The Gods Among Us

Chapter 10 - The Logs Were In

The logs were in seven neat piles, and I had just finished the sixth pile the night before. At Sunrise the fire had gone out, which happens more often than I let on to the clan. They would not be able to understand the ramifications if they knew, so I started another fire using the pile for the Sabatta. But just to be sure that the Ori were happy, I knelt in front of the fire with the jawbone that I kept safe for special occasions, and I said a few prayers to Taso, the voice of Ori, and I thanked Julie for the special gift of fire she gave to us. We can all make fire nowadays, it is nothing special. It has been sixty-five years since Julie first taught the old ones how it was done. It is how we have maintained dominance over the wild folks that still live within five day's walk from here.

It was the morning of Sabatta and I had just relit the eternal fire when I heard a tiny voice behind me. It was Cush.

Did the fire go out Pappy? She whispered in my ear. I turned, rather startled, and saw the diminutive fawn bent at her waist inches from my face. I put my finger to my pursed lips and, Shh, and I turned my head this way and that pretending to look for others who might be listening.

It was too damp last night, so I thought I'd take care of it now, I told her. And I shook my head with a dour look on my face. Just then, I noticed a little boy standing at the edge of the stone upon which Julie had passed.

It's okay, Pappy, she said and straightened up and danced carelessly around the fire, I've seen you do it before.

You have, I said surprised. I thought I had been extra careful not to be seen.

Oh no, she made the same sad face I had just made and shook her head gravely. Practically everyone knows.

You're kidding, my eyes widened. Is nothing sacred?

The fire is. She pointed to the eternal fire and bent down to pick up a twig that had burned off a log and threw it back in. Many years ago, the fire had been moved to this spot because it was protected from the elements. It sits in a natural little cave that allows the rain to fall and still not put it out altogether. It remains eternal as long as some tiny spark of embers still burns within.

All the same, I said, let's pretend that only you and I know about this.

And Pooh, she said.

I turned to the little boy and asked him if he was Pooh. He shook his head. I motioned for him to join us more closely, and he came over and stood nearby and joined in while Cush resumed dancing around the fire. They would have played like that for hours had I not stopped them.

I'll tell you what, I said after I grabbed them both, and stood them before me. I will tell you a story, but you must promise not to tell anyone about the fire.

What about the fire, asked Cush.

That it went out, I said.

Oh yes Pappy, tell us a story.

Finally, the little one named Pooh spoke up, Isn't tonight the Sabatta?

Why, yes it is, but this isn't really a story.

They both sat down eager to hear whatever I had to say. I had killed a boar the day before on a hunt and brought some of it along with me to cook for morning meal and gave each a piece on a spit and told them to cook it while I spoke.

There is a mountain, I began.

What's a mountain, asked Pooh.

I pointed behind me to the tall cliff and said it was like this but only taller. And it takes days to climb it, not just a few moments.

Pooh gaped at the cliff above us and had let his stick get too close to the fire and it started burning. I made another for him. They both giggled and moved even closer to one another and waited. Children are so easily entertained, and I smiled thinking I could make this quick, and they'd be happy.

There is a mountain, a great big tall mountain far away in the Borealis across the wide salty Watersea, and I waived my hand towards the sea to where the Ori live. And they call this mountain - Mount Limpus. No one has ever seen Mount Limpus except Julie because it is a sacred place for the Ori only, and their families. And this is where Taso lives, and Ocean lives.

And Jabberwocky too, said Cush.

Yes, him too. And who else?

Pooh began jumping up and down on his bottom trying to hold the spit in the fire so it wouldn't burn again and said enthusiastically, Sun?

And Moon, Cush said. And they became competitive, and I could see Pooh getting angry with Cush. You are both right, very good. They all live there.

Protus, shouted Pooh.

Yes Protus also, I said. And it is so far away that you can only get there by UFO, which we don't have any of, right?

Right, they both said together. All anyone knows of UFO's is that it's some sort of light in the sky that moves.

So we have to wait for them to come to us, and they do but we can never see them because they only come to us in our dreams.

Does Julie live there?

Yes, because she is still alive with them in the past, and the future, and they have the Great Eternal Fire, from which this one comes, and I pointed to the fire before us and said, That is why it can never go out really altogether, because the Ori have the fire within them.

I told them this story which is how I understand it to be. The Mount Limpus is so far across the Watersea that it can never be reached, and so it is a sacred place to us all.

The old ones' gods aren't like ours, I told them. They have spirits who live among them, just as we do, but they do not have a Mount Limpus to stay on. There are many gods that live in the night we call Spirits, and they are frightfully powerful beings that can harm us if we aren't careful.

The boar was cooked and we ate our morning meal. I wondered who this child was, Pooh. And so I asked him to whom did he belong.

My father is Red, son of Tall one, son of Alfred, son of, and he hesitated because he had forgotten. But I knew who his great, great Pappy was. He was the first born of my sister Mary, who had married the youngest son of the clan chief, Kuka, who lived here when we arrived. He and his four eldest sons died after the great battle leaving only the one who was one at the time. Kamrasi kept the child and called him Riangi in honor of his brother, my father, who died years before. Kamrasi had taken another wife when we arrived and she raised the child with her own.

And so the Sun was falling into the Watersea. It is a time for us all to give honor to him for all that he does, and we are usually rewarded with a beautiful show. As the Sun set, it was enveloped in a mist, and I could see a rainbow rise out of the distance This is an auspicious sign, when the whole sky turns red.

Red sky at night, sailors delight, I said for gook luck and then spat.