Maliha

It meant nothing.

Darsan’s seizures and Savuriya’s plan, meant absolutely nothing for Maliha and Ray’et.

The weeks following, saw them melding back into their usual pattern of eating and spending time together. Though there was a more cautiousness to all of their encounters, nothing between them had changed. Except everything had.

There was a silent understanding between the two, an understanding that their meeting, their being together was part of a plan that they did not know and could not even begin to fathom, but they did not let that affect them.

Things stayed the same, the tiny tendrils of intimacy that went beyond the bounds of friendship, had begun to furl around them. Their relationship was both progressive and stagnant but the same could not be said for Xiuri and Kamir.

Something had changed, and it was not positive, not if Maliha went by the despondent look splayed across Xiuri’s face or if she went by the fact that Kamir had all but disappeared from their fire.

He had become such a pivotal fixture at their fire that the moment he had not eaten with them, Maliha had noticed and so had Enzo. It seemed that Kamir had not yet began teaching Enzo to make his bow yet. Enzo did not seem too affronted by this, especially as he had friends his own age, but it was something that Maliha immensely disliked.

She disliked people who did not stick to promises but all of that was inconsequential when his actions were now affecting Xiuri’s countenance.

Maliha sat by the lake pondering how best to approach Kamir and fix Xiuri’s new sullen mood. She stared over the rippling body of water as Xiuri worked silently beside her.

Maliha plucked at a bright red flower and extends it towards Xiuri.

“Do you like this flower?”

Xiuri’s brow knitted together at the weird question but she accepted Maliha’s gift, twisting the flower in her hands as she observed it. She gathered the petals to her nose and inhaled before pulling it away and placing the flower beside her basket.

“It smells nice, but I prefer the Lahi flower. When it is a bud it is such a dark blue it almost looks like a rotting leaf but when it blooms it is the most vibrant of them all.”

Maliha agreed, the Lahi flower suited Xiuri well. Maliha would never describe her friend as rotten but she did agree that when Xiuri bloomed she became the most vibrant and loving woman ever. It was a shame that Kamir had crushed her petals before they had fully bloomed.

“Maliha.”

“Yes?” Maliha hummed, pulling her gaze away from the water and turning to see Xiuri.

Her friend looked much older than her younger years. The sight of Xiuri withered and tried face only making Maliha’s anger grow that much deeper. Maliha cursed Kamir a thousand times in her mind before turning her ear to Xiuri.

“Do you...” Xiuri hesitated, gnawing at her cracked lips before continuing. “Have you spoken to Kamir?”

“No, Ray’et said he has been training too hard.”

Ray’et had said it was a sign that something dark was plaguing his friends mind and Maliha had to agree. Every time she caught a glimpse of Kamir, which was very little these days, he seemed as if he were fighting an inner battle.

The man looked tired and worn out, as if he were not eating or sleeping but no amount of Maliha’s pleading for him to eat by their fire, could change Kamir’s mind. In the end, she had left him to his own devices, but she did not miss how he stared longingly at Xiuri, nor did Maliha miss the way his fists would clench at the sight of her scars.

“I hope he is okay.” Xiuri muttered under her breath but it was loud enough for Maliha to hear.

“You miss him.”

“Yes, but I should just get used to this now.”

Xiuri’s glazed eyes stared over the lake as she chewed on her lower lip in thought. A stray tear glided down her cheek. Xiuri wiped at it but the torrents that flowed from her ducts were too much to stop. Xiuri buried her face in her palms as her shoulders began to shake.

Maliha’s body was moving before she could even process what was happening. Her arms wrapped around Xiuri’s shoulder as she smoothed her frizzy hair away.

“Xiuri?”

“It was too soon.” Xiuri sobbed, her words muffled by her tears and her hands.

“Now he is gone.”

At first, Maliha was confused. She couldn’t comprehend what Xiuri was saying, her words were ineligible against Maliha’s skin, but when realisation dawned on Maliha, she felt a heavy ball of dread gathering in her throat.

“You told Kamir?” Maliha croaked, her eyes pricking with tears.

Xiuri’s head bobbed up and down.

Her friend’s response sent Maliha’s blood boiling.

“That piece of Rak’haan Kaku.” Maliha growled, her fist clenching with her desire to strangle the man.

“It’s not his fault.” Snivelled Xiuri, “It’s a lot for anyone to accept.”

“You say ‘accept’ as if you did something wrong! All you needed was his understanding and support and instead this is what you get?” Maliha growled, her hands waving at her friend’s tear-stricken face.

“Why are all the men in this tribe so dense?”

Maliha knew Kamir was not an evil man, but the way he had dismissed Xiuri after finding out her past, left a bitter taste in Maliha’s mouth and she did not like it. She wanted to kill him but then she remembered the longing looks he had been sending Xiuri’s way. There was clearly something she was missing, and she had the intention to get to the bottom of it before she throttled the warrior to death.

“Not all of them. Ray’et is not so dense.”

Xiuri was right. Ray’et was not so dense but Ujarak definitely was.

Maliha gritted her teeth at the thoughts of Ujarak that kept bombarding her throughout her day. Guilt itched at her skin at the acknowledgement that she was still thinking of Ujarak instead of Ray’et. Ray’et was an amazing man, he got along with everyone and had even decided to visit Darsan often while she recovered from herself imposed isolation.

Ray’et was amazing, he was attractive, strong and loyal but still the thought of Ujarak remained a plague to her mind and she hated it.

“Maybe he needs time. My past is a lot for anyone to just, take In.” Whispered Xiuri, staring down at her basket of clothes like a lost child.

Maliha huffed. “Maybe he does.”

A deep sigh rattled Maliha’s chest. Her eyes rolling heavenward because even though Xiuri believed her words had been for Kamir, Maliha had really been thinking about Ujarak.

Maliha had no intention of giving Kamir anymore time. First, she would speak to Ray’et and gage his opinions and then she would go straight to the source. Kamir would realise the error of his ways even if Maliha had to beat it into him. She wasn’t a violent woman but seeing Xiuri’s downtrodden expression was enough to send even the holiest person into a fitful rage.

Maliha would make him see, with or without words. Preferably with.

She vowed it.

“The world doesn’t stop for one stupid man, Xiuri.”

Maliha bent down and kissed Xiuri on her forehead before gathering her basket of clothes. They both walked together in comfortable silence as they made their way out of the forest and back into the heart of the tribe where they parted ways.

After hanging up their damp clothes along her tent, Maliha headed to the tent of Maya and Nasim where Enzo played with his new friends. Once she had collected Enzo, they then made their way to Makula’s to visit Darsan.

As Maliha approached Makula’s tent, she saw Ray’et storming from the structure and charging off into the distance. The flap of the tent rocked in his wake as his mutinous figure disappeared into the village of tents, but the anger remained potent in the air even in his absence. For a moment Maliha contemplated going after Ray’et but Enzo’s impatient tugging along her skirt prevented her.

The thick scent of incense coiled around Maliha’s lungs and singed her nose hairs as she stepped past the flap. The tent was shrouded in darkness even though the sun was at its highest peak outside. The thick plumes of smoke created a hazy film over Maliha’s eyes as she made her way inside. Her hands flapped in front her face in an attempt to clear the air, so she could see where she was going.

“Maliha, Enzo.”

The voice came from a corner of room that was shrouded in a thick grey cloud of smoke, darkness clung to her frame even as the sunlight tried to touch her skin.

“Makula.” Maliha sighed in relief, stepping towards the moves towards the corner where she sat. Maliha’s eyes watered as she stepped into the smoke to get closer to the elderly woman.

The elderly woman’s skin shimmered with perspiration, her eyelids heavy as if she had been given a potent drug whilst she puffed on a long wooden pipe full of ingredients that Maliha had never seen.

“I saw Ray’et leaving here quite angrily.”

“Yes.”

Makula, hissed sounding like a snake as her eyes closed and her head bobbed back.

Maliha jumped back as the woman’s head jerked forward and white orbs flickered up to stare at her unseeingly.

“The sun rises inside the waxing moon.”

Makula muttered, her body swaying back as sweat glided down her skin in large rivulets.

“What?”

Maliha’s feet stumbled backwards in an attempt to get away from Makula’s unconscious rambling which had begun to drive fear into Maliha’s heart.

“Those who hear, can see.” Makula murmured, her eyes rolling to the back of her

“Only those that hear, can see. Those who see, can walk.”

Makula’s voice echoed throughout the tent, causing the hair along Maliha’s arm to prickle with unease and causing a sharp whimper to escape through Enzo’s lips. He buried his head into Maliha’s body and wrapped his arms around her waist in what was unmistakable fear.

Maliha gripped Enzo’s shoulder and forced him back a few steps so they could retreat out of the ten, but a voice halted their movements.

“Makula is in a trance. Her soul is not here.”

Darsan’s melodic voice came from the far corner, where smoke billowed around her face in a shroud of mystery. Her blonde hair shone like the glacial peaks of the Melikit mountains. Her pale, slanted eyes gleaming like a cat in the night.

Darsan’s bare feet padded on the floor as she made her way through the smoke and extended her hand outwards.

“Darsan.”

Tears clogged Enzo’s his throat as he reached for the young girl, but his steps faltered as Darsan staggered away from him. Her lips parted in a tense smile as she waved them over from the self-imposed distance.

“Come this way.”

Her fingers crooked as she retreated further into the tent. Maliha and Enzo reluctantly followed Darsan, Maliha game giving Makula one last parting glance before she took her seat in the far corner.

A flickering lamp sat on the small wooden table, the wood was riddled with scratch marks and oil stains showing that it was a well-used and loved piece of furniture.

“What is going on?” Maliha whispered, scared to disturb Makula’s trance.

“Makula is conversing with our goddess on another plane.”

“Why?” Queried Enzo.

“Much is influx. We are living through times of change and as such Savuriya will use us as her guide.”

Maliha did not need to ask Darsan what her and Makula were guiding the tribe to. It was clear that they were reaching some sort of cataclysmic end and their future depended on the revelations given to both women.

Maliha nodded her head in understanding before changing the subject. They sat with Darsan for a while, Enzo’s inquisitive mind bringing small smiles to the girls troubled mind. Maliha danced around the topic of Kamir, trying to gage how much Darsan knew but no information was imparted. When Maliha breached the topic of Ray’et’s hasty departure from the tent, Darsan’s eyes betrayed that she knew much on the topic but still, she did not reveal.

Maliha sat back observing Darsan as she interacted with Enzo, her mind whirling as she analysed all the facts that she had been assailed with over the past few days and weeks. Makula’s riddles running through her mind even as Maliha discarded them as the ramblings of a drug induced seer.

“Thank you for sitting with us.” Called Maliha when Enzo’s yawns started to become longer and more frequent.

“It was our pleasure”

Darsan’ eyes turned ivory as she motioned to a still chanting Makula, before turning back to their usual cloudy blue. Maliha noted the way the Darsan seemed to communicate silently with an unresponsive Makula

Hastily climbing to her feet, Maliha headed to the entrance of the tent, a tired Enzo leading the way and Darsan following behind.

The sun light wasn’t as bright as was when they had entered the tent hours ago, but it was enough to have Maliha flinching away. A small smile graced Darsan’s lips as she turned to head back into the tent but Maliha quickly gripped her shoulder in a firm clasp. Maliha’s vivid green eyes stared into Darsan’s, conveying words that she struggled to speak. In the end, Maliha settled for something simple and succinct.

“Don’t let the fear of touch, stop you from living.”

Darsan eyes turned glassy as she retreated back into the dark tent that had begun to serve as her self-imposed prison, but Maliha felt hopeful. Through Darsan’s watery gaze, Maliha had seen conviction, conviction to love and not just survive.

That night, Maliha sat by Ray’et at their fire. His mood was sombre, and she wondered if it had anything to do with why he had stormed from Makula’s tent, but she did not ask. Instead she focussed their conversation on Kamir’s absence.

“I cannot give you his reasons Maliha.”

The phrase was one Maliha had become accustomed to for the past few nights, but she did not relent against Ray’et’s unwavering loyalty.

“I would never ask you to betray his confidence, but I also cannot sit by and watch them fall apart. Not when I know he cares.”

Ray’et’s lip tipped to the side in concealed mirth at the pleading look Maliha sent him.

“Maliha” Ray’et sighed, air whooshing around them.

“Kamir does care, doesn’t he?”

“Of course,” Ray’et huffed, annoyed that she would even ask. “He cares for Xiuri, but he cannot see- I cannot.”

“Please.” Maliha begged.

“Look at her.” She growled, her head bobbing towards Xiuri but Ray’et’s dark gaze stay fixed on Maliha.

“I said look at her, Ray’et.” The unbridled pain in Maliha’s voice had Ray’et’s head snapping to gaze at Xiuri.

The forlorn look on Xiuri’s face was full of heartbreak and despair. Her shoulders were slumped as she picked at her food and stared sightlessly into the fire with teary eyes. her free hand stroked along her scarred right cheek, the tears creating a soft sheen over the visible marks of her trauma.

A sigh of resignation tumbled from Ray’et’s chest as he turned away from Xiuri’s weltering form.

“He cares for her deeply but there is an anger and guilt in his heart that he does not want to taint her with. I cannot explain why but it is eating away at him.”

He took another look over his shoulder at Xiuri before adding, “It’s eating away at both of them.”

Maliha clasped his chiselled jaw in her hand and pulled his face towards hers. She placed a delicate kiss full of emotion on lips. She admired the emotion emitting from his eyes, her thumb stroking along the strong lines that made up his face. She leant in and kissed him again. His firm lips softened beneath hers, as his hands came up to cradle her face.

“Thank you,” Maliha whispered against his lips, her eyes shuttering closed as she lay her head against his chest.

Sucking in a deep breath full of air, Maliha let her mind drift away to the sound of Ray’et’s heart thumping.