A Big Shiny Blue Marble Ch. 16

"How old are you?"

The words hung in the air for Yasmin for a moment. "I am eighteen," she answered.

"You do not sound as though you are convinced of it yourself," Dakhete said, "Seek in your heart and try it once more. There are reasons why I ask this of you."

The girl hesitated for just a second, wondering which was the more desirable answer to Dakhete. She decided that if she was to be her pupil, then there should be absolute honesty between them. She had never felt this way before about anyone and Dakhete deserved the truth more than anyone living, she decided.

"I am, ... not really sure," she answered quietly, "I believe that I am, ... I think that I am eighteen. Since my mother died, I have lost track."

"Much better, Yasmin," Dakhete smiled, "the reasons why I asked are important. We will need to be several things between us, and ever truthful is perhaps the most important. I will always be truthful to you and I require that from you as well."

"What do we need to be?" Yasmin asked. "I am your servant and will do anything for you."

"A little and only sometimes," Dakhete smiled as she drew back to look at Yasmin. "Look at us here," she chuckled, "two girls who kneel together crying in the grass and dust, but I like this.

The secret is in the names that I have called you by. I will call you as Yasmin most often, since it is a name as lovely as you, and it brings your mother honor for both of us to hear it in the air between us. I will call you Rasha in my mind as you learn, the graceful and beautiful gazelle who I must teach to sometimes be as a lioness. Sometimes I will call you Kitten, for I can see that I will also need to be just a little like your mother to you, and I think that doing it that way will bring both her and I much honor, so you see, it will be a little complicated, the way that we will be between us."

"I will be as you wish, at any time," Yasmin said, nodding, though she ached to see Dakhete's face under that shawl.

"From what I feel, I can tell you that you are almost nineteen," Dakhete smiled, "but do not groan to me over it. You have only days to wait. Many things cannot be taught to one who is younger than that. It is tradition in most of the arts that I have learned and only prudent. Some things are deadly to know and are not to be placed in the mind of one a day younger than that, and magic, as it applies to weapons is one of the most important. Also, to begin, there needs to be a building up of energy beforehand until we begin to teach you how to use weapons more than just the way that a human might."

She got up and sat down by the fire again, "Eat a little more, my new friend," she said, "and we can be off."

"Will you not eat, Mistress?" Yasmin asked.

"No," Dakhete said, shaking her head, "I am not hungry. This was all for you. I will eat our evening meal with you and be proud to do it."

Yasmin lowered her head, realizing that even before all of this, her mistress had shown her much honor. "Thank you, Mistress, I live by your kindness."

"Never mind all of that," Dakhete laughed as she waved her hand as though to wave away the words which embarrassed her a little to hear them here, "You have not told me what happened to cause what I walked into back there in Marrakesh."

"Nothing much," Yasmin said, "I did nothing, like I do any other day in the market stalls, for example. I know which stallkeepers feel sorry for me and let me have something to eat for nothing. They know when to look away so that they do not have to see me walk away with the small bread or the fruit. Anyway, they do not stone thieves there. They only cut off their hands."

Dakhete knew then that Yasmin had this way about her, a method to her speech which allowed her to retain a little dignity in her words even as she admitted something else entirely in what she was not saying. Dakhete had no doubt that if any one of the stallkeepers saw her steal from them, they'd have done something about it. The city was full of the destitute and always had been. The only reason that the daughter of the poorest harlot had anything in her stomach at all and still had her lovely hands was because she was good enough at pilfering not to have been caught at it -- yet.

"If you are finished with your meal, then let us leave," Dakhete said, "We are not far now, but we must find a way across the river. My home lies on the other side of the Nile. I could bring us there n an instant, but it has been so long. I need to be sure so that I do not bring us to a point in the middle of the river itself, and also, I wish to see how things have changed."

Yasmin nodded and rinsed off her plate. Handing it to her mistress, she chose one of the jelabeeyas which were for her and she put it on.

As they walked together, their conversation carried on.

"- But that would all have changed very soon," Yasmin said, "I would have money to buy clothes for myself, and food as well."

"How so?" Dakhete asked, "What would change?"

Yasmin shrugged, "I thought that I would begin to whore myself soon. They already tried to make me do it, but that is not so easy, since I am not like other girls. I fight back very well. But I have learned that perhaps it is not as easy as I had thought to do.

My mother got sick," she said, "but before she died, she made a bargain with my uncle. It was his establishment. He was to allow me to live there and had to feed me. For that, when I began, I was to pay him back."

"Yasmin," Dakhete said quietly, "I have no wish to harm your dream, but this uncle, he whored out his sister?"

"Yes," Yasmin replied, "My mother was very beautiful," she smiled as she remembered.

"I have no doubt of it at all, "Dakhete smiled back, "I can see it in you. Go on."

"You can?" Yasmin asked, "Even though I am still like a stick and have no -- "

"They will come any day now," Dakhete smirked, "Do not give up hope. Anyway, there is a look that some women have who are small or have very little. I think that you will have it in any event, and you will have truly earned your name and be as a lithe young gazelle, a beautiful one. I can tell that you have always been a little sad that you did not get larger breasts, but --"

"A little sad? I have been heartbroken that I did not receive ANY breasts!" Yasmin said exasperatedly, "SOMEthing would have been nice."

"It may be that they will start to grow now, though I must say that it might also not happen anymore," Dakhete said, "You are not thinking the right way. Remember that you are not completely human. Think that your body knows a little bit about protecting itself and that is why it never developed so much. You really needed to be able to continue hiding in plain sight, the poor naked girl.

If you had blossomed and grown lush tits, it would have brought you only unwanted attention. As lovely as you are -- even like this -- you would not last long as a naked girl who has large breasts and very curvy hips. No self-respecting man would scoop you up out of the streets to be his bride, I can assure you. It would be the right thing, but it would never happen."

"You said it again," Yasmin said, looking over, "You said that I am lovely."

Dakhete rolled her eyes, "Look, you are very beautiful to me. I see that you have no curves, other than the long ones such as gazelles have. I like that on you. I see that there are no large tits bouncing there on your chest, but there are some, Yasmin, who see this as an asset and as signs of beauty nonetheless.

Look here," she said, trying to get both of them thinking in other directions, "Look at my chest. It doesn't look like much, but to wear this armor, I must bind my tits tightly. I am no more than average myself, but I can't fight with a sword very well if I don't bind them, and as for shooting a bow, forget it. You will not have this trouble, I think."

"Are you one of those?" the girl asked, "the ones who see not having a big chest as an asset? I only wish to know and you said that honesty is important. So, you like my body?" Yasmin asked, "I mean, you like the way that I am?"

"Yes, for God's sake, "Dakhete said, "I do, alright?"

"Alright," Yasmin smiled, looking forward again as they walked. She looked as though she could float.

"Go on with your tale, please," Dakhete said, "before you turn into an old maid and I still would not know what I wanted to hear."

"My mother was very popular," Yasmin said, picking it up again, "she had many, many men who came only for her. She worked late each day and night, and I waited to take care of her then. I wanted for the day to come when I could begin so that I could buy my mother the things that she'd never had." She looked down and was silent for a time.

"But she died before that happened," Yasmin said in a sad whisper," and I never had the chance."

Dakhete put her arm over Yasmin's shoulder and said, "There is something which you are not seeing here," she said, "Your mother worked so hard and made so much money, and yet she had nothing with which to buy her daughter, the most important person in the whole world to her, even a single jelabeeya.

Your uncle could not find it in his heart to allow his own sister, who was making him rich, to buy her daughter even one simple garment so that his niece wasn't naked on the street. How hard would that have been for him to allow now and then? I bought you four of them in a twinkling. They may not have been the finest in the whole market, but it was not even a thought to me. I am sure that if she could have, your loving mother would have bought you much more than that.

No," Dakhete said, shaking her head a little angrily, "this uncle of yours used her, and took all of her earnings to keep her working there as poor as a mouse and embarrassed that her only child had to run the streets naked all of her childhood. I know this, because I would feel that way if it were me. On top of that, he only waited and fed you little, or you would not have been as weak as you were today. He waited for his chance to have you agree to begin working for him. He just didn't know what you are."

Yasmin looked over and spoke very quietly after a moment, "I wish one day to go back there. I understand it now. I will kill him."

"Then that is what we will do one day soon together. I long to see that for myself now," Dakhete said, "I am sad that I brought it up, but I thought that you should see it for what it was. I will take you back one day soon for you and for your mother's memory both.

And I can tell you something else, Yasmin."

Yasmin stopped then and wiped a tear from her eye as she looked up in a little surprise at the fierce look in Dakhete's eyes.

"No one," she growled through her teeth, "No one there will ever laugh at lovely Yasmin again. I swear it to you in the names of many gods, my friend."

Yasmin nodded her thanks as they walked on.

She fretted a little over the clothing. "I am not used to it, that is all," she said, "I walk and the wind blows a little. When it blows from the front, it gets in the way of my legs as I walk."

"Then I have good news for you, I think," Dakhete replied, "This is only to travel in where there are people. Where we go, it was the custom long ago to wear much less."

"Really?" Yasmin asked, "the women too?"

"Yes, the women too. Almost everyone wore nothing from the hips up," Dakhete said, "Women and men wore short skirts. On a woman, it might go as long as midway to her knees. Young women might wear ones which only covered their backsides a little. That was the way it was then. We favored the Egyptian way, since we were from that culture."

"Why was that?" Yasmin asked, "You said that we are a long way south from there."

"We are," Dakhete smiled, "But the Egyptians conquered Nubia and we learned from them. When they grew weak, we became the power. Many of the Pharaohs were Nubian after that for a time.

Anyway," she laughed a little, "I think that we will be the only ones there, so you may run like the gazelle, naked as you always were, if it is your wish."

Yasmin began to grin and Dakhete asked her why when the look didn't fade after a minute or more.

"I am thinking of my wish," the girl laughed a little, "I think that it is my wish to see you with me like that."

It made Dakhete laugh for a moment, "You hold on to your wish then, Yasmin. If there is no one there, and the gods are willing, there might very well be two gazelles leaping there, for when I train and teach others, I wear little. But I still want to know what happened to bring you to the stoning wall like that," Dakhete said.

Yasmin looked sad and now she looked uncomfortable as well. She struggled with Dakhete's words and had no argument, nothing with which to gainsay what she'd heard. She looked down and mumbled.

"If it causes you shame, Yasmin," Dakhete said as she hugged the girl's shoulder a little, "then keep your secret. I think that I have said the wrong things to you. I did not wish for you to feel badly."

Yasmin looked up, "No," she said, "You helped me. I will tell it. I had a, ... a girlfriend."

She looked over almost expecting to see a look of disapproval, but seeing none, she continued, "We were in her room and we were kissing a little. It felt so good, and I didn't think at all, and before I knew it, I ... I guess that I looked different all of a sudden, and Wadha started to scream. Her mother came running in and Wadha began to make accusations that I was trying to defile her virtue, or something such as this. She only said it because we were there in her bed. I ran out and they caught me three days later.

They kept me at the temple, and the man there, the holyman, he tried to , ... " She looked over with tears in her eyes.

"He hurt me, Dakhete. He beat me a little and said that I must submit to his holy club, but it looked more like a little root to me. I resisted it easily, but I learned enough to know that I can never really even be a whore like my mother."

They walked on for a while and Yasmin said, "I did not mean to upset you by saying that I was kissing a girl. I seem to like them better. I do not know why, really. I ... I just do, that's all."

"You have upset nothing," Dakhete said, "It was not wrong to me. I wish for you to stop feeling badly, that is all. That is upsetting me, because I started this talk between us foolishly. I only wanted to hear more about you. I have my own troubles. Look, there are the rivermen. They are leaving, but one remains still."

She put her headgear on once more and walked right up to the one who had a craft large enough to carry them and the donkey.

"I have never heard of such a place," the riverman said, "and anyway, from what you say, this is a ways downstream. My men and I would have to paddle back up and it would be dark by then. They are already in their cups anyway. Everyone has gone for the day. I am only here to coil up my lines and square away. Our last fare was a boatload of grain for the mill and it has left a mess."

"Then take us only across the river," Dakhete said in the tone of a male, "that will have to do and we walk the rest of the way to where we wish to go. I have never heard of rivermen so afraid of the dark and a little work that they would shun a generous fare."

"You can find your own way across," the man said in a surly tone, "I have a better plan. You go on and swim across, and leave your bride here. By the morning, the crocodiles will surely have you, and your girl will forget your foolish name by the end on the week."

He looked a little vacant as Dakhete spoke again, "I only need you to steer the boat, fool. Now, help the donkey in and cast off your line. I grow tired of hearing you."

They were slipping down the river a few minutes later, the riverman at the rear, working the steering board and saying nothing as he looked a little confused.

"How did you do that?" Yasmin whispered.

Dakhete shrugged, "There is much that I must teach you. Some of it regards men. To them, we are walking wonders which many do not understand. If you find the right one, Yasmin, you will find that to us, they are a different sort of walking wonder themselves. But for now, I do not wish for you to think that men are cruel or stupid or both, but some of them are these things, and there is nothing easier than to hold a thought in the empty mind of a fool, no matter what is between their legs. I learned what I sought to know. A riverman this close to Medewi, and he has not heard of it. I do not think that we will find any others there."

"You said that you had your own troubles," Yasmin said, "How can I help? Is there something- "

"Sh-sh" Dakhete hissed, as she took Yasmin's hand, "There is nothing that you can do, pretty one. There is much for me to think about and that is what I am trying to do. Only hold my hand, and I am pleased."

Yasmin nodded and fell silent. Dakhete considered what she was almost certain that they'd find at Medewi. She also struggled with her own issues, and more than a couple of them related to her feelings toward her companion.

At length, Dakhete pointed to the shore, "See there?" she asked the man, "Steer us there, and we will be rid of each other. Put in at a spot where the donkey can get out and there are no crocodiles." He nodded and headed them there a little downstream.

"How will I get back upstream?" he asked, "it will grow dark soon and the crocodiles hunt most then."

Dakhete was thankful to be reminded and she told him in a droning voice, "You are thinking wrongly. You need to go farther down to find the rich towns where the people pay much more to be ferried in a fine boat such as this. Go on downstream and seek your fortune."

He nodded and thanked her, pushing off to jump into the boat as it picked up speed with the flow of the river and he was out of sight before long.

"I wondered how you would answer him," Yasmin said.

"It matters little," Dakhete replied, "As we talked, I knew that he must not be a very good riverman in these parts. I remembered that there are cataracts in the river in a few places, and there is one of them between here and Medewi, now that I think of it. He has never been there if he did not know of it. It will be almost dark before he reaches it. He will either hang up there or smash his boat on the rocks.

Or if he has luck and a little skill, he may pass them, but he will be moving much faster after that and he has no lights to see by. He will hit something, I am sure of it. Remember what he said to me. It is he who will be in the belly of a crocodile by morning."

"Stand next to me," she said to Yasmin, and she urged Najmah a little closer as well, "I have no wish to walk this road at night for we will have to fight our way through every crocodile who needs to eat. It is too close to the river from what I remember. All this time, and little has changed in this place, only the clothes a little and the shining tombs that I remember are dusty old buildings now which fall down."

She sighed with a little determination as she drew her sword, "And if little else has changed, then the crocodiles have surely not either."

The next thing that Yasmin knew, they were walking down a dusty pathway. "Medewi is over there," Dakhete said, "we will go in only a minute. I search for something here first. I can see that there is much for me to put right again and I will need a little help. This is one of the cemeteries, and I search for one grave where an old friend must lie.

Oh, this will take all the rest of the day," she grumbled.

She walked to the front of the cemetery, and Yasmin could see the remains of what must once have been a very ornate and rich-looking gateway badly crumbled now into little more than twin heaps of wind-rounded square blocks. Dakhete stood with her arms outstretched and began to call out in a loud voice.