Everyone agreed they should stay one more night and say good-bye to the place the following morning. Since they had skipped lunch, Buna organized the biggest, richest stew they could make, and others cut bread and cheese, or went hunting for berries.
As soon as Kibi had eaten some stew to take the edge off her hunger, she posed the first question. “So, Ilika . . . you know for sure there’s life beyond the grave?”
He took a deep breath. “I know that for sure. But I have obviously not experienced it, so I don’t know the details. I know it’s a different experience for different creatures, and even for the same creatures who have developed their souls to different degrees during life.”
A long silence followed as they considered his words.
“Does . . . Tera . . . have a soul?” Mati asked timidly while contemplating the piece of cheese in her hand.
“Don’t tell the high priest . . .”
Moans and snickers told Ilika there was no danger of that happening.
“Yes, Tera has a soul. Any creature complex enough to make decisions about right and wrong can develop a soul. That day she faced the wolf with you, instead of running away scared — that’s the kind of day that makes a soul grow by leaps and bounds.”
After a long silence, Neti found her voice. “I hope Miko is somewhere nice, somewhere he can run free and jump from rock to rock.”
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“Maybe he can fly now,” Buna suggested with a gleam in her eyes. “He’d like that.”
“What’s a soul?” Rini asked, scraping his bowl with hardtack.
“The part of you — your memories, your decisions, your experiences, your wisdom — that you can take with you when you die. As you know, you cannot take your body, your things, or other people. Some people have very small, weak souls when they die, because they’ve chosen to live empty or fearful lives. All of you, and Miko, have very strong souls because you’ve had hard lives and are still smiling.”
“You mean like when you stand on your own two feet with a smile on your face in the middle of a universe that contains a million ways to crush you?”
Sata asked with a smirk.
Ilika grinned, hearing his own words quoted back to him. “Yeah, like that.”
Another long silence followed.
“Do slaves often talk about death, and what lies beyond?” Ilika asked.
Kibi laughed. “All the time! It’s always right around the corner, waiting for you at the next work site, or coming to take the person sleeping near you.”
“But we don’t really know anything,” Boro admitted, gazing into his bowl.
“We just talk bullshit.”
“Will . . . Miko . . . haunt people?” Sata asked in a shaking voice.
“Miko liked everyone!” Buna asserted. “Except . . . you know . . . slave traders and masters.”
Everyone looked at Ilika for more information.
“Miko will wake on another world, in a new form, and will be able to continue learning. The whole universe is like a huge college, and everyone is always learning new things. Haunting is just not part of the process.”
They had more questions about death. Sometimes Ilika had something to say, but more often than not, he admitted he didn’t know. Slowly, as they talked and nibbled berries, evening deepened into night.
When the current topic had run its course, more wood was put on the fire and new stories began to emerge that had never before been put into words.
Mati and the Goatherd was the touching account of a girl who was
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beginning to glimpse life beyond the duties of hearth and home. She thanked Kibi for having the courage to help her see what was really happening.
Neti in the Mountains recounted her brush with dehydration and hypoxia.
She admitted she sometimes forgot to take care of herself, and ended by thanking all her friends for making her eat and drink during the last three days.
Rini told the story of The Dancing Lights, and smiles appeared as everyone remembered the beautiful aurora at the monastery high in the mountains. As he was describing the dancing curtains and mysterious colors, he became aware that everyone was looking up at the sky.
He looked up, and saw what had attracted their attention. The aurora was back, shimmering colors dancing and frolicking in the sky above them. “But
. . . why is it right over us?” he wondered aloud.
“It’s not over us,” Mati said without taking her eyes from the sky. “It’s over Miko.”
They could all now see that it was indeed small and near, unlike the aurora that was huge and far away.
“Ilika . . . why is there a little aurora right over Miko’s grave?” Buna asked.
“I thought you said his spirit left when he died.”
“It did. This is something else. This is a little gift from those who watch over us. They are very happy we have learned from Miko’s mistakes and honored his memory, and also very happy we are now ready to move on.”
“But . . . who is watching over us?” Sata asked with a worried look and round eyes.
Ilika thought about how to answer. “I can’t name names, Sata, but I can tell you that you’re all very important. It is not often that a group of slaves, and an innkeeper’s daughter, aspire to learn the things I am teaching you, make a journey like we are making, and form bonds of trust like we are forming. It is very rare, and very important.”
Neti said nothing, but wore a huge smile as she gazed up at the colorful dancing lights over Miko’s last resting place.
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Deep Learning Notes
Ilika’s statement that there is life after death is consistent with most religions today. What do you think?
Ilika’s statement that Tera the donkey has a soul is consistent with most older Pagan religions and most Asian religions today, but inconsistent with western religions such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. What do you think?
Ilika’s definition of the “soul” is similar to that given by most religions today, but that definition is not completely accepted by most cultures. What funeral practices reveal that many people think (or at least wish) that we can take our bodies or our possessions with us when we die?
Ilika explained that empty or fearful lives result in small, weak souls. What, in your opinion, can a person do to make their lives NOT empty and NOT
fearful?
Sata remembered the Nebador Transport Service saying Ilika shared with her in Book Two: “Personal power is the ability to stand on your own two feet, with a smile on your face, in the middle of a universe that contains a million ways to crush you.” In your opinion, has Sata gained some personal power since learning that saying?
Slaves usually have a rich spiritual culture because death is so common, as Kibi explained. The slave period in America, from its discovery by Europeans to the civil war in 1862, created a genre of music, literally called “soul,” that spread out to influence almost all future music through “jazz,” “country,” and
“rock’n’roll.”
Religions today are torn on the issue of whether “ghosts” come back to haunt, or otherwise interact with, living people. Ilika is of the opinion that this doesn’t happen. What do you think?
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If Ilika is correct that the universe is a huge “college” in which education continues after we die, then some people might think the best use of our mortal (flesh and blood) lives would be to study hard, and others might say we should just play and enjoy life. What do you think?
What aspects of life “beyond the duties of hearth and home” was Mati starting to glimpse?
What do we learn about Ilika when the little aurora appeared over Miko’s grave?