The Center of the World - 7. Finlar's Wife

Finlar’s wife ushered Saghir and Pireno into her home. She set out sweets and a cold herbal decoction and found a child’s high chair for Pireno, and they all sat together.

The conversation proceeded in Giantish. Saghir addressed her as Izalis Finlar’s Wife (Finlalik muan Izalis), so Pireno stowed that away in his memory as the formal mode of address. But his mind kept wandering to her beard. The giantesses he had seen at the shore did not have beards. Did some giantesses have beards and others not, or was Finlar’s wife a man, or rather, a male giant? Her mannerisms were entirely feminine. But the beard was dense, lush, full.

Gently, Saghir told Izalis in Giantish: “Finlar died in battle. We occupied a village for too long, and this was my doing. After many months the humans fought us and many giants died. This is Bilinu, my slave, a man of that village. He was with Finlar when he died and he saw to it that his body was burned properly.”

“How was this your doing?” Izalis asked him.

“In shiluntam I persuaded the giants to stay. It was selfish of me. I had fallen in love with Bilinu, and when I looked at the village, I saw nothing but a place to be very happy for a long time. My sight was skewed.”

Izalis nodded, then asked Pireno if he had been Finlar’s friend.

In halting Giantish, Pireno said, “Daigitsa Finlar always gave me wise advice and wished me well. He saw how my master loved me. I did not believe it, and I did not know my own heart. For the battle I made weapons for the humans. I hid this from my master and lied to him. Finlar’s death is my doing. I liked him very much. I repaid him poorly for his kindness. Although I am unworthy, my master Saghir has taken me back.”

Izalis asked Saghir if this was true.

Saghir said, “It is true. But Pireno also saved my life. And when Finlar had asked Pireno to make jewelry for you, Izalis, Pireno worked hard to make it beautiful for you.”

Pireno brought the pendant out and gave it to Izalis. Now, at last, tears came as she looked at it.

Saghir said, “He loved you, Izalis Finlar’s Wife, very much.”

To Pireno she said, “And you, Bilinu, do you know your own heart now?”

“Yes, I know now that I loved my master Saghir all along. I will not leave him. And I am very sorry for my part in the death of daigitsa Finlar.”

Izalis sighed deeply. “War can not be separated from the life of a giant. And death can not be separated from war. A giant’s wife knows the risk.”

She fixed her gaze on Pireno. “Bilinu, I think you are very young. It is good that you have learned from your mistake so early in your life. I think it can be forgiven. If you were older, it would be harder for you to change, and harder for us to forgive. Do not reproach yourself too much. Would Finlar still be alive if it weren’t for what you did? No one can know that with certainty.”

She looked at the pendant. “Thank you for making what my husband asked. It is very beautiful.”

“While my master Saghir and I were in Luzig, I also made these pieces, one for each of you, in memory of daigitsa Finlar.” Pireno brought out his other small bundle and unwrapped two identical rings, delicately formed and engraved, which showed all the skill and subtlety he had learned from Hesnik.

Izalis accepted hers gravely. When Saghir took his, it was his turn for tears.

Saghir wiped his eyes and said, “Izalis Finlar’s Wife, I request, when you cut your hair in mourning, the honor of taking four of the hairs from your head.”

Izalis nodded. “How can I refuse? You were his friend from childhood. You were happy for us when we married. He loved you. And I love you. Yes, of course, when I cut my hair, you may be among those who take four strands. We will mourn Finlar tomorrow at sunset, on the shore.”

Saghir and Pireno slept aboard the ship that night. In the morning Saghir left Pireno at the harbor and went off on some errand. As Pireno sat, a girl, so young that she was shorter than he, approached with an awed smile as if she had found some magical creature.

“Balan!” she whispered.

“Didiliaghan!” (“Parrot!”) Pireno replied.

She shrieked in delighted amazement and ran away.

At sunset many giants gathered around Izalis at the shore. She sat on a stone as another giantess -- one with no beard -- cut her hair very short. Then she began singing a mourning song, very much like the song Saghir had sung by Ishkandur’s pyre. The others joined her. It was a hundred times stranger than Saghir’s song because everyone was singing something slightly different, yet all the voices fused into a heart-piercing whole. The loss and longing were there in the music again, as was the feeling of something being carried far away.

One by one, the mourners passed by Izalis, taking a few strands of her hair. To Saghir she gave four, and to Pireno, two.

************

As they sailed south from the harbor, Pireno asked Saghir, “Master, is Finlar’s wife a giantess or a giant?

“Now wife by Finlar giantess. Begin live, was, he boy, Izulir. But he not like fight, he not like war, he not like clothes by giant, he like clothes by giantess, he like concern child, he like work in house, he like make clothes, make plant grow, make water go here, go there in, ah, round --” Saghir mimed a tube.

“Pipe?”

“Ya, pipe. Fix all pipe for water all place. So he choose live giantess. Now he Izulis.”

Pireno thought: Of course, that makes sense. She doesn’t like war, she likes fabrics and gardening and housework and plumbing, so of course she would want to live as a woman.

The voyage back to the Island of Pieces of the Sky was slower, with a lot of tacking against less favorable winds. The weather was warming considerably by the time they arrived. To Pireno’s surprise, Saghir did not want to go aboard a human ship right away, but insisted they go ashore with a landing party.

“Why, Master?”

“Thing I want we do. I want much.”

He once again led Pireno up the mountain to the summit and the standing stones. Reminding him with a finger to his lips to be silent, he led Pireno just inside the circle and knelt.

He removed Pireno’s gold chain and ivory tag from his neck. From his pouch, he withdrew an ivory tag on a long cord. Burned into the tag, in Giantish letters, was “Bilinuk.” He gave the tag to Pireno and bowed his head.

Pireno felt the solemnity of the occasion. He slipped the cord over Saghir’s head. Saghir looked up and replaced Pireno’s chain, then smiled at him and rose to his feet.

Together they stood and looked up at the sky, which had sent pieces of itself to surround their union.

************

Back at the shore, Pireno asked, “Master, your ivory tag -- did you have it made when we were visiting Finlar’s wife?”

“Ya, giant make tie, I go see he. He make fast, good. He make all tie for all giant.”

“Won’t the other giants say even more now, that you love me too much? And won’t they ask even more, who is the master and who is the slave?”

Saghir smiled broadly. “I not care.”

After a moment, Pireno asked, “Where will we go now?”

“We go east. See giant. Shiluntam.” Saghir was once again examining the foundations of the old trading house on the island.

“I’ve seen this look on your face before. You’re making a plan.”

“Ya, I make plan. I make plan for you, for I, for giant, for man. For trade, for peace, for not so many war.”