CITY OF THE GODS: FORGOTTEN (8 page)

“Hmm,” he breathed as he studied them. “It appears I should give you priority.”

“Priority?” Aavi wondered if that was a food or drink, like Mazu had been talking about.

“I am Nianzu, the Oracle’s chief scribe and scheduler,” he told Aavi with great pride in his voice. “You will not have to wait until morning with the other pilgrims. The Oracle will see you right away.”

He stepped out from behind the table, picking up a strange tall hat and setting it on his head as he ushered Aavi back out into the passage. He led her directly through the ornamental archway and Aavi found herself in a room ringed with strange statues that faced a large central fountain alight with floating candles shaped like flowers. Burning sticks were inserted close by many of the statues, infusing the air with a fragrant haze. Behind the stone figures were screens festooned with garlands of flowers or colorful streamers of cloth. Others were decorated with banners that displayed odd lettering. Aavi thought she might be able to read them if the light was better, and if it hadn’t been so smoky.

“Approach the Oracle,” Nianzu instructed, backing out of the room.

“Where is it?” Aavi asked. She saw no other person in the place. But Nianzu said nothing more and a large door slid shut as he left her alone in the chamber.

Aavi started walking from statue to statue. Was one of them the Oracle? Or perhaps the person Kafele sent her to see was hiding behind one of the screens. She circled the room, unsure of what to do. At length, she decided to sit on the edge of the central fountain and wait, hoping that someone would come. She looked down into the water, reaching to touch one of the waxy pink-petaled candles that drifted there. As she pushed it aside, Aavi regarded her own reflection. It smiled back at her.

“You know that true wisdom lies within,” her watery double spoke. “That is promising.”

Aavi started back in surprise, then leaned in close again to verify that she’d really just seen and heard her own reflection addressing her. “Oracle?”

“Yes. What do you wish to know?” As the image spoke, the candles on either side of it floated away, as if a field of power banished them to the fringes of the fountain.

Aavi was eager now. She had so many questions. “Who am I? Where did I come from?” she asked her smiling reflection in the water.

“You are the one responsible. You came from outside this experience,” the Oracle responded without hesitation.

Aavi bit her lip, thinking. The Oracle’s pronouncement that she was ‘responsible’ made her worry that she had done something wrong. But she was more concerned that the question about whence she came had been misunderstood. She tried again. “Can you tell me why I can’t remember anything from before I woke up in the City?”

“Perhaps you were dropped on your head,” the Oracle with Aavi’s face laughed, then grew serious again. “I will tell you a secret. You don’t belong here. You were supposed to go to Earth.”

For a moment, Aavi felt relieved. If she was not meant to be among the gods, it would explain why she felt so alien and confused here. Perhaps the people on Earth would be more like her and could help her understand her place and her past. Then another thought crossed her mind. “Did I come from Earth, but just can’t remember it? How do I get to Earth?” Her words were very earnest, for hope was rising that she would regain her memory if she traveled to that place.

“Find your companion. You cannot leave here alone,” the reflection answered.

“D’Molay,” Aavi said to herself. He’d helped her through so much already and he knew everything about this world and the gods. Surely he could take her to Earth. That must be who the Oracle was referring to.

“Find your companion quickly,” urged the Oracle as its image began to waver and its voice grew fainter. “You must unite before the Queen in the night sky has blossomed again.”

A soft bell rang and at that very moment the Oracle completely disappeared. This was immediately followed by the sound of the door sliding open and Nianzu clearing his throat. Aavi turned to see the scribe waiting for her.

“Your audience is concluded. A meal awaits you in the courtyard.” Nianzu eyed the girl perceptively, seeking to determine how much of an impression the Oracle’s words had made. Aavi looked very nervous and worried. Dealing with hysterical pilgrims undone by prophetic words was a large part of Nianzu’s job, and he had perfected speeches to distract them from their fates. “Do not trouble yourself over the Oracle’s words. In time, you may find they mean less or more than what they seem to at the moment,” he said in an even, much-rehearsed tone.

Aavi arose from the fountain ledge and followed Nianzu out of the Oracle’s chamber. She was confused by the Oracle’s last words, but felt sure that she had to get back to D’Molay. She vowed to travel back across the water as soon as possible to ask him to take her to Earth. “I want to go back to the City now,” she said firmly. Nianzu turned and shook his head.

“You cannot. Mazu and her boat are gone. I will raise the signal for her return, but she may not see it for many hours.” Nianzu stopped before a gate that led to another part of the retreat. He reached behind his ear and withdrew a thin, long key that had been hidden by his straight hair. He used it to open a lock and swung the gate free. Just inside it sat a table and benches, where the boy who had met her earlier was pouring water into a very small cup. Aavi watched in fascination as some sort of mist rose from the top of the liquid.

“Shan will serve you and Xiu will take you to your room for the night.” Nianzu retreated back the way they had come, leaving the courtyard gate open behind him. Aavi walked over to the boy who had finished pouring the strange liquid and was now pulling lids from several shallow pots.

“What is that water doing?” Aavi asked, intrigued by the steam rising off the hot dark mug.

Shan, accustomed to philosophical questioning by his teachers, answered easily. “It is being hot. We call it tea.”

Aavi somehow understood what hot was, just as she had intuitively remembered its opposite, cold. She sat down on the bench next to the table and wrapped her hands around the small cup, feeling its warmth. She raised the cup to her lips and sipped. It had a sweet smell and a pleasant, biting flavor. Shan pushed a plate toward her. The plate held things she had never seen before. Aavi busied herself drinking several cups of tea to avoid the embarrassment of admitting to Shan that she had no idea what she was supposed to do with what he had set before her.

“Aren’t you going to eat your food?” Shan pestered.

“Do you know what food is?” Xiu challenged. She elbowed Shan again. “We could show you how to eat,” she offered sneakily.

“Please,” Aavi responded. “I want to learn.”
 
She had an unusual feeling in her middle that felt like it still needed something, but she wasn’t sure what.
 
Nor did she really understand what one did with all the items on the plate.
   

Catching on to the unexpected opportunity to gorge on the nuts and honeyed fruit reserved only for guests, Shan was the first to demonstrate. “You see this nut?” he said, racing to sit down and grabbing a fat lychee from Aavi’s plate. “You peel it, like this, and throw this part away.” Shan nimbly divested the soft flesh of the lychee of its peel and pit and popped it into his mouth.

“And these are cherries in honey syrup,” Xiu said, grabbing for her favorites. “You can eat them just as they are.”

Aavi managed to slowly peel and eat one lychee by imitating Shan. Then she reached for one of the cherries that Xiu was eating. It was slippery and sticky at the same time, and she dropped it twice before managing to get it into her mouth. By the time she did, the children had eaten most of what had been on her plate. Still, Aavi felt a great sense of accomplishment, having learned several new things from them. Pulling the plate closer to herself, she finished what was left. The wonder of eating and the tastes it provided had made her forget for a moment the ominous words of the Oracle. But after the meal, her thoughts turned back to D’Molay and the anxious feeling that she needed to get back to him.

Shan started collecting the plates and cups as Xiu pushed away from the table. “Wait here,” she said, wiping her hands on her trousers. “I will bring you a sleeping robe and then I’ll show you your room for the night.”

Deep in her worrying, Aavi paid little attention to what the children were doing. When she realized she was alone a few minutes later, she resolved to find Nianzu and ask again if she could leave the retreat. Rising, she went back through the courtyard gate and wandered through the compound.

Aavi found him lighting a great iron lantern. It was shaped like a globe, a cage of ornate metal spirals encasing a central oil reservoir. Noticing Aavi standing nearby, Nianzu suppressed a frown. Why wasn’t she in her room? Shan and Xiu were obviously being disobedient again, and he resolved to address that problem more actively. Guessing why Aavi had come, he headed off her question.

“This is Mazu’s signal. She will return when she can.”

Aavi watched as Nianzu hoisted the signal with a rope and tackle, raising it to the top of a pole almost as tall as the largest trees. Her eyes followed it upward.

“It’s . . . so big and bright.”

Nianzu’s eyes shifted to the strange innocent. The lantern wasn’t that big. Distance and perspective had actually reduced its apparent size. Shaking his head, he secured the pulley rope. As Aavi continued to stare raptly at the sky, Xiu returned with a folded bundle of cloth in her arms.

“Teacher, the room is ready.”

The sticky residue of honey syrup around Xiu’s lips told Nianzu everything he needed to know. “It would have been ready sooner, if you had not wasted time stealing food from our guest.” Xiu gasped and bowed her head guiltily as she stepped forward to take Aavi’s hand. Aavi looked down at her touch, which was followed by an insistent tug. Clearly Xiu had no desire to linger in the presence of Nianzu. Nor did the scribe wish to prolong his contact with Aavi. He thanked fortune that this helpless being would soon be gone. Nianzu retreated to the sanctuary of the library.

Aavi followed as Xiu led her around the inner walls of the retreat to a cluster of small wooden buildings. She immediately noticed that the structures were quite plain compared to the inner halls. There were no statues, fountains, or carvings, but each small cottage did have a neat arrangement of small plants growing out of mismatched pots. Some of the plants had colorful flowers. Others sprouted pods or prickly thorns. Aavi remembered seeing things like them spilling from the bags and boxes in Kafele’s shop. She wanted to take a closer look, but Xiu was pushing open a sliding door and gesturing for her to go inside. She stepped in. A single lantern cast just enough light to show a row of thin mats on the floor.

“Take any one. You are the only guest in this room tonight,” Xiu said. “Someone will come get you when Mazu arrives. Here is a robe to keep you warm.”

“Thank you,” Aavi said, taking the garment from Xiu. She took a few more steps into the room and did exactly what Xiu said, picking up one of the mats. Xiu laughed at this strange behavior, but immediately covered her mouth with one hand. She was already in trouble with Nianzu, and did not want to incur even more punishment. The little girl’s smile turned to a pout. It was hardly her fault. It was hard to respect guests when they were dumb as chickens. Nonetheless, she managed to bid Aavi a polite goodnight before running back to Shan to report the latest silly thing the pilgrim had done.

Aavi stood in the room, wondering what to do next. It was so quiet. She could hear all the sounds her body made, breath pushing in and out of her chest and a strange clenching noise far back in her throat each time she swallowed. Aavi’s hands drifted down to her middle to hover over the one place where Kafele had whispered a hole was missing. She suddenly regretted not asking the Oracle about that when she had the chance.

Accepting that she was supposed to stay in the room for the night, Aavi put the mat in her hands back on the floor, sat down on it, and waited. As the moments slipped past, she grew tired of sitting and lay down. She wondered if she would find it hard to get up again, whether she would feel sick and weak as she had when she first woke up in the City. Unable to keep her eyes open any longer, she wrapped herself in the sleeping robe and finally dozed off.

At length, something made a chirping sound. Aavi’s eyes opened as the chirp repeated then continued in an uninterrupted sequence. She listened, determining the sound was coming from outside. Curious, she arose and slid open the door. Perhaps she could find the source of the noise. If not, she would take the opportunity to look at that wonderful light in the sky once again.