by A A Lee
“Can I really do it? The town is a long way from here, and I don’t know where to go.”
“Remember, you have always been independent, ever since you were young. You loved to explore the forest alone. Just think of this as a way of exploring life.”
Torches lit the top of the waterfall. The two of them fell silent as the torches slowly began to traverse the path.
“Go now. Hurry. I will slow them down. You have come this far. Don’t let them catch you.”
“Uncle, what are you going to do? Can’t you just hide from them?” Kenda stood up, fear coursing through her at the sight of the torches that were coming nearer.
“No, they will go on hunting you if I do that. They have a gifted hunter. Go, don’t worry about me. Go!”
Goni’s angry voice prompted Kenda’s feet to begin walking, even though every fiber of her being told her not to leave the only one who helped her in her escape. She was too cold to return to the water, and so she refused the urge to ask the water to carry her, despite her exhaustion and the pain she felt from falling.
She rubbed her hands together to try to warm them and ran into the black night, praying that she would succeed in her escape.
* * *
He floated aimlessly as the girl ran, leaving the man to lie on the sand at the base of the waterfall. He was still confused at being awoken by a human. It was the first time that he had been woken up by a human’s call, and it felt strange.
Normally, he was disturbed whenever there was danger near to either the Great Fall or the waterfall facing Daa. Danger usually meant humans were trying to destroy it, and when there was danger, he controlled the water to scare them off. He had no memory of who had ordered him to be the guardian of the two waterfalls, but ever since the first time he had woken up several hundred years ago, he felt obliged to protect them.
He was the constant protector of the upper and lower falls, and so he chose to call himself the Fall Guardian. He had heard humans calling each other by their names, but nobody had ever given him one and he figured that he should do so himself. He floated through the air like a spirit, invisible, and yet he was there, at one with the wind. In peaceful days, he fell into a deep slumber, allowing himself to be carried by the wind and letting time pass. There was no yesterday, nor tomorrow, for the Fall Guardian. Each day was the same, except for when the rain was torrential and he was forced to stay awake to stop the water from destroying people’s homes.
One thing that the Fall Guardian could not do was wander beyond the two falls. He had tried millions of times, but each time, he had failed to go past either the upper or lower waterfall. It felt like there was an invisible wall that stopped him from leaving, and that made him feel like a prisoner.
He had been in one of his timeless slumbers when the girl’s call had woken him up. He obeyed without thinking, letting his water lift the girl and the older man, but the Fall Guardian could not process that it seemed as though the girl had ordered him to do so. Ordinarily, he refused to meddle in the problems of humans, but he wasn’t able to stop himself this time.
Was it because, in my tiredness, I am not of sound mind? It couldn’t be, he thought. Or have humans always been able to communicate with me, but nobody has ever tried?
The Fall Guardian tried to go back to sleep, but his mind wouldn’t stop thinking about the girl.
Chapter 9
Payback Time
“We need the full payment. You demanded a lot for the wedding, and we have prepared all we can to fulfill what you asked of us.”
Hula had remained seated since the beginning of the meeting, but he might as well have towered over Nora by the tone of his voice. The only thing keeping him civil was the number of people that had gathered for the meeting. It was an interesting subject and onlookers had flocked to hear more about what had happened to later fuel their gossip, but Hula was conscious of how his comments might be perceived.
“I… I’m very sorry about what happened, but I don’t even know if my granddaughter is alive.” Nora’s face was ashen. It had been a week since Kenda had escaped, and she had spent several of those days crying. The men of both Daa and Taa had searched as far as town, but there was no sign of Kenda.
“Not only have you wasted our resources and our time, but you have also brought shame upon our family!” Hula banged his fist on the table. People gasped. Children nearby wailed.
“I know, and I am terribly sorry. Please tell us what you deem to be fair compensation. We will come up with it by any means.”
“Considering everything, it should be no less than ten thousand kwartas.”
“What? That is ridiculous. It shouldn’t be that much. I was here all throughout the preparations, and that’s about ten times my estimate.”
One kwarta was equivalent to a sack of rice. Money was hard to come by, and it was rare for Nora to get paid ten kwartas for her services as High Priestess. On occasion, when Nora was able to cure the sick who were not expected to survive, their relatives would pay her ten or twenty kwartas, but she normally received either rice or root crops as payment. The people of Daa were poor, after all. It was much the same in the surrounding two villages, but the villagers had combined their wealth to finance the wedding of Jinja and Kenda. Some had even sold their animals to contribute.
“I think you forget that you requested a three-day celebration. Even though there was no wedding, all the food was gone. You should not be complaining right now. Instead, you should be thankful that we are respectful enough not to start a war.”
Silence engulfed Goni’s house, where the meeting was being held. People could no longer remember the last time war had broken out between the three villages. They had always resolved their misunderstandings through talks and giving fines when necessary, even in cases of murder. In cases of wrongdoing, each village was expected to punish their own people.
“It’s not that I’m complaining. I’m thankful that you and your villagers have acted reasonably on this. I’m just asking you to show leniency.” Nora bowed her head a little and spoke again. “It was our responsibility to make the bride submit, and we failed to do that. I, as both the high priestess and Kenda’s grandmother, am responsible for this. I know that I have little right to bargain, but I think five thousand kwartas should be more than enough to cover your expenses.”
“Now is not the time for making jokes, High Priestess!” Hula stood up and put both his hands on the table, facing Nora. “Five thousand? Do you honestly think that five thousand kwartas covers the cost of all that happened? You’re only thinking about the food. What about the time our people have wasted in dealing with this mess? We must give something back to them. What about the materials for the building and the dress? Do you think we just picked them up along the way? And what about the honor of our family? I am the village chief. People will begin to think that my family is not good enough now that your family does not want to be at one with us. My authority is at risk. You have to pay for that, too. Your apology does not make it all better.”
Some of Nora’s relatives bowed their heads. Some pretended to look elsewhere, and others fidgeted. They didn’t want to be at the center of the discussion because the main issue was money. They didn’t want to be responsible for the payment. Hula’s family members, on the other hand, looked smug, eager to be recompensed.
Although Nora did not have a good argument with which to deflect Hula, she knew that he was trying to take advantage of the situation.
A timid voice began to speak. “Ah… I know I am a nobody, but will I be allowed to speak here?” All heads turned to look at the woman who had broken the silence. She was Kenda’s wedding attendant, Eva.
“And what could you possibly say in this matter?!” Hula’s voice was accusatory, his stare filled with judgment.
“You and I have been arguing here for hours, Hula. Perhaps it might help to hear a different perspective.” Nora sighed, grateful that someone had broken the tension between them.
�
�Umm… if it helps…” Eva’s face reddened, and her voice sounded high pitched. “If it helps, I don’t need to be paid for my services. I… I mean, not that my services are worth that much, but if you’re going to pay for people’s time and effort, I figured that I’ll let you know that I don’t expect it.”
“It’s next to nothing. Don’t worry, we will not count it.” Hula remarked dismissively.
“Then maybe I should let you know that I don’t need to get paid, either,” a man from the crowd said, raising his hand. “I came here to help and to eat good food, and after the bride ran away, we were still able to eat. I’m satisfied with that.”
Several men and women from Hula’s village agreed, and Hula turned beet red with anger.
“Fine! I’m going to deduct the payments for the villagers, but we are still looking at a large sum of money.”
“Yes, I agree.” Nora nodded. “Because of that, I am going to return the cow and the bull that was supposed to be given to the kids.”
“That’s out of the question!” Hula interjected.
“I will also give back the money amounting to five hundred kwartas that was supposed to be for building the house. After that, I think we could manage to find around six thousand kwartas.”
“No, you’re going way too low. It should be eight thousand, at least.”
Nora shook her head. “That’s still too high. The most we can do is seven thousand.”
Hula looked at the people around him, who were all nodding their heads. It looked like they were now brave enough to participate in the negotiation now that a sizable sum of money was being discussed.
“Fine. When can you give it back?”
“Give us at least a year to gather it all.”
Hula drummed his fingers on the table. “One year is too long. We were able to gather all of what was needed in two months. I am sure you can also do that, and perhaps even faster than we did.”
“Your village is much more prosperous than ours,” protested Nora. “If you can just give us more time, we will surely be able to pay it all back.”
“No, you have the resources. I don’t want to wait a long time. Besides, there is a good distance between our villages. Consider the time and effort required for us to keep returning here to get the instalments.”
Nora had nothing more to say. The villagers were also nodding silently.
“I think the two parties have settled it, then,” Romu, the chief official of Daa, said. He stood, smiling now that there was a settlement. He had kept silent when there had been an ongoing argument, but now that everything was settled, he wanted it to look like he had made a huge contribution toward brokering the deal. “As the village chief, I will compile an official document bearing the fingerprints of both parties and signed by me. Nora has two months to pay in full, with the first payment due at the end of this month and the next by the end of the following month.”
“Hold on.” Hula raised his hand. “What if the other party fails to make the payment?”
“In that case, I propose that they will have a penalty imposed upon them in the form of interest. The amount should be discussed by both parties.” Romu went back to his seat, clearly letting the people know that he would have no further participation in the negotiations.
“How about half of the amount owed?”
Nora shot to her feet. “Are you trying to kill us? At that steep a rate, we would surely starve!”
“I am just making sure that you will pay. Of course, there will be no interest if you pay on time.” Hula calmly waved his hands to make his point.
“We will, and we will use all possible means to pay you. However, I am not hoping that it will happen, but just in case we miss the payment date and are late paying by a day or two, half of the amount owed in interest is too much.”
“We will grant you a two-day grace period. In return, I ask that you give our collectors accommodation should that happen.”
“Thanks. Accommodation is no problem.”
“But,” Hula quickly added, “if you miss the two-day grace period, I will insist on the interest.”
Nora grasped her staff. “But half is still too much.”
“Then we are willing to go lower. I propose a quarter of the total amount owed.”
“That sounds better.”
Romu stood up after hearing the discussion come to a close, but Hula raised his hand to stop him. It was clear that Hula did not respect the position that Romu held.
“We have another thing to discuss, Romu. It would appear that one of your men helped Jinja’s bride to escape.”
Nora grasped her staff again, tightly this time. “Yes. I can assure you that Goni has suffered as a result of the altercation and is currently imprisoned. It will take time for him to recover.”
“I want that man to be severely punished.”
“Wait!” Nora held up her hand to stop Hula. “Daa punishes its own criminals. That has always been the way. The punishment imposed on Goni is not for you to decide.”
“As much as I want to distance myself from this, I can’t. I’m not trying to undermine you or belittle your gift, but I think we have to secure his prison to avoid his escape. You can communicate with the dead, but you don’t have the required magic to fortify the prison, so I propose that one of our men casts a spell to lock your prison.”
When Nora began to protest, Hula smiled. “I’m afraid it is a necessary precaution, High Priestess. That man is dangerous, after all, and we have both seen what he can do.”
Chapter 10
A New World
A blaring sound sent Kenda running back to the roadside. The driver opened his car window and shouted angrily at her. Kenda bowed apologetically, but as she didn’t speak the town’s language, she didn’t know how to say sorry. Merchants from their village knew enough to buy and sell things, but most of the time, deals were completed with a lot of hand signals.
Her stomach growled with hunger. It had been a day since she had last seen green mountains and plains, and it had also been a day since she had eaten. She had mostly eaten wild greens out of fear of being chased by the farmers she had come across in the fields she had walked through.
Her throat was dry from thirst. She had no money, no food, and she felt lost for the first time in her life. The market, which was located a few meters away from the river, was packed with all kinds of people. It was so loud that it made her head spin.
She reached the end of the main road and entered the market, the noise getting increasingly louder as she got closer. Sellers were shouting here and there, offering their goods to the people passing by, but they did not offer their wares when Kenda passed by. It was almost as if she was invisible.
A few minutes after entering the main market, she spotted a stout woman who looked to be in her fifties. She was wearing an apron flecked with brown and red spots, probably from the fish that she was selling. The woman raised her hand high and chopped the tail from a fish that lay on the bench before her, the wooden chopping board bouncing a little with the force.
Kenda cleared her dry throat.
“Um… excuse me?”
The woman looked up, her eyes leaving the fish that she was now cleaning to give her a questioning look.
“I need food.” Kenda touched her belly first to emphasize that she was hungry. “I need to eat.” She spoke slowly but not loud enough for others to hear. She opened her mouth and pretended to eat to explain herself.
The woman went back to cleaning her fish and did not answer.
“I’m sorry, but I am really hungry,” Kenda pleaded.
The woman looked up again, muttered something that Kenda didn’t understand, and shook her head.
“Just a little,” Kenda signed with her index finger and thumb.
The woman shouted in an angry voice and shooed Kenda away. Nearby people now staring at her, Kenda walked away in shame, her head bowed. She walked continuously without stopping until she heard a cat’s cry. The cat flew to the
sidewalk as a man kicked it. The bony cat meowed and walked back slowly to the leftover food scattered around the sack that was used to store the trash, but the man kicked it again. The cat’s fur was sparse. It also looked a lot smaller than many of the cats that Kenda had seen in her village. It looked more like a mouse than a cat.
Kenda stopped but pretended not to care. She saw some leafy greens had fallen from the sack. They were dirty and smelly, but she was in no position to be choosy right now. The man went back inside what seemed to be an eatery. The alley was at the back of the building. Kenda slowly approached the sack as the man disappeared. The cat followed her, meowing, and Kenda hushed it.
The sack was so smelly that it made her gag, but she pinched her nose. It looked like the lower side of the sack was filled with old trash. She quickly rummaged through the trash and found a fistful of scorched rice and a few greens.
An angry shout shocked Kenda, and she let go of the sack. The sack fell to the ground, spilling the trash. Kenda willed her legs to run in fear of the man. The cat also ran behind her as the man followed them, wooden stick in hand.
Customers and vendors alike stared at the chase. Kenda dropped the greens while running. She turned, hesitating, as she decided whether to pick them up or continue running. Judging from the distance between them and the man, she would surely get caught if she went back, so she kept on running, the cat hot on her heels.
The man stopped after about five minutes, catching his breath and resting both hands on his knees. He cursed them one last time and turned his back.
Feeling thirstier than ever, Kenda also stopped and caught her breath. She tried to swallow her saliva, but her throat was dry and she erupted into a coughing fit. She slumped on the ground, and the cat sat next to her, staring at her intently.
Kenda looked around and realized that she was back on the riverbank. She slowly walked to the river, trying to stay on her feet as her dizziness from hunger and thirst came back. The water looked so tempting, but to her dismay, the river was dirty. Plastic and trash littered the riverbank, making her wonder if this was the same clean river from their village. The color was muddy, and there was a pungent smell.
