Acolytes (The Enclaves Book 1)

by Nel Franks

  She smiled and was quiet for a long time. Finally, she took a deep breath.

  ‘You know, Gaia, I’ve never felt this way about anyone here. It’s so different from the way I feel about you and Rosie, my dearest sisters.’ She hugged my arm as we walked. ‘But I do think about him a lot, and I can’t work out if it’s just because he’s so new, or because I’m really curious about where he comes from, or... what it is that keeps him so interesting!’ She looked amazed. ‘It’s the strangest feeling. Sort of jumpy and excited in my stomach, and my head full of going over everything we’ve ever said, and then day-dreaming about all sorts of possibilities.’ Her face fell. ‘Mostly impossibilities,’ she mumbled.

  ‘What do you daydream about?’ I was curious.

  ‘Oh, you know ...’ She became vague and began to fiddle with the cord on her robe.

  ‘Come on Tomma! Tell me True.’

  ‘Oh Gaia, I don’t know! Just lots of silly ideas.’

  ‘Like what?’ I persisted.

  ‘Like, maybe ... well, perhaps kissing him at Festival this year?’

  ‘Well, yes, of course’ I said. ‘I’ve always assumed that would happen.’

  ‘You have? Why didn’t you tell me? You’re so ... so ... I don’t know what you are, but you are so it!’ she exclaimed.

  I grinned at her incoherence.

  ‘I just thought that seeing as you like each other, and it will be Festival time, why wouldn’t you?’

  ‘I can’t even hope for that. He may not be able to come again.’

  My mind turned to Ellina. ‘I think I know what you mean, Tomma. I feel it too.’

  ‘Really? You keep surprising me today, Gaia. I didn’t know you were thinking about a boy.’

  ‘Not a boy, stupid.’ I punched her lightly on the arm. ‘Ellina. You know, the one who made me the little bird?’

  Tomma’s face cleared, and she gave a brief laugh. ‘Oh. I hadn’t realized you were still seeing her. Do you have feelings for her, Gaia?’

  I nodded. I wanted to talk about Ellina, she was on my mind such a lot, but my feelings seemed somehow separate and perhaps even sacred, and not to be discussed lightly. And they were jumbled up with my confusion about how I felt about myself.

  ‘Don’t laugh about it, Tomma.’

  ‘Oh, I’m not. I wouldn’t. I’m glad for you. And I’m sure it’s different to how you feel about Rosie and me. Do you see much of her?’

  I nodded and talked about how we would meet up whenever we had some free time. ‘I’ve spent quite a bit of my Recreation time with her; she plays on a ball team, and I went along to watch. And then I got roped in to play with them. And we walk around the Core together a lot.’

  ‘What do you do?’

  ‘Just talk. And sometimes, if we’re away from people, we hold hands.’

  ‘Have you kissed?’ Now Tomma was curious.

  I blushed. ‘Yes.’

  ‘And ...? Well?’

  ‘It was good. Strange. Amazing. Kind of opening up, and really nervous at the same time. And it feels nice. Soft, and warm. And very exciting.’

  Tomma nodded, and then stared over the Wall as we approached.

  ‘I do want to kiss the boy,’ she said very quietly. ‘Maybe at this year’s Festival?’

  First kisses are a big event for everyone, I thought, regardless of who you kissed.

  Tomma took me to a part of the pasture near the Wall up on the hill, where we could look into the Male Enclave and into the Expelled. I was fascinated, particularly when Tomma pointed out the patch of blue she assumed was the sea. I stared and stared at it, wishing I could see detail. Were there ships there? Men fishing? Boys bathing? I wondered what they wore to go bathing. Did they bathe naked, like us? That wayward thought made me blush, and I turned round quickly.

  ‘Let’s get the picnic out. I’m starving.’

  We sat on the new grass at the top of the hill, and ate fresh bread, and a soft white cheese, and a spread made from olives.

  ‘I didn’t even think to bring a drink,’ I said ruefully.

  ‘Doesn’t matter,’ Tomma said around a mouthful of bread, ‘We can always get some from the river down by the Gate.’

  As we cleaned up the last scraps, Tomma scanned the Men’s Enclave again. ‘I don’t know why I expected he would be here,’ she said with a sigh. We began the walk down the hill, towards the river at the Gate. ‘I’m really sad he’s not here.’ She pouted, but she was laughing at herself. ‘I used to tap on the Gate like this to answer him.’ She knocked gently on the timber below the great black iron bands.

  Tap! Tap! She nearly jumped out of her skin.

  ‘Is that you?’ she asked through the solid Gate, in a very low voice.

  ‘Of course it is!’ came the puffing reply. ‘I saw you two leaving the hill as I came out of the woods and I ran all the way down here. I haven’t seen you for ages! Well, I mean, heard you. Who is your companion?’

  Tomma couldn’t stop grinning and was hopping up and down on the spot.

  ‘This is my sister-friend Gaia. She’s the one I told you about, who is desperate to see the ocean.’ Her face suddenly became shocked. ‘Ooooh, I’m sorry Gaia!’ she whispered. ‘I said your name!’

  The boy laughed. ‘I heard that. Gaia, do you mind that I know your name?’

  ‘No, not at all.’ I said. Tomma still looked concerned.

  ‘Alright,’ he went on, ‘and I’ll tell you mine, seeing as Tomma hasn’t introduced us. My name is Rove.’

  Tomma looked surprised and delighted. ‘I’m sorry I shared your name without asking,’ she said to me. ‘I used to be scared something terrible would happen if we gave our names to a boy,’ she added, facing the Gate.

  ‘Like what?’ I laughed.

  ‘Oh, I don’t know... a big thunderclap or something. Or the Most Elder Sister would pop out from behind a bush and grab me.’

  ‘Let’s start again. Hello, Gaia. It’s nice to be able to speak to a friend of Tomma’s.’ Tomma and I settled down in the Gate embrasure. ‘Where have you been all these weeks, Tomma? I’ve been looking out for you every day.’

  ‘Every day? Really?’ Tomma was beaming. ‘We transitioned into our second year of Initiates a few weeks ago. I’ve been assigned to the House of Sustenance, and I’m working in the Bakery. It means I can’t come out here except on my day off.’

  He said softly, ‘Oh, yes, not just the one job.’ He paused, and then his voice brightened. ‘How often do you have days off? When can you come?’

  ‘So you do want to keep meeting me?’ She looked embarrassed at seeming too eager, but his answer reassured her.

  ‘Of course I do. I thought you knew that.’ Tomma shook her head but said nothing.

  There was an awkward pause. Then Rove cleared his throat.

  ‘And you, Gaia, do you want to talk?’

  ‘Yes, I do, Rove. I’m really interested in trade; this year I’m in the Administration Office. I’ve always wondered about the tools we have that we don’t make. I want to know where they come from, who makes them, all that sort of thing.’

  ‘Oh.’ He sounded a bit surprised. ‘But aren’t there trading groups from your side to our Enclave?’

  ‘Are there?’ I said, seriously intrigued. ‘Trade here is ... it’s a bit difficult to describe. It’s not secret, but it’s not talked about, hardly ever. There are very few Traders, and they don’t seem to appear in public very much. Except as the Protectors at Festival.’

  ‘That’s the same for us,’ he said. ‘The Protectors who come with us at Festival are Traders, but we have lots of them. It’s a job, a profession, like any other. Lots of boys want to become Traders, but it’s usually done in families. Traders are rich and they can afford to have lots of children, so Trader jobs tend to go to their sons. I’ve never seen a Female trading group here; they’re kept very secret because of the riots.’

  Tomma interrupted. ‘What do you mean, they can afford to have children? I don’t understand.’
/>   Again, he sounded surprised. ‘Well, you have to pay to have a child, don’t you?’

  We were both very puzzled. ‘No.’

  There was a pause as we each tried to imagine how things happened on the other side.

  ‘So,’ he said thoughtfully, ‘how do you, I mean, not you personally, but how do women in general get to have children?’

  Tomma grinned. ‘The usual way!’

  I shushed her, and answered, ‘You either Serve in the Temple, or you go to the Field at Festival.’

  He gave a surprised short laugh. ‘But we have to pay for those privileges. If you’re really rich, you can pay to go to the Temple and have your chances to sire a boy. Or if you’re not so rich, you can pay a much smaller amount to enter the lottery for places to go to Festival, and then if you’re lucky to get a ticket, you just hope one of the women you lie with will have a boy, and that she’ll give your name as the father when she puts the baby through the Crawling Gate.’

  We were both stunned. ‘That sounds ... awful,’ Tomma said, typically direct. ‘That makes babies sort of like trade goods.’

  ‘Well, how is it for you women?’

  ‘Women go to the Temple or the Field, and if they are impregnated, they are supported during their pregnancy and through birth. And until it’s weaned, the baby lives with the mother, and her partner if she has one.’

  ‘Yes, it’s much the same here. The baby, when he comes through the Gate, lives with his father.’

  Tomma said, ‘But does his father do everything for him? Or do lots of people help? Here, everybody helps any mother with a baby. We say every child is the product of every woman’s work.’

  ‘Oh, no, it’s not like that.’ He sounded regretful. ‘A man just brings up his son in his own house, and he can treat him any way he likes. It’s not right to interfere in the way a man brings up his boy.’

  We looked at each other, shocked. ‘So does a boy stay with his father all his life?’ I asked.

  ‘Yes, usually. Some leave home to work in different businesses. But mostly they live and work with their father until he dies, and they inherit his house and do the same work he did. How else could it be?’

  Tomma took a deep breath. ‘Well, it’s so different here, for a mother. She has her baby with her until it’s weaned and crawling, and then if it’s a boy, he has to go through the Crawling Gate, and then she never knows what happens to him after that. But if she has a girl, the baby goes to live in the Children’s Dormitories. So, all mothers give up their babies.’

  There was a long silence, as he digested this.

  ‘Do... do mothers keep in touch with their daughters? It seems so strange. Here, a man longs for the chance to sire a son and works hard to raise the money for a ticket, and then he waits and waits after Festival. If he’s really lucky, he gets his son through the Crawling Gate, and there are huge celebrations. All his friends and their sons—and sometimes, if the family is rich, the man has brothers and their sons—they all get together for a huge party, and the baby is really welcomed into the family. And the boy always knows everyone he’s related to. Do you even know who your mothers are?’

  ‘No.’ Tomma swallowed hard. ‘I wish I did. I only started to think about this the last year, and now I look at all my elder sisters and wonder which one is my mother. I can’t even imagine having to give up my child if I had one.’

  ‘I think our mothers do know who we are,’ I added. ‘But it’s never spoken about. Every child is the product of every woman’s work, like Tomma said, so that means all the women are our family. That’s why we call each other sisters. Our society says a woman has to give up her children to be raised by everyone, in the Children’s Dorms, because she has to be able to work, to give her services to the Goddess and to the community. It would be too hard, if only the mothers of boys had to give up their babies, and the mothers of girls got to keep them. So, every woman relinquishes her child, and every child is fully supported by everybody.’ I kept my disquiet about the system to myself.

  Tomma nodded. ‘Do you boys every wonder about who your mothers are? Might you have sisters?’

  ‘Oh yes, I’ve asked my father about my mother lots of times. I never thought about having a sister though.’ He paused. ‘But I wouldn’t, because my father only went to Festival once.’ He thought for a moment. ‘But about my mother: because they only meet at Festival, or for rich families maybe in the Temple, our fathers can’t tell us very much. My father said my mother had beautiful shiny hair, and big brown eyes, and he talked about how soft her skin was. I think everyone here believes their mother is beautiful and desirable and wonderful.’ He hesitated. ‘I suppose women are not like that all the time,’ he added, in a less lustrous tone.

  We burst out laughing. ‘Oh, you should see us on washday! We’re not so desirable then.’ Tomma sobered slightly. ‘But what do you mean when you say a woman is beautiful? Beauty is in how you do things, not in the person.’

  ‘What? Of course beauty is in the person. Don’t you have any really ugly or beautiful women there?’

  ‘Well, yes,’ I said, thinking about the clerks, ‘But that can be any one of us at any time. It depends on how we’re doing something. I have a friend who makes little pottery figurines with great beauty, and sometimes Tomma is very unbeautiful in her coordination,’ I added, grinning at her.

  Tomma snorted. ‘But I make bread beautifully!’

  ‘Well, I guess that makes me beautiful too.’ We could hear the smile in his voice. ‘I delivered the last of the spring lambs this week, and my father said I did a beautiful job. We didn’t lose one lamb.’

  ‘Oh, that’s wonderful! I helped at lambing when I was in Agriculture last year,’ Tomma said, ‘and it was really messy, and to do it well would be very beautiful. The lambs were so funny in their little jerky movements.’

  ‘I love watching them when they’ve finally worked out how to walk and to feed. And they jump around their mothers, playing games with each other. And the big ewes just look so stolid and un-playful. It’s a dreadful shame that lambs have to grow up to be sheep!’

  We laughed. We began talking about the risk of Outcast raids. I hadn’t realised the Male Enclave was also raided, but Rove mentioned the loss of some prize breeding cows and stored vegetables. He said it didn’t happen often because the Outcasts didn’t want to go the long way around the Female Enclave and through the Expelled to get to the Male Enclave. So, the men appreciated that we were the ones who took the brunt of Outcast raids. It made our recent experiences very real again. I was very quiet until he mentioned going on a ship.

  ‘Really, you went on a ship?’ I was agog.

  ‘Yes, I went with my father, with a group of sheep producers, to trade the skins and wool. We had a good year last year and had plenty to spare beyond the needs of the Enclaves. We traded with the Expelled.’

  ‘With the Expelled! You trade with them?’

  ‘Yes,’ he sounded puzzled again. ‘Don’t you trade your excess goods with the Expelled?’

  ‘Oh, there is so much I don’t know about what we trade and who with! This is what I want to know about. I’m going to start asking some more questions.’

  ‘And so much we don’t know about the Expelled,’ added Tomma. ‘They fascinate me, but I’m scared of them, too.’

  We could hear the sound of him climbing to his feet. ‘I’ve got to go; my father will be expecting me. When will you come again, Tomma? And you too, if you want, Gaia? I’ll be out here a lot now the lambs have come.’

  Tomma and I each arranged to meet Rove on our respective days off, and we said our farewells. We walked slowly back up the road, talking and thinking about how different the Male Enclave was. I wanted to follow up about trade and tools immediately.

  Ellina

  Gaia, Early Summer, Year Two, Initiates

  THE NEXT FEW DAYS WERE devoted to filing in the Administration Office. I barely saw anyone else. Rosie and Tomma had completely different schedules and we didn�
��t even meet up for our evening meal. On Goddessday, Ellina came into the Small Reverencing Hall as I was nearing the end of my regular meditation. She smiled as she entered, but did not interrupt me, and began her meditation. Then I waited outside until she had finished.

  ‘Oh, Gaia! I’ve missed you. What have you been doing the last few days? Let’s go for a walk.’ She gave me an enormous smile.

  We set off through the narrow streets, winding between houses and apartment blocks in the Core. We talked about we had been doing, but I decided not to tell her about my meeting with Rove. It was Tomma’s secret, and I wasn’t completely sure how Ellina would react to something so... so... I still couldn’t exactly define it myself. I had never heard any rule against talking to boys, but it was just never mentioned, as though it was such an unthinkable thing that there was no need for a rule against it. But I was sure most people would not approve.

  Ellina was talking about her experiences in the House of Healing and laughing as I did imitations of the dry and dusty clerks. As we passed out of the Core, she took my hand and said, ‘It’s such a beautiful day. Let’s go to the orchards. There’ll be hardly anyone there today.’ She smiled promisingly.

  The great orchards curved around the Core on the northern side. They were divided into rings and sections, fruit trees, nut trees, and on the outer edge, mulberry trees for silk production. There were citrus, and stone fruits, and a big range of the pomes, apples and pears. Along the southern edge grew a range of vines supplying table and wine grapes. On the northern side, where there was light all day long, was a pond in the centre of a garden with a big white wall. It was always the warmest place in the Enclave, trapping light and heat. Inside the enclosure were olives, dates, figs and coconuts, and some long beds of lentils. There were beds of the heat loving herbs too, rosemary, fennel, oregano, sesame, cumin and coriander.