Now Mamon did many things for these children who were now under their care. The children who mourned their parents each and every day. The children who Mamon had to give some sort of family to. Some sort of solace.
One day Sakava was serving the Uzras their morning meal. And the Uzras were eating light, soft, sweet things made of honey and fruit. Sakava was looking at the food with her wide, dark eyes, not saying anything as if she was a hollowed-out ghost.
Hali looked at Sakava looking at the food. He laughingly asked the girl if she wanted any of the sweet jam that she put on the table. Sakava didn’t reply, mouth watering without their knowledge.
Hali chuckled, and exclaimed to her that the Yemars did not need sweet food. That sweet food would make them ill. Sakava nodded her head, and stepped away back into the kitchens. There inside their dark and suffocating yet somewhat private walls, she cried.
Naia came to her, and asked her why she was crying. Sakava confided to her that she felt as if she was not a person. The Uzras ate sweet, good food. But all she ever had was her bland, tasteless food. And they had said to her that she could never eat anything that was sweet and flavourful.
Naia held the child close to her and stroked her hair. She told her that the Uzras were lying. The Uzras always lied. She told her that she deserved to eat sweet, good things as much as they did and she could eat sweet good things as well.
Naia talked with Mamon about how Sakava was hurting over not being able to eat good foods. And they conspired together to steal some sweet, good food for the children. They smiled at the thought of their plan, and conspired together late into the night.
The next day Mamon went to a classroom filled with young Uzras ready to learn. They disguised themselves as a fairy, beautiful and glowing and with feathers in the place of hair. They entered during the lunch break, when all the teachers were away and the students were chatting merrily amongst each other.
They all gasped to see Mamon’s beautiful form. Mamon declared that they were the spirit of the stream that ran by the school, and they would bestow a blessing upon anyone who gave them the best, sweetest food.
Many of the children didn’t believe Mamon. But many of them did. And they got out the deserts from their lunches, and quickly handed them to Mamon, hoping to win and become blessed. Mamon accepted it all with graciousness, and disappeared into the mist.
Them and Naia shared the sweet treats with the children in the secret of the night. And the children savoured the treats with much relish, enjoying every ounce and devouring every crumb. They thanked the adults for risking much to give them this good food. And they slept peacefully.
The next day Filla had a moment alone with Rayr, who was gazing out the window to the open grass fields that lead to the sea. Filla watched Rayr gaze out into the sea. And she wondered what he was thinking. She wondered whether he could really see the sea for what it was. She doubted that he could.
She remembered her own mothers, who both loved the sea. She remembered walking beside them along the coastline, how the sea air would blow through their hair and the gulls would screech. She was homesick, beyond homesick, for her family.
It was during that moment when she dared to ask Rayr about his family. She acknowledged to him that he was raised by Yemars, though he was born of Karkion’s blood. He was brought up by Yemars and so was Thrash. So why did they not consider the Yemars as more than just monsters to be tamed or put down? Why did they consider the Yemars as lesser? They were family, by way of nurturance and sometimes even by way of blood.
Rayr simply glared at her, and told her that she wouldn’t understand. He said that it was true that the Yemars had fed him and bathed him and whatnot when he was just a babe. But Karkion had taught him everything important. Karkion had taught him how to fight and how to read and how to strategize. So everything he was came from Karkion, came from the Uzra. The Yemars were just, present.
Filla told him that there were things much more important than knowing to read and strategize. Things like knowing to be kind, knowing to be considerate, knowing to be humble and to be confident. Having stories to pass on.
Rayr denied all these things. Told her that they were trivial frivolities that the Yemars had too much faith in. He declared that all that was important about a person was the power that they could wrest from other people. And power was not won through kindness or humility.
Filla looked at Rayr and saw that there was indeed no kindness to him. No consideration. Nothing that his Yemar caretakers would have tried to impress upon him. There was nothing in him that was reminiscent of them at all.
It was true. He wasn’t their child. He was only a child of Karkion.
Filla left the room.
Now there was one other time when Harimon was pulled up to the surface by Thrash. Thrash was going on a fishing trip, using the head of an oxen as bait. With him was a Yemar named Haddalfi, who had given him his bait.
Thrash was trying to catch the largest fish found. But instead he caught Harimon on his fishing line. Thrash pulled and pulled and pulled, with all his might, and the head of Harimon came up on his fishing line, breaking the surface.
Thrash stared at Harimon with glowering eyes full of hatred. His heart was full of hatred. He knew that they were sworn enemies and he knew that there would be no mercy on the day of the final battle if he didn’t end them then and there. So he raised his sword to kill the serpent then and there.
But Haddalfi knew that even though it was better for Hari to die rather than to continue being tortured, they needed to be around for the final battle so that they’ve could fight and bring about a better future. So, in a flash, before Thrash could plunge his sword into Hari, Haddalfi cut the line and sent the person plunging back down into the waves.
Thrash did not rage at Haddalfi as he thought he would do. Instead, the Uzra youth let his anger seep into the air between himself and Haddalfi, like a poisonous, festering promise of terror.
They caught many fish after this.
Mamon on that day was sitting in the forest. They were crying. This was very rare, as they never cried. They only cried in the rare moments when there wasn’t anyone around to see them. But this time they could not control it, their tears fell freely. And their grief welled up inside them. They were beginning to lose hope.
Naia sought them out, out in the forest. And Naia found them under the fir tree, tears streaming down their eyes. She asked them why they were crying. And they replied that they were simply doing what they had always wanted to do, they were simply shedding their grief. Naia asked them if there was anything about the day that was special, that had broken the carefully-built dam inside of them.
Mamon replied that they were losing their hope. Hearing this, Naia was perturbed. On Mamon’s hope relied so many people and so many plans. She needed their hope. Aldo and Sakava needed it. People innumerable needed it. Just as they all needed the hope of any Yemar.
Naia asked them why they were losing their hope. And Mamon replied that it was just so hard to hold on to who they were. To hold on to who they all were. They felt so small and weak compared to the Uzras. They felt as if they were nothing. And Mamon could not lift their heart from the pit that it had sank into.
Naia asked them why they were feeling this way. And Mamon replied that the power of the Yemars was nothing compared to the power of the Uzras. The Uzras were so much more powerful. And the Uzras always won. It felt like the Uzras would always win. No matter what the Yemars did they would always be under the heel of the Uzras. Because if the Yemars could truly win, wouldn’t they have done so already? At least, wouldn’t they be able to stop the Uzras from hurting them in so many, such unendurable ways?
Naia replied that the Uzras might have more power now. But the power of the Uzras was not sustainable. It wouldn’t last. The power of the Uzras was the power of force and domination and hierarchy and coercion. This sort of power was strong at first. It was insurmountable at first. But like a dam across a river or a wall around a palace, it cracked. It cracked and fissured and one day, eventually, it would come crashing down. And then the Uzras would have no power.
Naia explained to Mamon that the power of the Yemars was sustainable. It would last. And not only would it last, but it would grow stronger and stronger as time went by. As the generations went by. And as the Uzras’ power grew weaker. The power of the Yemars was built on connection and community and love and nature. It was built of things that would last. It was built of things that only grew stronger with time. And this power would be enough to destroy the Uzras’ power one day.
The Yemars would win one day. Eventually. The Yemars and their Uzra allies. Even if it didn’t look that way now, the Yemars and their Uzra allies would overcome the Uzras and their Yemar allies. And there was nothing the Uzras could do to prevent that. The Uzras might be powerful but truly they were not powerful. It would be Mamon and Naia’s people who were destined to inherit the world, who would inherit the world no matter what.
But for that, Naia told Mamon, they would all have have to fight. They would all have to fight, to hope, to try. And that required Mamon to have hope. And so were they ready? Would they keep going?
Mamon looked at her. And they held out their hand for her to take. She took it. And she asked them again. Mamon then declared that they would fight. They would hold onto hope. And one glorious day they would win. They would all win.
Naia smiled.
And they walked back to the stronghold of the Uzras.
There they made love, and from that love came a baby, who the community named Navee. Navee was as loved by the community as he was hated by the Uzras. And Navee was born into very hard times. But he had all his people with him, and they vowed to give each other whatever they could.177Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuUPgskX3n9
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