Beyond the Valley of Mist by William Wayne Dicksion

to the walkway and then step onto it. But long before they
reached it, people were gathering. Lox waved to the crowd. They
recognized Lox and began jumping up and down excitedly.
    As they got nearer, people
threw ropes, which Lox tied to the raft.
    “ Now we can’t escape,” Zen
whispered.
    Lox noticed his concern and
told him not to worry. He leaped onto the walkway and embraced a
tiny woman and two nearly full-grown boys, who were overjoyed to
see their father.
    Zen’s party was reluctant
to go ashore, but two men and three women jumped onto the raft and
helped them climb onto the walkway, and then they led them along a
path into the village.
    The villagers were short
with black hair, brown skin, and brown eyes. They stared in wonder
at Zen and his friends, as they had never seen anyone with hair and
eyes in those colors. Ador’s yellow hair and bright blue eyes
especially fascinated them.
    Lox told Zen that the
villagers had the same reaction that he had when he first saw Zen
and Jok. The only person they ever heard of who had yellow hair,
fair skin, and blue eyes was Zor, the Wise One, who had come to
them long ago but they had never seen him. The story was told that
he had married one of their women, and that they had two children,
a boy and a girl, whose hair and eyes were brown. When these two
children became parents, their children's hair was
black.
    The Zorians' houses were
built in straight lines on each side of a hard-packed dirt walkway.
Behind each house was a walled area. Zen and his friends had never
seen animals like the ones kept behind those walls.
    “ Each family has its own
animals that provide food or wool,” Lox explained. “The wool is
used for making clothing, and they either eat the animals or eat
what they produce, like eggs and milk.”
    “ The people are dressed in
strange-looking skins,” Lela commented.
    “ Those are not skins,” Lox
explained. “That is clothing made from the wool of the
sheep.”
    “ What are the big animals
with the horns?” Ador asked.
    “ We call them cows. We get
milk from cows, and we make cheese from the milk after it is no
longer good to drink. We also raise chickens and eat their
eggs.”
    Zen remarked, “Jok, this
village has practical knowledge that our people need,” then asked
Lox, “How did you learn to do all these things?”
    “ Mostly from Zor, the Wise
One, who came to us from your village long ago,” Lox replied. “Why
didn't your villagers learn from Zor?”
    “ Because our priests ran Zor
off. In contrast, your people listened to him and became happy and
prosperous. Our people tried to kill him because our priests told
us to, and our village became oppressed and unhappy,” Zen
explained.
    “ Perhaps that is why he told
us never to worship fire and never to make sacrifices to the gods,”
Lox said. “We revered him as a messenger from God, while your God
banished him. I think your God is a false God.”
    “ That is what Zor tried to
tell us,” Jok agreed.
    Lox’s wife was looking at
him with pleading eyes, so Lox turned to his new friends and said,
“My friends will take you to a house of your own so that you can
rest and refresh yourselves. Tonight we will hold a feast in your
honor. Now, I want to spend some time with my wife and sons. It’s
been a long time since we have been together. ” Lox’s wife clung to
his left hand, while his younger son was holding unto his right
hand. The older son was leading the way. Their faces showed how
happy they were to see him.
    Now that is a happy
family, Zen thought. That is what I want for my family.
    Two young women stepped
forward, took Lela and Ador by the hands and led them to a house.
Zen and Jok followed. When they got inside, they noticed wood
chairs, and two extra rooms extending from the main room had wooden
beds with soft padding made of straw covered with a soft, smooth
material.
    “ These are wonderful beds,”
Ador said, touching the padding. She couldn’t help but bounce