Telesa - The Covenant Keeper

by Lani Wendt Young

  “That was awesome, Leila. Pretty soon you’re going to be able to tackle the serious surf with me.”

  I gave him a huge smile, even as I disagreed with him, “No way, I think I’ll be needing quite a few more lessons, thank you very much.”

  He paused on the verandah and replied, “No problem. I’ll give you as many lessons as you like.” He gave me a brief hug before running lightly back down to the truck. I hated to see him go. He was like a piece of ‘home’ – the America that used to be when my dad was alive in it. And no matter how much time I spent with the telesā, I could never shake the slight edge of unease that I felt with them. On the outside they smiled and told me I was one of them, one of their ‘sisters’ but I couldn’t deny that deep inside, I was still afraid of them.

  I called out to him, “Hey Jase, you wanna hang out tomorrow?”

  He smiled back, “Sure. Hey, how about I give you a tour, a drive round the island? I bet there are lots of places in your Samoa that you’ve never even heard of.”

  “I can’t argue with that, seeing as how I’ve been like, nowhere. You’re on.”

  And just like that, a glorious Sunday out with Jason was guaranteed. We visited three different waterfalls, stopped for lunch at a gorgeous little restaurant at a place called Taufua Beach Fales at Lalomanu, and then went snorkeling at a marine reserve close to town, Palolo Deep. I spent a whole day without remembering once that I was an (often unwilling) member of a telesā Covenant. That I couldn’t be with a boy called Daniel, who I loved as much as I needed air. It was a perfect day, which ended with Jason’s invitation to Matavanu. Monday was a public holiday and so it was an invitation I accepted eagerly.

  I was still smiling when I went in the house and Nafanua remarked, “Well, I guess I don’t need to ask how your day went. Looks like you had a lot of fun.”

  I nodded, “Yeah, and tomorrow Jason’s taking me back to Matavanu. He’s promised me that this time he’ll take me down into the cone for a closer look, so it should be awesome.”

  Nafanua looked concerned. “Leila, you will be careful? Pele is unpredictable at best and in that close proximity, your control could be sorely tested. Especially if you and Jason engage in physical intimacy.”

  I blanched at her matter-of-fact reference to the possibility of ‘physical intimacy’. “Excuse me? You’ve got it all wrong. Me and Jase aren’t like that. We’re friends. There’s nothing like that going on.”

  She looked taken aback. “And why not?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “He’s a very attractive man. And he does seem to be quite entranced with you.”

  No adult had ever discussed my ‘lovelife’ with me before. (Which wasn’t surprising since I’d never had the remotest possibility of having one.) Embarassment squirmed inside me like red hot millipedes and I rushed to escape it. “Because, like I said, we’re just friends. Besides, he’s old.”

  Nafanua had to laugh at that one. “Leila, you’re talking to a woman who’s over one hundred years old. A twenty-five-year-old man is nothing but a child.”

  I grimaced at the unwanted reminder of her telesā-induced longevity. “Okay, if you put it like that. Look, the point is that I don’t like him that way and he doesn’t like me that way and we’re cool just the way we are. So there’s no big deal here. Now, I’m going to bed.”

  She did not reply until I was almost to the door of my bedroom. “Whatever you say, Leila. Just remember to be careful around Matavanu.”

  TWELVE

  It was an overcast day the next morning and rain was threatening as Jason and I took to the sky in the chopper. The rest of the team were in town for the long weekend so it would be just the two of us at the camp. I remembered Nafanua’s warning and did an internal ‘sweep’ to check on my heat levels before we got off the helicopter. Rain was lashing at us as the pilot took off again, leaving me and Jason to make a wild dash for the tents some distance away.

  “Whew! What a day to visit. I hope the wind doesn’t pick up or else the chopper won’t be able to come back for us.” Jason looked worriedly out at the boiling sky but I was more interested in our excursion.

  The rain had stopped by the time we started our ascent. The hike to the peak was a demanding one. The terrain was steep and the loose soil kept sliding in places. But the climb was well worth it. Standing at the brim of Matavanu was like looking down over a massive steaming cauldron of fiery energy that had been covered in a flimsy sheet of grey rock. Here and there were cracks in the ground through which seams of red peered. Behind us, the horizon beckoned in the distance and a tugging wind had my hair blowing in every direction. It was breathtaking.

  I turned to Jason, “Can we get any closer?”

  “Well, we could, but it’s kind of a tricky descent.” He was hesitant.

  “Please Jason? I’ll be careful, just a bit closer?” He gave in to my pleading tone.

  “Okay, but stay close behind me and just try to step only where I do okay? We can’t get too far down because of the poisonous gases emissions.”

  I nodded eagerly and together we started inching our way down a rough track. The heat hit us in waves and Jason’s shirt was soaked in sweat, his face red, as he turned back to check on my progress.

  “You alright? Just a bit further, see that flat section there?” He pointed to a piece of rock about fifty feet away. I nodded. “That’s about as close as it’s safe to get. We usually set up the instruments there. Any further than that the ground gets kind of thin.”

  We continued towards the section, with Jason reaching back to steady me as we gingerly stepped over cracks and fragmented chunks. Once there, a rush of heat enveloped us. I watched while Jason knelt to check the readings on the little steel box attached to a metal prod.

  When it happened, it happened fast. I felt a rush of heat that came not from the volcano we were standing on, but from deep inside my chest. It caught me off guard, and my first instinct was one of pleasure. Welcoming a friend. Before I could wrap it securely in cotton wool control like I usually did, there was an answering surge of heat from beneath my feet. The seam beside us glowed red, and Jason jumped back. “Whoa! Watch it, Leila!”

  The words were barely out of his mouth before the crack split wider and bubbled over with red. I shouted a warning, but Jason had already seen it. He turned and half grabbed me in his arms, trying to rush me up the cone slope. “Go! Go! Leila, we have to get out of here.” We took three, four steps, and there was a groaning hissing sound. The ground beneath us, that had seemed dead a moment before, was now a mass of rivulets that steamed and glowed. The earth was shaking. Jason shouted. “Leila, get out of here!” He pushed me with an almighty shove and I fell forward

  on the side of the rocky face, scraping my arms and face on the ground. I turned back in time to see the ground split open, and Jason and I were separated by a mini river of lava. He staggered for balance on his piece of rocky island that now seemed to be moving underneath him.

  I screamed. “Jason!”

  He turned wild eyes towards me, “Leila, I said get out of here. Go on, now…” before he fell backwards. The side of his head cracked against rock, and he was still.

  I screamed again and stood. My heart was pounding, and air was fighting to find its place in my chest. I was shaking and, as I shook, the earth shook again. Jason wasn’t moving. Blood seeped from his forehead, and red lava was oozing closer towards his shoes. In the panic, I heard Nafanua’s voice. Control, Leila. Control. The fire will not listen to panic and fear. Reassure it. Comfort it. Speak to the earth and tell her to be calm. Tell her everything is alright. You are alright. I struggled to calm the ragged breathing, the pounding chest. Think Leila, think. There was about six feet of boiling mud and lava separating me from Jason. He wasn’t moving, and lava had reached the edge of his shoe. The acrid smell of burning rubber stung the air. What was I going to do? What could I do? I had never ‘spoken’ to lava before. Never moved earth before. I was afraid and, when I was
afraid, fire threatened. No. We needed no more fire right now. I needed control. Calm. I needed to be calm. I took a deep breath and focused. On lava. And earth. Fire. I needed a pathway through the lava if I was going to get to Jason. I focused on what I wanted, visualizing a chasm opening in the lava river, the way Nafanua had taught me. It was like she was right there with me, I heard her voice in my mind, remember Leila, you are the mistress of earth. She will listen to you. But you need to be clear about what you want her to do. Visualize what needs to happen and it will.

  Hoping against hope that it would work, I held my trembling hands out over the bubbling fire rock and gestured widely for it to part. And like Moses and the Red Sea, it did. Just like that. I caught my breath excitedly, yes. But this wasn’t the time to be high-fiving myself and my amazingness. I ran over hot earth to kneel beside Jason and shook his shoulder, “Jason, wake up. We have to get out of here. Jason!”

  He groaned in response and brought one hand up to his head. “Ow, damn that hurts.” He looked in my eyes and then around to the lava that bubbled, wincing with the effort, and alarm lit up his eyes. “Leila, I told you to get out of here, what the hell?” He tried to sit up and sank back down again with a groan, closing his eyes. His head was bleeding from a wicked-looking gash but he made another effort to sit up.

  I slid an arm under his and helped him to stand. “Easy now, hold onto me, I’ve got you. Can you hear me? Are you okay?” He had his hand over his eyes because of the heat, and his shirt was soaked with sweat. He half stood and then keeled over again, coughing and spluttering, gasping for air. It wasn’t until then that I realized the heat in the air was making it almost impossible for him to breathe, whereas I, of course, hadn’t even noticed it. Damnit. I don’t think he’s going to be much help. I braced myself and took another deep breath. I was going to try something I had never done before, ask for earth’s energy and power without exploding into flames, I closed my eyes again and visualized the stored energy of earth flowing through me, giving me strength but appealing to the reactor that was my inner core not to light up. Unsure if it was working, I knelt again, firmly grasped Jason and half lifted him onto my shoulders, like a sack of potatoes. My knees buckled under his weight but I gritted my teeth and got tough with Matavanu. Damnit, listen to me! I need strength, I need power – give it up NOW! Her reply was immediate. Another furnace of steam and lava blew to my right but, at the same time, a rush of exhilaration swept through me. Matavanu was mad, but she was going to do as she was told. I straightened and now Jason felt like a featherweight. With nimble feet I lightly ran across the divide in the lava and started up the side of the cone. I could hear Jason’s gasping breaths but still he hung limply as I cautiously made my way over loose rock and shifting soil while, behind us, Matavanu continued with her grumbling and complaining. It should have been impossible to carry a six foot blonde surfer up a steep hillside, but I reached the level outer rim barely winded. My heart was racing though, with worry for the man who was silent and unresponsive. At the rim, I carefully lay him down on the tufted grass, peering into his face for some indication of his condition. The gash was an ugly reminder of what had just happened but the blood was drying and, as I anxiously shook his shoulder, he stirred and his eyes opened.

  “Oh Jason, thank goodness. I was so afraid, are you okay?”

  Before he could answer, I heard a loud rumble from the volcano crater behind us, reminding me that Matavanu and I had not finished our conversation. Damnit! I spun away from Jason and ran back to stand at the crater edge, looking down at a spectacle that had my heart quickening and excitement leaping in the pit of my stomach. The pit of lava had widened still further and red and gold was pumping out of the depths like sinuous silk. Smoke was billowing skyward and further cracks were seaming all over the once-dead crater floor. Matavanu was waking up. I was entranced. I could feel the joy in every fiber of my body as the long-sleeping volcano lazily stretched and unfolded. Suddenly, nothing else mattered. As Matavanu awoke, I realized I had been only half alive until this moment. Everything else dissolved into meaninglessness. Everything. Daniel, telesā, Nafanua, Jason, my life before this – it was nothing. Suddenly the world seems such a perfect place. Suddenly it moves with such a perfect grace. Suddenly my life doesn’t seem such a waste. It all revolves around you …

  Without thought, I reached out – with my hands, my heart, with all my might, mind, and strength. The fire began at my fingertips and danced along my wrists, to elbow, to shoulder. I could see Matavanu in my mind’s eye, opening, reaching out to me, welcoming me, and then together we could run wild over this place, out over green forest, down to the white sands and blue ocean. Even that could not stop us. We could rage and boil, over the water, building new earth. More fire. We could burn and never stop.

  My thoughts came to an abrupt halt. Burn and never stop? No. That’s not what I wanted. I remembered the fire at Samoa College field. I remembered Daniel refusing to run from the inferno, asking me to call the fire back. I remembered the dead fish floating in a bubbling pool. The boy with a scarred face. No. That’s not what I wanted. Clear and piercing, I heard Nafanua’s voice in my mind. You are in control. You are telesā. Matavanu was dominating this conversation and I needed to get back in control. No. There would be no volcanoes erupting today, thank you very much! Shaking my head with a rueful grimace, I focused and clearly visualized what I wanted Matavanu to do. We will be still. We will sleep. She didn’t want to obey. She had been locked up for a generation after all and wanted time out – to dance, to run, to play. I shook my head with a smile. No Matavanu. Not today. For added emphasis, I summoned a swirling fire ball and sent it hurtling down to the lava-filled cone, before mentally reaching out to the rocks and earth on each side of the sloped shaft. Gently, they responded and a wall of earth slid down into the cone. In less time than it took to utter the words, the river of red was a blanket of earth and only seams of orange glowed, like the mutterings of a resentful child. Already, the air about me was retaining its mountain coolness and a slight breeze danced through my hair as I smiled a huge smile of relief. Happiness. And turned back – to see Jason sitting in an upright position, and staring at me with shock and horror in his eyes.

  Oh shit …

  Cringing under his gaze, I threw one more glance over my shoulder to ensure that Matavanu really was asleep before I squared my shoulders and strode to meet Jason. Wishing deep inside that I only had a fiery volcano to deal with.

  “Hey, are you okay? That was a pretty bad bang on your head there.” my attempts at casual died away as Jason only met my approach with an incredulous gaze. I knelt down beside him where he sat on the grass, holding one hand to his head. “Jase, say something, please? So I’ll know that bang on your head didn’t mess up your brain. Jason?”

  “What was that?”

  I tried for defensive offensive. “What?! Nothing! What’s the matter with you, we just narrowly escaped with our lives – you should be on top of the world right now.”

  He only shook his head at me. “Leila, what’s going on? What was that?”

  I looked in his blue eyes – eyes that had danced with mine after I had pulled him into a swimming pool. Eyes that had laughed with me when I fell off a surfboard for the hundredth time. Eyes that had shown only concern for me when the ground split open and he had tried to push me to safety. I sighed. I couldn’t lie to him. I took a deep breath before rushing into an explanation, hoping he wouldn’t think I was crazy.

  “Umm, that was me. I guess. I can kind of do stuff, with fire. And volcanoes and stuff.”

  I waited for the horror and the disgust, but all I saw was quiet puzzlement in his eyes. “Go on, what stuff? What do you mean?”

  I shook my head, “No, I need to get you back to the camp first, then I promise I’ll tell you everything. You’re hurt and this is not exactly the most comfortable place to be. Come on.”

  He didn’t fight me as I carefully helped him stand and together we slowly made our way
back down to the campsite. It was eerily quiet and normal, considering what had almost just happened. I sent a silent prayer of thanks that it had been only me and Jason on Matavanu today. I don’t know how I could have handled hiding my secret from the entire science team. Jason seemed to grow stronger with every step and, by the time we reached the shade of the tent, he was walking completely unaided. I rifled through their first aid cabinet for a bandage for his head, first cleaning the wound with some bottled water and savlon. He insisted I pay the same attention to the cuts and scrapes on my hands and knees. Once we were both cleaned up, we sat for a quiet minute and had a cold drink from the cooler before he once again turned expectant eyes on me. “Well?”