Rhuna, Keeper of Wisdom

by Barbara Underwood

  Then Rhuna noticed that his manner changed abruptly. “However, they are misusing their ability,” he said gloomily. “The image carved upon them shall lead to great misfortune…” he trailed off in deep thought.

  “What does that mean?” Rhuna asked, feeling a chill pass through her.

  Tozar looked up quickly, awakening from his sombre thoughts, and forced a smile.

  “I agree with you, Child, what they do is wrong.”

  Before Rhuna could ask another question about the strange statues, Tozar quickly changed the subject.

  “Tell me, Rhuna, does your mother never talk about your father?”

  Rhuna shook her head hard. “No, and when I ask, she just tells me to stop asking. It makes her angry when I ask those things.”

  “Never a mention at all?” asked Tozar with slight surprise.

  Rhuna shook her head again. “She doesn’t talk much anyway,” she said sulkily.

  “This saddens me,” said Tozar.

  “Does it? Why?”

  “Not only are you deprived of a father, the woman who bore you is a reluctant mother,” Tozar stated.

  Rhuna had never thought about her situation in those terms, and she needed a moment to digest his unfamiliar words.

  Tozar looked silently at the ground beneath his feet, and Rhuna did the same.

  “You’ve got things on your feet!” she chirped.

  “My footwear. They provide comfort when walking long distances on stone,” he said and smiled at her again.

  “Your clothes are strange,” Rhuna said, touching the soft thick material.

  “It is a special fibre we make ourselves,” he explained.

  “We make our clothes out of bark fibres but they don’t look like yours,” she said, still admiring the foreign material. It felt like a sea sponge when she pressed it.

  “There are other methods of making garments. Perhaps I may show you one day,” Tozar offered with a raised eyebrow. Rhuna nodded eagerly. In that moment, she felt happier than at any other time in her life, and all because of shoes and new clothes.

  Later that day, as Rhuna replayed the morning’s conversation with Tozar in her mind, she approached the open area near the beach where food and various handicrafts were being traded. She recalled her mother’s instructions to collect any left-over foods, but first she wanted to look at clothes and see what they were made of. The toothless old woman had made three more woven bags out of large dried leaves, her husband had made seven new knife tools out of bones and shells, and many more pigs had been born since the last market. The only bark fibre garments she saw were for men, all in drab tan colours, one with a carefully painted fish design. Rhuna knew the man who made these patterns on clothes and other bark cloths because he often sat and talked with her Uncle Metti.

  Rhuna looked around the bustling market area and caught sight of Velisa standing outside the gathering of traders, laughing with one of the older boys from along the east coast track.

  “Come here, Rhuna!” called Velisa. “Come meet my intended husband!” Rhuna felt that the girl who stood before her had become a total stranger, and was no longer the girl she had known all her life. Her long hair was braided with colourful ribbons, and her dress had elaborate bird prints all over it. Even the way Velisa spoke and behaved in recent times had become foreign to Rhuna. She felt very small as she approached the couple.

  “I won’t be able to see you anymore once the marriage takes place, you know,” Velisa said casually. Rhuna was puzzled for a moment. “You don’t understand, do you? You’re such a strange girl, Rhuna - and such a child!”

  “I want to tell you something, Velisa,” she said quickly, dismissing her friend’s injurious words. She led Velisa aside so she could tell her what was pounding in her head and burning in her heart.

  “I’ve met a man! He was in my cave when I went there yesterday, and he talks in a really different way!” Rhuna whispered excitedly to her old friend.

  The girl’s eyes opened wide, then narrowed as she evaluated Rhuna’s words. “What man? From which village? What was he doing in the cave? And why were you there, too?” Suddenly, Rhuna’s childhood friend reminded her of her own mother.

  “I… he… he’s a Master and he’s got a white robe and.. and he’s staying in my cave,” she stammered nervously.

  Velisa’s expression changed from disbelief to anger. “Why would he stay in your silly little cave? You’re talking rubbish, Rhuna! You’re jealous, aren’t you! Jealous of me being spoken for while you’re still a stupid child!” She turned to walk away but Rhuna grabbed her arm.

  “No, Velisa, it’s true! His name’s Tozar and he told me all about the big stone men. He slept in my cave, on the old blankets I put there. Why don’t you believe me, Velisa?” Her friend stopped and searched Rhuna’s face. “Did I do something wrong? Are we allowed to speak to the Masters? Oh tell me, Velisa, please!” Rhuna said desperately.

  “I don’t know… but I think we should tell the village elders right now - Come on!” She dragged Rhuna through the group of people who stood around examining food and wares while loudly chattering and sharing local gossip.

  “Elder Tahufa!” called Velisa. “Rhuna wants to know if we’re allowed to speak to the Masters,” she said to the man holding a large flat plate of woven leaves piled high with his bartered vegetables. Rhuna had often seen this big dark-haired man before, going into the water to catch fish with other burly dark men, but she had never spoken to him. Standing so close to him, Rhuna could see the murky brown colour of his eyes and smell the odour of old fish on his fleshy hands.

  “Oh?” His face took on a very disturbed look. “Why do you want to know?” he asked and looked suspiciously at both girls.

  Nervously, Rhuna told him about her meeting with Tozar, and watched the elder’s expression turn to intense agitation. Then he looked at Velisa.

  “It’s very good that you brought her to me,” said the elder. “This is a very serious matter!” He led both girls to a fallen tree trunk seat and squatted in front of them.

  “You’ve seen some of the things these white ones do, haven’t you, Rhuna?” he began, trying to stay calm. “The things they talk about and what they do are works of the Dark Master!” he spat. His eyes pierced Rhuna deeply. He had taken hold of her upper arm and his hand felt rough and hot on Rhuna’s skin.

  “But… but how do you know?” Rhuna felt her face drain of blood.

  “Because they can do things that we can’t, of course! And you do know who the Dark Master is, don’t you, Rhuna?” She saw the tiny red veins in the yellow-white of his eyes and felt his heavy, moist breath on her skin. He examined Rhuna’s face and then changed his tone.

  “It’s a good thing you’ve told us about this. We have to know where this white-skinned devil is so we can protect our people, protect you. And your mother. You understand, don’t you, Rhuna?” She didn’t understand, but nodded anyway. “So tell me exactly where he is now!”

  “I… I don’t really know,” she stammered. The elder’s harsh words were whizzing around in her head, and all she could think about was his hot clasp on her upper arm holding her firmly in her seat.

  “She said he was in a cave!” interrupted Velisa.

  “A cave? Which one? There are hundreds of caves on this island - which one, Rhuna?” he asked angrily as he gave her a small shake with his heavy hand.

  “I can’t remember… I got lost, I….I was just.. playing and then he was there…”

  “Playing? You got lost? This is the strange girl from outside your village, isn’t it?” he asked Velisa and then released his grip on Rhuna’s arm. “I don’t think we’ll get any more out of her then, but it’s enough! Now we know there’s another one of them hiding somewhere… that’s good, that’s good,” he muttered to himself as he hurried away.

  Velisa also said something about returning to her intended husband, and left Rhuna sitting on the dead tree feeling dazed and confused. She felt betrayed by Velisa. She
realized she had lost her friend and she felt more outcast than ever before in her short life.

  Before going home with the few leftover root and leaf vegetables she had gathered after the market, Rhuna decided to visit Uncle Metti. She remembered how he always used to let her play with his curly black hair, and he talked to her when others ignored her. She wondered whether her uncle would tell her about the Masters, and whether she had done anything wrong.

  “You’ve come at meal time, Rhuna,” Fahuna Metti said when she appeared at the door of the large hut in the nearby village. “But what’s this? Look at you!” he stepped back to take in a fuller view of his peculiar niece. “What have you done to yourself, girl? You look so… womanly. Ah! The belt! Well, well, well,” he smiled and turned to his guests inside who also smiled. Rhuna blushed and was too embarrassed to ask what they were smiling about.

  “Get yourself some food and sit down with us, Rhuna,” Uncle Metti said. “I think you’re old enough now.” She folded a piece of clean-scraped bark and topped it with marinated fish meat and fire-roasted yams. It felt like a special privilege, and Rhuna was thrilled to be included in the adult gathering, but a shower of dread spilled over her when she realized what Uncle Metti and his friends had been talking about.

  “It’s happening already,” she heard her uncle say, “and who knows when more of those Masters will arrive.”

  “Maybe we should just leave well enough alone,” said one of the guests timidly. He sat behind the others at the far wall of the hut.

  Fahuna Metti grunted and shook his head vigorously.

  “It’s gone far enough and it’s time for more action!” exploded Rhuna’s uncle. “They think they can do anything they like with this land, and if we let them go any further, there’s no knowing what they’ll do next! Didn’t you see the new row of statues along the way to your home, Pukai Fua? They’re popping up all over the place, and our trees and gardens get torn down if they’re in the way. Are we going to stand for this?”

  “We’re all with you, Fahuna Metti, but it’s… well, it’s the things they can do; it worries us.” said one of the men sitting closest to Rhuna’s uncle.

  “What they can do! What they can do!” scoffed Fahuna Metti. Do you still think they’re some kind of gods? They’re just humans like us, only their skin’s a different colour…”

  “And they have beards!” interjected Rhuna, her eyes wide and anxious.

  “Yes, they have beards,” said Uncle Metti looking around at Rhuna in surprise.

  “But they’re still people who drink water and eat food like we do, who get sick, who bleed and who… die,” he trailed off abruptly.

  “Fahuna Metti…” began one of the men with a dark look in his eyes. They both looked at Rhuna suddenly, and she felt her cheeks warming again. She wondered if she was expected to say something again.

  “Uncle Metti, I’ve seen one of the Masters, up on my hill!”

  “Oh? Have you really?” His eyebrows sprung up, then folded into a frown. “What was he doing there? Making another one of those grizzly statues?”

  “Nnno,” said Rhuna nervously, suddenly unsure of what she should say. “He was just… just standing there talking.”

  “Talking? With who?”

  “Me,” she answered softly.

  “You talked with this white man, did you, Rhuna?” asked Uncle Metti sharply. “About what? What did he say?”

  “Ahm, ah..”

  “Well?”

  “Nothing.”

  “Nothing? He talked to you and said nothing, is that it? Oh Rhuna, no wonder your mother’s a nervous wreck!” Rhuna felt relieved to see the brush of his hand signal the end of that conversation, and she sat back and began to eat, her eyes observing each man’s face as he spoke.

  “But they’ve helped us with growing new kinds of food and they’ve never done us any harm, not really,” said the man in the back of the room.

  “They eat their own foreign foods all right, but we’re like their pigs, only getting the scraps!” said Fahuna Metti angrily. “Don’t you see what’s at stake here? Just because they were here first doesn’t mean they have the right to rule the place! And no, Pukai Fua, there’s not enough room for them and us!” The man spoken to hid behind his plate of food, giving up any more attempts to talk in this round.

  “What gives them the right to rule over us and think they’re better than we are? We’re Zao, we have our own ways of doing things!” continued Fahuna Metti passionately. “How dare they expect us to turn our backs on our own people and just do whatever they say! It’s outrageous! I’ve said so from the start and I say so now: we have to take a stand for our people, we have the right! We have the responsibility to those before and those who’ll come after us to keep our ways intact and uncorrupted by the Atlans!” His hands were balled in tight fists, shaking threateningly.

  Rhuna felt icy cold water trickling down her spine.

  “Does that mean we’re not allowed to talk to them, Uncle Metti?” she asked.

  “What?” Fahuna Metti blinked and lowered his shaking fists, took a breath and said in a quieter voice, “No, it doesn’t mean that exactly, Rhuna. But… it would be better if you didn’t speak to any of them, understand?” Rhuna nodded obediently.

  The following morning, Rhuna made her way up the hill and to the cave’s concealed entrance. She stopped first and looked around to make sure no one had followed her to her secret place. She slipped into the familiar darkness of the cave and looked around. She heard a movement from the area where the blankets lay, and then saw Tozar moving towards her to stand in the stream of sunlight.

  “Elder Tahufa and Uncle Metti told me I shouldn’t be talking to you, but…”

  “But? You have come and you are here, talking to me. Why is it so, Child?” His eyes had a playful sparkle, and once again she lost the apprehension she had felt on her way up the hillside. “You did not believe their words?”

  “They said you’re a dark master, and all that sort of thing,” she blurted, remembering the disturbing conversation she had heard at Uncle Metti’s meal gathering the day before.

  “They know nothing of which they speak,” said Tozar firmly, then gently touched her arm to motion her to take a seat next to him on the blankets. “Ignorance is a great enemy,” he stated. “I am not the Dark Master, nor am I one of his imitators.”

  “Uncle Metti was really angry,” Rhuna continued. Tozar’s light touch on her arm thrilled her.

  “He is a man of passion,” he stated. “We possess knowledge that your uncle and his people do not. Ignorance brings forth anger, mistrust and superstition. For this reason, ignorance is a great enemy.”

  “What’s superstition?” asked Rhuna, feeling more relaxed again.

  “Superstition is a belief borne of ignorance and primitive needs and desires. For instance, that which is taking place around you now: the erecting of statues in the image of …” His words caught in his mouth. It was the first time Tozar had spoken such an unfinished sentence, and it disquieted Rhuna.

  “But it’s your people who are making those statues!” said Rhuna.

  “Yes. Their course leads to great danger indeed.” He sounded firm and resolute again as he turned to look at her. “But let me finish, Child. The placement of large standing stones serves a purpose, and it is a highly intricate and precise science. It is, however, a serious matter to carve a certain facial image on them. Did you notice, Rhuna, that all of them have the same face? It is a representation of a certain… person…and thus the action becomes superstition in nature.”

  “Is that a bad thing then?” asked Rhuna, already dreading the answer.

  “In this case it is, yes.” he answered with a slow nod.

  “And is that why you’re living up here in my cave now, and not in the valley with the other Masters? Did you have a fight with them over the stone men?” Rhuna asked him.

  “It is due to the image on the standing stones I have journeyed here. My home is not with t
he people of this land. I have journeyed a great distance.”

  Rhuna’s eyes opened wide with excitement, and Tozar laughed gently. “You mean… you’ve come from over the blue horizon?” she asked breathlessly.

  “Yes, I have.”

  “I’ve never known anyone from outside,” she gasped. “I know that the Masters came from a faraway place, but they’ve always been here as long as I can remember,” she said.

  “I am… observing proceedings on this island first,” he said carefully.

  “What does that mean? And what’s your home like? How did you get here? What was it like to come across the water?”

  “Patience, Child,” laughed Tozar. “One question at a time! Always ask questions, although one at a time!” he said happily. He moved to sit more comfortably, and Rhuna’s heart beat faster.

  “I have come,” he began slowly, “to correct matters on this small land. My colleagues and I in the capital of Atlán, far across the Great Ocean, are interested and concerned that all should be well here. My home is in a land very different from yours, Rhuna, and very beautiful. It benefits and pleases me greatly to visit faraway places and experience the vast variety of lands and people. Therefore I have journeyed here to visit and learn about the ways in this land, and then I shall return to my home and inform my colleagues of the things I have observed.”

  “How long are you staying?” asked Rhuna. She felt a heaviness in her chest at the thought of his leaving the island soon.

  Tozar hesitated. “It depends on how speedily I gather knowledge of the situation and problems on this island.” He turned to Rhuna. “Perhaps you may help me learn?”

  “Me? Help you?” she asked startled.

  “Yes,” he smiled. “You are a discerning and clever girl. I may learn a great deal from the things you observe, should you tell me of them.”