Chapter 12
Amaru had to move fast to persuade the people that her baby was not beautiful since perception is peculiarly subject to initial establishment. Despite having only recently given birth, she got ready to leave the house and took her child with her, strapping her to her back. She felt like her eyes were heavy, dragging, rolling them around in the sockets stung a little and her nose was reaching peak sensitivity. She had the remnants of a fever but felt physically strong so Amaru disregarded her body calling because when it comes to perception time really is of the essence. She had some warm, almost boiling water near her and took a couple gulps and felt heat surging through her, making her body tingle at various points. The liquid seemed to bypass her stomach and was only felt in her skin in a wave. She enjoyed the sensation for a moment; a curious sensation of cold chills washed by irrepressible, burgeoning internal heat, an insane pleasure that she had experienced before, that made her shiver, that bizarrely made her look forward to fevers. Amaru felt the pleasure of nostalgia because she was reminded of when she was younger when she used to be sick, how her parents used to take care of her, watching as the big blanket descended upon her, feeling comforted, listening to their sweet coddling words of how the fever flush made her so pretty - lies. Amaru walked out with quicker steps.
On one side of the mountain was a river that came down from the top of the mountain. A river that was almost completely transparent which ended in a lake about an hour's walk from the mountain. But just at the foot of the mountain where the water was still river, a large part of the mountainous village was congregated. It was there that a meeting ground was established for Heaven's bridge since the ledges were not big enough to welcome a large group.
Amaru hurried over, down the white staircase, past the ledges where her neighbours resided, down to the river where most of the women and children of the village were sitting and playing together. Though she had seen this sight before, the contrast between the children and adults arrested Amaru momentarily. All the women had sagging, vexed faces like insomnia spread like a disease, leaving marks physically and spiritually, while the children either looked bored or delighted. She watched one of them whizz by her holding something, running towards the river, a smile illuminating his face.
'You better not smile,' whispered Amaru as she turned around to her baby. She was asleep. 'No. This can't be the most beautiful girl in this village,' said Amaru to herself, as she glanced at her baby. 'But maybe I should have put a mark on her just in case…too late now.'
'Amaru,' called out one portly lady, sitting by the river with a group of other women. 'Up so quickly after giving birth? Shouldn't you be resting still?'
'Oh no friend. I'm fine,' replied Amaru standing still in front of them, breathing heavily. The virus that she had had blocked her nose, making it difficult to breathe. 'I can't be in that room all day. My grandmother would be disappointed in me if I stayed in bed longer than a day after childbirth.'
Amaru unwrapped the baby from her back, and sat down with the other women.
'And you brought your newborn too,' said another woman who, like some of the other women, was braiding the hair of her son.
'She's nothing like my other ones,' sighed Amaru in a show of melancholy. 'Now we will have to try and get a new one quickly because I'm getting too old. Kids need brothers and sisters to play with.'
'There's lots of kids for other kids to play with.'
'I mean in the home. When they're young, around the same age. '
'Why did you wait so long?' asked the woman as she tightened her son's hair strands, making him flinch and grimace. 'Sorry, did I hurt you, baby?'
The child mumbled something indistinguishable.
'It just never happened. Me and Maita have always been together over the years, regularly so, but I never fell pregnant, not till there was some ten years difference. It's curious how the children came out ten years apart.' Amaru furrowed her brow as she wondered at the coincidence, making her deep, red bags disappear. 'Every ten years when it's time for sacrifice I have a child and every ten years mine is chosen. The timing is breath-taking.'
'You were on a streak. Two out of two chosen to be the sacrifice has to be a record. I wish fortune favoured me like she favours you but really I'd rather you continued the pattern. There's nothing more satisfying than seeing a pattern play out.' She saw the child clearly now and gasped - in an exaggerated manner if you asked Amaru. 'But this one is even more-'
'She's worse in every way,' Amaru cut her off. 'Maybe it's your boy's time,' she added with a high pitched voice as she stroked the boy cheek whose hair was getting braided. A little five year old. 'He's really pretty.'
'He's too ugly dear,' said the woman as she jolted backwards. 'Everyone can see he wasn't graced with much. But your new one - the midwife did say -'
'The midwife?' repeated Amaru. 'What's she…has she been telling people -'
'Without a doubt yours is more beautiful than the last one,' interjected another woman. Another one who was also looking at Amaru's child agreed and she was beginning to think that it was a mistake to bring the baby. She should have spread verbal impressions first to sway the people, and then once entrenched in people's minds let her baby come out in the open.
From the river's upstream, a kid came up, soaked, running rather clumsily like he was trying to be careful. He was carrying a bowl with both hands. Once he reached the group that contained Amaru he exclaimed breathlessly:
'Mama. Look. See what I got!'
'What's that? And -' she felt the fabric of his shirt. 'Why are you wet?'
'I fell in the river. But -'
'You did what?'
The river had a strong current that could sweep a child like this clean away. The mother was horrified and felt like everyone who heard the boy, a visceral terror for the potential of child death. She pulled him closer as many of the other women came around the child wondering about his safety, wishing to make sure he was okay, wondering what had happened, how to prevent it from happening to their own children, to any child. There was visible outrage in all of them at the universe flirting with the possibility of killing a young child like this. He was around four.
'What were you playing around with? Didn't I tell you to be careful around that river?' 'Mother look. I got a fish. A small one.'
The kid who was shivering a little as he lifted the bowl higher. Amaru was sitting next to the child and reached over to brush his hair off his forehead.
'Your boy is beautiful. Especially the eyes. See how they shine? If this boy isn't the next sacrifice it would be an injustice.'
'God grant it. Would you like to be, sweetie?'
'Yea, but look at the fish. Look how weird it looks. I wanna keep it in my room.'
The fish now attracted attention. It was a strange looking fish, looking at first like a piece of rock, mostly light grey but dark in certain parts. If one looked closer one could tell it had fins and a wide face became visible. This was a Synanceia. A stone fish.
'But what kind of fish is it? I have never seen something like this before. I couldn't even see the face at first.'
'Take it, take it,' said the boy suddenly.
The urgency made the woman take the bowl, staring in perplexity at her son who was making the oddest movements. He started to jump around, waving his slack hands up and down, gawking like a raven, hopping on one foot, then the other. He was still in a state in confusion, sensed that something was wrong with him but didn't know how to react. After a couple moments he figured out what it was and when he realised he knew what to do. The boy stood completely still and then started screaming.
Chapter 13
Lana and Maita were walking towards Heaven's Bridge with each of them carrying a heavy looking sack on their backs. The sacks contained grains that each family in Heaven's Bridge sowed and reaped on their little farms not far from the mountain. They had to go through the forest where the mushrooms were collected to get back home, a forest that had tall and thin trees like bamboos.
'My eyes must be going,' said Lana, scouring the forest foliage above him. 'Or maybe I never had eyes to begin with. All the times I have been here I have never seen a single mushroom. Is this really where they get that from?'
'Maybe if you look on the forest floor instead of tree tops you might see some. Mushrooms don't grow on tree branches.'
Lana laughed and through his laughter shouted in mock indignation:
'I looked everywhere from the floor to the ceiling - and even the insides of some of these trees, seeing if the wasps might be stashing the mushrooms in their little holes to liven up their pallette. I couldn't find a single one.'
'Is honey and mushroom a good mix?' asked Maita bemusedly.
'It may be. If I could find some to combine the two I might be able to tell you. But it seems I'm not to find any with these eyes.'
He kicked a fallen leaf, stopped for a moment to look at what it had covered. There was nothing but small, broken branches. He followed Maita again.
'Those mushrooms can't be found unless you were trained to find them. Only a few people in the village have the ability nurtured in them.'
'I wanted to see if I was a natural talent.'
'At finding mushrooms?'
'At finding things that I'm not allowed to see.' He sighed exaggeratedly. 'But I'm not ordained to break tradition, I guess. Not by the universe anyway. Or maybe the ability hasn't been awakened just yet. At least something about me stays asleep. Haha.'
'I have other things to worry about than whether or not I'm naturally gifted at finding mushrooms.'
'Finding things that I'm not allowed to see,' said Lana to correct him. 'And who knows what would happen when I do.'
'Either way, it's better for you to not be gifted. I don't know why you mention criminality to me.'
They walked in silence for a couple moments breaking the last branches under their feet before they cleared the forest. Lana then said in a low voice coated with irony:
'I may have no natural gifts but I'm glad you do, one that gives you honour. How do you keep making beautiful sacrifices to watch over Heaven's Bridge?'
Maita's side of the mouth twitched.
'What's the matter? Aren't you proud of being gifted like this ?'
'It's just…strange,' said Maita carefully. 'How can two people like us keep getting children of this nature? The first one made me think there was another father. But she swore it wasn't the case and I believed her, reserving judgement until the second child. The second one confirmed her as telling the truth, since it came out exactly like the first and no affairs have ever lasted for ten years. And now we have a third one. And this one too is like her sisters.'
Lana let out a short, incredulous laugh.
'That really is special. A true talent, having kids that look nothing like you. Just know that my happiness is inexpressible, just like my gratitude. The sacrifices will only give us good fortune.'
'Why don't you get a baby too and see if I can't get the pleasure of saying the same thing to you?'
'I can't even sleep by myself. How can I subject those nights to other people? It would be selfish to do that to her…I only had three hours last night. My usual.'
'I had one hour of sleep. Everyone has those problems.'
'Oh. Do they? And why is that?'
'Who knows why,' answered Maita vexed at being diverted to an old topic. 'It's been going on so long. Maybe it's the location. This is the only place that has the sun and the moon in the sky at the same time and the same distance from us.'
'I feel like there's something heavy over us, something that's weighing us down that's responsible. Something we can't see, not at least, with these eyes. I think we need to find a way to see differently. '
'We are born with only two eyes. We can't get other eyes to see with. All we can see is what we're allowed to see.'
Lana shrugged.
'Maybe so. The sacrifice is happening soon. We will see what new fortune will come our way.'
'You'll never know true pride until you've made a sacrifice.'
'Seems like the pride doesn't come with much joy, looking at you.'
Maita stopped walking and turned to face Lana directly.
'I am happy -'
'Are you ?'
'I am proud -'
'What's pride worth without joy?'
'Pride still, even if it is mixed with fury.'
