Rilla's Inheritance Chapter 9

Chapter 9 Hope was also wondering if she had bitten off a bit more than she could chew as well. Nothing seemed to work with U. Kindness, interest, love – she scorned them all, and was equally indifferent to discipline. And yet Hope was sure that there was a key to open up U’s sore heart; she just couldn’t find it. She met up with Adri Verdin to discuss the child. “There will be a way in,” Adri Verdin said. “She’s a Xydin, and they always have something that opens them up. With Querida it’s been painting, and Xanthe loves the woods. And by all accounts, Andor and Daisy have found the key with V.”
He frowned. “I don’t like the child not having a name. But she’s going to have to ask for a name; she’s too old now to be given one.”
Hope looked at him enquiringly. “Why don’t you like it?”
His face was troubled. “I think it gives someone else – this “he” they all talk about – a power over her. Your little one is fighting back, but I think he has the edge while she has no name except what he has given her.”
A fish jumped suddenly in the lake, and flopped back into the water with a big splash, and they both turned and laughed. Adri Verdin sang, half under his breath, “Brook grew wide and became a lake. Fish swam there for heron to take.” Hope was fascinated. “What’s that? Sing me some more of it.” And she headed home with Adri Verdin, and persuaded him to sing the whole song to her.
“It’s a children’s song really,” he said. “It’s a Verdin song – all about the rain going down to the sea. I’ll teach you some of it at least.” And he sang her the opening few verses.

A small rain fell high upon a hill. Made a little pool that became a rill.
A small rain fell high upon a hill. Made a little pool that became a rill.

Run, run, little river, run down to the sea.
Run, run, little river. Keep on running free.

More rain fell, it became a stream. Dancing shallows and pools agleam.
More rain fell, it became a stream. Dancing shallows and pools agleam.

Run, run, little river, run down to the sea.
Run, run, little river. Keep on running free.

Stream got bigger and became a brook. Willow leant over to take a look.
Stream got bigger and became a brook. Willow leant over to take a look.

Run, run, little river, run down to the sea.
Run, run, little river. Keep on running free.

Brook grew wide and made a lake. Fish swam there for heron to take.
Brook grew wide and made a lake. Fish swam there for heron to take.

“And I’ll teach you the rest some other time. And some other songs if you like”
“Yes. Definitely. Does every clan have songs like this?” Hope was so eager to know.
Adri nodded. “But all different in their own way. Hasn’t your father taught you any?”
“No. I think he was a bit busy, bringing up five girls.” While Hope was having a nice time, learning songs, I was having a not-so-nice time going into labour. Abigail and Barbara had three sisters however – even if there was a bit of an age gap. Laurel, Jasmine and Kitabela. I decided that I really ought to go and visit Daisy and Andor, now that I was no longer so heavily pregnant, and see how they were getting on with V. Daisy was hugely pleased to see me, and hugely pleased as well to show me how V was changing. I watched her cooking her own tea and had to admit that she was quite different now. Andor spoke to her once she had eaten. “Now what is it that you have to do?” She came over to me, a little shame-faced. “I’m sorry. Sorry that I was so horrible to everyone when I first came here, and so unkind.”
Andor nodded his approval. “Good girl. Now you can go to bed.” And as she vanished in the direction of the bathroom first, Andor turned to me.
“She’d been so badly disciplined. No check at all on her behaviour, which was where she needed it, and a total check on her desire for adventure. Which needed encouraging.”
She was certainly happy, I had to admit. And it made me re-think my attitude to the Valdin as well. I should go and see Martha and Naomi as well. I did go and visit Martha and Naomi, and found them, apparently, happier than ever. This really was the life that they loved, it seemed. I asked them if, like Abigail and Barbara, they were lonely without any sisters. No, they said, they weren’t…however, I could hear an unspoken But…floating in the air. It was Naomi who explained things to me.
“The other girls, they’re happy marrying out of their clan. But I don’t think I could marry anyone except a Valdin. I want someone who’s all for the wide world, the adventure, the danger. I couldn’t cope with someone whose idea of excitement was looking down a microscope. And the Valdin men, mostly, are no different. I mean, I know Andor married Daisy, but she’s living a Valdin lifestyle, not him living a Caldin one.” I began to see their point; that whilst a Valdin might not be everyone’s idea of a good family man, their definition of family was different.
Martha chipped in. “I could marry a Verdin, say. I think I’d quite enjoy plant-hunting all over the planet. But never a Mellin – it’s not that I don’t like them, it’s just the whole stay at home thing. And it’s about what you’re responsible for as well – I couldn’t take on Mellin responsibilities. The Valdin men feel the same.” I could see that the Valdin clan needed more daughters. And when Ravoder Valdin came, quite unashamedly, to court me, I didn’t turn him away just because he was a Valdin.
Besides, like all the Valdin men, he was very direct, very physical, and very warm. And you knew he meant what he said, so I was very moved when he told me: “Rilla, I think you are the bravest of us all. You have come such a long way, faced so much, and given so generously to us all. The Valdin would be proud to call your theirs.” He pulled me close to him, and stroked my face.
“Rilla, not one of us has been alone on a new planet, with no-one of their own race or clan. You are so brave. It’s not all about hacking out a path in the wilderness you know.” A few days later, V came round. With almost Valdin-like directness she marched up to me and said: “I want a name please. Andor says it’s silly, only having a letter. I need a name to live up to and to keep honourable and to be proud of.” “Then I will give you a name with a meaning. Verity. It means truth. And you can live up to your name by always being true and honourable.” Next Xydin daughter round asking for something was Querida, asking Amaryllis if she could change her face, just as Xanthe’s had been changed. Amaryllis said she’d try, but she needed Yolande and Zoe as well. But they would help if they could.
U had turned up as well, and she stamped her foot in anger. “I won’t let this happen to me! I won’t let “him” change my face!”
But looking at her, you could see that her face was, slowly and surely, getting darker. Not as quickly as Xanthe and Querida’s faces had changed, so maybe she was holding “him” at bay, but it was changing. Far away, in the Adrina’s secret garden, Four could feel U fighting back at him. So he fought back too. U’s valiant fight against the sinister power that Four had over her was one that she was losing. Her face grew ever steadily darker, and then her legs ,too, began to become dark and blotchy.
Hope and Meti were besides themselves with worry for her. Meti was frustrated because there was nothing he could do, medically or scientifically. It was as though this enemy of hers was using her body against her. Hope was frustrated because there was nothing she could do to make U happy, to let her know that she was loved. The darkness that was covering her skin was filling her mind as well, and no sunshine could break through. Yet still U fought stubbornly against “him”. It was some time before Amaryllis, Yolande and Zoe were able to get together with Querida, to see if they could do for her what they had done for Xanthe. Again, they met by the pool: they didn’t know whether place had anything to do with what they were doing, so they decided to do the same again. Amaryllis felt edgy and wary; almost as if someone was watching them. Or trying to watch them. This time the change was obvious almost immediately. With Xanthe, it had been like pushing against a heavy weight. With Querida, it was like pulling out a plug; initial resistance and then a sudden draining away. “You’ve kept your Xydin stars!” Amaryllis said, surprised.
“I wanted to,” Querida said. “I wanted to look like you. You make me glad to be a Xydin, if I can be like you.” But for U, things were getting worse and worse. One morning she seemed to cave in completely. She refused flat out to go to school, and dressed herself in black again.
“I can’t win this fight. I give in. “He” just wants me to disappear for ever. I’ve fought and fought and fought, and I can’t beat him. Well, I’m not going to school like this!” Hope’s heart was wrenched within her. She wasn’t going to make her go to school; instead, she took her out with her to her father’s house; she was still collecting songs from all and sundry, and he had promised to teach her one. U stood sullenly by as Hope sang the song Adri Tallin was teaching her.

I see the colours, the colours of the morning sun.
Red and rose and crimson,
Scarlet, they run across the morning sky.
They lift my heart and gladden my eye.
I see the colours, the colours of the morning sun.
It was a joyous song, with a strong and lively melody. As Hope sang the second verse, she saw to her amazement that U was beginning to dance.

I see the colours, the colours in the moorland streams.
Amber runs and topaz rills, peaty waters on the hills,
Ochre pebbles gently lie, gazing at a golden sky.
I see the colours, the colours of the moorland streams. By the fourth verse, U was enjoying herself for the first time since she had come to live with Hope. Hope and her father sang for her, their voices blending strong and sure.

I see the colours, the colours of the evening sky.
Amethyst and lavender, I watch them slowly fade and die,
Indigo and navy into starry darkness slide,
I see the colours, the colours of the evening sky. The last notes met, intertwined and hung for a moment before fading away. U said nothing, but she held Hope’s hand on the way home. Xanthe had called round to see how U was, since she hadn’t been at school.
“U, why don’t you ask Zoe, Amaryllis and Yolande to help you? They helped me.”
And instead of replying that she could do this herself, U actually listened to the suggestion. And was quiet and peaceful for the rest of the evening, and for many days to come. By now I was very pregnant with Ravoder’s children. I was sitting there one evening, having one of those moments of self-doubt.
Did I really know what I was letting myself in for, having Valdin babies again? I’d get no help from Ravoder – but I did have Amaryllis.
Also, would my hair ever get any longer?
And I still hadn’t asked Adri Mellin about the clothes that were coming for the children: Jasmine, Kitabela and Laurel’s next batch of clothes had arrived, and again, the fabric was coarser than before, and much plainer. Time passed. The babies were triplets, and like all Valdin children, grew fast and furiously. As I was potty-training Orache, I said to Amaryllis that my life here still reminded me of the orphanage in some ways. She was fascinated, and made me tell her as many stories as I could remember.
“Was it a very unhappy place?” she asked.
“No. It was busy, always – I grew up in a poor neighbourhood, and the orphanage was poor too. But there was love there, and affection – the older ones were taught to help the younger ones. We only got a very basic education, but we did learn how to cook, and clean, and wash and iron – all of us, boys as well.” Watching three of them teaching Nepeta, Orache and Melilot how to walk a few days later reminded me more than ever of the orphanage. They were doing what I had done when I was their age; helping young children develop.
Maybe my upbringing had been the right one for me after all. And the older orphans had gone on helping the younger ones even after they had left the orphanage too, I remembered; one girl who had become a hairdresser used to come back once a month and trim hair for free. And the boy who’d been taken on by a market gardener would bring in bruised-but-still-edible foods when they had them spare. And then there’d been our success story – but at that point Nepeta demanded that I looked at what she did, and my brief moments of reflection were over. Next day though, I promised myself, I was talking to Adri Mellin about clothes. Next day, as soon as I could (which turned out to be the very end of the afternoon), I headed off the Adri Mellin’s house. I figured that as the Mellin seemed to concern themselves with a lot of the domestic stuff, he’d be just the person to harangue – oops, sorry, I mean question tactfully. Eloise met me, and she was wearing what I could only describe as a sack.
“It’s because we’re running out of stuff, Rilla!” She was almost triumphant about it. “There are so many of us now that we need new clothes – we’ve used up all the left-overs. Don’t you see – we’re finally growing again! The downside is that it takes quite a while to spin and weave, and we’ve run out of buttons, zips – all the things you take for granted. And while the colony was static, there was no urgency to make anything new – but now we need to! This is wonderful!” After I’d taken Orache home and put her to bed, I went out again to see Adri Tallin. I wanted to know how many Tallin had survived the plague. His answer shocked me.
“You doubled our numbers when you gave me my five girls.”
It seemed that the Tallin had been particularly susceptible to the plague. And, like the Mellin, and the Caldin to some extent, they lived near each other, and so it had spread quickly through the clan. Travelling clans, like the Valdin and the Verdin, had been warned to stay away. And the Xydin tended to live in small family groups, spread out somewhat. So it had spread more slowly through them too. After our somewhat serious discussion, I was more than eager to see my girls – Jenny was busy drawing, and Kirsty was…
“What are you wearing? No, let me guess. It’s the latest button-free, zip-free, easy-sew, tie-fastened sack, isn’t it?”
She laughed, and Jenny said, from the drawing board, “I’m trying to design something right now! But it’s not as easy as it looks. The fabric’s only this wide,” and she mimed weaving by hand, “and we have to make it go as far as possible. This isn’t going to be quick, Rilla. We’re going to be on pretty basic stuff for a while yet.” While I was finding out about clothes, Zoe and Yolande were trying to find out more about the Xydin. And about what was happening to them, too. At the end of a thorough search of the library, they had found out that the Xydin were always led by an Adrina, that the real beginnings of the clan had been way back, when the first Adrina and her four brothers had formulated the first laws; that Xydin couldn’t have their growth speeded up, or their powers didn’t develop properly - “Which explains why everyone else seems to overtake us, at least,” Zoe said – and that really it all came down to a heightened awareness of things most of the time. “Right,”said Zoe. “Enough of this. I’m going to read something really easy before we go home.” She headed for the bookcase in the children’s section of the library, and rooted through it, looking for something she remembered with fondness from her younger days.
“Hey! I’ve found a book I haven’t read before! It had slid right down behind all the others, and got wedged down the back of a shelf.” She eased it out with care and sat down to read it. It was a collection of fairy stories and legends, one of her all-time favourite types of children’s book. Yolande idly scanned the shelves, wishing that there was a book on How To Grow Up Successfully As A Xydin Girl – or even that there was someone to talk to, who had known the Xydin well. Did being a Xydin mean that you were likely to turn into an evil, scheming maniac? Did it mean that you could control people mentally? She didn’t like the sound of that. And yet all the Adris said that the Xydin had helped all the clans to live together peacefully – that must have been back in the time of the first Adrina and her four brothers.
Zoe interrupted her musings. “Yolande, what’s ‘mauval’ ?”
“I dunno,” Yolande said. “Never heard of it. Why?”
“Well, there’s a story here – Parfinder and the mauval Xydin. And Parfinder, that’s the hero, has to go and do battle with a Xydin who’s doing dreadful things to everyone.”
Two dark heads were bent together over the book in an instant, as they read the story together.
“Adri Verdin. We’ll ask him. He seems to know the most.” Amaryllis had done a strange painting, of a dark-faced person.
“I see him in my dreams,” she said to me. “He’s looking for me. He wants me. Rilla, it frightens me.” And the picture frightened me too. Adri Verdin came up with more than information; he came up with the oldest Verdin I had ever met. Finding Alkanet hadn’t been easy, either – he lived very retired now. But he knew more about the Xydin.
“My grandmother was a Xydin,” he explained. “I’ll tell you what I can remember from the stories she told me.”
I told him about the book Zoe had found, and the word mauval. His face clouded over.
“Mauval. That is really not a good thing. If we have a mauval Xydin going round…” His voice tailed off, but then he took up the thread of his narrative again.
“A mauval Xydin is one who has lost touch with the feelings of others. That’s what keeps the Xydin so – well, ethical. If you can feel the effect your actions have on others, then your actions are not cruel. But a mauval Xydin has no such constraints. And the only thing he can feel is the sensation within him of using his own powers. The more he uses them, the more he enjoys them. And the more he uses them against other people, the stronger the sensations.” “So what does he want – this mysterious “he” that the little Xydin girls all mention?”
Alkanet shrugged. “Who knows? But I suspect that he wants to start a dynasty. You and your three oldest girls are in terrible danger.” “How?” My heart pounded within me, at the thought of a risk to Yolande, Amaryllis and Zoe.
Instead of answering straight away, he fingered and felt the collar round my neck, frowning at it.
“This is a Xydin artefact. The Adrina had one of these, but hers was golden and blue. And there were a few more. This is dormant at the moment, but it could be re-awakened by a Xydin. If he could get near enough to you, he could control you again.”
He closed his eyes and focussed. “This can only be removed by an adult Xydin. I can’t take it off. But I have enough Xydin in me to manipulate it a little.” And under his fingers, the collar suddenly buzzed, hummed, and then was silent again.
“There.” Alkanet opened his eyes, but he looked tired and suddenly drained. “All Xydin collars are designed to shut down completely when the wearer is pregnant, so as not to affect the baby. While you’re pregnant, this collar won’t respond to anyone at all. When you’re not pregnant…” He shrugged. “I’m sorry, Rilla, but that’s the best I can do.” Then he dropped his next bombshell.
“Your oldest Xydin girls need to go away. A long way away. They’re beginning to come into their powers; they’re going to grow up soon. And that “he” will know they exist and will be after them. I think Amaryllis is already aware of him, and soon he will know about her. They need to be hidden away, and no-one must know where they are – especially you. Alkanet explained to Zoe, Amaryllis and Yolande that they would have to leave, and go away, as soon as possible.
“This rogue Xydin is looking for you. I don’t think he wants you for any good purpose. And I think you are still too young to resist him. Especially if he has the other Xydin collars in his possession. I don’t know how he has managed to use this one to such bad ends, though I think some of it may be that Rilla is not from any of these clans. But if you are far enough away, he will not be able to sense you, or find you.” “You want us to leave our families. And go and hide somewhere. Can’t we fight him somehow?” Yolande was near to tears.
Alkanet shook his head sadly. “Not without an Adrina. An Adrina, with the rest of the clan behind her, could conquer a mauval Xydin. And heal him – one way or another. But there is no Adrina yet. And you three are the only ones who might become Adrina. We have to guard you. If he gets hold of you, the whole future of the clan is in such peril.”
“Do we have to leave now? Without even saying goodbye to Gabriella and Yan?”
“Two days. That will give us time to prepare things. But I would like you all to stay here until we leave – I think this house is better defended.” And two days later, I was hugging Amaryllis tightly as she prepared to leave. Neither of us wanted to part. She was so dear to me, my little namesake. It had cost me so much to choose to love and accept her at the beginning, but I had been so richly rewarded for that choice. Gabriella, Yan and I watched them leave and set out to their unknown destination.