(no subject)

[moonflower77]

(the image is not mine)

boxes of that type are used by the tuareg for storing scented powder.

ibye would make one for atyam while she was carrying their child and came to be accepted, however reluctantly, into the group. he would combine silver and several different copper alloys (reddish or pink, orange, and yellow) and use a similar design: layered, grounded in a strict symmetry, simple and complex at once. the box would be a cube, and a recurring motif present on the lid and each of the four sides would be that of a square inserted into another square, positioned so that its angles divide the sides into equal halves. the handle in the lid's center would resemble a truncated step pyramid that becomes slightly curved toward the cut-off top. there would be a pattern of thin etched lines highlighted in a black patina, including four stylized leaves that face the angles of the innermost square. from a distance, it would look like a light black web thrown over the box. inside there was an egg-shaped object made from matching materials using the same overlay technique; it could be intended to rest on the surface of the powder, perhaps as a pounder/grinder or just for the sake of decoration. ibye would arrange the layers of metal depending on the shade of shiny gray they seem to be to him, and the way each contrasts with the dimmer whitish-gray of the silver, and would never quite realize how beautiful the final result is. but atyam would.

for all i know, in ibye's culture this could have been a traditional present to give to one's mate when she is expecting a child. the "egg" would stand for the new life concealed inside the mother's body, the wondrous mystery of it. the leaf-like shapes may represent life as such, seen as an abstract concept (or as the sum total of all the living creatures in the world and/or that which they have in common). the engravings would be thought to have a protective meaning for both the mother and the unborn baby. in its own way, so would the ultra-symmetrical design of the box - it was to ensure that, once the child is born, his or her life would be well-balanced and harmonious, and no harm would be done to them by external forces.

during those months ibye came about as close as he could to being happy, and this may well be the one time when he used his craft as a means to express positive emotions, rather than as an outlet for negative ones and/or a method of neutralizing them. i don't think he would be able to articulate the personal meaning the box/egg composition had for him - at least, not until he has had a few hours to think and to formulate it to himself first. he is much better at dealing with tangible objects than words, and his hands work faster than his head. but atyam would appreciate it; on a subliminal level, she would sense the deep feeling that had gone into his work, and connect it to a private meaning of her own. for ibye that would be more than enough.

it was a token of reconciliation on ibye's part, something that stood for the commitment they had made to each other and to leaving their differences (and destructive tendencies and hostility and chronic misunderstanding) behind, now that they were in danger because of their shared past, which both of them had grown to regret, and their child was due in a couple months' time. it was also his way of celebrating the fact that, for once, they had gone and done something constructive together.

i can see her holding the "egg" against a lamp (or whatever source of light there was inside the shelter they were forced to hide in at the time), slowly turning it this way and that to see the different layers shine with a characteristic wistful smile. her eyes look larger and darker than usual. ibye comes up from behind and just stands there for a while, watching her, then places his hands on her shoulders. she acknowledges his presence in some small way without turning round. she may say something in his language that evokes a fond memory, one of the few moments when they were not in the midst of some horrible deed, and not fighting and doing their best to snuff out that bright spark which had been ignited when she saw him for the first time. it could be one of the nights they had spent outdoors when the two of them ran the bootcamp's headquarters together. ibye would sit by the campfire carving a new staff or knife handle from a piece of wood, while atyam would hunt wild fowl in the demi-desert with a longbow or rifle. after she returned, they would roast and share the meat, drink some thick, sweet, heavily spiced beverage from the same metal flask, then have sex out in the open under the stars. she may repeat a phrase he had said on one of those nights, word for word. at that, ibye's smile, which had been in his eyes only, would spread to his lips, making him appear unusually warm all of a sudden, almost radiant. (when people who didn't know him saw him during moments like this one, they reacted roughly along the lines of "wait - what? that's a smile? what the hell is wrong with him?")

if anybody happened to be watching, they would have been struck by how thoughtful both ibye and atyam were - both would seem to be gazing inward, deep into their being, as if trying to find something vital there - and yet, how connected and in tune with each other, as if the two of them formed a single continuous whole. or perhaps i should have said "the three of them"; i don't think any of this would have been possible if the third one, the child who had not yet been born, had not been in the equation.

after atyam's death her sirehood bracelet and the powder box became taboo, in the most literal sense. ibye overreacted whenever anybody touched them or so much as came close to them. (as atyam was dying, she unclasped the bracelet from her wrist and gave it to ibye in a symbolic gesture that meant, more or less, "i wish i could undo what i'd done to you" or "here, i'm handing your life and/or destiny, or whatever has been left of it, back to you". she was struggling to put her feelings into words, and sensed that anything she did say would be insufficient and inadequate. it just wasn't a situation where one can simply say "i'm sorry" and be done. ibye understood; his remorse about what he had done to adhra went beyond audible words too. atyam was also bleeding from the mouth, breathing in to be able to speak was becoming increasingly hard, and she was running out of time; she had another ten or fifteen minutes at the most. as it was, she was still alive and conscious with injuries that would have killed an ordinary human instantly before they had a chance to understand what was going on. there was too much she wanted to tell ibye, and no space left in which to do so, in every sense of these words)