The Lexal Affair

by neetha Napew

  “How would I go about doing that?”

  “You would submit yourself to the ordeal. In two days -- when the moon is full -- two village youths will undergo the ordeal. You are welcome to join them.”

  “Ordeal? What sort of ordeal?”

  “I will administer a ritual drug --a poison -- the same I used to deaden Ylak for his surgery.” Kyto looked into Nyk's eyes. “In large amounts it causes unconsciousness. I will administer a smaller dose.”

  “What does that cause?”

  “Dreams... fear .. your worst nightmare. It's a rite of initiation, Nykkyo. Since you're an outsider, you're not obligated to do this.”

  “Is the drug dangerous?”

  Kyto shook his head, “No. Not overly so. It wouldn't make sense for us to concoct a rite that carries a high risk of killing or crippling our youth, would it? Our numbers are small enough as is. The experience is ... unpleasant, but we've all gone through it -- and survived. You'll know yourself better, afterward. That's really the point of the ritual.” The old man smiled. “Some say the drug shows you the future ... It doesn't. But you will learn what it is you fear most. I recommend you accept -- for your safety.”

  “My safety?”

  “You may find yourself with us for a while. It's been a long time since we've had to deal with outsiders. There may be some who'll blame every misfortune on your presence.”

  “Like the chief.”

  Kyto nodded. “If you're a member of the village, no one may ask for your death. That may be asked only of an outsider.”

  “What of Andra and Nayva?”

  “They've nothing to fear. As a woman has no free will, no one may ask for her death.”

  “I hope you don't really believe that, Kyto. Andra and Nayva possess two of the freest wills I've ever encountered.”

  Kyto cracked a smile. “What is your answer, then?”

  “I'll do it.”

  “That's a good decision. It'll benefit you and your friends.” Kyto bid Ylak to lie down. “Nykkyo -- you must fast the day of the ritual.”

  * * *

  Nyk entered the lodge wearing a feather-pelt robe. Village men had brought in stones heated in the communal blaze and set them in a pile in the center of the lodge, making the place quite warm. Torches along the walls provided flickering illumination, and a small fire burned in an earthen brazier. Nyk sat on a bench beside the two youths. He recognized the boy on the right as the one who had taunted Vipsa.

  Vipsa entered the lodge with three bowls piled with chunks of inkroot and starchy tuber. She handed a bowl to Nyk and smiled at him.

  “Thanks,” Nyk said. She held her finger to her lips and handed bowls to the two youths. They began eating from theirs.

  Kyto entered and approached Nyk. “Eat it all -- even if you must force yourself.”

  “Why only vegetables in this meal?”

  “No reason to waste good meat.”

  “Waste?”

  “The drug will cause you to vomit.”

  “Is that part of the ordeal?”

  “It's the nature of the drug. Stuff yourself -- it will be easier for you on a full stomach. Also, drink plenty of water.”

  He nodded and began eating. Vipsa brought a bucket of water. Nyk drank from a dipper and forced himself to empty the bowl. He gulped another dipper of water, slipped his hand beneath his robe and felt his distended stomach.

  Vipsa returned with three wooden buckets and placed them at the feet of the initiates. She collected the bowls and left. The chief and village elders entered and sat on a bench across from the initiates. The two youths slipped off their robes. Nyk slipped off his and sat, naked, on the bench. Kyto placed a stick in the brazier to ignite it. He carried it to the first youth.

  “These three are to be initiated into the village,” Kyto announced. “All have agreed to the ordeal. I shall now administer the poison.” He blew out the flame and pressed the glowing tip to the boy's arm. “With fire I break the skin.” Kyto approached Nyk. He closed his eyes as he felt the ember burn his arm. “Just one blister,” the old man whispered. “Ylak received three.” The second youth received his burn.

  The elders averted their gaze as Kyto picked up the earthen jar. “The venom.” Nyk saw him apply the drug to the first youth. He turned his head as the medicine man opened his blister with the knife and daubed the wound with the thick liquid. It stung.

  Nyk felt his heart begin to pound. A cramping sensation gripped his stomach. He attempted to modulate his breathing but found himself panting. The youth to his left began vomiting. Nyk gulped. Perspiration began to bead on his forehead as he experienced wave after wave of nausea. The other youth retched and vomited. Nyk folded his arms across his abdomen and rocked back and forth. He leaned over the bucket and vomited. He heaved until his stomach muscles ached.

  His nausea passed as the effects of the drug deepened. He looked up and across at the village elders. The lodge began to spin. He closed his eyes and saw colors pulsing with his heartbeat.

  The faces of his mother and father appeared. He was sitting with them on a platform shuttle. Through the viewport he could see the indigo sphere that was Floran. The craft entered the atmosphere. Soon he saw the agridomes as the shuttle made its approach to Sudal. The craft began to spin. Through the viewport he could see land and sky swirling. One of the agridomes loomed large. There was a flash.

  Nyk saw Sukiko lying in a pool of blood in her apartment bathtub. He knelt by her, listened for her heart and breathing. He looked into her face. He saw her sitting in her mother's kitchen, nursing an infant. She looked up at him and smiled. Then, he saw her walking. The infant was in a stroller she was pushing. They turned to cross the street. A truck careened through the intersection and Nyk watched as it mowed them down.

  He was in a room with deep-pile carpeting, the walls lined with heavy draperies. Rows of folding chairs were set up. At the far end was a tiny closed casket beside an open one. He saw George and Yasuko approach the casket. She bent and kissed the occupant. An attendant closed and latched the cover.

  He was aboard an unfamiliar spacecraft. Panic and despair surrounded him. He saw corpses ejected into space. A crewman placed him in a discharge tube. He found himself falling in the black of space -- falling toward an indigo world.

  He stood on the familiar bluff, and he could smell the bitter, musty scent of the Floran sea. He looked toward the west. The Residence was not there, nor was the access road, nor the memorial plaque commemorating the deaths of his parents, nor the tops of the tall buildings of Sudal. Nyk sat on the ground, cradled his head in his hands and began sobbing. A fog enveloped him.

  * * *

  Nyk opened his eyes. He was lying in the hut and he felt someone stroking his hair. Tears flowed down his face. “Nyk ... Nyk...” He looked up into a pair of pale blue eyes. “Are you all right?”

  “Andra... oh, Andra!”

  “You said you'd face your worst fear. What was it?”

  “Death.”

  “Your death?”

  He shook his head. “No -- Suki's ... and her child. I saw the consequences of my temporal interference. I saw the Floran, lost and adrift in deep space, its crew and passengers dying. I saw our homeworld, empty and uninhabited. We must find a way home, Andra. I must return to her.”

  Kyto entered the hut. He looked at Andra. She glanced at Nyk. “I don't need to speak his language to know when I'm not welcome,” she said and stepped outside.

  The old man followed her with his eyes. “You did well.”

  “What now?” Nyk asked.

  “Now, you are a member of the village. Come, you must be recognized. Tonight we feast in your honor.”

  “Kyto, do you feast in honor of every event?”

  “As many as possible,” the old man answered with a twinkle in his eye. Now, come. You won the first place.”

  “First place?”

  “Yes -- you bore the poison the best -- you were the last to vomit. You get first choice.”
<
br />   “I didn't realize it was a competition. First choice of what?”

  “You must choose a maiden. Then, tonight we feast in honor of our new villagers.”

  Kyto led Nyk to the doorway of the lodge, where he joined the other two youths. Kyto raised his staff and addressed the assembled villagers. “We welcome three to our village.”

  The villagers began chanting. An elderly woman led five young women to face Kyto. Nyk saw Vipsa among them.

  “Choose a maiden,” Kyto whispered to Nyk.

  “What for? Kyto, I already have a woman.”

  “This is part of the initiation ritual. You must choose.”

  Nyk stepped forward. “I choose Vipsa.”

  Vipsa's lips formed a faint smile. She bowed her head and stepped back. The two youths chose their partners.

  Kyto tapped his staff on the ground. “We convene at sundown for the feast. Now, make ready.”

  Nyk followed Kyto into his workroom at the rear of the lodge. “You made a good choice,” Kyto said. “Vipsa is a nice girl. I wish I could make her my apprentice.”

  “Why can't you?”

  “The village would never accept a woman as their healer.”

  “Kyto, faced with the choice of Vipsa or no one, they'd accept her.”

  “Ylak will become my apprentice when he's of age.”

  “Ylak doesn't want to be healer -- he wants to be chief. Can't you see that?” Kyto glanced at him. “Vipsa's smart and eager, and she already knows much.”

  Kyto nodded. “I've shown her more than I should. You're right, Nykkyo. Ylak does have his eye on the throne.”

  “You're teaching Vipsa on the sly.”

  The old man smiled. “The forbidden fruit is often the sweetest.”

  “Did you encourage her to approach me at the village assemblies? The rest of the villagers prefer to keep their distance.”

  “They fear the unknown -- the unfamiliar. Vipsa doesn't -- her mind has an appetite, and I've been feeding it -- as have you. I'm getting old. Some day -- and fairly soon, I'm afraid -- it will fall upon Vipsa. I've waited a long time for a youth to come along -- one with an open mind and a desire to learn.”

  “That youth came and she's a girl.”

  “Yes ... You observe well. I had hopes for Ylak, but his mind doesn't hunger -- his appetite is for power. The village may have no choice but to rely on her.” Kyto approached his workbench and examined some earthen jars. He opened one and invited Nyk to sniff it. Scratched into the side of the jar was the same pictogram Vipsa had drawn for him. “Vipsa compounded these oils for me. She'll be busy today readying herself. I am pleased you chose her, Nykkyo. I care for her and I know you're a kind and gentle man.”

  “Kind and gentle? What happens next?”

  “Tonight, after the feast, you will go to Vipsa in Kwama's hut and open her.”

  “Open her?”

  “Yes, to initiate her into womanhood.”

  “Do you mean make love to her? She must be a virgin!”

  “Of course she is.”

  “I'm no virgin, Kyto.”

  The old man cracked a smile. “Neither are the two youths.”

  “I really don't want to do this.”

  “Nykkyo, is there a reason you're objecting?”

  “It's ... it's ... it's that ... defiling virgins ... isn't something I go around doing!”

  “But, you're not. This is her rightful initiation into womanhood. If she were to give herself to a man and lie with him before tonight -- that would be defilement.”

  “She seems so young.”

  “She's of age and fully eligible.”

  “I've pledged my love to another woman.”

  “One of the two with you?”

  “No. My woman's on another world.”

  “Then, she's not here to object, is she? You must do this, Nykkyo. You accepted initiation into the village. This is part of the ritual, and it's too late for you to back out of it, now.”

  “What if Andra or Nayva objected?”

  “That would ... complicate matters. I can't recall such a precedent. I hope for everyone's sake they hold their tongues.”

  “But... but...”

  “Enjoy yourself tonight. It's a happy occasion for Vipsa, and if I know Kwama, she'll be well prepared.”

  “Prepared?”

  “Kwama will have explained to her what she should expect.”

  “Am I now married to Vipsa?”

  “Married? I don't know that word.”

  “Is Vipsa now my mate -- my partner for life?”

  “Oh, no. If you don't desire pairing with her, you're under no obligation.”

  “After tonight, that is.”

  “Yes, that's right. After tonight, you and Vipsa may go your separate ways.”

  “Kyto, how do families work within the village?”

  “Families? I don't know that word, either.”

  “Children -- How are children cared for?”

  “Children belong to the village. Rearing them is women's work. Women who have milk feed the infants. Once a child reaches adolescence, a sponsor is assigned -- a man for a boy and a woman for a girl.”

  “So, Ylak's not really the chief's son?”

  “The chief is Ylak's sponsor.”

  “Who are Ylak's mother and father?”

  “His mother is Kwama. His father is ... who knows? One of several men.”

  “So, the men and women pair up ... however they want?”

  “Yes -- some pairings last for years and others only for days. The chief was paired with Kwama when Ylak reached adolescence. He desired to be the boy's sponsor.”

  “You wanted to sponsor Ylak.”

  Kyto nodded. “What the chief wants, he usually gets. Tonight we will pass the pipe in your honor. You may not indulge -- you'll need your full faculties for Vipsa.”

  “Kyto, there were five maidens but only two youths.”

  “We're fortunate to have a surplus of maidens.”

  “Did that surplus have anything to do with your people inviting me to join?”

  “You're perceptive for such a young man. I was hoping to inject some new blood into the village.”

  “You mean for me to make her pregnant? I'm afraid it's not possible -- I'm sterile.”

  Kyto shook his head. “That's a shame. No matter -- we'll still have another fertile woman joining our ranks.”

  “What if there had been a surplus of youths?”

  “We can only induct as many as we have maidens. Some would have to wait.” Kyto opened a cabinet and withdrew a small earthen jug and handed it to Nyk. “You may use this. It's a rare, fragrant oil -- pleasing to women. The blossom that yields this is very scarce. Now, you should join one of the hunting parties.”

  Nyk walked to his hut. “What was that about?” Andra asked.

  “I'm expected to deflower Vipsa tonight.”

  “Lucky you!”

  “No. I don't want to do this.”

  “Don't protest too vehemently, Nyk -- if you wish to maintain your credibility. Vipsa is a cute girl.”

  “I've never liked making intimate with strangers. Kyto says I must do this -- it's all part of the initiation. I have a plan, though.”

  “Which is?”

  “I'll explain my situation to Vipsa and spend the night with her -- chastely, that is -- and in the morning we'll both agree she's no longer a virgin. After all, isn't virginity more than anything a state of mind?”

  “Not to these people, I think,” Andra replied.

  “If you'll excuse us,” Nayva interrupted, “Andra and I must go foraging for inkroot.”

  * * *

  Nyk sat on a dais made of lashed poles, his stomach full of game, inkroot and tubers. Beside him sat Vipsa, and on either side, the youths and the young women they had chosen. The villagers chanted and sang. Vipsa leaned against him.

  Kyto produced the pipe and held it aloft. The women stood and began heading toward their huts. “I'll see you in a little
while,” Vipsa whispered and stepped off the dais.

  One after another, the men lifted the pipe to salute Nyk and the two youths. Then, the village men began heading toward their quarters.

  Nyk stood near the entrance to the lodge. A late-middle-aged woman approached him carrying an earthenware grease lamp. “Nykkyo, I'm Kwama. Please come with me.” She led him to one of a cluster of huts and pulled back the hide flap that served as a door.

  Nyk stepped into the structure -- larger than the hut he had been assigned. Inside was a stone hearth holding a small fire. Screens of woven twigs separated the interior space into rooms. The floor of lashed poles was carpeted with a layer of moist, green leaves from low-growing vines Nyk had spotted during the hunts. The place exuded a smoky, musty aroma.

  “Why the leaves?” he asked, pointing at the floor. “Our hut doesn't have them.”

  Kwama pointed toward the hearth. “Your hut doesn't have a fire. Should a spark fly -- the leaves won't burn.” She gestured him behind one of the screens. “Vipsa will join you shortly.” She hooked the grease lamp onto a cord hanging from a rafter pole.

  He looked around the room and saw a sleeping platform with a pair of feather-pelts. He removed his robe and slipped beneath the top pelt.

  Vipsa entered and stood at the foot of the platform. “Nykkyo, I've come, for you've chosen me,” she said, slipped from her feather-pelt and stood nude before him. Her breasts and stomach bore intricate patterns rendered in a violet dye.

  “I'm not too keen on this,” Nyk said. “Are you?”

  “I'm eager to join the village. The ordeal made you a member -- now you must make me one.”

  “This is how you become an adult -- a woman?”

  “Yes. Nykkyo, I'm honored you chose me. You earned the first place, and you chose ME! Now, you're unwilling. Don't I please you?”