The Mountains Sang Their Silent Melody

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After two weeks had passed, Frances and Ophelia gradually adjusted to their new lifestyle. Each morning, Ophelia and Frances would go out to collect firewood while Opus retrieved food for the day. She knew how to live in the mountains – she gathered edible plants, set out traps to snare animals, and traded with the Shepherds.

Ophelia and Frances were fed lavishly. There was more than enough meat to be had and plenty of wild rice. On more than one occasion Opus returned to them with kinds of fruits and vegetables that Frances and Ophelia had never even heard of. Whenever they finished their meals for the day, Opus would say a blessing over the food left over and leave it a short distance from the entrance of the cavern. She said she was offering it to the mountains.

Ophelia put on weight. Frances's homesickness subsided. The two became used to sleeping on the ground and relieving themselves in the forest. In the afternoons, Opus set to work teaching Ophelia scholarly things and Frances the arts of sorcery.

On their sixteenthday living in the mountains, their routine was interrupted by the arrival of an outsider – Havilah, the shepherds' child.

Opus found Havilah wandering around in the clearing where Opus had first appeared to them. Havilah was is a deeply disturbed state, frantically shouting Frances's name. Havilah had also not come alone – they were with a young man gingerly carrying a bundle.

While Opus lead them back to the cavern, Havilah explained the situation. The night before, his cousin has given birth to a baby. Only the newborn was sick and weakly and had grown limp after a few hours. Both Havilah's cousin and her partner were terrified that the newborn would not last another day.

Upon hearing of this situation, Havilah travelled swiftly to his cousin in the next valley over. They recounted the miraculous story of the child sorcerer who had healed their leg. Havliah's cousin was still regaining her strength after the birth, so her partner was sent with the newborn instead. Upon reaching the cavern, the man gently unravelled his bundle to reveal the newborn infant.

Frances sensed the urgency of the situation. They made their way over to the baby immediately and knelt before her. They wished they had a better idea of what had caused the baby to become so sick – since Frances healed through empathy, it was necessary to the process. Ophelia's stood in the corner with her arms crossed. Her gaze flitted warily between the newborn and the two strangers standing in the cavern's entrance.

Frances tried to put themself in the mindset of the baby. It would be strange and confusing to be a newborn. Bright and cold. Any sort of added pain or suffering would make the entire experience utterly overwhelming.

The infant started to cry. Opus hovered behind Frances

"I don't know what I'm doing wrong," Frances said. They kept their voice low so that the new father would not hear and become alarmed.

Opus squeezed Frances's shoulders. "You have done fine," Opus whispered. "She is healed. The wounds were internal, which is why there was no visible change. She cries now because she is hungry."

With a fluid motion, Opus scooped the child into her arms, unclipped the top few notches on her robe, and began to feed the child.

Frances wondered at Opus. Up until now, they had assumed that she'd never borne children, but Opus had the surety of one who had breastfed many children before. Perhaps none of the children she'd fed had been her own.

Frances went to speak to the new father, to reassure him that his daughter would be fine. Ophelia left the cavern. Frances knew she felt uncomfortable around adult men.

Relief spread across the new father's face. He thanked both Frances and Opus profusely. Opus invited them all to stay until the newborn regained her strength, and the new father graciously accepted. Havilah and his cousin-in-law stayed for lunch. Afterwards, Havilah left to bring word to his cousin.

Ophelia did not return to be taught in the afternoon. This was probably for the best – Opus's attention was already split between Frances's learning and feeding the baby every few hours. The baby's father went to set up camp a small ways from the cavern's entrance. This was a normal expectation – the encampment of a holy person was reserved for them and their protégés. Visiting was fine, but it was unorthodox for another to sleep there. Everyone of the mountains and the valleys knew this.

When Ophelia tread out of the forest on light foot several hours later, her heart plunged into her stomach. The man noticed her and stood. Ophelia took an inadvertent step backwards, preparing to run, but he merely offered his hand to her as means of introduction.

"My name is Joachim," the man said.

Ophelia stared at his extended hand. Eventually, Joachim allowed it to fall to his side. "I am so grateful to your friends. I don't know what would have happened otherwise."

Ophelia considered him. He was not nearly as old as her father. Not old at all, in fact. He might have been only five or six years older than Ophelia herself. He was not as clean as people from the town, but not any dirtier than other shepherds. There were smile lines around his eyes, and a deep kindness within them.

"Are you happy to have a daughter?" Ophelia asked.

"So happy," Joachim answered, his face glowing like the sun.

"But what if she turns out to be a boy?" Ophelia said.

Joachim shrugged. "Then I will be so happy to have a son."

Ophelia noticed a fair amount of tension in her shoulders, but she made no effort to loosen it. "What if one day you grew to hate your child?" she asked.

"Never," Joachim replied. He crouched down and began stacking wood for his fire. "She will bear witness to the light of the stars and bear strength upon the mountaintops. She will do great things."

"And if she doesn't do great things," Ophelia pressed, "will you resent her?"

Joachim leaned back and stretched out his arms. He yawned deeply – he'd slept very little since his partner had gone into labour and then trekked through several mountain passes. "You don't understand," Joachim said. He shook his head. "We mountain people – we say this of all children born to us. One does not have to move mountains to do great things. The cosmos has given us each great works to do. For my daughter, it might be protecting the flock or singing sweet melodies. It doesn't matter. They'll still be great. But it will be up to her to understand what the cosmos is calling her to do. Nobody else can lay that path out before her."

At Joachim's words, Ophelia began to tremble. She excused herself from Joachim's presence and made her way up to the cavern. As she climbed the path, she felt her knees might give out.

When she arrived at the cavern, Frances expressed how worried they'd been. Ophelia firmly answered that she was fine and took her dinner silently.

It will be up to her to understand what the cosmos is calling her to do. Nobody else can lay that path out before her ...

Ophelia wondered if the cosmos called the people of the valley as well as the people of the mountains. Was it fate that she had been given her father as opposed to another? Did the cosmos intend for her to suffer? Most of all, Ophelia wondered if her journey had lead her to the right place.