The morning mist clung to the forest like a memory that refused to fade. Amer's towering Tzaboa trees stretched into the sky and their canopies so high that they were visible as mere shadows to everyone on the ground, their roots weaved through the earth in labyrinthine patterns known only to those who had always lived here, the Namboa people tribal in nature relative to the outsiders.
Tez as we will call him for ease, stood barefoot atop one root, grounding himself in the way all his people did at dawn.
Fist to chest
"I have been."
[click]
Palm over heart
"I am."
[click]
Hand extended outward
"I will have been."
[click]
The Ritual of the Moments. Their way of reminding the mind that the present existed.
Without it, their thoughts had a habit of sprinting ahead or trailing behind. Tez stretched his shoulders and glanced upward. The sun was peeking through the treetops. He wanders around, teasing younglings, hitting fishes with stones or if he could find, weapons. On the way to townhall he gathered some cotton near the riverbed, planted by the cloth-makers/dressmakers.
"We're not late," he muttered to himself.
"We arrived exactly when we were always going to arrive."
"Talking to yourself again?" came a teasing voice.
Elder Nayacani approached through the underbrush, her hair was neatly combed in regal fashion and decorated with silver-flecked feathers. She carried herself with the grace and always knew where her feet would land.
"You think too quickly in too many directions,".
Tez rubbed the back of his neck. "Thinking is allowed."
"Thinking is dangerous when it forgets where your body is standing," she corrected.
[click: return now]
He sighed. "What did I do this time?"
"Elder Ocatl is waiting for all of us, and you were missing" she replied.
"Oh, I forgot" replies Tez with fake remorse.
Tez followed her through the trees, miniature lakes, mud-lakes, a patch of small grassland to reach their royal townhall. The forest seemed alive with routine; children practiced balance on curved roots, while adults carved new symbols into the bark of trees.
They reached the Circle of Stories, where Elder Ocatl sat on a beautifully carved seat of stone at the centre. His gaze was as steady as the ground beneath them.
Ocatl clapped his hands once, a sharp, grounding sound. Children and youths gathered in a semicircle near the Circle of Stories, some still rubbing sleep from their eyes, others practicing balance on roots as they listened.
"Sit down calmly on your seats, we aren't here just for some joyous storytelling", Ocatly said looking clearly at the playful kids.
"I hate to hear his grown-up talk" murmurs Plickan with a sulky face.
"You must tell us a story after this" exclaims the youngest kid No'te
"Stories are for the evening, it's not going to be very long today, just sit beside Plickan and it will be over before you even realise" replies Ocatl to No'te.
Ocatl looked hardly forty, strong shoulders, alert eyes and a wrinkle less face. Namboan people lived as a whole. There were no parents looking only after their own kids. Rather there was no such thing as a parent, sibling, grandparent or a cousin. Everyone was a sibling and an "Elder" or a "Youngling". The older children had the responsibility to help their youngsters, while the elders used to guide them.
"Good. Everyone is present… in body," he said, scanning faces.
"Now let's try mind." A few giggles escaped from the younger ones.
"You know our purpose," Ocatl continued. "We observe how the world moves. We recognize its patterns. We respond when the world asks us to." He paced back and forth.
"Imagine the world is a river.
If you jump in too soon, you splash water on the wrong fish.
If you jump too late, the river has already forgotten you."
The children nodded, some pretending to understand.
"We are not here to decide what happens.
We are here to notice what happens, so that fewer things go wrong. We think ahead.
But our feet stay here."
A collective murmur, this was drilled into them daily. Ocatl held up three fingers.
"Children of five years, you learn the Ritual of Three Moments.
You anchor your mind to now."
The little ones repeated the ritual clumsily, proud of their timing even when wrong.
"Children of ten, you learn Patterns:
Where footsteps lead, when storms form,
how a friend's voice sounds before they cry."
The middle group straightened, suddenly serious.
"And those at fifteen — like Tzecoatl…"
His gaze flicked at Tez for just a heartbeat
"learn when not to step in." Tez's stomach tightened.
"It is tempting to act," Ocatl warned,
"the moment your thoughts see a possibility."
"But possibilities are not yet realities.
Our job is to know the difference."
The three age groups nodded in different rhythms, some proud, some guilty, one quietly roasting alive inside his own head (Tez).
"If we interfere too soon," Ocatl said,
"we become the reason the problem exists at all."
Nayacani chimed in with a soft smile:
"And if you must act, do it gently.
The world notices arrogance."
A few children nodded solemnly. Tez tried to perform the Ritual with confidence:
"I have been."
[click]
"I am."
[click]
"I will have been."
…[late click]
Tez's face heated.
As the group broke apart into training sessions,
Tez lingered at the back… and noticed someone strange. A foreign-looking man leaned against an oak, clapping silently as if this were a performance. He wore fine clothes completely unsuited for the forest.
His grin was friendly yet unsettling. Tez blinked and the stranger was gone. Ocatl's voice snapped Tez back:
"Mind forward, feet present."
Tez jolted into motion.
"Right. Yes. Present feet."
The other children laughed. Tez forced a smile and quietly hoped tomorrow would arrive a little slower. Nayacani placed a hand on his shoulder, her voice softer.
"You are quick to worry," she said.
"Be quicker to breathe."
Tez nodded and inhaled. He was just Tez: a boy who sometimes thought too fast and stood in the wrong time on the right day.
He completed the ritual once more—quietly this time:
"I have been."
"I am."
"I will have been."
"We arrived exactly when we were always going to arrive," he repeated under his breath.
The elders returned to their duties. Tez lingered, staring at the empty space where the stranger had stood. His mind must have been wandering. No'ta sat in a corner with a sulken face just like Plickan.
Tez:"What's the matter No'ta, never saw you this sad before"
No'ta: "Got nothing to do and nobody to play with me, they all play grownup games and say I am not old enough yet, even Ocatl didn't tell me a story today. He always tells me something whenever I ask of him"
"I'm sure there is someone closer to your age who likes to play something that you like to play"
"The younglings can barely run and the rest of them are out on the savannah enjoying their trips to who knows where with Elder Arni'ta." sighs No'ta
"Why don't you play something with him, Plickan? I'm sure you have time for him."
Plickan: "Who says I got time, I am gathering fruits and tomatoes for the ladies as they asked specially for it today. I can't go"
"Don't mind him No'ta, come with me, I will show you something you have never seen"
No'ta happily follows Tex through the bushes and trees till they were straying at the edge of their homeland.
No'ta:"Aren't we going too far? I think Ocatl forbade us from coming this far from townhall, I don't want to get scolded"
Tez: "Don't worry, some Elder will themselves bring you here when you get 10 years old. Everyone knows about this place and visits it when they like to, albeit with some rules in mind."
There was a dormant volcano at some place in Amer forests. It was not high and barely sticking out of the ground. It seemed very ancient, and one could easily climb to the top of it. At the very center of its crater rose up a tree higher and mightier than any tree in the forest. It was majestic in stature and appearance. Adorned by a silvery-brown bark and golden green leaves, it looked as if it was mocking the other trees in the forest.
No'ta: "I'm going to tell all my mates that I saw a place which everyone can see only at 10 years old before them, they will be jealous and will treat me better!"
"Nah, you mustn't mention to anyone of this, it must remain a secret between us. Elders don't like it when you break rules set up by them"
No'ta: "As you say, Elder"
Both of them cheerfully trekked towards the crater until No'ta could clearly see the giant tree at the centre. He immediately ran directly towards the tree. Tez's heartbeat started pacing like a horse and without any delay he ran towards No'ta to prevent him from reaching the tree. Going near the tree was seriously forbidden and if anyone even came within a foot of the stone boundary surrounding the tree, they were severely punished. Even for Tez who had the habit to take rules casually shuddered even at the thought.
"Whoever has ever dared to cross the stone boundary in our timeless history has been punished by Amora himself, there are no exceptions. To cross the boundary is the greatest sin you can ever commit and to touch the holy tree even by a strand of hair is a calamity brought upon yourself that not even Amora can heal".
These words were etched clearly and loudly in ears of every 10-year-old in such a way that in living history, no one has the memory of anyone who has ever committed this sin. Just as No'ta was about to cross the stone boundary Tez catches up to No'ta and pushes him away from it.
Tez's left foot slipped over one of the rocks and he fell head face into the tree's trunk. Tez used to overthink about the future and the past. He could never not think about the future possibilities and whether he could play with them like chess pieces, but he had neer prepared himself for the unexpected.
Tez's face was filled with horror, he was ready to Amora's punishment anytime. No'ta felt tears around his eyes when he saw Tez's horrified face.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to.... I didn't know..., I won't tell anyone"
"Don't worry, it's my fault, by the way nothing happened to me as you can see as you can see. Maybe all the Elders are wrong about this tree. It's just another tree, nothing special about it."
No'ta: "What do Elders say will happen?"
"They just say Amora will descend himself and see you off personally, but I don't see any Amora or anything remotely similar to that"
No'ta :"Maybe they are wrong"
Tez: "We should respect whatever the Elders say and follow it; they are wiser than us and say things with a reason."
Even though he said this to prevent No'ta from straying away from rules, he himself began to doubt the rules. They went back far away from the boundary and prayed to the tree for forgiveness. As the afternoon started to get over
No'ta: "I feel hungry, let's go home"
"Yeah, we should but now make sure you don't run away anywhere without my approval"
"I won't Elder"
They went back to the townhall, ate fruits and freshly served fish stew made from the cabbages and fish Plickan brought in the morning.
For now, nothing unusual happened and Tez started to suspect that it was all a sham. Maybe tomorrow, the "calamity" will reveal itself.