Juno of Taris (16 page)

S
ilvern waited for me on the path in the morning. We walked in silence until Mother stopped to talk to Ingold, then we hurried off by ourselves. ‘Did you get the lecture?’ she demanded.

‘Yeah. Over and over.’

Paz ran to meet us and we scuttled up the school path. Paz spoke quickly. ‘Hilto’s been talking to Justa. What are the odds he’s told her to ban any talk of hair?’

There was no opportunity to reply. We walked into our schoolroom and the first thing Justa said, even before we sang the
Song of Taris
, was, ‘There will be no talk of hair, not in class and not out of it. Is that clear?’

Marba spoke for us all. ‘Yes, Justa. We hear you.’

Paz twitched his shoulders, Silvern’s lips tightened and words such as
control, power
and
dictators
rocketed around in my head.

The morning dragged. We could hear Hera yelling while Mother tried to teach. I stood up. ‘Excuse me, Justa. I’ll go and get her, it’ll give Mother a break.’ I didn’t wait for permission.

Mother was trying to work with the stratum below mine, while holding Hera against her hip. Her head glowed with sweat and I thought she looked near tears. I ran to her and took my sister from her arms. ‘I’ll take her for a while. We can pass her around my class.’ I leaned forward to kiss her. ‘We’ll be fine. I promise.’

Her face relaxed. ‘Thank you, Juno.’ I ran back to my classroom.

I put Hera in the middle of the room, on her back. ‘There you are, you noisy brat. Here – have some toys to play with.’ I collected a few things from around the room; wooden blocks we’d used when we were younger, a ball made from flax fibre and a dried gourd. I put them just out of her reach. She stopped yelling, flipped herself over and wriggled towards the gourd.

Pel left her computer and squatted beside her. ‘Hello bubs. Ooh, look at you! You’ll be crawling before you’re much older.’ She ran her fingers through Hera’s hair. ‘It’s so pretty.’

Justa drew in a sharp breath. ‘Pel – finish your assignment, please.’

Marba’s question for us at break was this: what will the Governance Companions do if Vima goes ahead with her threat?

But we weren’t in the mood for such speculation – none of us. Paz threw himself full length on the grass. ‘Don’t know. Don’t care.’

Pel said, ‘Hera’s hair is so pretty. And Merith’s, but hers will be shaved next month.’

Silvern sulked. The others shrugged.

I pulled out a whole patch of grass leaving bare, bald earth.

Marba studied us, his mind busy, but he didn’t say anything. The day passed and we went home to more lectures.

Dad ground coriander seeds for a curry paste. ‘You must see how impossible it is. Vima doesn’t realise yet. It’ll be dreadful for her.’

‘She’s brave.’ I watched him grind the pestle round and round. Vima must be feeling ground down by now. I wondered if they’d let us go to the bay. Would she come?

She did come, and Hera, bless her, was yelling at full strength. We went to the bay without opposition. Vima didn’t want to talk. I walked beside her and felt the restless energy pour out of her. Just one spark would set off an explosion with the power to break the walls of our world. I tried to keep my own mind calm and send her thoughts of love and support.

I looked after Hera and let Vima swim.

We didn’t speak all the way home either. It was the oddest of recreation hours. When we got to my house, she undid the straps of the backpack, slid Hera off and pushed her into my arms. She leaned down and dropped a kiss on my forehead. ‘Thanks, kid. That was a life-saver.’

I watched her run on to her house. A life-saver? I thought of Hilto and shuddered.

My grandparents were at my house. Leebar took Hera and sang to her as we prepared the food.

My parents served the meal. We ate. We cleared away and then finally came to the purpose of my grandparents’ visit.

‘We are worried,’ Dad said.

‘Please speak to your granddaughter,’ Mother said.

I sat with my head bent and my hands clamped together in my lap.

Danyat spoke into the tense silence. ‘My daughter,’ he smiled at Mother, ‘and Zanin – our advice is to trust Juno.’

All three of us stared at him. This was not what we’d been expecting – any of us. Danyat leaned forward. ‘The times ahead are going to be difficult. We must be strong, and the best way to be strong is to be united.’

Mother wrapped her arms around her body. Her eyes were wide and troubled. ‘What are you saying, my father? Why are you talking like this?’

Grif answered, but it wasn’t really an answer. ‘Things are changing. And it’s only the young ones who can do it.’

Danyat stood up. ‘We’ll be on our way. There’s nothing to be gained by discussing it. Just trust your daughter, and keep her safe.’

They kissed us and left. Dad’s parents, Leebar and Bazin, hadn’t said anything. They had kept their eyes on the floor rather than look at us. I wanted to discuss it, but I couldn’t bear the puzzled distress on my parents’ faces. ‘I’m going to bed.’

I sent Vima a text:
my g parents talk of change, not
hair.

I got back:
u lucky. mine cry.

In the morning, my parents looked as if they’d hardly slept. Mother said, ‘It’s Friday.’ Shaving day. As if I didn’t know. ‘We ask you to continue to comply.’

‘We think it’s best,’ Dad said, ‘for you, for our family and for the community.’

‘Promise us.’ Mother’s voice was urgent.

So much for listening to the grandparents. ‘I promise,’ I said. I snatched Hera up and headed for the door. ‘I promise to comply – for today.’

Silvern was waiting and fell in beside us. I slowed to a walk. She rubbed a hand over Hera’s hair. ‘Hello, pretty bubs. Your sister’s grumpy today. You’re grumpy today.’ She tickled her under her chin and Hera stopped yelling to gurgle at her. ‘I know what’s wrong with you. You want lovely long hair. You don’t want to be a bald little bubs, do you?’

I risked a question. ‘Do you really want to grow your hair?’

She stopped talking and we greeted Arsha on her way to the tannery, listened to some pathetic piece of news, smiled and went on. ‘Let’s run,’ Silvern muttered. ‘We’ll tell people we can’t stop or Miss Siren will go off again.’ We sped up, and Hera shrieked for the joy of hearing her voice bounce with the rhythm of our feet. ‘Sure I want to grow my hair,’ Silvern whispered. ‘I reckon every kid does. I hate being bald. It curdles my inner being.’

We slowed as we neared the schoolyard. I could hardly believe what she was saying. These words had come from Silvern? Silvern who was always so saintly, especially on shaving days? I stared, but this was definitely her – blue eyes, beautifully shaped brows … ‘Silvern, do you pluck your eyebrows?’

She laughed, and Hera copied her. ‘Of course.’

‘Do your parents let you?’ I surreptitiously checked again. Yes, this stranger had Silvern’s dimpled chin and delicate ears.

‘I don’t ask permission and I don’t tell them,’ she said serenely.

‘But – you’re always so
good
. You always comply. People never withdraw from you.’ I shook my head, stunned.

Her face grew serious and a little sad. ‘Yes, that was me. I don’t know what it is now, but it’s not comfortable like before. Mother says it’s hormones and I’ll get through it.’

I felt young, and not a member of the club. I didn’t have the excuse of hormones – I just didn’t ever feel comfortable. ‘Did they talk to you?’

‘About the hair?’ She pulled a face. ‘They talked all flaming night and started again first thing this morning. According to them, hair would make the walls of Taris split open.’ She glanced around, then whispered, ‘We need to talk about this. We can’t do anything about today’s shaving – we’ll just have to comply.’

‘What …’

But she hissed at me to be silent. Justa was glaring at us from the steps.

We went into our schoolroom. I kept Hera with me and plonked her down in the middle of the floor again. Too bad if Justa objected.

She didn’t. In fact, she hardly noticed Hera wriggling towards a brightly tasselled toy Pel had brought in for her. She strode around the room, snapping when any of us talked. She gave us a test. She prowled. I scarcely noticed. Exactly what did Silvern have in mind?

Nixie walked in with his shears and his dumb joke. Justa clapped her hands. ‘Come along everyone.’

Silvern sighed and placed a chair for him. She sat down and let him shave her head, but her face wasn’t holy. She looked resigned, then angry. Paz went next. ‘Cut off the dreads, man.’

I went last and had to press my hands over my mouth to stop the words I wanted to shout. Hera made all the noise I could want. She sobbed, screeching at full volume and didn’t settle until Nixie was well gone.

Justa relaxed now that our heads were safely skinned for another week, but she still jumped on any word that sounded like hair.

We didn’t discuss it during break. We didn’t discuss anything. I glanced at Silvern, but she kept her head down and stabbed the ground over and over with a stick. Paz’s face was closed and angry. Marba watched us – his very own lab rats.

I poured it all out to Vima once we were on the path to the bay. ‘What do you expect?’ she asked. ‘Of course Hilto’s on at Justa – control the communication and you control the people.’

She wouldn’t say any more. We got to the bay. She took off her tunic and waded into the sea, taking Hera with her. I knew that mood. ‘What is it? What are you thinking you shouldn’t tell me?’

She laughed at that, but instead of answering, said, ‘My hair will stick out from my head in a huge bush.’

I followed her into the water and splashed her. ‘What? Tell me.’

She wouldn’t be hurried. I shut up and waited.

She didn’t say anything until we lay on the sand, keeping watch over Hera splashing like a little machine in the shallows.

‘There are written records on the Governance computers.’

Whoomph! That tasty morsel landed right in my gut. I couldn’t speak.

Vima took a huge breath. ‘They tell of our history. I think. I’ve only been able to look at a small section, what with grumpy old Hilto and stompy old Majool always looking over my shoulder.’ She wriggled her shoulders as if to get rid of them.

My breath left my body yet again. ‘Be careful, Vima. This could kill you.’

She ignored me. ‘The bit I saw said, “Report on Oran”.’

‘Oran? My aunt? That Oran?’ I could only whisper.

She drew her legs up and rested her chin on her knees. ‘Has to be. We never repeat names.’

I shrank inside my skin. She sounded so bleak, so without hope. I waited. There was more. I didn’t want to hear it. But I would hear it. I must. She was brave. I could be too.

‘These are the words I saw. “Oran keeps asking questions. She has three. One: When did the last ship visit from Outside? She wants the exact date. Two: When did we stop teaching children to read and write? She wants exact dates and the reasons. Three: When did we first shave our heads? She says she isn’t satisfied with the answers given by the Governance Companions.” There was more. I didn’t have time to read it.’

Hera wriggled out of her depth and I retrieved her. ‘She died before she could ask. It was an accident. They said it was an accident.’

‘Yes,’ Vima said.

‘What do you know of it?’ My mind skirted a little closer to the questions Vima’s discovery had raised.

‘I remember,’ she said. ‘It was a rock slide on the mountain. So they said.’

So they said. I shivered and looked around me, searching for danger in the bushes, the sea, and looked up at the mist-covered mountain. My mind shied away from my aunt’s death. ‘So the GCs can read and write. Who else can?’

She shrugged. ‘It’s got to be the real reason they’ve got me to fix their computers. They think I can’t, but they couldn’t be sure of the others.’

‘Can Jov read? Can Aspa?’

‘Dunno. I’m pretty sure Jov can’t. But Aspa’s older. Maybe he can – or could once. And the others? Who knows?’ She reached out a foot and nudged Hera back into the shallows.

‘Vima, don’t grow your hair. It’s dangerous. You might die. It’s not worth your life.’ I grabbed her arm and dug my fingers in to anchor her.

She smiled at me. ‘I know that, kiddo. I know it well. But it isn’t just hair, is it?’

Thoughts clacked around in my brain. Control. Truth. Freedom. ‘Our lives aren’t that bad. Not really.’

Vima didn’t say anything.

My brain clanked on, churning out thoughts I didn’t want to accept.

We lived in fear.

We weren’t free.

We were bound by more than our environment.

There were those among us who were prepared to kill. Who had killed.

‘No!’ I shrieked. ‘I don’t believe it. It can’t be true.’ I jumped up and reached for Hera. ‘I’m going home.’ I kicked at Vima. ‘And you’re not staying here by yourself. It’s dangerous.’

She shook her head and stayed where she was. ‘Can’t be dangerous. Not if it isn’t true.’

‘Oooh! You’re not fair! I hate you!’ I plonked down beside her again and bawled my eyes out. Hera joined in. Vima hugged us both and maybe she cried too.

‘We could be wrong,’ she said after a long time.

I let my head rest on her shoulder. I knew we weren’t wrong. We both knew it. ‘What do we do?’

She gave a spurt of laughter. ‘I grow my hair. And see what happens.’

It was a long walk home. Some of the people we met once we left the empty mountain path withdrew from Vima, others just smiled. Nobody stopped to pass on news. She didn’t come inside with me, just handed Hera over and ran off.