Rhuna, The Star Child

by Barbara Underwood

  Rhuna heard the unmistakable noises of their small daughter in the adjoining room, and quickly finished dressing.

  “I want to take Shandi with me to see the Benshi today,” she told Aradin. “Faleesh can have the day for herself,” she added, and then promptly went into another part of the house to inform Faleesh of the plans.

  “I will visit my daughter,” Faleesh said with a tender smile, and Rhuna remembered the woman’s deep love for the quiet young woman who was in The Reigning One’s employ at his residence.

  “The rain is cold today. Take your wool cape and some warm, water-resistant footwear,” Aradin suggested, and then told Rhuna about his schedule for the day involving several clients who required official trade agreements.

  Holding the portable rain shelters, Rhuna and Faleesh walked the familiar road to The Reigning One’s residence with Shandi between them, holding their hands as she dance-stepped around little puddles.

  Remembering that Faleesh had a sister who lived in the Commoners’ part of Safu, Rhuna decided to start her search for more information by asking her questions as they walked.

  “Have you heard anything about curses making people sick or causing accidents?” she asked Faleesh. “Or amulets to protect them from such curses?”

  “Amulets?” Faleesh asked with a frown. Rhuna explained that an amulet could look like an unusual piece of jewellery, such as a pendant on a necklace, or perhaps a ring of some kind. Faleesh shook her head as she thought hard. “If you hear people talking about such things, try to find out more and then tell me about it,” she instructed Faleesh, who nodded obediently.

  After a lengthy silence with only the splatter of raindrops on their rain shelters, Rhuna thought she should make polite conversion and ask about Faleesh’s daughter. She answered eagerly, glad to be able to talk about matters close to her heart.

  “But your daughter…” Faleesh said carefully, and Rhuna immediately knew she was referring to her first daughter, Lozira. Faleesh had been deeply distressed and cried many tears when Tozar had ordered their daughter to return to Atlán by herself, leaving Rhuna alone in Safu.

  “She’s doing well,” said Rhuna, trying to sound cheerful. “I’ve been watching her grow up by means of the Gazing of the Waters, and from everything I can see, she is happy and learning all the traditional Atlan skills at the same school I attended. She has many friends, and she still loves music and dancing, and of course all the Arts such as doing paintings, and now she will soon be ready to qualify as an Atlan Master…” she prattled on, knowing that Faleesh sensed her underlying feelings, despite her best efforts to sound happy.

  “But she is not permitted to communicate with you,” Faleesh stated bluntly, and Rhuna felt the façade she had put up crumble away in an instant.

  “That’s right,” Rhuna confirmed with reluctance. “Harbinger of Solace still forbids it,” she said, hearing more bitterness in her own voice than she realized she was feeling.

  “I cannot understand that man,” Faleesh said outspokenly, and then turned to Rhuna, afraid that she had trespassed invisible boundaries.

  “It’s all right,” Rhuna said with a forced smile. “You can say exactly what you think, Faleesh. I always tell you not to treat me as your superior, so I like it when you tell me your opinions outright,” she told the older woman. Faleesh’s expression melted into a gentle smile, and then she began to frown.

  “Why does he do such a terrible thing to you? And to his own daughter! I saw the bond between you and Melody of the Dawn,” Faleesh continued, using Lozira’s formal Atlan name. “I am sorry to say this, but I really detest that man!” she spat.

  Despite what Rhuna had just told Faleesh, she was taken aback by these words, and she needed a moment to think. She looked down at Shandi, who appeared to be more interested in her new footwear and watching the rain drops plop onto the smooth stone paving.

  “I don’t think anyone has ever dared to say such a thing about him!” she said, and then managed a strangled laugh. “Everyone thinks so highly of him, especially as he is a senior member of the High Council of Atlán,” Rhuna said.

  “Pah!” said Faleesh, her face contorted as if she had eaten sour fruit. “It means nothing. If a man cannot be a good father and family member, he is worth nothing at all!”

  Rhuna realized she had never seen Faleesh so adamant and forthright, but their exchange had made her feel better, and she felt her steps lighten as they approached the gates of The Reigning One’s residence.

  After wishing Faleesh a pleasant visit with her daughter, she told Abu-Malech what she planned to do, and he immediately signalled to nearby attendants who went their way to follow orders. They returned promptly with a carry-seat similar to the one that had carried Rhuna from the port on her arrival at Safu. Four solid men, whom Rhuna surmised also acted as soldiers in The Reigning One’s Army, carried the new and large carry-seat which had four posts and a thick canvas roof. Rhuna took Shandi in her arms and stepped into the carry-seat when it was lowered, and she was surprised by the softness of the large, thick cushions. She sat on the seating cushions with her legs crossed, and held Shandi in her lap facing the front. The four robust men lifted the carry-seat with ease, and began a comfortable walking pace in the direction Rhuna had indicated. Shandi let out a happy giggle as they were lifted up on top of the shoulders of four solid attendants and the carry-seat began to sway with the movements of their strides.

  Rhuna noticed that the man to the front left side of her appeared older than the others. He was completely bald, and Rhuna thought it looked as if he had muscles even on his head. The rainwater glistened on his bald head as muscles rippled underneath the skin.

  From this height, Shandi could see and comment on everything around them as they progressed down the road and into the residential areas of Safu where mostly Benshi resided. The bald attendant turned his head several times to smile at Shandi, and Rhuna immediately sensed his kind nature and love for children.

  “Kagu-Hina!” Rhuna heard someone from nearby houses call out, and before long, she observed a throng of dark heads and brown faces filling the road ahead of her. As she looked around, Rhuna noticed how much this part of Safu had changed since The Reigning One regularly sent tradesmen and other professionals in his employ to improve roads and houses. Most homes now had solid doors and glass windows, and Rhuna assumed that most of them also had running water or at least a hygienic arrangement for washing and disposing of refuse.

  “Kagu-Hina! Kagu-Hina!” the people began to chant, and Rhuna was reminded of the meaning of this Benshi name. Her arrival in Safu several solar cycles past had coincided with the appearance of a bright star that the Benshi had not seen before. The Benshi people were in awe of Rhuna’s powers which she demonstrated on various occasions to assist the vulnerable and neglected people, and they believed she must have come down from the bright new star in the heavens, hence the name, Kagu-Hina, which means The Star Child.

  Despite the rainfall, people stepped outside their houses to stand and watch Rhuna be carried past them. Some went to their neighbours to tell them that she was passing by, and others cautiously approached her with gifts. Rhuna tried to refuse politely, but when she saw the shattered disappointment on one woman’s face, she realized it was wrong to refuse their humble offerings.

  “I have this problem every time I come here,” Rhuna said to the bald attendant.

  “They seen your powers,” he replied. “They love and respect you,” he said in his limited knowledge of Rhuna’s language.

  A few people wanted to give Shandi some gifts, such as wildflowers growing nearby. One woman brought a small handful of red berries for Shandi, and then she returned holding a small child. She spoke to Rhuna in her Benshi language, and Rhuna assumed that she was telling her that she also was the mother of a small daughter the same age as Shandi. Rhuna smiled and nodded, gestured with her hands, and nodded and smiled some more as she was slowly carried along the road throu
gh what was known as the Commoners’ part of Safu.

  “You have not come to see us lately,” said a well-dressed man who could speak Rhuna’s language with ease. “Ah yes, of course! The Little One!” he said, smiling fondly at Shandi. Rhuna recognized the man as one of the translators who helped her communicate with a crowd of unhappy Benshi people during her first lunar cycle in Safu.

  “Will you meet with us again, to hear us and help us?” he asked hopefully, and Rhuna felt she could not decline, even though it was raining and she had other reasons for being there.

  The translator ushered the crowd to an area where some trees provided shelter, and a canvas tent was quickly erected for Rhuna and the attendants carrying her. Then the people organized themselves, allowing those with special requests or questions to move forward and approach Rhuna.

  “Need to move stone!” said an old man without any teeth, pointing a shriveled hand to his humble home next to a large boulder.

  “Is this something you can do?” asked the well-dressed translator.

  Rhuna motioned for the attendants to carry her over to the immense rock that was nearly the size of the old man’s shelter, and then took a deep breath. Closing her eyes, she focussed her mental energies on the stone, creating visual images in her mind of the stone’s elemental structure and then imagining it falling apart into individual and separate elements. She sensed the familiar low hum and vibration passing through her body, and before she opened her eyes, she heard voices raised in awe, followed by excited chatter.

  The boulder had disintegrated soundlessly within a few blinks of an eye, and the old man exposed his gums in a wide and toothless grin. He gestured his gratitude and promptly began scooping away the sand that had been solid rock only a moment earlier.

  “No teeth!” exclaimed Shandi, pointing at the happy old man.

  “Be quiet now, Honey Cakes,” Rhuna said, patting Shandi’s head.

  Returning to the canvas shelter, she beckoned for others to approach with their questions or requests.

  “Can your daughter do the things you can do?” asked a young woman through the help of the translator.

  “I don’t know,” Rhuna answered honestly. “Most children have some of their parents’ special powers, but she is still too young. In a few more solar cycles we’ll know,” she said, thinking of Shandi’s ability to foresee future events which was not an Atlan power, and which Rhuna could not fully explain yet.

  “Some people sick,” called out a man with a rough, deep voice, and Rhuna quickly looked towards him.

  “What kind of ailments,” she asked, thinking of the belief that ailments were curses, and wondering whether the Benshi of the vulnerable Commoners’ city had once again been targeted.

  “Don’t know,” answered another man standing next to the deep-voiced one.

  Rhuna reminded them about always drinking clean water and washing hands regularly.

  “Some sick come from bad spirits,” said one woman, and Rhuna realized she must be referring to the curses.

  “What do you mean, from bad spirits?” she asked, and when the woman was reluctant to answer, she added, “If I knew where the sickness comes from, I could do something to stop it.”

  “It curses – only special thing can stop,” she said with firm conviction.

  “I’m sure I can stop it too, if I know more about it,” Rhuna tried again.

  A Benshi man who looked like he could be the woman’s husband stepped forward to speak. “Curses from other lands,” he said with firm conviction.

  “I see,” said Rhuna, trying to think of a response. “Do you know from what lands?”

  He shook his head.

  “Does anyone know? Who could tell me more about this?” she asked the crowd, and when no one responded, she asked the crowd some more questions.

  “How do you know the curses are from other lands?” she tried.

  “The Powerful Ones…Atlans, like you…they tell us,” said a voice from within the huddle of Benshi people.

  “Who are these other Atlans? What are their names?” Rhuna asked, feeling both excited and a little afraid, now that she was suddenly getting close to the Dark Ones and their activities.

  “Do not know…you Atlan people have strange names…we can’t remember,” the translator said after several people muttered a reply.

  “Where are they? I want to meet them,” Rhuna said, hoping for a more positive response, but then saw people shaking their heads and shrugging their shoulders.

  “They come and seek out the sick ones, then give them protection from the curses,” the translator explained after various people spoke excitedly in the Benshi language.

  “But I am an Atlan, and I’m also a Healer,” Rhuna said, then waited for the translator to convey her words.

  “Atlan Healers can’t help,” said one woman from the crowd. Rhuna frowned and told the crowd that Safu has some of the best Atlan Healers, but the woman and several others continued to insist that these Healers could not help.

  “Only you can heal us!” called out a man from the edge of the crowd. “Like the girl, Lila, and the sick mother,” he added, and Rhuna recalled how she had discovered that an energy surge caused by strong emotion, such as pity or compassion, allowed her to heal several people with a mere touch.

  “But it doesn’t work every time,” Rhuna reminded them. “Even so, I wish you had called for me so I could have at least tried to heal some of your sick ones!”

  The translator listened to several people’s lengthy comments, and then summarized them for Rhuna.

  “They said some of them wanted to request your help, but thought you would not come…because of your new situation,” the translator said, gesturing at Shandi. “A mother with infant is too busy for other things,” he explained, and Rhuna nodded.

  “But also because the Atlans with the amulets told them not to bother you,” the translator added in a different tone, and Rhuna looked up sharply.

  “Why did they say that?” she asked, and then looked at the crowd for an answer.

  “They know how to make curses go away,” answered the woman who had spoken up earlier about the curses and amulets. “Why you not give us the…the…” she called out, and as she struggled to find the word, she reached into the front of her garment and pulled out a large shiny object that hung around her neck by a thin leather strap.

  “Is that an amulet?” Rhuna asked, holding out her hand to take it. The woman refused at first, but prodded by others around her, she reluctantly removed it from around her neck and passed it to Rhuna.

  Rhuna grasped the large round object and instantly felt dizzy and nauseous. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a moment until the unpleasant experience passed. Then Rhuna examined the amulet, curious and excited because she had never seen such an item of jewellery before. It displayed intricate patterns, perfectly balanced and pleasing to the eye. Small gemstones of various colours were inlayed in the metal which looked like gold mixed with other metal alloys.

  “I’ve never seen anything like it!” remarked Rhuna, and then moved it out of reach when Shandi’s curious hand groped for the amulet.

  “Now give back!” the woman who owned the amulet demanded fiercely. “Why you not give us this? Work like Healer, and better!”

  Rhuna promptly passed the amulet back to the angry woman and explained that she had never seen such amulets in Atlán, nor heard of them before she came to Safu.

  “But Atlan give us!” she protested, and Rhuna shook her head, repeating her words that it was not an Atlan product.

  “This man over here says that he could not walk, but when he wears the amulet, he can walk again,” explained the translator.

  “Really?” asked Rhuna, astounded and perplexed. She asked the translator to convey some more stories of people struck down by some strange condition, and who recovered as soon as they wore an amulet.

  “Is there someone here who has been ma
de sick by a curse, but has not been given an amulet yet?” Rhuna called out to the crowd, her eyes sweeping across the gathering throng of brown faces, hoping for an answer.

  “Here!” a woman finally called out, and Rhuna focused her attention on the small figure crouched among people seated on some rocks under the shelter of a tree. She motioned for the woman to approach, but she shook her head.

  Rhuna motioned for the attendants to carry her to the woman so that she could examine her condition. The crowd respectfully made way for her, and when she approached the shelter of the tree, she stepped out of the carry-seat and walked towards the ailing woman.

  “Can you heal me?” she asked faintly as Rhuna observed the woman’s pale and distressed appearance.

  “What ails you?” Rhuna asked as she made a quick visual examination and concluded that despite her slender physique, she was not lacking sufficient nourishment.

  “Bad pain, all the time!” she said with effort, and put her hand on her side. Rhuna indicated that she would like to examine the area, and the woman hesitantly raised her tunic on one side to allow Rhuna’s hand to feel her body. The cotton undershirt felt rough on Rhuna’s skin as she tapped the firm flesh, then gently pressed certain areas to check the liver and other inner organs.

  “Your inner organs appear to be in good health,” Rhuna said, and then pressed more firmly with her thumb. “There’s no pain or sensitivity when I press here, and here?” she asked, and the woman shook her head.

  “Do you have any other problems?” Rhuna asked, hopeful for a clue of the woman’s trouble, but she shook her head again. “Pain all the time! Cannot sleep!” she lamented.

  “I can give you some medicine to dull the pain and help you sleep,” Rhuna said, and the woman nodded gratefully.

  “Give me amulet?” she asked Rhuna.

  “I…don’t have one right now, but I will get things to help you,” she answered, and relief filled the woman’s sad face.

  When a strong wind began to ruffle clothing and whipping hair in faces, Rhuna gestured that everyone go into their houses to dry and be warm. Feeling satisfied that she had accomplished a great deal within a short time already, she asked the attendants to take her to the pyramids where she planned to have a meal.