The World Walkers: Quiar: Mothar: Takara: The Missionary (part 2)
Part 1
Takara felt Kamen studying her in a way he hadn’t done since the first time they met. It made her feel unexpectedly uncomfortable as though she’d gone back to the first time she set foot in the settlement, a llama in the midst of who knew how many Larnachis. She knew it was likely they’d never seen one of her race before. Most llamas chose not to travel much, instead sticking close to home, but that had never been something she thought was right for her. Until she met a missionary she had no idea what she was going to do with her life. Finding herself standing in a Larnach settlement, alone, had never been a part of the plan, even when she had chosen to become a missionary, and she was terrified she’d made the wrong choice until Kamen stepped forward.
“You could, if you really believe it’s a good idea, but I think, if you want to do something to change Mothar, is for us to think about what steps we can take to give everyone more freedom.” Kamen sipped his tea. “The religion you followed is unchanging, as you said, and that’s something the majority of Motharans appreciate about it. Having something solid to hold on to is good for your people, in general, so I wouldn’t want to take that away from them. As far as I’m concerned that would be a mistake. What I think might work is if we make religion a choice, something that is different for everyone if they want it to be, or they can continue following the one they were taught be their parents and grandparents.”
Nodding, Takara felt this wave of relief wash over her. She had been right to turn to Kamen, even though he was a Larnachi, because he had chosen to travel to Mothar. He understood in a way that her parents couldn’t. “The book is something I could still write, but for those who want to read it. Maybe I could focus, to begin with, on Emrys, and the choices he made during the early years of the Web, and write about the fae who created our races, without touching on the fae who chose to hide themselves away. If I did that it would be something my friends could read, if they wished to, without it affecting their beliefs too much, because you’re right. By revealing that our priests have been bending the truth would affect them adversely and that’s something I wouldn’t want to be a part of.”
Kamen smiled. “You are a good person, Takara, and I will work alongside you to make your vision become a reality, if that’s what you think your next step should be.” Their eyes met. “It’s something I am certain my priestess will appreciate. Before you left I wanted to introduce you, but you were so busy getting ready and I didn’t want to add to the pressure you were already under. Now, if you wouldn’t mind, I’d like a chance to do that.”
“What is your priestess?” Takara asked, because she didn’t know as much about the settlement as she really should, as she’d spent most of her time talking to Kamen about her job while he talked about the family he had chosen to leave behind.
“She’s a mouse, who’s been in Mothar for nearly thirty years now. We’ve spoken before, because I became friends with one of her younger sons, and I know she wants to change things for the converts. It’s something she’s been trying to do since she took over as the priestess, as the previous priest was tried of fighting all the time. He went back to Larnach, even though he’d been here for fifty years, so he didn’t have to deal with the Motharans any longer - from what he said I think he hoped to see his brother again and explain why he’d made the choice he had. Even though he tried to convince her otherwise his wife went with him, as did three of his sons, their wives, and their children.”
“He was worried they’d have nowhere to live.”
“Yes, and that was the argument he used, but they didn’t want to stay her without him. I remember her saying, his wife, that she didn’t want to stay here without him, because she loved him. Their sons went with them, as they knew they were the ones who were most likely to be able to get jobs and support their parents, and they each let their wives make their own choice. When they left they were crying, as they loved the people here, but as they haven’t come back I think they must have made the right choice. Even if his brother didn’t forgive him someone would have taken them in.”
“I’ve never met someone unfriendly when I travelled to Larnach, although they have sometimes asked me not to talk about my religion when I tell them what I am. Personally I don’t have a problem with that, because they’ve never been rude about it, but some of the missionaries I went with last time got very angry about it. They couldn’t understand why I didn’t feel the same way, even though I tried to explain to them that there are plenty of people who do want to listen to us and learn about our religion so the few who ask me not to aren’t a problem. It seemed to me as though those missionaries had gone to Larnach with the idea that they would be able to convert everyone to our religion.”
“What I think they don’t realise is that you aren’t the only town to send missionaries to Larnach. I’d talked to three before I met the missionary from your town and it was the way she talked to me that made me feel like I really did want to convert to the Motharan religion. The others hadn’t, although it had been fascinating listen to them talk.”
“Tell me about them, Kamen.”
Kamen nodded, as he poured himself another mug of tea. “The first missionary I met was an anteater. I’ve since found out that they’re a rare race and I’m always going to be grateful I had a chance to meet her, even though I chose, in the end, to not convert to her religion, although a couple of my acquaintances did. When I think back I can’t work out exactly why I chose not to, because I was very comfortable with her. She was friendly, she answered everyone’s questions without acting as though she thought any of them were stupid, and the only thing it might have been was this niggling doubt I still had in the back of my head. Even though I became more certain as time passed that I wanted to convert I wasn’t certain at the time I met her. Maybe if I had of been we wouldn’t be sitting here now.”
“Can I say that I’m happier that you weren’t certain? I can’t imagine what my life would have been like without you in it.”
“Honesty is not something I’m ever going to complain about and it’s nice, to know that I’m appreciated.” He sipped his tea again and Takara was pleased to see the happiness in his eyes. “Her religion, though, was the one that felt right to me, more right that your religion, and sometimes I do regret not going with her when I had the chance. At the same time I can’t help thinking I wasn’t meant to go with her. I was meant to meet you, Takara.” Without even really thinking about it Takara shook her head. “I was. Otherwise you wouldn’t have come here to talk to me about what happened to you when you were in Larnach. We were meant to be friends, we were meant to be having this conversation, and I wasn’t meant to go with the anteater when I first met her.
“Maybe we’ll meet again sometime, because that would be wonderful, and if you do manage to get your priest to agree to me travelling with you I’ll see if I can remember the name of her town. I think you’d like her too. Her beliefs might also help you if you do chose to start worshipping Emrys, rather than the fae, as she worshipped Riordan and Tegan.”
“Tegan wasn’t fae.”
“No, but she was Riordan’s wife and the first known Moonjumper. To the anteater that made her very special. So special that she was planning on seeing if she could travel to Athare in order to read Tegan’s journals and learn more about her, but she said she didn’t think it was going to happen, because the Council doesn’t much like people from our world travelling the Web. I wish I knew what reply she got, because I really wanted her to be able to go, even though I thought she was right - we’re the lesser races and that means we don’t have the same rights as the others.” Kamen shook his head. “Although, having travelled through Larnach, I realise how lucky I am to even know about the Web. It seems to me like more people have no knowledge of the other worlds than there are who do and I didn’t know that before I left my home.”
“If it wasn’t for the time I spent in Larnach I wouldn’t know about the other worlds either. I’m not certain that the priest actually believes they exist, even though he believes that the fae created this world.” Takara shrugged. “Sometimes I wonder how he can hold two such opposite views and still be seen as a guide, but then I used to follow him without question, so maybe I was just as stupid as everyone else.”
“You weren’t stupid and neither are they. Not knowing for certain that something is real can make people doubt they exist. The fae are easy to believe in, because they don’t seem real. Your priest doesn’t think he’ll ever meet one of them - to him they are something more than us, greater, and something I have this feeling he doesn’t actually think live now.” Kamen sipped his tea, looking annoyed. “I’m not articulating what I mean in the way I want to be. It as though this race he so deeply believes in are nothing more than a story. Everything he knows is something he was told by his parents, who believed in the fae, but no one he knows has ever met one of them. Therefore they might have existed in the past, although it’s unlikely, and he is certain they don’t exist now. Any more than the Web does.”
Takara thought about what Kamen had said, trying to make sense of it. “Right, so what you’re saying is that his belief in the fae is based entirely on what he was taught to believe. He doesn’t truly believe they exist, or existed, and if one of them happened to travel to Quiar he’d probably react badly.” She laughed. “I can imagine it now. A fae standing right in front of him, maybe even someone you could recognised as being the son or daughter of one of the creators, and he’ll be telling them they aren’t what they say they are.
“Of course, as he doesn’t believe, really, in the fae, how can he possibly believe that the Web exists?” Takara shook her head. “How can you worship something you don’t believe in? It doesn’t make sense, Kamen, that he is getting down on his knees and praying to a race that he doesn’t actually think ever existed. Does he think someone is listening? Does he simply say the words because that was what he’s been trained to say, by his priest father? When I was listening to his sermons they seemed so… full of truth. As though he was truly someone who should be a priest, who should be passing on the word of the fae.”
Mirrored from K. A. Webb Writing.