Depthless(NaNoWrimo2014)

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

    Their new guest rested in her father's room, so Marjani's grandfather could keep a closer eye on him if need be. It wasn't often  the sick came to them in their own home, but when they did, they were shown hospitality whether they were conscious of the fact or not. But now that the mysterious guest was so close, Marjani was even more enticed to have a look at him. Yet, being the coward she was, she decided to entertain herself with assumptions instead.
Was he Caucasian? Was he from America or the Caribbean? Did his injuries disfigure him? Was he some street brawler of criminal, hiding on the boat to escape the authorities?
Okay maybe she had read too many books and watched too many old movies.
     Marjani   curled up in her small bed, trying to force herself to sleep once more when she heard a masculine voice let out a shout. Clearly it came from her father's room. She questioned herself whether she should check on him or not.
"Grandfather will come and see about him." She told herself. "He's his patient after all and they told me to stay away..."
    The cry came again and this time followed by the bed creaking. Not able to keep to her bed much longer, she went to her father's room. The room was dark, except for the moonlight streaming through the window. She saw a moving lump on the bed and made her way towards it. The man murmured to himself, his voice sounding  frantic and scared.
Marjani reached a hesitant hand forward and touched his skin. It felt feverish and clammy to her touch and she pulled her hand away.
"What happened to you?" She murmured.
A hand rested on her shoulder and she jumped.
Her grandfather gave her a scolding look. "Marjani, you should be in bed.".
"But I had to—"
"I'm considered a medicine doctor for a reason and right now this boy is in dire straits You don't need to be around this."
"But I always helped you before." She protested.
He sighed with impatience, seeing that he wasn't going to get rid of her. When she wanted to help, she was persistent.
"Go boil some herbal tea and bring it back here. It should make him rest until morning"
Marjani started to leave the room when she heard him warn her, "This is the only time I want your help with this one, Marjani."
    When she began her trek back upstairs, She saw her father already at the top. He took the tea from her, told her to get back to bed and entered the room himself.  She decided to let the matter be and went back to her room and instead of sleep, listened to the two men in her life calm the troubled man. She resolved that in the morning she would seek for him, spiritual help.
***
  By morning it seemed like the whole village knew about the stranger who came sweeping unto their island like a storm in the middle of the night. Marjani ignored every question that was asked about him, partially because she knew as much as they did and also because she didn't want to exploit him. Once she made it to the temple, she was relieved to see that Isadora was still there. Father Karibo must have been out visiting...or maybe he was at her home right now.
      Priestess Isadora was at a small table, sitting in her wheelchair and making talismans. She greeted Marjani with a cheerful white smile. "Marjani, what brings you here?  Are you here to show me your dance for the Water festival?"
Marjani shook her head. "Not today, I came to send a prayer and ask if you could come by the house and see about—"
"Is this about the boy that showed up last night?"
    Marjani nodded. Apparently religious leaders weren't that immune to gossip, but she knew that Isadora was more concerned than curious anyway; she was just that sort of person.
"Father Karibo is already seeing about the boy, but I can pray with you if you like."
     Marjani knelt on the floor in front of the deity statues and Isadora bowed her head.  Isadora was a beautiful woman with dark skin, high cheekbone and long shiny ebony hair. She appeared to be in her thirties, but Marjani considered her as ageless. Isadora easily could have been married if she decided a different path. Even know Marjani caught  men staring at the priestess during visits to the temple and social events, but then they would look away, ashamed.
     Marjani never saw Isadora as a vain person, but she always kept her crippled legs covered with a blanket as if afraid of what people would say about them and Marjani knew well enough to respect her privacy. Some gossiped that it was a punishment by the gods for something she'd done in the past. But the priestess never could do wrong in Marjani's eyes. She was like a mother figure to Marjani, especially since her own had passed away from illness when she was a little girl.
    Once they were done with their prayers. Marjani felt like  she did something to ease the boy's suffering, even if it was as small as saying a prayer.
"The gods have heard you," Isadora assured her.
"How do you know these things?"
Isadora gave her a secretive smile. "I just do.  We priestesses have these spiritual abilities."
"So you have to be born with a special gift in order to be a priestess."
It was a moment before she answered,"Even if one is not born with a special gift, the gods would reveal these things to you." She raised an eyebrow at Marjani. "Why ask all the questions?"
Marjani shuffled on her feet and looked away from her. "I'm thinking about training under you to become a priestess."
"Are you sure that is what you want?"
"Yes," But even to Marjani it sounded like she wasn't certain.
"Maybe you should think about it some more. But if you want to learn more about a priestess's duties, then I will not stop you. Gods know you spend enough time around here as it is and..."
"And what?" Marjani asked.
Isadora shook her head. "Never mind. I would love to see this young man for myself, but I'm so busy here. Karibo will inform me about his visit."
Marjani nodded. "I would let you know if his condition gets any better."
     Once they said their goodbyes, Marjani made her way back home. Cleo was already there, waiting for her. Marani didn't know if she was capable of seeing her best friend just yet and figured she should have prayed to the gods for strength when she would face her again. But the boy was the most important thing on her mind at the time and she would have felt selfish to bring up her own problems.
Cleo stood when she saw her. "Oh good, I finally caught up to you. I want to discuss wedding plans today."
Marjani gave her a weary look. "Can we do this some other time Cleo? I'm kind of busy today and—"
"Don't tell me you're still angry." Cleo sulked.
"No, it's just that I got a lot on my mind and...."
"Well you can tell me about it over some chamomile tea. That's supposed to soothe your nerves right?" Cleo took a step towards the door and Marjani blocked her way.
"We could just talk here," No one but Father Karibo had been in the house to see the young man and Marjani felt protective of his privacy. She knew that Cleo could be just as nosy as everyone else and even though Cleo hadn't asked to see him, it was only a matter of time.
"Okay," Cleo said, giving Marjani a strange look, but then the suspiciousness quickly passed as her face took on a look of excitement "So tell me about your latest house guest. Everyone is talking about him."
"Don't I know it," Marjani muttered to herself.
"Surely you can tell your best friend right?" Cleo prodded.
    Marjani sighed, exasperated.  "I don't really know much about him, Cleo and the elders have told me to stay away from him so, that's what I'm going to do."  Speaking of the elders, where were they?
Cleo seemed to pout for a second, poking out her lower lip, when she started to come up with theories about the mysterious man. Some were similar to the ones Marjani came up with others were a bit mire far-fetched like him being a pirate. Marjani entertained her musings, knowing it was better than talking about the alternative.
Finally having enough of Cleo's company, marjani tried to find a way to get away from her once again.
Cleo gave her a strange look. "But what about the wedding plans?"
"I can't do this right now; I have a lot of stuff to do. Like help grandfather with his patients and grandma with the gardening and daddy down at the super market..."
"But they're not at home." Cleo pointed out.
Marjani shuffled on her feet. "I-I know, but I want to do some of the stuff before they come back. You know they're getting old and I don't want them to do as much.
Cleo shook her head "Always looking out for everybody." She stood to her feet. "Well, I'm leaving. Taj and I have to go see the elders about the ceremony."
"They approved it?" Marjani asked, incredulous.
"Well, yeah." Cleo answered as if it was the most natural thing in the world, which it clearly wasn't. "Some weren't all that happy about it and even wanted to test to make sure I wasn't pregnant." She rolled her eyes.  "But they came around."
Marjani frowned. It shouldn't have been that easy.
"Anyway I'll catch you later and of course you have to tell me anything you find out about this stowaway." She winked at her friend before bouncing off to meet her fiancé.
    Marjani sighed, shamed and a bit relieved to get rid of her best friend and went inside the house for some peace and quiet. She didn't like lying to Cleo and she prided sincerity, but she could not and would not let her true feelings be known to anyone. A note was left on the kitchen table written in her  grandfather's chicken-scratch handwriting saying that he went out to see about another patient and her grandmother and father went to the town market to sale their latest harvested produce. It wasn't mentioned in the letter for her to stay away from the stranger, but she knew it went without saying.
They could have at least mentioned what Father Karibo had to say about him. She thought. Or maybe...
    She raced upstairs to see if the boy was still there and to her relief, he was. He laid there on his back with his arms pinned to his side like a man in a casket. There was a talisman hanging over the door and Marjani went closer to the bed to take a closer look at the man.  Her breath caught in her throat when she saw him. 
     He wasn't disfigured at all, but the way the elders reacted made her think he was worse of then what he really was. He seemed sound, and she was surprised to see that he shared her same dark complexion. She didn't know that there were people that looked like her across the sea, but could he really be a foreigner? Yes, the clothes he wore confirmed it since they were so much different then what the men around here usually wore. Pants made of dark denim and a collared shirt with some sort of golden emblem of a man riding a horse on the right side of his chest. There was a white cloth placed on his forehead that smelled strongly of herbs. She reached out to touch his face and realized that his skin had cooled down.
"That's a good sign," 
     His lips were parted as his breathed and his chin was dusted with stubble. His hair was curly like hers and cut into a short afro.  She wanted to touch his hair now to see if it seemed as fluffy as it looked with his eyes fluttered open. Marjani nearly jumped away from him as his honey-brown eyes found hers. His lips stretched into a lazy grin.
"Well hello there," he croaked.
Marjani was stunned.

A/N: The woman in the picture is Marjani. Thanks for reading and please tell me what you think! :)