by Robin Roseau
I stepped forward and struggled with it, but then Tradódid was there and dragged it out into the main area of the barn.
“Open it,” she said. “Then tell her what is missing is in the bottom.” She gestured. “Here.”
I relayed that to the girl. She stepped forward but then froze.
“Leave that alone!” It was Féla’s mother. “That’s private property!” she asserted.
At that, I felt magic flow into me, although it didn’t flow out. But the Goddess gestured. “I will guide you.”
I pointed to the woman, and I felt the magic leave me. Her mouth flew open, but no sound came out. She opened and closed her mouth several times, but she wouldn’t speak another word until after we left.
“I didn’t know I could do that.”
“You couldn’t. Now you can. Tell the girl to find what belongs to her.”
It took encouragement. She didn’t want to defy her grandmother. In the end, it was Naddí and Féla who removed most of the things from the chest, but it was the girl who gave a little cry then thrust her hands forward. She pulled something from the chest, and when she turned, she was clutching a small toy dog to her chest.
“Ask her if she believes you now,” said the Goddess. When I did, the girl slowly nodded. “Good. Come.”
And so we followed Yahamala back into the farmyard. Féla’s sister was hovering outside the barn, wringing her hands. “Keep this one here. I wish to meet the remaining children. Send that one.”
“You,” I said, pointing at Mer-mer. “The Goddess wishes to meet the other children. Go get them.”
“Charí-”
“Will stay here. She wants you to fetch the other children. Go.”
It took perhaps ten minutes. We spent the time trying to talk to Charí, but the girl was too overwhelmed to say much. She clutched at her toy and drew inward, and my heart ached for her.
But there was one blessing. Féla’s mother offered a glare then stomped off to the house. I couldn’t say I blamed her.
But finally Mer-mer returned, leading six other children as well as three men and one more woman.
“Tell Féla to greet her brothers, but I do not care for introductions,” said the Goddess. “But introduce the children.”
There were in all two boys and four girls. The boys were all about Charí’s age, or so. One of the girls was older, the other two younger. The boys were, well, boys, and tried to pretend they weren’t impressed. The girls seemed far less sure of themselves, and they didn’t meet any eyes.
“This feels like an Arrlottan campsite,” I observed. “Prestainamatta, I believe I once carried that expression.”
“Tell me, Yalla,” said the Goddess. “What do you want to do?”
“What can I do?”
“You can use your imagination.”
“These girls are not valued.”
“No, I do not believe they are.”
“I don’t believe they are even loved.”
“I believe you are correct.”
“Can you claim them?”
“I’m sorry. They know nothing about me. I can only take those girls who already love me.”
“Well then.” I raised my voice and spoke Framaran, “Mesenorié, Tradódid, Ralalta. I would like your assistance.”
“Of course, High Priestess.” They moved to me. “How can we be of assistance?”
“I wish these girls fostered in a more loving home.” At those words, Féla turned to me, her eyes glistening. But she nodded to me. “Can this be done?”
“Of course it can,” Ralalta declared. “Or do you ask me to take them into the palace?”
“I thought perhaps you might know of good homes, but I will pay for them to go to school. My only requirement is they must learn of the Goddess.”
“We cannot just take them,” Tradódid said.
“We can if they want to go with us,” Mesenorié said. “Can’t we.” She didn’t make it a question.
“Well, if they want to go,” Tradódid said cautiously. But he turned back to me. “Yalla, this is politically dangerous. We once took what did not belong to us. You are suggesting we do it again.”
“No one is going to say a word,” Féla said, and she was speaking in clear, loud Altearan.
“Yalla, we might misread the situation here,” Tradódid said. “They must want to go.”
“Well, that is easy,” said the Goddess. “Yalla, you must talk to them, but I need you to hold them like they are your own while you do so.”
I nodded then gestured with my head. I got all of us moving until I sat down on the steps to the house.
After that, Naddí and Féla brought the girls to me. I didn’t worry about the adults. I knew they would be handled. I began with Charí. She was uncomfortable about it, but she didn’t fight me when I pulled her into my arms, seated in my lap. I whispered to her, “I know you don’t know me, but I helped you find your little dog. Does he have a name?”
“Good Boy,” she said.
The Goddess knelt down and looked at me. She set a single finger to her lips, and then she began to stroke the girl’s hair, slowly. I thought she was going to claim her after all, but she only stroked.
But I felt the magic begin to flow. I wasn’t sure what it was doing; the Goddess was directing it. But it flowed.
“I was about your age when I went on a grand adventure,” I said. “I was scared, but once I understood, I was so excited, and it became almost like magic to me. Have you ever been on an adventure?” She shook her head. “Does your mother hold you like this?” She shook her head again.
“No,” she whispered.
“I hold my daughters like this, although they’re much younger than you.” I gestured with my nose. “I’ll introduce you later, if you like. But don’t worry. I won’t make you babysit.”
“I don’t mind babysitting,” she said. “It’s better than...” She trailed off.
“I like holding my daughters. I like holding you, too. You’re a good girl.” She said nothing to that. “Do you hate letting me hold you?”
“No.”
“Good. Charí, I’m going to tell you something. I don’t think the younger girls will understand this, but you’re almost grown up. I’m from a place far, far away.”
“Framara?”
“Even further. Have you ever heard of Garneer?” She shook her head. “It’s far to the east, past the mountains and past the Wizard’s Divide. When I was a girl like you, I lived with my family. They didn’t treat me very well. I don’t think your family treats you very well, either.” She shrugged. “The thing was, I didn’t know there could be other ways to treat girls. I thought that was just the way of things.” She said nothing. “You deserve to be held, Charí. You deserve to feel loved and to be cherished. And you deserve to go to school and learn about the Goddess.”
She said nothing, but she melted a little against me, and I adjusted the way I was holding her.
“Do you understand who everyone is here?”
“Not everyone.”
“Do you understand you have an aunt you didn’t know about, your mother’s sister?” At that she nodded. “And did you know about the Goddess?” She shook her head. “Well, I am the High Priestess to the Goddess. That means she speaks only to me, and soon to my daughters. But your aunt is a priestess, and everyone else here with hair like hers, and mine.”
Then I gestured. “Do you know who that man is?”
“The king.”
“Yes. The king of all Alteara. And the queen. And the queen of Framara.”
“Why are they here?”
“Well, the Goddess wanted to meet you.”
“Me? Why me?”
“Because she wants what is best for you. Now, I want you to think about something. In a little while, we’re going to ask if you want to leave with us. If you do, no one can stop you. You can go away with us, and we’ll see to it that you grow up somewhere you can be loved. But you’ll have to work hard, too.”
“I work hard.”
“I bet you do. You would have to work hard and be a good girl. But you’ll be loved and cherished. If you have questions, you have time to think of them. Okay?”
“Okay,” she said. She looked at the house then even at her mother. I couldn’t read her expression and had no idea what she was thinking.
“Do you think you could bring the next girl over?”
She nodded and slipped from my lap. She made a wide detour around her mother before she reached the next girl. She brought that girl to me. My conversation with her was only slightly different. And when I was ready, Charí had the third girl, and finally the littlest. She eyed me warily, but when I invited her, she climbed into my lap.
“How old are you?” I asked her.
“I’m six.”
With each of the girls, the Goddess stroked their hair, and my magic flowed, and the longer they sat in my lap, the more relaxed they became.
But finally I released the last girl, and she moved to stand with her sister and cousins. I looked at the Goddess and said, “What did you do?”
“I only let them feel the truth of your words,” she said. “But we are going to work much larger magic shortly, because your words must remain true.”
“We can do that?” I asked, my voice cracking.
“They have begun to accept you, and through you, me. Yes, we can do that, but only with the will of Ralalta and Mesenorié as well. They must consent to this magic.”
I nodded and let her help me to my feet. And then we walked together to the girls, who were standing in a row, watching me, well separated from the rest of their family. We came to a stop and both knelt down. “The Goddess is here,” I said with a gesture. “She wishes to make a promise.”
“If you stay here,” the Goddess said, “There is little I can do to help you. If you choose to go with us, I can promise you the life my High Priestess has offered, but you will make one promise to me.”
“What promise?” Charí asked, when I translated.
“You will promise to learn about me, and to try to accept me into your hearts.”
“We have to love her?”
“You have to try,” I explained. “You promise to try.” I paused. “If you have questions, now is the time.” None of them said a word, and so then I held out my hand. “If you wish to go with us, take my hand and promise.”
Charí was not first. It was the next youngest who stepped forward and set her hand in mine. “I will learn about the Goddess, and I will try to love her. But will she love me?”
Larien caught up to the translation, and then the Goddess said, “Oh, Yalla, I already do.”
And that was all it took. They didn’t just give me their hands. They mobbed me, hugging me tightly, and it wasn’t until Larien, Terél, and Mellara stepped forward to help pull them from me that I could stand.
I turned to Ralalta and Mesenorié. “Your Majesties,” I said. “The Goddess wishes to bind the promises I have made.
“What does she ask of us?”
The Goddess stepped to my side. “Queen Ralalta, I wish you to take these four girls to Framara. I wish you to place them together in a loving home. I wish them to have education and opportunity. I wish you to personally promise they will be loved and cherished.”
“I will,” Ralalta said without hesitation.
“Yalla, hug and kiss her.”
I stepped forward, but it was Ralalta that pulled me into her arms. However, I think she was surprised when I pulled her into a kiss. Oh, it was a chaste kiss, one between mother and daughter, but it was a form of affection we didn’t typically share.
And then the Goddess was there, and I felt magic flowing. Once it started, I couldn’t have released the queen, if I had wanted to, but then it ended and we both stepped back. My fingers moved to my lips, which felt like they were trembling, and Ralalta mirrored my actions.
“Well,” she whispered. “That was something.” She reached out and squeezed my arm, but then the Goddess said, “Now Mesenorié.”
I nodded and turned to the Queen of Alteara.
“Queen Mesenorié,” said the Goddess. “From you, I wish not one promise, but three. I wish you to finance the costs for these children.”
“Of course,” said the queen.
“If they should ever return to Lopéna in search of opportunity, I wish them to receive a fair hearing.”
“Of course,” Mesenorié repeated.
“And my High Priestess wishes permission to apply justice to this family.”
At that, I gasped and turned to the Goddess. “What?”
“Say my words, Yalla.”
“I don’t want to hurt anyone.”
“No, but you want justice, don’t you?”
“That is not my job!”
“But you want something, don’t you?”
I thought about it and nodded. “But not justice.”
“Perhaps that is not the right word, but I see your heart, Yalla. Now, repeat what I said to Mesenorié.”
I nodded, gulped, and turned back to the queen. “She says-“ I paused. “She says I wish to apply justice, and asks permission.”
Mesenorié looked into my eyes, and then she said simply, “I trust you, Yalla. Yes.” She grinned. “Going to kiss me, too?”
“You are,” directed the Goddess. And so, I did, and if Ralalta was stunned afterwards, Mesenorié was twice over.
But then I turned to the Goddess. “Can I do this?”
“You can now,” she said.
“Should I do this?”
“Search your heart, Yalla.”
And so I nodded to her and moved apart.
Féla’s family was now facing a wall of guards. What intrigued me was no one had yet tried to stop us. I stepped over and then between two of the guards, coming to a stop before the line of people. I looked them over. They glared at me, but said nothing.
“The girls are leaving with us. They will be loved and offered opportunity. But I leave behind a gift.”
And then the Goddess was there, and I felt her filling me with magic, more than I’d ever used. I lifted my hand, and I could feel the magic, more and more. And then my hair began to stand on end, wild about my head.
Then I pointed to Féla’s sister. The woman squeaked, but my words froze her in her tracks.
Well, that and the magic that lashed out, capturing her, and then from her, it jumped to the other women and men both, capturing them all. And last, it caught the boys, too.
“Yalla!” screamed Féla. “No!”
I turned my head. “Do you trust me, Féla?”
“She’s my sister, Yalla.”
“And now you must trust me.” It took a moment, but she nodded, and I returned my attention to those I had trapped. “Never will another child be born of this family, unless that child is to be loved and cherished.” And then I squeezed my hand into a fist, and I watched the magic collapse into each of them, all at once, snuffing out. But I could feel it settling into each of them.
They gasped and collapsed, panting for breath, and behind me, I heard more gasping. I spun, and Féla and her nieces were bent over. My magic had caught them as well.
“Féla,” I whispered.
But she straightened and smiled, her hand now over her stomach. “You know I would love any child I were to produce.”
“Yalla,” said the Goddess. “We’re not quite done here.” I turned to her in time to see her hand lifted into the sky. Then she slammed her hand downwards, and when she did, a long, gold staff appeared, the butt slamming into the ground with a loud thump, louder than any drum I had ever heard. “Yalla. Come to me.”
I didn’t run, but I moved quickly, and then I set my hands over hers, holding the staff with her.
“Repeat my words, Yalla. Repeat them exactly in my language.” She paused only a moment, and then together we lifted the staff perhaps a foot. “About today’s events let no one lie.” As soon as I repeated her words, she slammed t
he staff downwards again. Then we lifted it. She said the words again, and then thrust the staff to the ground. And then a third time.
Then she smiled at me. It wasn’t necessarily a good smile.
I didn’t ask her why she had done it. I thought I could guess.
* * * *
The girls were quiet, but they didn’t cry.
That night, we made our camp, the same as we always did. And we visited another town. This time, I stayed, and the Goddess stayed, and we talked to the townspeople, together for a while, then apart, with the Goddess and me in one place, Queen Mesenorié in another, and the like.
But later, the Goddess asked us to build a bonfire, a simple fire for warmth and cheer. Then we sat together, all of us in one comforting pile, or so it seemed, with Féla’s nieces mixed in amongst us. And then the Goddess said, “Yalla, there are two here who have wishes, but they are afraid to ask.”
“Who?”
“You must find the one, and I will announce the other.”
“How am I to do that?”
She smiled and didn’t answer.
And so I rose, dislodging myself from more people than I could count, and moved in front of them.
“I have wishes,” I said. “I would like to share them.”
“Of course, Yalla,” said Tradódid. “Are these wishes we can help to fulfill?”
“Perhaps,” I said. “I have an accent. I wish all of you would help me to overcome it.”
They laughed, and a few clapped and offered to help. But then Alta stood.
“I am sorry, my wife, but I love your accent, and it is my wish that you keep it forever.”
“But it is a horrible accent,” I said. “Rough, like the people of my birth.”
“It is uniquely yours, and it is music to my ears.”
“I’m not going to get up,” said Ralalta, “But I wish to say I want you to keep your accent just the way it is.”
“I like it, too,” said Larien. “It is unique, like you.”
“But...”
“Yalla,” said the Goddess, “I cannot grant both your wish and Alta’s, and so you must choose.”
“You could grant me this wish?” I asked her.
“I can.”
“You’ve never offered, even when you told me how bad my accent is.”
