Chapter 20
Part 2
Kol went to the door. In a little while, a porter entered with tea and water. Kol instructed it to be sat near the box. As the porter left, Kessa arrived. “My king.” She bowed her head.
He and Abraham were standing over a box of stuff. She bowed her head at Abraham.
“Join us.” They sat in the floor by the box. Kol motioned for her to sit on his right. “Abraham doesn’t know what some of this stuff is. Will you help us?”
“I’ll do my best, my king.”
He started pulling stuff out of the box. There were at least 15 gold covered medallions.
“What are these for? I saw a bunch of these on the walls at Rajaf’s.”
“They are champion awards from your military training. The picture tells you what they are for.” She pointed them out as she talked. “Archery, swordsmanship, horseback riding, tactical, wrestling, hand to hand combat.”
“I don’t remember any of this.”
He pulled out a very small handmade foot covering. “Frego?”
Abraham shook his head no, “you.”
He put it over his thumb. “It’s so little. Was I really ever this little?”
Kessa and Abraham spoke at the same time, “yes.”
The box was littered with pieces of ribbon. “What’s all this?”
“Your crowning ceremony.” Abraham spoke. “The throne room floor was covered with ribbon. It was up to our ankles. You had to enter the room from the back and walk forward to the throne with the crown, robe, staff, and all the pomp that comes with it. When you walked through this stuff, it looked like you were walking on water. The weight of the robe caused the ribbon to flow around behind you and it reminded me when water comes together at the back of a boat. Swirling around and around before coming back together. It doesn’t shock me that you can’t remember this. That robe weight at least 100 pounds. And all the stuff you had to recite, would turn any man’s brain to mud. But you did it. One hour of oaths, laws, and forgive me, nonsense.” Kol held up a burgundy colored piece of cloth, no bigger than his hand. “This was from your wedding.” He pulled out a wooden doll.
Kessa gasped, “I remember that. Max, me, you and that red headed boy were playing in the woods.” She blushed, “you were so annoyed with Max because he didn’t want to go back. You were tired and he just kept tormenting you.” She put her hands on her hips, “you put your hand on your hips and said sternly, ‘if you don’t stop, you are going to get hurt and we are going to have to pack your fatuous ass home.’ He started laughing because you said the word ass, lost his balance, fell and broke his leg. You made this for him. This little piece of cloth was a piece of the dressing they put on his leg.” Kessa smiled as she held the simple looking doll.
“I do remember something happened that caused me to start paying attention to my words. Words have consequences. What is the red head covering for?”
“You got hurt in a wrestling match.” She held her hand to the left side of his head. “May I?”
“You may.”
Kol closed his eyes as she felt around in his hair. The feeling of her fingers working their way across his head was different, intense, pleasing. He was amazed at how good it felt. Had Abraham not been there, he would have let her do that all day. “Do you feel that?” She had found a place just above his ear. At first he didn’t respond. “My king?” She whispered.
He finally spoke, “yes. Where did that come from?”
She sat back down. “Your opponent in the match snuck a rock into the competition. He hit you so hard that we thought he had killed you. Max put this head covering on it and gave it back to you while you recovered.” She turned it over on the back. There were two very different styles of writing carved into the doll. “Isaiah 41:10 was you and Isaiah 40:31 was Max.”
She handed Kol the doll. He rubbed his fingers over the verses but still couldn’t remember.
“That place in my head isn’t from the Zeede?”
“I’m sure it’s higher, my king.”
Kol pulled out a weird looking trinket. It looked like a person but the features were odd. The head was really small. The body was five times bigger than the head. It must have been a female. What he thought were breasts were resting on its knees. This figure was flat and fit in the palm of his hand. “What is this?”
“I found that shortly after you’re father died. You hadn’t been back long.” Abraham voiced.
“Could it be a Zeede trinket?” Kessa asked.
“If it is, why would I have kept it?”
They spent all evening going through the box.
Suddenly Kol just stopped. Abraham caught Kessa’s glance. She spoke softly, “my king.”
He lowered his head slightly, “Abraham, why do you have all of this stuff?”
Abraham smiled, “Elizabeth and I aren’t able to have children. We took every opportunity we could get to share in your childhood.”
“Thank you. I’ll make sure Max brings this back to you.”
Poetry & More 