The Extraordinary Accounts of One Lost Girl

-16-

Throughout the following days, Zharu thought me how to read. As he did so, I watch the whole temple get ready to what called the "Flower Festival." It's a festival celebrating the ascendance of the goddess of fertility. They seemed to have ascended on different days of the year. They call it the flower festival because flowers rained on the city the day she ascended. Hence, the whole temple was decorated by flower garlands made of wax and cloth. Seeing that there were not much trees in the city, much less flowering plants, the flowers had to be artificial. I spent nights along with Mara, Asith and Shalom, making fabric flowers and weaving them into garlands as we sat on the floor.

Mara told us stories as she did. More than stories, they were gossip from around the city. Like about how her niece was getting married to a boy. Mara didn't like the boy, but she went on explaining about how her sister's family was trilled for the wedding. Mara didn't seem to have a say about the wedding, but was allowed to attend in respect to her being a family member. I didn't dare ask why she entered the temple. Then they started to talk about the city lord's heir and talked about how a good looking and cultured young man the boy was. Shalom seemed to be smitten with his looks.

'You are lucky,' said Asith as she weaved the flowers into a garland with her quick fingers, 'You have a chance to marry him.'

Shalom didn't say anything, but nodded. Mara didn't say anything about the matter either.

'I doubt it will be as you expect,' I said.

'What do you mean!' said Asith, scowling as she did, 'If I were you, I would not need to worry about my life. You can marry a rich and handsome man or be the high priestess!'

'Hush, Asith,' said Mara. 'Do not talk of things you do not know of.'

'But_'

'No,' said Mara.

Silence enveloped us as I crunched fabric into rose like flowers. 'There is beauty in simplicity,' I said. 'No one is happy with their life. You would not be thrilled if you were in my shoes.'

'Why would I be in your shoes?' said Asith, confused.

I sometimes forget that idioms are not the same, 'It means if you were me, there would not be a difference. You would still wish you were someone else.'

'Do you wish you were someone else?' asked Asith.

'Yes,' I said, 'Everyday.'

'You feel uncomfortable, that is all,' said Mara. 'Once you learn to live here, you will find it enjoyable. Being the city lady is not daunting, not like being the high priestess. The high priestess carries a lot of responsibility alone. The city lady just has to bear a child.'

I cringed. That made the city lady sound more like a baby birthing machine. They didn't know what the high priestess was planning. They didn't know that one had to be disgraced according to their social standards. I sighed. It was useless thinking about it. Neither Syanaam, nor I was showing and signs of bearing the Gift of Prophecy. At least, not any signs I can think of.

Yet, there was something that I curious about.

'Who is the High priestess's husband?'

Their language didn't have a word for a High Priest, just a high priestess. But when I voiced this question, all three women turned to be, surprised.

'Why!' said Mara, laughing, 'The high priestess is not married!'

The last thing I wanted to hear was that Syanaam and I was born from some strange magic. Mara seemed to understand my dilemma. She lowered her voice and whispered, 'No one knows who your father's are, alkahina.'

'Huh?'

'The high priestess chooses whom she wants to father her daughters. She has the right to choose any man in secret. It's considered a blessing to father the daughter of the high priestess.'

'So,' I said, flabbergasted, 'No one knows who my father is?'

'Alya does and only her.'

'What if the man is a married man?'

Asith tied the last knot of her garland as she said, 'If I had a husband and if he is chosen, I wouldn't mind. It means that my husband is worthy to father the next high priestess. It's a great honor.'

I really could not wrap my mind around their string of thought. Then again, they might find cultural norms from my home shocking in a way. In other words, I was born from a one night stand, and probably an already married man. It didn't sit right with me and I left that topic as it is and decided to never ask the high priestess even if I were curious.

Other than making flowers, I spent the rest of my day in the library, trying to read the tablets with Zharu as he pointed out some hard words and their meaning. Some words didn't even have an English counterpart, at least, not according to my knowledge. He started with simple tablets, and simply moved onto complex ones. To my surprise, most tablets had tax reports and a few historical events, some calculations and maybe a few death sentences. I didn't dwell too much with tablets. By the time the Flower Festival commenced, the entire city was in a hustle. The amounts of stalls that usually covered the streets increased three folds, crowding the streets. Colors popped up from everywhere of the city, some even decorated their roofs and window sills if they could. I watched as people offered fresh flowers and flower shaped candles to the foot of the altar. But those who offered real flowers seemed to be the wealthier folks. For about five days, I watched the high priestess wear her veiled green attire adorned with emeralds and gold as she prayed in an ancient tongue, holding up a flaming bowl of fire as the women behind her bowed their heads in reverence. Syanaam and I stood beside her, flanked by attendants as we wore simpler pale green clothes.

I was not allowed to cover my shoulders by a shawl and I simply stood there, feeling the rubbed skin of my arms and shoulders expose itself to the damp and hot air saturated with incense smoke. It was a comfort to know that no man was allowed into the temple, unlike the usual days. I simply stood there, trying to look as devoted to the prayer as possible while Syanaam prayed. After the ritual, there would be a full on feast. Instead of just the three of us, all the priestesses were allowed to sit besides the long table. I found myself sitting near the end of the table with the high priestess to my right at the head of the table with Syanaam in front. We both ate in silence. Even if the rituals lasted for five days, the festivity continued for maybe two weeks.

By the time it was all done, I was exhausted. I was excused from my lessons for most of the days. By that time, I managed to master reading and writing.

After that, I spent most days wondering around in the clay tablet library, trying to find anything interesting to read other than tax records, deaths and births and trading accounts. Sometimes there were weird records of diseases and acts of deranged criminals on the shelves. Occasionally there were records of special things that happened. It was more like one giant newspaper partitioned into sections.

I found the tablet which told the story about the arrival of the Realm Order. It was described as a 'giant silver flying fish landing on the land with powerful men'. It was a wonder that they did not think that they were gods of some kind. Yet they were also describes as 'messengers sent by the gods of beyond'. Eventually, they realized that the Realm Order was people themselves with some kind of strange and otherworldly magic in their possession.

There was even a tablet which told about how the city underground vegetation was attacked by an underground dwelling creature that ate all their produce.

But what caught my eye most was the mention of the 'Red Punishment'. It was a disease that infected heretics. It told the story about how a group of ambitious men travelled to a long lost city whose inhabitants didn't believe in their type of gods. They wanted to find the lost gold, and went there despite the high priestess's warning. They came back with some amount of gold, but caught a disease where they red rashes and fever for almost a month. They eventually donated the gold they collected to the temple to redeem themselves from what they thought was a curse. They got well eventually, but they found themselves infertile. It seems that it was their ultimate punishment for being greedy.

The fact that the men became unfertile made me wonder about what the priestess was preparing for no one showed any signs of having the Gift of Prophecy.

Then it happened one night.