Azaria

by J. H. Hayes

  Aiyana spoke next, "Azaria, I greet you, but I already know who you are. Everyone is talking about you. Oh, sorry!! I’m Aiyana, daughter of Iyenshia of Falcon Camp. I'm pleased to meet you, although a little flustered, I admit."

  Azaria laughed at the other girl's admission. She was honest and forthright. Despite Fahim's forcible pairing, she was pleased to have her as a partner, sure they'd come to be good friends.

  Once they’d paired up Izyl sorted them into packs of four to five pairs each. Azaria and Aiyana were teamed up with two pairs from Falcon Camp and one from Fox Camp. They were older girls Azaria didn’t know and she wished Izyl had put her with girls she was more familiar with, but all in all she was happy enough.

  At the end of the process there were more packs than Azaria could count. Izyl met with each group to dole out assignments. There were several different projects happening at once and the Ta'araki liked to assign workers and servants to projects their camps were responsible for, which they believed heightened their sense of pride and therefore helped make the work bearable. Azaria's pack was charged with serving the craftsmen who were carving the beautiful reliefs inside the First Temple. One of the girls told her she'd heard it was an easy assignment since there were only three carvers plus their journeymen, another three men and one woman. The girls would assist the artists in whatever manner requested - tasks like filling their water cups, bringing food, fetching different tools and cooling them with large white fans made of ostrich feathers. It was one of the most sought after assignments.

  The most senior artist requested Azaria to assist him, a pleasant, older man from Fox Camp named Dholuhn who liked to talk while he worked. She found him easy to cater to, as he didn’t ask much of her. She made sure his water cup was filled and fanned him when she saw sweat building on his brow, although he often waved her off. She noticed he - as well as the two other Master Carvers - concentrated on the exceptional details of the carvings while their assistants mainly removed the large pieces of limestone which surrounded future reliefs. Periodically, one of the elder craftsmen would comment on their assistants’ progress or offer suggestions regarding technique or call them over for a brief lesson. Ever so rarely someone would get chastised for removing stone too deeply or too close to the drawn charcoal outline the masters marked for guidance.

  Although fascinated, Azaria grew bored quickly, wishing she could do more than just pour water and wave a giant fan. Watching them work, she longed for a rock of her own to practice on. It’s just like making snow animals in the winter. I could at least remove the rock, like the journeymen are doing, if they'd only let me try. But they won't unless I go through the training and I don't really want to get involved with Ta'araki stuff. I want to tie with Dogahn and start a family.

  As if Dholuhn had been peeking inside her head, he asked suddenly, "Azaria, what do you think of our work?"

  "It's beautiful!" she answered immediately. "I don't understand how you make them so realistic though. It doesn't seem possible."

  Dholuhn's laughing response showed his pride in her recognition. "Yes, it is beautiful and it takes a lot of effort to learn how to draw the beasts out of the stone, but I was more wondering what you thought of the process, not the results. Is it something that interests you? You seem more captivated in watching than the other girls."

  Azaria looked over her shoulder and saw that he was correct. The other girls were standing around, talking quietly with one another, showing no interest in the carvings whatsoever. Even Aiyana seemed less than enthused with the craft, although she made sure to attend to her duties properly. "Yes, I do find it fascinating," she answered honestly. "I'd like to learn how to do it actually, but I'm not really interested in becoming Ta'araki."

  Dholuhn sighed, as if he'd received a similar response before. "Well you know," he said, "most carvers aren't full Ta'araki. You only need to go through a small amount of training - the rest is learning about the rock and the tools and what the beasts symbolize and why we put them where we do. I myself am not considered full Ta'araki."

  She hadn't really thought of it before, but realized what he said was true. Dholuhn didn't seem to have the same status as her father, or even Hadir or Izyl. He wasn't involved with the meetings and led a sort of separate existence. She wondered how it was for him. "Huh, I never realized that," she said as if to no one.

  "Here," he answered, pulling her from her thoughts. He took her hands and placed a dull hammerstone in one and a sharp carving tool in the other. "Let's try on this broken stone. We'll see how you do, okay? This slab is useless, so don't worry about harming anything. The acolytes use it to practice on."

  Azaria smiled - it was just what she'd been wishing for. Dholuhn helped her position the carver on the ruined limestone at just the right angle and instructed her on how hard to hit its blunt end with the hammerstone. Nearly shaking with nerves, she struck the carving tool gingerly and then quickly pulled her hands away, afraid she might have ruined the slab further. When she looked at the stone, she noticed only a very small notch had been made.

  "The angle was good," Dholuhn commented, "but you'll have to use more strength. Why don't you try again? Harder though. Remember, don't be afraid."

  Azaria placed the carver at a new position on the stone, attempting to match the angle he’d shown her, and struck with much more force. She was rewarded by a larger chip flying off the face of the rock.

  "Much better, Azaria! You seem to be a natural. Why don't you continue to practice for a while? I'll check on you in a little while."

  Left to herself, Azaria continued her attempts at removing stone from the limestone slab, focusing on adjusting her angle and controlling the force of her strikes to remove different sized chips. She discovered if she held the carver at a sharper angle, she removed less rock, but the resulting notch was deeper. And if she used a more oblique angle, the mark would be shallower, but she could produce a bigger chip. She especially delighted when the shape or size matched what she was hoping for.

  By the end of the morning, even though she well knew she was far from perfecting her technique, she grew bored with the exercise. Her mind wandered as she contemplated trying something other than just removing random chips. It would be nice to make a little pattern or carving, she thought. But I don't know how they know where to remove the rock so that the carving emerges.

  As she struggled with mapping out a carving, a novel idea came to her, although she had no clue from where it emerged. What if I were to remove chips together - in a pattern so that the outline of a shape is drawn? Like we do with a stick in the sand or snow? That might work. The more she meditated on the idea, the more excited Azaria became. But would Dholuhn approve? She considered asking him, but afraid he might not consent, decided not to risk it. After all, he said it was a ruined rock, used only for practice. He might not approve of my wasting my effort, but I shouldn't get in that much trouble. And he may like it. Having talked herself into trying, Azaria was left with one question. But what should I make?

  I know! I'll draw a little Grayfoot.

  Happy with her inspiration, Azaria cut a series of tiny, precise notches on the surface of the practice block, forming a small line intended to be Grayfoot's back. It was harder than she’d imagined. Her straight line was uneven, but she persisted, content since it was her first attempt. After a while, after feeling she'd gone far enough and should be starting the neck and head, she paused, unsure how to proceed. Instead, she worked the other side of the line and curved the depression down to form the dog's tail and hind area. She painstakingly outlined two stumps for legs and then curved the carving up and left, getting ready to form his head. The head took much longer than she thought it would, and she wasn't completely happy with the result, but she managed to shape the snout and ears and finished by connecting with the original line. She stepped back to survey her work and smiled, exhilarated to find she'd created a little dog right there in the slab. It was no masterpiece, but she was pleased with it nonetheles
s.

  Just then, Dholuhn came up behind her. "Azaria! What have you done!?" he exclaimed. The tone of his voice clearly expressed slight shock and even a little disappointment.

  Azaria detected his disapproval, but was unsure whether he was angry or not and she stammered in answering, "Huh? Ohh... I... I made a picture. Like we do in the sand."

  After a moment, he seemed to relax and then remarked, "Hmmm... Well that's not what this slab is for. And it's not the instructions I gave you. But it's interesting... What is it?"

  Azaria's heart fell further at the question. She’d hoped he would immediately recognize the shape.

  "It's my dog... Grayfoot," she said, her shoulders drooping slightly.

  "Hmmph... Well like I said, it's not for this slab, but there will be no harm done if you remove the rest of the rock inside and around it. You should strive to make the surface as smooth as possible. Focus on that achievement."

  Azaria was relieved she wasn't in more trouble, but disappointed the master carver had not approved and a little annoyed he wanted her to remove the image - after all the effort she'd spent making it. She knew it wasn’t perfect, but felt her first try deserved a better fate. And then another thought occurred to her. Maybe I'll find my own slab to practice on, a small one that I can take back with me to Boar Camp, where no one will disapprove. I'll need a carver though, and a hammerstone. But I should be able to trade for those.

  When Azaria crept into the furs next to Daneel that night, she looked forward to falling asleep talking about the sun's events with her friend, especially her little dog. But as usual, Daneel dominated the conversation, despite her barrage of complaints of how tired she was from all the hard work. "I'm telling you, I don't know how I'm going to last a full moon," she lamented. "It was awful, Azaria. All they did was whine about how hot it was, or how thirsty they were, or how they wanted this or that. I must have made a hundred trips down to the river. I can't believe how much water those stupid pickers go through. They don't even drink it, they just dump it on their heads and then make us go down and get more. And they're constantly slapping our backsides when the Ta'araki aren't looking, telling us to hurry up, or making crude comments."

  Azaria was surprised. She'd imagined her flirty friend would’ve enjoyed working with all the men. And she thought Daneel was being somewhat insensitive to the plight of the workers and probably exaggerating their behavior. She'd seen the pickers cutting the rock from the side of the hill with their flint picks and it looked like hard work. She hadn't experienced any of the inappropriate behavior Daneel described either and found it a little hard to believe. The carvers were kind and well-behaved. But she didn't have the heart to disagree. Lying on her back, she stated simply, "Don't worry, you won't have to work with them forever. The carvers are pretty easy."

  "Really? Oh, you're so lucky. The pickers are awful," Daneel continued. "Whenever one of their picks break - and it happens constantly - they curse and throw a tantrum. You'll see when you have them. They're terrible. I thought it wouldn't be so bad, watching the men work and helping them, but this is just horrible."

  Azaria smiled, taken with the irony of Daneel's whining about how much the men complained.

  "Oh, I wish you were there today, though." Daneel's tone brightened as she propped herself on one elbow. Azaria's interest was piqued, preparing for some entertaining or shocking story. "It was so funny," Daneel went on. "One of the men slapped Yumineh on the behind when she was pouring a jug of water into his cup. They'd been going after her hard, I’m sure her behind must still be red. I guess she just snapped. She turned around and smashed her elbow into the picker’s face and sent him sprawling to the dirt. He got up and I thought he was going to crush her skull with his poundstone, but she ducked and kneed him hard in the side. The supervisor started laughing, then the other men joined in and were almost on the ground, holding their bellies with laughter. When he got up and came at her again the supervisor stepped in front of him. That picker was so angry he stalked off. I don't know what happened to him, but the supervisor followed and the picker didn't return until much later. She's so crazy, Azaria! I couldn't believe she stood up to him like that. You'd like her if you got to know her."

  "Wow, she really elbowed him in the face?"

  "Yeah, right in the face, and hard! And when he finally came back, she kept making jokes about how small he must be to have to pick on a girl. You know, his thingy. She didn't say it loud enough for him to hear, but the other girls were in tears laughing. He was so angry because he knew she was talking about him, but couldn't do anything about it. The supervisor kept harassing him whenever he stopped working. I just hope that picker doesn't catch Yumineh alone."

  "Wow!" Azaria yawned. "I hope we'll be together in the next group..."

  "I know!" Daneel yawned back. "We'll have fun together. I'm telling you, Yumineh is full of surprises."

  "I guess so," Azaria responded, waiting to see if Daneel would continue. "Daneel?" she whispered, when she felt the other girl roll over. With all Daneel's complaining and stories, she hadn't had a chance yet to tell her about her carving.

  But she was greeted only by a soft spout of snoring. I guess she did have a long sun, Azaria thought as she let her mind return to the little dog she'd drawn in the rock. She fell asleep dreaming of a little stone puppy springing out of the rock and joining her hearth back in Boar Camp.

  ---

  Azaria eventually grew bored working with the carvers and although she liked Dholuhn and appreciated him letting her participate for a little while each sun, she was happy when new assignments were given. Her new group was tasked with preparing the daily meals - morning, zenith and evening - as well as what seemed like an endless amount of snacking food.

  Daneel complained bitterly when her new group was again assigned to the pickers. Azaria did feel bad for her, but thought she was making a bigger deal than it really was. Food preparation was hard work too, and she'd managed to keep her complaints to herself. For her sake, Azaria hoped she would keep quiet around Izyl and especially Fahim, but Daneel apparently didn't see the need. The ferocity of her whines only escalated with the rising intensity of the summer heat.

  Azaria and Aiyana's third assignment, as well as Daneel and Yumineh’s, was with the movers, the gang of men who hauled the limestone blocks and slabs from the quarry to a new grander Temple not far from the original structure. Awed by the sheer size of the fresh column the men were preparing to move, Azaria wondered about the necessity in making the structures so large. Wouldn't a smaller, more manageable altar work just as well? I doubt the vultures would care.

  If she’d asked one of the Ta'araki they would’ve explained they had very practical reasons. It was crucial no hyenas or other scavenging beasts scare away the Ta'ar's Minions. Therefore it was necessary the subjects be lifted high off the ground. Only the vultures and other carrion birds could properly cleanse the soul of the body, ensuring proper release of the spirit. There was another, more subtle reason however. And it was a matter of pride, and insecurity. Everything in the Natu's world was huge. The mountains were colossal, and far reaching. Their cousins, the immense ice mountains, stretched as far north as the imagination could conceive. The sky was infinite. The night sky, even more so. The rivers were unending, the seas incomprehensible in reach or depth. Even the beasts roaming their world were intimidatingly monstrous. The massive mammoth. The fierce, giant cave lion and cave bear. The immense, stubborn woolly rhinoceros. The vast herds of mighty aurochs and graceful gazelle that provided so much sustenance. Everything around them was so much bigger than they were. But the Natu survived. Deep inside the Ta’araki heart there was an unconscious urge to announce their presence, to prove to the Watchers that they belonged, that they could be just as mighty and prodigious as the world the Great Earth Mother put them in.

  The movers' reputation was as bad as that of the pickers, if not worse. Inexplicable to Daneel however, Azaria was ecstatic with the assignment. Not only was she thri
lled to finally be placed in a pack with her closest friend, but this assignment promised to be special. One of the large slabs had been removed completely from the rock by the pickers and the Ta'araki were finally satisfied with the shapers' work in readying it. It now lay waiting to be moved and placed. Most often the movers hauled the stones which made up the fat outer walls. Moving one of the giant, central slabs was relatively rare. Some girls never actually witnessed a placing, let alone were assigned to support the men who would undertake the gargantuan task. As thrilled as Azaria was with the prospect, Daneel was equally dejected. As far as she was concerned, the movers were all just stupid, oversized men, whose only redeeming quality was their protruding muscles. She’d warned Azaria that their behavior was notoriously inappropriate, adding they lacked any skill in charming young women.

  Despite her anticipation, the first sun with the movers was not as exciting as Azaria had expected. The men had to first build two opposing dirt ramps separated by a few paces, leaving a large gap between them where the pillar would eventually be set. The gap was then filled with fine sand. The movers would start by pulling the slab up the first, inclining ramp. Once the slab was secure on the flat top of the ramp, the sand would be slowly removed, resulting in its gradual lowering into the gap where it would finally end its journey erect and in place. The ramps would then be deconstructed and the dirt and sand set aside for when next needed, perhaps the next moon, or if the work proceeded slowly, not until the following summer. It was a halting, painstaking process, but the Natu, with a different perception of time, had a boundless amount of it.

  "Don't you think this is amazing, Daneel?" Azaria asked, happy to finally be working side by side with her best friend.

  "What? So they pull the rock up the ramp and move the sand. It doesn't seem that amazing to me."

  "Really?? You're not impressed? Even a little?”