by Allen Steele
More than once, Sanjay found himself cursing his mother for not having the foresight to keep what she’d seen during night watch to herself. He began to suspect that her eyes may have been playing tricks on her. It wasn’t uncommon to see streaks of light in the night. Old Inglis teachings, passed down through generations, called them meteorites, small rocks that occasionally fell from the sky. Perhaps Aara had seen something like that and had mistaken it for a moving star. She’d sworn otherwise when she’d been called before the Council of Deacons, though, and Aara was an intelligent woman who wasn’t likely to mistake a meteorite for anything else. Nonetheless, Sanjay wondered whether, just this once, his mother may have been a fool … or even the heretic the deacons had proclaimed her to be.
When Monthree came around in Sept, the last week of summer, it was his turn again to take the night watch. Garth Coyne, Sanjay’s uncle and the mayor of Childstown, dropped by the boat shop that afternoon to let him know that he could skip his turn if he wished. Garth would assign someone else instead, and Sanjay could wait three weeks to take the Monthree watch in Dec.
Garth meant well, of course. Part of the purpose of the night watch was to look out for anyone who might try to cross the channel from Cape Exile, whether it be a sinner attempting to abduct an islander for their own vile purposes—which was the Disciples’ explanation for the occasional disappearance of someone from a village—or an exile attempting to return. Garth was the mayor, but he was also Dayall’s brother, so he was more sympathetic than most and also aware of the bitter irony of having Sanjay stand watch to prevent his own mother from coming home. Yet Sanjay turned him down. He didn’t want anyone to think that he was reluctant to assume the task that had led to Aara’s downfall.
That night, he stood in the wooden watchtower, anxiously watching the sky in hopes that he’d spot the same mysterious star Aara had seen. Yet thick clouds had moved in shortly after Calliope went down, so all he could see was the diffuse glow that its distant companions, Aether and Bacchae, made through the overcast. Even Gal was nowhere to be seen. The only light he saw was the luminescent glow of nightjewels floating on the bay. Sanjay ended his turn in the tower with nothing more interesting to report than an ocean monarch breaching the surface a short distance out beyond the reefs; with summer coming to a close and the waters becoming colder, the predators were more often to be seen off the Providence shores.
He’d become accustomed to the fact that he’d never see his mother again when Kaile came to him on Thursthree morning. He was sitting beside a fishing canoe, patching a tear in its mainsail, when she walked across the beach on all fours and stopped beside him.
“’Lo, Sanjay,” she said. “How are you?”
Sanjay looked up at her, surprised by the casualness of her greeting. She hadn’t spoken to him all season. Many of his friends had distanced themselves from him, but he’d missed her more than anyone else. Summer was a time for lying down with one’s lover, and his bed had been cold and lonely without her. Sanjay had lately begun to wonder if he’d lost her for good, so her abrupt return caught him unprepared.
“Good, thanks. Just working on this boat.” He tried to pretend that her appearance meant little to him, but his fores slipped as he attempted to slide a threaded fish-bone needle through the sail patch. He nicked his right forefinger instead.
“Oh … watch yourself!” Kaile exclaimed as he hissed in pain. “Here. Let me.”
Before Sanjay could object, she bent closer, took his fore in her own, and gently slipped his finger into her mouth. Her lips formed a sly smile around his finger, and her eyes gleamed mischievously as her tongue, warm and moist, played with his fingertip. Sanjay felt himself becoming aroused. He shifted his hinds nervously, hoping she wouldn’t notice, but if she did, she gave no sign.
“There,” she said, withdrawing his finger from her mouth. “All better?” He nodded, and she smiled. “So … I was just wondering if you’d like to go diving with me today.”
“Diving?” He’d done it before, but he wasn’t trained the way she was. “Why?”
“Just because.” A shrug. “We haven’t seen much of each other lately, and I thought … well, it might be a way of getting back together again.” Another smile. “Besides, my crew is running a little behind, and we could use some extra help.”
Sanjay looked across the keel of the upended canoe. Codi was squatting nearby, working with Johan to finish a new boat. He didn’t have to ask whether they’d overheard the conversation; Codi and Johan traded an amused look, and then his mentor nodded.
“Sure, go ahead. We can take care of things today.”
Sanjay hesitated, but only for a moment. “Of course. I’d love to.” Leaving the patch unfinished, he removed his tool kit from his vest and gave it to Johan for safekeeping. “After you,” he said, and she smiled again and turned away, leading him on all fours down the beach toward the nearby docks.
He was just beginning to admire the way Kaile’s body moved beneath the diaphanous shawl she wore over her halter and thong when she paused to let him catch up. At first, he thought she was merely expressing fondness when she raised herself erect on her hinds and slid her fore through the crook of his elbow, but when he stood up so she could pull him closer as if to give him a kiss, she murmured something only he could hear.
“There’s something I need to tell you,” she whispered.
“What about?” Sanjay glanced around to see if anyone else was nearby.
They weren’t alone; others were walking past. The waterfront was as busy as it always was this hour of the morning.
“Not here,” she said softly. “Wait until we’re out on the water, where no one can hear us.” She paused and then added even more quietly, “It’s about what Aara saw … I’ve seen it too.”
3
The fishing fleet bobbed on the warm blue waters of the bay, six canoes with sails furled and anchors lowered. This late in the season, it was necessary for them to venture farther away from shore in order for the divers to catch anything of significance; it would take the nine weeks of autumn, winter, and spring for the breadfish and scavengers born the previous yar to grow large enough to be caught. So the boats had to spread out in order for their crews to bring home a decent catch; this made for conditions suitable for a conversation that wouldn’t be easily overheard.
Nevertheless, Sanjay had a hard time containing himself from asking Kaile what she had meant. Two others were on her boat: Sayra Bailee, a young girl who’d become a diver only three yarn earlier, and Ramos Circe, the boat captain. Neither Sanjay nor Kaile were very much concerned about Sayra—she wasn’t terribly bright and tended to keep to herself, anyway—but Ramos was another matter entirely. He was the Guardian appointed to the fleet to observe the fishermen and help them maintain spiritual purity while they worked, and the fact that he was also Deacon R’beca’s son only made him more dangerous. They would have to be careful of him.
So he and Kaile had made small talk with Sayra as they paddled out into the bay, saying nothing that really mattered while ignoring Ramos. They were about a half kilm from the reefs that separated the outer reaches of the bay from the Western Channel when Ramos called for them to take down the sails and drop anchor. By then, their craft was a hundred rods from the next nearest boat, all the better for the privacy they sought.
Sanjay watched as Kaile stood erect, dropped her shawl, and, as an afterthought, discarded her halter, as well. She wore nothing now except her thong, which covered very little of herself. He’d never forgotten how beautiful she was; with the orange sun on her light-brown skin, she was as radiant as Gal herself. Taking off his vest and kilt, he was glad that he’d decided to wear a thong himself that day; otherwise, his reaction would have been obvious to all. Sayra also chose to dive almost entirely nude, but at sixteen sixyarn, she hadn’t yet blossomed into the full-breasted womanhood Kaile had achieved at twenty-two.
In keeping with his position as a Guardian, Ramos pretended not to notice eit
her of the women. He waited while everyone buckled on diving belts and attached knife sheaths and woven collection bags. “All right, over you go,” he said once they were ready. “Good hunting. May Gal keep you safe.”
“Thank you.” Raising her fores level with her shoulders, Kaile dove headfirst into the water, disappearing with barely a splash. Sayra followed her a moment later, leaping from the other side of the canoe. Sanjay took a few more breaths to fill his lungs, and then he joined them, although not nearly as gracefully.
The instant he was submerged, he instinctively squinted, forcing shut the watertight nictitating membranes of his eyes that Gal in her wisdom had provided her children. At the same time, the fingers of his fores and the toes of his hinds spread apart, opening the webs between his digits, which allowed his people to be fast and effortless swimmers. Although he wasn’t the practiced diver Kaile and Sayra were, he could nonetheless stay underwater for three or four mins at a time, allowing him to descend the twenty rods it took to reach the bottom. Although the sunlight faded, he could still see Kaile clearly, swimming toward the seafern jungle that lay across the bay floor.
It was here that they searched for scavengers, the spidery crustaceans that prowled among the ferns, feeding on the remains of nightjewels, breadfish, and other pelagic species that had died and drifted to the bottom of the sea. Because they tended to blend in to their environment, catching them was easier than finding them. Kaile was much better at this than he was; she’d collected two while he was still searching for one, and shook her head when he picked up a half-grown crustacean and showed it to her: too small, let it go.
His lungs were beginning to hurt by then, so he followed her back up to the boat and watched as she tossed her bag over the side and took another one from Ramos. The scavengers died as soon as exposed to the air, of course, but it didn’t render the tender flesh beneath their carapaces inedible. Kaile and Sanjay took a min or two to replenish their lungs, and then they went down again. They ignored the fat breadfish that occasionally swam past, leaving them for the long-line anglers in other boats, and they stayed clear of the reefs, which tended to be patrolled by seaknives who’d attack any humans who dared enter their domain.
Over the next couple of hours, they made seven descents, stopping for a few minutes after every second or third dive to float on their backs and rest a little. Sanjay noticed that, while Sayra stayed fairly close to the boat, Kaile was gradually leading him farther away. Apparently, Ramos expected her to do this, because he didn’t seem to mind that they’d have to swim quite a few rods to reach the boat again. By late morning, he’d decided to take a little nap, lying back against the stern with an arm across his eyes.
On their last dive, Sanjay caught a full-grown scavenger, but when he held it up for Kaile to see, she surprised him by shaking her head. Instead, she pointed to the surface. Looking up, he saw that the keel of the boat was nowhere to be seen. Understanding what she meant, he dropped the scavenger and then rose with her to the top.
Once they had surfaced, she paddled over to him and, to his delighted surprise, draped her fores across his shoulders and pulled him close. “Kiss me,” she whispered, and he was only too happy to oblige. “Good,” she said once they’d parted. “Now hold me close while we talk. This way, everyone will think we’re just making love and leave us alone.”
By then, he’d almost forgotten the reason she’d asked him to go diving with her. “Can’t we do both?” he asked, playfully stroking her breasts. Her skin was warm against the cool water; he could feel it pimple beneath his fores.
“Maybe later.” A wry smile quickly vanished as she pushed his fores away. “For now, just listen. I was standing watch last night…”
In furtive tones quietly spoken while she allowed him to caress her, Kaile told Sanjay about her turn in the watchtower the night before. The night was clear, without the clouds that had ruined his own attempt to observe the sky, but she hadn’t been making any particular effort to see anything unusual. All the same, it was in the darkest hour of the night, when the sisters were setting to the east and before Calliope had risen to the west, her eye was drawn to a peculiar movement in the zenith.
“A small star, quickly moving from east to west.” As she said this, Kaile glanced up at the sky. “It went straight toward Gal, quickly at first, and then…” She hesitated, looking down at Sanjay again.
“Then what?” he asked.
“It slowed down and … Sanjay, it merged with Gal.” Her mouth trembled as she said this, her eyes wide. “It was as if the two became one. For just a few secs they became brighter, and then Gal went back to normal.”
Losing interest in her body, he let his fores fall to his sides, moving back and forth to keep himself afloat. “How could—”
“That’s not all. I kept watching, and it was almost first light when something else happened. The little star parted from Gal again and went back in the direction it had come, but this time, instead of vanishing beyond the horizon, it started going faster and getting brighter, until it formed a tail. I heard thunder, like a storm was coming in, but there were no clouds. Then…”
Again, Kaile looked away, but this time not at the sky but to the west. “It came down over there,” she said softly, and when Sanjay followed her gaze, he saw that she was staring at the distant gray line that marked the shores of Cape Exile.
“Purgatory?” He could scarcely believe her. “Are you sure?”
Kaile glared at him. “Of course I’m sure!” she snapped, her voice rising a little as she swam back from him. “I’m telling you, I saw what I—”
She stopped herself. Like Sanjay, she remembered that this was exactly what Aara had said when she’d defended herself before the deacons. And Sanjay had spent enough time in the tower himself to know that the view of Cape Exile from up there was excellent. Save for the high cliffs of Stone Bluff to the north and the summits of Mount Lookout and Mount Roundtop in the island’s forest interior, there was no higher vantage point on Providence. Indeed, it was whispered among islanders that, from these places on clear nights, one could see faint, glimmering lights on the mainland, a sign that at least some of those who’d been banished there still lived, struggling to survive in the terrible place from which Gal had rescued her most devout followers.
“I believe you,” he said quietly, paddling closer to her again. “It sounds like you saw the same thing my mother did. Something like it, at least.”
“No. That was more than what Aara saw.” Glancing past him, she returned her fores to his shoulders once more. “Kiss me,” she whispered. “Ramos is watching.”
Again, their mouths came together. This time, though, Sanjay took little pleasure from it. He was thinking about something else. “Have you told anyone?” he said softly, his face against her wet hair.
“No.” She sighed, and despite the warmth of the water, Sanjay felt her tremble. “After what happened to Aara, how could I?”
“No, of course not.” As obedient to Gal as Kaile was, it would have been mad to repeat Aara’s mistake. Deacon R’beca wouldn’t have given any more credence to a second act of blasphemy than she had the first. He found himself wondering whether anyone else who’d recently stood watch might have seen the same thing Kaile did but had likewise remained silent about it, for fear of following Aara Arkwright into exile. But if there had been any similar sightings, they would never know, unless …
“There’s only one way we’ll ever know,” he said quietly, thinking aloud.
Kaile looked him straight in the eye. “How?” Then she realized what he meant, and her mouth fell open. “No … no, you can’t be serious.”
She was right. Even as the notion entered his mind, Sanjay thrust it away. None but those whom the deacons cast out of Providence ever made the dangerous crossing of the Western Channel. In fact, no one was allowed to leave the island except fishermen and those who used sailboats to travel from one coastal village to another. All that was known of the rest of Eos came fr
om ancient maps belonging to the First Children that had been handed down through the generations. They depicted great continents separated from one another by vast seas, with Providence the largest island of a small equatorial archipelago just off the coast of the landform known as Terra Minor. Gal had forbidden any exploration of these distant lands, though, so her children knew almost next to nothing about the rest of the world. Even the maps were closely held by the Council of Deacons, rarely seen by anyone else.
“No, you’re right.” He shook his head. “We can’t do that. We’d—”
A shrill whistle from their boat, and then Ramos’s voice came to them from across the water. “All right, you two, enough of that! Back to work!”
Then Sayra called to them, as well. “Yes, enough!” she yelled, childishly scolding them. “Save it for your bed, Sanjay, if she’ll let you take her to it!”
Kaile forced a smile and raised a fore, but Sanjay wasn’t about to let her go quite yet. “It’s not a bad suggestion,” he said. “I’ve missed you very much. Will you—”
She laughed, this time with genuine amusement, and pushed herself away from him. “Help me gather a few more scavengers,” she said, “and I’ll think about it.”
Then she upended herself and, with a kick of her hinds, disappeared beneath the surface. But not before Sanjay caught the coy wink of an eye that told him that she’d already made up her mind.
4
Kaile kept her side of the bargain. When Calliope was going down and the boats returned to shore, she came home with Sanjay.
Dayall was already there, working on dinner. He was surprised when Kaile walked in with his son, and it was the first time in weeks that Sanjay saw him smile. As if nothing had ever changed, he put another plate on the table and then pulled some more mockapples and vine melons from the pantry and put them out along with a jug of wine. Sanjay had brought home a scavenger he’d caught, and it wasn’t long before it was steamed, shelled, and on the table. They talked about his diving trip while they ate, and for once, Dayall’s part of the conversation wasn’t limited to monosyllables. The main room had the comfortable aroma of peeled fruit and cooked food, and for just a little while, it was as if everything had gone back to the way it had been before Aara left.