The Lost Star's Sea

by C. Litka

  02

  And now it was time to do it.

  We made our way down the hillside, swinging through the jungle and then along the cliff edge of the island to the edge nearest to the amphitheater. We did so largely in silence, each with his or her own thoughts. I was confident we'd be able to deliver our message and escape. I knew my companions were fearless, competent, and eager to succeed. Naylea's breezy fearlessness may have been missing, but she seemed cool and competent as ever. Py - dressed once more in the Laezan blues of the Order, since he was to be its envoy - was cheerfully going over his speech in whispers. I make no claim to fearlessness - someone has to be realistic. And the realism that comforted me, in addition to the competence of my companions, was that our darters gave us a very great advantage. We could fire several orders of magnitude faster, more accurately, and further than the Temtre's air guns. And being nonlethal, we could use them freely without leaving the path of the Way. We might be facing odds of thousands to one, but our darters, and, hopefully, an element of surprise would more than even the odds - at least as long as Py stuck to his script and kept the message down to five minutes. I was sure he could charm them for five minutes, even delivering what amounted to an ultimatum. My main worry was that he might get carried away and go on and on.

  'Right, Let's deal with the guards,' said Naylea hidden in the long grass on the island's edge, after taking one last look with the glasses. 'You know your part, Litang? We're in love and lost track of time.'

  'Oh yes,' I replied. 'I remember it well.'

  She scowled at me, but there may've been a brief spark of laughter in her eyes. They were harder to read now than they had been in the past.

  With a nod to Py, she said, 'Come a'running when we give you the signal. I don't think the eulogy will take very long. The Temtres aren't very sentimental people.'

  We could now hear the low roar of singing coming from the amphitheater, so we knew the proceedings had gotten underway.

  As we climbed over the edge I reached for her hand to hold with my left hand. I'd my little sissy hidden in my right hand, and I knew she was left handed so I wouldn't be covering up her sissy.

  She gave me an annoyed look and flinched to pull it away.

  'We're in love, my dear,' I whispered, moving close. 'We've just made love - and will again. We must play our role. I seem to recall that you always loved acting.'

  She scowled, but let me hold her hand and fell into her role. (I do think she loved to act.) And so, we started off, hand in hand, across the several hundred meters of knee high grass toward the stand of trees, brushing against each others as we walked, like lovers do.

  'I'm glad we have this chance to talk, alone,' I said in a low voice.

  'Litang, this is not the time.'

  It hadn't been the time since we first met.

  'We should be talking, my dear. It's part of the act. And without Py, and the sarcastic dragons about, I'd say now is as good a time as any to clear up a few things. I don't think we need to say too much for now.'

  'No we don't. Now tell me, why aren't you with your friends in Cimmadar? Or growing cha on some island peak as you claimed you wanted to do? Why are you here?'

  Not quite what I wanted to talk about, but it gave me a lead.

  'Because I loved you. I'd already made my choice between you and my friends, and had chosen you. My St Bleyth ancestors are neither dust nor gas to me, and I felt that with time and a new life here, they'd mean less and less to you, so that we could take up where we left off - if I could only find you again.'

  'And really, you thought you could find me amongst a thousand islands? '

  I shrugged. 'At the time I may not have been thinking too clearly. I thought that Siss had given Hissi the task of finding you for me?

  'In the egg?'

  'Why not? They're telepathic. I thought maybe they could keep in touch and Hissi would lead me to you with Siss's help.'

  'Did she?'

  'Well, no, I suppose not. But she's saved my life a few times, so she can claim some of the credit. And well, here we are.' And I had to laugh, 'Though I never expected to find you as a Laezan! The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.'

  'You should talk. You've not fallen very far either.'

  'Oh, but I have! I'm an engineer now, no longer a bridge officer! It's entirely different.'

  'No it's not,' she replied. 'You haven't changed at all.'

  'I have. I've gone over to the dark side to become one of the hardworking black hole gang, the bane of idle captains and mates, just as you've gone over to the bright side. Once a thief in a mercenary order, you're now an advocate of the downtrodden people in a new, noble order.'

  'The difference isn't all that large, in practice. I'm an advocate because I am a thief and a spy. They're skills that can be useful when dealing with the people we sometimes have to deal with. And I rather doubt engineers are as villainous as you make them out to be.'

  'Trust me, I was a ship's captain for a decade. They - we - can be, if not exactly villains, certainly a pain. But that's neither dust nor gas. What's important is that we're here - together again.'

  'Is it? You were talking about love in the past tense.'

  'I was. And it is, at the moment. I'll admit that the romantic glow that sent me on my quest to find you has faded in 3,000 rounds. I came here not knowing what I'd feel if I found you here. But I had to find out.'

  'And what did you find?'

  'Let's say, I found an old friend. And someone who's every little curve, every little look and manner I could - if she'd let me - fall in love with again. I made the right choice, when I fell in love with Naylea Cin. I think it may still be the right choice. But back then you were in love with me as well, so it wouldn't be the same now - until you fall in love with me again.'

  I felt her shrug against my shoulder. 'I won't... And I'm no longer a Cin. That past is dead and buried. I'm NyLi now. And I'm on a very important mission. A very emotional one for me.'

  'I know. But no matter what you call yourself, NyLi, Naylea, or Nadine. You were someone I once loved, and could love again. But you're right. Now is not the time or place. Still, we can be friends and shipmates can't we? I'll try not to love you, until you love me.'

  She gave me a look, and I could see she didn't believe me. Well, not entirely. Perhaps she could see in my eyes that I wasn't lying. Well, not entirely. She was dear to me, but she was different as well, different enough to make my old love obsolete. It would have to be a new love.

  'Don't,' she said. 'Don't ever, and certainly not now. You don't know how hard this mission is for me. I came to understand the Temtres. I might never have left the Talon Hawk, but I was curious to explore the islands and find my new self. Now I'm working against them. A traitor.' She paused, and then continued, 'Still, they shouldn't be raiding, killing, and raping people. I have no qualms about working to put an end to that. The Dins and any other old fashioned clan need to change - or move to the Outward Islands where they'll find many tribes who'll give them the savage fight they delight in. But now, with DeKan's death, DinDay might lead the whole Temtre destruction. That would be a terrible tragedy. The Temtres, by and large, are good people, just set in an old tradition. There are many others just like them in the more remote islands.'

  'But times - even in the timeless Pela - are changing. And the Laezans are one of the motors of that change.'

  'Yes? And I am an agent of the Laezans and change. But change need not be violent. It need not lead to the destruction of a people. The thing is, I know ZarKar, the SaraDal prime prince. He's no fool. He's using the Order and the Order's concern for the SaraDal islanders to secure his reign and I truly believe that this traitor of DinDay's is one of his agents. If he succeeds in luring the Temtres to SarLa and their destruction, I would bear part of the blame for it?'

  'You'll have done all you could to save them. If the Temtres are foolish enough to ignore your warning, it's not your fault.'

  'I've set the trap,
Litang, knowing full well, that the Temtres wouldn't be deterred by mere threats. I had hoped to talk to DeKan and make him see that it was more than a mere threat - that the system I'd set up would mean certain death to any raiding Temtre ship. But now all we can do is threaten, which I know will not deter them.'

  'I've seen Magistrate Py speak in court. You can trust him to make clear the dire consequences of challenging the Saraime warship, the fortress of SarLa and the possible treachery of ZarKar. He'll make them see reason.'

  'Oh, I hope so, but I doubt it. Words won't frightened them.'

  'Well, some will see the wisdom in them. I'm sure EnVey and his clan will get lost on the way to the SaraDals if it comes to that.'

  'If he's smart and brave enough to get lost. But there are a lot of fools amongst the clans. Fools and gold?'

  'Aye. I've got a tale to tell about that as well?'

  'Save it, Litang. We're getting close...'

  Indeed we were. And unchallenged. We needed to be challenged, since we'd have no excuse for walking into the woods when we could easily walk around it. Unless...