Telesa - The Covenant Keeper (55 page)

“Oh. I apologize for being quick to make assumptions, Leila. About my son and about you.”

Daniel nudged her. “That’s okay, Mama. We’re sorry if we gave you a heart attack.”

Salamasina’s tone was questioning. “But if that’s not the ‘serious matter’ you wanted to discuss with me, then what is it? What’s wrong?”

Eager to change the embarrassing subject, I jumped in. “I was hoping that you could help with your medicines and natural healing remedies. My friend Jason is very sick in hospital. He’s dying and the doctors there don’t know what’s wrong with him. Could you please help him?”

“Well of course I’ll try. But I’m not a miracle worker. What makes you think that I can find the answer if the doctors cannot?”

I struggled to find the right words to answer her, but Daniel jumped in first. “Because we already know what’s wrong with him. He’s been poisoned.”

Salamasina shook her head in disbelief. “With what? How do you know this? And why don’t you just tell the doctors?” Her eyes narrowed as she stared first at Daniel and then at me, sensing there was oh so much more to the tale. “Who did this? Who poisoned your friend?”

There was no easy way to say it. “My mother. Nafanua.”

I expected even more confusion but, instead, Salamasina faced me with an almost resigned look of awareness. Our eyes met and held. “Of course. This is all making sense now.” She didn’t even look at Daniel, just issued him with a curt request that expected no argument. “Daniel can you excuse us please? Leila and I are going to take a little walk in the garden. We need some time alone. To talk.” She stood and beckoned imperiously for me to follow her outside. I gave Daniel a helpless look.

He rose to his feet uncertainly, “But Mama …”

Salamasina silenced him with a weary smile. “My son, I know. This is the girl you love. Believe me when I tell you that I understand – there is
nothing
I can do or say to change that. Now Leila, come.”

Together we walked into the garden. Evening was approaching. The kind that fell like gossamer silk, stardust and moon song making wispy trails from ocean to land. In spite of my apprehension about what Salamasina would say, the calm peace of the garden spoke to me as plants always did. Soothing my troubled soul. Calming my frightened heart. Salamasina walked to the furthest reach of the garden and stopped beside a luxuriant froth of jasmine bushes. I was still limping from my bruises and so she waited until I stood beside her before she spoke.

“You are
telesa
.” There was no question in her statement. It seemed ridiculous to even try to deny it.

“Yes. But how did you know?”

She waved aside my question impatiently. “Did you drug my son?”

“What?!” I was horrified.

“You heard me. Did you drug my son, empotion him to love you?”

“No. I would never do such a thing, to anyone. I met Daniel before … before I knew what I was, before I met Nafanua and learned about all this
telesa
madness. I loved him before and then when it happened, I tried to stop, I tried to push him away from me but it was too late. I already loved him so much.” My voice broke. “I’m so sorry, I tried to keep him away from me, truly I did. I never wanted to hurt him. I never wanted to hurt anyone. Please believe me. I love him and I would never do such a thing to him.”

She stared impassively at my tears. “I had to ask.
Telesa
are users of men. You know this. They are incapable of love. Well,” she amended “most of them anyway. When Daniel first brought you home, I knew you were no ordinary girl. And when you told me who your mother was – well, that just confirmed it. I tried to warn him, tried to stop him forming a relationship with you, but it was futile. And I wondered if it was because you or Nafanua had been using
telesa
ways on him. I have been giving him my own protective remedies to drink to counteract anything, but still, I worried that Nafanua had managed to come up with some way of getting around my defences.”

I stared at her in shock. Who was this woman? And how did she know all this stuff? But I was not the one asking the questions here. Salamasina continued, “Now tell me, why has Nafanua poisoned your friend?”

I ran through a quick summary of the past few weeks, giving Salamasina the bare bones of the story, telling her only that I had shared my
telesa
gifts with Jason and he had been trying to help me get rid of them. Which had brought the wrath of the
telesa
upon him. And me.

Salamasina gave me a wry smile, “You seriously think that there is a way for you to ‘cure’ being a
telesa
?” She rolled her eyes and shook her head at me, “Ah, the foolish ignorance of youth. This poor man Jason, he didn’t know what he was letting himself in for. Yes, I will help you with an antidote.”

I wilted with relief at her words. “Oh thank you.”

But there was no warmth in her next question. “But in return, you need to tell me everything. Starting with what kind of
telesa
are you?” There was steel in her words. “Are you
matagi
like your mother and the rest of her pack? Are you Air?”

“No. I’m Earth.
Fanua afi.”
I stumbled over the pronunciation, but Salamasina understood me enough and her reaction was instant. A look of unbridled horror laced with fear and she stepped back away from me. As if afraid I would fry her right there and then. I cringed at her revulsion.

She shook her head fiercely. “I don’t believe you.
Fanua afi
is a myth. An old
telesa
story told to frighten small children.”

I shrugged tiredly. If she didn’t choose to believe me, that was fine by me.

“Prove it.”

“Huh?”

“Prove it. Show me. Now.” She stepped back further away and waited expectantly.

I shook my head. “No, I won’t do it. The fire is unpredictable at best. If I’m not careful, it can run totally wild. I’m tired and messed up right now, if I let it out, then I can’t be sure that it won’t get out of control. Please don’t ask me to call it.”

But Salamasina would not be dissuaded. She folded her arms and stood there defiantly. “You want me to help save your friend? Then summon fire and prove to me you are really
Fanua Afi.
”

I closed my eyes in the dying day. Fire came quickly. Easily. Eager to wipe away a body of flesh and blood that was battered and weak from a long and challenging day. First there was the inevitable brief flash of pain, quickly followed by delight. Bruised muscles and torn sinews gave way to lava that bubbled with strength and power. I stood molten red and gold on the grass, trying not to let fire’s joy brim over too much, trying to keep it restrained. Salamasina stared at me wide eyed and stumbled back weakly to sit on the garden bench beside the jasmine. “Aue, it’s true.” Her eyes brimmed with tears and she sunk her head into her hands, “No, it can’t be.” She looked heavenward, as if praying, appealing to some faraway entity, “My son, not my son, please …” her voice died away as she stared at me with the eyes of one drowning in hopelessness. I hated to come any closer to her, still unsure of what my fire would do.

“Salamasina, are you alright?” I asked anxiously but she did not respond. With silent tears streaming down her cheeks, she sat lost in a daze. I raised my voice back at the house, “Daniel! Come quick, something’s wrong with your grandmother.”

That seemed to snap her out of her daze. She shook her head and stood up, wiping away the treacherous tears, “No, I am alright. Just shocked that’s all. I’m fine.”

Daniel appeared in the back doorway, stopping at the sight of me in flames, side by side with Salamasina. “Leila? Mama? Is everything alright?” There was an edge of fear in his voice which cut me. Did he think I was hurting his grandmother? Salamasina waved out to him with a forced smile.

“I’m fine son. I asked Leila to show me her gift and it kind of caught me off guard. But everything’s alright.” She turned back to me, “Thank you Leila, for indulging me with a demonstration. Can you … umm…turn it off now? Make it go away?”

I nodded but then stopped short, suddenly awkward as I remembered I had just fried all my clothes and would be left standing naked in front of my boyfriend and his grandmother. Ouch. “Umm, is it alright, please can I borrow a shirt or something to wear for when I stop burning?”

Daniel flashed me a grin, “Just hang on Leila, I’ll grab a
lavalava
. Don’t want you to go flashing Mama and totally freaking her. She might think you’re a woman of loose morals. A skanky ho.” He turned to go back inside but not before Salamasina’s prim reprimand.

“Daniel, don’t be cheeky eh! There is no need to speak with such disrespect. Go, get Leila something to wear.”

He disappeared into the house while Salamasina turned back to me. “There is much you need to tell me, about your mother and her sisters and their plans for you. But we don’t have much time. We must prepare an antidote for your friend and we must work quickly if we are to have any hopes of saving him. But when we’re done with that Leila Folger, you will be honest with me and tell me everything else I want to know, is that clear? Now come.”

I would never have dared to argue with her. The woman was intimidating – even when I was in fire form. I nodded and followed at a safe distance behind her as she began walking towards a little shed at the furthest reach of the fenced garden. My curiosity got the better of my hesitancy, however and I ventured a question. “Salamasina, how will you know what antidote we need for Jason? I mean, don’t you have to examine him first, try to figure out what they poisoned him with?”

She barely gave me a momentary glance as she stopped to unlock the padlock using a jangly bunch of keys. “No, it’s not necessary.
Telesa
have many concoctions for causing sickness, but there are only a mere handful of poisons designed to be fatal and only one of them ensures a drawn-out death. When
telesa
want to kill someone, they don’t usually mess around, they’ll just give them the instantly fatal choice. They must really want to punish your friend because what they’ve given him causes several days of intense suffering.” She paused to give me a look laced with compassion. “I’m sorry, Leila. I’ll prepare the antidote but you must be aware that it may already be too late for him.”

Fire burned brighter as I fought to contain the rage that leapt to the surface at her words. Rage that wanted to destroy Nafanua and her entire sisterhood. I clung to the small measure of hope offered by Salamasina’s words. “Thank you. I know it will work. It has to. Please.”

Daniel surprised us both then as he came up behind us carrying a red floral
lavalava
. “Here you go, something to wear. What else can I do to help, Mama?”

She refused. “No, I have all the ingredients I need right here and it will only take me about twenty minutes to prepare the measure your friend will need. Leila, why don’t you get covered up and come help me? Daniel can get us some dinner perhaps, I’m sure we will all be very hungry once this is all done.”

I couldn’t help thinking that Salamasina just wanted Daniel out of the way so that she could interrogate me further but I would have walked through Arctic ice barefoot, anything to get a cure for Jason. The old woman went into her medicine shed and I motioned at Daniel with a jerk of my head. “Turn around.”

“Why?”

“So I can kill these flames and put some clothes on!”

He folded his arms and still stood there with his head tipped to one side. “Well, go on – kill the fire – and then I promise I’ll give you the
lavalava
.” His tone was teasing.

Mine was threatening. “Turn around, give me the
lavalava
and I promise I won’t kill you with my fire. And don’t look!”

He laughed. “Fine. No need to get so aggressive. I promise, no looking.” He turned away and held out the
lavalava
with one hand, throwing one more jab over his shoulder. “It’s not like I haven’t already seen you half naked, you know.”

I would have flushed red if I had been in flesh form. As it was, my flames hazed brighter and errant sparks spluttered dangerously close to Daniel’s feet, making him dance a side-step out of the way. “Hey, watch it! I said I wouldn’t look.”

“Sorry. Accident.” I mumbled as I focused on trying to still the flames, a very difficult thing when Daniel was standing right there reminding me about the nights he had found me swimming in ‘our’ midnight pool. The time he had joined me in the black water, held me, kissed me.
Dammit, stop it Leila! You’ll never turn this thing off if you keep this up …
Several deep breaths, focusing on the quiet beauty of the garden in the moonlight and my fire flickered and dimmed, spluttered and hissed. And I was left naked and shivering. Quickly, I reached out and grabbed the
lavalava
from his outstretched grip, wrapping it hastily around me. “Got it, thank you.”

Daniel turned and before I could move to join his grandmother in the workroom, he pulled me to him and moved us both out of sight. Into the jasmine-fragranced darkness. “What?” my query was stilled as he enveloped me in his arms, gently running his hand through my hair to tilt my head back so he could bring his lips to mine. He was shirtless and I could feel every inch of him through the thin fabric of the
lavalava
that separated us. I clung to his warmth, his hard strength as he reminded me that I no longer faced my nights alone. His kiss spoke of the crashing surf on the distant reef. Of the silver splash of mermaids dancing on a crested moonlit wave. And I drowned in it. When he finally pulled away, there was a look I couldn’t recognize in his eyes. Raw, ragged, and urgent. His hand came up to caress my face, lingering on my lips. “Leila … I …”

“Leila! I’m waiting, I need your help here.” Salamasina’s imperious voice broke us apart. Daniel released me with a quick grin.

“You better get in there.”

I nodded and moved away, but my eyes told him I didn’t want to.
Focus Leila. Jason needs you remember?