Keepers of Lore/Regions/Desert of Silhouettes/Faced with the Desert

Faced with the Desert

Another piece of lore told to Bowie Ironsides while traveling through the Desert of Silhouettes.

The Tale

In the desert, in a hut not to far from a small village there lived a young girl. One very warm afternoon the young girl said to her mother,

“I am bored.”

The mother was busy completing tasks for the household and briefly replied,

“So, go play with your brother.”

“He is out with his friends, and papa is working in the field. I am bored.”

“Do you want to help me with the chores?” the mother asked.

“Of course not, it is my free afternoon, but I have nothing to do.”

“I don’t know dear. Find something.” And the mother continued with her tasks.

The young girl sat on a barrel and thought to herself. Her friends were busy practicing their lessons, ones she already finished. Her family was busy with work and other activities, and she was alone with nothing to do on her day off.

She gazed about taking a good look at her home and the desert around her. She lived in a small hut that only had two rooms. One was the main room where the family ate, entertained guests and did prayer. The other was the sleeping room. Her older sister lived a few fields away with her husband and a newborn baby. The dirt around her was brown with pockets of green weeds growing up from the dry cracks. It was always hottest in the afternoon.

Since she had no where to go, she stayed seated and began to consider her life. First she thought about life in the desert. To her, it was a large endless terrain empty of large cities and any green stretches. Deeper into the desert was nothing but sand dunes and sand storms. She thought she was lucky enough to live in the part of the desert where you could grow something to eat.

Then she thought about what she was able to do in the desert. Life was not full of variety or choice and most of the women grew up to be housewives. The sole occupation for a family man was to become a farmer. A man who did not want to have a family or be a farmer, but still needed a job, would have to leave the desert. A woman who did not want a family and left the desert could only find work as a house servant. Desert woman were never in demand outside of the desert, where lighter skinned woman with lighter hair lived and stole the attraction of non-desert men. This she was often told by her older sister who once visited the green grass of Girich. So the young girl saw that remaining in the desert would lead her to motherhood, and leaving the desert would lead her to servitude.

Beyond family, farming and sand, for her, the desert really had nothing to offer. Outside of the desert was not so different since she was a desert-born female. She then became very sad. Depressed by the future she was bound to fill in. She wondered how the people before her escaped such a fate. Her mother and sister did not, nor did her father. Her brother was already training to become a farmer and her brother-in-law has been a farmer for almost four years now. She thought hard about who she knew that escaped the desert successfully and how they did it. She then remembered her aunt, whom she had not spoken to for months, lived in Sallowtown for a long time before returning to the desert. She lived in solitude now, a bit further on the edge of the habitable lands of the Desert of Silhouettes. Maybe she would have some answers.

The young girl called to her mother that she was going to visit Aunt Lalia, her mother said “Alright but be careful. You know Lalia lives far.”

The girl ventured away from her home in the direction of her aunt, roughly twelve fields away. While walking she saw an old woman. This woman’s skin was very wrinkled and dark brown, she looked like a little raisin. The young girl giggled to herself at first, but then began to think about the life that old woman led. What did she do to try and escape the desert? How come she failed? The young girl stopped laughing and became very serious. She passed the old woman with a smile and a nod. The old woman smiled back revealing few teeth.

Further on, the young girl saw a group of men tilling a field. Clearly these men did not escape the desert, they were its caretakers. She waived to them and the few who noticed her waived back.

For the next stretch of fields the young girl was walking alone. It was getting even warmer and the ground was turning from dirt to sand. She was walking deeper into the Desert of Silhouettes. Not too deep, however, as no one can live past a certain point, but her aunt lived near the very edge of that point.

Curious, the young girl began to think, why would her aunt, who left the desert for the city and returned, live so far away from everyone and especially in a dangerous location? A question her aunt would have to answer.

Finally, under the warm blazing sun, the young girl found her aunt’s house. Knocking on the door she called out, “Aunty Lalia? It is your little niece. I am here for a visit. Are you home?”

A moment went by and the young girl knocked again. After she called a second time, louder, she heard a reply from behind the house. Walking over she saw her aunt working in her garden. The young girl wondered how a garden could grow in all of this sand and walked closer to see what was going on.

Her aunt indeed had a garden, albeit a small one, but growing garlic, peppers and herbs.

“How did you do that?” The young girl asked.

Her aunt turned over and smiled, “Easy, I turned the sand into dirt and the dirt into fertile soil.”

“But how?”

“It takes time and knowledge my dear, but it can be done.”

The young girl shook her head and became anxious to ask the question she walked so far to ask.

“Aunt Lalia, how did you escape the desert?”

Her aunt laughed and sat down, motioning her to do the same. The young girl did and sat in a way where she could hear everything her aunt was about to say. Her aunt spoke.

“So you are bored, eh?”

“Yes! You went to the city, right, why didn’t you stay there? Why come back to the desert to live on the very edge of the habitable land? Why are you not married with children or a farmer? How did you escape the desert Aunt Lalia?”

Her aunt gave her a surprised face, then thought for a moment, then answered.

“Well, no one ever escapes the desert. No one escapes the city either. In fact, most of the people I met have been trying to go places other than where they were. Your restlessness is not because of the beautiful desert, it is because you have not settled into yourself yet. I did not escape the desert, nor are you trying to. I have simply become comfortable living with myself.”

“What do you mean? I don’t understand!” the girl cried out. She did not expect that answer, she wanted to know how to escape the desert not how to live with herself. Her aunt thought again for a moment then continued.

"'Happiness comes from within’, you have heard that saying yes? It is from one of our prayers. What that means is that a person must build a solid foundation within themselves, one that they can be proud of and one that is functional for them. That way wherever they are they are comfortably at home, whether they are in the desert, the city, or in the green grass. The desert does not trap you in child. Without the proper character a person is imprisoned within themselves. You are your own prison. I am proud of my education and my faith. I learned a great deal in the city and I carry that knowledge with me forever more. The city is where I learned to create a garden out of sand. My faith nourishes my creativity and my natural sense of wonder. You are right, there is not much to do in the desert, but companioned by the two pillars of faith and wisdom, I will live the rest of my life alone right here on the dangerous edge of the habitable lands.”

The young girl was trying to pick away at what her aunt was saying, hoping to find fault in it. But she did not fully understand what she was talking about and so decided to stay quiet. Her aunt saw the sudden shyness of the young girl so continued.

“You are too young to understand. When you are older and are faced with more serious questions you will find that the only escape is within yourself. Then you will be forced to build a home in your heart. If you are successful you will be happy. If not, you will be bored forever. So, are you thirsty? You walked a long way to visit me and I can see you are licking your lips. How about I teach you a little about botany and soils?”

So after the young girl had a drink she followed her aunt to the backyard to begin lessons in agricultural science. Education just might be one of the ways the young girl could escape the desert, if she is willing to work for it.