Zahrah the Windseeker (24 page)

"Zahrah!"

It was coming from above the tree. From the sky. In the yellow, orange, pink of dusk, her yellow dress glowed like a rising sun.

"Nsibidi?" I shouted. "Is that you?" I blinked for a moment at the sound of my own voice, realizing that I hadn't spoken, not even to my compass, in days. A flock of brown and white sparrows rose from a nearby tree in a chirping haze. I laughed and clapped my hand over my mouth. "Nsibidi, down here!"

"Zahrah!" she said again, flying down. I watched her with wide eyes. She was like a bird, except more graceful. She moved through the air with more ease. The air around me began to move as she landed before me with such softness that she might as well have been stepping down from the last step of a flight of stairs.

"You found me!" I said giddily and laughed again. Though Nsibidi was a mystery to me, she was someone from my other world, that place outside the Greeny Jungle that seemed so far away. Her presence made me feel more real.

"I just came from the gorilla village, and they told me you'd left, taking the old trail. I've been following it, so I was bound to find you," Nsibidi said. She grinned and shook her head after looking me up and down for a long moment. "I can't believe it. You've changed."

"Still haven't gotten what I want and I'm running out of time,
o
!" I said, looking at the sky. "I have to find—"

"Zahrah, I've come to take you home," she said.

I frowned and then shook my head, pushing away the first thought that came to my mind, a thought I was sure was true:
Dari's gone and she's come to tell me and bring me back. I'm too late.

"No," I said.

"You've made it this far, but an elgort will kill you," she said. I breathed with relief. She just wanted to persuade me to go home. "I can't let you do this. Everything in my common sense tells me not to. I've been searching for you for over a week. You have no idea what chaos you've caused back home."

"Yes, I do," I said, though I didn't. I couldn't imagine it. All I knew at the time was that it must have been horrible for my parents.

"Look at you, Zahrah," Nsibidi said, putting her arms around her chest and staring at me. "You don't ... even look like yourself anymore."

I frowned. I probably didn't. I just hadn't thought about it. I still didn't want to think about it.

"Zahrah, please. Your family needs you. I can get you there. This is my fault, that's the least I can do for you. You have such potential, I can't let you commit suicide," Nsibidi said.

"But Dari! He needs—"

"He needs you at his side," Nsibidi said. "Not here."

For the second time, Nsibidi and I stood staring at each other. I don't know what she must have seen in me. How must I have looked? After so many days in the jungle, alone, no longer afraid, almost part of the jungle myself. In the clothes sewn by Greeny Gorillas. With my scars and scratches. My blood tainted with whip-scorpion poison.

In her I saw indecision. She wasn't really that sure about taking me home; I could tell. But she not only felt responsible for Dari's situation and mine but truly cared about me and would be devastated if I were killed.

"Come," she said. "Let's get some sleep and decide what to do in the morning."

I nodded.

For an hour, I lay thinking about going home with Nsibidi. My mission
was
practically suicide. I was aware of this, fully aware. If I died, so much would be lost. But I'd come so far and I hadn't missed the look in Nsibidi's protective eyes. Deep down, I think she believed I could do it. She was just afraid of letting me try. I rolled it all over and over in my mind, in my usual clamlike way. Still I didn't come up with a pearl. By the time I fell asleep, I still wasn't sure what I'd do.

I slept well that night, Nsibidi on the branch just above mine. And I could still feel the warmth of the gorillas with me as I clutched the green necklace Obax had given me. I missed them all.

In the morning, I opened my eyes to a ray of sunlight shining through some tree leaves, warming my face. I could still hear Nsibidi above me breathing softly as she slept. Something pink and shiny was standing on the tree branch right in front of my eyes. It was so close that I couldn't quite focus on it. I knew I was high up, so I didn't jump. Instead, I let my eyes focus a little more as I tried to figure out what I should do. I slowly sat up, keeping my dark brown eyes on the golden eyes of the large, shiny pink frog with gold speckles.

"Wh-what?!"

The frog rolled its eyes and sighed dramatically.

"As if you haven't seen me before. As if my presence is
such
a surprise," it said. "I know you seek me. What is it that you want, dada girl?"

I glanced up at Nsibidi. She still slept.

"May we please talk down there?" I said. "I ... I don't want to wake my friend."

Without a word, the frog leaped to the ground. It was a high jump for a creature of its size, but it didn't seem to mind.

Very quietly and on shaky legs, I grabbed my satchel and bundle and climbed down. It looked at me, waiting for me to speak.

"Are you—"

"Yes, I am."

"You're the Speculating Speckled Frog?"

"Didn't I just
say
I was?" the frog said. "What do you want?"

"Well," I said, "I—"

"Let me guess," the frog interrupted. "Like every other human explorer I've met, you want to know the meaning of life."

"I didn't—"

"The answer is forty-four. That machine was off by two," the frog snapped. "Believe me, it makes a world of difference. And now I will be on my way."

The frog turned around and was about to hop away.

"But that isn't my question," I said quickly.

"Yes, it is. It's what you all ask," the frog said. "As if it matters. You'll still live your lives the stupid way you choose and then die and be reborn again as someone or something else, et cetera, et cetera."

"It's not my question."

"Don't you wonder why you're here in this world? What it all means?"

"Well," I said, thinking about it, "sometimes, I guess. When I'm—"

"Well, there. You have your answer."

"But forty-four makes no sense and—"

"You asked for the answer to the meaning of life. To understand that, you must know the
question
to the meaning of life. "

"But that wasn't my question," I said again, growing frustrated and confused. The frog sighed its loud, rude sigh again.

"Then what
is
your question?"

"I just—"

"Get on with it," the frog snapped.

"Where can I—"

"Hurry up!"

I spoke as fast as I could. "Where-can-I-find-an-unfertilized-elgort-egg?"

The frog looked at me, cocking its head.

"You
can't
be serious."

"I need it to save my best friend's life," I said.

"I'm not going to tell you that," the frog said with a chuckle.

"Why not?" I said, trying hard to keep my voice down. "Please! Oh
please!
I've come so far! You're supposed to answer at least one question!"

"Psss, I take no orders from anyone. I answer questions when I please. You want me to be responsible for your getting killed?" it said. "To have blood on my hands and feet and reputation? You want to drag me into
your
mess?! Selfish girl."

"Plea—"

"No. Absolutely not."

I didn't know what to do, so I just stood there as it looked at me. My blood pressure was probably rising from frustration, but I didn't care. Let it make me sleep. It was better than looking at that arrogant, stupid, wet, pink frog. I bit back my urge to shout and cry and throw dirt at the selfish creature. Anger would get me nowhere.

"
I
chose to come here," I said in my calmest voice. "I left
my
home,
my
friend, and I packed
my
things. I walked into the jungle. I have been bitten, stung, and poisoned. A whip scorpion and Carnigourd have tried to eat me, panthers have contemplated making a meal of me, wild boars have tried to tear me apart, spiders have tasted me, wild dogs have chased me. I've survived all this way.
This
has
nothing
to do with you, Mr. or Mrs. Frog, whatever you are.
Nothing.
All I need is a
bit
of information from you. What makes you think my dying at this point in my journey would be because of you? If I survive, would it be because of you, too?"

I refrained from calling the frog selfish and self-centered, as I really wanted to. My heart was beating fast, but no darkness came because deep down I was calm. I knew I was right. And I knew I had rightfully earned the pride that I felt for myself.

The frog turned around and started to hop away. My shoulders slumped and I dropped my things on the ground. Then the frog turned around and hopped back to me. It looked up at me for several moments before it spoke.

"You are serious," the frog said, its voice softening.

I nodded. Suddenly, I saw Dari in his bed, lying very still. His mother sat nearby. She was reading to him. I couldn't hear what she was reading, but I could see the book. It was Dari's favorite book after
The Forbidden Greeny Jungle Field Guide,
a nature book on the wildlife inhabiting the Ooni Palace. Dari loved all the pictures of the top of the palace, near the giant flower satellite, where it was so cold and frigid that the only things that lived up there were snow albatrosses and the legion of dedicated human-size ants that guarded and maintained the palace's leaves and huge stem. His mother's voice was flat as she read from the pages.

Then the vision was gone and I was looking into the frog's eyes.

"Hmm, your task is quite noble," the frog said, the edge completely gone from its voice.

I wiped a tear from my cheek and sniffed. The frog put one of its cool hands on my hand and said, "Let me speculate."

I waited for a moment while it closed its eyes. Then the frog said, "You must find its path before you find the elgort. Follow my directions and you will find one of their nests without being spotted. Now listen closely.

"Trek backward. South. You don't have to go all the way back to the gorilla village, just where the gorilla trail picks up. That's four miles from here. The trail runs northeast and southwest. Go southwest. Follow it till it ends and continue southwest; you will eventually cross an elgort path. The trees will be flattened, the bushes crushed. Take your time, Zahrah. It will be dangerous to hurry at this point. Go in the direction opposite to the flattened trees. At the end of the elgort path, you'll find its nest."

I looked back up at Nsibidi in the tree only once and then quickly set off. My decision was made.
She'll understand,
I thought.
I have to do this.

"Wow," I said, staring at the destruction.

I shivered. It was a sight few would want to see alone. To know that an animal had done all of what I was seeing was terrifying. Even after all I had been through.

I absent-mindedly touched the green necklace around my neck. The trail must have been made some days ago because the trees and bushes that had been flattened were beginning to wither. Some of them had already turned brown. The flattened foliage ran like a two-lane road through the forest farther than I could see. A beast had done this just by going about its business! Think of what it does when it's angry! Everything was flattened in one direction, just as the frog had said it would be.

"Go in the direction opposite to the flattened trees. At the end of the elgort path, you'll find its nest," the Speculating Speckled Frog had said.

I tentatively stepped on the elgort path and shivered again.
What creatures must have died an awful death on this path?
I wondered. I hoped I wouldn't see any remains. It was unlikely. Elgorts left no remains when they ate. It was three chomps and then swallow. I looked up and down the trail. A few birds flew by, and a brown furry anteater hopped back into the bushes. But no elgort. I hiked up my bundle and satchel and started down the path I was determined to follow to its end.

On the second day, I saw an elgort.

For hours before, I'd been hearing their screeches. I assumed that they were calling to each other, that it was their way of socializing. I imagined that one would stand in place, and its entire body would quiver as it inhaled, filling its lungs with air. And then it would open its trunk wide and screeeeeeeeeech! A minute later another would usually answer. Since I had started hearing their cries, I took to traveling alongside the path, in the shadows of the trees. I figured that though an elgort made paths through the jungle wherever it went, it must use the same path once in a while, especially around its nest.

This turned out to be a smart move because that day, when the sun shone bright, I heard the screech from
very
close by. I froze, hiding behind a thick tree. There was a rumbling as the ground shook. I braced my legs to keep my balance. All sorts of dreadful things flashed through my mind, mainly the painful end to my life. I just knew the elgort would have a mouth full of slobbering teeth. Its feet would be bloody from the victims it had trampled over. Nevertheless, if I had blinked I would have missed it. The elgort zoomed by faster than I had ever seen a living thing move. Even faster than a car!