Part 3 (1/2)
”Wonder what?”
Her eyes were intent upon the new star. ”Someday, my people say, a Messiah will be born.”
”So you said.”
”And that a star will herald his birth. Perhaps ...”
”Perhaps this star is for our own son's birth,” I joked.
”Or our daughter's,” Reta replied, though the one thing we had discussed was our certainty that the child would be a boy. Salvi had four boys already, and Daria seemed the only exception in generations of my family.
I persisted in asking Reta questions about her people's understanding of a herald star and their savior. To my surprise, Reta had kept the worn scroll Omar had brought me so many years before; she brought it out now from some hidden place and found the prophecies of a star and Israel's future king.
One night, Reta ventured a tentative question without looking at me. ”My husband, you do believe in your G.o.ds, don't you?”
I shrugged. I made the ritual sacrifices each year, as my father had, and I had even made a few secret sacrifices to the G.o.ds years before, asking for a child, but that was all. The stars had never moved me to wonder about spiritual matters. I was interested in their beauty. In my school, many were mathematicians who delighted in measuring and calculating the angles and positions of the stars, watching them echo the records of years past. Others were gamblers, trying to outwit the charts with predictions of unforeseen portents. Some were explorers by nature, always restless to discover and conquer. One or two were aesthetes like me who simply gloried in the beauty of the stars. Most simply wanted to gain an audience with the king. Still, some shared my wife's metaphysical interest.
Among these was my friend Balzar. Balzar was one of the few astronomers who had not inherited his position in the school, so for an outsider like me, he was a natural ally. Even forty years after he had been accepted, and despite his mystical abilities to dream and interpret dreams, Balzar was not as respected as his wisdom deserved. It was Balzar who had kept me from returning home to my father's contempt when I had been scorned by the others, and who had been a refuge for me another time. Though he did not have the t.i.tle, to me, Balzar was chief among the astronomers. And it was Balzar's belief, and Reta's, that made me begin to wonder how to interpret the new star.
A concern was growing among us to understand the new star. The king had sent urgent, anxious messages, requiring us to determine its meaning. Our usual scribing was put aside for this more pressing matter. Shaz, my oldest enemy in the magi-who now served at the king's court-sent a message requiring a formal a.s.sembly to consider this star so the king could take appropriate action. The very tone of his letter gritted me like sand in the teeth in a storm. If Balzar was above all in the matter of dreams, Shaz was the master of commanding people to serve his own interests. Too well did I remember him once claiming my calculations as his own. I was nearly discredited for deception. I would never forget Shaz's gilded smile as the others cackled at my work. The ranks were closing me out, and it was only when I caught a small slip in Shaz's copying and corrected it that my position was saved.
But nothing had changed. Shaz glittered with success and was now returning, a carrion bird, to gather our wisdom.
We prepared for the a.s.sembly. I wrote a translation of the prophecies Reta read to me from Omar's scroll and waited.
Shaz arrived on the appointed day, borne on a litter by slaves. For solidarity's sake, he had donned the black robe, but colorful glints of silk beneath set him apart from his peers. If anything, Shaz had grown more imperious in his manner since our time studying together. I was reminded how much I despised him, and for the hundredth time, I wondered how his wife could bear his touch.
I was disappointed when, early in the discussion, someone else mentioned the idea of a Jewish Messiah, and several heads nodded familiarity with the idea. My careful piece of research was common knowledge.
Shaz, however, sneered at this. ”Some uncle's feeble recollection is not what I have been sent here to find. The king seeks proof. Does anyone have anything else to offer?”
After such an opening to the council, no one felt free to speak. Shaz noted any ideas ventured with a skeptical eye. My gaze fell upon the notes I had transcribed. Was it worth Shaz's withering commentary to share them? I looked at Balzar's earnest face with its long white beard. Balzar often inspired me with his lifelong dedication to seeking the truth. I recalled the vow I had made when I joined the magi-to seek truth and to share it freely. All these years I had been diligent and content in my studies, but my vow had never before been challenged. I swallowed my pride, accepted the inevitable experience of being belittled yet again by Shaz, and rose to my feet.
”When I was a boy,” I began, ”a Hebrew book of stars discovered by a trader became mine. In these last weeks as we have pondered this new star, I have read in this book of Hebrew prophecies that fit our situation aptly.”
I could see Shaz was interested, almost against his will.
”Do you have these Hebrew prophecies?” he asked.
”I do. Here is the original, and here is the translation a friend helped me to do.”
Reta had begged me to keep her ident.i.ty as a Hebrew secret. Insecure enough among the wealthy wives of the astronomers, Reta was worried old racial tensions would surface if her origins were widely known.
A few more outlandish interpretations were offered and rejected while my little Jewish scroll was pa.s.sed around and copied by the astronomers. Balzar, who read more widely than most, appeared deeply moved by the Hebrew poetry. Shaz dismissed us all to our tasks for the evening, demanding our presence the next week for a decision.
I picked up the water clocks and the measuring sticks and carried them to our usual place outside the city. The star had moved farther to the west. I found myself straining my ears for a message from the star, and though it radiated beauty and mystery, the skies were silent. When we finished making our calculations and recording all we observed, we headed back to the city. With his stiff joints, Balzar was, as usual, the slowest. As I carried the equipment, I fell into step with him, my arm supporting his, his thoughts lifting my own.
”'The heavens declare the glory of G.o.d,'” he quoted, as Reta had. ”It's true, Melchi, isn't it?” He beamed at the beauties around him.
”How do you do it?” I asked. ”How do you cultivate this interest in the G.o.ds?”
”What do you mean?”
”For me, the stars are like jewels-lovely, fascinating, but that's all. Perhaps they reflect what is happening here, but the idea that they can be messages from a G.o.d-it's unsettling.”
”Why is that?” Balzar asked.
”It changes everything if there is something beyond what you can see. Or Someone. This G.o.d of my wife's-” I stopped.
”Your wife?”
”Reta is a Hebrew. She is Jewish.” I knew I could trust Balzar, but for Reta's sake I explained her desire for secrecy.
”My first wife was half-Jewish. Jewish. People were not always kind. I will protect this truth about your wife. Tell me more of your questions, Melchior.”
I shrugged. Did I have questions? I wasn't sure. All I knew was that belief in a G.o.d reoriented everything. My father's death, Omar's, the new star, the s.p.a.ces between the stars-all these had shaken me, revealing s.p.a.ce beyond my view of beauty, but it was an uncomfortable place to be, nothing like the happy wors.h.i.+p Balzar quoted.
”What is the deepest desire of your heart?” Balzar asked me.
I hesitated, though I knew my answer immediately. I considered the conventional answer: my wife was expecting a child, and desire for a safe delivery was certainly one I held. My thoughts of truth, however, convinced me to be honest with him.
”All my life, I have dreamed of reaching up and grasping the unmoving star,” I said.
Balzar nodded seriously. Then, as we reached the doorway of his house, he patted my arm. ”You may be closer to G.o.d than you think.”
~ 9 ~.
Delegation A week later the council reconvened, and Shaz was again presiding. ”The king agrees that the Hebrew prophecies are convincing. The ephemerides, the star charts, certainly point to a regal birth in Israel. We believe that the birth of a new king in Israel is the meaning of this star.”
Balzar patted me on the back.
Shaz continued. ”The business at hand now is to select a delegation to represent our king and to deliver the official gifts.”
I looked around, trying to imagine who would be sent. When I had first joined the astronomers' school, I had been surprised to discover how much rivalry there was. Though I had seen much striving for position when I lived among the merchants, I had not realized how universal the activity was. It was not enough for many of these men to be magi; they wanted positions at the king's court, and they would peck and strike at anyone who stood in the way.
My first day in the city I had learned several important lessons. One was that I had not been accepted into the astronomy school; I had been accepted to be tested. The other was that the test would be harder for me than for the others, simply because no one knew my family.
Breeding and family counted to Shaz more than to anyone else. Being the nephew of the chief astronomer had gotten him further than my mere calculations had, and he was all too aware of the benefits of a system that promoted its sons. The decision regarding the delegation to the new king would not be Shaz's alone, however. The chief astronomer was responsible for such choices. The process was a delicate one, done publicly in council as it was. Raised eyebrows, averted glances, cleared throats were all part of the subtle game I had seen played before.
”Our king has asked for four magi as well as servants,” Shaz explained. ”Horses will of course be made available, and king's guards will secure the gifts.”
His face expressionless, the chief astronomer gestured in Shaz's direction. ”We would, of course, be honored to have you, Alshazak, lead our delegation.”