Prologue
The small frogs were croaking as they jumped across the narrow brook. Sun rays beat down on the clear water, making it shimmer and glisten, a finer mirror than any craftsmen could produce. Naramai timidly placed her toes in the water, and tingled as the cold water ran over them. She could see her reflection in the water, from her small nose to her dark hair, and the small wooden charm that pinned it up. Whittle reeds made a soft flute like sound, as the slow wind passed through them. The first day of summer. Naramai believed the brook was having a celebration in honor of the day.
No one seemed to come to the brook anymore, except to clean the weekly laundry. The other children of the village never stopped to see what the brook had to offer, they never realized how relaxing it was;too busy climbing trees and pretending to be soldiers. The elders never cared to walk more than they needed, so trips to a brook on the outskirts of the village were out of the question. The brook…a nice place to be alone. Naramai leaned her head back against the soft grass, grabbing one of the many whittle reeds that grew along the bank. Bringing it to her lips she blew through the small holes, and remembered the song that she heard so long ago. A faint memory now, but it still had its place in the back of her mind, just with some cobwebs over it.
A sharp cry split through the delicate music. Naramai threw the reed aside and poked her head over the hill leading to the brook to determine where the cry had come from. A group of children no older then herself were huddled around one of the great Okai trees, one of the older ones so grand and tall. As she ran to them, she could hear soft whimpers from the small gathering.
"Naramai! Get Old Hersha! Hurry up!" One of the children was pointing to the village, speaking in a demanding tone. Naramai ignored the demands, and stepped through the throng of gatherers. A small boy lay, clutching his leg at the base of the tree. His face was twisted in pain, with dried tear stains. His clothing was full of tears and many leaves could be seen poking out of his hair.
"What happened?" She looked to the rest of the children, who all pointed to the broken branch lying next to the boy.
A small girl spoke, "He was almost to the top! But then he grabbed the branch and snap! It broke off! He fell really, really fast! He almost made it too…" The children continued to gape at the pained boy, when the group parted, letting an old women pass through. The children looked to the women with astounded faces, slowly backing away, careful not to make any sudden moves. When they had inched a few feet, they turned and ran with full speed scattering in all directions.
"Hmph, some friends." The old woman turned back and looked at the injured boy.
"Can you help him, Hersha? He fell all that height!" The old women smiled at the young girl's concern and turned the boy onto his back, feeling his leg.
"A broken bone, luckily not shattered. Foolish boy, the Okai trees are not to be underestimated. Though you're lucky I was here gathering herbs or you would have been stuck here for a while, wouldn't that have been fun?" As she grabbed his arm, she beckoned Naramai to her.
"Help me take him back to the hut, he will need some healing." The two walked off, carrying the boy between them. He still had a pained look on his face as he hobbled his way on through the grassy field, and into the village.
They walked past home after home, the boy still moaning, "Oh, did the hut have to be all the way on the other side?" The woman frowned at the comment but continued to walk on. As they came to the edge of the dirt road the small party stopped.
"Well, here we are, and now you can stop your little complaints." The hut was small. Built mostly of spare boards and clay, it had a certain odor to it, but it was a home none the less. As they walked inside, they placed the boy on a small plank table. To the left, the wall was filled with different bottles of potions and nostrums. A vast and impressive collection of ointments to treat an assortment of ailments. The boy looked up toward the old woman with a worried look on his face.
"What…what are you going to do to me?" The woman felt his leg again, nodded and looked toward Naramai, chuckling.
"Heh heh, well, I'm not going to do anything to you, but…" she pointed a finger to the young girl, "but she will." Naramai's eyed widened with a look of sheer terror.
"What? But, but I can't do that! Hersha, you are still teaching me this, I'm not good enough to do actual bones yet! I can't…I won't…" The woman grabbed the girl and pushed her toward the table. For an old woman her strength was impressive.
"Ah, sure you will. You can do it; I've taught you enough on this sort of thing."
"But, I've never actually done it!" The old woman went toward the bottled covered wall and plucked an ointment form it. She tossed it to the young girl, and winked.
"You know what to do." Naramai looked at the bottle, and then glanced up to see the Old Hersha pass through the cloth doorway.
"What? You can't heal! I…I want Old Hersha. You're going to hurt it even more! This leg is valuable to me!" The boy protectively put his hands over his leg, a scowl on his face. Naramai looked at the bottle, the green liquid slowly turning in it. She turned toward the doorway hoping the old woman would come back in, hoping she was only joking when she said that she would heal the boy, but of course she didn't return. She turned back towards the boy, still scowling at her. The young boy starred at Naramai with such a look of intensity it would have made any adult laugh.
"You come near me, and you're dead. You hear?" Hmph, we'll see. She grabbed hold of the boy's arms, trying to push them aside when he lunged forward and pressed his teeth into her skin. Screaming in pain she tried to push his head off her arm.
"Hersha! Please come help me! He's mad! Stop biting you freak!" The boy smiled and he began to bite harder, she was afraid that soon he would draw blood.
"Augh! Stop!" Naramai could feel tears forming, but wouldn't give the boy the pleasure of seeing them. The boy was strong, her free arm could not push him away, but she still had the bottle in her hand, the liquid shaking violently in the container as the two thrashed about. She slammed the bottle down onto his leg and it shattered, the glass pieces and liquid flying in all directions. Green liquid dripped off the boy's leg, forming puddles on the table. The boy drew away from Naramai screaming in pain. Deep marks had been left on her arm, red and painful. But there was no time to concern about her arm. Seeing her moment to strike, she placed her hand on his wet leg. The boy realized she was attempting to heal him.
"No! Get away from me!" She slowly breathed, when the liquid underneath her hand began to glow, the boy pulling his arm back from his intent to strike her. She smiled and pressed harder on his leg, when the now almost white liquid began to wrap itself around the boy's leg.
"What's it doing? No, what are you doing? Stop…stop now!" Oh just be quiet boy! Come on liquid, come on… Naramai quickly placed her other hand onto the leg pressing down even harder. The liquid continued to circle the leg, going faster, glowing brighter, when it suddenly disappeared into the boy's skin. He fell back against the plank board, gripping the sides, trying not to scream out. Naramai pulled her hand away from his leg and sighed.
"I did it…" she whispered to herself. Slowly, the boy sat upright and grabbed his leg, rubbing his hands all over the dry skin.
"Its fine now," Naramai mumbled angrily, she didn't even want to look at him, the rotten child. The bite marks were deep, it was painful to touch, but she knew they would disappear over time, no need for healing. She pointed to the doorway.
"Go home now, and get out." Turning toward the wall of bottles, she pretended to straighten them.
"So this is why they elders don't like you? I don't blame them. They talk about you all the time; and they're right when they call you a freak. Only Hersha can do this! What makes you so special you can heal?" Naramai clenched her fists.
"Hersha tells me not to talk about it, and I'm not about to tell you, now go!" The young boy crossed his arms and looked defiantly toward Naramai, she was only a girl, it couldn't be that hard to get information.
"I bit you before, and I'll do it again, tell me how come you can do this!" She remembered what Hersha had told her, about the bad things, the horrible things, and the good. The old woman didn't even tell the young girl part of the story, too young for the truth, or the whole truth at least. Remembering what Hersha told her sent chills up her body and she shuttered.
"Look, I didn't ask for this! You're healed, so you can leave now! Go back to your friends. Go and climb that tree again…just go!" She turned around seeing the boy had still not left.
"Why are you still here?" He looked at her like he had an upper advantage, as if they were playing some sort of game.
"You're not from Old Hersha's tribe are you?" Finding out about this girl would be the only excitement he'd receive all day. Naramai wouldn't answer, but only starred at him. He shrugged and twirled his toe in the dirt floor.
"So you won't answer? I don't care; I know you're not from her tribe though. I don't even know why the spirits made those people anyways. No one ever tells us kids, like it doesn't matter. At least my leg is fixed." The tent was quiet; Naramai learned that the young boy wasn't stupid; he could piece information together, even if it was little in quantity.
"You better go now; no one likes me with other kids." The boy began to kick the dirt now; he clearly needed to be entertained at all times.
"It's not like you have to listen to them. I don't."
She turned from the wall, and spoke firmly, "Nothing's keeping you here anymore, so go." Pride was important to the young boy, and he wanted to keep his intact.
"So are you stuck here all day? Looks boring to me, just plants that smell funny." Her small hands smoothed out the little apron she wore around her waist, and she walked towards the door.
"Its not like Hersha holes me up here all day, I go outside too, is that so hard to believe? Besides, what I do here is more interesting than what you do, climbing trees and falling out of them." He let a small smile creep onto his face, though his eyebrows were bent in displeasure.
"Oh, and what do you do that's so great, huh? Pick flowers?" The old curtain was pushed aside as Naramai began to walk out of the hut, letting golden light hit the dirt floor.
"Maybe I do," she looked back towards the boy, a bored look on his face, "but there are better things to do…do, do you go to the brook?" The young boy crossed his arms.
"You're joking right? There are just some stupid little frogs to catch, big excitement there."
"You do what you like; I'm not forcing you to do anything. A shame you won't see the whittle reeds though." She let the curtain fall back into place and walked onto the sunlit road. Old Hersha was leaned up against the small tree next to the hut, one day it would grow into another great Okai tree. A groan emerged form inside the hut, and the young boy began to follow Naramai who was already disappearing behind another hut.
"Hmph, whittle reeds…this better be good," he muttered to himself, and he too disappeared behind the huts.
The old woman watched as the both children ran off. It's nice to relax like this; people should stay healthy more often. She sighed and stoked the small pearly cat on her lap, than raised the animal to her face.
"She doesn't realize just how similar he is too her. No parents either, shame what happened to his dear old mother, what a tragedy, fortunate he can't remember it though." As she set the pearly cat back onto her lap she smiled.
"But Naramai finally understands how to mend broken bones, and it looks as if she did a good job, didn't she kitty?" The small cat meowed as the old woman began to shut her eyes, leaning against the small tree.
Naramai ran ahead of the boy, her feet splashing up the water in the brook. Along the bank a long stretch of small plants grew soaking up the sun, all of them a delicate pale shade of green.
"Plants? You brought me here to see plants? What, should I bow down to you now oh great plant seeker?" Rolling her eyes, she plucked a few of the reeds from the ground.
"I didn't bring you anywhere; you're the one trotting behind me." His face flushed red with embarrassment and he opened and closed his mouth thinking of how to retaliate, but Naramai covered the silence with her own words.
"You see," she held one of the reeds to the air, and the slow breeze passed through the holes in the plant, "sometimes the wind will do the work for you, but it's much prettier when you do it."
"Do…what, you mean play that thing?" Naramai could tell from his expression that he was clearly not impressed, but it was to be expected. His entertainment was found in climbing dangerous trees, not listening to the brook's wonders.
"Of course play them…" She closed her eyes as she brought the reed to her lips and softly blew through the holes. It was the same melody she played earlier that morning, the same melody she always played. One she could remember from memory so long ago. She began to lower the reed, and opened her eyes.
"That's all I can remember." The boy raised an eyebrow and plucked his own reed from the ground, staring at it.
"Whittle reeds huh? Its no Okai tree, but…" he stopped talking and drew in a large breathe and blew through the holes. A shrill sound cut through the air, diminishing any peace that had been acquired by stander by. It matched the sound of an ill duck. Naramai was disgusted by the sound and covered her ears.
"No! Stop! That's not how you do it! Do you pay attention at all?" The boy lowered the reed, looking at it as if it was its fault for the terrible sound.
"Stupid reed, can't even do it right." Naramai rolled her eyes.
"Yea, that's it, it's the reeds fault. You have to blow gently, like the wind does…"
The breeze diminished, as if laying in wait for the sound, wanting to hear if another human could match its own brilliance.
"Fine," he put the reed to his lips again. A soft sound emerged from the reed; random in notes, but it was music.
"There, see you're getting it. Isn't that better than what was honking out of there before?" The boy smiled and looked at the reed. He puffed up his chest and held the reed out like a sword, as if he had just defeated a mighty enemy.
"Ha ha! Nothing can defeat the great Tadeo! I have conquered the great whittle reed! You thought you were going to get me didn't you?" He jumped across the brook and blew a quick few notes through the reed again, to make sure he hadn't lost his touch, and let a small smile creep onto his face at his great accomplishment. Naramai sat down on the grass, letting her feet stay into the shimmering water. She could see a few toddies in the water swimming around her toes. They were always curious fish, always wanted to know who was there and what they were doing. She placed her reed next to her and looked at the boy, now using the reed as a weapon, slashing through the air. Clearly he had found a new source of entertainment, but she had known the musical appeal wouldn't last long. Laying her head down on the green grass she stared up at the clear sky.
She could remember how the elders would talk to Hersha, always whispering, "Keep her away…" muttering how "Seclusion was best…" Hersha liked keeping Naramai at the hut, always teaching her how the other children "wouldn't understand her", bringing her up to accept loneliness. Naramai didn't realize it but the old woman was remembering what it was like to be a child. Hersha remembered that children needed their own kind, and seclusion could only last for so long. Her thoughts were broken as water splashed onto her face, oh it was so cold! The boy was running through the water, making a mess of things.
"The great and powerful Tadeo just conquered the reed, and now he'll get you too toddie! Ha! Hey get back…" She rolled her eyes and smiled, seclusion wasn't so bad with company. Spreading her arms across the grass she sighed. "Tadeo…"
