by Zohar Neiger
"Houyi?"
I froze, my entire body filling with shivers that raced through my hair strands, making them stand.
I should have guessed it was Akhet.
She landed with a flourish, panting. "Hou, hou, hou! Merry Ramadan!"
I just… chose to ignore that.
"What are you doing here?" she said, and I met her serpentine smile. "Far from the monastery, aren't we?"
Her maize hued hair was wild and filled with static electricity like the bolts within a plasma ball, and the three wooden suns of the necklace I carved way back was still around her neck.
"Akhet, didn't you go to Pakistan?"
"Ah," they took in a gallon of air, "no."
"Well, why not?"
"You're right, you're right, Houyi. Let me guess," they made their voice deeper, then took a rasp and an accent, "The shooting star showers are still going on, dummy, what if you miss who you're looking for?"
"Was that supposed to be my voice?" She made me laugh.
"Well, isn't it accurate? A couple thousand years in theater practice should have given me something. I used to learn whole epics by heart, you know. The Annals of Ramses II, Harper's Songs, even The Immortality of Writers, for a quick buck. Ooh, Gilgamesh, you name it."
They watched with a delighted grin as I stumbled back my chuckling.
"Anyway, I stuck around because I sensed a ku'pua. The kind I'm looking for. They don't usually hang out in places like this, so I thought it's probably her and searched around for shooting stars. No luck, though, no luck. I can't put my tongue on it."
"A what? A koo poo wah?"
"Yup."
I waited for them to keep explaining, but they simply stood there, a sparkle in their eye still devouring my past amusement. Then, they snapped out of it like flicking the light switch for the bulb that appeared over their head.
"Hey, bud, watch this."
She took her legs and ran in the air when she lifted herself and glided with her large golden tipped wings, landing on the water of the oasis as if it were a marble floor.
They made their voice a low hum. "Oh, Putaca, the great Pachamama will mulch your sorrows away! Storybooks, though, oh. They are so nice in how healing they are. Akhet, my friend, can you memorize my favorite story and perform it for me?"
Huapaya. They sounded exactly like him.
"Ah, Putaca, that boy of mine. Putaca, Putaca," they shook their head while sighing, "I hope he never finds out why I was working for the empire!"
My heart sunk like a stone in a fishtank.
Akhet stood with her hands on her hips, the pink cloth of her dress baggy and draped over her fists from over her golden belt. "Good impression, right? He took the longest to perfect by far."
I tried to stop my trembling.
"I don't hear laughter or applause," they complained.
"Why did Huapaya work for the empire?"
Akhet's feet fell into the water and she gasped, flapping up her wings, stabbing me with an expression of concern. Then, she flew again to stand next to me and the wet sand stuck to her feet. "He never told you?" her voice was up close again.
"He told me," I said, "that's why I…"
"I thought, maybe, before he died, he'd break it to you, I… Houyi. Even after the empire fell, he didn’t…?"
I furrowed my eyebrows. "He what?"
Akhet smiled. "Oh, fraility, thy name is the human soul. Well – uh, I'm sure whatever he told you was the truth."
"The whole thing about finding a way to suppress demonic abilities without exorcising them?"
Akhet fell silent.
"Heh, yeah. But—"
"Do you know why the empire needed that?"
"Eh, look, Houyi, I was actually wondering what you were doing here in this oasis. I usually used lakes and stuff to be able to spot shooting stars without breaking my neck looking up at the sky. The reflections, you understand. But you? Kinda random of a place to be, for, for you."
I narrowed my eyes. "It was because the princess was a demon, wasn't it?"
Akhet's smile wiggled. "Yes, but that wasn't—"
"I found out," I said, sniffing and turning my eyes to the water. "By examining the demonic nature of her daughter."
"Salvador was so afraid you'd be heartbroken when you found out."
"—It was a favor for the Bedouin tribe, a tit-for-tat."
"Sal. Sal really cared for you, Houyi, even, even so..."
"Stop," I said, "stop talking about him!"
Akhet's face dropped. Her eyes filled with starry glitter; mouth turned downward. "If not with you," she whispered, "then with who?"
I looked her up and down. "O-oh, don't cry, Akhet, I…"
Her eyelashes vibrated, the twinkle escaping them in the form of a tear. The voice that came out was nasally and congealed. "Why do a favor for the tribe of the woman who betrayed you, anyway? What, is it like a rub my back I'll rub someone else's, then they'll rub my back?"
"…What?"
She sniffed at me, confused. "Never mind, forget I said anything."
"Didn't mean to yell at you," I said.
"Forget about it."
We stood a moment in silence.
"Gosh bless, I miss Mauna Kea," Akhet sighed. "Imagine being away from your closest friends for a month straight every year. But that's the mission, I guess." Her voice was still nasally.
"Yeah, if that's the mission."
"Anyway, I felt someone like that around here, so I looked around but maybe there's more than one of those. Can’t be that you're a ku'pua, right, Houyi?"
"Considering I don't know what they are," I chuckled.
"Yeah, sharp."
She still didn't explain.
A loud, quickening thump was heard behind us banging our ears like the drum that keeps pace in a rowing warship. I turned around, but before I could look, I was lifted in the air by my hips and chucked into the water, hitting my back on the shallow end, seeing sparks and the pain shackled my flesh.
The water was slimy and warm. I tried to stay near the shore and get myself out, Akhet's arm submerged in the water next to me. An ear-piercing scream drowned the air. "Stay away, demon, this is holy water!"
The thumping stopped. Silence.
"Papa, you give us glimpses of your sacred power…" Akhet whispered almost mute, but I heard. Her hair-flecked arm was still in the water.
"Akhet, god, what the hell…" I rolled my head to look at what approached us.
"Wait a second, is that a snake?" Akhet said.
Akhet's arm left the lake, spraying me in the face when they tried to shrug off the water. "Ooh!" they cooed, "who is a good booper?"
Their change of tone was staggering. They were holding Sahar in their arms, draping her over their shoulder blades.
Janet was standing there, a red and brown striped carpet covering their hump piled with bags and sacks on either side, and their U-shaped neck supported a hammock which Sahar was napping in before Akhet so rudely interrupted.
A hammock around the neck of a carrier animal, huh?
"I never met a camel who owns a snake. What a delightful girl! Maybe you're not so bad after all, o demon. Ey?"
Janet grumbled, looking at me with 'save me' eyes.
I moved my sight around to find Alioth.
She was running the other way.
I bolted up, launching myself out of the pond and Janet hopped backwards with a screech as I ran past. Sand coated my legs and stuck to wherever it touched.
"Alioth!" I screamed, and she stopped.
“Shaman Fang, I can’t believe- what was that, are you—“
She was huffing and puffing, streams of thick tears all over her face.
“Alioth, fire breathing,” I commanded.
In her panic, she wailed but obeyed. Air flew in and out of her nostrils rapidly, her chest rising and falling. She shook her head and stopped, “were you always friends with that angel? Did you want him to exorcise me?”
“She was my
master's friend. Nothing more.”
She sighed, sinking to her knees. Only then did I notice the emerald walking stick she had in her room clasped in her palm. It didn't stop her from falling.
My heart skipped a beat.
“Alioth,” I whispered hoarsely. “You have to understand something,” I lightly touched her cheek, the pad of my finger dampening when it touched the residue of a tear. “You can’t be exorcised. You are very much human... you are corporeal.”
“I don’t want to hear you—“ she broke down, burying her face in her arms. "Don’t touch me! You're filled with holy water!"
Oh – I forgot! But is it really? Why didn’t it hurt her?
“Alioth, this is freeing you from marriage," I pulled her fortress of limbs apart, lifting her to her feet. Nothing happened to her skin, not like when Akhet touched her when she had hypothermia. She swayed like a drunk, lips quaking to the beat of the endless tears. “I want you to stop crying.”
She lifted her hand, her thick finger swiping the dark circles under her eye. “If I’m more human, then I should just stay with my tribe, and do what my family expects of me. More Jinn, I must leave before they make me.”
“Your reputation here was ruined, Alioth,” I urged, squeezing her shoulders, resisting the urge to shake her within an inch of her sanity. “You told me yourself you only had two friends, one of them is Sahar, the other I assume is Janet. They’re both mobile. They can both stay with you.”
She crashed into my chest, causing a horrible sharp pain to strike my ribs. “I have everything ready to leave. I’m going to leave.”
“Where will you go?” I asked softly, holding her arms up so they don’t dangle.
“I might as well go die without my tribe,” she howled.
“The world is big and vast; you are not what your tribe demands of you! If you won’t find happiness here, it surely lies for you somewhere else.”
Easier said than believed.
“Shaman Fang, will you come with me?”
“Where, where are you going Alioth?” I huffed, scooping her body, which kept dropping, back up.
“I’m going to follow my fate; I’m going to follow the star Alioth. I will see the Northern Lights.”
“See? Doesn’t that sound so much better than marrying someone you don’t love? Living a life you can stand behind and say you’re proud of?” I begged her to listen.
“I can’t believe how cute your snake is!” A familiar voice erupted from right next to us. Alioth gasped and I jumped, looking at Akhet approaching us with Sahar still wiggling her black tongue on their thick shoulder.
“Careful, she bites,” Alioth muttered quietly.
I looked at her.
“Aww, she has a little bell…” Akhet put their hands together to their lips.
“You like snakes?” Alioth’s voice faltered.
“I adore ‘em.”
The screams only just lifted from my ears. For a second I feared Akhet would go on a poetic ramble about why snakes are great.
“So she’s not one of you, right? Just a normal snake?” Akhet asked, slowly reaching to scratch Sahar's underjaw.
“A normal snake.” Alioth nodded.
“This is the best day ever,” Akhet squee-d.
I rubbed my forehead hard, fingers digging in.
Alioth turned to me, expressionless, dry tear tracks still streaking her skin. “Shaman Fang, I understand if you wouldn’t want to. You told me you are not my friend. But I want you to come with me. Will you promise me?”
I could feel my heart bursting out my chest.
To follow the star Alioth to see the Northern Lights, we’d have to make it at least to one of the far corners of Earth.
Up in the monastery, I would be alone.
Alioth and I were both lonely people.
“I promise.”
She rigidly shot out her arm, fingers stuck together. I shook it to the best of my ability.
“You guys are chasing stars? What will you do till nighttime?" Akhet asked.
Alioth shuffled a little away from them.
“I usually go to a pub or something zany during the day,” they continued.
“Are those the orders you were given?” Alioth asked coolly.
They showed her their natural smirk.
“Ahem,” I cleared my throat. “Alioth, this is Akhet. Akhet, this is Alioth.”
“I’d shake your hand, but I’m scared you’ll turn to dust,” Akhet said, facing her.
She pulled her head cover further on her forehead. “It’s alright.”
I looked at Akhet with a funny smile, and they shrugged. "She still has the burn from when I lifted her," Akhet said.
"What?" Alioth asked.
"When you had hypothermia, Akhet helped me carry you to the monastery to save you."
Alioth's eyes widened and she shot her shoulder before her eyes, studying the white marks that formed on her upper arm, which resembled flowers. "Oh. I was wondering."
"I also touched her with holy water, Akhet, why didn't it hurt her?"
Akhet laughed sweetly. "Oh, Houyi, I was bluffing! To bless some water, God at least needs to be with you, and ah, that's harder than you think."
Alioth's eyes shone kindly. "Thank you, for your help, Holy One."
Akhet nodded, then turned around, Sahar in their hand. They stretched out the wings on their neck, placing Sahar between their shoulder blades. "Sssss hey look! I'm Quetzalcoatl!"
I looked at Alioth, then at them. "I have no idea what you talk about sometimes," I said.
Akhet giggled and lifted Sahar off their shoulders, offering her back to Alioth, who took her snake back tentatively.
"Well now, I must be off, Pakistan is waiting and after that my friends back on Mt. Mauna Kea, you know."
"Wait," I said, "don't you want to join us?"
"Lah, Houyi, a trip like this isn't for me."
"We're chasing stars," I pushed, "just like you. Didn't you say you visit the 26 highest points on earth every year for centuries? Back when we first met you mentioned that. Why not mix it up a little?"
Akhet looked at the sky, pondering deeply.
"According to my calculations, there are 403 septillion, 291 sextillion, 461 quintillion, 126 quadrillion, 605 trillion, 635 billion, 584 million different combinations of the route this creature takes every year, if it spends one night in each of these 26 locations across 26 days. There's also a 0.03846153% chance of this creature being in each location each night. Working strategically then, if I do a different combination of each of these locations every year, eventually I'll find her."
She lovingly stared at the sun with her reptilian eyes, round pupils expanding to the very edges. "Eh, damn it all, right? That only leaves a 0.00147929% we'll be in the same place at the same time. So far she has eluded me every time, barely escaping my grasp. Why not mix it up a little?"
23
Carrots for Carrot
Walking back to the city to hand in the report, I thought about Huapaya's funeral. Akhet has made me wonder if what he truly would have wanted me to do is move on and live. Instead of fussing over death, to think of life, specifically the life of his beloved pony. I have to go get Juzra from the caretaker.
Oh no.
A whoosh of cold air covered me when I stepped in through the glass door, a big sign saying "Open" at the front.
"Caretaker!" I shouted when I didn't see him at the front desk. "I'm leaving the city; I need to take my horse back."
He's scared of me, so there's no real reason to be anxious. But, who knows if he's hiding with a spear or a bow and arrow around here somewhere…
If he is, he's a fool. Those were my specialties.
The door behind the counter creaked.
"Hi Shaman Feng," he peeped, "your horse is in the stable back here."
I didn't move.
"Bring her out, please."
The door closed.
A few moments later he was leading a grumpy Juzra
through the door and into the room. Her hooves clacked the concrete.
"Juzra, baby!" I kissed the air and went to pat her head. She neighed and stuck her happy eyes on me.
