Who will Arise?

Chapter 11 & 12

Chapter Eleven  

Those who enjoy their own emotionally bad health and who habitually fill their own minds with the rank poisons of suspicion, jealousy and hatred, as a rule take umbrage at those who refuse to do likewise, and they find a perverted relief in trying to denigrate them.Johannes Brahms

"They are lying, Nago." Chalerio hissed from where she had been standing behind Nago the whole time. She had ached to intervene throughout the whole pathetic debate with the Tree People, but opted instead to whisper into Nago's ear when se deemed it necessary.

Like now. Only this time she wouldn't whisper. "Zebbah is plotting something, surely you sensed it too." Descending the rocky platform slowly with swaying hips, she headed straight for Gersha, never taking her eyes from the lonely figure standing on the sand. With her head held high, Chalerio's languid movements didn't reveal the rage that was reflected in her voice and fired from her eyes.

"Plotting?" Nago asked distantly. Leaning sideways, his chin supported on a fist and his elbow propped up on the bulky armrest, he sat brooding. His mind was elsewhere, his sister forgotten for the moment.

Chalerio came to a halt in front of Gersha. As she was a head taller than Gersha, it wasn't even necessary for Chalerio to lift her chin to look down her nose at Gersha like she were vermin. Gersha kept her eyes on Nago undisturbed.

"Perhaps this little thing can tell us more, mmm?" Chalerio taunted. "Your sister, Nago?"

That seemed to pull Nago from his musings. His eyes turned to Gersha as if only remembering her now. He studied her for a long time.

"What are the Tree People doing here, Gersha?" he asked dangerously soft, his face devoid of emotion.

"It is as Zebbah has told you, Brother." Gersha replied solemnly.

"She's deceiving you!" Chalerio interjected.

"Leave us." Nago told Chalerio, without looking at her.

"Nago—" Chalerio began fervently in her rich voice, but the scathing look Nago lashed her with caused her to retreat between the pillars without another word. The remaining guards followed suit and then it was only brother and sister. Gersha relaxed visibly.

"I want to hear it from you," Nago said in a measured tone that warned Gersha against defying him. His hands clutched the armrests as if he were restraining himself. "Look at your brother and tell me what happened to bring the Tree People to my sanctuary."

"It is as Zebbah has told you." Gersha repeated. Then she angled her head slightly to one side and inquired sincerely. "Have you been away so long that you have forgotten the depth of character of the man, Brother? He has not changed. He would not lie." And then, as if it hurt her to have to remind him, "Neither would I."

He looked at her for a long time. "Then tell me, noble Sister, what do you believe about all this?"

She took a deep breath and her eyes searched his to determine the motive behind his questions. Was he really interested in her beliefs, or was he trying to get her to talk herself into a corner?

"No Custodian would ever reveal something he wasn't sure of. Haraõ is no different. I did not understand everything that was said that day, but I am filled with hope again. Something I have not been in a long time.

"Hope." Nago muttered, hostility shoved aside for the moment in order to appease the hunger for knowledge.

Gersha cocked her head to the other side and a soft light entered her eyes when next she spoke, "Yes, hope." She almost breathed the words. "The poison is like an evil force, devastating and threating to consume everything, but there is hope."