The Lost Star's Sea

by C. Litka

  03

  While Naylea's mood had brightened, neither she nor Py had abandoned their determination to return to complete what was left of their mission. Naylea was open, friendly, and occasionally teasing and/or sarcastic with me, but there remained a certain, undefined, but impenetrable, reserve about her when in my company. It was not until near the end of our travels through the islands that I had a chance to talk to her about us.

  The town of Amorea was built in and around a large honeycombed peak that stood like a towering green thumb in the middle of a ten kilometer wide plain of farm fields. It had likely been a little island of its own at one time long ago, but was now firmly attached to Amorea by a thick net of vines that covered the natural caves and terraces in the rock. Underneath this netting of vines, a twisting network of paths connected the thousands of cave openings and hollows in which the inhabitants lived.

  I had memorized the way from the central marketplace cavern to our guest chambers, and dared not venture beyond that moss paved path for fear of getting totally lost in the twisting, and winding tangle of paths that snaked up, down, and around the vertical village. I'd been acting as Py's lieutenant on some magistrate business, after which he stayed on to talk to the town elders, while I headed back to our quarters. I carefully followed the twisting path's "street" markers as I made my way up and around the honeycombed rock, searching the rocks for our chamber's address - two characters I'd written on the piece of paper that I held in my hand, since I was once again illiterate, recognizing only the most common characters of the Windvera language.

  The lodging was no doubt described by the characters and the lane I was following, but I knew it only as character shapes carved into the rock wall next to the narrow path that led to the terrace outside our cave. Finding what looked like it, and only after carefully comparing it to the one I'd written, I slipped through the narrow path which opened to the leafy bower outside our cave. I found Naylea on the edge of the terrace staring out into a wall of whiteness - it was a "cloudy" if not rainy round on Amorea. The terrace was dim in the green lit fog, richly scented with the earthy smell of foliage and sweetness of flowers.

  I paused at the end of the path to consider her and what I wanted to say. I glanced about. I didn't see the dragons. The were likely off somewhere, perhaps lost in the maze, perhaps playing with the youngsters, or gossiping with the other Simla dragons that were common in Amorea - though they still seemed to live apart from the humans - rather like sacred cows. I rarely saw the dragons, though they managed to find me whenever they got hungry. In any event, this looked to be my first real chance to have a heart-to-heart talk with Naylea. I just didn't know what to say.

  I stood there, staring at her slim back and tried to sort out my heart.

  'Are you lost, Litang?' she asked quietly, without turning around.

  'Yes, I guess I am,' I admitted, stepping down onto the moss paved terrace and over to stand beside her.

  She turned about to face me, studying my face. And left me to do the talking.

  'Thinking of taking a shower?' I asked with a smile, and noting the little water droplets that jeweled her jet black hair and eyebrows added, 'You look damp enough. And pretty enough.'

  'Why Captain!' she said, sarcastically fluttering her eyelids. 'You make me blush.'

  'A statement of fact.'

  'I always loved how bold you were, back when I first knew you,' she sighed.

  'And I always loved how sweetly sarcastic you are.'

  She flashed me the sharp fleeting smile of Cin. 'Sarcastic or sadistic?'

  'Sarcastic.'

  'Oh. I must have been mistaken.'

  'I loved you, my dear. All of you. And you loved me.'

  'Back then.'

  'Back then.'

  'And now?'

  'That's what I've been asking myself ever since we crossed orbits.'

  'No answers?'

  'You are very dear to me. And you are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. I want you. But that hardly settles it, does it? We're both old enough to know that it takes more than that. And for me, at least, it takes knowing that you love me as well.'

  'So you knew I loved you?'

  I laughed. 'Perhaps not. Not exactly. When you were Cin, I thought of you as a cat, and I, a mouse, a mouse that you amused yourself by playing with. Still, there always seemed to be a bit of tenderness in your eyes that kept me from running away? That and the suspicion that I was only fooling myself about being able to get free. Still, I believed that I was in your heart and that you were too fond of me to hurt me.'

  'You were wrong, of course.'

  I smiled. 'I think not. We had fallen in love with your first playacting kiss. Things just stood in the way. They always have. But that's a planet astern. We're here now, together again. We've both changed. You have, anyway. Some. And perhaps I as well. Hard to say. But I think we could fall in love again, rather easily. If we wanted to.'

  'Do you want to?'

  'Ah, that is the heart of the question, Naylea. I know that I don't want to fall in love with you again, if it will lead nowhere - or to heartbreak like the last time. Where would it lead this time? Could you find happiness with me?'

  She shrugged. 'I cannot say. Not now. Perhaps at the end of our journey, when I know what our fate is to be. Then, perhaps, I can look to the future. But not now. Not with the fate of my mission still hanging in the balance?'

  'That will be decided long before you return, I'm certain of that. The Temtres may be already sailing for SaraDal. Your mission is done.'

  She shook her head. 'It is more than the fate of the Temtres. It is also the fate of the peoples of the SaraDals that concern me. The Prime Prince is certainly using the Order for his own ends. If he follows through on what he has promised to do, all is well. But if he doesn't... Then he will find himself planting rice in a Laezan community far from the SaraDals. And I want to be the one who delivers him, if necessary. My work in the SaraDals is not done by any means.

  'Besides, I'll not be any less devoted to the Way than LinPy. I'll not be seen as consorting with some ex-tramp ship captain on the sly.'

  'Py's all for us getting back together. It's perfectly acceptable within the order. Especially since I've already a novice-vows in the Order, which makes it all proper.'

  'I've come to love him as a little brother, but Py's too romantic in many ways. It is unseemly for a Laezan to be engaged in an affair of the heart in public. Especially with a traveling companion - or two of them. People would gossip. No. Now is not the time, Litang. By all means, wait, if you care to. But it will be a while. Perhaps a long while before I can love you again - should I care to.'

  I searched my heart for its response. I could find neither disappointment or relief in it. Very strange. It had been wounded once - if not twice before. It wasn't taking chances now, I guess.

  'I'll wait,' I said. 'Friendship suits me as well, at the moment. We can be friends, can't we?'

  'Of course, Litang. We are dear friends, companions in adventure and in the Way. Shipmates.'

  I took her hand in mine. 'Yes, friends, companions, shipmates.'

  There was a stereo bark of laughter from beyond the woven panel that lead to the chamber. Blasted dragons. They probably detected what I only suspected - that I'd likely been lying about not loving her.

  Chapter 37 The Ghosts of Kaliza