Maliha

“Enzo, go back inside and wash your face properly.”

His little lip stuck out in a pout, but the boy obeyed Maliha’s words and went back inside the tent to wash his face. once he was done she extended her hand out for him and he took it.

“We have a lot to do today.”

“I’m going- with you?” He hesitated, looking up at Maliha in confusion. His little brows knitting together and his small teeth sinking into his bottom lip.

“Of course.” She guffawed. “Where else would you go.” She smiled, patting his head.

She didn’t expect a response from Enzo, her question had been rhetorical, but Enzo had an answer that had Maliha’s skin boiling.

“Normally I just play in the forest until someone calls my name.” His head was lowered as he played with his fingers.

“Is that what you want to do Enzo?” Maliha was angered that they had merely left the boy to himself day after day, with no one to guide him in the ways of the tribe.

It annoyed her but even know, after hearing what his usual routine of doing nothing but playing all day, she doubted whether he would actually want to do activities with her. Perhaps he had become so used to solitude that he now sought after it. Maliha hoped that wasn’t the case.

“I can go play if you want me too?”

His big grey eyes stared up at her with hidden emotion that Maliha couldn’t decipher.

“That wasn’t my question Enzo, I asked if that was what you wanted to do?”

When he just stared up at her in confusion Maliha began prompting him for an answer.

“It’s your choice Enzo.”

Maliha wanted to eventually get Enzo into a routine where he spent time with her learning important lessons and trades and also learning to interact with the other children. She wanted Enzo to have friend his age, to be able to laugh and get up to naughty things with other children. To have someone he could tell his young secrets too, but she didn’t want to force him yet.

She wanted to allow him time to gradually adjust to all the changes she was planning to implement. It started with the daily washing of his face and skin, small things such as his self-care and maintenance and then she would eventually fill his mind with knowledge. She would make him a crucial part of this tribe because that was what he was to her. Enzo’s presence was paramount to her desire to stay. Without him Maliha would only stay for a short time and not have ideas of staying indefinitely.

“Enzo.” She prompted gently. “There is no wrong or right answer.”

“And it’s my choice?” His voice was whimsical as if he had never been given the option to choose.

“Always, my love.” She murmured, stroking one of his plaits that dangled to his chin.

“I want to stay with you.” And Enzo meant more than just in the context of this conversation, Maliha could clearly see that in the set of his delicate face.

He looked scared to hope that she would keep him but hope he did.

“Alright, let’s go.” She quickly pecked him on her a forehead before gathering his small had in hers and heading out for their day

Now that their stomachs were full, the lure for food wasn’t as strong but Maliha was aware that she would be in need of vegetables and meat to cook for their lunch and supper just like she would need pots to cook them in.

She would have to trade with the people of the tribe and since she had only brought a small bag of items that had only the small necessities, but she had talents that she could trade.

As they were walking past the tents, a husky voice called out her name and halted them in their steps.

“V’adar Makula.” Called Maliha, nudging Enzo lightly so he too would call the same.

The elderly woman was sitting outside of her tent on a cushioned log, a small wooden table in front of her was filled with empty jars and a bowl. by her side were piles of cloths that’s Maliha could see plants peering g out of.

“I see you are learning fast. V’adar ah ashran.”

My children

Makula was the adoptive mother of the tribe she could everyone her child. Very Tibet sentence she said the word ashra or ashran as if they truly were her children.

“Take a seat.” She pointed to a small log that say opposite her as if she had been expecting f someone to appear.

Maliha sunk into the chair and then gathered Enzo into her arms and say him on her lap. He instantaneously snuggled into her body and began playfully by with her fingers in that affectionate way of his.

“So, Maliha, you are staying?”

The thing with Makula was that she never truly asked questions, she merely gave statements that made you think she was asking you something but in reality, she already knew the answer. Yes, Maliha has chosen to stay any one could see that she was trying but Maliha believed that Makula had seen this ending long before Maliha and Enzo’s new tent had been erected.

“Yes.” Maliha agreed even though she knew her agreement wasn’t necessary. The tension flew out of Enzo’s body and Maliha lightly tapped his hand to assure him that it was okay.

“I actually wanted to speak to you, but I was planning to wait.” Mumbled Maliha.

Makula’s shrewd eyes lingered over Maliha’s face as a knowing glint settled into her eyes. “You want to know about the Kahani.”

Maliha’s head nodded in agreement but Makula wasn’t done with seeing all that she had.

“And the Svolik.” Her head tilted to the side in a sighted gaze as she stared behind Maliha.

“I suppose Xiuri’s words with you this past night had made you interested.” She sighed, the cloudiness drifting from her eyes as her head rose upwards.

“How did you-”

“Know?” Makula interjected, a chuckle in her laugh.

“There is not much Makula does not know, but much Makula cannot say.”

Her apologetic grin told Maliha that in whatever transcendent voyages Makula had been on, she had glimpsed Maliha’s future or at least a possibility of it.

“The Kahani is a long process. One where you must tap into your dahasmani gifted to you by Savuriya herself.” She husked with reverence.

“You must show her that you are worthy of her gift, prove that you do not harbour dark energies or wish to taint the pure gift she inserted into the centre of every one of Solayka’s descendants.”

“You must learn our, language, our customs our culture and only then will you truly be a Dee Surjaz and a part of our Ishanu.”

“I am not yet part of your Ishanu, but it calls to

Me, why is that so.”

“The Ishanu of the Der Surjaz is the fire to of its kind. Every tribe that follows the way of Savuriya, can trace their ancestry back to our Ishanu which is why you feel as if you belong.

“Your ancestry started here.” Her hand fisted into a circle.

“And like a tree it blossomed out.”

Her fingers spread to signify the growing branches of a tree that spread so far and wide but only stood as strong because of the roots that were first buried.

“Every child of Namali and Kanu, no matter their tribe can find a home here.”

“But not the Svolik.” Murmured Maliha.

Makula’s sneered down at the ground, mouth frothing as she spat on the floor at Maliha’s questions, as if a foul taste lingered in her mouth.

“The Svolik will never find their home here. Never.”

Maliha was confused. She didn’t understand what it was about the Svolik that made the Der Surjaz hate them so much. She wasn’t even sure what the differences were at this point.

“But Xiuri and Ciur were Svolik?”

Makula’s eyes bulged wide and her nostrils flare in a clear indication of her anger. Her fingers clenched rightly on the wooden table as she meant over to Maliha, hostility in whey ounce of her body language.

“They. Were. Not. Svolik.” She growled. Annunciating every word so Maliha could understand.

Enzo’s body nestled tighter into Maliha’s arms as he cowered away from the angered old woman.

“I have insulted them?” Maliha gasped in shock.

Makula’s eyes clenched righty as she ducked in a fistful of air. Her head rocked back on her shoulders as she leaned off the table and reclined back in her chair.

“I forget that you do not know what you rightfully should know.”

Maliha’s lips pursed tightly as she ignored the heart seen message in Makula’s words and instead focussed in soothing Enzo. Maliha lightly patted his hands as his head twisted into her shoulder. The movement caught Makula’s attention.

“Enzo, why don’t you tell Maliha what you know of the Svolik.”

At the calling of his amen, Enzo’s head slowly moved from its perch on Maliha’s chest. His cool eyes stared up at Maliha for co formation he stated speaking.

His words were soft at first but at the small nods of approval that Makula gave him, her a confidence grew.

“The Svolik are not Za’emon crafted by Najrati but people like us, but there light has been darkened.”

Wide eyes were riveters in his hands as he recounted what he knew. The. They blew impossibly wider as he revealed more information.

“Only those with dark hearts are truly Svolik, even if they are raised within the tribe.”

“That is right ashra.” Praised Makula only showing a small sign of her surprise at how much Enzo knew.

Where he had learnt that information, Maliha did not know but it was clear to her that Enzo knew more than she gave him credit for. She was doing Enzo a disservice by not pushing him to his full ability and she vowed that would be one of the many things she would do.

“The Svolik are not demons or ghouls but our brothers and sister who have lost their way to the power and greed of Najrati.”

Maliha remembered that at the naming ceremony of Namali and Kanu, Makula had described Najrati as the antithesis of Savuriya. So, if their goddess was of light and life then Najrati had to be of darkness and death.

“So, the Svolik were once Der Surjaz?”

Enzo’s head nodded vigorously, lightly bumping against her chest. Makula’s withered face folded into a smile as she pinched Enzo’s cheek with affection.

“Smart min” Makula praised, causing red to tinge Enzo’s deep coloured skin.

“The Svolik were our kin.” She sighed.

“Many years ago, the way our tribe was structured was very different. Our leader was always preordained by Savuriya, and either the previous Sujurrah daughter would lead, or the sons mate would lead. It was always a female. However, when Yidashay was born a darkness entered our tribe.”

Makula hissed the man’s name as if he were filth. Evil incarnate, but how could they believe in pure evil when their goddess had created nature which was both kind and cruel.

“He disagreed with our way of life and he exiled and butchered all those who followed our true leader, and his sister, Narisa.”

Maliha’s mind was blanketed with visions of fire, screaming women and slain men, yet she felt it was not this tribe that those visions belonged to, but she was sure that the Svolik had played their part.

“Yidashay assumed control of the Der Surjaz for centuries turning our rich and humble nation into a filth pit. Some tried to object but many were silenced, and, in the end, they too fell into step... The Ishanu cried blood for years.”

Makula’s voice cracked as if she had been there to witness the death of her people

Maliha remembered Makula staying this before, at the time it had made no sense but now it did. If The Ishanu was a living entity where the veil to the ancestors was thin, then the ancestors would have felt the poison rotting their people. The Ishanu would have also had a large influx of many of its children, men and women who had met their time early to the poisonous ways of man.

“One day, a child named Sajah stumbled upon the tribe. She was a descendent of Narisa who had been guided by the light of Savuriya, the wanderlust of Pathikyo and the strength of Solayka.”

“Sajah forced the Svolik from our lands and brought back our Ishanu. She made our Daharrasol light up again.” Piped in Enzo.

Maliha was beginning to notice that Enzo knew much of their ancient stories. Every time a tale was told he seemed to be enraptured by the recounting and even more, so he seemed to know each story. Was this a lingering effect of his mother’s presence or something different. Something more?

“And now we are the mighty Der Surjaz.” Makula growled mockingly, extending out one plant as if it were a sword and tickling Enzo until the boy was snorting with laughter

Maliha absently smiled at Enzo’s joy but even then, she couldn’t stop her minds incessant nagging that something was missing.

“If Sajah saved you, why are you still cursed to never have girls?”

Makula’s joking around ground to a halt as she sighed deeply. In that moment, the woman looked truly weary. As if she had been in the world far longer than her soul desired.

“The Der Surjaz are part of a nation that can only be ruled by a female. All of our tribes from the La Aquy, to the Nah Barros and the Malashy, are led by women. But because we as a people had allowed this deadly energy to taint us, we have been forced to purify our essence until we are worthy.”

How would they know they were worthy? And what did that even mean? To Maliha, this tribe had many flaws, but they were not bad. She had traversed through lands that had truly bad tribes, tribes that believed in all sorts of beliefs that would never bring peace to the soul. The Der Surjaz were not bad, nor were they amazing. They just were.

“We have spent the past hundred years trying to right the wrongs of our ancestors and every time we get close, our Razi’s resolve weakens or his Sujurrah births a son.

“Until we are blessed with the true light of a girl, procured from the loins of our Razi and birthed from the womb of our Sujurrah. The curse continues.”

Ujarak was just another son in the long line of sons that had been birthed by a Sujurrah and instead of his father being the man his mother needed when her daughter died, he sowed his oats proving that he was not worthy and thus, that the Der Surjaz were not worthy.

“The curse continues until she births a girl.”

Though they were a tribe that held their ancestors in reverence, Maliha found it truly unfair that the present-day people were suffering for sins that they had not committed. How could they say that those left in the Der Surjaz tribe under Yidashay’s ruled really commit a sin, when all they had done was tried to live. Maliha felt like she was missing a crucial part to the story, but she couldn’t sit around and talk all day.

She stayed with Makula for a few moments longer, discussing some other facts about the Der Surjaz before she continued on with her day, but her mind never moved from Makula’s last sentence.

She caught fish with Enzo, traded in some of those fish for pots, she cooked their lunch and then their dinner. Maliha even sat by the fire conversing with Kamir heartedly whilst Xiuri, who had spent the day in meditation, had spoken a few sentences whenever she felt brave enough. Maliha washed ashes the pots, washed her skin, sung goodnight to Enzo and through all of that, Makula’s final words haunted her.

They would suffer until their Sujurrah birthed a girl and Maliha would have to sit back and watch because history would not repeat itself. Not because of her.

Makula’s final words had strengthened her resolve. She would not be the downfall of another generation of Der Surjaz men.