Rhuna, The Star Child

by Barbara Underwood

  “Very pleased, very pleased indeed,” exuded Ruler of Numbers as he shook Aradin’s hand excessively. “Come, eat and drink, so that we may be better acquainted!” he said as he turned and waved his hand at a table of food and beverages.

  Rhuna glanced around the immediate area and recognized Progress of the Wind and Roaming the Hills, who were engrossed in discussions with two other Atlan Masters. As she and Aradin approached, they excused themselves and turned to greet Rhuna.

  After introductions and a welcome cool drink of a mixture of fruit and vegetable juices, the New Arrivals began to describe their work and discoveries with great enthusiasm.

  “The First Atlans had foresight and built the pyramids with multiple purposes,” Progress of the Wind began to explain. “Some minor alterations change the function of a pyramid. For example, once it was used to enhance Atlan powers, then to receive, amplify and channel cosmic and lunar energies, and now we have discovered other functions, such as a storehouse for earth energies and converting them to usable resources,” he prattled excitedly.

  “The Lightning Force you were talking about?” asked Rhuna, feeling excitement begin to course through her body. “I’m very curious to see how you are making devices to take the place of traditional Atlan skills,” Rhuna told the group.

  “We have made remarkable progress in recent lunar cycles due to Progress of the Wind, whose expertise in the New Knowledge of natural forces has been extremely enlightening!”

  “What are the Natural Forces, exactly?” Aradin asked.

  “The natural forces that cause weight, or indeed, weightlessness,” Progress of the Wind said with a chuckle. “Also, the elements that harness and conduct energy.”

  Rhuna wondered whether his contribution to the New Arrivals’ progress had something to do with the things he was doing secretly with his fellow Dark Ones.

  “What exactly are you doing?” Aradin asked them.

  “In summary, we are preparing the golden pyramid to be used by common Atlans to harness energy for new and necessary devices,” replied Ruler of Numbers.

  “We endeavour to reproduce the results of Atlan works by means of physical or manual means,” stated Roaming the Hills proudly.

  “For example, traditional Atlan Masters used mental powers to alter the magnetic earth energies around a heavy object to alter its weight. Now it is possible to achieve weightlessness utilizing natural forces such as sound!” bubbled Roaming the Hills excitedly.

  Rhuna suddenly remembered what she had seen as a child on her home of Chinza where an Atlan Master had moved giant solid stone statues into certain positions without any exertion. She told the group about her memory of this event, and the eerie stone statues that had begun to appear all over the small island.

  “Ah, very good, very good indeed!” said Ruler of Numbers nodding his head. “Our inventions shall facilitate this process, and allow ordinary Atlans to do much more!”

  “Allow me to show you the sound device,” Roaming the Hills interrupted impatiently. Rhuna and Aradin stepped forward in the direction the unusual Atlan woman pointed.

  “They are mere musical instruments!” remarked Aradin surprised.

  “Indeed so!” replied Roaming the Hills with an uncharacteristic wide grin. “It is so simple, we are amazed that it has not been discovered until now!” she said laughing, and then pointed to the long-necked horns. “The secret is to play the correct combination of notes which create resonance!” She pointed to the drums, and Rhuna noticed that they were all exactly the same.

  “What are those?” Rhuna asked, looking past the drums at thin metal screens.

  “The screens redirect, amplify and focus the sound vibrations onto the object,” Roaming the Hills answered. “The instruments should be placed in a semi-circle around the object to be affected, and then the sounding of horns and beating of drums must follow a precise pattern, intensifying gradually until the object begins to float.”

  “That’s very impressive!” gushed Aradin, looking back and forth between the instruments and the enthusiastic Atlan woman.

  “And this is the concentrated solar light device,” said Progress of the Wind, pointing to an object on the ground nearby. “And these are the stone cutting tools, which have fast-moving diamond-tipped blades,” he said, pointing to a strange-looking contraption. “They have been designed to function only by converted Lightning Force, instead of traditional Atlan mental powers!”

  “All these new devices are of no use without the power to move the colossal stone blocks,” interjected Roaming the Hills, eager to share more of her knowledge. “This is my field of expertise, namely the nature of harmonics and sound frequencies which cause weightlessness, as well as drive some of these stone cutting and drilling tools,” she said triumphantly.

  “I’ve never heard of sound being used in this way,” commented Rhuna.

  “We are advancing the use of chemicals as well,” said an Atlan Master Rhuna had not met before, and who had been standing nearby. “Certain gases derived from mixing metals with acids can be utilized as a new energy resource. In fact, the Great Pyramid was designed by the First Atlans to be adapted for various purposes, one of which is to concentrate such gases and distribute the resulting energy where required,” he said nodding his head eagerly.

  “Over there,” interrupted Ruler of Numbers, “They are other New Arrivals teaching the New Knowledge of proper building techniques. Mathematics and geometry are most important in the precise work of constructing a building to withstand earthquakes, extreme weather and indeed, the passage of time. The structure must not collapse, be functional as well as pleasing to the eye!”

  After some more discussions, Rhuna expressed her interest and curiosity in their work, and Aradin congratulated them on their accomplishments so far. As they slowly walked away, Rhuna told Aradin that she found the work by the New Arrivals very impressive.

  “Such New Knowledge developed in my homeland of Varappa many solar cycles past,” he said in response, and Rhuna stopped to look at him in surprise. “Yes. Their Knowledge developed in a different direction, but is highly advanced now,” he explained.

  “Why isn’t this well-known?” asked Rhuna, deeply puzzled.

  “The Atlan High Council disapproved of their New Knowledge, and declared that Varappa no longer be an Atlan colony,” Aradin answered bluntly.

  “Oh. I remember you told me that Varappa used to be an Atlan colony,” Rhuna said.

  “You never wondered why it did not continue to be so?”

  “No…but I should have!” Rhuna felt slight alarm stirring inside her at this news.

  Before Rhuna could ask her husband about his mysterious homeland, she glanced aside and recognized Beacon of the Night walking in their direction. She stopped and waited until she stood before him, looking directly into his unusual green eyes which immediately flashed in recognition.

  “Keeper of Wisdom!” he chimed, reaching to shake her hand, which Rhuna gave reluctantly.

  “How pleasant that our paths should cross once again!” he said, and then added that he was not surprised by their encounter because the entire Atlan population of Safu and beyond had heard of her deeds for the Benshi people, and that she now resided in the city of Safu.

  Rhuna introduced Aradin, and the two men shook hands. “Keeper of Justice and Keeper of Wisdom – a perfect match, not only in names but appearances also,” Beacon of the Night chirped cheerfully. Rhuna explained that she had been given the name Kagu-Hina, which is the Benshi name for “Star Child” after noticing that her arrival at Safu coincided with the appearance of a bright new star.

  “A most fitting name!” he responded.

  “It has been such a long time,” she added, trying to make pleasant conversation.

  “That it has, indeed!” Beacon of the Night said with a beaming smile. “We must partake of a meal together and enjoy conversation!”

  “We would like that,” said Arad
in promptly.

  Beacon of the Night described the location of his home, and Rhuna realized that it was in close proximity to her home, making her wonder why she had never seen him in the streets of the Atlan part of Safu.

  Rhuna returned home feeling tired but satisfied with the long and eventful day.

  “Din-Din!” Shandi squealed as she and Aradin stepped inside their comfortable home. Aradin cuddled and kissed the happy child before placing her in Rhuna’s arms. She had missed her small daughter, but was grateful that she could leave her with Faleesh on such occasions.

  While Faleesh finished cooking the evening meal, Rhuna approached the water basin to summon messages by means of the Gazing of the Waters. She had merely to think of messages to cause the water in the basin to swirl in various colours, then briefly turn opaque before clearing to reveal an image of the person who had spoken her a message. She was startled to see Lozira, her face contorted in distress, sitting in a small room resembling a cabin on a ship. Behind her, Rhuna immediately recognized the unmistakable colour and texture of the floating reeds from the sea at the edge of the city of Atlán which were used in building ocean vessels.

  “Rhuna! Oh…it feels strange talking to you after all this time!” she said hurriedly. “I am on one of the ships leaving Atlán, going to Safu. I left home without telling Tozar…and I’m still a bit afraid he might find out where I am before I’m far enough away…” she prattled nervously.

  Rhuna was too startled to understand the situation at first.

  “Tozar forbade me to talk to you - ever!” Lozira squeaked, and Rhuna watched her daughter’s lovely young face turn red and distort in anguish.

  “I was always afraid because he observed me constantly by means of the Gazing of the Waters, even when I was at school or in my private chamber! He forbade me to even mention you, and he controlled every moment of my life! He forbade me to see friends outside of school, even, and…”

  Lozira quickly swiped at a tear and took a deep breath to fortify herself. Rhuna almost reached out to comfort her daughter before realizing that she was only seeing an image by means of the Gazing of the Waters.

  “When I heard about the decision to send members for a new Council in Safu, I just knew I had to take this chance to get away!” She wiped away another tear.

  “Tozar…he has changed so much, Rhuna! He is like a stranger to me, and I felt I had lost both a mother and father! So I quickly packed some things and pretended to go swimming in the lake, like I have been doing lately, so that Tozar would not get suspicious. Then I ran all the way to the dock and hid there until people arrived and got the ships ready. There are other people on this ship; some women and traders. They don’t know who I am, so I think I am safe for now. Oh, Rhuna! I wish this ship would hurry so I can be there with you very soon!”

  Rhuna felt her heart lurch and beat hard at the prospect of seeing Lozira again soon.

  “I’ll speak more messages. I wish I could use the Gazing of the Waters to summon your replies, but the ship…” Rhuna knew she meant the constant movement of the ship which prevented the use of the Gazing of the Waters.

  “I’m afraid Tozar will speak a message to the people at the isthmus and tell them to keep me there so that I cannot continue the journey to Safu!” she said. “But I am grown up now – he cannot stop me, can he?!” Lozira’s voice was full of anguish, giving Rhuna a painful knot in her chest.

  The image of Lozira faded, and the water returned to normal, but her desperate words kept echoing in Rhuna’s head.

  “She is afraid of her own father!” spat Rhuna as she stormed into the main room where Aradin and Faleesh were preparing the evening meal. She took a deep breath and then made an effort to recount Lozira’s message slowly and correctly despite surges of strong emotions.

  “Oh, the poor child!” cried Faleesh when Rhuna finished her account of Lozira’s message. “May she arrive safely – and soon!” Faleesh said, her face still creased in anguish.

  “I thought she was happy despite not being allowed to talk to me!” Rhuna said, shaking her head in dismay. “I thought she was enjoying a normal life, but he is behaving like a tyrant!”

  “We will bring her here safely,” Aradin assured her.

  As she sat down to the evening meal and saw Shandi receiving her special small plate of food, she remembered what her young child had said when she was in the Commoners’ part of the city.

  “Shandi said that Lozira was coming on a boat!” she blurted with a mouthful of food.

  “She foresaw it?” asked Aradin, looking at the little girl.

  "Lozira coming!” Shandi announced confidently, and then shoveled a handful of soft-cooked lentils into her mouth. Faleesh looked back and forth between the three of them, trying to understand.

  “Oh, I’m too nervous to eat!” Rhuna said, standing up abruptly. “I want to see my father and tell him this news!”

  Rhuna felt the tingle of the cool evening air on her skin as she walked briskly down the paved streets of Safu at twilight. She looked up and admired the sparkling stars above her, and then looked ahead where faint glitter on the shiny walls of The Reigning One’s residence seemed to be reflecting the brilliant starlight.

  She greeted Abu-Malech, who was always present when she arrived at the palatial building, and bounded up the large stone staircase, running the last few steps towards her father’s private chambers. Rhuna could barely contain the news of Lozira’s escape from Tozar as she greeted her father, and quickly told him about her daughter’s desperate message.

  “I expect Tozar will try to prevent Lozira from continuing her journey to Safu,” she told her father.

  “This, I also expect,” Damell said solemnly.

  “Oh, Father! What can I do? I feel so helpless!”

  “You are capable of many things,” Damell stated simply.

  “Yes, but nothing that can help my daughter!” she lamented bitterly.

  “You have the ability to help her in many ways, even in this very moment,” Damell said with a smile and twinkle in his eyes.

  “I do? How?” she asked desperately.

  “By accessing The Infinite it is possible to alter or effect matter,” he answered simply.

  “Alter matter?” Rhuna asked, perplexed.

  “The Infinite is an ethereal reflection of the physical world,” her father began to explain. “Actions, thoughts and emotions in this world are impressed upon The Infinite, yet the reverse is also possible.”

  “The reverse? You mean what happens in the Infinite can change things in the physical world, too?” Rhuna said wide-eyed, as this new concept began spinning her mind around.

  “As effortlessly as you transform elements with the force of your mind, so you may also alter elements in The Infinite,” he said, and then gave Rhuna a mischievous look. “Tell me, Rhuna; what would you alter in The Infinite to aid your daughter?”

  Rhuna thought for a while, imagining various scenarios but dismissing all but one. “It would be easiest to prevent Tozar from speaking a message to someone at the land of the isthmus,” she said, and Damell nodded approvingly.

  “But by now someone has probably already summoned the message, as two days have already passed since she left her home in Atlán!” Rhuna said with dismay.

  “Be not concerned,” Damell said with a quick wave of his hand. “The message has been intercepted.”

  “Intercepted?” asked Rhuna, staring at her father. “You mean, you stopped the message already?”

  “Indeed, I did,” said Damell with another mischievous smile.

  “You already knew about this!” Rhuna said with amazement.

  “Of course!” replied Damell. “It has been my habit for many solar cycles to regularly observe my loved ones,” he said with a tender smile.

  “Now I shall accompany you to The Infinite and guide you in intercepting the next message Tozar spoke earlier today,” Damell said in a firm tone as he moved to
take the position for accessing The Infinite.

  Rhuna was once again awed into speechlessness, and obediently followed her father’s instructions as they took their positions on cushions in preparation for releasing the Extended Consciousness.

  Rhuna felt her Extended Consciousness leave her body and float above it for a short time, surrounded by shifting lights and changing colours. Suddenly, Damell appeared in front of her, first as a yellow-white light which then formed a familiar face. Rhuna thought the face looked very young and somehow unreal, like in a dream.

  Rhuna heard her father’s voice in her head instead of with her ears. “It is possible to acquire many appearances in The Infinite,” he said. “You look purple,” he said, and Rhuna was suddenly very curious about her own appearance in this dimension of The Infinite. She tried to look down at herself as if she had a body, only to find that she had none in The Infinite.

  “Focus on Tozar’s messages, as you would normally do when summoning,” Damell instructed, and Rhuna immediately obeyed.

  “Look!” said Damell, pointing to a thick, shapeless mass approaching them. It was throbbing colours and sounds, and when Rhuna examined it more closely, she could hear spoken words.

  “That’s Tozar’s voice!” exclaimed Rhuna.

  “It is his message,” answered Damell. “It becomes visible in The Infinite in this form.”

  Rhuna stared in amazement at the pulsating mass which constantly changed shape, and which contained Tozar’s angry words.

  “How do I intercept it now?” Rhuna wanted to know.

  “Attempt your own idea,” Damell said, floating nearby and watching her.

  “After a moment, all Rhuna could think of was to throw something in anger at the formless mass, and before she realized it, she saw an arm holding out a long and thick-bladed sword.

  “I want to destroy that thing with this sword!” exclaimed Rhuna, and when she heard Damell’s word of approval in her head, she began swishing the sword side to side. At first she felt resistance when the blade swooshed through the shapeless mass of noise and colours, but then it began to move more easily. She watched as the sword broke up the strange mass, dispersing particles of sound and colour in all directions until only a fine mist remained.