Zahrah the Windseeker (29 page)

Also, just after my return, a group of scientists decided to actually venture into the jungle for research! Since then, they have discovered three plants with amazing medicinal value and two animals with strange skills, which they are documenting. Dari and I know that this is just the beginning of what they will find. Not surprisingly, however, a few have fallen terribly sick and had to return to Ooni. None have died yet, though. But it's the Greeny Jungle, and such things are bound to happen.

Last, the frog was right; in the forest I became Zahrah the Windseeker, a legend, growing bigger and more impossible each time my story was told.

A month later, Dari and I stood at the entrance of the library with most of the dry season ahead of us. Since waking from his coma, Dari's obsession with the Forbidden Greeny Jungle had multiplied. And with me now as obsessed as he was, we fed off each other.

The first week, we stayed at each other's homes, talking all day. Dari wanted to hear about every single detail of my travels. And then he wanted to hear it again. Then he wanted to write it down. We consulted the field guide. And I pointed out where it didn't get something right or where it missed information.

"The elgort isn't all irrational," I said. "When I took the egg, she was terribly angry with me. But she went to check her nest instead of coming after me. She could have followed me from below. But she was more concerned with her babies than eating me, and that's
not
irrational behavior at all. It's motherly."

Then there was my ability. Other than my parents, Dari was the only person who knew of it. And he loved it.

"Just fly a little higher," he'd say as I showed off my ability behind his house.

"Dari, if someone sees me flying—"

"No one will see," he'd say. "You're not flying that high, anyway."

It would be another two weeks before we finally got the nerve to sneak back to the Forbidden Greeny Jungle, where I would fly way above the trees and Dari would almost faint with joy as he imagined being able to fly as I did.

Eventually we decided to see what other information about places outside of Ooni we could find in the library. Dari was especially interested in finding out about the mythical world of Earth, which he didn't think was so mythical.

My mother dropped us off. Several of the children and adults going in and out of the library slowed down to look at us. It was always like that. I heard someone tell his friend, "She's the one who went beyond."

I wanted to laugh. Most people still viewed the jungle as a forbidden place, even after all our talk with the newspapers. Old habits are hard to break, I guess.

"She's dada," people said. "Maybe
she's
allowed to pass through, but I know I'm not. Remember how the rescue team got attacked by those dogs? And that one scientist is still in the hospital."

It drove Dari mad.

"Ignorance is bliss," he said to me. "More like, ignorance is ignorance! It was just a bunch of dogs! They have wild dogs in many places besides the Greeny Jungle!"

Before we went into the library to look for new books, Dari said, "Wait, we have to return the field guide. It's way overdue, you know."

He took the digi-book out of his backpack.

I didn't want to see it go. Though the thing was extremely faulty and I knew a lot of its information, I still hadn't read it from beginning to end. Dari hadn't read it all either. And the book
had
basically saved both our lives. When I turned to Dari, I saw that he was thinking the same thing.

We both looked at the book and laughed.

"Can I renew this?" he asked the librarian. "I know it's overdue but..." He shrugged.

It was the same librarian who had checked the book out for him before. She grinned at us as if we were superstars.

"Oh this old thing," she said. "The library's decided to give it to you two as a gift. We've just bought five new copies, and all of them are checked out!"

This time we asked our parents for permission to go to the Dark Market. It was a sunny Saturday afternoon.

"Please, just trust us this time," Dari said to his parents. I stood behind him, quiet.

Dari's parents looked at each other, thought about it for a moment, and then finally nodded.

"OK, Dari," his father said. "We're going to trust you, as we did before when you were sneaking into the jungle. Don't disappoint us this time."

"We want to find the Windseeker lady I told you about," I told them. "I want to thank her for coming after me and apologize for sneaking off. I just want to talk to her, see her again."

We were thankful when my parents also agreed to let us go.

We both wore green as we moved swiftly through the market. Dari wore his long pants and caftan, and I wore a plain long green dress with mirrors in the hem. Neither of us wore the civilized clothes of the day, but neither of us really cared about that anymore. It was just another way that we would always be different from the northerners around us. Heads turned as we passed. People also recognized our faces from the newspapers, netevision, and e-magazines. I knew where to find Nsibidi. My sense of direction had improved with my flying skills. Still, Nsibidi found us first.

"Zahrah!" Nsibidi called over the crowd at the entrance of the Dark Market. As always, she wore a long yellow dress, this one made of tiny yellow beads. She must have got it from the southwest.

Many people looked up when they heard my name. Dari rolled his eyes and smiled.

"Nsibidi!" I called, running around several people.

"Sneaky girl," she said, grabbing me in her long arms and hugging me tightly. Nsibidi looked up and pulled Dari into our hug. "You, too. Come here."

Then Nsibidi held us out so she could get a good look at us. She laughed.

"You both glow with experience," she said. I nodded. "You've been through your own transitions."

"Yes, we have," I said.

"Where are the idiok?" Dari asked, looking past Nsibidi into the Dark Market.

"They're in their usual place," Nsibidi said. "We just finished with five customers. Obax said you two were on your way, and I wanted to meet you before you entered the Dark Market. I don't want to get you two into any more trouble."

"Don't worry," I said. "We asked for permission this time."

Nsibidi touched one of the scratches on my cheek. She sighed and held her chest, and then she smiled mischievously.

"So, Zahrah, tell me, just how were you able to travel over three hundred miles in three days? Hmm?"

I smiled sheepishly and looked at my feet. I didn't want to say anything in case people were listening. The market was always full of ears.

"And you, Dari," Nsibidi said. "You're quite the radical activist."

"
And
I know what I'm talking about, too," Dari said. "I've been studying this stuff for years!"

"Feisty," Nsibidi said. "You keep being curious, Dari. It'll lead you to great places. "

Dari smirked proudly.

"Nsibidi," I said. "I just wanted to—"

She held up her hand.

"Hold that thought," she said. "Let me go tell the idiok that I will be gone for twenty minutes. Meet me outside the market, next to the iroko tree."

Dari and I went to the tree immediately. It was far enough from the main road leading to the market that we had a little privacy. Not far away, a few families, who were also looking for some peace and quiet, sat on blankets, eating lunch.

Dari and I sat close together, basking in the sunlight like lizards. Dari glanced over at me. I was staring at the sky and could see him with my peripheral vision. He looked at my hand and slowly grasped it. I turned to him with a questioning look. He took a deep breath and spoke.

"You're ... you're the best friend I've ever had," Dari said quietly. "I ... well, I want to thank you for saving my life. "

"Oh Dari, you don't have to thank me, it's a given," I said, squeezing his hand.

"But I wanted to say it anyway," he said.

"Well, you're very welcome, then," I said.

We stared into each other's eyes for a long time. My belly fluttered, and Dari's hand felt very warm over my hand.

Then a shadow fell over us and we quickly let go.

"Did I come at a bad time?" Nsibidi asked.

We shook our heads. Nsibidi smirked, and we both felt embarrassed and looked away. She sat down across from us, wrapping her long arms around her long legs. She looked at us for a moment and then said, "I didn't believe you could do it, Zahrah. When I found you, you had that wild look in your eye. Something had awakened in you. That day when Dari's mother caught you two in the Dark Market, the idiok told me. They said you two would venture into the jungle, Dari would get bitten, and you would go into the jungle for that egg. It was destiny, and, well, one of the first things I learned from the idiok was that destiny should never be purposely tampered with.

"For a while, I obeyed. But with Dari in that coma and then when you went into that jungle, that was enough. I just couldn't bring myself to let destiny play itself out. I didn't believe you'd make it, Zahrah. It was too far-fetched! And I felt as if this whole situation were my fault. I was the one who told you to practice."

"It wasn't," Dari said. "It was
our
idea to go to the jungle. Not your fault at all!"

I nodded vigorously. "Please, don't apologize for anything."

Nsibidi patted Dari's leg and took my hands in hers, her face full of emotion.

"I looked for you," she said quietly. "I'd finally found you. Vowed not to lose you again. Then I woke up and you were gone! All that next day, I searched frantically with no success. You'd gone off the trail. I was so sure I'd failed you a second time. "

"No," I pleaded. "Nsibidi, you didn't—"

"I remembered you as the timid girl I had met in the Dark Market. I knew you'd changed, but I underestimated just how much," Nsibidi said, shaking her head and looking at me with a perplexed smile. "I eventually had to return home." She paused. "Destiny will always have its way."

She sighed and the three of us were quiet a moment.

"So..." I hesitated to ask the question I'd wanted to ask for a long time. "You know the Forbidden Greeny Jungle, don't you? You
knew
it when you were searching for me?"

"Yes, it's tame compared to where I grew up. It's funny, the attitude Ooni people have. I've never seen such a fear of the unknown," Nsibidi said.

I nodded. "Dari and I have learned better. "

Dari sat up straighter.

"Since you're not going to just ask it, Zahrah, I will," Dari said. "Where—"

"No," I said, holding my hand up. "OK, I'll ask, Dari."

Dari's eyebrows went up but he said nothing.

I turned to Nsibidi.

"Where
are you
from?"

"Ah, so the question finally comes out," Nsibidi said. "You ready for this?"

We both nodded.

"You comfortable?"

We nodded again.

"Good. I will tell you, but I'd like you to keep it between us," she said. "Kirki isn't ready to know so much about me."

"We're good at keeping secrets," I said.

"It's why we got into all this trouble to begin with," Dari said.

Nsibidi smiled.

"I'm glad to have met you two," Nsibidi said. She paused and looked at the sky. The tattoo just below her neck looked lovely in the sunlight. Nsibidi settled her eyes on Dan and me and said, "I was born and raised very far from here, way beyond the Greeny Jungle, where the trees grow twice as high and some of them grow flat and wide. This was where my parents settled after years and years of traveling."

"My family and I lived alone; I grew up knowing no other humans. The idiok's young were our playmates. They taught us their form of language and their culture.

"When I grew up, I left home. Zahrah, you must know that once a Windseeker learns to fly, he or she is plagued by wanderlust. Rarely do we stay where we were born and raised. "

I felt Dari looking at me strangely, but I didn't want to look at him. Still, without looking at him, I could read his mind. I frowned. Why would my best friend think I'd ever leave him and my family?