Tales of Midbar: Religious Intolerance

“I think you have to kiss a man or something to not be a virgin,” said Cloud.

“I’ve been kissing my father all my life,” I said.

“So have I,” said Breeze, “well my father. I think you have to kiss a man you’re in love with.”

“So I’ll have to marry a man,” I said, “because I don’t want to become a virgin, that would be terrible!”

“It’s a good thing Winemaker psychics are allowed to marry each other,” said Breeze.

“Doesn’t something bad happen if two psychics marry each other?” I asked.

“Their children will be psychic,” said Cloud. “But what’s wrong with having lots of psychics? You see this not letting psychics marry each other thing shows the inherited korbarism of Trulism.”

I knew all the adult Winemakers who normally lived on the Vineyard were married to each other. Something about that had always bothered me. Now I realized that they were all anavim and completely disobeyed the Trulist prohibition against psychics marrying each other. As a result all their children were anavim.

“Anavim are going to take over the planet,” said Irvis.

“That’s korbarist,” I said.

“It’s prophecied,” said Irvis.

“Our greatest fear is that everybody else will be killed by something that we can survive,” said Breeze.

“Does ‘planet’ mean Midbar, Earth or another planet?” asked Cloud.

“I thought it was all human habitable planets,” said Irvis.

“Breeze is the only Winemaker ... anavah Winemaker,” I said. “So who’s Cloud going to marry?”

“I’m going to a sephir to marry a clamet,” said Cloud.

[Translator’s note: In Faharni, the same word is used for the cyan lights in the sky and the blue jewels so I’m using the English word for the jewel. “Sephir” is a Semic word so it’s written phonetically, it also doesn’t easily translate into English and the children don’t know what it means. The Faharni word for “sapphire” does not sound similar to “sephir”, hence nobody making puns about it.]

Irvis started laughing and said, “Breeze is a clamet! You’re going to marry your sister!”

“No I won’t!” said Cloud. “She isn’t in a sephir!”

“What’s a sephir?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” said Cloud. “I heard one of the slegim say that he was going to a sephir to marry a clamet, the other’s congratulated him.”

We were at the bridge.

“Minris bridge,” said Breeze. “It dates from before the Cataclysm. It looks simple but has several bindings and associates, which is probably why it’s lasted this long.” She was walking across it while she was talking.

“You are OK about being a nibeyah and the rest of us being anavim and Breeze being a, or rather, the anavah magis aren’t you?” asked Cloud.

I wasn’t sure about that. I’d rather suspected that we were psychic for a while but hadn’t understood the specifics. I didn’t know any nibey children in Minris.

“I think I’m going to play at being a detective who’s in denial about being psychic,” I said.

Then I realized that perhaps Breeze being the new magis was the Winemaker’s secret but I didn’t know what to do about that either.

Obviously the next place to look was the Shrine so we took the shortcut, through the trees and vines. I was mulling over what it meant to be a nibeyah and for the Benai Haprihagfen, along with the adult Haprihagfen, to be anavim and for Breeze to be the anavah magis.

“Of course this place is full of associates,” said Breeze, as we walked through the circles of rocks towards the doors in the cliff. “I’ve been having flashes, sort of seeing associates and bindings for a couple of years. I’ve got good at doing it since I helped track Lishrashic’s binding to its associate and then the helmet I was given for the festival didn’t have a magic detector and I had to use my magis power.”

“Why do you need us?” asked Irvis. “You’re an anavah and you’re a magis so you can detect magic. What use are the rest of us?”

“We’re stronger than her,” said Cloud, “and Eleprin should be better at getting on with people as most people don’t hate nibeyot as much as anavim.”

“What use is being stronger?” asked Irvis. “How long before she learns to do magic without artifacts? Who are we going to fight here?”

“How did you try to open the doors?” asked Breeze.

“Oh, and she witnesses whatever Lishrashic was trying to do!” said Irvis.

With that he ran off.

"You've got Escree!" shouted Cloud.

“You told him?” I asked.

“It’s hard to keep secrets among anavim,” said Cloud.

I wondered how much they really knew and decided it probably wasn’t good to think about that near them.

"What's Escree?" I asked.

"His imaginary girlfriend," said Cloud.

I walked up to the doors and put my hands on them, the way I’d done for Lishrashic. Again I felt Yoho’s love, concern and disapproval and got flashes of things I didn’t understand.

“I don’t like touching those,” said Cloud.

“Only magic should be able to open them,” said Breeze, “but I don’t know how to.”

“I couldn’t get it to work," I said. "You get flashes of things when you touch them?”

“Like a moving collage in my head,” said Breeze. “I’ve never been able to make anything of it.”

Perhaps this was the secret, hidden in these fast changing images.

“What I don’t understand,” said Breeze, “is why he didn’t get me to try to open them. Most people who know much about magic and the Vineyard suspect that I’m the new magis.”

“You are the new magis,” said Cloud.

I took my hands off the doors and stepped away. That was a bit of a relief.

“There are associates all over this,” said Breeze, looking at the doors. She reached out her hand in the centre. “There’s a cluster here that look like they should ...” She turned her hand, as if turning a door handle.

Suddenly the doors, dropped into the ground, revealing a dark, gaping space with two racks of shelves, with many small objects on them and a dark space between. The three of us stood staring at the opening.

“Oh,” said Breeze, walking into the crypt. “I didn’t think I could manipulate associates yet. These things are all artifacts, some of them very strange. There’s a complete jumble of associates and bindings here, I can’t trace Lishrashic’s binding to it’s associate. I think it’s under the floor somewhere.”

I was standing outside, remembering that I’d been told not to go in. Then Cloud pushed me in.

My eyes adjusted as I walked into the crypt. Breeze had lit a mage light already.

“Probably shouldn’t touch anything,” said Cloud.

“How do you do mage lights if you can’t manipulate associates and don’t have artifacts?” I asked.

“We use artifacts,” said Breeze.

“But you’re not allowed to have artifacts outside the Vineyard and you haven’t had a chance to pick any up.”

“Oh,” said Breeze, looking at her mage light, which promptly went out.

There was enough light to see that the shelves extended for several meters. Then there was a circular area with several large idols in a circle.

“I didn’t think Winemakers had idols,” I said.

“These are just statues,” said Breeze. “Nobody knows why they’re here but they’re full of associates.”

She got her mage light working again. There were six statues, three men, two women and a child who’s sex couldn’t be determined. They were positioned as if having a heated argument, with their arms raised and their mouths open. The walls of this chamber were lined with more shelves of small objects, probably artifacts.

“There are some large associates just hanging here,” said Breeze walking into the middle of the statues and holding up her hands. She gasped, spun round to face us, her mage light went out and several other, brighter mage lights came on around the edge of the circle.

“You alright?” asked Cloud.

“Yes,” said Breeze, lowering her arms. “It just, well I’m not sure what it did.”

She started walking hastily towards the door so me and Cloud went with her.