Issthe spoke, using the formal language of introduction. She bowed from the waist towards Kirrah, indicated the injured girl with two graceful fingers, and said, “I show you Ulla’ta. The Reg’num healer Earl’Lock’wood assures me that her hand and eye can be restored, both.” At the mention of her name, the little girl’s complexion paled, and she backed the few available centimeters into the corner of her cot, as far from the newcomers as she could get. Her chin began to tremble, and she drew skinny legs up protectively in front of her thinly gowned body. Issthe moved to sit beside her, cradling her with right arm around small, bony shoulders and holding her left hand over the girl’s upper chest. The rapid breathing began to moderate, but only a little. The single huge dark eye continued to stare at Kirrah like a rabbit before a snake.
“Issthe, I can see this poor girl is badly injured, not only in her body. Is she from one of the vai’atho at the edge of the Kruss’ blast?” Kirrah took a step forward, knelt beside the cot, added:
“Ulla’ta, you are welcome to share our rooms while you heal.” At her advance, the child recoiled as far as she could, pressing herself against Issthe’s side.
Kirrah backed away, sighed, said to Issthe, “We will be dealing with injuries from the Kruss attack a long time, won’t we? The poor girl is terrified of someone new.”
“Kirrah, she was not injured by the Kruss attack. She…” Issthe began.
“Then who has injured her?” Kirrah demanded, feeling the darkness inside begin to stir at the thought of someone deliberately harming such an innocent being as this child.
Issthe looked at her a moment, said, “Why, you injured her, Kirrah Warmaster. She is terrified of you. Ulla’ta lived in O’dakai, about three doi’la from the palace. We found her, buried in rubble, three days ago. Her home had collapsed, killing all but her.” At the mention of Kirrah’s name, the girl trembled and covered her face, rocking and keening to herself. Kirrah recoiled in dawning horror as the pieces dropped into place.
“What… why… Issthe! What are you…” Kirrah was at a loss for words, her eyes trapped and held by the sight of the terrified, wretched little girl rocking on the cot.
“Ulla’ta is for you, Kirrah Shu’Roehl. The final lesson in your study of kaena’hachk. You have well embraced your own darkness. You have acted as you needed, as your ath’la led, to protect those you love. All that remains is that you embrace the cost. I selected this child while we healers were in O’dakai a few days ago. I brought her here because she has no one left in the world.” Kirrah felt paralyzed - not numb, her distress was intense - but unable to move, as the priestess’ words continued.
“You know of kir’shazza, a lesson between friends. Just so, there is its balance, the kir’vekka, a ‘lesson between enemies’. Ulla’ta is to be your teacher, your kir’vekka.”
“No!” whispered Kirrah. Her mouth seemed disconnected from her roiling thoughts. “This isn’t… I didn’t mean to… I don’t want…” Issthe seemed to ignore her, bowed to the child, and spoke in the O’dai tongue to her. One of the words was ‘Kirrah’. One graceful hand indicated Kirrah, touched the child, all the while cradling and reassuring her with the other arm.
Dark gray eyes returned to focus on Kirrah. “Kirrah Warmaster, until you fully accept that you did ‘want to’, and did ‘mean to’, you remain a special problem for your priestess. Every Talamae child has learned this lesson, to embrace not only anger and action, but to embrace their consequences. Otherwise one’s kaena’hachk may become unbalancing. This may lead to action which does not count the entire cost. It has been known to lead to far worse: to losing the humanity of one’s enemy, and thus one’s own.
“I do not believe, despite all your Reg’num’s knowledge and power, that they have taught you this simple truth. Therefore I have prepared a special, remedial lesson for you. Surely you do not seek to flee this part of your learning. It is essential for you and the child, both.”
Looking from Issthe’s calm, weary eyes into Ulla’ta’s single dark one, Kirrah realized she had never before been so thoroughly and so painfully brought to accounts. The darkness inside her seemed to come alive with soul-searing fire. A thousand excuses and rationalizations formed and fled in every direction, all lies. Her mind followed, slowed, stopped, turned to look at the child, turned to the memory of Irshe floating in his tank, the sight of the planet, blue-shifted in the shuttle’s front viewscreen. She saw again the image as the earth under the palace gushed fire, saw Akaray’s ruined village, the remembered flash of the Kruss bomblet. Somewhere deep in her personal calculus, something shifted. The searing darkness stopped trying to escape. Instead it flowed, like molten steel into the mold of her resolve and decisions. Something else shifted into its place: a network, a joining, a new wholeness, a firado’kae. She realized her personal universe had shifted, forever.
Somehow, she had slipped to a sitting position on the end of the now-crowded cot. A last protest tumbled from her lips. “Issthe, you are right. I need to understand the consequences of what I’ve done, of what I do. But that is not this child’s task, it’s mine. You can’t just… use her, as a sort of, of punishment, or training tool, for me.”
“Kirrah Warmaster, she has already been used by you. I give you to one another, not as judgement, but as a healer to my karadoiz, both of you.” Sensing Kirrah still wavering, Issthe added a little dryly, “You may trust me in this, I shall not abandon you with her.”
Stunned as though standing at ground zero in an explosion that vaporized her armor but miraculously left her intact, Kirrah recovered enough to ask, “What shall I do? She is terrified of me,” and I of her! wailed a small mental voice. “How may I begin?”
Issthe’s face lit briefly with a tired smile, whether from relief or approval Kirrah could not say. The priestess replied, “She is of course afraid, knowing you only as the one who attacked her city so spectacularly. Know also that her wounds are more than they seem. Ulla’ta has been misused, by those in her own home. Of this I am sure. She should be kept in the company of women, for now. Although Akaray’s presence will be good for her, as he obviously loves you. But no male over seven winters, I have left orders with Tash’ta and Slaetra.
“Be seen providing her with food, more than she can consume, so that she feels surrounded by abundance. It will be new for her, and help draw her back fully into this world. But be patient, Kirrah shu’Roehl. Expect nothing in return, for many days.
“You two have much to learn from one another. I shall be your bridge, as long as needed.” As the blue-robed woman spoke the word ‘bridge’, Kirrah noticed one of Issthe’s hands had been resting for some moments on her own, and the other gently disengaged from behind Ulla’ta’s back and touched the child’s whole, right hand. The familiar warmth flowed into her from Issthe’s touch, and with it another, feather-light sensation - which corresponded exactly to the look in Ulla’ta’s eye as it glanced shyly at Kirrah, widened, and quickly fled away.
Issthe broke the contact, said, “First, I suggest a meal together. If you are willing, two of the students will bring dinner to your rooms here, and the six of us will dine together.” Her words, Kirrah realized, encompassed the two of them, the child, Tash’ta, Akaray and Elagai, who had been standing silently just inside the door for some time. Just close family, good, came the unexpected thought.
“To begin with”, Issthe continued, “I have set the object-which-speaks to tell Ulla’ta what we are saying, over dinner. But I believe we would do well with her to learn the O’dai language, at least a little. I am sure she will quickly learn ours.
Chapter 50 (Landing plus one hundred fifty-five): Happily Ever After
"There are two ways of getting home; and one of them is to stay there." - G. K. Chesterton, op.cit.
In a cleared practice yard in the center of the still largely unrepaired military quarters, a loose circle of warriors was gathered. In the hot early afternoon sun, a mix of Talamae, Wrth and a sprinkle of Regnum Marines and sailors stood a
round the combatants. Adrianne Gilman circled warily, two meters from her opponent. Elagai stood calmly, feet apart, elbows bent, palms forward. Adrianne stepped behind the Wrth woman, sprang suddenly. At the first sudden motion, Elagai dropped to one knee, turning at the hips with left arm fully extended. The ex-Marine’s left hand slapped at the other’s wrist, which suddenly dropped out of the arc of her swing. Her right hand continued the sweep, catching Elagai just above the wrist and pulling sharply. Elagai lunged into the pull, and it was Adrianne’s turn to drop as the taller Wrth’s left ankle swept the space her head had just occupied.
Adrianne’s feet scissored around Elagai’s right foot and applied leverage. Elagai sprang half a meter into the air out of the trip-hold, coming down on her other foot a meter away, spinning and lunging as Adrianne bounced to her feet. The women’s hands flashed, slapped together, slapped and blocked again. Seeing another stalemate, they disengaged. Neither was breathing heavily.
“You just did it again!” Adrianne complained good-naturedly. “How do you know when I start my attack from behind you? I was very quiet about it.”
“I heard your breathing stop, as you tensed to lunge,” the Wrth woman answered.
“You heard my breathing stop?” Adrianne rolled her eyes and looked around the circle. “Ok, who’s next?” None of the Talamae stirred. One large Regnum Marine private shuffled his feet, rubbed his shoulder where it had recently cushioned his fourth fall. “What, all the big strong Marines can’t take this sweet li’l lady to the mats?”
“Addie, it’s not nice to bait the grunts”, Marcus said from beside her. “They’ve suffered enough. Let’s move on to basic beamer maintenance, then we can teach them something for a change.”
A few hundred meters away, another circle was gathered in the cleaned but still slightly damaged octagonal conference room in the palace.
“I must say,” mused Mr. Baldwin as he scanned a data wafer, “this is a very selective shopping list. I understand the construction equipment. But you’re ordering satellites for surveillance and communications, but not for defense. Ground transport but no roadbuilding equipment. Aircraft but just a few cargo handlers. Fabricators, regen tanks, fusion bottles, wristcomps, survival suits, training suites. No food synthesizers, no 3V servers, hardly any farming equipment… I simply don’t understand, Ms. Roehl. The advance from your contract with UniDom is good credit immediately, it would cover far more than you’re asking for from Planetation.
“And quite aside from your official needs, you personally have a share in the Arvida-Yee’s crew bonus. Simply for discovering this planet, you nine, well, you and Ms. Finch and the other seven’s estates, will split over five billion Krona in finders’ fees, plus ongoing trade royalties. That’s over half a billion for each of you two, and all you want is a pair of these Mannheim gliders and some, some housewares. Oh, I see, and a house… no, that’s a home security system… don’t you like money, Ms. Roehl?”
“I like money just fine, Mr. Baldwin. I just don’t have the time to spend it right now. We’ve got a whole planet to consolidate, hundreds of tribes and nation states that’ve never heard of the Regnum or a 3V, and we’re not going to conquer them, we’re going to persuade them, every one. Starting with Ale’appa, the nation to our west that’s just been freed from O’dai domination, although neither party may know it yet. Those who won’t join our Confederacy, we’ll protect, and hope they change their minds when they see their neighbors prospering.
“We’ll need every Contact-trained person we can get our hands on for the next ten years, and even then we’ll have to train them to work the way we want, to bring modern tech to the people and not the other way around. It’s a subtly new way of doing business for the Regnum, but the Talamae wouldn’t dream of doing it any other way.
“We’ll defend ourselves, of course, and I won’t rest while that last Kruss is loose on my planet. Now that we’ve cleared up the status of Doris and Marcus and Adrianne,” a grateful glance at Admiral Dunning across the table, a gracious if ironic nod in return, “…they’ve been working with the Argosy’s NavInt and sensor specialists, trying to spoof a hail from an orbiting Kruss vessel. So far it’s just an encryption exercise, using a few drone missiles in orbit, but if we can get that murdering lizard to respond just once, we’ll at least know which direction it’s been heading.
“I’ve also assigned my new Greenbutts the task of recommending some modern weapons systems. I understand Planetation has a limited line in that respect, so we’re sending off a preliminary order for small arms to Heckler Manufacturing on Neues Oberndorf, and an order to Spitzbergen Ordnance Gesellschaft for a few light defensive vessels. But realistically, we’ll be relying on the Regnum Navy for space defense for the foreseeable future.
“We want these orders to go out in the next mailtube, if you’re willing to approve Planetation’s part of the business? Fine. That brings us to personnel. Now I understand both Planetation and United Dominion have extensive consulting groups, here’s what we’d like for starters…”
That evening, Kirrah had her first tiny breakthrough with Ulla’ta. Slaetra had provided a small doll, a simple cloth-woven thing with a worn painted wooden head and lumpy stuffing, and a tiny new colorful needlepoint vest and leggings. After dinner, Kirrah offered the toy to Ulla’ta, who was as usual terrified to receive any kind of attention from her. It was a near thing, but in the end, the doll’s draw proved more powerful than the girl’s fear, which was by now blunted by five days’ familiarity.
After the child took the doll from her hands and went to bed clutching it, Kirrah sat and wept for ten minutes. Akaray came up and put his arms silently around her, and the two of them sat in the courtyard outside her rooms and watched the sun set, the sky turn to glory, and the world shift on its axis, slowly, slowly toward healing.
Rather later that night, Kirrah wearily pushed herself back from her workscreen and made her way to a cold empty bed. Seventeen more days alone, she thought. How did I ever sleep on my own, before? And that’s if he’s out of the tank and discharged on schedule.
Towards morning, the dream came again. She and others, a whole community, were racing across an endless blackness. Every few moments someone’s feet would lift off the surface and they would glide over satin darkness, black flames streaming behind them. In the strange knowing of dreams, she was sure Irshe, Slaetra, Issthe and a tiny, exultant Ulla’ta were flying with her. So were Doris, and Professor Stanglee from her Academy classes.
Where was Akaray? There! Far ahead on the plain, almost hidden in the darkness, she could see him beckoning. ‘There!’ she called, and they all swung to the left, toward the promise of sanctuary.
Suddenly they were at the place Akaray was calling them to. The other figures drew to a halt beside her, around a pool of inky blackness. She looked across it to see Akaray’s face, laughing, as his arm gestured sharply down. Something small and bright flew from his hand, dropped into the black pit yawning between them. No one else moved. It burst, suddenly spreading into a sea of ten thousand stars scattered across the velvety blackness.
“Ah, you’re here,” said Professor Stanglee. Following his gaze, Kirrah saw a tall robed figure with Issthe’s dark gray eyes.
The priestess gestured with one graceful arm toward the pool, and said to Kirrah:
“They’ve been waiting for you.”
Skin tingling in awe and anticipation, Kirrah turned, paused, and dove headfirst into the stars.
See, (said a familiar voice). She’s found her own way. Through all this, she’s found herself. She’s done better than you ever did, old friend, or I. She’s going to be fine.
You’re right, dear Risa, (said that other familiar voice). As you were so often right before. I wish it had been different. I can see now…
Daddy? Is that…
Kirrah woke suddenly, alone, in the pre-dawn dark. Waves of terror fled in all directions, leaving her untouched at their epicenter. Her sleep-fogged mind turned fearfully t
o the place where her darkness lived inside. The darkness winked back.
Oh, it’s only you… she thought, and rolled over for another hour’s sleep.
The next days fled past in a blur of details. On the day the last smartshot was declared neutralized, the city held a celebration. Construction resumed in earnest on the thirty-six vai’atho-blocks more or less leveled in the Kruss blast, and the additional thirty-one needing major structural repairs, including the southeast corner of the palace. Regnum and Talamae building technologies were fusing slowly and with surprisingly little friction, once the Regnum engineers accepted the idea that the Talamae really did want things built their way, and the Talamae mason’s guild realized the Regnum machines really could work the miracles their operators claimed.
The first mission to Ale’appa returned, reporting a numb and disorganized O’dai occupying force that fled at their approach, and a grateful city and local populace who embraced their offer of alliance with near-pathetic haste. Kirrah was learning that one of her most persuasive diplomatic tools was a ride in one of the shuttles. Certainly King Tannakoi of Pavatta and his Baron Setta, found themselves tearing up their cautiously drafted trade proposals in favor of a closer political alliance, after a good look at their planet from a hundred thousand kilometers in space. With Pavatta came the promise of further friendly contact with a boreal tribe far to the east across the mountains, and another nation to the west where the continent met the ocean. The Wrth were already clamoring for trading rights with the high desert dwellers who lived to the east of their own Whitecap mountains.
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