, but its face was gaunt and seemed to ooze the black gunk that stuck to the ground and the edges of Mana’s lips. It stared right through me with cloudy pink eyes, blind and dead.
Almost an hour after finding Mana and carrying him back, I still couldn’t keep my insides from shivering and convulsing. I had been exposed to disgusting things before, but I had never encountered something so alien. When Olei asked me to find the fish I swallowed hard but went without fuss, believing I had already seen the worst. The crickets were silent, watching me walk though the fields towards the ditch. The sky felt warm and dirty.