Warning!!! This new chapter is my longest yet. It clocks in at about 10 pages in Microsoft Word.
Chapter 7: Healer
Rabin had expected that the
beautiful woman was going to the village when she walked out the
door, but to his surprise instead of walking down the lane that lead
to the village the woman turned and walking around the cottage began
to wander through the garden next to the house instead. Rabin
followed at a respectful distance, watching as the woman inspected
the plants there, taking time to look each one over. Then she got
down on her hands and knees in the mud and began to weed the garden.
“What are you doing?”
Rabin asked.
“Weeding the garden of
course.”
“But why? Why now?”
“Because it needs it.”
“But I thought you were a
healer!” Rabin blurted out
The woman stopped her
weeding for a moment and looked up at him. “I told you that I do
lots of thing. Tend to the farm, a little of this, a little of that.
Right now I am pulling weeds because my garden has weeds in it. Now
are you going to stand there, or are you going to help me?”
Rabin hestitated for a
moment, confused by the woman's strange behavior, and then sat down
in the dirt next to her and began pulling weeds as well. The woman
favoured him with a big smile as he did, and when she smiled the
light in her shone very bright, but it was a soft light that glowed
without blinding or hurting the eyes. Rabin smiled back at her, and
the two of them set to weeding the garden together. It took several
hours to get the garden all weeded, and the woman began to gather up
a variety of herbs, vegetales and other plants from the garden and
put them in her sack.
Suddenly an odd thought
occurred to Rabin. “I don't know your name!” He exclaimed. The
woman grinned and nodded. “That is probably true.”
“But why haven't you told
me your name”?
“Because you never asked
me Rabin. There are somethings in life that can only be obtained if
you ask for them.”
Rabin looked startled for a
moment. Then, flushing he asked: “What is your name?”
The woman smiled and
answered. “My name is Lumina.” Then she turned and walked back
into the cottage.
Rabin followed her back into
the cottage, and found that Lumina was already busy cutting up some
the of the vegetables she had picked. Rabin looked around confused.
Lumina didn't look up from what she was doing, she just nodded her
head towards the cooking hearth. The fire had died down and now was
just cooling embers.
“I'm making a stew. I need
you to get the fire going again please.”
Rabin shrugged and went over
to hearth. Sitting beside it were several logs, and some smaller
pieces of wood in two small piles. Starting with some tinder and a
few small pieces of wood Rabin blew on the embers to stir them up,
and then slowly feeding the fire with larger and large pieces soon he
had a respectable fire going.
Lumina thanked the Rabin for
the fire, then took a small iron cauldron down and hung it over the
fire.
“We'll need water. Can you
fetch some from the well for me please?” She asked. Rabin nodded
and grabbed a bucket and headed out for the well. The was not far,
but it was deep and it took a bit of doing to pull the filled bucket
all the way from the bottom of the well. As he carried the newly
filled bucket back to the cottage he saw and older woman shuffling
her way down the path from the road to the village towards Lumina's
cottage.
Rabin arrived back just as
Lumina come to the door and smiling widely escorted the woman into
the cottage. She indicated that Rabin should pour the water into the
cauldron and then set him to peeling potatoes for the stew. As he
peeled he listened as Lumina and the old woman chatted. It didn't
seem as if Lumina had anything important to say, they most just
chatted about the weather and going ons in the village. Rabin kept
waiting for the woman to tell Lumina what her ailment was that needed
healing, but after chatting for almost half an hour the woman thanked
Lumina and then left.
Lumina in the meantime had
produced two rabbits from somewhere, and set about gutting and
cleaning them, then with some quick work added them to the stew as
well. She set Rabin to stirring as she continued to add a bit of this
and that, and once the stew was simmering nicely began to bake some
bread. Once again she asked Rabin to help her in everything she did,
but this time as she baked, and Rabin helped they began to chat as
well. First they talked of small things, but soon Rabin found himself
telling Lumina all about himself, his home, his parents, and
eventually even how he had called Fire in his village and how he was
drive out, and all his travels since.
Lumina listened to
everything he had to say, and mostly just nodded as he talked.
Occasionally she asked questions, but for the most part she just let
him speak and said little herself.
Occasionally throughout the
day as they talked other visitors would arrive at the cottage. Some
came to buy some of the herbs from Lumina's garden, but most of the
just seemed to come to chat with Lumina for a while. Each time Lumina
graciously invited them in and talked with them while bustling about
cooking. After a while they would leave and Rabin would return to
telling his story.
The passed quickly and soon
Rabin and Lumina were sitting down to a fine dinner of stew and fresh
baked bread. Once again the food was rather simple, but tasted so
good, and filled Rabin to the point he thought he would burst if he
ate another bite.
“That meal was wonderful”
Rabin sighed as he helped Lumina clean the dishes and tidy up the
kitchen.
“Why thank you!” Lumina
replied looking down modestly. “I really appreciated your help.”
Rabin shrugged. “It wasn't
as if I did that much. It was your special touch that made the food
so good. I just hauled water and carried wood, and did what ever
simple things you told me too.”
“And yet those simple
things all were necessary for the stew just as much much as anything
I did. The meal was as much yours as it was mine.”
Rabin shook his head at her
modesty and generosity, but let it go at that. He thought for a
moment, then turned to her and blurted out a question.
"Who were those people who
came to visit today?”
“I introduced you to them
as they came through. Old Widow Marta, and Goodwife Saris, and the
strapping young lad with the red hair was Breten.”
“Well I know their names.
But why were they here?”
“All for their own
reasons. Some to pick up some herbs from my garden, but most of them
just to stop by and talk.”
Rabin shook his head. “But
I thought that you were going to teach me to heal people.”
Lumina smiled at him.
“Mmmmhmmm”
“But we didn't heal a
single person today! We just did some chores in the garden and cooked
some stuff.”
“Did we now. How absent
minded of me. Well we should to bed soon. Its going to be a busy day
again tomorrow. There is a cot made up for you in the loft, and I
will bring you some blankets. Its still a bit chilly out at night. I
think you will find it a bit more comfortable than just rolling up in
a corner.”
“But when are we going to
learn healing?” Rabin demanded.
Lumina just smiled and shook
her head. “When you are ready. But in the meantime there is much
work to do. Now get some sleep. I think tomorrow we will go and see
if any of the field berries are ready to be picked yet.”
The next day Rabin and
Lumina did go in search of berries, even though none were yet ripe
enough, and once again they cooked together. Once again several
people dropped by talked to Lumina, but once again there was no sign
of any healing going on. The next day was the same and the next day
after that. In fact two whole years passed with Rabin staying in
Numina's house and in all that time Rabin saw no sign of how he was
to become a healer. But he was happier than he had ever been in his
life, and as he sat and listened to the people who came to visit
Lumina he learned of the village and the people that lived there, and
slowly came to be less afraid of the people in the village, and the
people in turn got to know Rabin, and soon they took time during
their visits to chat with Rabin too.
One cold winters day Rabin
was helping Lumina in the kitchen when there was a knock on the door.
Rabin rushed over to the door, wondering who be crazy enough to brave
the bitter cold wind outside to come and visit. When he opened the
door Old Widow Marta was standing there. Rabin hastily let her in.
Marta shuffled over to the fire to warm herself and explained that
she didn't mean to be a bother, but she just needed to borrow a few
eggs if she could.
Rabin concealed a smile as
she said it. Marta seemed to need to borrow something most days, and
more often than not left without remembering to take what she had
supposedly come for. Rabin knew that more than anything Marta came to
chat with Lumina.
Rabin set to work cleaning
up some things around the kitchen as Lumina poured tea for Marta and
set down in chairs by the fire with her to talk for a while. As he
worked he watched the two of them fondly. Lumina was as beautiful as
always, seeming to glow from within with a soft light. But as Rabin
watched Marta he noticed something about her he had never seen
before. It seemed to him that her skin was cold and bluish tinged.
Rabin started for a moment and almost made to wrap her in a blanket,
but then he realised that for her skin to take that tone she would
need to be nearly dead from the cold, and there she was chatting away
with Lumina.
Rabin sat back and watched
closely, wondering what he was seeing. But as he watched he began to
see Lumina's light grow a bit brighter, and as it shone between them
Marta's skin began to warm and grow less bluish and finally grow
almost rosy pink. Rabin shook his head sure he was seeing things, and
we he looked back every thing seemed normal again. But then he saw
that Marta was now glowing ever so slightly too, giving off the same
soft light as Lumina. After they had talked for a time Marta thanked
Lumina for her generosity and bundled herself up again to head out in
the cold. Perhaps he was dreaming but it seemed to Rabin that Marta
was moving a bit easier than before, that the light in her gave a
spring to her shuffling step. Marta smiled at him on her way out and
then headed back to her home, as usual forgetting the eggs she had
ostensibly come to borrow.
When Marta had gone Rabin
turned to stare at Lumina in awe.
“What?” She asked,
uncomfortable under is stare.
“You healed her didn't
you?” Rabin asked.
Lumina merely raised an
eyebrow at him.
“You did! You did. I saw
you. When she came she looked...cold...as if she was freezing to
death. But you gave her some of your light, and she changed...and
then she had a light of her own. And you did that didn't you?”
Lumina shrugged. “ I do
precious little. I just talk with folks who come by here.”
Rabin shook his head in
denial. “But there is more than that. You change people as you talk
with them. You have been doing it all along haven't you?”
Lumina shrugged. “I told
you I do this in that, but that mostly I heal.”
Rabin looked at her
awestruck.
“Oh stop that.” She
snapped. “Your have been here with me day in and day out for two
years. I'm the same person I have always been. Don't go getting all
worshipful on me. I am just the same as always.”
Rabin hesitated for a moment
then, summoning up is courage he asked
“Can you teach me to heal
like you do?”
Lumina rolled her eyes in
exasperation.
“Just what do you think I
have been doing these last two years?”
Rabin looked at her blankly.
“But...your light. Can you teach me that?”
Lumina just shook her head.
Then she walked back into her bedroon for a moment. When she emerged
she carried something silver and gleaming in her hands. Rabin
wondered what it was for a moment, but then she handed it to him. It
was a polished mirror in a silver frame. Rabin gasped. Mirrors were
very expensive, and very rare. Where had Lumina ever gotten one from?
He looked into if for a moment, but then looked down. His reflection
in it reminded him uneasily of the Stranger's mask, and he had no
desire to see the burns and scars he knew marred his face.
“Look.” Lumina said
firmly. And despite himself Rabin looked in the mirror. He saw his
reflection, complete with scars and burns, several of them just
barely closed. He looked away.
“No. Really look. See
yourself the way I have been seeing you. Look deeper. The way you
looked at Marta.”
Rabin didn't want to, but
Lumina insisted. He looked into the mirror, and this time he really
looked. Suddenly his perceptions changed. He could still see the
scars and burns, but as he looked he began to see that he also saw
light as well. The same soft, beautiful light that he had always seen
surrounding Lumina surrounded him as well.
“How could this be?”
asked Rabin, hands trembling to the point where Lumina had to gently
take the mirror from his hands.
Lumina smiled at him. “You
have learned much in your time here.”
“But...I didn't do
anything.” Rabin protested.
Lumina just laughed.
“Ofcourse you did. You learned to cook. To make real nourshing
food, that fills you up instead of leaving you hungry. You shared
what you made with me and others who came through. You learned to do
simple work, for no purpose then you were asked, and didn't complain
that it was messy or beneath you. You leaned humility. But most
important of all you learned about people. You learned to understand
them instead of fear them, and what is more, you learned to listen to
them, and truly care what they said, even when they weren't saying
much at all, and in doing them you learned to communicate to them
that they were truly loved. You gave of yourself, gave a bit of your
light to people who came to this house, gave a bit of yourself to
them. And that is what a healer does Rabin. They share their light
with others, until they remember who they were made to be instead of
who they see themselves as.”
“ I...I've been healing
people?” Rabin exclaimed in disbelief.
“You have Rabin. More than
you know. You are a healer, and I think will be one far greater than
I could ever dream of being.”
“But I couldn't!” Rabin
cried.
Lumina merely shook her head
looking both amused and a little sad somehow. Rabin was about to
demand she explain more when suddenly there was a knock at the door.
Without thinking Rabin went to answer it, but when he opened the door
instead of finding one of the villagers he expected, he was
confronted with a tall hooded man in a dark cloak.
“You!” cried Rabin,
stepping back in shock. “What are you doing here?”
“I told you I would always
be nearby” answered the Stranger in his sure powerful voice.
“Then why do I not see you
more often?” asked Rabin
“Because you don't think
to look for me.” Replied the Stranger.
“But why can I see you
now?”
“Because I have come to
give you another message.”
Rabin looked apprehensive.
“What is it?”
But the Stranger just looked
at him. (Or so he imagined since he couldn't see behind the strange
mirror mask.) You know what the rules are. You have to accept the
orders of the King. Then you will be given them. But you must accept
them whatever they are.
“Your going to send me
away again aren't you? Your going to send me away from the one place
in my life where I have been happy.” Rabin accused.
But the Stranger said
nothing.
Rabin trembled. “Who are
you?”
“I've told you. I am a
messenger from the King.”
But Rabin stared at the
Stranger. He stared at him long and hard. He looked at him the way he
had learned to look at others to truly see them. And as he looked he
realized that the stranger was shining too. Shining like Lumia had,
but much stronger and much brighter. Shining so bright he could
barely look at him.
“I don't understand”.
Rabin cried.
“It is not that I look
like Lumina, it is that Lumina looks like the King. The glow that you
see is the power and goodness of the King. As she has submitted her
life to the King's orders she has become more and more like the
King.”
“This is the most
important lesson of healing Rabin.” Lumina explained. “It is not
anything that we do that heals. It is merely that we allow the King
to work through us. We reflect the King to others, speak his truth to
others, show his love to others. We are the conduits, but understand
this always, any healing that we do, is truly done by the King.”
“So my power to heal comes
from the King?” Rabin asked.
“It's more complex than
that.” Lumina said. “But that will do for now I suppose.”
Then Rabin looked at the
Stranger again, and at the new scroll in his hand.
“What if I refuse. What if
I refuse the new orders and stay here?” Rabin asked defiantly.
“You can not stay here.”
Lumina said softly. “This is my house and I will not allow it. You
must follow the King's orders. If you disobey them you will be
cutting yourself off from the King, you will not be able to reflect
Him, and thus you will not be able to heal. You will be of no use
here.”
Rabin began to cry bitter
tears. He pointed a finger at the Messenger.
“You always show up and
ruin things! I hate you! I can to refuse the message you bring but I
hate you!”
Lumina looked shocked.
“Rabin do not say such a thing!” She snapped, sounding truly
angry for the first time Rabin could remember. But the Stranger put
out a calming hand on her shouder.
“It is okay” he said
calmly. “He does not understand yet. He will learn in time.”
Then the Stranger turned to
face Rabin. “I know you do not want to follow these orders, and
you think it will be horrible leaving here. But remember last time I
came with a message? I came sending you here, and you did not want to
go then either. And yet you yourself have said that you have found
happiness here.”
Rabin looked down for a
moment, but then glared at the Stranger again. “But the first
message your brought said I was to be given a Gift, and instead I was
cursed.”
The Stranger shook his head.
“You still do not understand. But I can not change that now. The
question is this: Will you trust the King enough to obey his orders
now?”
Rabin was silent for a long
moment, and then heaved a heavy sigh. “I suppose that I will. But I
do not like it.”
Lumina laughed loudly at
that. Rabin looked sourly at her thinking her suddenly insensitive,
but he saw that she had a wry look on her face.
“That is okay Rabin. It is
by obeying that we learn to like what the King commands us, not by
liking a thing that we learn to obey.” Then she came to him and
kissed him on the forehead. “You have been a good friend to me
Rabin. You may think I have taught you much, but you have been a
healer to me even as I have been to you. Follow the commands of the
King. It is hard now, but the King is good. You will be happier.
Trust me.
Rabin nodded, unable to
speak for the tears he was shedding. Wordlessly he turned to the
Stranger and held out his hand to receive the scroll with the King's
orders. When the scroll was handed over to him he opened it. There
inside in the strange glowing print he read before were these words.
“Go from where you are to
the South. Seek the Tower of the Teacher. There you will learn more,
and understand the fullness of your calling and the mastery of your
Gift.
Rabin looked up from the
scroll. “I don't understand. Why can't you teach me about my gift
Lumina?
Lumina smiled sadly and
shook her head. “Because even I do not understand the Gift you have
Rabin. The King sent you to me for a time to heal, and to learn to
heal. But your Gift is greater than that. You must trust the King. He
is good and will not fail you.”
Rabin nodded and then flung
himself into a tight embrace that nearly knocked Lumina over.
“I don't know the King”
Rabin told her. “I have never seen him. But if you look like him,
then I will trust him because I have seen you.” And then embracing
her again, they wept together. And then Rabin packed his things and
set off to the South in search of the Teacher and the secret of his
Gift.
The
entirity of this story, the plot and storylines within are copyrighted
to Brian Pengelly and written in 2005 no portion may be reproduced,
copied, or published without my specific written consent.
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