LAquilone du Estrellas | Page 3

all, this shouldn't
take more time than I have to spare."

"It may be significantly longer than you think," the artisan said, shaking
his head.
"Then please, Ser Antevadez, dream the design and I'll have everything
you listed when we return." She stood to leave.
That very day, Maria Isabella told her parents and both sets of her
padrinos that she was going off on a long trip. She invoked her right of
Ver du Mundo (when women of at least sixteen years, and men of at
least twenty years, could go forth into the wideness of Hinirang;
sometimes to seek their fortune, sometimes to run from it). They all
gave her their blessings, spoke fondly of how she used to dance and
sing as a child, saluted her new right as a woman and full citizen of
Ciudad Meiora, accompanied her all the way to the Portun du
Transgresiones with more recalled memories of her youth, and sent her
on her way. As for the butcher's boy, he waited until she was well away
and then joined her on the well-worn path, the Sendero du'l Viajero,
along with the supplies she had asked him to purchase.
"I'm ready to go," the butcher's boy grinned at her. He was clad in a
warm tunic in the manner of city folk, and around his neck, for luck, he
wore an Ajima'at, a wooden charm fashioned in the form of a wheel.
"What did you tell your kinfolk?" Maria Isabella asked him, as he
helped her mount a sturdy horse.
"That I would be back in a month or so."
It took almost sixty years for Maria Isabella and the butcher's boy to
find all the items on Melchor Antevadez's impossible list.
They began at Pur'Anan, and then trekked to Katakios and Viri'Ato
(where the sanctuary of the First Tree stood unmolested by time).
They traveled north to the lands of Bontoc and Cabarroquis (where the
Povo Montaha dwelt in seclusion).
They sailed eastwards to Palao'an and the Islas du'l Calami'an (where

the traders from countries across the seas converged in a riot of
tongues).
They ventured westwards to the dark lands of Siqui'jor and Jomal'jig
(where the Silent Ones kept court whenever both sun and moon
occupied the same horizon).
They visited the fabled cities of the south: Diya al Tandag, Diya al Din,
and Diya al Bajao (where fire-shrouded Djin and the Tiq'Barang waged
an endless war of attrition).
They entered the marbled underworld of the Sea Lords of Rumblon and
braved the Lair of the M'Arinduque (in whose house the dead
surrendered their memories of light and laughter).
When they ran out of money after the third year of travel, Maria
Isabella and the butcher's boy spent time looking for ways to finance
their quest. She began knowing only how to ride, dance, sing, play the
arpa, the violin, and the flauta, embroider, sew, and write poetry about
love; the butcher's boy began knowing how to cut up a cow. By the
time they had completed the list, they had more than quintupled the
amount of money they began with, and they both knew how to manage
a caravan; run a plantation; build and maintain fourteen kinds of
seagoing and rivergoing vessels; raise horses big and small, and fowl,
dogs, and seagulls; recite the entire annals of six cultures from memory;
speak and write nineteen languages; prepare medicine for all sorts of
ailments, worries, and anxieties; make flashpowder, lu fuego du ladron,
and picaro de fuegos artificiales; make glass, ceramics, and lenses from
almost any quality sand; and many many other means of making
money.
In the seventh year of the quest, a dreadful storm destroyed their
growing caravan of found things and they lost almost everything (she
clutched vainly at things as they flew and spun in the downpour of
wind and water, and the butcher's boy fought to keep the storm from
taking her away as well). It was the last time that Maria Isabella
allowed herself to cry. The butcher's boy took her hand and they began
all over again. They were beset by thieves and learned to run (out of

houses and caves and temples; on roads and on sea lanes and in gulleys;
on horses, aguilas, and waves). They encountered scoundrels and
sinverguenzza and learned to bargain (at first with various coins, jewels,
and metals; and later with promises, threats, and dreams). They were
beleaguered by nameless things in nameless places and learned to
defend themselves (first with wooden pessoal, then later with kris,
giavellotto, and lamina).
In their thirtieth year together, they took stock of what they had,
referred to the thousands of items still left unmarked on their list,
exchanged a long silent look filled with immeasurable meaning and
went on searching for the components