Weathering Storms

by Taborri Walker

  “Miss Sesha? What ‘tis it thou dost here? Where be the congregation?”

  Sesha turned as she blew a lock of hair out of her face. “All’a k’een, k’een. I he’p… don’ wanna sit, sit, sit. Take all’a ‘tuff an’ wa-shh,” after talking a bit in her normal voice, this was d’nela maddening! “Dey go, tum bah-k inna min-nit. Bee-lah, um, Bee-you-lah go dere,” she jerked her chin in a general direction and pulled the pillow off the second chair, flinging it towards the door – right into Monitor Amos’s chest.

  “Oh!” he gasped and Sesha whipped around, startled, her eyes went wide and she shrieked the word as well, both for what she’d done and for her back.

  “Sow-wy! Oh weyana, sow-wy!” grabbing at her back she dissolved into her language, tried to reach for Amos to brush him off and flinched again. The man went down on his knees instantly.

  “Miss Sesha, please do not fret thyself nor try to make amends… t’was an accident and I would not see thee pain thyself,” without thinking the young man eased her back to sitting and patted her skirted knee. She in turn still reached up some and tried to brush off the dust anyway. And then she started to giggle.

  Amos realized the humor of the situation and he too started laughing. Neither saw Beulah peek in and duck back out; the situation was apparently under control and she would use the excuse of delivering laundry for not being there.

  Sesha and Amos laughed until tears ran; she futilely batted at the coating of dust still on the man’s coat as they rocked back and forth, peals sounding through the almost empty room… until a voice disrupted the happiness.

  “Monitor Amos! What be this affair?”

  The laughter choked off immediately; both swung to see Monitor Hosea, face beet red with anger standing in the doorway.

  “What sin be thou committing? Was’t to see to the chores an’ report back straightaway! Here I find thee being lustful with a woman who shall ne’er e’en consider being combinate to thee an’ ”

  That did it for Sesha; the last straw at that moment. Her hand had stopped still on the young man’s chest but now she used him as a fulcrum and came to her feet with a scream both of pain and rage.

  “NO!” the howl cracked her voice as she launched herself at the Monitor. ”Not sin! Laugh!” her hand rose and despite the pain in her back, she slapped the man with all the force she could muster. “Laugh, thou wreniggit! Bas-turd! Bad, bad man! A-mos come jus’ as I t’row piddow outta door! Boom!” both hands went into Hosea’s chest, the force of the blow – which wasn’t much – combined with the terrific anger she was beating him with caused him to stumble back down the stairs. “We laugh! No sin! You sin cuz you d’ink da w’ong! Allus w’ong! Amos good! Good man, nah yike you! You buh-ad! You no do buh-ad to Amos for laugh! I tell Peter!”

  Realizing he couldn’t win this one – there was Beulah standing on the other side, mouth open – Hosea backed down.

  “I beg thy pardons, Amos, Sesha, Lady Beulah…T’was a misconception on my part. This shall not be spoken of,”

  “But I shall,” Amos rose now, pulling his jacket straight, “for the Reverend shalt ask the why-for of the passing time. I shall speak of the accident, the laughter and your appearance. Then I shall beg pardon to go make change of clothes. If thou wishest to make more of it then that be thy doing. The result we all know. Lady Beulah?” he turned halfway, “the lass needs thy care as she doth stand akimbo.”

  Beulah hurried up then and put her arms around Sesha, pulling her close.

  “I thank thee for the loffe, Miss Sesha. T’was a moment I shall ne’er forget an’ hope thee will not let this… unpleasantry… spoil the goodness borne within. The Holy Word doth say ‘a merry heart doeth good like a medicine,’ does it not? Did not the Bard state ‘And frame your mind to mirth and merriment, which bars a thousand harms and lengthens life?’ ” that was directed at Hosea, who just glowered. “Go to thy rest now, Miss, Righteous Lady. The house be advancing well; the second day of the week it shall be finished.”

  “An’ you say, Monitor,” Beulah inclined her head. An hour later, while eating the midday meal in the quiet of the Infirmary, Sesha filled Beulah in on what she was hearing.

  “Thou art sure the lass will turn to thee, willing to be wife after the Lady doth perish?”

  “Of a certainty. She doth look up to me as Protector and guide. When I am mourning, her sweet spirit will desire to aid me. After an appropriate time we will wed, and need not fret about converting her as she may ne’er be yare, but we shall teach her what to say and how to act. Meantime, wilt instruct trusted in the City to gently insinuate her pagan beliefs into ours until she forgets about them. When given the male heir I desire, her work will be done. Sesha will be tenderly cared for until the scions are old enough for solid food and no longer need a woman’s constant care.”

  “She doth not appear to be childing, so the first Blessing must not hath worked.”

  “Yet it has only been three and a half months since that blessing. Some women do not begin showing they are gravid until the fifth month, and she is so tiny, so the babe could be as well.”

  “Yet she has not reported a time of issue, nor any of the women tending her,”

  “Which could mean she doth be with child, perchance unknowing.” The Reverend’s voice was a bit smug.

  “Or that her age be much less than kenned,” Hosea snapped back. “Might not be a grown woman yet, but a useless imp.” Hosea was a nasty fellow, always looking for trouble. He turned in the most people for punishment, Beulah had told her, and while Sesha never liked him after what happened earlier she’d had a heretofore unknown emotion; she wished he would die, even if it was by her hand. That scared her and Shni, who spent a few minutes calming her down.

  “I believe she be capable an’ if not childing, perchance does not tell anyone when has issue, and tends herself. After all, we have not fully taught the lass God’s Most Holy views about women’s filth. Since her homeland is Pagan, they will not hold God’s views about women’s time.”

  “Now they’re talking about the sermon… Shni says he’ll keep listening so we can do something else for a while.”

  “Which be your back rub,” Florence came in with the pot of herb-laced oils. They’d learned since she couldn’t eat four-legged meats that rubbing the fat on her wounds caused problems too. Fish oil was in common use for skin so they used that instead. “Hath the hot bricks coming to pack your back first, child. Lie down, dear, and let us hope you soon stop doing things that reopen the wounds, tch,” she unbuttoned the clothing and shook her head at the newly opened areas.

  “Beulah?” a woman put her head at the window.

  “Yes, Gretchen?”

  “Four of the kitchen helpers be unable to work as Monitor Ezra sent them to the fields to help harvest. He doth believe a grave storm be coming for clouds on the horizon and the wind doth pick up from the east. Thus we have not enough helpers in preparing tomorrow’s meal. Be there anyone here well enough to assist?”

  “I can,” Sesha had been getting sleepy, but woke up.

  “Can bring cooked meat to be removed from bone and sinew,” and she saw Sesha nod.

  “Bring also fruit and knives; we shall prepare the filling for pies,” Beulah added.

  Sesha went to move, to find Florence’s hand on her shoulder. “You will lay still longer,” she chided. “Back be seizing and I know you feel it, child. Can scoot you forward, arms over the end to work but quiet you will lay whilst the heat soothes you.”

  Really, she had no choice and minutes later Sesha was pulling bits of meat off smaller bones, dropping that in a pot. It was incredibly horrible work and she gagged more than once.

  “Never cooked meat before?” Beulah asked.

  “Never cooked anything, not even Carry Foods… for us, that’s any kind of food between bread of sorts, eat using one hand while doing something else with the other.”

  “That is finger food here… although a new term rose before the Congregation l
eft civilization, and that word is ‘sandwich,’ ”

  “Does it have a meaning?” glad for the distraction, Sesha kept her fingers moving without having to really look at the mess below her. Which was good for her mind, although the smell still assaulted her stomach.

  “John Montagu, fourth Earl of the Sandwich Islands,” Florence chuckled. “Horrible gambler, asked his cook to make food that would not interfere with his gaming, so the man did. Even though food of this sort has been in every country, was named after his title, in a manner of speaking and now has caught on here.”

  “Do all your worlds have Carry Foods?” Beulah asked.

  “Yes… with different names. Those of us who travel to many worlds call all of it Carry Foods for our convenience.”

  “So how have you lived so very long and never cooked?”

  “Most people don’t have to. Others do the cooking in whatever fashion they deem.”

  “What about religion? Does that influence foods as it does here?”

  “Such as how?”

  “Many religions have lists of edible and inedible foods; to eat the forbidden ones means certain Hell and Punishment.”

  “Oh…yes, we have those. Millions of Gods and Goddesses, all with their books that speak of what to believe and do to earn the favor of the Being. But even without religion, almost everyone have beliefs on what to eat.”

  “Such as how?” Florence’s tone copied Sesha’s perfectly and the three women all smiled.

  “Such as a lot believe that eating any kind of meat is wrong. Won’t even kill an animal, some others won’t harm insects either, even to wearing masks so they don’t inhale the tiniest ones. Others believe that if a creature cannot make moral choices, live only to eat, procreate and make no social improvements that all can be eaten. Those have mostly clean ways to kill and prepare the meat for others to eat and are well paid to do so. Now I see why… I don’t mind eating meat but kreelen, this is nasty!” Finished, she took the wet towel and wiped her fingers hard.

  “I am certain your ancestors did this too, child.”

  “Makes me thrilled I don’t live like… p’reple, if I can’t rescue my crewmates, I will keep living like this!” she threw the towel down and buried her face in her arms, discouraged. Thankfully neither woman said anything, just gave her loving head pats and finished helping with food for the next day.

  Sesha did fall asleep after Shni reported the Reverend was working on his sermon for tomorrow. He wanted it to be memorable for it would be Sesha’s first service inside the Church.

  And woke up when supper was presented, but she refused it nicely and went back to sleep.

  The city bedded early too; with the storm coming in they had done all they could, so everyone gladly retired for an extra bit of sleep. Then Shni woke Sesha.

  You need to hear the rest of this, darling. They’ve been discussing creating harsher punishments without the severe beatings that upset you.

  Well, that’s good then.

  But there’s this list…they’re discussing who is to be punished and Monitor Isaac says he has two special cases that will probably merit worse… so Sesha listened.

  This one was a young man who had raised his head during prayer time. While it was punishable, he had worsened the issue by protesting.

  “An’ then thou dids’t ask Monitor Gideon why he should not be punished as well?” Allway’s tone was so very cold!

  “If all are required to bow heads and pray, why doth the Monitor keep head up? Tis all I asked an’ now I make the question for thee, Most Holy Lord Reverend. I did tell the Monitor was a cramp; eyes were still shut, just attempting to ease the pain. Prayers were not disrupted until the Monitor did strike me with his Staff of Office. As I was saying the reply with the other men I knew not the pash was coming, an’ yelped.”

  Sesha shook her head, listening. What hypocrites these so-called Leaders were! Of course they didn’t have to follow their own rules… in the end the man was sentenced to a spate of continual prayer; a day and a half on his knees, no food, water and a pot delivered every eight hours for voiding. It was to begin Monday afternoon. The man shut his mouth quickly; he’d made one final attempt and heard,

  “It can be 48 hours, Sinner. Doth thou wish that?”

  Then two boys were brought in, Benjamin and Ezra were their names. And after a few words Sesha sat bolt upright, scared to the bone.

  “Monitor Isaac heard thee nattering, did he not?” the Reverend asked for the third time.

  “Before God, we was not,” the boys insisted. “Verily we was kinda ‘cited over th’ ‘credible sight we just seen. That be all, Most Holy Lord Reverend.” Their voices were shaking with fear but they’d stuck to their story thus far.

  “And what is this marvel thou insist was seen?” his voice dripped with sarcasm.

  “We saw Miss Sesha clad in a nightgown,” Ben started.

  “Then suddenly it became a dress.” Finished Ezra.

  “Meanest thou watched Miss Sesha change clothing?” he asked sharply. “And where wert thou that you saw thusly?”

  “We was ‘nstructed ta pick apples from the tree aside yer house, Sir. That’s what we was doing. For midday meal.”

  “So the chore did give excuse to sin an’ peep on our visitor?”

  “No, Most Holy Lord Reverend!” both boys cried out at once.

  “We was almost done and that’s when we saw her clothes turn into somethin’ else!” Benjamin’s voice was so shrill it was cracking.

  “So because you were so excited by seeing her flesh that you were talking so eagerly? Made Monitor Isaac believe thou wert arguing?”

  “No, sir! There warn’t no flesh at all, just her clothes…” Ezra protested. “That’s why it be so miraculous,”

  “Enough,” the Reverend spoke softly. “Benjamin, Ezra, you are guilty of a most vile sin of the flesh and tomorrow you must be flogged. Satan must be driven out before he takes too firm a hold upon your hearts. Take them to the sewer, Monitor Seth, ensure they are well tied and cannot try to run. Then come back so we can decide upon how to keep Miss Sesha from knowing about this necessary punishment session.”

  Howling from fear now, the boys were drug away, and Sesha fell out of bed, panicked. The kind of beatings they gave could kill these boys or permanently damage both body and mind, she couldn’t let it happen! But how? What to do? She didn’t hear Shni shouting at her to calm down, didn’t see the startled look on the Night Assistant’s face as she ran by, barefoot and gowned only, out the door into the night.

  22

  Sesha didn’t really remember where she went and what she did but the next thing that did register was being carried by Darren. Sarah was beside him and then they went down into some kind of cellar. Lanterns were lit; the man sat after Florence threw a blanket around the girl.

  She cried; couldn’t seem to stop for a while until Beulah arrived, then all she could do was stammer and sob, so against her values, the woman slapped Sesha, hard.

  That did it. Sesha sucked in a deep breath then buried her face in Darren’s chest as she pulled herself back into control. To everyone’s surprise, she turned to Sarah first.

  “I am so sorry,” hearing the clear words with much less accent than normal made Sarah’s eyes widen, “I wanted to tell you sooner, there just didn’t seem to be a time to get you completely alone. Please don’t be angry,” and then she pulled off her bracelet.

  Darren acted fast; he grabbed his wife’s wrist and pulled her forward. Florence took the black strip in two half circles and pushed it over Sarah’s arm, but the other half landed on Darren as he was holding his wife tight despite her sudden struggle. The couple both jerked a moment then relaxed as the sensation passed. Nicodemus scooped Sesha onto his legs while the couple experienced the full measure of the Wrist Gem and Shni.

  It took a full five minutes; an eternity to the Alien woman. Then Sarah lifted the bracelet off and held it out to Beulah and Nick.

  “Sh… ni said for yo
u two to wear it, t’will be the fastest way to explain what has our dear Sesha so upset.” Beulah took it as Darren took Sesha back. The tears kept coming even though she was calmer. “And yes, I am upset you did not tell me sooner but I understand. We here are under stricter watch and laws than the Puritans of well over one hundred years ago! I am kept very busy and since nursing is not the gift God gave me,” here she laughed bitterly, “it is harder to get alone time with you, child. But I am not angry.” She brushed back one of Sesha’s loose locks and smiled sadly.

  Now Beulah and Nick joined them. Florence hadn’t wanted to wear the Gem again so she’d laid her hand on top and got most of it, but turning away for a moment she fussed with something before joining the group.

  “Where are we?” Sesha sniffled, wiping streaming eyes.

  “A root cellar and yes, it is cold enough down here to see your breath. Tis why you are wrapped in a blanket against a warm body.” Sarah kept the lead and everyone let her out of consideration for her being the newest ‘member’ of this little sect-in-a-cult. “It is oft used as a clandestine meeting place of which no higher person knows of.”

  “I don’t remember even getting here,” shame was setting in. During all this crisis Sesha had never lost control this badly. Having always prized herself as able to deal with any situation, she was learning she couldn’t and that was awful.

  As if reading her mind, Darren nudged her chin. “Child, thou – you – have been thrust into a situation far beyond what could be imagined. Perchance only in the books, damn me,” he paused and scratched his head. “Returning to common speech is difficult.”

  “No worries,” Sesha rubbed her eyes hard again.

  “We have people who write novels an’ they be seen as fantastic, most of them. James Fennimore Cooper,”

  “Susanna Haswell, husband,”

  “Yes, and Nathaniel Hawthorne, Johann Tieck who wrote about vampires, de Grainville, who wrote about the end of civilization, the Grimm brothers with fairy tales, Mary Shelley, the daughter of a Minister wrote a tale of dead come to life, a man made of the parts of many dead people.”