Celestial Roots

Chapter 26 - Ergatul's story

Taghna ran down the steps of the Muïréal cave. She found Slavan in their cell, repairing fishing rods with Pertuil, a young Abtui woman. He seemed happy and relaxed, exchanging sentences mixing words from Séaroën and Abtuï. Taghna put an end to their light-hearted discussion in a brusque tone:

- Slavan, you're never going to believe what Séarrub just told me.

- Good evening Taghna, he replied, showing no sign of interest to his bratair.

- God efnin', added Pertuil with a strong accent that made Slavan smile and annoyed Taghna.

- Yes, yes, good evening, answered Taghna in an unfriendly tone.

Taghna felt her patience melt like snow in the sun. She had come to share Séarrub's revelations and to find an ear who could understand her frustration. In her eyes, Slavan was the only person who could understand her, having shared so many things together. But now she couldn't even turn to him without being invaded by an archféar.

Worse, instead of the support she would have liked to receive, she saw Slavan and Pertuil as a separate entity, united against all, and especially against herself. Slavan had one day told Taghna, not without enthusiasm, the differences between Séaroën and Abtui.

The fishermen's village was organized not as a culéan, consisting of a man, a few women and the children who were born, all living under the same roof during Hir, but as a couple made up of a single man and a single woman. Besides, they remained devoted to each other for life, or some such nonsense, Taghna thought.

Irritable and depressed for several days, Taghna had hardly had the heart to pay attention to the growing proximity between her brataïr and Pertuil. But now that Taghna clearly felt a need for comfort, she found Pertuil overstaying her welcome.

To show her feelings to the young Abtuï, Taghna ignored her and continued:

- Can I talk to you? Alone, she said, glaring at Slavan.

- I'm not hiding anything from Pertuil, you know. You can say what you want here, said Slavan in a haughty tone.

Taghna swallowed a sharp remark and ended up telling in a few words Séarrub's secret. Unfortunately, because of her haste, she wanted to reveal everything at once. She was mixing up the facts and got lost in small details, so much so that Slavan didn't understand anything of the story..

Clearly, not everyone could tell a story in a captivating way, and Taghna was not the most gifted speaker. After retries, clarifications, and questions from Slavan, whom Taghna found unbearably stupid, she concluded:

- Can you believe it? Roséan and Séacas lied to the whole village!

- What's done is done, Slavan replied matter-of-factly. There's no point in going back.

- Very well. I see that you are all the same. Well, I can't stand it, and you'd better not forget what our dear village has done to our friends!

She turned her heels and didn't speak to him all evening. She didn't deny the fact that Séarrub and Slavan were right, that it was too late to do anything, but she could not forgive the séalyar for their passivity and their refusal to change the rules, especially after what she had learned from Roséan and Séacas's action.

This dispute with Slavan also led to Taghna's almost total social isolation. She no longer spoke to anyone and her bad mood was rekindled at the smallest reason. The hatred burned in her stomach like a boiling liquid. For days, Taghna couldn't eat anything because her stomach was so tightly knotted.