by Emil Toth
“During the Kahali marriage ceremonies.”
“So it shall be.”
Durga leaned in to kiss Leah. She returned his kiss and he took her in his arms and held her while he kept kissing her. While he was kissing her, he was thinking how wonderful it was going to be to create a baby.
Their wait for the marriage ceremony was not long. It took place the next full moon. Kaathi performed the marriages for thirty-two Kahali native couples and Durga and Leah. It was the first time mutants took part in the marriage ceremony and there were many residents who were troubled and many unwilling to hide their displeasure. Leah and Durga were happy and did not pay any attention to the small heartedness of the narrow-minded.
Their relationship grew stronger and to Durga’s delight, Leah was eager to procreate. She missed bleeding for the third cycle of the moon and elected not to share the good news until she was showing she was pregnant.
Kaathi and Leah were spending time together practicing telepathic communication and Kaathi projected a baby to Leah. The mutant opened her eyes and saw Kaathi had hers open as well.
“Do you prefer bringing a boy or girl into the world?”
Leah shook her head saying, “I knew I would not be able to hide the fact I was with child from you. I would like to have a boy first and then a girl.”
Kaathi’s eyes twinkled. “Their births shall be on the same day.”
“I have never heard of children having the same birth day years apart.”
Kaathi smiled. “Nor have I. They will not be in different years. You are carrying twins.”
“What? Are you certain? No mutant has ever given birth to twins.”
“You shall be the first.”
“I wish they were Isaac’s children,” Leah reflected sadly.
“I am sorry he is dead. I agree it would have been fantastic for the two of you. He is deceased, and you have to be in the present moment. You have a great man in Durga. He dearly loves you and will be a wonderful father.”
“I know but…”
“No buts Leah. You must live in the present and appreciate the gift you have in Durga.”
Leah looked guilty. “You are right. I cannot make Isaac come back. Durga is my present and future.
“On my, I never thanked you for telling me we were going to have twins. Durga will be ecstatic over the news. I am going to ask him if we can name the girl after you.”
“You honor me Leah.”
“I would like to name the boy Isaac. The trouble is I am not sure how Durga would react.”
“Might I suggest you let him name the boy? I think it would make your bond stronger.”
Leah looked away for a short while and returned. “You are right. Thank you for bringing it to my attention.”
Kaathi touched Leah‘s arm. She looked deep into Leah’s eyes. “It is wonderful how I knew the moment we communicated using our minds we would be friends for all our lives. You have been a blessing to me, my dear.”
They embraced and told each other of their love.
Leah eagerly walked home to tell Durga the good news.
CHAPTER THREE
The young woman called hesitantly at the entrance to the Talker Healer’s hut. The pleasant looking woman wore her tightly curled hair extremely short. Her bulging eyes showed great concern. Kaathi appeared and ushered her inside and noticed the woman had a slight limp caused by her shorter left leg.
“My name is Shamar,” she announced. “My man, Namandi, is having seizures.”
“Does he have any other symptoms?”
“He vomited a few days ago, and his left arm has not worked right for several days.”
“Mara would you stay here while Marie and I go with Shamar?”
“Of course.”
Shamar led them to her house and introduced them to her husband, who was lying on his cot. Namandi said nothing. He had his head turned to one side and did not turn it with the introduction.
“Namandi, have you injured your neck?”
He slowly turned his head and answered, “No, my head… I was in a fight… after being hit,…I fell backward… and smacked my head on a rock.”
“May I look at it?”
He sat up and Kaathi checked out the injury as Marie looked on. As he was about to recline, he was gripped by a seizure. Shamar fearfully cried out. Kaathi and Marie held him to prevent him from injuring himself. After it ended, he opened his eyes. “It happened again… did it not?”
“Yes. How long has this been going on?”
He looked at his wife for verification. “Fifteen days… What is wrong with me?”
“I think you have blood seeping into your head and it is causing pressure and seizures along with your arm problems and vomiting.”
As Marie listened, she remembered a year ago three hunters were killed by rogue elephants. Kaathi had requested the men be brought to the healer’s hut, where the families could pay their respects. After they did, Kaathi asked the families if she could examine the bodies to gain knowledge of how they functioned prior to burying them on the river. The families slowly acquiesced and Kaathi carefully examined the bodies. As she did, she conveyed to Marie what she was doing and what she discovered. Marie remember her mentor removed a leather bag from the top most shelf in the healing hut. Inside it was another oiled skin containing well-oiled tools she had never seen. Kaathi explained they were tools from the Era of Destruction and she used them in examinations. She showed them to her and named the drill and bits, pliers, chisel, hammer, saw, tongs and a variety of surgical knives and probes. All were constructed from the finest stainless steel, which resisted corrosion. Kaathi examined the deceased man’s exposed brain. Using the tools, she removed the rest of the skull to reveal the brain. Marie had never seen a brain and did not know it had folds and it was contained in a sack-like membrane. Namadi’s voice brought her back to the present.
“Bleeding inside my head?”
“Yes.”
“Can I get well?
“I will have to remove the pressure.”
“How?”
“I will have to drill a small hole where you bumped your head and let the blood seep out.”
Namandi’s eyes widened. “No, no, I will die.”
“No, you will not,” Kaathi assured him.
“It will surely hurt.”
“No.”
“I do not believe you can do it.”
“I can only if you trust me. Do you trust me?”
“How can I? My head is killing me and this is the first time I have talked to you. You scare the hell out of me, talking about drilling a hole in my head. It is insane.”
He looked at his wife for help.
She looked at Kaathi. “Give us a moment.”
The healer motioned to her apprentices and they left.
Shamar took her husband’s hand.
“I cannot think straight anymore. Help me.”
“All I can tell you is I do not want to lose you.”
“I know and I do not want to die. Can you believe the woman wants to put a hole in my head?”
“She says it will help.”
“Easy for her to say. I am the one who will die.”
Namandi looked at his wife skeptically. “Would you do it?”
“I do not know.”
Shamar bent and kissed his forehead. Tears accumulated in her eyes. She stood upright, and he saw the tears.
“Shit, shit, shit! Hold me. I am scared.”
She bent down, rested her head next to his, laid her breast on him and held his shoulders. Her tears wet the side of his face. He touched her cheek. “Tell her to come in.”
“You decided?”
“Yes.”
She called for them. The trio of healers appeared.
“If it were just me I would say go to hell, but I am not alone. Drill your hole, and do not botch this.”
“You have no need to worry. I have done this procedure several times.”
A bit of confi
dence returned to him. “Did they all live?”
“I did it on the men who were killed by the rogue elephants.”
“What?!? That is not reassuring me.”
“I have the utmost confidence in myself, and you shall do fine.”
Namadi looked pleadingly at his wife for reassurance.
She closed her eyes and nodded.
“I do not seem to have a choice.”
“If we do not release the pressure, you will continue to suffer, and it will likely kill you in a short while.”
Namandi eyes widened again. “How soon will it take my life?”
“It can be tomorrow or in the next moon cycle.”
“Once again, it seems I do not have a choice.”
“I am sorry.”
“If I do this. ..will I live?”
“Of course and your chances are good your problems will be gone.”
“When do you want to do this?”
“Now.”
The answer surprised Namandi. His eyes found his wife. If I do nothing, I will suffer and have a short life. I am too young to die. I do not want to leave Shamar.
“Very well.”
“We need to go to my hut to perform the operation.”
Shamar helped her man up and the healers helped him make the journey to their hut. On arriving, Kaathi nodded toward the door. “Shamar, will you wait outside?”
“If I must,” she stammered and went to kiss and hug her husband. She exited and anxiously sat on the bench outside the hut.
Kaathi instructed Mara to take down the surgical instruments and spread them out on a table and boil water. Mara removed the bag and laid the instruments out. Kaathi selected a probe, two small bits and the hand drill and wiped them clean of oil and used the antiseptic myrrh to further cleanse the device and her hands. She took the drill, probe and bits and went out to the fire and set them in the water and told Mara, “Let the water boil a while and bring the bowl in and remove the tools with the tongs.”
Back in the hut, she looked at Namadi. “While Marie shaves and cleans your head, I am going to have you meditate in order for you not to feel a thing. While you are meditating, I will make a small hole in your head and let the blood drain. Do you understand?”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
Kaathi had him shift so the bottom of his head was supported by the table and allow her access to the injury.
“I want you to close your eyes and focus your attention on my voice, and do exactly as I tell you.”
She took her time and helped him achieve a deep state of meditation. She looked at the area Marie had shaved and cleaned with myrrh and approved it. Mara came into the hut with the bowl containing the tools. She removed them with the tongs she cleaned and set them on a clean cloth on the table.
“To know exactly where to drill we must go deep within ourselves and ask for the exact spot.”
The three healers moved to a deeper center of consciousness and asked for the exact spot to make the hole. A while later they exited meditation with their answers. They conferred and had arrived at the same conclusion.
Marie and Mara watched as Kaathi drilled into the skull. The mystic was confident for she, Mara and Marie had practiced it many times on the skulls of the three men battered to death by the rogue elephants. She drilled part way through the bone and stopped.
“I am about halfway through the bone. Would you clean out the hole and the bit by irrigating them?”
Marie used the bulbous syringe and squirted boiled, cooled water into the hole until she was assured it was free of any bone fragments. Marie carefully cleaned the bit with the bulbous syringe. Kaathi continued drilling until she felt no resistance. She withdrew the bit.
“I have gone through the bone and am at the brain membrane. You can irrigate the hole again.”
Marie did and stopped when she was certain all of the bone fragments were washed out of the hole.
“Now I am going to use the probe and gently cut through the membrane and let the blood drain out.”
She felt a resistance and applied more pressure and felt the probe move through the tissue. Blood immediately flowed from the hole into a small bowl.
She breathed a sigh of relief and smiled at Marie and Mara. “The next time we do this you two are going to do it.”
Long after the blood had drained, Kaathi picked up the slightly tapered ivory plug cleaned it with myrrh and set it upon the hole only to find it was a little too big. Using a small, sharp knife she skillfully scrapped some of the plug away. Rinsing the plug and her hand in the cooled boiled water, she used myrrh to further cleanse it. She set the plug to the hole and smoothly moved it in. It resisted going further at about the halfway point. She used the hammer and gently tapped it in to secure it and wiped a drop of myrrh onto the surgical area to cleanse it.
Marie and Mara carefully observed every movement their mentor made and felt confident, if called upon, they could replicate the procedure.
Kaathi brought Namandi out of meditation.
“How are you feeling?”
“Okay. It was strange, as I got into meditation your voice got further and further away. The next thing that occurred, I could not smell anything. Then I could not hear you at all. I never felt any pain.”
“Good.”
Marie called Shamar in and told her, “Everything went well. Take this vile of myrrh home and apply one drop of it to where we put the plug in his skull for the next ten days.”
Kaathi squeezed Namandi’s hand. “You are going to be fine.”
“Thank you healer.”
Shamar touched the mystic’s arm. “Yes, thank you. How can we repay you?”
“Love each other and those you know. And we will take hugs from both of you.”
CHAPTER FOUR
The deep shadows of dawn gave way to the Great Sun’s rise. Streaks of sunlight broke through the forest foliage. Birds were singing and squawking to announce their intentions and mark their territories. Mara, Ashlee, Marie, Scarlet, Jacob and Sharika were seated in a semi-circle in front of Kaathi at Taja’s meditation site. Marie had finished sharing how she had been severely injured by a cheetah and saved from death by a Kahali patrol party, which protected the village and rid the area of predators. She shared how she was administered to by Kaathi who knew she was a gifted healer and showed Marie how she could assist in healing her wounds. Remnants from the attack were the slightly raised keloid scars left behind by the cheetah. Shortly thereafter the incident Kaathi asked her to be her apprentice Talker Healer.
“I might add,” said Kaathi, “Marie followed my instructions and healed herself. I know some of us have seen Mara do self-healing. Mara’s experience with healing is different from people in other tribes. Mara, would you share how the Uchakwa clan taught you how to heal?”
The twenty-one year old diminutive, hairless woman smiled in response. The people in her clan were all physically similar. She was slender, round faced and dimpled on her right cheek. Her eyes were deep set and dark and her ears were tipped forward to better hear the sounds of the forest. Her hands were square and her feet wide. Her short stature gave most people the impression she was still a preteen. When she had first joined Kaathi, after her small band of warriors was killed, she was wary and timid. It was understandable since they had killed her friends and relatives. She was made welcome by Kaathi and quickly grew attached to the unpronounced leader of the group. Kaathi asked her to help Marie attend to the ill in Kahali. Mara lost her reserve personality quickly dealing with different people needing her help on a daily basis. Taking on those duties came about when Kaathi, Jacob, Evette and Gene accepted Chief Victor’s invitation to share Kaathi’s philosophy. They had left at the start of the sunny season and returned before the rainy season. Marie and Mara were left to attend to the ills of the villagers of Kahali. Evette and Gene had remained behind in Sumati to continue sharing the importance of relationships at the sessions and to further instruct Pico and Nan. In tim
e the locals would take over instruction of the Sumatians.
There was no hesitation in Mara’s voice. “Ever since I could remember things, I recall my parents and relatives healing their wounds and mine mentally. I was told to see wounds as being healed. As I grew up everyone around me tended to their own wounds, including broken bones, At times a family member or a relative would help younger children without being asked. It was as natural to help heal a friend as it was natural to help in the preparation of a meal.”
“Was there any illness or injury your people could not heal?”
“None we could see or feel.”
“How long did it take to mend a broken bone?”
“It depended upon the person. Some of us were better at it than others. I was one of the better ones and could heal a broken bone in the course of a few dozen breaths. Jacob broke my arm and Kaathi sensed I could heal the break and they watched as I did.”
Sharika shook her head. “It is amazing. Since your people were such good healers, did they live longer than the people here in Kahali?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“I do not know,” Mara truthfully answered. She looked to Kaathi for help.
“I believe her people died of internal illnesses before they knew how serious the illness was. Even the most gifted of healers and enlightened people are subject to die from an illness. There were ancient writings which indicated people lived for hundreds of years and yet they died. This would be a good time to remind you the length of your life is not as important as what you accomplish during your lifetime. Contributing to your happiness and others is essential. Your contribution to society and to yourself is important. Your spiritual growth is important. Your desire to be united with Creator is of utmost importance.”
Kaathi looked at Ashlee. “You were captive for eighteen years by the mutants. You must have had many opportunities to witness how they tended to the sick.”
“I did. They were conventional. They used poultices, oils and plants to combat wounds and illness. I never saw any of them work with energy as you, Mara and Marie do.”