Love's Joy

by Emil Toth

  Sharika’s reaction was as swift as Janos’. She withdrew an arrow and set it on her finger and bow and raised it to a firing position. She took steady aim at the cheetah on the left and let the arrow sing its song of flight. The arrow caught the animal mid-chest between its legs before it had a chance to race toward them. The cheetah dropped in mid stride and tumbled forward. Its sister was in full running pursuit and already had made up half the distance to its prey. Sharika did not wait to see if the first arrow had done its job. She pulled another arrow and set it on the bowstring and her finger. She let her breath out, followed the swift pace of the cheetah, automatically calculating how much she needed to lead the animal and released the second arrow. Its song was short and it drove itself into the shoulder of the sleek animal. It lost the use of its right front leg and crashed to the ground, tumbling head over tail. Sharika pulled another arrow from her quiver and was aiming at the tumbling cheetah. She waited until it attempted to rise and fired the third arrow. It did not sing. The distance was too short. The missile drove itself into the predator’s rib cage. It jerked and snapped at the shaft only to find another arrow imbedded itself into its lungs. The damage was too great and the cheetah fell to the ground, gasping for air and succumbed.

  Janos had his short blade in his hand in readiness to defend their lives. It was not needed. While he was looking at the second predator, Sharika sent a second arrow into the chest of the first cheetah to end its suffering. Jason looked at the two dead animals and marveled at the swiftness in which she had dispatched them. The whole event had taken less than three breaths.

  He shook his head. “I do not understand this. Our lookouts should have spotted these renegades. If anyone else would have been out here instead of us, they would have been killed. This is unacceptable. We need to double our lookouts. We cannot have this happen again. I am going to talk to Jacob.”

  Sharika, breathing heavily, spoke in a shaky voice, “I agree. They are quick, I barely had time to get my second arrow in her. Had my arrow gone astray we would have been mauled and possibly killed.”

  “Thank goodness for your quick reaction.”

  He took her into his arms until both of them stopped shaking. Having recovered her nerves, she went to the animals and removed the arrows she could and wiped them clean. They looked at the dead predators.

  He took hold of her arms. “I think I owe you my life. How can I ever repay you?”

  Adrenaline was charging her body, and she needed to release all the pent up energy. “First let us get away from here, so you can make love to me.”

  Janos ran his hand through her hair. His voice grew husky. “It is a hard task you ask of me. I promise to do my best.”

  CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

  Bani’s time to conceive came in the middle of the night. She sent her oldest child to fetch Kaathi. Kaathi and the child stopped by to awaken Mara so she could get Wahi, the birthing-mother. Together they walked to Bani’s house. Everything had been in place when daybreak arrived, but the child had not come into the world. Kaathi asked Mara to bring the adoption parents, Satori and Lashandra, to the house so they could watch the birth. Mara then took Bani’s children to her home hoping they would fall back asleep until their brother or sister was born.

  Bani’s labor was lengthy. The delivery took place while the Great Sun was overhead. Bani’s children were awake and Mara fed the children and took them to their home and played with them outside. The baby finally arrived, without any complications. Bani delivered a small and vocal daughter. She breathed and cried without having to be coaxed. Wahi washed the child and laid the baby in the mother’s arms. Bani wept as she kissed her baby over and over again and looked lovingly at her.

  Kaathi went outside. “Do you children want to see your baby sister?”

  The children yelled gleefully and ran into the house. They were in awe of their tiny sister and let loose a barrage of questions Bani patiently answered. Each child got their turn at holding the baby and fussing over it. They had had enough and went outside to play. Bani held her child again singing softly and kissing it now and then.

  Kaathi allowed Bani to bond with the baby before she asked, “Do you still want to give your baby to Lashandra and Satori?”

  Bani took her time answering. “I do not want to but I know it is best for my baby and for me and my family.”

  Bani bestowed more kisses on her new born. Tears filled her eyes. She heaved a loud sigh and extended her arms with the baby to Lashandra. “Take good care of her.”

  Lashandra accepted the child. Joyful tears cascaded down her cheeks. “We will, and you can come by anytime to see her.”

  Lashandra and her mate, Satori, had been wed eight years and were unable to create a child. She could not believe their good fortune when the mystic approached them wanting to know if they were interested in adopting a baby. She had a hard time accepting the fact Bani would give them her baby and trust them to raise the child as their own. She had many restless nights wondering if at the last moment Bani would rescind on her promise to give them her child. The moment had arrived and miraculously Bani had placed her child in her arms. Lashandra’s fears and worries vanished. This is the most joyous moment in my life. My prayers to Creator have been heard and answered. I am so grateful to Bani and at the same time sorry she has had to give up her creation. I am sure Bani’s tears do not reveal the heartache tormenting her at this moment. I feel so sorry for her, and yet so happy for me. Thank you Creator.

  “Bani, I cannot thank you enough for entrusting your baby with us. And thank you Kaathi for bringing us together to help each other in our time of need.”

  Tears were rolling down Bani’s cheeks. “Take good care of her, or I will strangle you with my bare hands.”

  Lashandra did not know what to make of the threat and finally answered, “I promise you we will.”

  They left with the child. Bani burst into sobs. Between sobs she eked out, “I carried her for nine cycles of the moon. I feel unfulfilled and empty.” She raised her hand. “I know, I know it is for the best. It was my decision; you do not have to remind me.”

  Kaathi sat down beside her and lovingly stroked her hair for a long time until she stopped crying and grew calm. Bani’s eyes found Kaathi’s. It was then the mystic broke the silence. “The only thing I was going to say is you are a very courageous woman to give up your child. I am sorry you have been placed in this position. You did the loving thing. I love you, bless you and admire you, Bani.”

  Sharika sat in the corner being as unobtrusive as possible. She watched attentively as Marie pricked Carla’s finger with a tiny knife and drew blood. She squeezed the finger to make one drop of blood fall into Kaathi’s palm, one into Mara’s hand and the last in her own palm.

  Carla had come in complaining her husband felt a lump in her breast. She answered the usual questions and all three healers probed her breast and determined they needed to test her blood to find out the true nature of the lump.

  Kaathi cradled the drop of blood between both hands, and prayed to receive the correct answer to uncover what was going on in the woman’s body and waited patiently for the symbol to materialize.

  Marie quieted herself and waited for a sign indicating what had invaded the woman’s body. It took a long while before she saw the crab in her mind. She thanked Creator for the sign and opened her eyes. She saw Kaathi had hers already open.

  Mara was not as accustomed as the others at receiving information about a patient and it took a little longer before she saw the familiar tug-of-war struggle play out in her mind. She too thanked Creator for the sign and slowly opened her eyes.

  Kaathi saw they all had their eyes open, went to Sharika and whispered in her ear she saw an invading army running across the plains and a man constantly turning away from a woman and told her what it represented. She stepped back and Marie went to Sharika and told her she saw a crab in her mind’s eye and what ailment the patient suffered. Mara took the few steps over to whisper to
Sharika she saw a human tug-of-war and it represented a specific illness.

  Sharika, having received the information, spoke, “Each of you received different symbols for Carla’s illness. Each of you reported cancer was invading her body.”

  Kaathi took Carla’s hands. “Now we know what it is we can concentrate our prayers on dissolving the lump of invading cells. While we are praying, I need you to take long walks each day, eat more grains, fruits and vegetables and refrain from meats. Drink twice the water you normally do and it would benefit you to pray for your recovery and enlist everyone you know to pray as well.”

  Bani was grim-faced. “What are my chances of surviving?”

  “Before we can talk about it, I want you to return tomorrow with your husband. The three of us need to talk.”

  The woman left curious to know what Kaathi wanted to talk about.

  Sharika looked quizzically at Kaathi. “Why does she need to come back?”

  “I saw the cause of her cancer was a lack of nurturing on her man’s part. It is why we need to see both her and her husband. If the relationship is continually stressed the cancer may never disappear, or if a healing occurs, it may reappear in another form. For any illness to be cured, the root cause has to be dealt with.”

  Kaathi smiled. “Thank you for helping us, Sharika. Had you not been here, I would have been the one receiving and holding the information to be given.”

  “I appreciated you letting me participate. Is this what you do when you cannot determine visually what the ailment is?”

  “It is.”

  “How did you discover getting symbols was a good way to make a diagnosis?”

  “Several generations before Taja was the healer, one of the Talker Healers had visited a woman with a particularly interesting malady and requested his highly psychic apprentice to make a diagnosis prior to him seeing the patient a second time. The apprentice made the correct diagnosis. They discussed how the apprentice knew the malady. The apprentice described how he went into meditation and waited for a sign to tell him what it was. Signs came to him in a number of different ways. He received impressions, mental images, words came into his mind and feelings upon his body.

  “The apprentice taught his skill to his mentor and the skill has been passed down through the chain of Talker Healers. I found holding a drop of blood was an excellent way to get in touch with any internal or unobservable problem. I taught Batu. She was already an astute psychic, and went on to teach Marie and Mara. We have been using the method ever since.”

  Sharika shook her head in disbelief. “How accurate is this method in identifying the illness?”

  “If all three of us name the malady, it is extremely accurate. If each one of us has a symbol representing different illnesses, it may indicate there is more than one thing affecting the patient, or it could mean we are confused.”

  “What do you do if you have conflicting or confusing symbols?”

  “We usually will go back into meditation and wait for another symbol to clarify our first symbols.”

  “And what is your cure rate?”

  “It varies on how strong our belief is and how strong the patient’s belief is at the time and how many people pray for the individual and how prevalent the ingredient of mystery is at the time.”

  “What do you mean by ingredient of mystery?”

  “During the course of history, there have been many purported, great healers. In one major religion, magnificent cures was a criteria for sainthood. Those judging the position of sainthood had to have proof of two people given no hope of cure and yet they were cured, because they prayed to the specific saint.

  “It has been reported on any day one person may walk away from a gifted healer healed. On the same day a dozen or more may walk away not being healed. The puzzle of why all were not healed is a mystery. The major factor for all these people is the ingredient of mystery. Why was the one healed and the dozen not? It comes down to it is all a mystery to us. Even if our belief is strong the illness may prevail because there is a higher purpose which in unknown to the person.”

  “Ah, I see what you are driving at,” observed Sharika. “In my Hun Village, we were attacked by baboons and three of them attacked a man next to me and was killed and only one attack me. The mystery is: why did the three attack him and not me?”

  “Exactly,” responded Kaathi, “there may have been a reason unknown to both of you.”

  “I noticed you used the words healed and cured. Why?”

  “In the case of saints I used the word cured, because there had to be no reoccurrence of their illness. The word heal means the person may leave the healer relieved of the malady only to have it reappear a short while later in the same form or another.”

  “Can I ask you a question about you healers?”

  “Of course.”

  “Do your interpreting and healing skills improve with age?”

  “It depends on the healer. Usually they do. If the healer’s ego becomes inflated and he or she thinks they are the one doing the healing their ability may wane. Other factors are: if they become alcoholics, if they become ill, if anger takes over their personality, if their prayer life suffers, or if any negative aspect of their personality becomes dominant their healing skills suffer.”

  “All of this is fascinating,” admitted Sharika. “Do you mind if I spend time with the three of you to observe?”

  Kaathi smiled at the request. “I have no objections. It may well be a good way for you to improve your own sensitive scent skills. Now if you recall I wanted you to keep in mind what odor this patient cast out. Were you able to identify a specific odor coming from her?”

  “There was. It smelled similar to sewage. I know there are many strange smelling sewages, and I am not sure I have ever smelled this one.”

  “If you associate a certain scent on a person, and you identify it with an emotion, is the emotional scent always the same on each person?”

  “Most of the time, although there are factors which make it difficult such as illness.”

  “Do emotions such as fear and anger always smell the same on each person?”

  “Yes, only because of the strength of the emotion.”

  “As you know there is a spectrum involved with emotions, can you identify each one from love to hate?

  “It is much easier to identify the extremes. Anything in between is difficult unless I understand what is happening to the person emotionally. Generally, the pleasant scents correspond to positive emotions and the unpleasant scents correspond to negative emotions. If I know what is going on emotionally with a person and I detect a specific scent and I smell the same scent coming from the person in the future I know his or her emotional state at the moment.”

  “I would hope as you become acquainted with certain patient problems you will be able to equate the illness with a scent,” proposed Kaathi.

  “I certainly hope so,” responded Sharika.

  CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

  Jacob listened to Janos’ account of Sharika killing two cheetahs. The Warrior Hunter listened with great interest to the story. Not long ago Caleb had recounted how Sharika had driven an arrow into a crocodile’s eye in an effort to ward off its attack on their canoe. The shots she made were under great duress and they impressed him. He knew she was a great shot for they had on several occasions went target shooting. She bested him as much as he bested her, which was saying a great deal about her abilities for there was no better shot in Kahali than he.

  The deaths of Pauli and Sandor made him think of whom he would chose to replace them. He had toyed with the idea of asking Janos for several days. With all the stories surfacing about Sharika’s skill and bravery, he concluded she would be an excellent apprentice and decided to ask her as well. Before he did he needed to make sure Janos would accept his offer.

  “Thank you for sharing, Janos. I had almost asked you to be my second apprentice. I chose Sandor instead. Would you be inclined to accept my offer to be my fi
rst apprentice?”

  Janos smiled as he took a deep breath and responded, “It would be an honor to be your assistant. I have always admired your courage Jacob, and I have enjoyed learning how to use energy to my advantage.”

  “I am glad you accepted. You are going to make an excellent Warrior Hunter. I also have someone in mind to be my second apprentice who you know very well, Sharika.”

  Janos’ eyebrows raised in surprise. “She is a Hun. There will be some angry men because of the decision.”

  “Janos, this is something you will have to learn. Your decisions are not going to please everyone. It is an impossible task. If you feel in your heart the decision is correct, you have to go with it. Enough talking, I am off to find her and ask if she wants the position. Goodbye my friend and thank you for accepting.”

  “The pleasure was mine.”

  Jacob found Sharika in the Talker Healer’s hut.

  “Good morning ladies.”

  He was greeted by a chorus of hellos.

  “What brings you our way?” asked Kaathi.

  “I was looking for Sharika. May I take you away from these ladies for a short while?”

  “Of course.” Sharika was always eager to have a conversation with him.

  Once outside he guided her to Batu’s favorite relaxation and meditating spot next to a large acacia tree. He kept the conversation light until they arrived and sat down.

  “Kahali was placed in a terrible spot by the deaths of Pauli and Sandor. It was especially hard on their families and on me. Pauli was my friend since I was able to talk. The position is not always filled by the best shot or the strongest person. I looked for personal characteristics such as bravery, ethics and leadership. Pauli had all of those and more. Those qualities are what got him in trouble with the Nubilon men. He was searching out the truth. I have filled the first apprentice spot with Janos. He has Pauli’s characteristics. I looked for another man to fill the other position and I found all those qualities in a woman. I would like you to be my second apprentice. Will you accept?”