Telesa - The Covenant Keeper

by Lani Wendt Young

  “Keep your voice down. Just follow me.”

  She continued on. The pipeline snaked its way along the ground, through the bushes and the ground started to get boggy. And there was an unmistakable stench in the air. One of rot. Putridness. Death. “Ugh! What is that?”

  We came out in a clearing and I stood still in horror. The pipeline was spewing its contents into a mangrove swamp that skirted the ocean. Green waste was slowly but surely pumping out into the sludgy water, but that wasn’t where the smell was coming from. The rot was emanating from the water where dead fish floated. Dead dogs. I covered my nose and struggled not to vomit as I thought I caught sight of a few dead pigs too? “What’s this?”

  Nafanua spoke sharply. “This is their waste disposal.”

  “This can’t be right. I don’t get it. How can they just be pumping this stuff here? It’s so close to them and they’re happy to just leave it out in the open? This is dangerous. Look at all the dead animals. It’s disgusting! It’s criminal. What if a kid comes here? And it’s all going into the sea and probably the tide is just taking it right back down there where the village is that we passed on the way. This is horrible.”

  Nafanua nodded grimly. “Yes it is. We just got word today about it. They were pumping the waste into trucks that took the mess up to the Tafaigata landfill site but the company decided that was too expensive an option, so they just put in this pipeline last month. Decided to offload the waste here into the mangrove and just count on the tide to move it away from here.”

  “Well we have to report them. We can’t let them get away with us. Have you called the police? The Ministry of Environment or something?”

  Nafanua gave me a sardonic look. Like I was a simpleton. “You’re joking right? You really think the police care about stuff like this? You’re not THAT naïve are you?”

  Gingerly, she walked along the outskirts of the swamp, making her careful way closer towards the effluent pipe. Battling nausea, I followed her, whispering frantically.“Nafanua! Wait. So what are we doing here? What are you going to do?”

  She stopped and looked back at me with an impassive face. “What are YOU going to do, Leila?”

  I stopped short behind her. “What do you mean?”

  She gestured expansively to the mess in front of us. “Well, we can take out the tank with a well placed lightning strike but that’s an unpredictable method for dealing with the situation.”

  I was confused. “What are you talking about?”

  “We’re air element controllers, Leila, remember? We can summon lightning and that will set things on fire, but we can’t control what that fire will do or where it will go. That’s where you come in.”

  “Wait – you want me to, what, set this place on fire?!” I was incredulous.

  “You said it yourself, it’s criminal what they’re doing – to the land, the ocean, not to mention the people who live here. And you can do something about it. The question is, will you?”

  I shook my head. “But that’s wrong. That’s illegal! You’re asking me to sabotage this company’s tank? And destroy stuff? You’re nuts.”

  She raised an eyebrow at my outburst. “No Leila, what’s nuts is to stand here and do nothing when it’s in your power, literally in your hands, to be able to right this wrong. Now that you have seen this, how can you walk away from it when you know very well that all it would take is a thought and you could safely clean this site up? Can you do that? Could you sleep well tonight if you turned your back on this mess? If you walked away from it?” She turned to point away in the distance. “Just beyond those trees, is a village. With families, children, elderly. Shall I bring you back here tomorrow so you can see where the children go swimming every morning, just a few hundred meters up the coast from here? Shall I take you upriver so you can see where the village boys go to trap freshwater shrimp? From this very water? Can you look at those people and feel peace KNOWING that you allowed this – desecration – to continue?”

  I tried to find words that would negate her logic. “But, that’s not fair, Nafanua, that’s not right. This pollution isn’t ours to fix, it’s not our responsibility. It wouldn’t be right.”

  “Exactly. It’s not fair. It’s not right. That a few rich and powerful people should be able to do whatever they want so they can make more money and hurt countless others in the process. You’re right Leila. This isn’t fair. So you can walk away from here or you can step up and help take responsibility. This is what we telesā do. I won’t force you to do anything you don’t want to Leila. But know this. We came here tonight to fix this. And we will use our gifts, our powers, to make this right, the best way we know how. You can wait in the car until we’re finished.”

  She turned her back on me, the conversation over, and quickly walked back to where the tank was situated. Numbly, I followed. Two other dark shapes slipped from the shadows to join her – Sarona and Fouina.

  “The guards are taken care of. Let’s do this.”

  I didn’t have time to wonder what ‘taking care of the guards’ meant because Nafanua held one clenched fist to the sky and summoned the first lightning strike. It hit the tank and, as it did, the women turned to run, pulling me with them.

  “Come on. Run!”

  The explosion behind us was deafening and a wave of heat and air half threw us several feet through the air. I hit the ground with a whoosh of impact, all the wind knocked from me. The others, more practiced than I, rolled to their feet, impatiently pulling at my arms to drag me further out of reach of the burning inferno behind us.

  “Get up. Move!”

  Still in shock, I allowed myself to be rushed along until they found a spot they deemed safe. They halted and we stood to look back at the flames as they danced higher. Sarona was exultant.

  “Yes! Beautiful. That should take care of them.”

  She and Fouina laughed together but Nafanua’s brow furrowed in concern, her gaze trained on the blaze. “Damnit.”

  The others turned. “What? What is it?”

  She pointed to where the seething flames were now rippling along the ground. Towards the factory buildings. “It’s spreading. Leila, you’ve got to do something.”

  Fouina protested. “Do what? I thought we wanted to burn the whole place down?”

  Nafanua sent her a cold look and pulled at my hand. “Leila, the fire’s moving in the wrong direction. We need it to follow the pipe and burn the dump site so it can be cleansed. Quickly, you need to channel it back and then monitor it at the dump site. Come on.”

  I shook her hand away. “No. I told you I wanted nothing to do with this.”

  The other two women laughed. Sarona arched an eyebrow. “Well Nafanua, teenagers ay? Just can’t make them do what you want. Let’s go back to the trucks Fouina. I’m tired of this.”

  Sarona and Fouina walked quickly back the way they had come, leaving me alone with Nafanua and a quickly escalating fiery situation. She appealed to me again.

  “Leila, people could get hurt if you don’t help me channel this in the right direction. I need your help. Please?”

  I knew she was right. If the blaze reached the factory it would be unstoppable. And remembering the poisonous accumulation at the mangrove swamp, I made my decision. I took several steps closer to the fiery chaos and took a moment to calm my ragged breathing. Yes, I had practiced controlling fire, but that was always in the privacy and peace of Nafanua’s garden. Tonight was different.

  Breathe Leila, focus, you can do this. O2 party in the molecules, come on. Breathe. Talk to me … With my thoughts I reached down through my feet to the ground, nudging, seeking for the energy that always lay dormant there. Awakened it. Called it to a party in my fingers and, just like that, my hands burst into flame. Yes! I focused all my concentration on the runaway flames. And even though I hadn’t started the fire – it listened. The fiery energy in my own hands called to it and it answered. I beckoned fiercely and pulled it back like a beast on a leash. Clenching my fists I g
estured back towards the pipeline, back towards the dumpsite and the flames followed eagerly. Like a puppet master, I manipulated the fire, standing firm against its heat as it whooshed past me while Nafanua stumbled in her haste to get away from it. I felt the flame as it found the pipeline, as it ran along its length, devouring everything in its path, as it arrived at the swamp site.

  I ran after it, coming to a halt swamp side. Now this was the tricky part, I wanted it to burn – but only until all the chemical waste was extinguished. No further. I stood guard on the land watching. Whenever the flames leapt out to a gnarled tree, I flicked my fingers and called it back in place. When one rushing ball of fire barreled across the ground, I stamped my foot irritated and forced it back.

  “No! Get back.”

  Beads of sweat trickled down my forehead as I struggled to stay focused, in command. This wasn’t as easy as it looked and I could feel my strength sapping with every minute that I exerted control over the inferno. Starting a fire was one thing, but then telling it to stop was a whole different exercise. When fire is having a party, it doesn’t want to quit. I waited a few minutes until the flames began to falter and the chemical fuel in the water was all consumed. The fire flickered, whimpered and slowly died, leaving only wisps of black smoke curling skyward. I walked right around the edges of the swamp pool to make sure there were no stray cinders smoldering anywhere that could catch light in the first breath of wind. Nothing. To be sure, I stood motionless, closed my eyes and reached out with that part of me that spoke to earth, that knew fire intimately. Nothing. The fire was no more. I heaved a huge sigh. And felt very, very tired. What a night.

  Slowly, I made my way back to where I had left Nafanua. The rest of the telesā had now joined her and everyone stood in a tense huddle, speaking in angry whispers. It seemed they were arguing but broke off abruptly as I came into sight. “It’s all burned out. Now can we get out of here?”

  The women looked at each other and unspoken accusations knifed the air. Nafanua moved first.

  “Yes, let’s move. The authorities will arrive shortly and we do not need to be flustered with their inquisitions.” She paused to smile at me. “Well done, Leila. That was excellent work. You made sure the factory was protected. Thank you for your help tonight.”

  Sarona spoke with a cynical edge. “Yes, Leila. You SAVED the factory. The one that makes chemical by-products that kill the environment and cause birth defects in children. Thank you so much.”

  Anger powered my response. “I don’t know what you were trying to do, but a lightning strike of that size could have set the whole place alight. What are we? Arsonists? Criminals? You were prepared to burn the whole place down? What the hell was that?! Someone could have been hurt, killed even. At least what I did got rid of the chemical pollution problem. Go on, go back and take a look for yourself. It’s all gone now. The place is clean.”

  Thunder shuddered the sky as Sarona snarled. “You foolish child. Are you that idiotic to think that your pathetic little bonfire is going to stop these people? Give them one week or two, and they will have the place running again, the tank and pipeline rebuilt and spewing its guts out in the mangrove again. What are you going to do then? Come back every fortnight to burn their rubbish for them?” She laughed shortly. “Maybe you should go work for them. Hire out your services as a rubbish disposal system.”

  I tried not show how deep her words cut me as their truth serrated me raw. Anger and frustration had my temperature rising, my hands itching with the familiar prickling heat. I don’t know what would have happened if Nafanua had not interrupted.

  “That’s enough. We came to clean up the chemical dump and disable the system and the job is done, thanks to Leila. We achieve nothing by arguing here. Now, everyone MOVE before we are caught.”

  Approaching sirens emphasized her words and all of us moved as one back to the vehicles. Nafanua gunned the engine and with a spin of tires we were hurtling along a side road and away from the factory site. I stared out the window as Nafanua navigated potholes and speed bumps with skilled ease and my mind was a turbulent swirl of questions. I had just participated in destroying someone else’s property. I had watched as my mother and her sisters had tried to burn it to the ground. And then I had used the fire to burn a pipeline, consume a chemical dumpsite and now here we were running away from police and fire teams. What have I just done? What are these women? What have I gotten myself into? I thought of my dad and sincerely hoped that he couldn’t see anything of the night’s events from heaven.

  Back at the house, Nafanua asked me to go upstairs while she spoke with her sisters. I caught fragments of strained conversation. Sarona’s voice was the loudest. “She could have ruined everything tonight Nafanua. She’s not one of us, when are you going to accept that?”

  Nafanua’s reply was harsh and brooked no argument. “Silence. She’s young and new to her gift. She needs her sisters to be patient – all of them. We must give her time.”

  I was exhausted. My every pore cried for sleep. But it was a long time coming. I lay in bed staring at the ceiling but all I could see was flames. As a factory tank burned. What had I become?

  

  School looked exactly the same as when I had left it. I parked under the mango tree by the tennis courts, remembering with a thrill the day Daniel had first kissed me on the forehead underneath its rippling shade. Focus Leila. Get with it. You’re not here for Daniel. He’s not for you. He’s not for you. It was my mantra. Maybe if I said it enough, my heart would believe it?

  I was concentrating so hard on my shaky resolve that I almost missed it when Maleko called out to me. “Whoa hey Leila, is that you? Wait up!”

  I half turned as the exuberant boy ran up behind me. Taking one long look and then coming to an abrupt halt with a look of uncomfortable awe on his face. He whistled long and low. “Damn girl what did you do?”

  Confused, I shook my head. “What do you mean?”

  He looked searchingly at me again before a smile I had never seen directed at me before lit up his eyes. Appreciative eyes. That raked me up and down. “Leila, you are looking good! Your long break must have done something to you. Where have you been?”

  I shrugged and kept walking. “Sorry gotta run Maleko, the bell’s gonna go and I have to check in with Mr. Raymond before I can go to class. We’ll talk later?”

  Maleko was acting very un-Maleko–like, and I wanted to get away from him as quickly as possible. I left him standing there, still gazing after me with that admiring look in his eyes. “I’ll be waiting Leila!”

  Shaking my head, I rushed to catch the Principal with the note from Nafanua justifying my long absence. Again Mr. Raymond didn’t seem to be too concerned with disappearing and reappearing students. More tired sighs and harrumphs. A reminder to keep out of trouble, stay off hard labor, don’t skip class. It was all over in less than five minutes and I was safe to get to my first period. Geography. Daniel, where are you?

  Mrs. Jasmine had begun her droning lecture on the weather conditions in the Australian outback when I slipped into the classroom and found an empty seat. I felt him before I saw him, sensed his presence at the other side of the row. I tried to resist looking at him but within minutes I had turned. Our eyes met and caught each other captive. My breath was an indrawn hope. His eyes were unreadable. He didn’t smile. He didn’t frown. He just looked at me. What were my eyes saying I wondered? Were they telling him how much I loved him? How much I longed to reach out and entwine my fingers with his?

  After class, we met halfway in the hall, an invisible barrier between us.

  “Leila.”

  “Daniel.”

  He spoke with supreme politeness. “How are you?”

  “Fine. Thanks.”

  “So you’re back.”

  “Yeah. Back to school.”

  “For how long?”