Boy of Two homes 

A memoir of Zachary Talyorson

One

No one can really argue that my childhood was an not unusual one. Born the son of a diplomat, I had the rare chance to be one of the first humans to go to Saltha and live most of my boyhood there. I was to live those years far from children who looked like me and in many ways acted like me, though I also came to see the sameness inherit within. My journey began when my father was assigned shortly after the end of the war to go to Saltha and write a report on the customs of the Salthan people. He was to live in a Salthan home with a family and observe daily life. I was at the time seven years old, and had mixed feelings about going. On the one hand, I was leaving behind all my old friends, and I knew at the very least I had the vague notion that life there would be different, uncomfortable and unsuited to my culture for humans, and even "backwards". On the other hand, I had a strong desire for adventure, and had grown up reading adventure stories. I had the idea of going far away some day, and being an explorer but I had never dreamed up to this point that the day would come so soon, and I felt still unprepared. My father had considered leaving me with my aunt and uncle, but I insisted on going. Actually, I cried and begged, even after my father's insistence that the journey would be hard. 

The journey was a long, hot and bumpy through the desert until we finally I saw the walled city in the distance. This was the city of Ten Terak, not far from the eastern border of Saltha. Later I learned that this was also the former capital of the country. The date was April 15th, the 19th year of king Baderford of Braydon. Of course, then I didn't know the historical significance of what was happening, until much later. I was mearly a young boy swept into the adventure I had read of in books. 

We stopped in a square. The buildings were flat, squarish and made of brick, showing little or no adornments.

 It was evening, and the sun was just going down. There were still a good sized crowd of the strangest people I had ever seen. his was the second time I had seen a Salthan up close, since my father introduced me to a Salthan diplomat who visited Braydon.  I noticed, with some embarrassment that children, boys and girls, some who looked older than me wore absolutely nothing at all, and didn't seem at all embarrsed of people seeing their privates. Many of the people kept on their business, but also stared at us, some more brazenly stopping to stare. They had probably never seen humans before, having surrendered before the war’s end had saved them from being occupied. My father told me that when he gave me a spome quick lessons on Saltha to prepare me for the trip. 

"Don't stare" my father said. I hadn't realized I was staring. "But their staring at us" I said. 

"That's no excuse" he said. 

At that moment a man approached us, followed by a woman and a boy. All three wore the clothing of the adults wore, a long short-sleeved robe with a long sleeved robe underneath. "Beeka esha" the man said, holding his arms out palm upward, and giving a short sharp bob of his head.  My father did his best to imitate this movement. "I am Elsal. He said. "You are gitaylorson?" My father told him he was. "This is Zack."

Elsal gave a sort of bob of his head in my direction. "Gizak, it is good to meet you." he said. 

"It is a great honor to have you here." The man indicated the woman. "This is my wife Sadakari," and then indicating the boy "and this son, Lail."  With the introductions done, the man took my father's suitcase and Lail carried mine and he lead the way to their home.

The home was like the others I had seen in the square. We were stopped at the door and asked to wait as Sadakari went into the house and came out with a chunk of bread. She broke it in half, and gave a peice to my dad and me, tellings us to please eat it. After we at it, we followed our hosts inside. 

The first floor was a single room with a short table and a cooking area. On the left I could see stairs, and a curtained off area on the left side. "A room for you has been prepared." Elsail said. "Then you can be cleaned up for dinner." The man led the way upstairs. The upstairs had no walls, except for curtains hanging from hooks on the ceiling. The man came to one part of the curtain and unhooked one end. "This is your room." he said, and set my father's case down. The room was bare of any furniture except a mat on the floor.  And then he went a little further and unhooked another end of a curtain "And this is the boy's room. He will be with Lail." It was much the same as the other, with nothing but two mats. Lail put my case down there. "Now" the man said. "You shall be cleaned up, and we will have dinner, I want to hear much of your country."

We were lead back downstairs and to the curtained room. It was a small tiled room with a tub on one end. Sadakari sat on a stool. She explained that here they wash up first, and then get in the tub to soak, and then me and Lail could talk (Lail had also been learning the common human trade language). She also said that it was the host's duty to do the cleaning. I was more than a little shy taking of my clothes and having the woman wash me. Once this was done she doused me with a bucket of water. It was cold, but felt refreshing. The night was surprisingly warm.  Once this was done I thought I could get in the tub, but as I turned the woman grabbed my arm and I saw her reach for a wooden switch on a shelf. I tutrned to my father who looked as surprised as I must have looked. My father asked her something, which I didn't understand in Salthan and she replied, in Salthan. This went back and forth, and I stood there, naked, cold, afraid and confused. Had I unknowingly done something wrong, and the woman wanted to beat me for it?  My father and the woman talked back and forth, and it seemed like from his tone he was trying to haggle. After a few minutes of this my father called me aside.

"Son" he said. "You remember that I said some parts of this would be difficult. I'm afraid I'm going to have to let her switch you." I was shocked at what I was hearing. "Why? What did I do?" "No, no, you didn't do anything wrong." He said. "But it is something they do, as part of what they believe is cleaning. They do this once at the end of each month in their calendar, which happens to be today. She told me that if she is not allowed you are unclean and cannot stay here in Saltha, but I can't go back yet either. They would send me to jail and take me away from you. I hope you understand."  I did and I didn't really. 

At that moment I turned and saw Lail who had already been cleaned was already laying across his mother's lap, receiving his punishment, five sharp swats across his bared bottom with the switch, and then he went into the tub and it was my turn. I was bent over and received the five quick swats which stung, but was over quickly and then I joined Lail in the tub.

I had no idea of what to say. "Hello" I said. "Hello." He said back, with an accent. It suddenly occurred to me that he was thinking the same thing as me. "It's hot here." I said, turning to the obvious choice of weather to start a conversation. "Seth" (yes) he said. "Is it not like this in your country?"

"Sometimes, but only during the summer time, so about a quarter of the year."

"And what is it like the other times?"

"Sometimes it's very cold, and it snows sometimes."

"Snow?" he asked.

"You don't know what snow is?". I understood why he'd never seen it, but I was genuinely surprised he had never heard of it. 

"No." He said. "What is it?"

"Well, it's white stuff that's soft and is very cold that falls from the sky."

"Ah." He said, I have heard of it, we have it in the mountains, but we never go there. There is snow all over your country?"

"Yep."

"I had wondered what you country was like, but I don't think I'd like to go there, at least not during the snow time."

He asked me about my hair, how often I had to cut it, if it was hard to wash. It was aparently a strange thing to him. We talked about a few other things like sports and school, and too soon Lail’s mother came in to tell us it was time for dinner. I could already smell the food from the next room, we got out, dried and dressed.

We all sat cross-legged on the floor on mats on the ground around the table. They served vegetables, a cooked grain cereal and bread that had cooked fish meat inside. All three of the Salthans asked a lot of questions about our home country, what the buildings were like, what we liked to do. Lail repeated what I had told him about snow in the bath, obviously amazed that there was a place where snow fell everywhere, not just in the mountains. We also talked about plans to go to Lail's school tomarrow. After dinner was done Elsal said "Well, you're probably tired from your journey and wish to sleep. Tomorrow is a big day so we all should turn in. Good night."

We went upstairs and I went to the room I was assigned and laid down on the mat. Though it was harder than the bed I was used to at home, it less uncomfortable then I had expected. I was tired from the long journey, though I was also excited about where I was and my new friend. It was hard to beleive how far away from home I was, or that I was in such a strange place with non-human people! My great grandfather would have been thought to be insane if he had said there were a non-human race on our planet. Finally tiredness won and I fell asleep.

Two - A visit to the temple

The next day Laila suggestsed we visit the temple. It was in the center of town, a mile or so from the house. The temple walls were tall, about ten feet tall and had large square blocks like the battlements on the castles I had seen in my own country. I almost expected to see soldiers with spears patrolling on a walkway. but when we entered the courtyard, I saw no soldiers and no walkway even to walk on. The square bumps were there only for decoration. The courtyard was about twenty steps across. and then through another doorway directly across I could see another courtyard and the temple itself. The countyard had two buildings on opposite sides of the courtyard on either side of the doorway that stretched from one wall to the other. Lail reached out an arm to the building to the left then lead us inside. 

The building I realized was much larger than it apeared form the outside, and seem to stretch into the next courtyard. The building inside had a small pool of water, and some buckets one one. On  the other was a stone block, and hanging on the wall whips and switches. Loitering around was a priest dressed in a fancy looking robe. There were a few people here washing themselves at the pool. "This room for purifying" Lail explained. I rememberd the switching I got when I arrived, and how physical punishment was part of the process of being clean in Saltha. I was afraid he might think I wanted to be purified. "Do I need to be purified to enter the temple?" I asked. He looked at me. "No" he said. "If you're here to look, no need.". I was relieved. 

Lail however took off his loin cloth, and went to the pool and dumped a bucket of water on himself. He shook himself to take the excess water off, then put his clothes back on. "I'll dry off quick" he said with a smile. 

We left the building, and entered the one on the opposite side of the courtyard. It had the same deceiving size as the other one. On the flooor were bed mats. some, were occupied by people laying on them, One had his arm in a splint. "This is the medicine house." He said. "People here are cured."

And with that he left the room, swiftly as if he was afraid of catching something from being there too long, and we followed him out, 

"If we stayed, I would need to be purified" he explained. I didn't blame him for leaving quickly, even if that weren't the case. 

We continued on to the next courtyard. This courtyard was a little larger than the other one. In different places around the courtyard were various idols, symbols of the deities of the Santhan religion. 

Above the door hung a star with twenty-five points. Lail told me this represented the chief God, Santh. Lail explained what each of the others represented. The next one clockwise was a stone image of a nearly naked Salthan woman with a long cloth that draped across her groin, trailing behind her. This was Laike, a deity of wind.  Next in the order was a male Salthan named Rela who wore a long robe engulfed in flames and carrying Sword. After that was Kai, a female Salthan in long robe and carrying a scroll and a scale. Then there was Kakela, a Salthan who was nothing more than a head and stubby feet, carrying a large shield and a hammer.  Finally there was two Salthans, a male and a female. Lail told me this was actually one Salthan called Gikari, who was also known as Gikaria, This Salthan was both male and female (or could change it at will, Lail wasn't really clear on which it was).

Lail told me only priests and workers go into the temple itself. Lail went to the center of the room and kneeled on a mat, bowing foreword, pointing himself towards the star. "gikakelgisanth girelgisanth gikaigisanth   tasgishirels chigiSanth daesila taskakels chigisanth daesila tasnes". 

Then he rose up. He told me this was a traditional Salthan prayer. the translation was "Great in strength is Santh, Great in power is Santh. Great in Knowledge is Santh. Please be a light before us. Please protect us. May it be so."

After that we went home.