The Mender

#2 HUTI STONE - Making Friends

The first days at Flat Rocks were difficult. The three newcomers struggled to understand the language of the others. Zura, Dagan, and Esri tried to appear non-threatening in all of their actions and yet not look too weak. Each group watched the other closely.

Several things happened that helped bring everyone together. Zura brewed some of her special healing tea, and after she, Dagan, and Esri drank some to prove that it was not harmful, Zura gave it to Nagar. After several days of drinking the tea, Nagar coughed less and not as deeply.

And Esri's singing. The first night around the fire, she started singing one of the songs from her bode, soon joined by Dagan and Zura. The young boy, Fenti-Dumu, stood by Esri and tried to imitate her singing.

After that, every night around the fire Fenti-Dumu went to Esri, patted her knee until she started to sing and he tried to join her. He was an engaging little boy who made them smile and Esri charmed them all.

But it was the innate trust of the two older women, Zura and Nagar, that solidified the bonds between the groups. The two women worked hard to learn each other's words and they, in turn, taught the rest of them to understand each other.

Gradually, Zura and Nagar exchanged stories of how they survived the Ash Rain. The stories were similar.

Zura told Nagar, "Like you at Flat Rocks, we had a cave with water at our bode. I tried to keep people deep in the cave, away from the Ash Rain that was making people sick. Only Dagan and Esri stayed with me far back in the cave. For days we only ate a few roots. Those that tried to hunt or gather plants sickened and died. Many of the people were afraid of the powerful spirits living in the cave and stayed near the opening but they were too near the Ash Rain and they also got sick and died."

Nagar asked, "Only Dagan and Esri stayed with you?"

"Yes," Zura shook her head. "In the end, it was only the three of us. Dagan and Esri are not my birth children, but they have been with me since they were small. Dagan and his birth mother got the scarring fever when he was starting to walk. She died. I took care of him and now he takes care of me."

"I see the marks on his face," said Nagar. "But he is not a weak man. You healed him well."

Zura laughed, "Yes, he has the strength of a buffalo, the speed of a big cat, and the eyes of a vulture."

"And stays silent like a large tree," Nagar smiled. "And Esri?"

"Esri's mother died giving birth to a boy who also died. And Esri came to live with me. Dagan and I call her Little Bird because she likes to sing. She stopped singing for a long time after the Ash Rain but started again on our walk."

"And now Femti-Dumu won't let her stop!" The two women laughed. The others sitting nearby couldn't yet understand much of each other's language and found the women's laughter bewildering.

"Why did you get the cough so badly, Nagar?" Zura asked.

"I went out and tried to convince people not to drink the river water and to come deep in the cave with us, but many did not want to listen to me."

"And they didn't make it."

"No, they didn't. Tars and I had the same mother. Saba is my child. They are close to me and listen to me."

"Yes, she looks like you and Tars. What about Fenti-Dumu and the others?"

"Fenti-Dumu is the son of Fenti. She died early on and I took him in. He does not yet have his own name. We will have a Naming for him soon, when he stops being a boy and we can understand who he is."