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11: The Seer
"We're almost there! We're almost there!" chanted Constance excitedly, jumping up and down.
"Yes, we are." Dara replied, "But it'll be at least half an hour before we can leave the ship. I have to check with Malak about getting the cargo offloaded and the new crates stowed."
"Oh, but Amah, can't I just go with Mr. Krenshaw until you get all that done?"
"I suppose you could, but Mr. Krenshaw has to do a few things himself before we get to port." Dara thought back to the conversation she had had with Garen during the night. "And I don't think it would be very interesting for you. Why don't you go find Mina and Rindi. I'm sure they'd be more than happy to play with you again. After all, you haven't really seen too much of them since you hurt your leg."
Constance looked thoughtfully out the small viewport in her and her mother's small quarters. Galera, green and beautiful as always, loomed closer and closer as the ship passed through the atmosphere. The little girl's excitement was running so high she could barely think straight about anything other than the marvelous new world laid out before her eyes.
"Okay." she finally replied, "But will you come get me as soon as we can leave?"
"You know I will." Dara tapped her little girl's nose affectionately. "Now go find your friends."
Constance nodded animatedly then scurried away.
"Alright..." Dara said to herself once Constance was out of the room. She sighed and pushed the intercom button to call her boss. "Malak? What should we do first?"
"Who is this?" Malak's voice came back to her.
"It's Dara." she said. "Who else would it be?"
"Oh, Dara. I don't need you for this one. Rishnan an' me have got this one."
"But Malak, it's my jobto help you. If I don't work I don't get paid. Why can't Rishnan sit this one out?" the panic in her voice was clear. "He doesn't have another mouth to feed. Ido."
"Hold it right there, Dara girl. Don't go gettin' all excited quite yet. Your friend there – what's 'is name... Kren-somethin' got it all set up. You're still gettin' paid."
Dara grinned, "So he really didtake care of everything." she covered her mouth so she wouldn't laugh into the intercom, then said, "Oh! Thank you, thank you, thank you, Malak!"
"Don't thank me, girl. Thank that friend 'a yours." Malak cleared his throat. "Seems ta like ya a lot."
Dara stared at the black box a little surprised at her boss's candor.
When she didn't reply, Malak continued awkwardly, "I jus' wanna know if I'm gonna lose my best cargo attendant..."
Dara was still trying to get over the fact that Malak had noticed something other than cargo and the presence or absence of his workers. "I... don't know, Malak..." she finally managed to say, "We'll have to see about that."
"Oh well. I tried." Malak replied, "Jus' have a good time ashore, alright, Dara girl?"
"I'll do that." she smiled to herself. "Thanks, Malak. Tell Rishnan to mind those frishka fruit shipments."
"Alright. I'll do that. See ya when you get back." With that the intercom crackled into silence. Dara picked up her dark jacket, threw it on and left the room to go find Garen.
A few hours later, the threesome stepped out of the ship – Dara and Constance's home for the past seven years – and out onto Galera.
"I can't believe you actually worked this out." Dara whispered into Garen's ear.
"I said I would." he whispered back, taking her hand and squeezing it, "Did you expect me to go back on my word? Officer's get court-martialed for lying, you know."
Dara grinned, "I didn't know one way or the other, to tell you the truth. But you proved to me that you can keep a promise. And I'm so glad you did." she squeezed his hand back. "Though I will say that you look odd clean-shaven and wearing normal clothes instead of that uniform of yours."
Garen smiled a bit. "I know. It was... necessary. The Admiral thought it would be advisable if I changed my appearance before going anywhere outside the ship."
"Oh, I understand." Dara smiled and looked away, "It just looks funny." she laughed quietly.
"I'm so happy you approve." he smirked.
Dara kept laughing, "You're still the same Garen."
"Amah!" Constance dashed around happily, looking every which way, trying to see everything at once. "It's so wonderful!"
"Yes, my little butterfly... It is."
The little girl ran back to her mother and Garen and tugged on the man's sleeve, "Where are we going first?"
"I don't know." he looked down at Constance, "Do you have a preference?"
"Oh! I get to pick?!" exclaimed the girl.
Garen looked at Dara for confirmation and the young woman nodded. "Yes, you do." Garen replied.
Constance's eyes brightened even more and she squealed in delight, throwing her arms around Garen's waist.
"Do they have animals around here?!" the girl asked. "Like the ones youmake?"
Garen laughed and pried the girl off, "Not quite like the ones I make, but I'm sure they have animals here."
"I want to go see them first."
"Alright then." Garen smiled.
Constance ran on ahead of her mother and the officer. Garen offered Dara his arm and she took it. Then, when her daughter was out of earshot she said, "Garen, I don't get paid until we load the new cargo onto the ship, I don't have – "
Garen stopped her with an upraised hand. "Iinvited you to come on this excursion." he smiled at her, "Don't worry about anything." then he added silently, "I would do anything for you, Dara... Making one day of your life easier is the leastI can do..."
"Let's go catch Connie then, before she finds some total stranger to take up with." Dara squeezed Garen's arm. "And thank you..."
Several cheerful hours passed filled with new sights and sounds for both Dara and Constance. The creatures of Galera, the food, the dialect, the clear, beautiful weather were all quite novel to the mother and daughter. Having spent many years aboard ship with only occasional, short shore leaves, it was refreshing to put their feet on solid ground again, especially on planet like Galera.
After seeing a few sights here and there, Garen steered them towards the one place Dara had been waiting to see all day, Ya'ar Jeshurun.
"I've heard so much about this place, Garen. Is it true what they say about the trees? Do they really talk?" Dara asked the man on whose arm she still hung.
"Not precisely," he said, "you'll have to see it for yourself. If you're lucky, perhaps one of them will come to you and talk for a while."
"One of the Jeshurunians? They talk to visitors?" Constance jumped in.
"Yes, they do." Garen replied to the girl. "Just don't disturb them. They like to be left alone. If they want to talk, they'll find a way to come to you."
"Why would they need to find a way? They can move, can't they?" Dara asked.
"Not the same way you and I can." Garen replied. "They can move their leaves, but their main plant body is stationary. In order to move from one place to another – just like any other plant – they must have a person or animal pick them up and move them."
"That seems an awkward existence," said Dara.
"Perhaps," he replied, "but they seem content with it."
Dara shrugged.
"Amah, why are the tress upside-down?" Constance's voice rang back to her mother and Garen from somewhere around the corner from them.
"I don't know, neshama sheli." Dara called back, "Please don't shout, Connie. I don't think the Jeshurunians appreciate it."
"Yes, Amah." came the loud reply.
Dara snorted and covered her mouth to keep from laughing at the child, "She is so full of life, that girl."
"Aren't most children her age?" asked Krenshaw.
"I suppose." Dara smiled and sighed. "I just wish I had the energy to keep up with her."
The pair rounded the corner they had last heard Constance's voice coming from.
"Oh, which way has she gone now?" Dara asked, upon not seeing her daughter. She started to shout for the girl, but stopped herself, remembering her own admonition just moments ago.
Garen looked around and listened carefully, "I hear another voice."
"There are a lot of voices, Garen." Dara looked at him skeptically. "This isa popular place, after all." she gestured to all the other sight-seers and pedestrians meandering around the topsy-turvy trees.
"She hasn't gone far, I'm sure." Garen assured her. "That voice I'm hearing is coming from that way." he pointed to the left and they turned down another walkway, ending up in a beautiful, blue and green hanging meadow. The flowers were of all shapes, sizes and colors hanging down from the sky. The trees reached out to them, bobbing slightly in the wind.
"Thereyou are." Dara exclaimed upon seeing her daughter standing on the other end of the meadow, near what looked like the face of a cliff jutting down in front of the child beyond the railing that had been put in so that visitors didn't fall the twenty or more feet that separated the Ya'ar islands from the soil of Galera. "Stay close by –" she started to chide, but stopped short when she heard the voice that Garen had been listening to.
"You are a very special child, Constance Mariposa." the gentle male voice said softly.
"That's what my amah says." the child replied.
"Who is she talking to, Garen?" Dara looked at her escort.
"Didn't I say that if they wanted to talk that they would find us?" the officer smiled. "Looks like this one wanted to talk to her."
"Is that safe?"
"Oh, perfectly." said Garen. "No Jeshurunian has ever hurt anyone. I don't even know if they can."
"Are you sure?"
"I'm sure."
With that reassurance Dara turned to look at her daughter again. This time she noticed the leafy object just on the other side of the girl. It was growing into a crevice on the cliff wall at Constance's eye level.
"It must have called to her." Garen whispered as he and Dara stepped closer to the Jeshurunian and the child. "That was the voice I heard."
"But why would it – he – call her?" Dara imitated Garen's whisper.
"We're about to find out, I think." he replied.
The air was quiet now. No one else seemed to be around. The meadow was darker and cooler here, but several rays of light had sneaked into the meadow, giving it an air of warmth and beauty. The pure peace of the moment permeated everything.
The rustling of leaves could be heard as the man and woman stepped closer to the Jeshurunian and the girl.
"Do you know these two, child?" the gentle voice Dara had heard earlier asked.
"Yes, hakham." the girl replied, turning around to gesture to the adults. "This is my mother." she pointed to Dara, "and this is Mr. Krenshaw." she pointed to the officer.
"Ah, Garen Krenshaw." the leaves rustled, "I have heard of you."
"I am honored, hakham." Garen used the title Constance had adopted, opting to be safe with his address of the Jeshurunian.
"This child is yours?" the plant addressed Dara.
"Yes." the woman nodded, feeling silly, as the Jeshurunian did not have a face.
"Oh, I can see you perfectly well." the plant said, sensing Dara's awkwardness.
"Oh." Dara said, feeling sheepish.
"Now. Constance Mariposa." the Jeshurunian turned his conversation back to the girl. "Do you know why you are here?"
"Mr. Krenshaw invited us." the girl replied innocently.
A funny tittering sound emanated from the plant. "Your simplicity refreshes me, child." the plant replied, "But I must tell you that you are here, not because you were invited by a man, but because Adonai sent you."
"Adonai?" the girl asked.
"Have you never heard of Him?" asked the plant.
"I... think perhaps I have at one time..." Constance said. "But I can't really remember... Who is He?"
Dara's eyes widened as she realized that she had never actually sat down and told her daughter of the existence of Adonai. How could she have overlooked something like that? But then again, Dar herself was unsure of how He had really helped her or her daughter these past eleven years.
"He is the great Creator of the worlds, child." the plant replied. "He holds the universe in the palm of His hand. Nothing happens that He does not know of, and nothing transpires, but that He ordains it so."
"But what about the bad things that happen, hakham Natafel? Isn't Adonai supposed to be good?"
Natafel seemed to chuckle – a deeper sound than the laugh he had emitted earlier, "He is Goodness itself, dear child. The evil in this world is not of His making. Before time began, there was an angel, Lucifer the lightbearer, who rebelled against Adonai. For this he was cast out of Gan Eden – the place where Adonai dwells. That was when Lucifer began to be known as Abaddon – the destroyer. Then, Adonai created this universe. He began with the first two people, A'dam and his eesha* Chawwah.* This did not go unnoticed by Abaddon and he visited the man and woman. He chose to tempt Chawwah to disobey the words that Adonai had spoken to A'dam after He created him."
"Adonai spoketo them?" Constance asked in surprise.
"Every day." the Jeshurunian confirmed, "But the first time He spoke to them, Chawwah had not yet been created, and so she was more susceptible to Abaddon's lies. He disguised himself as a nachash* and spoke to Chawwah."
"She wasn't afraid of him?" the girl asked.
"No, she wasn't. She did not know he was Abaddon and so had no need to fear him. Adonai instructed A'dam that he and Chawwah were not to eat of one certain tree in the center of the paradise that Adonai had created for them. The rest were theirs to tend and eat of as they wished. A'dam told Chawwah of this instruction, but Abaddon spoke cunningly to Chawwah, and he deceived her into eating of the one tree she was forbidden to eat of. She gave the fruit to A'dam, and he, knowing what it was, also ate it. And so Adonai held them responsible for the disobedience they had committed against Him."
"What happened to them?" the child asked, wide-eyed.
"Adonai had to send them away – out of the paradise they were living in. That is why there is evil in the world today... Adonai gave everyone a free will. We can choose to do what He wishes of us, or we can choose to do what we want to do."
"So... Adonai wants us to do good, but people don't always do that?" Constance asked to clarify.
"That is but a small part of it, Mariposa." Natafel said, "The universe is a broken place. Adonai wishes His Creation to be whole once again. He sent to us Mashiach – the final Atonement for the sins of every living person. Everyone must claim this Atonement as theirs to be reconciled to Adonai. Without that reconciliation, we cannot become whole as Adonai would have us to be." At this, the Jeshurunian spoke to Dara, "Children hold a special place in the heart of Adonai. Watch over her with great care, for there will come a day when you will not be able to watch over her any longer. That day may come sooner than you wish it to."
Constance, sensing that Natafel wanted to talk to one of the adults now, stepped aside so that her mother and Garen could some closer.
Dara almost jumped when she felt the touch of cool leaves on her pale blue hand.
"You have... secrets." the Jeshurunian said, after his leaves had brushed her hand.
Dara looked away from the plant, trying to hide the sudden guilt that passed over her face.
"There is no shame in it." Natafel said, sensing her discomfort once again. "You seek to uncover the mysteries of your past. That is honorable."
"How do you know all this? You just met me." Dara asked softly.
"Because some things are evident to those who know how to look for them."
If Dara hadn't known better, she would have thought that she saw the hint of a smile in Natafel's leafy body.
The plant continued, "Do not put your trust in men, child of the unknown. Place it instead in Adonai who knows the end from the beginning, for He sees all, and He knows the plight of those whom the world has rejected."
Dara looked at the plant with a mix of fear and curiosity, then she backed slowly away from him.
"Garen Krenshaw. A man of much knowledge. Your name is known even among my friends in the royal court of Iscandar." the man looked suspiciously at the plant as the Jeshurunian continued, "I will tell no one of your presence here. I know that you are sought after by a man who cares nothing for the people he rules."
Garen breathed a sigh of relief.
"You are a man who relies only on himself and on those he knows he can trust; this I can see in you clearly." Natafel said, "Your trust in yourself will be your undoing unless you stop depending on yourself and start leaning on Adonai."
Garen looked away from the plant as Dara had done. "I choose whom I will trust."
"I know." the plant whispered back, "And you do not know if you want to trust me yet."
Garen nodded.
"I do not blame you. Talking plants can be difficult to give credence to at times, I know." the smile in Natafel's voice was evident. "So, it is not me that I ask you to believe, but Adonai. 'The horse is prepared against the day of battle, but safety is of Adonai.'"
Garen didn't reply to the plant; he merely gazed back at it, his mind reeling, trying to understand exactly what the Jeshurunian had just told him.
"You should return to your ship, my friends." Natafel suddenly said, "It appears a vessel bearing the GRN insignia has just docked. They will be looking for you."
"Thank you, hakham Natafel." Constance took over the conversation again. "I've never talked to a plant before. Do you think I'll get to talk to any again sometime?"
"Perhaps, Constance Mariposa, there will come a day when you will."
* eesha – wife
* Chawwah – Eve
* nachash – snake