Sci Fi & Fantasy / child of the moon

CHAPTER ONE – EARLY BEGINNINGS

Tara sat within the shade of a gnarled old olive tree whose branches reached, like groping fingers, toward the cool water that flowed a mere metres away. She sat with a piece of unfinished mending on her knee. It felt as though she was always either making or mending lately. The child at play, whom she watched so fondly, had grown so fast and, yet, it seemed as though it were only yesterday that the swaddled babe had been placed in her arms. A smile hovered at the corners of her mouth whilst a blush fused Tara’s face at the memory of that day. She had been so embarrassed when she realised that the babe she was staring at so adoringly was held in the arms of ‘The Exalted One’. Only a child herself at a mere twelve summers Tara had been sent to the nursery, only that morning, to do the fetching and carrying and any other service the nursery maids required. She had been standing against the back wall of the nursery awaiting orders, engrossed in watching the babies arrive one by one, in the arms of Temple Maidens. When the last one arrived, Tara was enthralled in how the light, from the oil lamps, glittered on the silver threads woven into the swaddling shawl. So engrossed, in fact, had she been that she had not noticed that everyone had dropped in obeisance at the entrance of the Maiden carrying this last babe. When she realised who the Maiden was she had been so terrified for the Maiden was none other than ‘The Exalted One’ The High Priestess. The senior nursery maid had attempted to beat Tara for her insolence, but, The Exalted One had just laughed and waving the irate woman aside, handed the babe to Tara saying the babe had chosen her, and insisting that Tara should
“guard and guide her and if necessary lay down your life for her, for she is a very special child and one that we have long waited for”.
At the time Tara had puzzled over why she had been given the baby and also why the babe was so special, because all babies were special, weren’t they?
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Then when she was shown to a private alcove, with a curt nod from the senior nurse, she had wondered why the baby was not to be raised in the nursery with all the other baby girls. However, it was not her place to question because she was just a slave, bought and paid for, along with many other slaves in this great Temple to the Goddess, Mother of All. Tara new how to look after this baby, despite what the senior nurse thought, hadn’t she helped raise her two brothers, and one just born, after their mother had died?
The child had been marked as belonging to the Goddess and also named Moana in honour of her. She had been born with the mark, a crescent moon, unlike the other infants in the Temple nurseries who were branded upon acceptance. These infants were bequeathed to the Temple, as gifts to the Goddess, in the hopes of blessings being bestowed upon their families. A gift, to the Temple, was meant to be a precious item and infants were precious, to a family, for they meant the continuation of the family name and insurance for the parents’ old age. Although the infants were usually girls, occasionally a second or third son would be given. They were mostly from poorer families who might ask the Goddess for a place to become vacant on a successful trading ship. An impoverished artisan might ask that a sponsor may come forward or better trading prospects turn up for his merchandise. Other children were bequeathed in the hopes of recovery of someone who was sick or injured, or the return of a loved one who was missing at sea. There were many reasons why infants were given to the Temple. However - not all children were given! Many were sold from families unable to feed or clothe their numerous offspring, or, educate them into a trade. The few pieces of silver obtained for a child would give the other members of the family a better chance in life. Such a fate had befallen Tara earlier that year; her father had four children to feed, three sons and a daughter that would need a dowry eventually, something he could never afford. The Temple was a large place and needed lots of slaves and servers to run it. Being a girl was better than being a boy; she had heard that some were castrated on arrival, for men were not allowed in the female areas of the Temple. Also working in the nursery was better than some occupations she could have had, like the abattoir or cleaning out the night soil pits. Tara shuddered at
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that thought then thanked The Goddess for choosing her to look after this special and delightful baby.
Tara gazed adoringly at the toddler who was laughing merrily as she watched a ladybug climb up a blade of grass. The child looked nothing like the other girls in the nursery. Her hair was almost white and her skin was a creamy colour, tinted with pink where the heat of the sun had caught it. Her eyes were almond shaped with their colour, like the sea, changing with her moods. The child was also long limbed and slender whilst her peers were stocky with darker colouring to their hair and olive skinned. That was not the only difference; this child had, at times, an ‘other worldly’ look about her. Sometimes when Tara was nursing her she would gaze up at her, knowingly, with her solemn eyes, as though she could see right inside her, reading her thoughts. It made her shiver just thinking about it. Not with fear, no never with that, she could never be scared of this child. Protective of her, yes, when one of the other girls nipped her or stole a toy she would be there to put things right. Strangely enough, though, most of the girls avoided her. She just seemed to look at them if they made a move toward her playthings and they toddled off. She only seemed to play with one or two of the girls.
Tara mentally shrugged her shoulders and looked once more at her charge, who was now engrossed in a shiny pebble she had discovered. The child was holding it up to the sunlight and watching the light dance across it. As though realising Tara was watching her, the child called out in her baby lisp,
“Tata, tum, see!”
Tara replied, indulgently,
“No, darling, Tara is busy, you just play there”
The child was not to be put off though. Imperiously she demanded
“No! Tata tum, now!”
Grinning, at hearing her own words coming from the infant’s mouth, Tara rose and walked over to where Moana was playing, in a bowl shaped depression in the grass.
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“Alright, darling, Tara is coming”
As Tara reached Moana and bent toward her, a movement behind her made her turn her head. Startled at what she saw, Tara grabbed Moana, hitched up her robe and ran, leaping over the stream to the other bank. Horrified she looked toward where only moments ago she had been sitting. The old olive tree, with a groan, a shaking of limbs and a rending of roots, slowly and inexorably toppled to the ground. It fell, with its branches directly onto the spot where Moana had been playing happily, whilst its trunk lay over the spot where Tara had been sitting. Shaking, with shock and fright, at what could have happened Tara sank to the ground clutching Moana to her. More for her own comfort than Moana’s, as the child seemed completely unperturbed, in fact, she placed her two little hands on either side of Tara’s face and, looking at her directly, with her bright eyes, exclaimed,
“Tata tame, goo girl, safe yes!”
Moana then gave a bemused Tara a sloppy wet kiss.
Tara looked at the child in puzzlement. Could Moana really have known the tree was about to fall? Was that why she had insisted on her attending her? Impossible! How could the child have known such a thing? Tara shook her head and, giving Moana another cuddle, replied,
“Yes darling, Tara came for you, you’re safe now”
“Tara, Tara, Is everything alright? The child, she is safe? And you?”
Hurried footsteps and an anxious voice made Tara lift her face from where it was buried in Moana’s embrace. The worried face of the companion of “The Exalted One” looked down at her, while two gardeners and the senior nursery nurse hovered in the background.
“Yes, yes, she is fine, I’m just a bit shaken that is all”.
Tara was assisted to her feet and the gardeners went off to examine the fallen tree. The senior nursemaid, seeing that the child was safe excused herself, with disdainful look at Tara, to return to her duties in the nursery.
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Tara curtsied to The Exalted One’s companion and walked, with her, further into the extensive gardens of the female quarters of The Sanctuary, the domain of The Exalted One and her Maidens.
“Thank you for your concern, m’lady but the child is fine I just got a bit of a shock that is all. It was so strange...”
“Call me Thera, Tara. I feel we are going to be seeing a lot of each other. L-‘The Daughter” asked me to come, she felt something had happened. I see she was correct. Sit, sit, and tell me what happened, exactly, The Daughter will wish to know.”
Thera indicated the rim of a fountain upon which to sit. Tara sat and, as Moana wished to explore this new area, reluctantly placed her on the ground admonishing her not to wander far. Thera chuckled as the toddler tried to copy Tara’s curtsey and then toddled off in pursuit of a dragonfly which caught her attention.
“Right, Tara, I can tell something is plaguing you, and it is not just the tree falling. What is it? I must add here that ‘The Daughter’ has requested that you report to me each week on the progress of our young one”
Tara’s expression changed to one of concern and Thera gently assured her,
“It is nothing you have done wrong, in fact ...”
Thera followed Tara’s gaze as she followed the progress of Moana, who was still in hot pursuit of the dragon fly as it hovered around the fountain. Tara exclaimed as Moana attempted to climb the rim of the fountain bowl, trying to reach the dragon fly now settled on a lily,
“No, Moana! Get down you will fall in!”
Thera then continued, as the child obeyed and stood, at the fountain side, wide eyes firmly fixed on the dragon fly.
“She has kept an interested eye on Moana’s progress since her arrival and is delighted at the strong bond between you and Moana. She wonders if perhaps you could find time to keep her informed of anything unusual, no
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matter how trivial, which occurs with the little one. What? Did something occur today?”
Thera was aware of Tara’s sharp intake of breath and paused questioningly. Tara, hesitatingly told Thera what had occurred moments before the tree fell and Moana’s strange remark afterward, just before Thera had arrived on the scene. Thera nodded and patted Tara’s hands, agreeing with her that it was probably nothing.
“I will tell ‘The Daughter’ what happened and that all is well with you both. Don’t be afraid to ask for anything Tara. I can see your elevation to nursery nurse has caused problems for you in the nursery, but, your charge is very important to this Temple and so are you. ‘The Daughter’ is very much aware of things. Seek me out once a week and tell me everything that has happened, no matter how trivial as I said, and I will also tell you if ‘The Daughter’ has any instructions for the little one’s entertainment. Remember, anything you need, you just have to ask for and we will see you receive it, clothes, treats, or whatever. As I said, Moana is important to this Temple and because of her so are you.”
Thera again patted Tara’s hands as she took her leave of her. Passing Moana, who was now concentrating on the flower beds, Thera stroked her blonde hair and pointed out a song bird in a tree. Moana clapped her hands in delight and toddled back to Tara to tell her. Tara scooped up the child and agreed with her, at how wonderfully the bird sang, all the time pondering on what Thera had told her. Who was this child? Why was she so special to the Temple? Still, this was her precious bundle of joy - for now - and Tara intended to make the most of it.
Day by day Moana grew, as children do, her inquisitive nature often getting her into trouble, as children often do. Her constant seeking of knowledge and investigation of everything around her, showed the extent of her sharp mind. In the year of her fifth summer, when Moana was asking one of her interminable questions on why something was as it was, Tara turned to her exasperatedly and said,

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“Thank the Goddess you will begin your schooling soon. I am running out of answers to your questions, young lady. It was much easier when you were smaller, but now, the things you want to know I don’t have the answers to. I only hope your tutor can answer the questions you ask or he will have a permanent headache like me. Go and play quietly till tea time, please”.
Moana looked at Tara puzzled and tentatively asked,
“Tara, what is schooling and what is a tutor?”
“Oh! You are incorrigible. Schooling and school mean a place where you learn, hopefully, all the answers to all your questions. It is also where you will learn to write the questions and answers down. To read scrolls and tablets to find out the answers your tutor can not give you to questions you ask”,
Tara, held up her hand to pre-empt the question Moana was about to ask,
“A tutor is a teacher who will answer questions and teach you to read the scrolls and also to write down the answers you will find there. Now, go and play and give me a little peace!”
“Tara?”
“What?” Tara sighed, and looked up from the mending on her knee.
“When will I be going to school and where will I go, will you go to school too?”
Tara raised her eyes in exasperation, sighed and then smiling, shook her head.
“You will begin school next full moon, and no, I will not be going to school with you. No, don’t cry my sweet, I am not leaving you. We, all of us,”
Tara swept a hand out encompassing, not just Moana’s room, but the entire nursery,
“We, all of us, will be going to the Temple Seminary where we will stay in the female dormitory. You will go to school during the day and return to me after
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lessons have finished. I will not be in the schoolroom with you. Your friends from here will be there with you, so you will not be alone, now will you? You are a big girl now. You do not need me all the time anymore. I can not teach you the things you need to know, so you must go where you can be taught them. Now dry your eyes let me see that lovely smile of yours and off you go and play till it is time to eat”.
Moana gave a weak smile and stared intently into Tara’s eyes. Satisfied with what she had seen there she turned, left the room and joined the other girls, for a game of tag, in the area set aside as a playground for the nursery.
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