“At least I will be able to see these saplings grow like my own children. You want to see them grow too. Your thoughts are the same as mine!” Cadica looked at Tenashar with a laugh.
Tenashar and Etutsha learned a lot about relaxing and having fun from Cadica. One day, she pointed in all directions at the vast desert around them. She said that vast cities would now be covering the land if history had turned out different.
Tenashar suddenly remembered Jerry, who had said that she lived in a large city. Is this where she lived? He wondered if he would see her again.
“What are you thinking, Tenashar?” Etutsha was looking at him with an intense gaze.
“I was thinking of a girl named Jerry I saw reflected in a pool of water. She came from a place where cities are large.” Tenashar was forlorn.
Cadica wanted to know who Jerry was. Tenashar told her all that had happened. She became interested in the description of Jerry’s home, but she said that in this world, big cities never existed. With just a whisper, Cadica pointed out that Jerry might exist further in the future.
Ilaythesia had promised to teach Tenashar how to make the tools and machines that would someday be used to build new life in the desert, but on one particular day, she was elsewhere. Tenashar waited for her all day and left in disgust and disappointment. He left Cadica and Etutsha, who were walking together into the desert. He wanted to hide himself and let the night conceal his hurt feelings. He thought he was alone until suddenly a shadowy figure tapped him on the shoulder. It was Ilaythesia. “So you have found the right place to begin our lessons. You seem to know so much already. You are turning out to be a good student.” Her words stirred feelings of pride in him.
That particular night was quite dark except for the stars that shone like millions of bright sentinels. Ilaythesia picked up a handful of sand. “The transparent containers are something you had been wondering about for a long time. You want to know how these containers were made. Weren’t many of these things you call flasks hanging on the walls of Nainashari’s cave? I believe you know some of them are made of glass. Glass is born as sand and heated in furnaces. It takes great heat for some of these processes, though not as much as the sun and distant stars have.”
Tenashar held up a handful of sand, looked at the stars, and peered at the grains. Nearby, things that looked like glowing embers moved about—animals that hid beneath the sands during the heat of the day and came out to hunt only at night. The animals that scurried about reminded him of the stars. He looked around. Ilaythesia was gone. He was alone again.
He walked to the little dwelling and saw that Etutsha and Cadica were sleeping. He noticed that Cadica smiled even when asleep. He wondered what her secret was for being happy in such an inhospitable, dying place. Surely, she knew much.
Tenashar slept and entered the world of dreams with no limits. In that world, he saw a bright light in the shape of a path went on in all directions forever, branching like a tree, and Tenashar was confused as to what path to take. He was alone in the center of the path and looking in many directions. A ghostly image of Tansatei came to him. It was as bright and shiny as sunlight. Her face was somber, but she came close and touched his face, embraced him, and melted like ice.
He walked down one of the lighted paths and soon entered a bright, sunlit room that seemed to go on forever. As he walked toward one of walls of the room, he found himself getting no closer to it. No matter how far he walked, the wall was always farther away.
Images began growing from the floor; shapes developed into human form, and all appeared to be people from cultures Tenashar didn’t recognize. One of the figures was an imposing man with bony cheeks and deeply chiseled eye sockets. His intense gaze pierced Tenashar’s soul. His long beard reached his chest, and he wore a tall crown or cap. His robe, tight trousers, and boots were embellished with strange symbols. He was holding a rod shaped like a tree with a half-moon symbol nestled in its branches, while his other hand was extended as if to say, I offer you a gift.
Other equally imposing and strange images came and went. After the last of the strange images vanished, something grew like a plant. It was made of white stone and grew taller than all the other images. It transformed into another human image—Tansatei. The image soon began to crumble into pieces all around Tenashar and disappeared. The image was soon gone.
Tansatei, as he knew her, appeared. She grabbed his hand and pulled him along behind her, first in one direction, then in another, and then a third. She never said a word; she just smiled a strange smile he had never seen before. Worried and confused, Tenashar asked, “What do you want? Where are you taking me?”
Tansatei’s figure blurred, forming into many other similar images. Some of them were of stone, others of soil, sand, or glass. One figure consisted only of mist, and another looked like a tree but with hair, hands, and feet of leaves. Eventually, images of Tansatei continued to multiply around him to such an extent that there was no breathing space. Tenashar began to suffocate.
At that moment, he woke up to find Cadica tickling his face with a leaf. The sun was shining brightly. “Hey! Why are you bothering me?” he asked.
“You are so funny when you sleep.” She threw her leaf away and stood. “I hope you had a good dream. Here, have something to eat and drink.”
He rubbed his eyes. “Cadica, when I am awake, I dream. If I am sleeping, I am truly living reality. Do you understand this?”
Cadica looked at him. She put her hands on her hips and said, “I think you’re confused about what reality is. You don’t know the true meaning of living. Calm that storm within you. Just live for the days and the moments, and don’t think too much about them. That’s all you need. Just be calm.” She was in a solemn mood with nary a laugh or giggle.
What was the illusion I just had? Was it a dream about wisdom or something else? It may have been real. Whatever it was, I truly experienced it, Tenashar thought.
Cadica took his hands. “Come outside to play with me.” She led Tenashar out into the daylight. There was moisture on the ground, and Tenashar wondered how a land that was always dry could be partially wet. They walked on the sand, and water seeped up with every step. Cadica responded to Tenashar’s unspoken question. “It’s raining.”
“What? Nothing here makes sense. I can’t seem to learn anything of this world.”
“You need to learn only about the world you are in. See things around you, loosen yourself up, and wisdom will come,” she said with a slight giggle.
“What are you trying to say? Everything here is upside down. Where I come from, rains are from the heavens, but here, suddenly a dry place becomes wet. Nothing is right here. I don’t like it.” Tenashar’s voice was filled with anger and frustration.
Cadica surprised him with equal anger. “You seem to think that what you have experienced since you were a child is the right way—the way things should be. Maybe it’s your world that’s wrong and strange!”
They walked in silence, each lost in annoyance, ignoring the beauty around them. They came to a small lake that didn’t have a single ripple, as it were made of glass. Tenashar touched it and discovered he could make ripples accompanied by music—chimes in the wind. When the ripples died down, he saw scenes of islands with majestic mountains, seashores with ruins, deserts, and images of people and animals in the water.
Cadica and Tenashar shared many stories over time. Cadica told him how, many centuries ago, water had been difficult to find. “A young girl wished to find enough water for her people to drink, so she walked a long way to a place where water seemed abundant, but she didn’t know it was an ocean until she drank some and tasted salt. Chanting, she asked her spiritual guides the way to fresh water. She was told there was a type of water, unlike any other, endowed with a living spirit. The water moved around to various places. She realized that only by digging deep into the ground could she find the water at rest. With her skills at manipulating the shapes of matter, she created a drill out of a long p
iece of rock.
“This was a daunting task for a girl of twelve, even a wise and talented one, but people had given her the title, ‘Most Skilled and Learned,’ and they expected great things of her. She quickly discovered, however, that even with her drill it wasn’t easy to find water that was so deep under the ground.
“She finally realized the water would have to come to her but wondered how this could be accomplished. She went into a trance, a dream of the underground river. It told her that it hid from humans, knowing that its abundant water would be wasted and fought over, and it didn’t want to be responsible for such discord.
“She explained that her people were not the kind who would have such problems—they had technology, but they also understood spiritual and ecological matters. The river understood what was needed, so it permitted the girl to drill into the ground, requiring only that the water form a waterfall created from the surrounding rocks. The rocks were to be fashioned into pillars as guardian sentinels, and only a certain amount of water poured out, according to the needs of the people.”
Ilaythesia’s lessons also took Tenashar by surprise. One morning, he was lying in the sun and suddenly found himself staring at a domed ceiling. All around him was the underground world, which only looked like the world above.
“How did I get here?” He was so surprised that he spoke aloud.
Ilaythesia replied, startling him. “Perhaps you were here all the time and didn’t know it. To you, this might seem like a world all its own. You haven’t seen many underground caverns yet.”
“But I was with Etutsha and Cadica, wasn’t I? Or was I talking with them through some dream trance?” Tenashar was amazed and confused.
“Your friends were always with you. It is possible that you may have walked down here, not conscious of your steps, or that you were in both places, here in the cavern and out in the sun, at the same time.” Ilaythesia’s voice lost its mysterious note and became playful. “But truly, they brought you down here very early this morning, while you slept, and then returned to awaken you for your morning lessons.”
“What will be the first lesson today?” Tenashar was eager and ready to listen.
“All I have to teach you has come to you already. You have nothing left to learn from me.” Her words held great conviction.
Tenashar was disappointed and frustrated. “How did I learn anything? You can’t have shown me everything. I haven’t been here long enough!”
“Haven’t you learned enough? You have learned to plant a forest and nurture a sapling.” Her face became grave. “I know you want to learn how to build an underground cavern and make the transparent objects, but to learn all this may take a thousand years. You could never attain this because you do not have the time. Anything else you must learn on your own.”
Tenashar realized that his people—that all people—needed to cultivate living things, to create life by growing forests and other plants. In time, if they needed it, he felt his people would develop the technology. It was such an easy concept that he began to comprehend why this journey was necessary.
Ilaythesia told him of the great difference between a simple concept and one easy to implement; she said that those who think they are the same may bring disaster on themselves and the world. She asked, “What are you thinking about, my son? You must see that learning never ends. It’s good that you want to pass on this knowledge to others and keep nothing for yourself. Perhaps you’ll eventually eliminate pride.”
Tenashar was torn by the idea of leaving because he considered the cave his home. He no longer had any desire to journey to his world even to help its people. A sound came from the Rock and the Mushroom in his bag. He had almost forgotten about them. They spoke to his mind about not abandoning what he had set out to do.
At the close of one day, Tenashar and Cadica found Etutsha fast asleep. They did not want to bother him, so they sat to enjoy the sunset.
“Soon you’ll leave. Do you understand why?”
Cadica’s face showed sadness. He did not want to hurt her; she already had too much of a burden as a child rarely able to enjoy playing with others. She seemed to have nobody to care for her since Ilaythesia was often absent. He wondered if this was part of the strength building required to train the Aura-Laei-I, who carry such heavy responsibility throughout life. He wondered if, like himself, Cadica ever had second thoughts about her choice, her destiny. Perhaps she never had thoughts of being anything else. He didn’t want to question Cadica. It was best to leave her alone.
To others, Cadica showed only supreme confidence, but Tenashar sensed vulnerability beneath. At various times, he saw Cadica sitting alone as if she were the only person in the world, her head hung down. Those moments, however, didn’t last long. He understood her loneliness, for he had felt much the same himself, growing up around many people who had not understood him.
He didn’t want to think of her being alone when he departed. “Cadica, are there other children around here? So far, I’ve seen only you and Ilaythesia, and though she speaks of others, it is only of adults.”
Cadica became unusually silent and tried to a smile. “Children are scarce here because the land has been drained of life for so long. Very few people were left, and even fewer children were born. Many were stillborn, while others died very young. Like the trees that Ilaythesia has been raising to reforest the land, everyone is trying to bring more children into this world.” Cadica’s words were very serious.
“With all the accomplishments your people have, can’t they cure these problems?” Tenashar asked, distressed for the deep sorrow he felt emanating from his friend.
“They are trying very hard but can achieve but little.” Her vacant eyes stared into nothing. It was clear that Cadica’s childish giggles were hiding a deep pain. Her world was dying, and some things were best left unsaid. In his heart, he saw Cadica receding into the darkness; he wanted to see the sunny and smiling child resurface.
Cadica spoke. “You shouldn’t be worried about this world. Your world is your only concern. Your soul has a need to open to the sun, so cut away the rain clouds.”
Etutsha awoke from a long nap and asked when they were going to eat. They laughed at him, the mood lightened by his simple practicality.
After they ate, Cadica and Etutsha played a game. She drew a series of lines, some straight, some in spirals, in the sand. The rules of the game were to move cubes, spheres, and cones between the lines. Three of the same shape had to land in a hole dug in the sand. Each hole represented a number, and if the shapes landed on a high number, that player went first. Each line had notches to indicate numbers, and the player who had his or her piece land continuously on the highest number won.
While Cadica and Etutsha were playing, Tenashar walked into the cavern to find Ilaythesia. After some time in searching, he found her.
Ilaythesia’s voice was calm. “Tenashar, you will be eventually returning to your own time. I believe Cadica had already said this?”
“Cadica had said something to me.” He nodded sadly.
“The meaning of time is different for everyone. I advise you not to worry, because she meant that you wouldn’t leave us for perhaps two seasons—which is a short time to her.” She reminded Tenashar that her life span was very different from his, since people in this desert lived for thousands of years.
The intensity and fear he felt when he had first come to her desert world began to disappear. He learned that all disciplines and things were interconnected once someone grasped basic principles. Thoughts that had been blocked for years started to flow through Tenashar’s mind. The knowledge and traditions of the Senetha and the desert world merged in his mind. He was becoming an Aura-Laei-I.
It was required that his body undergo a process of purification. Tenashar’s growing knowledge of anatomy helped him understand why this was required. Through his study of anatomy, he began to understand that certain foods were needed, that there should be a balance of fish and meat, but fruits
and vegetables were critical. He needed to cleanse his body to keep himself physically pure. His negative emotions were transformed into an ability to see deep within all living organisms, and he was able to connect with the souls of inanimate objects. In time, Tenashar began to communicate with inanimate objects—even beyond his friends the Mushroom and the Rock, who could think and choose to speak to him. Eventually, he developed the ability to communicate with a simple clay pot. He realized why Sanashei and Heitac were so knowledgeable about the world around them. They could talk and listen to sunlight, rocks, trees, and water.
Even in this underground garden, Tenashar could never forget the pressing concerns of his people. Even though he was in another time, he worried about the Orbs’ draining more lands. His world had been devastated by Orbs centuries past, and no one had been able to restore it.
Tenashar emerged from the cave and looked at the twilight. He sat, deep in thought. Etutsha sat beside him and put a hand on his shoulder. “When will we leave this place?” Etutsha shared his concern for the village they left behind. “It is beautiful here, and I have no great wish to leave, but we must.”
Tenashar made no answer. Etutsha nudged him, but he didn’t stir. They remained quiet, trying to decide when they would depart.
Tenashar saw Cadica playing in the sand and watched her, though she did not know she was being observed. She brought out glass images of a buffalo and a wolf and smoothed a spot in the sand. As she touched the surface, mysterious markings appeared and changed their shapes and colors. She seemed to be playing with the glass figures on the smooth surface, as if they were on a chessboard. She held her hand out, looked at the stars, and turned her fingers. A beam of light descended from the sky. On the smooth surface, images and objects faded in and out in rapid succession, with no apparent pattern or plan. The only thing that made sense to Tenashar was the two images that resembled Una-sei and A-amar.
The little girl came to a stopping point; she brushed the sand over the smooth slate to cover it, made a symbolic gesture in the air accompanied with chants, and skipped away. Tenashar would have followed her, but he suddenly saw drawings appear in the sand and sky. He was surprised to see images that resembled A-amar and Una-sei. As he looked closer, they started to fade. He waited for the images to appear again, but they were gone.
A Journey of a Thousand Seasons Book 1 (Journey Series) Page 12
