Diversity Is Coming
Page 13
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Months passed and Jezhei joined in the care of the herd. Once Mei and Kai felt she was ready, she learned how to make a tauzak listen to her, how to mount them safely. Jezhei was given padding for her crutches by the herders, who helped the young woman sew it from softly cured hide. But she would not follow them into town, when either of the couple went to trade, or to see their neighbors. One day Kai insisted that she join him in town, to which Jezhei responded, “But I have nothing to trade, even if they were willing to see my face. I have wronged the whole village. How can I right that?”
“Ask them to let you right your mistake. Show them you no longer follow the way of the Sword.” Kai’s blunt words stuck home and she shook her head again.
“I no longer even have my sword to give up.”
“That isn’t true. We took it and all your things when we brought you to our home. It’s in the rafters of the store house.”
Jezhei’s eyes opened wide. “Truly? Why?”
“If you had not wanted to stay with us when you were healed, we would have let you find your way back to your people,” Kai answered her, the simplicity of his words ringing true. “We are not thieves, even to those who would harm us.”
“Please, get my sword and armor. I have a plan.” Kai did as she requested. They made a bundle of both, and Jezhei strapped it across her back, refusing to allow Kai to shoulder any of her load. The two of them went to Folei, though slowly, as it was very awkward for her to balance such weight when she lifted her foot and put all her weight on the crutches. Several times she nearly fell, but Kai caught the young woman and offered to carry her pack. She thanked him, but her pride would not allow any other to take a share of the weight.
It was the middle of the day when the two of them reached the road which ran between Folei’s buildings. At every corner, through every doorway, a different set of eyes glared at the woman who had once galloped through their streets wielding steel. “How many have you killed?” “Thief!” “How many lives have you ruined?” “Bandit!” “How many families have you broken?” The cries came from young and old, adding their weight to fierce stares. Jezhei nearly wilted under the pressure, but Kai was beside her, a reminder that she was not alone. She feigned to ignore their spite, while being torn by it. Jezhei refused the provocation of even Suki who said “Do you really think you can walk anywhere freely, after the ruin you and your people have spread?”
The two of them went to the forge of the town’s smith, a small crowd having come to follow them jeering. At the entrance to the building stood the smith, a short muscular man, drawn forth by the noise louder even than his hammer strokes. Behind him followed three apprentices, twin girls nearly as old as Jezhei and a younger boy. “What is this out here? I’ll tolerate no trouble near my forge.” Looking between the Jezhei and their smith, the villagers lowered their voices, but did not retreat or fall silent.
“Please sir, I have something to ask of you,” Jezhei said, looking into his eyes. “Can you craft anything?”
“I make everything of steel and iron that this town needs. That is my role here. What is yours, brigand’s daughter?”
“I don’t know, sir, but if I can, it will be to set things right.” Shifting both crutches to one arm and leaning upon them, Jezhei swung her pack around dropped the bundle at the smith’s feet. Her sword and pieces of armor protruded somewhat from the cloth that held them. “Take these. Make things that help people. I will never use their like again.”
The smith broke into a smile, as did Kai, while the villagers fell into stunned silence. She had dropped as much metal on the ground as many of them had in all their tools, outside of the farmers who needed even more. “Yes, I can do that. Please, sit.” He gestured to a stool just inside his door. “The lot of you, aren’t there more important things in your day than watching one legged women? Get about your business.” Some grumbling more than others, the crowd departed.
“That was a good start,” said Kai. “Do you want to wait here while I finish our errands?”
“Yes, please,” replied Jezhei.
After the herder left, the smith looked over Jezhei’s crutches, leaning against the wall beside her. “Not bad craftsmanship, but I wouldn’t call them suitable for a woman who just gave me so much good steel, no matter where she got it. Let me see them.”
Nervously, Jezhei handed over her crutches and watched as the smith examined them. “I don’t have anything else. You really don’t need to.”
“Oh, but I do,” he replied. “The wood on the bottom will split and crack if these aren’t better shod. Just sit right there and watch.” An apprentice worked the bellows, preparing the flame. The smith took up Jezhei’s old sword and brought it to his anvil. With terrifying strength, he broke the unheated blade in two. After arranging a few tools, he took the metal shard to his forge. The steel yielded to experienced hands, and was beaten into a flat sheet, then cut in two. Switching to a smaller hammer, he carefully rounded the metal until two caps were formed, which he fit onto the ends of each crutch.
Kai did not return until after the smith had finished his work on the crutches. Seeing how comfortably Jezhei was using them, hearing the solid clicks they made against the stone tiles of the forge, he could not help but smile. “I’m done for today, let’s go home.”
The journey back to the house was much easier than the one into town, with Jezhei’s burden lightened and her crutches improved. Their new caps had been roughed somewhat by the smith’s files and gripped the ground as if they had claws. Jezhei was so excited by them that she forgot to even mention the distrust of the villagers to Mei when telling her about their journey.
“Did no one treat you poorly?” the older woman asked.
“Well, some of them did, but I didn’t let that stop me. I went to the smith anyway and he told them all to leave me alone.”
“Then you’ve learned a great lesson today. Hold on to kindness and forget the cruelty of others. You are beginning to understand the Way.”
When she slept that night, Jezhei dreamed of a dri bright and golden as the sun with horns that held the moon’s silver, and stars in her eyes. It was swollen with pregnancy and bleated softly at her. They stood together in a field of tall grass that held no end beneath a sky without color. The young woman could barely contain herself at the creature’s beauty, and walked forward to stroke the fur, to examine the horns. As she reached forward, Jezhei found herself reaching to place her hand within the hand of a beautiful woman, whose face was framed with horns like that of a tauzak, crowning her visage.
“You’ve done well, young dri,” spoke the woman, “and opened your soul to the Way I have given humans.” She took Jezhei’s hand and a current ran through her mind’s body, like a powerful river or wind that would move you, but it neither dislodged nor unbalanced the former warrior.
“Kiritru?” Jezhei gasped.
“I am.”
“Why did you come to me? I am no one. I have done terrible things, and harmed people. Shouldn’t you speak to someone like Mei or Kai, who are as selfless as any can be?”
“What makes you think that I haven’t spoken to them as well, young dri? This dream is your dream, not theirs. Today you showed bravery and the will to commit to my path, whether or not others believe you. These are things I value. I can show you more, much more, if you are willing to do something for me.”
“What do I need to do, Goddess?”
“What any who walk my path do, when given a gift: share it with those who can benefit from what you possess.” Wordless, Jezhei nodded to the simple request. Kiritru raised one perfect hand to place on the mortal’s shoulder, drawing her into a gentle hug. The Goddess touched Her head to Jezhei’s own, and our Lady understood.