“Kneel before them,” Doctors said. It was a command.
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Friday, March 20, 2009
Baffu's First Story: Part Six
He gestured to a plaque on the wall; it was much like the one Baffu had seen in the court where Doctors acted as judge but older and simpler in design. Carved out of fine-grained ivory and inlayed with colored wood and shell, it showed four figures, posed close together; a tall stern man with a dour face, a calm woman with a look of keen intelligence, a dark angry youth, and a gently smiling girl with downcast eyes.
“Kneel before them,” Doctors said. It was a command.
“Kneel before them,” Doctors said. It was a command.
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He gestured to a plaque on the wall; it was much like the one Baffu had seen in the court where Doctors acted as judge but older and simpler in design. Carved out of fine-grained ivory and inlayed with colored wood and shell, it showed four figures, posed close together; a tall stern man with a dour face, a calm woman with a look of keen intelligence, a dark angry youth, and a gently smiling girl with downcast eyes.
“Kneel before them,” Doctors said. It was a command.
Baffu did as he was told. Kneeling, he still looked down on them but he felt the weight of their authority.
“If you sit in judgment, they are your family and you must please them,” Doctors said. “They are Father Law, Mother Justice, Brother Vengeance, and Sister Mercy. Rarely will you be able to please them all and as families will, the ones you slight will still be part of your life one way or another.” Baffu heard the Judge sigh with deliberate drama. “I know you, younger brother. Father Law and you are going to have trouble with each other. Come, recline and have another drink. You need to hear the parts of the story that fool crab-frog left out of the book.”
Baffu settled down and took the cup Doctors offered.
“Now that Justice, may he walk on his ass on streets paved with teeth, thought nothing of telling that poor student to go and fetch ten coins of red-gold shell. How was he to do that? He was of a humble family, and he himself was not just humble, he was living in true poverty. But Justice commanded and so he went to the money changers and asked for a loan.
“How his heart soared when the coins were returned to his hand! Or so thought the Justice of Black and Gray, who was a young man himself and full of pride in his cleverness. What he didn’t consider was that the student went back to cash street, handed back his coins, and said, ‘I thank you for your loan. Please, how long do I have to pay the interest?’”
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