Chapter 3

That night, Phet tossed and turned.  How would she manage to fulfill the prophecy?  Finally, she could sleep no longer.  She got up and wandered the halls of the temple.  Suddenly, she noticed a bright glow coming from one of the rooms.  She walked, and there was a room filled with lit candles.  It was the most beautiful sight she had ever seen.  She walked in, and there was a young monk sitting in the lotus position off to the side.  The temple had set up this room to have continuous meditation until the soldiers withdrew.  She sat down in the lotus position as her mother had shown her, and pulled out the parchment.  She didn't know what time it was, so she had everything ready.  At that time, another older monk came and told the younger monk that he could go to bed.  Then he noticed the parchment in Phet's hands.  He immediately recognized it as being one of the texts from the temple library that had been lost years ago during the Vietnamese War.  He wondered where this little girl had gotten it from, but he decided to wait until her meditation was finished.

At that moment, the second bell rang, announcing midnight.  Phet quickly picked up the parchment and started reading the chant in a meek voice.  The monk heard her chant and joined in, increasing her confidence.  They continued chanting for over five minutes, and then the chant ended.  Phet picked up the parchment and was about to leave when the older monk confronted her.  She replied that she couldn't explain anything about the parchment until sunset of the next day, but then she would be glad to show him where it came from.  This confused the monk, but he decided to accept this explanation for now.  Phet gave a wai to the old monk and hurried back to the dormitory, smiling broadly.

The next morning, she is the first one awake, and she runs to the cave to tell the statue that her second task is finished.  The statue is very proud of her, and she's going very quickly.  Her final task is to bring exactly 49 flowers of a very rare type that grow near the village to the cave before the last rays of the sun hit the cave entrance.  After the flowers are picked, they mustn't touch the ground, and she must bring them into the magical cave at exactly sunset.  The statue gave her an artifical flower to use as a pattern.  If she completes this task, then the cave will have its full magical powers and she can play there for all eternity.

She returned to the border, where there were hundreds of people trying to get across.  Soldiers stood on both sides with their guns ready, and the people were very quiet and orderly.  She got in line with the others, and silently crossed.  Then she ran to her hut.   She burst in the door, and her mother looked shocked, then jumped up to hug her.

Her mother had just returned from a town meeting in the village with all the other villagers, where they had discussed the situation at the border.  Nobody knew anything about the situation, or, more correctly, the people who did know weren't sharing their information, as it was confidential.  All the people said was that the border was a tense place and that people shouldn't enter the border area any more than was absolutely necessary during this time.

So Phet's mother was overjoyed to see her.  When her little daughter had failed to return the previous night, she had prepared herself for the worst.  So seeing her daughter alive and well, her first reaction was one of intense relief.  But after a few seconds, she pulled her daughter away and slapped her.  "How dare you make me worry!"  She snapped, but her anger quickly subsided again, and it was back to hugging and crying.

"No playing around the temple for a while, my Phet."
"But I have to go back,  I have to ,,,"
"Phet! "  When her mother used this tone, Phet knew that she wouldn't compromise.  "It's too dangerous there at this time.  There are problems too complicated for you to understand.  These are adult problems.  You cannot get in the way.  You could get hurt."
"Yes, mother," she said resignedly.  And with that, her mother went off to the fields for the day.

Reviews

[Paza]

Will she disobey her mother? Will she return to the temple with the flowers? Can't wait to find out! :-)