Despite the Angels (7 page)

“It is a very pretty name. And she chose it herself.” He put his hand out to touch the tiny form. “May the Mother always bless you, who sang to her in your first moment, my little Armishamai.”

“A noble sentiment and a fine name. Now go away and let Alessia sleep. She has worked hard. Go and tell the good news.” Rasifi shooed him out of the room and set about tidying up, not forgetting to whisper thanks in the direction of the moon.

“Thank you, too, for your help,” said Mohmi, Armishamai’s guide, who was sitting close to the baby, ready to soothe her if she woke and wondered what she was doing trapped in a body. The first few days were always the hardest, until they forgot and allowed themselves to become a baby.

When Armishamai was a week old, Alessia started to discuss her naming ceremony and of course, the handfasting. Now that the baby was here, safe and well, it was appropriate to link her parents together formally, to work together to provide for her. Danthys suggested visiting Elena’s sanctuary cave, but Alessia was firm. She wanted to go home to Tylissos and ask Planidi to perform the swearing ceremonies.

“After all, she’s the reason I came here. If it had not been for Planidi, Armishamai might never have been born, we might never have met.”

“We’d have got you here, don’t you worry. We have Hetrion on our side, he hears his guide, so we only have to talk to her. Don’t you worry, he’d have offered to bring you here anyway.”

“I wonder if Hetrion is going that way soon, could we travel with him…” Alessia began to think about the phases of the moon, wondering if it might coincide with her needs and Danthys kissed her head and went back to the workshop. He knew that distracted look. There was no point in joining in the discussion, just wait and the ideas would brew. Then he could give his opinion.

As luck would have it

“Luck!” says Trynor, “nobody ever realises how much we arrange…”

Hetrion came past a week later and said he would be returning west in a month. He was delighted to take Alessia and the baby on one of the carts. Danthys could help with the bulls. So it was arranged and more than a year after she had travelled with him first, Alessia was again a temporary member of the bull dancing troupe. She sat up on one of the carts, holding Armishamai up to see her father walking in front.

“Look, little one! Dada is talking to the dancers.” There was a burst of laughter from the group of young men and women walking with Danthys and a few of them glanced back at the cart.

“And I bet you he’s telling them all about how we made you, my precious. Saying it was the dancing that did it.”  She watched with pleasure, but some envy, as Danthys started to dance with the troupe as they walked slowly along.

“Hey, I like that double dip, Danthys! Really feels like the earth moving.” One of the bull dancers was copying Danthys, learning the Egyptian steps for the earth walk.

“Yes, it works, too,” said Danthys, lowering his voice, pretending Alessia should not hear, “It was those steps that made her fall for me, the night of the grape festival. And maybe it was that night that the Mother sent us Armishamai!” Everyone laughed and two of the dancers started a very raunchy take on the earth walk, beckoning each other with sultry looks and tilting their pelvises on every dip.

“You’d better be careful, Danthys,” giggled one of the younger women, “or you’ll have dozens of babies,” and she danced past him, trailing her fingers towards him as she did, “None of us would resist you!”  

“Oh, Danthys will resist you fine, Dasi, look how beautiful Alessia is,” said one of the men, before they started to teach Danthys the Cretan form of the dance.

The
last part of the road to Tylissos was uphill, but Alessia got down from the cart and barely noticed the climb as her heart raced on ahead of her, anticipating their arrival. She scanned the hills for the first sign of the higher mountains that had watched over her childhood and when she saw them she turned to Danthys and put her arm through his with a contented sigh. Danthys was happy to be anywhere with Alessia, but he understood what she was feeling, as he had felt the same on his return to Crete from Egypt. He kissed the top of her head and whispered ‘welcome home’.

As they came closer to Tylissos, Alessia saw a girl standing on the small promontory that overlooked the road. The sunlight was behind her, but she had a familiar outline and when she began waving and jumping it was clear. It was one of Alessia’s sisters, who turned away now and with a flick of skirts, disappeared on the other side of the little hill.

“Gone to tell the others the news” said Trynor.

“I wonder will they like us,” said Jotin, “I’ve been doing this for thousands of years, but I’ve never got over the nervousness of meeting new people. In one of my own lives it went very badly. I’m still waiting for people to reach for rocks again. It’s hard not to let my feelings leak through.”

“They are going to love him. What is there to dislike? He’s a nice, straightforward man, who loves their daughter. And they are straightforward people. Haven’t been messed up by too many lives, like you! So stop worrying.”

“Easy to say” fretted Jotin. “Worrying is something that sometimes creeps up on you, even when you aren't expecting it. You really should stop pussyfooting and take another life yourself. Then you might understand.” He stopped, looked at Trynor and laughed. “But you don’t, because you are worried. You are worried that you would make a mess of it, or feel the pain too much, or something of the sort. So you stay an observer. I tell you, young friend, it will get us into trouble sometime.”

Trynor smiled. “Is that a prophecy?” He laughed. “Or just a threat?”

“Neither. Just a bad feeling for a moment.”

“Well, stop it at once. Look at Danthys.”  Trynor pointed and Jotin turned to look. Danthys was walking slower than the others, falling behind. His expression was anxious and his smooth forehead was furrowed, maybe for the first time. Jotin moved quickly over to him and put his energy around the worried boy.

“Alessia, look!” said Trynor and
Alessia turned to see Danthys’ face. She waited for him to take the few steps to catch up with her, then put out her hand to him.

“That was my sister. She has gone to tell the others we are coming. Oh, Danthys, it is going to be so wonderful to see them again and to introduce them to Arma, and to you, of course. They will love both of you.” She reached up and kissed him, and Danthys put his arm around her waist and drew her to him.

“I don’t know why I got worried. Why should they not like me?” he said, in a puzzled tone. “But I just found myself wondering for a moment, how they would feel and whether I would be a threat to them.”

“How could you be a threat?”

“I have no idea. It just came into my mind. Ridiculous really.”

“You see the damage you caused, Jotin? And you were trying to blame me for causing problems.”

“It seems this one is over,” said Jotin, indicating the road ahead.
There on the road was a group of people pointing and talking. A little girl was jumping up and down, and as the bull-dancing troupe drew closer she broke away from the others and ran towards them, her black curls bobbing. Alessia handed Armishamai to Danthys and knelt down, her arms out. Little Paslona, with squeals of “Alessia, Alessia!” threw herself onto Alessia’s lap and buried her face in her older sister’s shoulder. Muffled squeaks could be heard, as she recounted how she had missed her sister, and what skills she had acquired since Alessia went away. Alessia lifted her up and, carrying her as she had since Paslona was a newborn, she was gathered back into her family.

“So is this your daughter, Alessia?” asked her father after the first excitement had died down. “Isn’t she a little beauty? And this fine man must be her father? You are very welcome. It is wonderful to welcome our daughter back as a full woman, blessed by the Mother and with her man beside her. Come , we must drink to this day. And you too, Hetrion, you must help us to celebrate, for you played a big part in this story.”

The party lasted into the dark, as stories were exchanged. Alessia told of the earth walk, her new knowledge of gold, her love for Malatos and her adopted family there; and her family told of all the goings on in the town since she had left, the new births and the deaths, the celebrations and festivals. They included Danthys easily into the circle, sometimes remembering to explain to him who they were speaking about. As the time wore on, they explained less and less, as it seemed that he had been a part of their family always, and Danthys relaxed and told his stories too, of Egypt and the wonders there.

The two guides kept only a cursory eye on the proceedings, as they could see that all was well. They looked in occasionally, just to be sure, but as the evening wore on they could see their help was superfluous. Jotin was glad, as his attention was called for in no uncertain terms by one of his other charges. She had just noticed that what she had mistaken for a log in a river was actually a crocodile. So Jotin transferred his energy to the southern continent, to alert the girl’s family.

Trynor’s other people were all sleeping, as night had fallen on their parts of the world, so after a while he went back to his own home, to refresh his energies and talk to those who guided him.

The family, unaware of the wider world and secure in their own happiness, sang and laughed, the adults cradling the already sleeping children, as the moon set. It was only as the first tendrils of sunlight began to creep across the sky that they grew quiet, began to yawn and at last moved inside to settle for what was left of the night.

Many days were spent in planning the naming ceremony. Alessia wanted all her old friends to attend, so she visited each one, to make sure they had no other plans for the day of the full moon. These visits took a long time, as Armishamai was admired wherever she was brought. Niklon’s mother was fulsome in her praise and, because she had never known of Niklon’s hopes, insisted that her son should admire the baby and congratulate Alessia. He did this with an empty expression, barely muttering ‘yes, lovely’ and not bringing himself to look Danthys in the eye. Everyone else was captivated by the baby’s smile and the dimple it produced in her fat cheek. Danthys was equally admired, only a little less openly. His brown hair and his paler skin were remarked on and there was much discussion about Armishamai’s colouring. It was wonderful to be back with friends and with so much to talk about. There were cousins and their families to see too as well as a feast to plan. Everyone offered to bring something, so there would not be too much extra work for Alessia’s family, who still had to keep working in the pottery.

“So, did you ask everyone what they planned to bring?” asked Alessia’s mother Tikda, as Alessia and Danthys came into the house one evening, laughing and chatting about who they had seen that day.

“No, but they all said they would bring something. There will be plenty. Oh, it will be the most wonderful feast!” Alessia, her eyes shining, danced around her mother. Tikda stood back and put out a hand to slow Alessia down.

“Hold on, hold on. Less excitement and more thought for just a minute. Do you not remember Tanthos and Falida’s feast? I thought no one would ever forget!”

“Oh, yes!” and Alessia began to laugh. “I suppose we had better go back and ask!” She turned to Danthys and when she could catch her breath, she explained:

“They got offers of food, just like we did, but almost everyone brought olives! There were about seventy people there, with one loaf of bread, one dish of lamb and about fifteen big bowls of olives!! It’s amazing we weren’t all sick. It was so funny, we laughed all night!”

“I don’t think Falida thought it was funny,” said Tikda, “It nearly spoiled her day.”

“It was her own fault,” said Alessia without thinking, then she heard what she had just said and laughed again, “just like it would be mine. That’s tomorrow sorted out, Danthys, we have to go and see everyone again.”

“Except Falida” warned Tikda, “don’t remind her.”

“I imagine Falida will check around herself, after what happened to her,” suggested Danthys, who had been falling more in love with Alessia as he watched her reaction to the old story. She was so straightforward, so quick to acknowledge her mistakes, so simply happy. He threw his arms around her and kissed her, then turned to Tikda, and kissed her too. Armishamai, caught in the crush of bodies, laughed and squealed and struggled. As Alessia turned to free the baby, she noticed a small dish on the table beside her. She picked it up and held it out to the others.

“Would you like an olive?” she asked, as a new wave of giggles bubbled out of her.

On the day of the naming ceremony, they were all up early, even though the guests would not gather till dusk. There were tables to be fetched from neighbours and set up on the flat ground beside the house. There were cups and plates to be counted and wine to be carried up from the shop in the town. There were dresses to be got ready, hair to be dressed and make-up to be applied. There were oil-lamps to be filled and wicks to be trimmed. They were all very busy, so in the middle of the afternoon when Tikda decreed that they should all go inside and lie down for an hour, there were cries of protest, particularly from Alessia’s sisters, who wanted to continue making themselves beautiful. But their mother prevailed, telling them that an hour’s sleep would add more to their beauty than any amount of kohl; so for a short while peace fell over the household.