Tales of Midbar: Secret Priest

Beit Muraten was a cluster of small stone buildings on top of a hill overlooking a small lake. It was weird seeing Aleph and just one cyan light (a satellite in geosynchronous orbit) in the sky and no sapphires. The only humans in this sephir were anavim and they lived peacefully with bear-like lardnin. I’d heard young anavim often see ghosts, which are actually images of other sephirot. These tend to get less frequent once you learn to control your powers (probably because visioning, which you have to do to make sure the places you teleport to are safe, uses up the same neurotransmitter). I’d never noticed this, probably because Laraget was at a lower altitude than any point on any nearby sephir. Here I could see huge robots and worm like creatures.

“Those must beth the invaders in Midbar-Malchut,” said Dwendra.

I realized that this sephir was adjacent to Midbar-Malchut.

We were directed to the shop where we found a young woman who looked like an idlan but with a flat face and small, punched-in nose. She was sitting on a chair in the corner looking bored as two lardnins looked at the merchandise.

Dwendra spoke to her in Semic.

“Does she have the gift of tongues?” I asked.

“Yes I do,” she said.

“Are you Rilletteecket?” I asked.

“Yes.”

“We need a translator for Kledris,” I said.

“You could just get the gift of tongues,” she said.

“We art not Winemakers,” said Dwendra.

“In case you haven’t noticed, I’m not very popular in Kledris as I’m about as hairy as you,” she pointed at Dwendra.

“We were told you knew the valley where the nakeds live,” I said.

She gave me a very cross look. “I’m not a naked, I’m a hairy. I just happen to have some naked ancestry so I don’t have much hair. A lot of the people in that valley are like that. The hairies don’t like me because I don’t have much hair, the real nakeds don’t like me because I’m a hairy and the hairies who don’t have much hair don’t like me because I’m an anavah, which is what they get for being incestuous!”

“All thou hath to do ist help us taketh the helicopter to the temple,” said Dwendra. “Apparently the hairy anavim can’t do it because they couldst not explaineth what nakeds art doing in their company.”

“You’re not actually nakeds are you? You’re some races from another sephir or you wouldn’t have the language problem.”

“We’re from Midbar-Binah,” I said.

“Well what’s in it for me?”

“It art a good deed,” said Dwendra.

We looked around the store. There were containers of metals, jewels, fruit, vegetables and what looked like herbs and spices. “We can get you fruit, herbs, jewels and metals.” I said.

“Or an artifact,” said Dwendra.

“What about making me a clamet?” asked Rilletteecket

“We don’t belongeth unto a clan,” said Dwendra.

“Can’t you just join Beit Kerem,” I said, “they’re short of clametot?”

“I want to give my daughters a happy childhood, like I didn’t have.”

“What sephir are your daughters in?” I asked.

“I’ve still got some things to resolve with their father, not to mention becoming a clamet.”

“That’s not a logical ... Oh you haven’t had these daughters yet.”

“And I won’t have daughters if I joint Beit Kerem because of the curse. How do you intend to become a clamet?”

Dwendra stared at her for a few seconds and said, “I hath other problems I needeth to dealeth with.”

“Come on, you can’t say you’ve never thought about it!”

“I art a Holy Woman, I must maryeth a Yohoist priest. That ist all that matters unto me.”

“Then you should join or found a clan.”

Dwendra looked at her. “There art other issues which needeth to be dealt with first.”

“Like what?”

“Resolving our religious differences. We needeth to speak unto the priests at Kledris temple.”

“So if I help you, will you at least put in a good word for me with the leaders of your clan? That’s when you get one.”

Fortunately Rilletteecket was very good at touch telepathy so we could just touch her to communicate and let her do the talking.

We waited for the helicopter at a pad on the edge of the valley, just before a steep drop into the huge canyon. Dwendra was clearly feeling self-conscious because we were wearing the same sort of skimpy outfits the hairies wear. There were a few other people. The nakeds or the non-hairy hairies, I wasn’t sure which was which, were surprisingly varied in appearance. There was one who looked like a bennis, but without the pointed ears, two who looked faharni and another who looked like an idlan.

The helicopter was the type with four rotors and a cabin in the middle. It landed, piloted by two hairies and with a third who seemed to be a stewardess. She ushered us on and then it took off. The view of the valley was spectacular, even in black night, with luminous photoorganisms and huge flutters spiraling round beside the cliffs.

Lower down, the cyan lights came on and we could see several narrow lakes or seas running along the floor of the canyon. We could even see boats on them. There were cities and farms with patchwork fields around them. The temple itself was huge, built on a promontory that projected from the canyon walls near the middle of the canyon, with a majestic city around it. The actual temple was a square enclosure with a wall around it and a huge gate house on three of the four sides, although one didn’t seem to lead anywhere. This was part of a larger complex that included gardens and, oddly, a sports stadium. This complex also had a helipad where we landed.