Redemption in Indigo

19

paama meets one of the masters of ridicule

It was early morning. there was a chilly precipitation somewhere between a very light rain and a heavy mist that muted the rich greens of the valley with a veil of grey. The djombi looked pensive as he led Paama through long, wet grass. As usual, he was completely dry.

'It must be nice, not to have to eat, or sleep, or get cold and wet,’ Paama complained, shaking the drizzle off her grey wrap.

'It must be nice,’ the djombi parroted in reply, ‘to taste, to dream, to feel the wind and the rain in your face.'

Paama gaped at him. It was the most complimentary thing she had ever heard him say about being human. ‘Do you really think so?’ she said in a small voice when she was finally able to speak.

'I am only pointing out that everything has its advantages and disadvantages,’ he said.

'And yet you can taste food??hen you choose,’ she pointed out.

'When I choose,’ he admitted.

'What are your disadvantages?'

He continued to walk smoothly through the grass, leaving a silvery trail for her to step into.

'Duty,’ he said at last, a single, glum word.

'We have duty, too,’ Paama countered.

'Not like ours. You're weak, and allowances are made for your weakness. There's forgiveness for you. Mercy. I don't see why, personally.'

'I know. You think we deserve to be left to perish in our own self-made misery,’ she accused.

He did not answer at first, but then he said, ‘I thought you wanted this time to be lighthearted. You're not making a very good start of it.'

She kept silent, kept her head down, and looked at the rain-silvered grass instead of at his back. In this way, the sight of the mansion came on her all at once, looming out of the grassy plain like a small citadel of pale stone. There was a tidy skirting of lawn around it, hemmed in by stone walls topped with wrought iron.

'Where and what is this place?’ she asked.

'We are near the capital of your own country. This is the country house of a wealthy statesman who retired to spend more time with his wife and young son. However, his wife often grows bored—it's very isolated here—so he takes her to more exciting places. They are visiting the capital right now.'

'And the boy?'

'Here, of course. There are servants enough to take care of him, but of course a servant is not a parent. He has too much of his own way.'

'He sounds like Ansige,’ muttered Paama.

The djombi turned to her, his eyebrows raised in query.

'My husband,’ she said, and was ashamed to have to say it. ‘Now we live apart, but when I was in his house??h??e had grown up spoilt and he wanted to continue spoilt. He almost drove me mad. I was ready to kill myself until my parents hinted to me that I still had a home to return to.'

He was staring at her so fixedly that she felt even more ashamed for having revealed this sordid part of her past.

'Never,’ he said flatly, ‘never speak so easily of killing yourself. You have no idea what that means.'

And he turned away from her and walked off, leaving her baffled and abashed at the stern rebuke.

Just then there was a shriek, and a side door opened so abruptly that it slammed against the wall and almost bounced itself closed again. A woman dressed in a simple servant's uniform came leaping over the threshold with a broom in her hands, vigorously swiping at some small and undesirable vermin which moved so quickly that it was a mere scuttle leaving a wake of shivering grass blades. She danced in fury and brandished the broom even as it fled.

Paama ducked down behind the wall and peeked through the iron bars at the scene. A little boy, about eight, came charging out from behind the servant with such speed that she spun in place like a panel of a revolving door.

'That's my mouse! Don't you dare kill him!’ he yelled at her, and flung himself on the lawn, trying in vain to grab the small creature.

'Your mouse? Your mouse?’ she screamed. ‘Then what business did it have in my apron pocket? You're a bad boy, Jevan, and only getting worse. If you don't mind yourself—'

'You'll tell my parents?’ he finished coldly, pausing in his search to sit up and glare at her. The haughty expression on his face showed just how much contempt he had for such a threat.

The woman's eyes narrowed dangerously as she realised she was being mocked. ‘If you don't mind yourself,’ she began again deliberately, ‘if you don't learn to control yourself, the baccou will steal your skin and behave so badly that even you will be ashamed of yourself!'

He got up and ran, yelling over his shoulder, ‘I wish it would!'

Just as Paama was shaking her head and smiling ruefully at the little tyrant, a deep, sorrowful voice behind her made her jump.

'There's my cue. Duty calls. But how strange to see you here??nd with a human, too. Duty for you as well?'

A fuzzy, undefined shape was hovering before the djombi, who was looking slightly embarrassed. ‘Not quite duty, but essential nevertheless,’ he replied.

'Ah,’ the newcomer said diplomatically and did not press the matter further. ‘Well, if you've come to see my work, the best view will be from inside the house in the playroom, the boy's bedroom, and the kitchen. But for now, watch outside.'

The shape suddenly blurred the insubstantial air, rushing towards the boy, who was still racing around the house in an excess of furious energy. There was a soft, soundless collision.

'Ow!’ the boy shouted, more from shock than pain.

He opened his eyes wider and raised his hand to his head. Surely he had damaged himself somehow, for there was his own self, sitting on the grass, also rubbing his head and looking at him with mischief.

'Didn't really hurt, did it, you crybaby?’ his image told him callously.

Fright set him on his feet. ‘What are you?'

'You, of course!'

'No, you're not! You're that baccou that Hana's always talking about.'

'Who's the baccou? I can see right through you!'

It was true. The boy looked down at himself and saw the grass growing under the soles of his feet, and then he glanced up at the impostor, who was solid, and real, and twice as cheeky and wild.

'Go away!’ he shrieked, nearly in tears.

The baccou stuck out his tongue. ‘You called me, so I'm not going till I've had my fun. You can watch if you like.'

With that, he raced inside and banged the door shut. The poor faded youngster scrabbled at the doorknob uselessly until he realised that he might not be able to grasp a doorknob, but then again, he could walk through the door. As he disappeared inside the house, the djombi led Paama through a short space-time step that took them directly to the playroom. The baccou was already elbow-deep in the toy box, and the boy was hovering about frantically, unable to lay hands on anything.

'Good loot,’ the baccou commented, throwing things out carelessly and banging things together as if testing them for durability. ‘More than birthday presents and Christmas gifts in here. How in the world do I do it?'

His foot found a tiny wooden train and deliberately stamped it into fragments.

'That's mine!’ the boy howled in horror. ‘Stop smashing my things!'

'Don't be silly, I'm smashing my things. I can do that, can't I? From what I remember, I do it all the time!'

'Give me back my skin!'

'Jevan, what are you doing up there?'

'Oops,’ said the impostor. ‘All yours.'

And he walked through the shade of the boy, leaving him tangible again, and tucked his fuzzy shadow into the corner next to Paama.

Steps came thundering up to the room and Hana burst in like vengeance. ‘What have you been doing?'

'It wasn't me!’ came the automatic wail from the boy. In a room apparently empty of anyone but himself, the plea carried little conviction.

'Go to your room,’ she ordered and was shocked to see how quickly he ran out of the playroom, almost as if something was chasing him. If she had known the significance of the weird blur that followed him, she would have realised it was true, but she merely rubbed tiredly at her eyes and muttered something about the boy raising her blood pressure.

The djombi brought Paama to the boy's bedroom just in time to see the boy thrashing about on the floor, fighting the baccou for his skin again.

'Leave me alone!'

'Not till I've had my fun!'

The baccou won, naturally. He began to pace around the room, looking for something to break while the boy's shade followed him, all but wringing his hands in impotent anguish.

'Leave that, it's my—no, don't touch that! You'll smudge the—hey!'

'Ohhh, what's this?’ The baccou paused in front of an aquarium. It needed cleaning, but it was vivid with iridescent, colourful fish.

'No,’ the boy whimpered. ‘Not my fish.'

The baccou shrugged. ‘My mischief's very person-specific. I won't hurt them. But you have to admit I should have cleaned it out by now.'

He looked around, grabbed a cup from the bedside table, dumped the contents of a vase out of the window, and then carefully transferred the fish to the vase. As he lifted away the last of the fish, he carelessly tapped the side of the aquarium with the vase's heavy base. The pane of glass splintered and the cracks began to ooze liquid.

'Slow leak,’ remarked the baccou. ‘Ah, I'm wrong,’ he corrected himself as the rest of the glass finally gave way, deluging the floor with water and weed.

Hana was at the door as quickly as if she had snapped her fingers and whisked through space-time. ‘Now what? Oh??i no!'

She scrambled out and returned with a mop and pail. Yanking the vase away from the baccou, she carefully poured the fish into the pail while fending off the spread of the water with the mop. Then she began slopping in the weed angrily. The boy's shade danced about her, trying to get her to see his plight, but she ignored him and turned instead to the grinning baccou.

'You,’ she said through gritted teeth, ‘get out. No dinner for you.'

The baccou rushed out of the door, muttering, ‘Kitchen. Better stock up now while I have the chance.'

The boy let out a screech of fury and frustration and ran after him. Paama found herself grinning as she went with the djombi to the third observation point. How many times had she thought that if only Ansige could see how he appeared to others, he would be desperate to change?

The baccou was tearing messily through the larder, throwing food down and smearing his face with flour, molasses, anything that would stick and look ridiculous. When the boy saw him, he sat down on the floor and wept helplessly until the baccou stopped his rampage and squatted down beside him, a sympathetic expression on his face.

'It's not so much fun anymore, is it?’ he asked the boy softly.

'N-no,’ the boy sobbed.

'Well, it's not fun for me anymore, either. Call me up again if you want me, but you can have your skin back now.'

Then there was only the boy, sitting in a mess on the floor, his face and clothes dirty. He hiccupped once, looked around with scared eyes as if waiting for something to pounce, and then crept out of the room.

'That's done,’ said the baccou with satisfaction, back to his indistinct form once more. ‘Seems a ridiculous job when you think about it, but some derive benefit from the exercise. But you had a question?'

He rounded on Paama, who was taken aback at first, but then she bravely spoke her thought. ‘I was just wondering, does it only work for children? It's just that??ell??'ve got this husband, Ansige?'

The shape flickered in a manner that somehow seemed apologetic. ‘Ansige the Glutton? I'm sorry. No-one's going to be assigned to him. Not much time left there.'

Paama was stunned by the pang of fear and worry that shot through her bones and drained her of strength. ‘Not much time?'

'I'd go visit if I were you. Anyway, can't hang around. Another call is coming through. Toodle-oots.'

And with that, he vanished.

Paama sat weakly on the nearest chair. ‘Ansige?’ she said softly to herself.

'Tell me where he lives,’ said the djombi quietly. ‘I'll take you there now.'