“Daddy, daddy, see! I caught it! I caught it!”
Five years old Riaz beamed as he ran to his father with a butterfly in his hands.
“Goodness, Riaz, where have you been? I’ve been looking for you.” Atlas said in frustration as he picked up Riaz.
“I followed this pretty butterfly. Isn’t it pretty, daddy?”
Atlas shook his head. Riaz is fond of wandering around and making him worry. He’s just like his mother. He doesn’t like staying in one place. The moment he woke up, he rushed out of the house to play with his friends. He comes back home hours later, dirty from his hair to his toes. He’s about to drive his mother crazy with worry.
“Riaz, I told you to stay where I left you.”
Riaz pouted, “but butterfly…”
Atlas couldn’t resist his son’s glimmering blue eyes. He sighed and nodded. “Yes, it’s beautiful. Very beautiful.”
Riaz grinned in satisfaction and let the butterfly go. Atlas put Riaz down and brushed his hair with his fingers. “Your mother has been worried about you.”
“Riaz!” Venusa’s yell came from behind, startling both Riaz and Atlas. Seeing the rage in his mother’s eyes, Riaz took to his heels. Venusa chased after him immediately.
“Riaz, come back here!”
Riaz was having fun teasing his mother. He had little legs and he was fast so Venusa had a hard time catching up to him.
“I’m gonna deal with you when I catch you.”
Riaz stuck out his tongue and Atlas laughed. His son is so naughty. Venusa realized she could only catch her naughty boy by playing dirty. She used her powers to make the nearby vines wrap around Riaz.
“Mummy!” Riaz whined as he fell to the ground, his whole body wrapped with vines. Venus got to him and picked him up with one hand.
“You are in serious trouble.”
Riaz shook his head and began to hop away.
“Riaz!”
Riaz giggled happily as he continued to hop. He wasn’t facing forward so he didn’t realize that Hank was approaching.
“Ouch!” He winced when he hit his head on something. He looked up and saw Hank staring down at him smilingly.
“Grandpa!” He beamed and Hank bent to his height.
“Who wrapped my grandson with these?”
“Your grandson is quite naughty, grandpa,” Venusa said as she joined them. Hank helped pull the vines away and picked Riaz up.
“Grandpa, I caught a very big butterfly.” Riaz said smugly.
“Really? Where is it?”
“I let it go. It was very pretty.”
“Aww, I would have loved to see it.”
Hank turned to Venusa who was fuming.
“So you can get angry. Have you forgotten what you put us through when you were younger? You were so rough you damaged the goods of a trader in the market. We had to pay a lot for compensation. Don’t let me remind you of the day we found you beside a tiger in the woods. One second later, you would have been eaten.”
“I told you, father. The tiger was a friend.”
Atlas laughed. “You made friends with a tiger? At what age?”
“Six,” Hank replied and Atlas’s eyes widened.
“Was the tiger pretty, mummy?” Riaz asked and Venusa nodded.
“She was so pretty. She had beautiful gold eyes.”
“Wow!”
“Tch! You’re the same and you get mad at him.” Atlas said and Venusa knocked his head.
“You need a bath,” Venusa said and Riaz nodded.
“Go to your mother now.”
Venusa took Riaz from Hank. “We’ll be going now, father.”
“Be good, son.”
Riaz nodded and Venusa shook her head. He’s still going to give her trouble during the bath.
“I’m coming, grandpa! I want stories when I’m finished!” Riaz yelled and Hank nodded.
“Be quick.”
Venusa took Riaz into the house and put off his muddy clothes. Venusa took a good look at him and sighed deeply.
“It’s going to be a lot of work getting these muds off your hair.”
Riaz has thick long white hair like his mother. It grows speedily so he has to trim it twice a week. Even with that, it still regrows. Riaz stepped into the bath and Venusa began bathing him. Riaz blew bubbles with the soap and splashed the water around. This was a regular thing for Venusa so she let him have fun.
She washed his hair about five times before it became clean. She was rinsing his hair when he asked the question,
“Mummy?”
“Hm?”
“You’re a priestess?”
She nodded.
“Grandmama too is a priestess?”
“She was the clan’s priestess before I took over.”
Riaz pursed his lips to the side. “So… is Riaz going to become priestess?”
Venusa paused and looked at him. “Why are you asking?”
Riaz sighed sadly. “I met some boys today and they said I will not become priestess like mummy and grandmama.”
Venusa shook her head. “Up.”
Riaz stood up and came out of the tub. Venusa wrapped a cloth around him and carried him to the bed. She placed him on the bed and bent in front of him.
“There’s nothing wrong in you being the clan’s priest, Riaz.”
“But… I’m a boy.” He mumbled and Venusa laughed.
“Doesn’t matter. You have similar powers to me, don’t you? You can feel nature’s heartbeat like mummy, yes?”
Riaz nodded smilingly.
“And you can hear the voices of the ocean and can understand animals, right?”
“Yes, mummy.”
“It took me years of practice and I had to learn a very hard spirit dance to be able to do these things but you were able to do them from the moment you were born,” Venusa said. “You are extraordinary, my love. You are special and unique. Who says you can’t be the priest? You can be anything you want.”
“Anything?” Riaz beamed and Venusa nodded.
“Anything, my love. And always remember, mummy will support you in whatever you choose to do.”
“And daddy,” Atlas said from the door.
“Daddy! Mummy says I can be the priestess!”
“Yes, son. Anything you want to do, you can do it.” Atlas said as he joined them. “Mummy and daddy will always support you.”
“And little baby too?” Riaz said and Atlas chuckled. He looked down at Venusa’s pregnant tummy and smiled.
“Yes, and little baby too.”
“Will it be a boy or a girl?” Riaz asked and Venusa shook her head.
“Time will tell, Riaz.”
Riaz giggled and rubbed his mother’s five-month-old pregnant belly. Riaz gasped as he felt like he heard something.
“What?”
“I can hear it!”
“What?”
“Her heartbeat!”
Venusa’s eyes widened. “Her?”
Riaz nodded. “It’s a girl, mummy.”
“How do you know?” Atlas asked.
“She told me.”
Atlas and Venusa stared at each other in disbelief. Riaz kept rubbing Venusa’s belly, giggling like he was having a conversation with the baby.
Venusa dried and brushed Riaz’s hair and packed it in a bun so it won’t get in his face. She wore him new clothes and without wasting time, Riaz went out to play.
“Do you think he was being serious?” Atlas asked.
“Has Riaz ever joked about something like that?”
“But I thought your powers couldn’t communicate with the dead or the unborn?”
“Riaz is different. His powers keep growing every day. Like it doesn’t have a limit.”
“I’m afraid the next great priest is going to be my naughty boy,” Atlas said and Venusa nodded.
Riaz on the other hand has ventured into the woods to visit the birds he saved the day before.
“Hey, birdies, I’m back!” He beamed as he climbed up the tree he kept them. The three birds were in a nest built by Riaz. He poured the grains he took from home into the next and the birds began to eat.
“Mummy mustn’t know I took these grains so eat well.”
Riaz sat up when he heard a loud growl ahead.
“I’ll be back.” He told the birds before jumping down the tree. He began to walk forward, looking around for what made that sound. He saw a large beast by a tree, its eyes were blazing red.
“What are you?” He wondered as he stepped closer to it. “you look like a wolf. But you’re a big wolf.” Riaz said in fascination as he reached for the beast. In a swift, the beast threw Riaz out of the way.
Riaz cried in immense pain as his back met with a rock. The beast wasn’t done. He ran toward Riaz, intending to claw his face but Atlas came in time to take Riaz out of his reach.
“Riaz!” Atlas yelled but Riaz had gone unconscious. Atlas’s eyes blazed in fury as he faced the beast.
“Who are you?” Atlas demanded authoritatively. The beast tried to attack but Atlas roared menacingly. The beast recognized the roar. It trembled as he submitted to the roar of the alpha.
“If I see you on this land again, I’m gonna kill you,” Atlas warned and the beast scurried away in fear. Atlas looked around to be sure no one witnessed what happened. He held Riaz tighter and rushed out of the forest to get medical help.