Disappear: Into Shadow

- CHAPTER FIFTY EIGHT -

"Very well friend," Owdah agreed. "Tell us your name and you may enjoy the fire until it goes out, or sleep ends our stories."

"I have many names, but Mithras is my favourite." The Bull God said and settled himself down into a cross-legged squat beside the fire. The folds of his kufiyya hung over his broad shoulders, framing the dark complexion and heavy eyebrows of his weathered, jolly face. He rested his hands on jalabiyya covered knees and smiled.

"Welcome." Owdah said. Mithras nodded in reply and listened to the old Bedouin introduce his family. The children asked questions about where he came from and where he was going. Owdah shushed them, chuckling. He apologized to Mithras. Their zeal, he explained, came from being unaccustomed to company at their fireside. "Who are your people?" The Bedu father asked.

"I suppose they were Halaf," The watcher replied.

"I know of these people." The father mused, scratching his beard. "They were an ancient people. From the north? I have heard stories only, but never met anyone claiming to be Halaf." Owdah asked a few more delicate, probing questions. Answering, Mithras was polite, funny and incredibly vague in his reply. The family soon discovered he was a traveller and they could detect his choice to remain polite and mysterious. This is all we need to know, Mithras heard them think as a collective.

The family's stories made Mithras laugh. The two youngest boys, Ali and Zia made the different voices and more importantly, the sounds, as they told a story about a camel with gas scaring away the other animals at an oasis. Their mother scolded them for such vulgarity but was laughing along just as hard as everyone else.

The eldest daughter talked about her love, far away in another desert. She spoke with such love and sadness; Mithras knew she had not seen the young man for quite some time. The father didn't approve of the story. Owdah muttered how the boy didn't have enough of a trade to marry her.

"A trade is important. Surely one would come with work and dedication." Mithras opined. "These things take time, like a date tree. Once planted, only time, water and sun will yield its bounty. All things are put here for us through love. Without water and sun, time wouldn't matter. There would be no tree, no fruit. Love builds such things. Love is more important than trade." Mithras feared immediately that he had said too much. It was not polite to reprimand a host in front of his family. "Merely the opinion of a traveller," Mithras said, then laughed. "What would I know about roots?"

His laughter hid the deep pang of sadness he felt. He was enjoying their company very much. He loved being on the world for moments like these, close family moments. He had forgotten what it felt like. Struck by the thought, Mithras admitted to himself that by being alone in the high places of the world he couldn't see moments like these. They were lost in the ground clutter.

He knew he went into hiding because he didn't want to be reminded of times spent like these, so very long ago with his own family. He knew the daughter's sadness, it was as his own, keeping him from such warmth. Mithras missed love. Why had he punished himself for so long? He succeeded where Rabdos had failed. The Bull God had the quiet realization that he had made his existence a hell, long after Rabdos had ripped it apart.

The story the elder son told next was about a strange day in the life of the family. His eyes were dark, brooding with the annoyance and rebellion of adolescence. His voice was firm, but Mithras heard the trembles of emotion hidden in the words of the boy's story. "I remember a day, one of the most beautiful I have ever seen. Never since have I known a better sunrise, bluer sky, or whiter cloud. I have never tasted better food or drank cooler water. That night, the sun painted the sky with reds and oranges like this fire." The eldest son said. His eyes twinkled and Mithras knew the boy spoke from his heart. There was magic in his words. "When the stars came there were more than I had ever seen before. I wanted to enjoy every last moment, so I chose to sleep outside by the fire for as long as I could. Drifting off to sleep I thought I saw the stars disappearing one by one, as though a blanket was pulled over the sky itself. I tried focusing on them, but my eyes were so heavy." The boy told Mithras. "When I woke the next morning, I was laying on the sand. My blankets had disappeared and the campfire was gone. I jumped to my feet in surprise. The tents were gone and I saw my family, all sleeping on the sand as well. Only our camels were still with us, they watched me wake everyone. I was alarmed, not just because everything was gone, but because the desert had changed. We were somewhere different than where we had camped." The boy asked Mithras, "Isn't that odd?"