Kurasa no Moribito
Guardian of the Darkness
Chapter 8
Homesickness
When Shozen saw that Alika had her left wrist wrapped in a bandage, he took the chance to mock at her.
"So you ended up getting beat up?" he sneered.
"I just fell on the wrong side," she replied without glancing at him, not taking her eyes off her book.
"Oh?"
Amaya arrived and pushed Shozen with a thrust of her hips.
"Get off your back, Shozen-the-jealous," she replied. "Leave Alichoue alone."
"Have you seen her wrist?! Now, if we have to fight, she can't win. She was lucky, that's all."
He froze when he felt Alika's glare against him. She used energies and magic to impose herself in the class. Although Shozen wasn't into the energies, he knew he had to stop messing with her. Too proud, he did not lower his head and turned on his heels.
Amaya had chosen to accompany Alika home to Yuka's house of healing; she'd told her parents that morning. Moreover, she wanted Alika and her to study and do their schoolwork together; it was easier to memorize the notes. As they walked, an animal caught Alika's attention.
"Are they goats?" she asked.
Her friend followed the pointed direction.
"Oh! Yes. With them, there's Herders and they mainly take care of goats and yaks."
"Can we go see them?!" Alika asked, her eyes sparkling.
"Yes, come."
Among the small goats of normal sizes, there were a few that were bigger. Alika also noticed that the Herders were short with dark skin.
"Are they the Herders?"
"Exact." Amaya smiled. "Here in Kanbal, the Herders are small people. They raise goats in the meadows, on farms or in the Alps. I know him! Hello Loulou!"
The Herder looked up when he saw Amaya. Alika was surprised to see that they were almost the same size. He was an adult.
"Hello, hello Amaya! Are you bringing us a friend today?" Loulou asked.
"Oh yes. I present you Alika. She saw the goats."
"Nice to meet you Alika, I'm Loulou."
"Hello." Alika smiled
She saw a smaller Herder riding on the back of a large goat. Her adventurous side taking over, Alika really wanted to imitate him.
"Mister Loulou, there's a child on the back of a huge goat."
"It's a mountain goat. They're larger than farmed goats."
"I would like to ride on its back, too!"
Amaya glanced, surprised, at Loulou.
"Well, it's not common to ride on the backs of goats," the Herder commented. "But since you seem very interested by, I can give you the chance to give it a try."
Loulou whistled a melody – sounding like a lullaby – to the child who approached Amaya and Alika. The child descended as Alika removed her school bag from her back.
"I present to you my son, Momo." Loulou smiled. "Momo, would you like to show Alika-Chan how to ride a goat?"
Momo was going to explain how to get on the back of the goat, but Alika was faster than him. Despite her fractured left wrist, she did not listen to her Aunt Yuka's recommendations. She grabbed the fur of the animal by the neck and on its back. She hoisted herself up like an expert on its back, bareback like horseback riding, and totally ignoring the pain in her wrist, too excited by the experience.
"Oh, if only Mommy could see me!" Alika exclaimed.
"... Your friend is surprisingly agile," Loulou commented to Amaya. "Maybe you should try one day."
"I already did," Amaya laughed.
Loulou's son led the goat, so that it wouldn't get angry and end up in an improvised rodeo. Alika didn't want getting off the animal's back, but she was feeling that if she and Amaya didn't return to Aunt Yuka soon, Aunt Yuka would end up getting worried. Alika thanked the Herders and went home.
Once there, getting carried away in her stories, Amaya ended up telling Yuka that Alika had ridden a goat despite her broken wrist. Balsa's daughter never thought to see her great aunt's peaceful and gentle face becoming so stern. Yuka put her hands on her hips.
"Alika, I told you to take care of your wrist," she scolded her.
"But-but... Mommy always does the same thing with Daddy!" Alika defended herself.
"Balsa does the same with Tanda when she's hurt?"
"Yes..."
No wonder she doesn't know how to recover and take it easy, Yuka thought.
"Well, young lady, it's a very bad habit and I don't recommend doing it."
"Why?"
"Because even though your physical body heals quickly, injured bones and muscles won't heal as quickly as it. If you don't allow your wrist to heal as it should, you may have complications during the healing, and being no longer able to move it as before."
This revelation cast a chill over the cheerful and determined attitude of Alika. She took her left wrist in her right hand and pouted. When Yuka made her rounds for the patients, Amaya approached her friend.
"I'm so sorry, Alichoue... it's my fault. I talked too much and I denounced you without knowing it. Sorry."
Alika smiled, comforting her friend.
"It's okay... Aunt Yuka's right. I shouldn't have done it. Daddy also gets angry in the same way when Mommy doesn't listen to his advice."
"I should be more careful..."
"You don't have to worry."
She took her in her arm, and Amaya took the chance to give her a small kiss on the cheek, furtively.
When Alika didn't have school that day, Yuka took her to visit the Yonsa clan elder, Laloog. The child confessed that she was a bit nervous, but Yuka reassured her by telling she was convincing Laloog every day that Balsa was really Karuna's daughter; her deceased older brother.
"Laloog is highly respected by all the clans, as he attended the very last Giving Ceremony. He's getting old, so we have to spare his strength."
"Does he want to meet me?" asked Alika.
"I went to treat him every day since Balsa was arrested, and when you were going to school. I'm really trying to convince him that my niece is still alive and to save her."
They mounted Lakota to head for the chief's place. They entered the house and Yuka asked to see Laloog, once again. The young guard knocked on the door, but it took Laloog a few moments before he could move and answer.
"Mmm?" he finally managed to murmur.
"Master Laloog. Mistress Yuka from the house of healing is here again, but this time with a child."
"Show them in." He sighed.
Listening to the young man's footsteps, Laloog stared moodily into the fire. Lately, he dreamed constantly of his eldest son, Taguru, and that could only be due to the unsettling news that Yuka had brought recently. Her words had stirred up the grief that he had thought buried by time. But if what she had told him was true...
The moment he had seen her, exactly six days ago, he had been filled with foreboding. Nothing unsettled Yuka, not even when she had to lop off a patient's arm. Laloog had often thought that if she were a man, she would have been an unparalleled warrior. Yet she had rushed into his room with her hair in disarray and his fear had been immediately confirmed. Greeting him only perfunctorily, she had fixed him with fierce, glittering eyes, and launched into her preposterous tale.
To think that Karuna's daughter still lives...
Of course, Laloog had not believed her at first. He had tried to convince Yuka that the woman must have been Jiguro's lover, or that she was manipulating the story of Karuna's daughter to suit her own designs. But Yuka had merely laughed sharply and shook her head.
"It was Balsa. You'd recognize her too if you saw her."
Laloog had only seen Balsa once before, long time ago when Karuna, back from the capital, had paid a visit to Laloog's younger brother, the chieftain at the time. As a Spear, Laloog had also been living in the capital, but he happened to be staying at the chieftain's hall to attend his nephew's coming-of-age ceremony. Karuna had brought his three-year-old daughter with him. Her arm was in a sling, and the white bandage stood out against her skin, which was as darkly tanned as a boy's. Apparently, the first thing she had done on reaching Yuka's house was climb a tree before falling from it and breaking her arm.
"She looks more like Yuka at the same age than you," he had told Karuna.
Those were the good years, Laloog thought, Karuna was the king's physician and we were so proud that he came from the Yonsa clan.
If, as Yuka claimed, these tragedies – Karuna's murder, Jiguro's fights, and the death of his eldest son Taguru – originated in a plot hatched by King Rogsam...
The pungent smell of rubbing ointment preceded Yuka into the room. The latter was quickly followed by a smaller figure, the size of a child. Yuka came every day in the pretext of treating pain in his joints, but this was the first time she had a child who accompanied her. When Yuka met his eyes, he shook his head gently.
"They haven't caught her yet."
The news about Balsa slipping from Kahm and Dom's grasp reached Laloog's ears the same day it happened. A message from Kaguro Musa himself officially requested that woman be apprehended if she fled into Yonsa territory. Further rumors indicated that a massive search launched by Kaguro had been unsucessful.
Yuka brought two chairs over to Laloog's couch and sat down as Alika imitated her, without saying a thing, holding her left wrist in her right hand. Balsa's Aunt began massaging ointment into Laloog's wrinkled elbow with practiced hands. His arm was thin and the muscles were withered, so that the loose, baggy skin moved under her hands each time she ran her fingers over it. It was something that greatly amused Alika, who quite frankly refrained from bursting out laughing...
"I heard that Yuguro Musa has already passed through Yonsa territory," she said.
"Yes, he joined up with the men of our clan. They should reach Yonro territory tomorrow."
Yuka increased the pressure in her fingers.
"I'm sure Kaguro will listen to you now that Yuguro's gone."
Laloog looked at her sharply.
"Yuka—"
"People are saying that Yuguro left Kaguro's oldest son, Kahm, behind and took his own son Shisheem with him instead. In fact, Master Kahm only passed through Yonsa territory this morning. Surely this is a god-given opportunity. Kaguro must have some misgivings."
"You hear everything." Laloog sighed.
Yuka smiled. "The waiting room at the house of healing has always been a hotbed of gossip."
The old man gazed up tiredly at the ceiling.
"Are you asking me to trigger an avalanche between the Yonsa and Musa tribes? There's no more strength in this old body of mine to stop it once it starts, you know. I can't take that risk on something that won't benefit our clan in any way."
"You are the clan Elder. The clansmen are your children. Would you stand by and watch your children die?"
She scooped up a small amount of sticky yellow ointment with her ring finger, then said quietly:
"Even now, I hate the one who killed my brother. I can still see Karuna's dead eyes staring into space the day he was murdered. Would you forgive the man who made the best young warrior of our clans die for nothing – the man who sent Taguru to his death?"
Laloog roughly brushed her hand away and sat up with a plaintive groan. He faced her, glaring for a moment before looking at Alika who pressed a little more on her great aunt.
"Where's the proof?" he said. "Tell me that. Just where is the proof that will convince our people that I should accuse the most powerful man in Kanbal of deception?"
"There is a witness – Balsa. Will you let Yuguro kill her?"
"That's what I mean. There's no proof that this woman is telling the truth." He shook his head. "Yuka, there's nothing I can do about it. How many times are you going to bring this up?"
Yuka stared him straight into the eye; a defiantly look glued on her face.
"As many times as it takes. Do you really think I'm going to stand by and let him kill my one and only niece?"
There must be some way to help Balsa. This thought consumed Yuka constantly, both waking and sleeping. But she always came back to that one fatal point: There was no way to prove that Balsa was telling the truth. Laloog shifted his gaze trying to get a better look of the child. Alika met his eyes and smiled shyly without showing her teeth.
"Who is this girl?" he asked.
"This is my great-niece Alika."
"Hi," answered Alika politely.
"Your great-niece?!" Laloog exclaimed before coughing.
"Do it slowly," Yuka said. "Yes, it's my great-niece and I can tell you that her father isn't Jiguro at all."
"Who is he?"
"He's an apothecary man who lives in New Yogo Kingdom."
"So, she's your niece's daughter; whose you think is Balsa?"
"That's it. And not 'according to me' – Balsa is her mother."
"Who says that this child hasn't been manipulated into that entire story?"
Alika grew inwardly irritated and her peaceful expression hardened, showing her displeasure. She felt the energies. She was naturally able to detect who was lying and who was telling the truth. That expression made her cuter, than threating. Yuka burst out laughing.
"No, you shouldn't suspect everyone. Children have nothing to do with what their parents do."
"You're probably right," Laloog sighed.
"Not 'probably'," she fixed him. "I am right."
The child only gave a second small smile. When they left Laloog's room and stepped out of the building, snow was falling gently, like dust from the silver sky. The men were busy fixing the winter livestock pens to ready them for the goats being herded down from the crags. Soon the mountains would be buried in snow. Yuka wondered where Balsa was now, but she trusted her great-niece's intuition.
Mounting Lakota's back, then helping Alika to climb it, Yuka headed back to the house of healing through a flurry of powdery snowflakes.
"Aunt Yuka?" Alika called out to her.
"Yes?"
"I didn't want to say a word. Is it bad?"
"No. I don't see how it would be wrong to not open your mouth."
"Okay."
"Were you afraid he would suspect you?"
"Yes."
"You're only a child, and as I could see it since you stayed with me, I concluded it wasn't in your nature to be manipulated that way."
"... You still have doubts about Mommy and the truth of what she said."
"I have no doubts, but I have no other proof except those she told me... it's hard to place myself."
"Mommy is always honest... sometimes, too much... she's telling the truth, I can feel it in her energy."
Yuka smiled.
Alika understood that the snow was here to stay, when it no longer melted after falling. The long winter months were approaching and the light was decreasing day by day. At school, she learned it was now Langal Tonoi, the month of the first snow. Her left wrist was now healed completely, and she could move it as before.
She hasn't heard news from her mother except through Motoko – who came to check on her almost every day when she could. But Jiguro was as quiet as Balsa. He'd never returned once since Tanda left for New Yogo Kingdom. She still trusted him, but she was afraid of being abandoned. Despite the presence of the spirits and her growing friendship with Amaya and Akiro, Alika felt terribly alone. She felt lost, even though she felt good in Kanbal; at home. The snow slowed down the outings of the Kanbalese people in the streets and it was difficult to go where we wanted.
Every day, Alika gradually embellished the terracotta urn that contained her little brother's ashes, Kasem. She didn't manage to see him as a spirit, but she was still telling him about her days at school, her plans, her hopes, and her dreams as a "big sister." She also asked him to watch over their mother. She'd made a habit of taking a nap in the early afternoon when she didn't have school, but since a while, it was impossible to pull her out of the bed once she lay down into it. Whether it was in the morning or after a nap, Alika was staying in bed. She was easily in a bad mood if disturbed during her daily routine.
At first, Yuka believed that her great-niece had gotten sick, but when she realized she was bored, she stopped to worry. She only disturbing her to tell her it was time to eat.
For two days after the king's envoys arrived, to announce that the Giving Ceremony was to take place that year, the village was caught up in a whirlwind of activity. The women rolled up bright wool tapestries and wrapped laga – goat cheese – in clean cloth. The men, on the other hand, decorated the carts that would carry these gifts until they were satisfied that they would outshine those of the other clans. There was a lot of competition between the different territories. Alika helped her great aunt, but over time, Yuka had noticed that her depressed mood wasn't going away as quickly as before.
In the evening, after the preparations for the Giving Ceremony, while Alika was lying in her great aunt's bed, Yuka talked about the topic.
"Ney, how are you Alika?" she asked gently.
"I don't know..."
"You seem less happy since a moment; it's worrying me."
Alika played with the covers while wiggling her little fingers on. She raised her brown eyes to her. They quickly filled up with bright tears, reddened and she began to cry bitterly.
"Hey, sweetie belle, what's wrong?" Yuka worried in turmoil.
Yuka hurried to take Alika in her arms. She leaned her against her heart before rocking her tenderly. By doing this, she allowed the child to free her heart.
"I miss Mommy... Daddy's gone... I love Kanbal, but I feel..."
"Lost?" she guessed.
"Yes... I know you're here, but... I still miss my family," Alika cried.
"It's normal. I think you have what's called 'homesickness'."
"What?"
"The expression 'being homesick' refers to a malaise felt by certain people who've left their country, or native land. This malaise can be caused by a brusque change in lifestyle; resulting a lack of benchmark, or elements the person was attached to. For you, it's surely Balsa, your Mom."
"Will she be back soon?"
"I don't know, sweetie belle, but she'll come back, let's trust her. I am here; you aren't alone. I'll not abandon you."
Alika continued to cry before blowing her nose with a silk handkerchief, and going to sleep, watched over by her great aunt who stroked her hair, singing her a Kanbalese lullaby.