"Yes, Father. I'd like to show you something if you'll allow me."
Hector glanced at me again, but nodded his head. "I always have time for my water bearer," he said, his expression warming.
I let out a breath. "Thank you."
We walked the distance between the main lodge and the bank of the river in silence. When we arrived at the riverbank, Hector followed my lead a short way along the pebbled shore until we got to the start of my irrigation system.
It was mostly a series of thick hollowed-out branches tied together and elevated where necessary to keep the water running downhill to the edge of the crops, which were about three hundred feet from where we were standing. We'd already been using this one for the last three months or so and it made our work much easier and quicker. We no longer had to make trips back and forth to the river for hours a day. We simply made one trip to un-dam the system and then spent about a fourth of the time we had before filling containers that were right there at the edge of the area we were watering.
"What's this?" Hector asked.
"It's an irrigation system, Father," I said. And then I explained the simplicity of how it worked. "With your approval, I'd like to build several more of these. I think we can cut down on the time it takes us to water the crops even further . . . maybe even plant a few more once we have the means to water them all."
Hector stood there looking at the system for a minute and then looked at me, his eyes moving to my arms.
"You hollowed out those branches yourself?"
I frowned down at the branches. "Yes, Father. I did it on my own time, after my work was done."
Hector stood silently for a minute. "What was your ultimate goal here?"
"My ultimate goal?" I cleared my throat. "Well, Father, I was hoping to be of use to the community at large of course, but also that you'd possibly consider me for a position on the council. There's been an empty spot since Father Nagle passed away, and I'd work hard for you. I'd be diligent and—"
"Oh, Water Bearer," Hector interrupted, and then pursed his lips. "Son, are you sure this doesn't have to do more with wanting to live up at the main lodge?" He raised his brows at me. "You should always be honest about your motivations if you're hoping to please the gods."
I regarded him for a minute, feeling as if I was about to walk into some kind of trap no matter what move I made.
"In all honesty, Father, my motivation is to offer my services to our family in a bigger way. I feel called to serve as more than a water bearer, not just for myself, but also for our community as a whole. I know it's not my place to determine who does what job here, all I can tell you is—"
"In the grand scheme of things, each and every job here is important. You play a role in keeping our family nourished. Do you think the God of War feels loftier than the God of Grain? He may be a mighty soldier, but without the God of Grain, he would starve, as would all his men. No job here is unimportant. I am the prophet, and you are a worker. The gods have made it that way and you must learn to accept and thrive in your role. If you're having trouble with that, I can give you some readings, and I ask that you start going to Temple every day."
I took a deep breath, trying to steady my rising anger and frustration. I felt my hopes crumbling all around me.
"And if I'm not able to accept what the gods have ordained, Father?"
Hector narrowed his eyes and looked at me for a long time. "Try harder. There are paths much rockier than the one I'm offering you. I'd hate to see you choose the wrong one." He looked back at my irrigation system and then back at me, regarding me with such derision I wanted to look away, but I held my ground, holding his eye contact. Something about it felt disrespectful, but it was almost as if I responded by instinct alone, one man to another. Finally, Hector was the one to look away, back to my system.
"It took a lot of strength to build this," he said, almost as if to himself. "But brute strength alone doesn't get you anywhere in the long run. In any great endeavor, mind power is your greatest tool. Planning, strategizing. For example, you can obviously lift stone and hollow out trees, but the problem is something like this isn't completely structurally sound, because no thought went into its construction."
I furrowed my brow, a current of anger buzzing steadily in my system. "With all due respect, Father, it's extremely structurally sound. I figured out the whole thing in my mind long before I started construction. We've been using it for months, even through several storms. It's been a big help to the laborers, not only for crops, but for other water needs as well." I was talking, but I felt as if my jaw wasn't moving and my words came out clipped.