The Pursuit Of Genesis

5 : The flower of life

I

An old man, Mr Yamato - as he introduced himself, sitting in the shelter I was kept in, told me how I was brought back to the tribe.

While he was escorting the woods and other necessary things back to the settlement, he saw me, with the child he was familiar with, lying on the layer of snow. He said, the child was tightly wrapped inside those layers of clothes and I held him close to my body.

The weather was freezing, and there were no signs of the snowstorm stopping. The person got off the deer cart he was riding on and kept my and the child's unconscious body in the cart luggage. The cart moved, making its way through the layer of snow and the stormy currents of chilly wind.

When I first gained back consciousness, the cart was still one valley away from the settlement. Weakness and the cold took over my body and I felt unconscious again. When he realised that the storm would increase soon, he stopped the cart and tied my and child's body with ropes, to the block of woods inside the cart and drove the cart and the deers across the valley as fast as he could, and escorted me and the child back to the settlement.

The old person, who saved us, was kind enough to convince the people from the settlement to keep me after explaining to them the whole situation. The people took us in before the storm got worse. The child was taken to his family who was a part of the settlement and I was taken to the general heating place.

The leader of the people in the settlement, and a person who knew enough about medical herbs and living organisms accompanied the man to the place.

"Itsuki," The leader of the settlement said. "You sure this man is no threat to my people, our people?"

The man, Mr Yamato nodded. "I do. I have a feeling."

"You know, the history of Himians has not been easy." The leader said. "In the past... my people, our people trusted the outlanders and saved them when they were lost in these deadly valleys... But how did they treat us in return?"

The leader looked toward the fire, burning fiercely in the fireplace.

"People learned our arts, our skills... and then betrayed us. Outlanders broke the people, they broke the tribe. They just come here in search of that herb, the flower of life."

"Somehow..." Mr Yamato paused and looked at my unconscious body. "I feel, somehow... he's different."

"Why?"

"I found him in the northeast valley, lying on the layer of ice with the child, which belonged to our people." Mr Yamato said. "Nobody ventures in that part of the valley, that means, he didn't know about the herb... he was probably lost, just like the child was after being separated from the tribe."

"That still doesn't explain his motives."

"There was a long trench coat, wrapped around the child's body which gave him the necessary warmth to keep him alive. The coat belonged to this person and he removed it away from him to keep the child alive." Mr Yamato looked back at the leader. "He had no connection to the child, yet he chose to save the child instead of himself."

The leader stood quiet and kept looking at my unconscious face.

"When I found him," Mr Yamato continued. "he was unconscious and left with no strength, but he still held the child closer to his own body, so the child could be saved from the harsh winds and accumulating layer of snow on their body. There's a chance I could trust this person."

"I speak for the better of the tribe and my people." The leader said. "If he makes any mistakes, you will have to pay for those mistakes with him."

"He won't make any mistakes." The person who was sitting down, inspecting my body, said. "He can't make any mistakes again."