From the Sea
an excerpt

FROM THE SEA

Chapter I

Her first memories were of scents that she rarely encountered in her home, and sounds that never came to he ears, but only to her troubled dreams. Ever since she had become self aware, Sil knew she was different in some essential way from the others of the village. Her 'family' treated her like a well loved, but essentially stupid and useless pet. She was mostly kept indoors and allowed to do simple chores like cleaning and spinning, once she was old enough and big enough to reach the buckets and to learn the way of the spindle. School and playing with other children were never allowed to her, her mam told her she wasn't healthy enough for such things.

No one ever marked her name day or even hinted that such a thing was known of her. She watched the other children in the village and in the home grow and celebrate namedays, receiving little trinkets and new clothes yearly, but never were such things for Sil. She was clothed in the cast offs of the older children, and later of the younger ones who grew so much faster than Sil did.

By the time Sil had learned to count and even read (several of the other children in the house delighted in teaching her in secret, as amazed that she was able to learn as they would have been if the housecat had started singing), for some reason, Sil was able to communicate with the housecat, indeed with most of the animals in ways that the others in the house never could...she knew what they were thinking and feeling and was able to 'reach' them with her thoughts and speak to them on a very basic level. She could sometimes feel the thoughts of the people in the house, but usually only when they were emotionally charged, and those thoughts tended to give Sil headaches.

Life wasn't hard on her, she was well fed and kept safe, but once every few weeks, the healer would come to the house with his collecting vessels and take blood from Sil's arm. Her mam told her she had a disease that made her the way she was, slow to grow and delicate, and that if the healer didn't take the blood, she would die. For many years, Sil believed this story, but as she slowly grew, she began to wonder why she was the only one with this disease, why her skin was so silvery and her hair so shockingly red when no one around had such features. She had been counting the years of her life ever since she was aware of numbers and years and figured she must be at least fourteen years old, but no bigger than the a six year old child in the village. Her slow growth and tiny size gave her more and more advantages, since most people ignored her, or thought of her as a little child, and didn't always guard their tongues around her. Slowly, Sil began to gather little hints of disturbing truths.

Mam's mate Aldo was a peddler, who came and went from the village on regular trips to far off places, usually returning only for the growing season and the harvest...then he would be off again taking surplus crops, woven goods and the wool of the soft longhaired goats down the mountain to trade for other goods that he would return with in the next growing season. He always brought the wonderful smelling and tasting salt that the village couldn't provide for itself and that had to be locked away from Sil. When she was tiny, they had found her in a bag of the salt, licking it and rubbing it all over herself. That was the only time Sil could remember being beaten...not too harshly, but it was unusual in this community that allowed children to explore and make mistakes without punishment. Sil remembered her mam saying at the time “Well, what can you expect? She's going to be attracted to such things, and we'll just have to be more careful”. Sil had no idea at the time why that would be, and simply filed the comment away with the others she heard from time to time.
Most years, Aldo brought home a sack of shiny strange rocks that he called shells. He traded a lot of them to the women of the village who used them to make little bracelets and necklaces and jingly adornments for their shoes and carry sacks. He had given one to Sil, that she treasured, smooth and domed and oval in shape, with strange ridges on the underside and a purple dome on top. It was her most treasured possession, which she had managed to fix onto a necklace that she wore always.

It was here in this, her fifteenth year that life began to change.....

“Sil, Sil....come down here girl, I need you to go on an errand for me” Mam's voice carried shrilly up into the loft, and Sil groaned and rolled over on her pallet, looking around groggily. She had been resting up after the healer's treatment yesterday, and was a bit confused. Usually after having her blood taken out she was weak and tired for several days and Mam would let her rest and not expect any work from her. Something must be wrong for Mam to press her into service like this. She looked at the scar on her arm. It still looked red and angry. The healer took blood from her arms and legs, alternating the area he cut so she would heal, but still, she had three large scars on each limb and was always aware of the pain of one cut or another. She shrugged into her little shirt and leggings and the 'new' pair of slippers she had inherited from the littlest sister of the house, Lela, who was now bigger than Sil, even though Sil remembered her being a playmate, not that long ago. She clambered down the ladder, clumsily due to the pain in her left arm from the fresh cut. “I'm sorry to bother you when you're still healing, Sil,” said Mam, “but everyone else is out and after the healer left last night, that boy Cob came over and asked me to give him Lela as a mate. Lela's agreeable, and now I've got to get working on a troth feast. They're in a hurry to start their new life, it seems, and want to set up a household by next moonshine...and that's only five days away. That girl, she always was a bit impulsive, but young love is what it is...I wish them well, but now I'm feeling old, with my last daughter leaving me. At least I'll have you around for company for a good long time, little one,” the older woman said, absently patting Sil on the head as she would a favorite dog or toddler.

Mam had so much to do in the preparations for a troth ceremony, and many of the details had to be seen to personally by the mother of the trothmaid, as was the custom of the mountain people. This was the first stage of the path to womanhood. A girl and boy would state troth and the boy's family was responsible for building them a little home, and furnishing it with the larger pieces of furniture, while the girl's family would be responsible for supplying linens, pillows, the shuck stuffed mattress, cooking gear and the small farm animals necessary for starting a life. If the two young people were compatible, the relationship would be sealed as a truemarriage after five years. If not, they were free to break off the relationship and try again with someone else. Young women usually did not have children during the troth period, opting instead to continue taking the herb that kept them from conceiving. She had no time to go to the local market and get the necessary provisions for the several feasts that would be given to celebrate this happy event, and she had decided to trust Sil to go and shop for her. “Now Sil, I've written a list of things that I need, and all you have to do is show it to Masha the shopmistress and she'll help you get all these things. Take the big woven bag and the basket. I think you can handle all of this in one trip.” Sil was rarely sent into the village for anything, and she loved getting out and seeing things on her own, but she still felt weak from yesterday's treatment. Mam looked at the pale silvery girl and frowned. It wouldn't do to have the poor little thing collapsing in the middle of town and having people think she was ill-used. “Sit down a minute Sil,” she said softly, “let me make you up a little drink to give you some energy.” She brought out some sila fruit and cut it open, draining the juice into a small bowl, and took a tiny vial from a high shelf. She added three drops from the vial to the sila juice and told Sil “Here, drink this...the sila juice alone should perk you up, but the other is medicine that the healer said you could have if you were looking run down, but it's not to be used too often, he said...”
Sil loved sila juice, it was a rare treat and she took her cup of juice eagerly. She could smell the sharp smell of the medicine in it, but it wasn't objectionable, so she drank it down and felt immediately better, brighter and more alive. “That's good, Mam. I feel much better, thank you”. Sil rarely spoke in more than short phrases, and Mam smiled hearing so many words at once coming from this strange little creature.

Sil took the basket and bag and set off for the local market and shop. It was only a mile or so from the little home that had been her entire life for so many years, but she had only been there at most once a year. She entered the large log palisade and smiled to see so many little booths selling vegetables, meats, fruits and live animals. There was also a closed market area where the dry goods were kept, and where the main shopmistress, Masha, stood behind a large counter piled with bakery goods, cheeses and sweet smelling treats. Sil went shyly up to her and handed the older woman her list. “Ah, a troth feast list!” Masha said, “So Lela is finally going to leave home, eh little Sil? I don't know what Mam's going to do in that big old house with just you and with Aldo gone most of the year. And you, child, you don't ever seem to grow, how old are you now?” “I'm not sure, shopkeeper, I think I can remember fifteen years clearly, but I must have been a baby for several years before that, I guess?” “Well, you were able to talk and walk very quickly after Aldo brought you home, I remember how amazed we were to see a baby grow so quickly, but then that stopped, and your growth slowed to a crawl, as far as I can tell.Yes, I think it was just fifteen years ago that he brought you home...Lela must have been about two when you came, and look at her now, a grown lady almost and you still looking to be a child.” Masha was moving about as she talked, pulling this and that down from shelves and measuring goods and packaging them expertly. “Why haven't you gone to the village school, Sil? You don't seem simple. A girl should at least learn some simple reading and writing and to count.” “Mam says I'm too sickly for school, and then after the healer sees me every few weeks, I'm weak and tired for another week. But I have learned to read, and write some and I can count to a hundred and add. Lela, and Bella before she left, taught me lots of things.”

“Hmmmph, I'm not sure that's right, but the healer's the best healer ever, so I guess what must be, must be,” said Masha, sadly. She was right about the healer, his village was the healthiest in the country, and sickness was almost unknown. People died from old age or accident, especially if the accident happened far from where the healer was at the moment, but women didn't die in childbirth as they did in other places, and diseases were healed quickly, as were broken bones and most other problems. No one knew how the healer had become so skilled, his skills had been growing in the last decade to almost unknown heights. He was a quiet man, and didn't seek any real advantage from his skills, in fact he seemed to play them down more than was reasonable.

“There we go, child,” said Masha, handing Sil the heavy basket and helping her sling the bag over her thin shoulders. “Did you get to see the little birds that Walo has for sale outside?” she asked, “They're like no birds I've ever seen, keen of eye, they almost look like they know what you're thinking, and, oh...such pretty colors. Go take a look at them before you leave, somehow they remind me of you, little one.”

Sil went out of the large old store and looked around at the outside market, and spotted the birdseller's booth in a far corner. She made her way towards it, looking at the little goats for sale, and the ribbons, and the heaps of strange looking vegetables. One booth had dried salted fish that she stopped and looked at. For some reason she wanted to touch them, but managed to keep herself under control. Finally she made her way to the bird booth and was amazed to see the bright little green, yellow and blue birds hopping happily in a cage, chattering to themselves. They all stopped chattering and turned and looked at her as soon as she came in sight. “My!” Walo said, “I've never seen them behave like that before. “Of course, they've never seen anyone that looks like you, but still, I swear these birds are the smartest little creatures I've ever handled. Go ahead, touch them, they're so friendly and sweet.” Sil stretched out her hand and reached into the open cage and was shocked when a little blue bird jumped up on her hand and said “take me home with you”. Sil jumped and looked around, but it would seem that no one noticed the bird speaking. “They only cost 3 coppers, little one, maybe your mamma will buy one for you.” “I don't have a mamma” Sil said quietly. “An orphan, are you?” The kindly bird trader sighed . “I well know what that is like, because I'm an orphan myself. I remember never really having any new thing for myself, even though I was treated kindly...but I was never like a true member of the family.” “Mam and everyone are very kind to me, but yes, it's sometimes lonely and strange” Sil said quietly. “Well, then, as one orphan to another, I feel I'm duty bound to gift you this little bird. I think you can handle it even with the load you have to carry. Take it home with you. It will eat bits of bread, or egg or vegetable, and will do quite well finding food for itself it you let it fly free. Keep the bottom of the cage clean and put fresh straw down once a week, and make sure he has fresh water at all times, and he should do quite well. If you ever have any questions about his health or care, I'm here every other fifthday, you can come ask me.” Sil was overwhelmed with this kindness. She had rarely been the recipient of any gift, and none so fine as this one. She stammered her thanks to the man, feeling tears come to her eyes. He smiled and told her she'd better get on with her errands or she'd be in trouble and it would be his fault.

Sil returned home, hardly noticing the heavy load, looking at the little bird in the cage and waiting for him to speak again. At home, she helped Mam unpack and stow away all the goods she had brought, and showed Mam the lovely bird. Mam smiled and said, “well, it's yours to care for Sil, and I hope it will do well. Try and keep it out of reach of the cat.” Sil looked at the cat and told him “Never bother this bird, he's mine, and we must all live together in harmony”. The cat, who rarely caught birds, but seemed more intent on keeping the house free of mice looked at her lazily and sent her a reassuring thought. Sil felt the cat understood that this bird was under her protection.