by Zoha Kazemi
“I still believe such great changes could weaken us. We can’t change things like that overnight! People will be confused, not knowing which rules hold and which are omitted. It will be chaos! We should leave it for now and wait for the victory after the war. If we suffer many losses, we can more easily justify the new rule, saying that because we have lost many men the Saviour Ship encourages people to have more children, hence the change in the rules!” Mart justifies. But Akhgar seems more upset. He can’t argue with Mart’s logical reasons. Perhaps Mart shouldn’t show himself as the person who has all the answers. This smart and precise planning and thinking makes people scared. They might be right to be afraid. What Mart sees as his own vision of glory and victory is other people’s nightmare! His ideal future would mean the end for Akhgar and the Circle members. Akhgar looks down more worried than he was at the beginning of their conversation. Mart hopes he hasn’t spoken too much to make him feel despaired and less determined to give the war order. He looks down as well, trying not to say anything further. The sound of footsteps interrupts the heavy silence that has taken over the cabin.
A ghastly, young maid knocks and comes in. She addresses Mart, while she tries to catch her breath. Mart asks what has happened.
“The roof of the warehouse has fallen…the workers are trapped under the rubble…” she says with a shortened breath. Mart gets up and walks towards the door, cursing loudly.
Chapter 30
The sun is setting but there is still enough light in the sky, not to turn on the flashlights. Three guards have come down from the Parsana Ship to the platform. They check the ill passengers of the newly arrived boat and lead them up the ladder. Those who are too sick to walk have to wait for the stretcher to pull them up in turns. They tell each patient, the estimated cost of their treatment and the medicine, how long they need to stay and the cost of their accommodation. One of them looks at Lealy and tells her there is nothing they could do for her burn marks. Lealy knows that already but she doesn’t want to tell them why she is here. She had hid herself being a healer for the ten-day trip on the boat that was stretched three more days because of the heavy rains and storms. If they knew she was a healer, she had to tend to all the fifteen passengers on the boat and she couldn’t pull it off; these passengers were not just ill, they were incurable by all the healers of the lands and the ships, and they were going to Parsana in hope of some cure that could postpone their near death. One of them had died in the journey and his body was thrown into the sea. Lealy steps towards the ladder under the shower rain. She puts her right foot on the slippery steel step, being careful not to fall. Her right leg has big, red burn marks and wrinkled skin. She has lost a lot weight after the Oxan fire; still she can hardly pull her weight up the ladder. She is trying not to slip down the steel ladder steps, soaked with rain and she is also trying to hold on to her bag. She finally climbs up and steps onto the deck.
The Parsana healers are standing on the deck; they examine the ill passengers and choose their patients among them, leading them to their treating cabins. The oldest healer comes to Lealy. She looks at her burn mark that starts from under her right ear, spirals down her right side to her arm and stretches beneath her knee. She asks Lealy to open her mouth and looks into her throat with the help of a small torch that lights up Lealy’s mouth. She then takes Lealy’s palm and examines it closely. She shakes her head and repeats what the guard had already told her; they can’t help her with anything, she looks healthy enough to her and her burnt skin has healed well. She asks Lealy if she has any pains or problems that don’t show and Lealy says no. Ashid looks at her tear stained eyes and the burn mark again that seems like a snake moving down her body devouring her skin. The burn mark has destroyed the tattoo on her arm, making it unable to say whether she comes from sea or land. Ashid asks her to open her bag and show her its contents. Lealy shows the few bottles of medicine, a few folded cloths, a comb and a mirror, a leather band and a few papers.
“You are a healer-maid, aren’t you?” Ashid asks, and Lealy confirms. Ashid takes her away from the rest of the patients and tells her to follow her. They go towards the cabins. Lealy is glad to be under a roof, finally clear of the rapid raindrops that smashed on her face and bare shoulders. She exhales and her tears roll down her cheeks. She can’t believe the Parsana Ship really exists, but she’s happy in her heart that it does. She can finally track down Tirad. Ashid leads her to a guest cabin and gives her a towel and some dry clothes.
“There are so many sicknesses around here… We are used to them but you might catch them, especially with wet clothes,” Ashid says. Lealy thanks her.
“Have you come to stay? Or you just want to see Armina?” Ashid asks. Lealy is not sure. She had only heard of the Parsana Ship a few months back while she was being treated for her massive burns in Oxan by the hands of a healer that claimed to have been sent from Parsana to help the wounded refugees. She had heard the parallel narrative of the Saviour from the girl who was bandaging her face. She couldn’t talk at the time, being in a shock from the accident. But the kind healer had talked to her and had taken care of her. The Parsana healers had left Oxan very soon after they had tended to the wounded. It had taken many months for Lealy to finally find her way to this Ship. She had to work and save up coins and find a boat that would bring her here. The boats don’t leave directly for Parsana from Oxan and she had to go to another ship and wait for a boat that collected the patients for Parsana. No one would even talk directly about this ship, especially in front of Lealy who was a Saviour maid-healer.
Yet the news about Tirad spread like wind and the last place he was seen was here. She had heard Tirad had sailed to Atlan from Parsana. But something didn’t add up. She still can’t believe Tirad had started the fire. She had thought about the last days she had with Tirad for the last six months. He was troubled by something and when he said goodbye, he was raged and anxious. But he had said he was going back to the Saviour Island. Lealy blames herself. She had treated him badly and turned him away after the night on the boat when Mart wanted to rape her. But Tirad was troubled with some other thought, he was nervous and worried. Could it be because he had planned the fire? What does not make sense is that the fire had no benefit for Tirad. What good would come out of it for him? Maybe it was all Mart’s doing. But if it was, he wouldn’t send her to the harbour at the same night. No matter how cruel Mart was, he wouldn’t play with Lealy’s life like that. She had been drowned in these thoughts for too long, she can neither blame Tirad nor forgive him, the same goes for Mart. Yet she thinks again if the fire was not Tirad’s doing, why had he escaped? Why didn’t he stay and defend himself and help sort out the wretched situation? Why had he left her behind? She hopes to find new trails here and find out what had really happened.
“I’m looking for someone… I was told he was last seen here!” Lealy replies to Ashid’s question after a long pause.
“You need to see Armina then! Let me send a word,” Ashid answers and goes out. But Lealy asks her to stay. If Tirad had come to Parsana, this old woman must have seen him too. She wants to ask her first and then talk to the legendary Armina that the healers told mythical tales about.
“A few months back, after the Oxan fire… Did Tirad come here?” Lealy asks frankly. Ashid stands by the door and puts her hands around her waists. She doesn’t know whether to answer her or not.
“This ship is a sanctuary for all the Saviour Disciples who run away. But Armina didn’t take him in. She wasn’t sure if he was truly innocent or not… But why do you ask?” Ashid replies after a short pause. She then smiles as if she has read the history between Tirad and Lealy in a glance. She comes to her and sits on the bed by her side.
“You loved him, didn’t you? Only a lover would come searching for her lost love like this… So worried and desperate!” Ashid asks. Lealy looks down and doesn’t answer. She doesn’t know if this woman is a healer or a fortune-teller.
“Am I the first woman who has come loo
king for him?” Lealy asks trying to control her tears. Ashid smiles but it’s a bitter smile, more like a loose sneer.
“Tirad wasn’t alone!” she says. Lealy had heard Tirad was with two other people, one of them must have been Dalia from her weird specifications. But she didn’t know the man and that was one of the reasons she doubted Tirad’s innocence. He might have been innocent himself, but what about that man? She still doesn’t know how Dalia had gotten to Tirad. It seems to her that it was all planned ahead and she didn’t know about it. Lealy asks Ashid about the man and the girl that were with Tirad. Ashid tells her about Narivan’s deadly wound and Tirad’s marriage to the girl.
“How could it be? Tirad hadn’t known her for more than a week! How could he have told such a lie?” Lealy asks and drowns in her thoughts again, condemning Tirad to the worst crimes, from burning the refugee harbour to the disobedience of the Saviour Rules. He had betrayed her. She had confessed her love to him many times, asking him to leave the Saviour Ship with her but he had refused and his excuse was the redemption of the Saviour! Lealy hates herself and feels humiliated in front of Ashid. Tirad didn’t want her! The Saviour Rules were just an excuse to get rid of her… And now she has spent so much time and money to find him, belittling herself before this woman.
“How can you be so sure?” she asks desperately.
“I’m never wrong about such things! He was innocent of the Oxan fire, I’m sure about that, yet I had no way of proving it… But about the girl that looked so much like Armina, I’m sure they had slept together and know where ever he is, he is with her,” Ashid replies and gets up, leaving the room. Lealy tries to remember Dalia’s face more clearly. What could make her resemble someone else? She has to wait and see Armina. Yet she can’t believe that Dalia had betrayed her too! She had been kind to her, taken her in and had taught her how to treat people in a short time they had together. She had done all that to gain Tirad’s approval! She remembers the Saviour Ship’s deck when Dalia’s mother was beaten. Dalia had lied to her then. She should have never trusted her. Tirad should have never forgiven her, yet alone trust her with his life. She had thought by coming to the Parsana Ship she could order her thoughts and calm down, but she is more puzzled than ever, thinking about Tirad and Dalia sleeping together. She feels pity for herself and wipes the tear that has rolls down her eye. A man enters the room.
He introduces himself as Pejhan and takes Lealy with him. He says they have to climb down and go to the central boat. The guards hold up umbrellas for them, escorting them to the ladder. Pejhan tells Lealy about the floating bridge that they put up in the dry seasons. She listens with disinterest. But she has enough time while reaching the central ship to ask this man who says he is the chief of the eastern ship, first about Ashid then Tirad and at the end Armina. She wants to know whether Ashid’s words are reliable or not. And wants to have Pejhan’s account of Tirad coming to the ship and at the end she needs to know who to expect when encountering Armina. Pejhan confirms everything that Ashid had said and his account is similar to Ashid’s.
“How come no one questioned him about where he was going?” Lealy asks.
“We couldn’t let him stay but we knew he was innocent. That’s why we didn’t ask,” Pejhan replies, saying they did care to know but thought if the knowledge somehow leaked, it would put Tirad in danger. It was better not to know it at all! He doesn’t say much about Armina, probably wants Lealy to see for herself.
Armina is indeed like Dalia! She has no eyelashes and no hair! Even her lips and her hand gestures resemble her, she is just older. Armina gives her a warm welcome saying that Hurmaz had often talked about her in his letters. He had mentioned her as the best healer-maid the Saviour Ship ever had. She even says he had once written her a letter asking about the cure of a certain disease, a contagious illness that came with diarrhoea and vomiting. Lealy remembers it well! It was four years ago. Hurmaz hadn’t said anything about communicating with Armina, he had told her he had found the cure in one of the forbidden books: boiled mint and sugar! The Saviour Ship had spent a lot of money buying mint leaves and sugar from Atlan. Armina smiles and wants Lealy to say what she has come to say. Lealy faces down and starts telling her about her life and Tirad and their relationship on the Saviour Ship. She doesn’t know why she is saying these to her. But she feels unburdened by hearing her life story through her own voice. She wants her to know that she is on Tirad’s side and wants Armina to trust her and ask her to help find him. Armina listens carefully.
“I have heard that you are a seeress! Can you tell me where Tirad is? I need him to tell me himself that he was innocent… I need to hear it from his mouth!” Lealy finishes her story.
“I am not a seeress! There are no such peoples as seers or seeresses… Even Ashid who seems to read a person’s past and the future in one glance! This knowing comes from experience… When you have seen so many people, having heard their life stories, you can guess where they are going!” Armina replies in a calm voice. Lealy listens carefully, as Armina points to her.
“I can tell about you that even though you were devoted to the Saviour, you were willing to let it go for your love! But it is not the same anymore… You didn’t want to leave the Saviour Ship, somehow you feel like the Saviour has abandoned you! You are confused, feeling everyone has betrayed you. Your heart is broken!” Armina continues. Lealy is staring at her with opened mouth, accepting her words about herself. If these are not fortune telling, then what are they? Armina hadn’t seen her until a few minutes ago, how could she know her so well? But she is not here to know about herself and her future. Tirad’s fate is more important to her.
“Don’t be in a rush! We will get to Tirad. Even though you will never get to him. I doubt you ever leave this ship but you will find him in your heart and you will forgive him!” Armina says. Lealy objects saying she has no intention to stay there, she has come to find Tirad’s trail and go looking for him. Armina asks her to calm down and tells her about the documents that Hurmaz had sent her, the documents that prove the corrupted dealings of Mart and the Circle and their plan to assassinate Hurmaz.
“It is easy to make choices when we are at peace! You can even ignore it all and continue with your life without deciding whose side you’re on. But when the war starts, you will have to choose a side… You will have to kill or be killed! This will be your greatest challenge,” Armina explains. But Lealy doesn’t understand her. Armina talks about Hurmaz’s documents again; puts the pieces together and concludes that there is going to be a war soon.
“What did Tirad do with the documents?” Lealy asks.
“Nothing! He couldn’t do anything. He just escaped with his wife…probably to the ship that his wife had come from,” Armina replies. So, it was true! Dalia and Tirad were together and the only person who knew the name of Dalia’s ship was Lealy. She doesn’t say anything but needs to leave there soon and go to Avij. Tirad hadn’t gone to Atlan and the Saviour soldiers are wasting their time looking for him there, while he was hiding in one of the border ships all along.
“Tirad is no longer a disciple; he is a sea man now. I’m not sure how long he can survive the sea life. He doesn’t want to return, not yet anyway. He denies his strength and abilities. He is scared. But he too needs to pick a side soon. Going there to bring him back will not help; he is not ready yet. The sea still has a few more lessons to teach him. You need to wait for him to pass them… If he ever returns, it will be for you!” Armina continues.
“Why for me? You say he is married now!” Lealy asks and tears fill her eyes. She doesn’t know what she wants to hear from Armina. What words would sooth her aching heart? Maybe she hopes Armina would second-guess herself about Tirad’s marriage. She wants Armina to give her a sign, say something that would make her hopeful of finding Tirad, and give her a positive image of a future life with him.
“I did tell you to be patient! Let him go for now… Think of yourself and your future. You need to choose sides. You can choo
se to go back to the Saviour Ship or stay here for now. We welcome great healers like you and as the war breaks out, we are going to need more help… Take your time before you decide!” Armina finishes her words. Lealy gets up and thanks her. Pejhan is waiting for her outside the door. They go back to the eastern ship in a silence devoured by the rain.
Chapter 31
The Avij Ship and other nearby ships have been diving out the trees of the pre-rain Gilan forests for over two hundred years. For the past hundred years, Avij divers would freely go to the drowned cities of Tehrna, Rasht and Tabriz to mine and dive out iron, steel and other metals. But in the last five years, they are only allowed to dive on the great drowned cities according to their charters, given to them by Oxan. Tirad has accompanied the diving team of Avij on a diving mission over Tehran, part of Avij divers’ three month yearly allowance to dive on this city. It is his seventh diving trip and he is excited. Dalia had come with him on the first two trips but she had stopped diving since she was sure of her pregnancy, residing in Asin’s old boat by the Avij Ship. Tirad is still part of the search team, not the mining team. The search team has an easier job to do. They are usually two to three persons, sent down to the cities with thick long cables to look for valuable and usable things like electrical poles, aluminium or steel window frames that could be dug out of the buildings, iron fences by the houses or the roads, metal boxes, power cables and if lucky, the girder and joists revealed by newly ruined buildings that have crashed by water pressure and underwater currents. The mining team will follow with extra hook cables and with hammers, axes, knifes and other heavy tools to separate the useful bulk, attach them to the hook cables and send them up.
