After much debate, Kassa and Gina finally decided to tell their parents about the stone. If they had just gone to the caves to test their courage, they could have kept silent as long as their absence went unnoticed. But luisha was another matter. A piece no bigger than a fingertip could buy enough grain to feed an entire clan for half a year. It was too big a secret for them to handle on their own.
They decided to wait until morning, as waking everyone up in the middle of the night would only make things worse. When they reached home, Kassa climbed up the rope first, then pulled Gina up after him because of her injured foot. They both slept little, nodding off only to start awake again, and greeted the dawn with relief. While they dreaded confessing to their parents, it was, as Gina said, better to get it over with.
When Gina came limping into the living room, her mother immediately noticed something was wrong. “What happened to your foot?” she demanded.
Gina glanced at Kassa. He turned to his father, who was about to leave for work. “Father, please wait. There’s something we have to tell you.”
When he began explaining their escapade, his mother looked stunned. “How could you be so stupid?” she cried, cutting him off. “You could have died!” She grabbed Gina by the shoulders, hugged her fiercely, and then smacked her smartly on the bottom.
“Leena, calm down,” their father, Tonno, said, soothing her. He turned back to Kassa. “Go on. Tell us what happened next. You said that the hyohlu, the Guardian of the Darkness, bent over Gina?”
“Yes, and when I threw the torch at him, he ran away and …”
Tonno’s eyes grew stern. Kassa’s voice trailed away under his glare. “Kassa, do you really intend to lie to me?”
He turned to Gina for help but she just stood there looking deathly pale. They had promised to keep their encounter with the woman a secret, but Kassa could not lie to his father. The tale he and Gina had thought up last night sounded false even to his own ears. Finally he blurted out, “Well, no … We were actually rescued by a traveler on a journey of penance.” The true story poured out of him. Tonno listened doubtfully, but when Gina pulled out the luisha and handed it to him, the blood drained from his face.
The stone’s mystic beauty remained unchanged even in the light of day, glowing blue like the water at the bottom of a deep spring. The stone shone from Tonno’s trembling hands, illuminating his face. Kassa’s mother and grandmother caught their breath, mesmerized by the shining gem.
Gina broke the silence. “Father, does this mean we’ll be rich?”
The adults glanced at each other for a second, then Tonno slowly shook his head. “Gina, luisha belongs to the king of Kanbal. You learned that at school, didn’t you? It’s not for people like us.”
“But we risked our lives to get it! Can’t we sell it secretly? To some foreign trader or something? Then you wouldn’t have to go away to work in winter, and we could eat three meals a day all year round….”
No one spoke. Even the adults, who knew full well that Gina’s suggestion was impossible, could not help imagining what it would be like to sell the stone and make a fortune. Then Gina’s mother sighed and shook her by the shoulder. “That’s a foolish, shameful idea, Gina. Even if it could be done, it wouldn’t make us happy. Just think about it. How would we explain our sudden good fortune to the rest of our clan? Even if they believed our lies, would you feel good about deceiving your own people and keeping such riches for yourself?”
Her words seemed to hang in the air, but their bitter reality was as heavy as stone. Tonno shook his head. “At any rate, this is too important to keep secret. We must take the luisha and consult Chief Kaguro. Kassa, wait for me after school. You must come with me and tell the chieftain what happened.”
Kassa shuddered. He was afraid of the clan leader, a stern, forbidding old man who had lost his right eye and arm hunting a wolf one winter. “But Father, we promised we wouldn’t tell anyone about the woman. She’s doing penance.”
“I have my doubts about that, and that’s another reason I think we should tell the chieftain. Where did she come from? The darkness? And she led you out of the caves without once losing her way? Can’t you see what that means? Only the King’s Spears, like Master Yuguro, should be able to do that. If she knows the caves in Musa territory that well, she may be a threat to our clan.”
Kassa felt a chill creep over him. “But she saved our lives!” Gina exclaimed. “We can’t break our promise to her.”
“Calm down,” Tonno replied. “I’m not saying that we’ll do anything to harm her. But think carefully. What if she’s involved in some kind of plot against the Musa?”
“Then she would have killed us both in the cave!” Gina retorted.
Well done, Gina, Kassa thought.
Tonno was momentarily at a loss, then he sighed. “I can’t remain silent about something that could endanger our clan. If she really was doing penance, then she won’t come to any harm just because people know that she saved your lives. And if she lied to you, then telling the truth isn’t betrayal.”
Not even Gina could argue with that.
“Listen, I for one am very grateful to her. Even if it turns out that she is plotting against the clan, I’ll stand by her to the end. Now are you satisfied?”
The two children nodded. They finished their breakfast without really noticing what they ate. As they left the house for school, Kassa suddenly realized that their parents had forgotten to scold them for entering the caves. The luisha had driven all that from their minds.
Little did he dream that, in the end, he would endure much worse than a scolding from his father.