by Zoha Kazemi
The second and first levels are vacant. Tirad runs to the deck and takes out his flaming clothes and tries to put out the fire on his leg with Mart’s purple turban that he had tied around his face. Someone pours a buckle of water on his leg. He looks up. It’s Farnab with a smoked face, looking at him with tear filled eyes. Tirad knows from Farnab’s horrified look that he would never forgive himself for helping Tirad escape. He wants to console him saying that he would get out even if Farnab didn’t help him and he is not to blame himself for this. But now is not the time. Farnab wipes off a tear that rolls down his cheek and rubs his nose. The ashes spread all over his face. He turns away from Tirad and goes to the crowd gathering on the deck. Tirad ties the purple turban around his naked waist. He drags his lame leg and walks to the crowd that is staring at their burning home with disbelief. He sees Dalia and some of the third and fourth tier disciples that are leading everyone out of the deck towards the docks. He sees the crying children, the maids with frustrated and horrified faces and the disciples that walk out of the deck in despair, wondering which of their wrong-doings has brought them this devastation.
“Is everyone out?” Tirad asks Dalia. She is sure that they have brought them all out. Outside the ship, the pilgrims and the Island residents have gathered around trying to put out the fire. But they can’t even get close to the ship as the burning planks and flaming pieces are spitting out from the fire. Dalia and Tirad tell them to go to the harbour; there is no way they can save the Ship now. They too follow them. They need to get to the docks before all the boats leave the island. They must find a vacant boat and take it to sail towards the east side of the island where they had hid the coins and stashed the food supplies and fuel for their long journey ahead, before they had surrendered themselves to Mart. The hiding place is where Asin had buried her baby. Dalia was sure people believed that place was cursed and would never set foot there. The harbour is filled with fearful people that just want to get away from the island. Dalia finds Asin’s boat that was ceased by the guards before. He jumps on the boat and stops anyone else from boarding it. She stretches her hand to Tirad. He turns back towards the Saviour Ship before he gets on the boat. The Saviour Ship collapses in the flames with a horribly loud sound. The whole harbour becomes silent for an instance, shocked by the tremendous sound of the Ship cracking down. Tirad takes Dalia’s hand and jumps on Asin’s boat.
Chapter 38
Asin’s instrument shop is across Tirad and Dalia’s hut. Tirad is sitting in front of his door with his three-year-old son, ‘Narivan’, on his lap, both listening to the sound of oud playing in the shop. The Ararat mount peak can be seen from where Tirad is sitting, perhaps the most beautiful scene he has ever seen in his life and after living on the Paradise Island for four years, he hasn’t become tired of staring at this marvellous scenery. The peak is covered with fog and clouds in the rain season but the clear sunny weather of the dry season makes it enchanting. Dalia pours water all over her head and body from a buckle next to the hut and hangs the washed clothes on a rope outside to dry them with the hot sunshine of the season. Her round, pregnant belly makes it difficult for her to bend down and pick up the washed clothes. Tirad kisses Narvian’s stubble head and gets up to help her. Narivan sits there in his father’s stool listening to the song from Asin’s shop. Tirad takes the clothes from Dalia, kisses her and sends her away, finishing her work for her. Two teenage boys run towards Tirad calling his name as they come closer. Tirad lets them catch their breaths and asks them what’s going on in Atlan language.
“A boat has arrived… Someone has come to see you!” one of the boys says, bending down to catch his breath again. The boy reminds him of his students on the Saviour Ship that would always come running, thinking they bear the most important and urgent news. Tirad smiles at the boy and asks whether he should go to the harbour or wait here. The boys don’t know and run off. Whoever has come to see him will get there within half an hour, after getting through the harbour gate and walking uphill. He tells Dalia that they are going to have a guest. Dalia picks up the little Narivan from the stool and takes him inside, but the boy prefers to go to his grandmother’s shop. Dalia knows Asin is teaching now and doesn’t want to interrupt her class. Dalia tells Tirad that they are all set and the hut is in order for the guest. Tirad gets back inside as well to collect his drawing papers. He has sketched little Narivan in different positions. He piles them up and puts them on a shelf. He likes to draw another one right now but his thoughts are tangled. He hopes his guest has come from his home and it’s not another Atlan folk. He misses the Saviour Island and even though he was invited to go back many times, he couldn’t bring himself to leave the Paradise. Asin had told him this was a curse on the village people. “No one knows why but once you stay here, you can never leave!” she had said to him, when he had finally learnt her language and could speak with her. The guests usually stay longer in the village than they planned and are forced out by the harbour guards. Since Tirad had saved Atlan from a war that was on their doorstep and came to this island, the Atlan chiefs had come to see him many times asking him for advice. But if the newcomer was from Atlan the boys wouldn’t be so excited about it. He must have had a different appearance or spoken another language that had made them eager to run up the hill and give him the news.
The hut door opens at last and Farnab steps in. Tirad greets him warmly in his mother tongue, taking him into his arms. He is so glad to see him and smell the scent of the sea from his long hair and beard. Farnab is also happy to see him and he drinks the pure village water with delight. Tirad is waiting for him to give the news from the Saviour Island. The same year when the Saviour Ship burnt down, Farnab had come to him from the Circle. After Akhgar and Mart’s deaths, three of the third disciples had entered the Circle, one of them was Farnab and they had chosen Chouman as the First Disciple. The Circle had reviewed Tirad’s letter and Hurmaz’s documents. They had immediately stopped the war and pardoned Tirad. But he never went back. Farnab kept sending him letters, telling him what was going on in the Saviour Island and asking him for advice and guidance. After they had cleared the burnt rubbles, they had found Mart’s body and many trunks filled with the Saviour coins. Nothing had remained from Mart and they could hardly recognise him. He was identified from the whereabouts of his cabin where he had slept that night. Tirad had given them useful tips and new plans for reconstructing the Island and had given them advice on how to spend the Saviour coins. One of his ideas was to establish a medical centre like that of Parsana. He had also suggested organising a birth centre for women so that they don’t lose their lives giving birth to semi-dolphin babies. His other plan was to gather and buy books from Oxan and other islands and restore the library. He had told them to construct a building in the place of the former Ship. The building he had suggested was more like the houses of Oxan but larger and with a big, roofed hall for the pilgrims so that they wouldn’t have to stand in the heat of the dry season or the rain on the other season of the year. The number of pilgrims had reduced greatly but the Island residents had become more.
“You have a beautiful village!” Farnab says, smiling. Tirad answers he is so happy to be living here.
“Chouman is not well… He has fallen ill since the end of the rain season… He may not live long,” Farnab says in a sad tone. Tirad is sorry to hear that.
“The Circle has asked me to come here and beg you to come back,” Farnab continues.
“Nothing will change with my return… Besides, I have disobeyed every single Saviour Rule in the past years… I have killed… I got married and I have a child!” Tirad replies and points to the little Narivan who is playing with stones and small sticks in the corner of the room.
“The Saviour Rules are changing…” Farnab says and hands him some papers. Tirad takes the papers and starts reading them. They are titled ‘Tirad Rules’! He reads the rules that are written under his name. They are mostly the previous Saviour Rules but altered as if to approve Tirad
’s way of life. It allows the disciples to get married and have children, to kill in defence and to revenge the helpless and downtrodden. Tirad gives back the papers furiously.
“What are these? Who wrote them?” he asks. Farnab shrugs.
“We thought you had written them. So it wasn’t you?” Farnab asks.
“Of course not!” Tirad replies enraged.
“These papers are spreading through the ships and are known as Tirad’s Narratives. I heard one of the sea people say that people believe Tirad is more than three hundred years old and has been with the Saviour since he was born. They say the legendary Tirad who was a close friend of Hami and Ariad is still alive and he is the only true disciple!” Farnab explains. Tirad is astonished. He doesn’t know what to say. Dalia comes in with two bowls of raisins. She bends down with difficulty and picks up the water glasses. Farnab looks at the green grains and sceptically puts one in his mouth. He likes the sweet taste of them and eats more.
“You have to stop such nonsense and all these fake stories. You need to find out who is behind it!” Tirad says trying to stay calm.
“We all thought you were behind it yourself… It can’t be the Circle or the disciples… What benefit could it have for them?” Farnab replies swallowing another sweet raisin.
“A new and fresh narrative that is more practical than the older versions! This narrative can attract more new followers. Can’t you see? Of course, it benefits them. The sea people have so many mythical tales themselves; they don’t need to make up another Saviour myth. I’m sure it’s a new fraction forming in the Circle!” Tirad explains to him.
“Only you have the power to stop these rumours from spreading any further. You need to come with me and put an end to this new branch of the Saviour Rules before it is too late,” Farnab says in a begging tone.
“Still, my return won’t change anything. The people of the sea will believe in whatever narratives they find more appealing. If I come back now and tell them I’m Tirad and I’m only forty years old, do you think they would believe me? They would say either I’m not Tirad, or I’m lying about my age!” Tirad says. Farnab sighs and shakes his head. He agrees with him but he is desperate, not knowing what to do.
“You need to suppress these new false narratives,” Tirad says and immediately regrets having said so. He knows well any forms of suppression will only increase people’s discontent and stabilise the false belief. They need to find a more effective way.
“We don’t know how to suppress them anymore. We confiscate and burn them wherever we find these papers but they keep multiplying!” Farnab says. Tirad is so sorry and doesn’t know what to do. The people of the sea have found this narrative to their liking. It would be very difficult to take it away from them. Farnab asks him again to come back, at least for a short time and sort things out. Tirad says he will think about returning but he knows in his heart that he can’t get out of the Paradise Island, especially now that they are expecting the birth of their new child. He is worried for the baby but tries to stay calm about it. But no one knows which baby would be born with the new genetic mutation that the Saviour and Parsana had foreseen and he had witnessed with his own eyes. The chances are equal for Dalia for she has already given birth to a mutated baby and then a human one. The third could be either of them. But Tirad has prepared himself for the semi-dolphin baby as well. Dalia is to give birth in a small pool and if her baby is mutated, they have to keep the baby under water and deliver it to the dolphins.
He had done this in a greater scale in the Saviour Island after the Ship collapsed in flames. Farnab and the new Circle had helped him. They had prepared an instruction, an easy reading, simple text that gave a realistic and factual account of the situation and information about the new mutation happening in the babies. The instruction was sent to all the ships and even to other islands. Some women had easily accepted it, especially the ones that had a similar experience or knew someone who had. But most women were scared of the change they could not understand. The ships still put the pregnant women in danger. They needed a safe place on land to give birth in a protected environment and the Saviour Island had provided them this place. The new birth centre on the island has many tanks that women can easily give birth in. If their babies are human, they can go back home to their ships with their babies and if they are semi-dolphins, the babies are taken to a special care unit until they are safely delivered to the white dolphins that roam about the Saviour Island in the past few years. The common reaction to this inevitable change was fear, then denial, resistance and at the end acceptance. The women were more resistant to the idea of giving birth in the tanks but they were forced to do so to stay alive. The Saviour Island keeps records of the number of human and semi-dolphin babies born in the centre, but they still have not found a way to stop the mutation. Tirad asks Farnab about the latest statistics. Farnab shakes his head in a sorry gesture.
“The number of semi-dolphins is increasing. We had one out of ten babies this year while it was one out of fifteen last year and one out of twenty the year before… We still don’t know how to stop it,” Farnab explains. Tirad asks him about the white dolphins. Farnab says they easily accept the semi-dolphin babies and take them in. They have specified a restricted fishing area around the Saviour Island so that the white dolphins wouldn’t have any food problems and don’t leave. The boats are not allowed to path that restricted area where the dolphins dwell. But he says once in a while, the mothers who had a semi-dolphin baby would go there in hope of seeing their own children.
“I never saw it myself but they say some of the semi-dolphins that were born a few years ago are now grown and swim towards the boats in curiosity. One of the women believed she had found her child and they had recognised each other!” Farnab continues. Tirad starts brooding.
“I think it would be for the best if you visited the semi-dolphins. Learn about their behaviours; see how they react to humans and whether they can be trained in some way,” Tirad says after a long pause. Farnab says they have learnt from the reports that the semi-dolphins don’t make any meaningful connections with humans. They even make the same sound as the dolphins and their behaviours are more like a fish than a human. Tirad believes they need to conduct more search and watch them more closely. The semi-dolphins are still infants and they can’t be so sure until they become adults.
Dalia has prepared a room for Farnab and shows it to him. Farnab thanks her for the delicious raisins and the room and gets up to go to his room and rest. Tirad steps out of the hut. He doesn’t know what he should do? If he goes back to the Saviour Island, they will keep him there. Their problems are not little or limited. The way he sees, it he would have to deal with new problems every day. If he goes, he can’t just quail his way out of his responsibilities. He doesn’t believe he is eligible to decide for others and say what should be done and what should be avoided. Yet ignoring the Saviour Island and its problems is irresponsible too. How can he go on living in this beautiful and lush land and let the sea people spread new sets of Rules in his name? He had done his share, he had taught in the Saviour Ship for many years; he had stopped Mart from starting the war and had helped developing new ways to keep the birthing mothers alive. But is this all he could do? If he was responsible for handling the semi-dolphins, maybe he could find a way to communicate with them. After all, he was the reason one of them was born.
Even if he accepts to go back, Dalia wouldn’t go with him. Of course, she would prefer to live with her mother in peace and raise her children in a prosperous land like this than taking them back to the burnt down island with hostile residents. He might be able to convince her if he says they need to learn more about the semi-dolphins. What would her reaction be? He wonders whether she would excitedly go to see her baby grown now to an infant or would she fall back and become depressed again? Tirad is confused. He was sure he had found his way and had done his share and he could reside in this peaceful village for the rest of his life. But Farnab has trembled
the stable ground beneath his feet. The new Saviour Narrative, Tirad Rules, the new conspiracy in the Circle with Chouman’s near death and the growth of semi-dolphins… Can he really be ignorant towards them all? How can he help? The investigation of the semi-dolphins would probably lead to nothing useful and he can never stop the conspiracies shaping up in the Circle. Hurmaz had come back and taken the responsibly, he even became the First Disciple. He couldn’t do anything useful or make any significant changes as he had promised to Armina. He couldn’t stop the Circle from all their illegal dealing and wrong doings and at the end, he became a victim of their vicious plans. Yet Tirad has already made some significant changes. These false Rules that are spread in his name – even though he doesn’t approve such doings – are a step forward to reforming the outdated and impractical Saviour Rules. He needs to verify the best version of the new Rules, stick to them and make sure people follow them carefully. And this is a full time responsibility. Perhaps he is not sure how effective the Rules can be. Anyone can take this responsibility and go on reforming the outdated ones. Whoever has started this, has already taken the responsibility. Since they were too determined to spread the new Tirad Rules and the appropriate myths along with it, they will do whatever it takes to have it accepted by everyone and control its outcome. Probably, the outcome is only to their personal favours and Tirad is the exact person they would have to take down to reach their final goal. Tirad is not scared of being pushed aside or even get killed like Hurmaz. This new war like the one that was going to bring down Atlan, is setting off again in his name. And is there any end to these wars? Can he ever be free of his name that one day brings him shame and he has to hide it and one day possesses the power of immortality?