The rapha and the firefl.., p.3
The Rapha and the Firefly, page 3
"He's lying again," Ariel decided to herself as she watched the bird disappear. Whatever Basil's secret past was, it would have to wait for now. Tomorrow was another day, and she would be starting her week with Rosie and Sage first thing in the morning. The girl spread her wings and flew off in the direction of the old barn to get a good night's sleep for her first day with the Rapha couple.
3
The Old Cinder Block
The falling down barn at the back of the buffalo ranch had been Ariel’s home for all her life. Her colony of roughly a hundred flyers infested the dilapidated building, with each family unit staking out their own little space among the forgotten tools and farm equipment left there to rust. One lone concrete cinder block sat imbedded in the dirt floor against the back wall. The block had two square openings, but the square on the left side was damaged. A large piece of the upper corner was broken off, leaving it exposed to the elements and uninhabitable. The right-side square was the home Ariel shared with her father SkyKing. At five inches tall, the opening was too short for even Ariel to stand up without having to bend over a little. But it was seven inches long – long enough for both her father and her to stretch out, and be protected from the wind that blew through the missing boards in the barns walls and the rain that leaked from the hole infested ceiling, through the rotted hayloft and down to the main floor. This small cavern, with its mangy collection of pelts and strips of cloth that served as bedding, was the extent of the tribal leader’s property.
Ariel’s grandfather had grown up living in an old wooden toolbox. The box laid on the floor with its face down, but they’d propped the lid open so they could get into it. The space inside was a foot tall and over two feet long with a wooden divider splitting it into two big rooms! Ariel’s mother had been born in that box. Her daddy had lived there with his young bride years ago and his three daughters grew up in its two rooms. But one day, a storm brewed up and the winds rocked the unsteady barn. A loose timber fell from the hayloft and landed on the toolbox, shattering it. Luckily, it had been during the day, and no one was in it. But the ruined home meant the leader and his three daughters had to find a new home. The storm hadn’t even subsided before members of the council were hatching plans.
The next day, Thorn’s father invited Claw to hunt with him. Claw was the oldest council member and lived alone in an old cinder block. Only Thorn came home that day. Claw had been attacked and killed by a cat; or so Thorn’s father claimed. SkyKing moved his family into the vacated cinder block. He and Ariel claimed the right-side opening, Breeze and Windy took the left one that was still intact at the time. And Thorn’s father advanced a step up in the council. The next year, Thorn and Breeze were joined in marriage.
Ariel moved into the right side of the cement block with her sister Windy. That lasted three days. Breeze spoke to her father and insisted her sisters move in with him.
“Are you ok?” SkyKing asked her.
“Yes,” she insisted. “But promise you’ll take care of Windy and Ariel.” He wasn’t sure what she was afraid of, but the younger siblings moved into his side of the block. The sisters thought it was strange but didn’t comment. It was warmer with three.
A few days later, SkyKing noticed bruises on his oldest daughter’s arm. He asked Thorn about it. The young man raised his eyebrows.
“She’s not your concern anymore,” he reminded the leader. “I’m taking care of her now.”
“But ARE you?” the older flyer wanted to know. “She has bruises!”
Thorn’s father got into the discussion. “Sire, women have always fallen under their husband’s authority. Now, the last king tended to side with the women, but that’s not the ways of our ancestors. The men have to be in charge and the women shouldn’t be questioning them. If a woman challenges her husband’s plans, that doesn’t make for a very strong family, does it?”
SkyKing stared at him. What was he talking about? He was sure there was a problem with the logic, but the other council members chimed in, backing Thorn’s authority. Hesitantly, SkyKing nodded his agreement.
Ariel and Windy had been listening to the discussion. The youngest sister was only twelve at the time, but she had a strange feeling in the pit of her stomach. This didn’t sound right. The look Windy gave her told her she agreed.
It wasn’t long before bruises were commonplace on the women and children of the colony. Sometimes, the men would strike out at their families in private, but all too often it was public. SkyKing gritted his teeth, but rarely said anything about it. At night, the two sisters huddled beside their father as he slept, thankful to still be under his authority. Had Breeze known this would happen?
The old horse collar hanging on the wall above the home fell down, breaking a huge chunk from the empty side of the block. It made Ariel feel sad. That empty space had seemed to symbolize a more innocent time in the girls’ lives. And now it was destroyed.
Two years later, Windy came of age and was required to marry. She sought out her older sister. Huddled together with young Ariel, Windy voiced her fears in a whispered confession.
“I don’t want to marry!” she said. “I see how Thorn treats you! I see what the other men do to their women. I don’t want that life!”
“You don’t have a choice,” Breeze sadly confided. “You’re a princess. You’ll have to marry someone. And they’re going to want you to marry a council member’s son. It will improve their status.”
“But those men are awful! I don’t know why Daddy listens to them! The laws they want Daddy to use are unfair to the weaker members of our tribe!”
Ariel, even at fourteen, could see the truth of that. “All they care about is if the law is good for THEM, not everyone else.”
“I know, but there isn’t anything we can do about it,” Breeze sighed. She turned her attention back to Windy’s problem and thought hard.
“Marry Monarch,” she finally suggested.
“Monarch? But he’s a weakling! The other men push him around and he never fights back.”
“And that’s why you should marry him!” the oldest sister insisted. “He’s not a bully: he isn’t going to hit you so much. And he helps take care of his mother and little brothers and sisters. Marry him, Windy. He’s the safest one here.”
The middle sister considered Breeze’s words and saw the logic in what she said.
“Yes,” she agreed with a nod. “I’ll marry Monarch.”
That was a year ago.
Who was left for Ariel to marry?
These are the things Ariel thought about as she came in sight of the barn. She flew through the hayloft door as the sun was just kissing the horizon line, making it home before curfew. But the scene she came upon made her stop in mid-flight to hover, staring, at the events below.
The colony was in an uproar. Most of the men were fighting each other, throwing fists and kicks to their brothers and cousins. They rolled around on the floor or tussled in the air. Looking around, Ariel noticed some of them had large chunks of meat. Those fighting them had none.
She flew down to where her sisters were huddled with their young children.
“What happened?” she asked.
“They took down a rabbit and no one wants to share.”
“A rabbit? Why, that could feed the whole colony!”
Breeze shook her head. “It’s never about feeding the colony,” she informed her sisters. “It’s always about who can get the most.”
The three watched from the sidelines as their father tried to make sense of the chaos, demanding the meat be shared.
Thorn pointed an accusing finger at his brother-in-law. “But Monarch didn’t even help!” he claimed.
“He wasn’t one of those who actually killed the rabbit,” SkyKing agreed, “but he was among those who scared the rabbit our way so WE could kill it. Now, give him half of that!”
Begrudgingly, Thorn hacked the large chunk in two with his glass shard knife. Then, he threw Monarch’s piece to the filthy ground.
“There!” he huffed.
SkyKing snatched the meat out of Thorn’s hands and handed it off to his smaller, weaker son-in-law. “This one’s yours,” he told Monarch, then pointing at the dirty hunk on the ground, proclaimed “that one’s Thorn’s.”
Thorn glowered but picked up his meat without a word. He dusted it off for a few seconds and then started tearing into it with his teeth.
Monarch walked over to where the three sisters watched, pulling out his own glass shard knife. He cut his meat in half and handed a share to his wife Windy. Breeze looked on, her mouth watering.
“Ariel!”
The youngest princess looked over to where her father stood. He held out a piece of meat to her. Ariel came to him and took it. It was raw and bloody. Quite unlike the cooked food she’d become accustomed to with the Rapha on the other side of the valley. Still, she took a bite from it as her father looked on.
“Thank you, Daddy.”
The leader nodded acknowledgement and then walked away to deal with another squabble that’d broken out.
Ariel looked back at her sisters. Windy and Monarch sat together with their baby daughter eating their meal.
Beside them stood Breeze. The young mother held her baby son, Storm, as he cried. At her side, was little Sky. The two-year-old stared at her aunt with hollow eyes, longing for a bite but knowing that food wasn’t for her.
Ariel’s eyes shifted to Thorn. The young man stood with his friends, all of them gorging themselves on the fruits of their labor, deaf to the hunger pains of their families. If there was any left after they’d had their fill, the wives and children would get the scraps. If there were any. If.
Ariel walked over to her sister.
“Here,” she quietly slipped her meat into Breeze’s empty hand. “I’ve had enough.”
The oldest sister stared at her, shocked. Then her eyes welled up with tears.
“Thank you,” she mouthed. Ariel merely nodded.
Ten months, she thought to herself. Ten more months and then I will be married too.
She shook her head. She was not looking forward to those ten months passing.
4
Remembering Elyon
Ariel lay there in bed, trying her hardest not to squirm and disturb her sleeping father.
I’m spending the day with Rosie and Sage, she reminded herself. She tried to feel excited, but instead she was filled with dread. Being with Rosie and Sage meant she wouldn’t be with Basil until after lunch. And Sage was so big! She was just getting used to him when the others were around, but what if it was just him and her? He was bigger than anyone she knew, even Tanner!
It will be ok, she tried to calm the butterflies in her stomach, but her jitters wouldn’t subside.
Think about something else. Think about Elyon. Yes, that might help. So, Ariel mentally went over everything she knew about the Elven God:
Elyon is the Father and Logos is his Son. Together with Spirit they are the Three Great Ones. Logos created everything, and Spirit breathed life into it. Last of all, they made Man and gave him wonder.
She had learned all that at the Widow Weaver’s house when she and Dill had visited sick little Timmy. The Widow had read the story from a great big book called The Book of Elyon. Basil had told her the next story:
Balial was the leader of the guardians. Logos had made them to watch over and protect his creations, but Balial was jealous. The Three Great Ones had made Man to be a brother to Logos and Spirit. Guardians were only servants. Balial got a third of the guardians to go with him to have a war against the Great Ones. Elyon swooped up all the bad guardians and threw them down to earth.
She hadn’t understood that part. Why would Elyon send them to the same place as where Man lived? Balial hated the Man! Basil had added one more fact: someday, Man and Balial would join together to kill Logos. The Great Ones knew that, yet they still sent Balial to where Man was. Why? Why? Why? Basil hadn’t told her. He’d had to run off with Dill to fix a broken arm.
The last story she heard, Sage had told her:
Logos let Man name all the animals, but Man was lonely. There was no one else like him. So, the Great Ones made him fall asleep and they created a friend for him. It was a woman, and she was Logos’ most wonderful creation of all.
Ariel smiled. The Wonderful Creation. That is what Sage had called Woman. The last of Logos’ creations and the most Wonderful of all. That’s what she was: a woman. Made to be Man’s friend.
Somewhere in the darkness, she heard a small cry. It was little baby Storm. Ariel recognized him immediately. His tiny, weak little cry.
Thorn’s voice growled. “Shut that kid up!”
“He’s hungry,” Breeze tried to explain. Ariel heard that answering slap.
“I didn’t ask for your lip!” Thorn reminded his wife. Storm cried even louder.
“Quiet down!” another male demanded.
“Shut that brat up!”
“You’re waking everyone up!”
Thorn snapped back. “I told her to shut him up!” he defended.
“You’re being louder than the kid.”
“Is that you Monarch? Come over here and say that!”
There was no response, other than little Storm’s wailing.
“Shut him up!” someone else demanded.
“You heard him!” Thorn whacked his wife again.
Ariel cringed. If you made sure your wife was fed, she could feed your baby and maybe he wouldn’t cry so much! she screamed at him in her head. Of course, she wouldn’t dare say it out loud. In the darkness, she heard the rustling as Breeze threw back the covering. Her shadowy figure rose with the crying child, and she flew with him up to the hayloft. Up there, away from the anger and hitting, she was able to sooth her little one.
“’Bout time.” someone grumbled.
Ariel could hear the flyers all around her settling back down to sleep. Beside her, her father had never stirred, nor said a word. Was he awake? Had he slept through it all? She didn’t know.
Ariel curled up in a ball, wishing the night was over.
She didn’t feel like a wonderful creation at all.
5
Rosie
Basil was already up, dressed and waiting in the doorway for her when Ariel alighted outside his home the next morning. He hurried the girl down the entryway and to the table where a plate of scrambled robin’s egg and toast were ready, and nudged her into a chair.
“Eat!” he ordered. “Rosie will be here any minute.”
“I’ve been thinking about that,” Ariel confessed as she poked at the cooling egg with her fork. “I don’t think I really want to go today.”
Basil had been hobbling around on the crutches getting out a cup for her. He stopped at her announcement.
“What?”
“I don’t want to go. I don’t want to try something new. I just want to stay here.”
The hopper fell into a chair and stared at her. Ariel risked taking a peek. She couldn’t tell from his expression if he was angry, surprised, or elated at her decision. She let her eyes fall back on her plate. He was quiet for a moment.
“Why not?” the young man finally asked.
She shrugged. “I just don’t want to.” The events of the night before had sapped any sense of adventure she had out of her system. Here, she was safe. She knew what to expect. Nothing was here to scare her.
“Alright. Go home then.”
The princess’ face shot up. “Basil!”
“You knew what was happening today, Ariel. If you want to back out, you’re backing all the way out.”
“You mean no lessons? No cooking? No nothing?!?”
“Either follow the plan or go home.”
Ariel glared at him. How could he do this to her? Didn’t he know how horrible it was in the barn and how much she needed to be here?
“You didn’t like this plan either!” she reminded him.
The hopper scratched his neck sheepishly. “Yeah, well, I’ve been thinking about it, too. And I’m starting to think it’s a very good idea for you to learn more about the other elves here. They can teach you a lot that I couldn’t begin to explain.”
“But I don’t care about the others! You’ve been teaching me, why can’t it just stay the way it’s been?”
“Because it can’t.”
That’s a stupid answer, the girl thought. She glared at him, angry.
“You’re just saying that because this is the way Keeper wants it. You’ll follow anything he says, won’t you?”
Basil glared back. “If it’s a smart idea, yes!”
She huffed at him, unsure how to respond. He huffed back, defensive.
Rosie rapped twice on the door before opening it. She looked from one of them to the other, immediately sensing the tension in the room.
“What’s up?” she ventured.
Basil raised an eyebrow at Ariel. Well? It seemed to ask.
The flyer roughly pushed herself away from the table and the untouched egg.
“I’ll go,” she hissed, “but I’m not going to learn anything!” So said, she stomped past Rosie and up the entryway.
The lady gnome stared after her for a minute and then turned a questioning look to Basil.
He shook his head. “Good luck.”
“Well, behave yourself,” Rosie cast him a quick wave and followed the flyer out.
Ariel was waiting outside the outer door when Rosie caught up with her. Arms crossed, brow furrowed, it wasn’t hard for Rosie to realize it wasn’t going to be a pleasant day with her new pupil. She put on a grin anyway.
“Shall we go, then?” Without waiting for an answer, the gnome called down a sparrow and was aboard in a moment. “Want to ride, or fly on your own?”
Still glowering, Ariel considered. She’d decided she wasn’t going to be pleasant today, but she enjoyed the bird rides. She accepted the hand Rosie held out for her and allowed herself to be swung up behind. No acknowledgement of thanks. Rosie didn’t think it was worth mentioning. Ariel was coming with her. That was good enough for now.
