The Children of Calm

by Smith, J Michael

  Lana shook her head. “Again, you argue by insulting us rather than offering any kind of proof. How can you possibly claim to back up your ridiculous claims? There was research done by people who actually know what they’re talking about.”

  Selenor chimed in. “Not to mention how for hundreds of years wives and mothers have used the pod juice to numb burns and deaden pain.”

  “You said it there,” Tresten said. “’Wives and mothers;’ they are nothing more than old wives’ tales. Please enlighten me as to why no one uses the juice now for that purpose?”

  He was answered with a long silence.

  “Exactly,” he said. “Though I will grant you the fact that the mind is an extremely powerful thing. Simply take some sick or injured people who happen to be easily persuadable, tell them starpod juice will cure them, and it probably will in some cases – no matter what the diagnosis really is. So why don’t you go ahead, crack open a pod, and try it on yourself? Maybe it will cure you of that nasty women’s intuition.”

  “Shut up,” Lana said angrily. “And besides, it’s just the base ingredient for the medicine. I would think it needs to be concentrated or something…”

  “You would think?” Tresten asked. “I think it makes a horrid sticky mess.”

  “I’ve heard that some people eat the skins,” Lana said.

  Tresten scoffed. “Look, Lana, I know you’re fairly decent around the kitchen, but please, for the love of Mira, don’t start getting any ideas of experimenting on me. If they taste anything at all like how they smell, forget it! And I take back what I said earlier – don’t open one up, at least with me around. They’re not meant to be opened. Just leave them in the water at night, so they can do what they were designed to do: give us light.”

  “One day, Tresten, I’ll prove you wrong,” Lana said.

  “I think all logic will have died at that point,” Tresten said.

  Rylek started to softly snore; Selenor repressed a laugh.

  Just then they heard some footsteps approaching in the grass. They turned to see Celek carrying a pack on his back. “Hello, children,” he said.

  “Hello, sir,” Lana said. “Where are you off to?”

  Celek glanced towards the eastern rim of the mountains. “Oh, just going to go for a hike.” He paused and looked back to the east.

  Lana thought he looked anxious.

  “It is certainly a beautiful day,” he said slowly.

  “Yeah it is. Who wouldn’t love a trek through the woods?”

  “I have certainly always loved a mill-” he started but his voice stopped.

  Lana exchanged glances with Selenor.

  “Selenor, Tresten,” he resumed after a few moments, “may I have a word with you briefly?”

  The twins glanced at each other. “Sure,” Selenor said.

  Celek started to walk down the lakefront. Selenor looked at Lana, who merely returned her own look of confusion. Tresten stood up and then helped his sister get to her feet.

  “Well, I guess we’ll be back in a minute,” she said to Lana, as she and Tresten followed the lakefront down to where Celek was waiting for them.

  Lana tried to be sneaky and subtly watch, hoping to make out what they were saying, but they were too far away. Suddenly she heard a rather loud snore behind her. She picked up an acorn and threw it at Rylek, pelting him on his nose.

  He snorted, jumped, and said “Ow! What…?”

  Seeing he was now awake, Lana scooted over next to him.

  “Couldn’t you have just shaken me or called me or something?” he asked.

  “That would have been too obvious,” she said. “I’m trying to be unassuming.”

  “And beaning me in the face is unassuming?”

  “Shh!” She leaned in closer to him. “What do you think Celek wants with Tresten and Selenor?”

  Rylek looked over at the group of three standing at a distance. His curiosity was piqued, since it was now the end of the week and he had overheard Celek say something about that. Before he answered her, he studied him for a moment.

  Celek was short and thin, but his body frame betrayed his strength and agility. He was the most agile person Rylek had ever known. His black, thin hair was graying around the temples. Rylek thought he looked very noble at that moment. He then realized it was probably because Celek was standing up straighter than usual, despite an obviously heavy pack on his back.

  It must be something with the Elite Service, he thought to himself. So I’m glad I didn’t say anything to the others since it’s probably top secret information.

  “Celek?” he replied to his sister. “How should I know? I’d say it was none of our business since we weren’t invited in on the conversation, so I’m not going to worry about it.” He then put his hands back behind his head and lay down again.

  “Boys are so useless,” Lana said. “I’ll just get Selenor to tell me when they get back.”

  “Then I’m going back to sleep.” Rylek said. “Wake me when…oh, I don’t know, when it’s time for…something.” With that he rolled over on to his right side. “And try not to be so obvious that you’re spying on them, okay?”

  “Oh, shush!”

  She sat there for several more minutes, balancing her time between looking out on the lake and stealing glances at Celek and the others. As much as she strained her ears, however, she could not hear any voices at all. Finally Celek turned his back and left. Tresten and Selenor stood for a few minutes together, then slowly made their way back to the Old Sentinel. Lana watched them as they did not look at or speak to each other; their eyes were fixed on the ground. Selenor looked back once at the spot where they had stood, and Tresten stared out over the lake for awhile. After a time they sat down next to Lana in silence. Lana looked from one to the other, waiting for somebody to say something. When nothing was offered she could not take it anymore.

  “Well?” she asked. “Is everything alright? By looking at the two of you, I’d think something was wrong.”

  Selenor started playing with some blades of grass. “No, I don’t believe anything’s wrong,” she said. “I guess I’m just a little…confused.”

  “How so?”

  “He basically said he’s going to be gone for awhile,” Tresten said. “He hopes to see us sometime after New Year and probably after we return from our Findings.”

  “Where’s he going?” Rylek suddenly asked.

  Lana looked over to see he was now sitting up. “Decide to wake up now, did we?” she asked.

  “Shut up,” Rylek said. “Where’s he going?”

  “He didn’t say,” Selenor said. “But he kept apologizing. And I’m not even sure why.”

  “That’s odd,” Lana said. “Why in all of Mira would he do that?”

  “No idea,” Tresten said. “But he said something very bizarre…” He looked at Selenor for a moment.

  “What?” Lana asked excitedly. “What did he say?”

  Selenor and Tresten were looking at each other, communicating silently. After a bit, Tresten gently nodded. Selenor sighed. “He said he could no longer live in a place where he was denied the honor of raising the two children that were rightfully his own.”

  Lana nearly choked. “Wait; what?”

  “Is he claiming he’s your father?” Rylek asked.

  “I don’t know,” Tresten said. “He claimed he’d said too much.”

  They sat in silence for a few moments as the weight of the conversation settled. Rylek noticed that the breeze had died. There also seemed to be an annoying buzz in his ears.

  What did he mean when he said to that man that it wasn’t fair to her or to them? he thought to himself. Does this have to do with that? Is this part of what he had to do before he left? He shook his head in an attempt to ward off the buzzing and concentrate on something that seemed just out of reach.

  “But Aunt Penni’s always said…” he started aloud. “Well, I mean everyone’s always told us how no one knows who your father is. We all know th
e story of how your natural mother wandered into Calm not knowing much else besides her name. And as far as I know, Celek has never been married.”

  “Don’t be so naïve,” Tresten said softly. “You know that doesn’t necessarily mean anything,”

  “But that would mean he knew your mother before she came to Calm,” Rylek said. “Why would he just now be saying this when everyone else has always wondered who she was?”

  Silence fell upon them again as no one had an answer. Rylek stood up after awhile and walked to the lakeshore. Lana looked desperate to find something to say. Tresten sat with his head in Selenor’s lap as she played with his hair. The silence was thick and heavy. No one could find anything to say. After some considerable time had passed, Rylek turned around and looked at his friends. Tresten seemed as though he were worlds away, with glazed-over eyes staring blindly into nothing. But Rylek’s eyes locked with Selenor’s, and he saw the tears that graced her cheeks.

  His heart broke.

  ***

  They eventually left the Old Sentinel, but more out of obligation than anything else. The village bell had tolled one hour after noon. Caenar had set up an appointment with them to discuss their birthday at one o’clock, and it was always rather difficult to back out of something he had scheduled. They made their way to the Hall of Knowledge, which housed the town library. Caenar was the Chief Librarian and Historian.

  In front of the Hall, in the middle of the street, was a large golden statue of a pious-looking man: he was bald with a thick beard, eyes lifted skyward, one arm holding a book, the other a spade. The plaque at its base was labeled KAEL WHINDREP, in honor of the man who saved the village after The Great Purging. It was his ideals of isolationism and socialism that the villagers adopted, fearing any contamination from The Outside. Through the years the isolationist mentality naturally lessened, though the villagers did not go out of their way to remind the rest of Calabranda of the village’s presence. Rylek never liked the statue, and found it odd that the villagers had some time ago thought it necessary to build.

  All four ignored it in their continued silence as they climbed the steps to the front door. Their dark mood lingered as they entered the tall vaulted main room saturated with sunlight and the sweet musty smell of paper, and carried them as they made their way to the back.

  Caenar’s door was open. The silence was finally broken when he said, “Ah, my dear children, please come in.”

  The office was not overly large. The centerpiece was a beautiful old desk, with some odd papers and such scattered around it. A bookshelf filled with dusty volumes lined one wall, while various maps and paintings lined the others. Four chairs were facing the desk. Caenar rose from his chair behind the desk, and walked towards the children.

  “Please come in and have a seat. Make yourselves at home,” he said, while pulling the two middle chairs out for Selenor and Lana. Rylek could not help faintly smiling at the old gentleman.

  “I trust all is well with you,” Caenar continued, “but, if I may be so bold, I cannot ignore that these old eyes of mine see fallen countenances upon your faces. Is there anything at all I can do for you?”

  Tresten seemed to be in a trance.

  Selenor’s voice cracked. “No sir, I guess we’re just having one of those days, if you know what I mean.”

  Caenar studied them all for a few moments and then warmly smiled. “Indeed I do, Miss Selenor, indeed I do. However, allow me to say one thing first, and then we shall move on to other more celebratory matters. But even before that, I have one other important thing I must do.”

  He picked up a pipe that had been lying on his desk and proceeded to light it. After a few deep draws, he started up again.

  “Yes, that is much better. Sometimes a puff or so is all one needs. But moving on, what I wanted to say was this: as I am sure you all know, life has a way of revealing itself to us in unusual ways at inopportune times. And in those times it seems as though the world must stop for us so that we can allow ourselves the time to process, to hash out answers to questions for which we were not at all prepared. We feel the intrinsic need to make ourselves right, to bring ourselves back to equilibrium, before we can move on with our lives. But the sad truth is we are powerless to remove ourselves from this world, from this great gift of life that has been granted us.”

  Tresten let out a forceful sigh and shuffled in his chair. Rylek knew he was not appreciating the lecture.

  Surprisingly, Caenar apparently took the hint. “Well, I suppose what I am meaning to say is this: continue engaging yourselves in the world around you, and you will find those little details working themselves out.”

  He paused and nodded at the children. “Now, presently moving along…I wanted to meet with you all regarding your birthday - namely, the ritual that we here in Calm refer to as The Finding. As I am sure you are aware, all who reach the age of fifteen in this village are legally adults. Or, that is, they become so once they return from their respective Findings. I cannot help but believe each of you has been considering where to go for your own Finding, but I humbly ask that you respect this old man’s wishes and consider what I have to say.”

  He paused. Rylek felt he was expecting an answer, so he said, “Yes sir.”

  “Thank you,” Caenar said. “I very strongly suggest you all travel together on your Findings to the north, in the hopes of beholding the vast wonder that is the sea.”

  “Together?” Lana asked.

  “It may seem odd, but yes,” he said.

  “That’s where I was planning on going anyway,” Selenor said. “I’ve always wanted to see the ocean. It seems so lonely and ancient in a timeless way to me.” She paused for a moment. “And an ideal place to reflect on a few things.”

  Caenar smiled. “It is agreed then?”

  Rylek shrugged. “Seems good to me.”

  Lana nodded in agreement.

  Tresten, however, continued to look away from everything. He gave no vocal or physical reaction.

  Caenar took Tresten’s silence as an affirmative. “Very well,” he said. “You children have no idea how pleased this makes me. I very humbly thank you for honoring this old fool’s request. Now, do any of you have anything you would like to ask of me?”

  “Actually, I do, Elder Caenar,” Lana said. “If you don’t mind me asking, why do you want us all to go there together? I thought the point of The Finding was for each person to spend time in solitude to prove they can live on their own, and to learn to live in harmony with the natural world. It seems to me to be kind of difficult to prove we’re ready for adult life if we’re depending on each other to do everything. Isn’t the sign of an adult independence?”

  “That, I am afraid, is a very complicated question that has no easy answer,” Caenar said. “You are partially correct: independence is indeed part of being an adult. However, it is in that independence that one discovers how dependent one is upon others – especially to be whole and complete as a person. We are not meant to live in isolation, but in community. As I am sure you have already discovered in your own lives, each person is gifted in their own unique way by having talents and strengths in certain fields of study or thought. However, your strengths may be my weaknesses, and my strengths your weaknesses. We sharpen each other, make each other better people, as community evolves and refines. The knowledge of survival you gain during your Finding will immensely benefit the community as a whole. We are all part of each other; our lives are intertwined in very intimate ways, feeding and nourishing each other as we continue to grow in maturity. Anything you learn about yourself during your Finding only makes all of us stronger. That, my children, is the purpose of The Finding.

  “Now, as to why I ask that all four of you share the same Finding? I must confess I do not know where to begin. But this I will say: the four of you are incredibly special. Indeed, more special than I can possibly begin to describe. There are great things in store for you, and though I am able to see very little of the paths that are set
before you, I do know that your destinies are forever intertwined with each other’s. Whatever else may possibly happen in this village, in this island nation, in this world, the four of you are fated to do something great. And from the little that I am able to foresee, the next step I believe all four of you must take is a journey north to the sea. You may call it a hunch, or a premonition, but I feel in my heart it is destined for you to venture north. Therein lies the next step of your life together. Now, are there any more questions?”

  “Why do you feel we are destined for greatness?” Lana asked.

  Caenar smiled. “Call it a gut feeling; I am never wrong about these things!”

  The children were silent as they thought over what he had said.

  “Well then, if there is nothing else, allow me to say one more thing. When the time comes that the four of you leave on your Finding, you may or may not run into other people along the way – strangers, wanderers, sojourners. Trust no one. But an unlooked-for friend may be discovered if he or she blesses you in the name of The One. Not too many people outside of our village follow in the ways of The One anymore.” He looked down at his hands and played with a ring on one of his fingers. “Very well. I believe that is all I have for you at the present. Thank you for coming to see me, my children.” He stood up from his chair.

  The children started to stand when he suddenly said, “No, no, forgetful me. There is one more thing. May I speak to you briefly, Rylek?”

  Rylek sat back down in his chair as the other three left.

  “Please close the door behind you,” Caenar told Tresten.

  After he was alone with Rylek, Caenar walked over to the bookshelf and perused it. “There is something I have that I want you to read secretly before you leave on your Finding. It is very old and extremely valuable…” His voice trailed off. “Well, this is peculiar,” he said to himself. “It seems to be missing. Where could it be?”

  “What is it, sir?”

  “It is an old history book that I believe you need to read.”