Ann spoke first. “You are Sisters?”
All seven of the women nodded, some more vigorously than others.
“Why are you here?” Ann asked.
One holding an infant said, “We were called.”
Gareth recognized the same sort of evasive answers he’d grown up with. He looked to the Brother and said, “You are the leader of the Brotherhood?”
“I am.”
Gareth hesitated again, prepared to play the word games to reach the answers he needed. “There is a secret hierarchy in the Brotherhood, I believe. Are you saying that you are the single Brother who all others eventually report to?”
“I am.”
There seemed to be no humor or deception in the answer. Gareth had often been in such situations as a boy with his teachers. Changing the type of question often provided better answers. He said, “Were you elected to the position?”
“No.”
“How did you come to acquire it?”
“My predecessor appointed me, as he before him.”
Still not satisfied, and still standing, Gareth walked to the chair across from the Brother while thinking of what to say. All eyes and ears in the great room focused on him. He finally said, “One of the Brothers was my teacher while I grew up. He has always been honest with me, even to the point of telling me he cannot answer a direct question. You know who I am. Suppose I reach out with my mind and speak to him and have him confirm your identity?”
The Brother smiled wanly, and in a softer voice said, “Gareth, I know who you are, and I know your powers. To communicate with the Brother, who you claim as a trusted friend, a relationship that I heartedly agree with, you must travel back up the mountains and at least to the top of the pass. Please do not insult me with more unrealities.”
Tad, having seated himself beside Gareth, wriggled in his chair and seemed intent upon speaking. A hand on his knee stilled his tongue before it began to wag. The Brotherhood didn’t know of Tad or that he could combine his abilities with those of Gareth and together they could speak over the mountains. Gareth would keep Tad and his abilities to himself.
Gareth said, “The point being, I can confirm your identity and your position—after a long walk.”
“Yes. That is your prerogative.”
“For now, let us continue and see where it takes us,” Gareth said, trying to smile. “Ann, can you confirm these women are Sisters?”
Ann nodded slowly. “I believe they are.”
Gareth said, “How?”
“Small things. The Sisterhood is unknown to most people, and they obviously know of it. But there is more. There are no insects inside this building. None. And there is food in those bins but again no flies, mice, or other pests. Given a source of water and abundant food, the only method to keep them clear of here is with a Sister’s powers with creatures.”
“Fair enough,” Gareth said, turning back to the Brother. “This is almost a desert. I can understand building this structure around the only water to protect it, but I have more questions, beginning with wanting to know your exact position here. Not the Brotherhood, but here.”
The Brother spoke quickly, “I think of myself as a caretaker of this place. I watch over the buildings and grounds, ensuring there is ample food and that repairs are performed. While they attend to births, I work with the children, educating them and teaching them to use their abilities.”
“There are only two babies,” Gareth snapped.
“Until recently there were seven older children. You know one, but there were others.”
“Belcher. He was born here?”
For the first time, the Brother’s eyes flicked away before returning as he set his chin. “As were the other boys.”
“Belcher was your student, and he was born here?”
“Over time, many have been born in this community.”
The evasion again in the answer. However, Ann half stood and looked at the Sisters. She said, “All of you came to this place to have your babies.” It was not a question.
Each of the women nodded but said nothing. The two who had been working on the food in the kitchen came to the table and seated themselves. One of them said, “For the sake of our babies.”
Ann turned to her. “What does that mean?”
“We want the best for our children. The Brotherhood helps them, and us.”
“As teachers?” Ann demanded. “There are fine teachers in our world on the coast.”
“My world is not on the coast,” the same woman said.
Gareth turned back to the Brother, confused. He raised his eyebrows and waited.
Then Brother cast a disappointed look to the woman, and then as if giving up something he hoped to withhold, he said, “From the top of the rise when you first found this settlement, did you notice three other paths?”
Gareth shook his head.
“There are four. One leads over the mountains and to the coast to the west where you live. Another leads over the white mountains to the southeast. Two others, to the northeast and north, also across mountain ranges. Our Sisters come here from all four roads.” The Brother settled back into his chair and waited.
Gareth recovered enough to speak. “There are other lands? Lands with people?”
“In each land there are men of your abilities helping the populations avoid wars, preventing famines, the spread of contagious illnesses, and a hundred more things that do not favor one sect over another. They do their work in private, unknown.”
“Who are the Brotherhood?” Gareth asked. “What is the purpose, or foundation of it? The reason for its existence?”
The Brother smiled. “I often describe us as the ‘hands and feet’ of those few men with your unique abilities. We do what we can to pass on knowledge and provide help to the general population. It is often rejected, and we are murdered, jailed, and beaten in the performance of our tasks. However, you know those things as well as I do. To say we are misunderstood is to minimize the situation.”
Ann pointed to the glowing water. “That has something to do with it.”
Again she was not asking a question.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
All eyes turned to the pool of self-lighted water. Ann’s declaration didn’t upset them if their demeanor was an accurate description. They had expected her, or Gareth to come to that conclusion. Most of the Sisters either smiled or nodded in agreement.
Gareth observed their reactions with the dawning of understanding—at least for a few items. “This place, this village, is responsible for all people like me. And you. Women carrying babies who drink from that water bear children with our mental abilities. Some abilities are greater than others, but it is what makes people like us. You and me, and everyone in this room except the boy I brought. Is that a correct statement?”
“Only a few Brothers and Sisters were born here. Many mothers sipped from the water of our pool before birth without knowing,” the Brother said, and as soon as the words fell from his mouth he clamped it shut. Hard.
The obvious impression was that he’d accidentally revealed information not intended. At first, Gareth didn’t understand what information was not intended until he focused on the second part of the answer. The first part was incredible enough to make Gareth rise to his feet in excitement, but it was what came after that revealed more. Gareth centered on wondering ‘how’ and ‘why’ mothers “sipped from the waters of the pool.”
The revelation and the Brother’s reaction to the misspeak hinted at darker deeds, ones not spoken about, but immediately Gareth imagined young women preparing for birth unknowingly drinking the glowing water. If the Brother was believed, every Brother and Sister was the result of water taken from the glowing pool and carried to a pregnant woman in another land.