Telesa - The Covenant Keeper

by Lani Wendt Young

  “Oh whatever, doubt it. Besides, who said I want to be the taupou anyway?”

  My sniff of disdain didn’t fool him one bit. “Oh please, Leila, I can cut the connection between you and Daniel with a bush knife, I don’t know who broke up with who but there’s something going on there. I’ll be waiting at the classroom. You promised to give me a ride today remember?” And with that he dashed off.

  Mrs. Lematua was waiting for me with the other three house teachers. And Daniel. She got straight to the point. “Leila, we’ve chosen you to be the taupou this year. We know you’re new and this is your first culture night, so we will expect you to put in a lot of practice and work closely with Daniel to get this item perfect.”

  She didn’t wait for a reply but I tried anyway. “But, Miss, I …”

  She turned impatiently. “What?”

  All four teachers were staring at me. So was Daniel. The look in his eyes unreadable. Was he disgusted with this new development? Was he mad? Was he hating me even more? I couldn’t tell. I swallowed nervously before replying. “Umm, I don’t think I can do the taupou for the house. I don’t know enough and I wouldn’t do a good job. Please choose someone else?”

  The other female teacher jumped in before Mrs. Lematua could answer. “Leila, you’re a natural dancer, I don’t think I’ve ever seen such grace before. You need to trust us on this one. Besides, we’re doing something new this year and so we want someone new. Someone different from the usual. This performance is meant to be more than the usual taupou siva, it has to be a performance of the song, the story contained in the song.” Her brow furrowed. “That’s right, you can’t speak Samoan, can you?”

  I shook my head. She looked thoughtful for only a moment. “Ah, not a problem.” She turned to the brooding young man beside her. “Daniel, you’ll need to go over the lyrics with Leila, translate them for her, explain the legend associated with it and make sure she understands what she has to re-enact with her dance, alright?”

  Daniel shrugged. What else could a Head Prefect of the school do? The teachers all looked relieved. Cheerful. “Right, that’s settled then. We’ll expect to see your practice tomorrow.” With that they walked away to the staffroom, leaving Daniel and I alone under the tamarind tree. I was suddenly cold. The last time Daniel and I had stood alone under a tamarind tree, he had kissed me. And I had burst into flames. The memory had me steeling my resolve. Be distant Leila, be cool, be aloof. My tone was casual and collected.

  “So Daniel, what time works for you? I’m sure we can get through this in half an hour tops. How’s interval tomorrow?”

  He shrugged and shook his head. “No. I’ve got a makeup test to do with Michaels.”

  “Oh, so what works then?”

  “I can try for today, after final form period. But you better make it short because I’ve got work to do at the shop. I’ll stop by your classroom.”

  And with that brusque retort, he turned and walked back to the school block, leaving me alone with the breeze rifling through the tamarind trees.

  

  The room had emptied by the time Daniel walked in. I was sitting at a desk, trying to concentrate on Math but so nervous that nothing was getting through. He paused in the doorway before greeting me and, for a moment, I was taken back to that day, only a few months before, when I had first seen him, when he had first walked into my life with sunlight catching on the red and gold glint of his hair, his smile.

  “Hey.”

  “Hi.”

  He pulled up a chair opposite me, his broad frame making the desk between us seem very small. I managed a weak smile and prepared to take notes while he explained the dance to me but he didn’t seem to be in a rush to get to our assignment.

  “So, how have you been?”

  “Good. And you?”

  “Same.” He took some papers out of his bag. “I wrote down the lyrics to the song for you.” He paused. “You’re different. You look different.”

  Instinctively my hand went up to smooth back my hair, fidget with my blouse collar. Was there something on my face? “What do you mean? How different?”

  A shrug. “I don’t know. Just different.” He looked away from me, down at the ground and then his eyes widened in surprise. “Is that a malu?”

  Edgily, I straightened and pulled at my skirt, trying to force it further down to cover more of my legs. “Um, yeah.”

  Daniel stared at me. There was shock in his voice. “You got a malu done? When? Why? I thought you said you would never get a tattoo?!”

  “Yeah, I know. I kind of changed my mind…” He couldn’t seem to take his eyes off my legs and I shifted uneasily in my seat.

  “Who was the tattooist?”

  “My mother and her sisters.”

  Now there was disbelief. “What?! You’re kidding, right?”

  “No. Nafanua prepared the inks and then her sisters worked on the designs. They did it in sections over three days.”

  He shook his head. “ I’ve never heard of women giving the malu.And I’m not trying to be my sexist self here, okay? It’s tradition here that all the tattooists are men. As far as I know, anyway.”

  I had to smile at his speedy attempt to head off any attacks from my usually over-defensive self. He leaned in closer, eyes still trained on my legs. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a malu like yours before. Those patterns are unusual.” There was soft concern in his eyes. “You said they did it over three days? How did you handle the pain?”

  “It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.”

  He looked up with a half-smile. “Really? I’m glad. I know you hated the thought of the pain. That day when we were talking about my tattoo, when…” He stopped short, words colliding into the memory of what other things had happened on that day.

  Both of us looked away. Anywhere and everywhere except for at each other. Remembering the night we had kissed was a sweetly torturous thing. It was time to say some things that needed to be said. I knew I may never get the chance again. “Daniel, I wanted to thank you.”

  “For what?”

  “For not telling anyone about me, about that fire thing.” I looked nervously over my shoulder to make sure there was no one in earshot. “I really appreciate it.”

  He shrugged. “It wasn’t my place to tell anyone. Besides, you asked me not to.”

  “Well, a lot of other people would have loved to spread that kind of news around.”

  He interrupted shortly with a frown. “I’m not like other people. I wouldn’t break that confidence. I wouldn’t do that.”

  “I know that. I never thought you would. But, I just wanted you to know that I appreciate it.”

  “Sure. So, how’s that going with you then? Has it happened again?”

  I exhaled and gave him a wry smile. If he only knew. “A little bit. Nafanua’s been helping me to deal with it. You know, control it.”

  “I’ve been worried about you.” He spoke the words without any emotion. Their simplicity caught me unawares.

  “Oh.”

  “I must have called you and texted you a hundred times. Nothing.” Now there was a ragged tightness in his voice. “And I’ve driven up your road to your mom’s place every other day, hoping to catch you. Nothing.”

  There was nothing to say. I stared at the desk, at the cuts and scratches of juvenile grafitti. He continued. “I’ve been going crazy with worry for you. And then finally after a month, you show up back at school, acting like there’s nothing wrong. Like we don’t even know each other. And all of a sudden you’re best buddies with Maleko?” There was disbelief in his voice. I looked up sharply.

  “No Daniel, I had nothing to do with that. Honest. I got back to school and he’s acting all weird and I have no idea why or where it’s coming from. And then that day, they all basically forced themselves into my car. I wasn’t even planning to go to the game.”

  He had a tired grin. “Yeah, well I guess Maleko can be pretty insistent when he puts his mind on something
.”

  “I’m sorry. About that fight or whatever that was during the game. I’m not sure what that was about but I’m sorry anyway.”

  He shook his head lightly. “Nah, it was nothing. Me and Maleko go ways back. We’ve been butting heads for years. He was just mouthing off in the scrum and we both lost it a little. Coach has really twisted our ears for it, I can tell you. But him and me – we’re fine.”

  “I’m glad. Maybe I shouldn’t have yelled at him then.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well, I was really mad at him for the whole sleazing onto me thing so I yelled at him the next day and basically told him to keep a mile away from me – or I would make him regret living.”

  Daniel laughed at that. “And how’s that warning working for you two?”

  “Put it this way, he’s barely said Boo in class since then. Actually Ms. Sivani was asking him today if he was sickly or something since he’s been so subdued.”

  We laughed together. And it felt good. Like before. But then the laughter ended and we were left with uncomfortable silence again. Filled with unspoken questions. Daniel cleared his throat. “Leila, does it hurt? The fire? Does it hurt you?”

  “What? Oh, that. It’s kind of hard to describe. Yeah it hurts, especially when it first erupts, but it’s kind of a good hurt? Does that even make sense?”

  “Not really. Where does it come from? Why is it happening?”

  I took a deep breath. Heavy in my mind was Nafanua’s warning about keeping telesā secrets from men. Any men. These were the questions I had been dreading. The ones I had been rehearsing answers for over the past few weeks. Answers that still didn’t even make sense to me.

  “I’m not sure. I know it sounds unreal, but apparently it’s got something to do with me being able to tap into the earth’s core heat and fire. Like volcanoes and stuff. Nafanua’s an expert on it and she’s been helping me to understand it a bit better and control it. That’s why I’m able to be back at school – because I have a better handle on it now. There’s still a lot we don’t know though, I’m still afraid of what it, I mean what I can do if I let my guard down for even a moment.” I stole a glance at him. “I haven’t been able to stop thinking about that night when it first happened, what I did, what I almost did, how I nearly hurt you and all those people. I hate myself for that. Can you ever forgive me?”

  He leaned forward and reached across the desk to take my hand in his. “There’s nothing to forgive. It’s not like you planned that to happen. It came out of nowhere, and besides, you stopped it, you called it back, you saved those people.”

  “Aha, yeah right, from a fire that I started. And I only did it because …” I trailed off, unwilling to say the words, afraid of what he would think of me. I pulled my hand away from his and resolutely clenched my fists in my lap.

  “Because what?”

  “I only called the fire back because you asked me to. Because you told me to. If you hadn’t been there, things would have been very different. If you hadn’t stopped me, that hostel would have burned to the ground and all those people would likely be dead. And I would have been celebrating the entire time, loving every destructive minute of it.”

  His eyes flashed. “Leila that’s not true. Don’t say that. I know it’s not true.”

  I stood abruptly, the chair grating loudly on the cement floor. “And just how do you know that Daniel? How well do you really know me anyway? You don’t know where I’ve come from, what kind of family or mother I descend from, you don’t know all the things that I’ve done. You don’t know what I’m capable of. Your grandmother was right on the very first day. I’m no good for you. I have to go. This was a bad idea.” I shook my head as I hurriedly packed up my books. The room suddenly felt stifling. Hot. I needed to get away from there, away from Daniel before I lost control. He stood as I started to back away from the desk.

  “Leila, wait – don’t go – please.”

  Sadness choked me as I looked at him. The concern. The pleading in his face. “I’m sorry Daniel, I have to.” I reached over and took the paper of lyrics. “I’ll read over this tonight and if I have any questions about it, I’ll ask Nafanua to help me. Hey, it’s not like we really need to work on it together – you’ll play and sing your song and all I need to do is dance. We don’t need to actually meet to get that right. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  Daniel didn’t try to say anymore. He only stood and stared after me as I hurried out, breaking into a run when I caught sight of my car in the parking area. I was impatient to get home. I had emotions running riot and I wanted to erase them with flames.

  

  By evening I was calm. I had spent the afternoon throwing fire balls at the rock wall of an abandoned quarry I had found on one of my many breathless runs through Nafanua’s vast property. It was the perfect spot for practicing my aim. And for letting off steam. I had come back to the house more at peace with myself, ready for the delicious dinner Netta had prepared for us, ready to settle down to doing some homework. I was submersed in Calculus when Netta called from downstairs. “Leila, you have a visitor.”

  Puzzled, I came halfway down the stairs then stopped with a grin when I saw who was waiting for me in Nafanua’s living room. Rumpled blonde hair, blue eyes, sun-burned face…

  “Jason. Hey! What are you doing here?”

  Nafanua gently chided me. “Leila, is that any way to greet a guest?”

  I hadn’t seen her sitting there at her writing desk and winced.

  Jason smiled with open ease. “Sorry for dropping in like this, but I didn’t get your cell number and I was in the neighborhood so I thought I’d stop by. Hope I’m not intruding?” All three of us knew how ridiculous that was as we stood in a house that stood alone amidst acres of forest. Nafanua arched an eyebrow and a knowing smile danced at the edge of her lips.

  “Nonsense Professor, we are always delighted to see you. Leila was studying but I’m sure she would like to take a break. I was just going out to the lab. Please stay and visit for a while.”

  I narrowed my eyes at her but I wasn’t annoyed. Quite the opposite. Calculus was not my forte and hanging out with Jason ranked light years higher on my list of things to do. We both waited as she exited. He spoke first. “So, I wanted to tell you that Matavanu has calmed down a bit and you can come visit anytime.” I saw uncertainty flash on his face for the first time “that is if you’re still interested in a volcano?”

  I grinned. “Of course I am. I barely got a chance to see anything the other day, you rushed me out of there so fast. What’s been happening up there?”

  “Oh not much. That day was pretty much the bad temper highlight of our whole study so far. You sure picked the wrong day to visit.”

  I hid a knowing smile. I knew why Matavanu had heated up and the secret warmed me.

  We went through to the kitchen. Math always made me ravenous and I knew Netta had coconut cookies hidden in the cupboard somewhere.

  “Aha! Bingo, hungry?”

  “Definitely. Are those homemade?” He took a bite. “Mmmm, these are delicious, we don’t get much decent food up at the camp, pretty much living on canned tuna and crackers for the last few months.”

  I took pity on him and brought out the rest of the dinner Netta had made earlier. Fresh river shrimps baked in coconut cream with a touch of curry, green bananas, roasted pumpkin and eggplant with sprigs of mint, a chilled bowl of fruit salad.

  Jason protested, laughing with hands upraised. “Whoa, how much food do you think I need? Wow.” He surveyed the dishes spread out on the table. “You ladies eat like this every night?”