Wings of Creation

by Brenda Cooper

  Liam came in, brushing the hair from my neck softly and kissing the skin he’d exposed. “What can I do?”

  “Give them a bath?” I kissed him on the cheek and excused myself, leaving him with a baffled look. Not that I wasn’t baffled; I’d usually talk to him before I made big decisions. But I was afraid talking would diffuse my anger.

  I found Jenna and Marcus in their room, crouched over a duffel bag. They looked up at me as I came in, both faces a touch guilty. I took a deep breath and planted my feet hard on the floor. “I’m not willing to be separated from the kids.”

  Marcus shook his head and stood up, pulling Jenna to her feet, too. “They can’t fly.”

  “I know. So I can’t either.”

  “What if Joseph needs you? Besides helping in the nets, having you around helps him fly.”

  “Kayleen can do that. It’s not fair to take both their mothers!” I made my voice as firm as I could. “I’m not leaving them. I’m a mom, and maybe you don’t know what that means to you, but I know what it means to me. I’m not asking you for permission. I’m telling you what I’m doing.”

  He glanced at Jenna, a pained look on his face. “I guess Jenna can go with you.”

  “For what? Protection?”

  “Yes.”

  I tried not to sound as snarly as I felt. “I don’t need protection. Liam and Kayleen and I hunted together, and made a house together, and met the mercenaries together and attacked them together. We can do this.”

  He raised an eyebrow, trying to lighten me up. “You’re going to hunt fliers?” he teased. He used jokes to get us to do what he wanted. Not this time. This was about my kids.

  “No. But we’ll be fine.”

  Jenna glanced at him. “Chelo may be right. Maybe we should send Bryan and Ming and the stuff with them instead of having us split into three groups.”

  “They’ll be recognizable,” Marcus said.

  “I’m recognizable anyway,” I said. “You made sure I’m recognizable. You’ve told our story everywhere. Well, that’s not my fault. I’m staying with my kids.” So why was I standing here arguing with him? I’d already told him I wasn’t waiting for his permission. This was like arguing with Nava all those years ago—when you grew up, the people you fought with just got stronger. “There’s more safety in a bigger group.”

  Marcus objected. “That would let all of you get into trouble together.”

  Jenna started pacing the room, looking for items left behind. “So send Bryan with Chelo and Liam.” She opened the drawers of the bedside table, peering into their empty darkness and closing them again. “Tiala and Ming can take the stuff in. Paloma can go with them. Seeyan can help the group with the kids.”

  “Seeyan?” I asked.

  “How?” Marcus asked at the same time.

  Jenna raised an eyebrow. “I know something you don’t?”

  She said it nice, kind of teasing, but he still looked taken aback for a second before he grinned. “Maybe.”

  Jenna returned his smile. “The Keepers know how to travel unseen. I mean, if you were basically slaves, and given the task of caring for everything, wouldn’t you build in ways to get around?”

  “How’d you figure that out?” he asked. “Do you know it for sure?”

  I knew how Jenna had figured it out. “I bet she asked. The Keepers here are treated like we were on Fremont. They’re invisible or worse until someone needs them for something, and then they have to do it.” I could also tell I’d won. He wasn’t going to tell me no.

  Jenna knew it, too. She gave him a light kiss. “Seeyan told me, but I already knew. Someone’s got to protect the kids, and Liam might not be enough.” She cocked her head. “Caro and Jherrel are going to be important some day, you know.”

  “If they live.” He turned and spoke to me. “You and Liam and Bryan and the kids, then.”

  “Thank you.” How come I still couldn’t decide if I really liked Marcus or not? Impulsively, I gave him a hug. His return embrace felt warm and comforting. He smelled like sweat and the outdoors. He felt . . . like protection and support all at once, and very physical. If I weren’t way too in love with Liam and Kayleen, I might’ve turned my face up for a kiss. I did have the presence of mind to think about what energy to return, and decided on strength and reassurance. When we let go of each other, he looked a tiny bit surprised.

  Fliers owned the skies here. Except for space ships, nothing that wasn’t alive flew, and even the birds were small. No skimmers. We headed for Oshai in a bulky sun-powered transport with wheels instead of wings, closer to a wagon than a skimmer. It felt heavy, even in this light gravity. Three rows of seats fronted a cargo compartment that held our goods beneath a harvest of nuts destined for a processing depot. Seeyan drove from a seat in the front, Jherrel on her lap. Caro had fallen fast asleep in the back, her little head resting on Bryan’s wide thigh and his great big hand cupping her shoulder against the rocking vehicle. His eyes were closed as if he dozed, but I could tell by the set of his jaw that he was quite alert.

  At the last minute, Marcus had sent Alicia with us, “In case we needed invisible help.” I had a sneaking suspicion he was trying to separate Alicia and Joseph yet again, and I felt bad for my brother over it. Either that, or it was because her flying was so abysmal, and that made me feel bad for her. I didn’t mind having Alicia where I could watch her, but an invisible risk-taker was not a great idea.

  Liam and I sat in the middle, looking out the windows as orchards and cropland gave way to town. Oshai had been laid out in circles like SoBright, but the first circles we passed were so big the paths almost looked straight.

  Already, more traffic moved above and beside us than we’d ever seen in SoBright. Tourists traveled in faster versions of our transport and flew in groups with flier minders.

  As we crossed the third big circular street, Bryan’s eyes snapped open and he sat up straighter, dislodging Caro so she woke up and sat blinking in the afternoon sun. “I don’t like this.” He pointed up toward the busy sky. “There’re too many people in the air. I don’t know who’s a friend and who to worry about. How do we know if we’re safe?”

  “Were we ever safe?” I asked him.

  Liam grimaced.

  A man with pale green made-wings and a brown pantsuit landed a bit ahead of us. He left his wings on and stood quietly, watching us approach. Seeyan stopped the vehicle and climbed down, and talked to him animatedly, her body language showing us he must be a friend. As soon as she turned back toward us, he flew off, low and fast.

  When Seeyan climbed back in, she sounded pleased. “Now I know where to take you. You’re very lucky.” This was serious business to her, smuggling people around.

  It made me wonder who and what else she smuggled.

  A few minutes later we unloaded at a cargo depot and moved to a smaller vehicle that Seeyan also drove. I leaned over and whispered into Liam’s ear. “This reminds me of our flight here. Transferring from place to place.”

  “Yes.” He looked resigned. I felt for him. Of all of us, only Liam had known where he was going and what he would become, at least until Kayleen kidnapped the two of us. He’d never gone back to his position in the band; war, and then Joseph coming, had taken it out of reach. The last few days, and the trip to Oshai, had been good for him. Now we were all running again.

  Jherrel, next to me, leaned his little forehead against the window and watched the busy city go by. Wherever we were, it clearly wasn’t designed for fliers. Wingless of all types—some overly tall and long-limbed and a few strongmen like Bryan—made a colorful parade walking up and down the streets. Twice, we passed fliers on perches, talking to small groups gathered at their feet.

  Caro sat on her daddy’s lap, leaning back, entirely too quiet. She held a hand up over her eyes, her fist balled. We’d screwed up. Caro was with us, and both Wind Readers were with Marcus. Any way I looked at data here wasn’t close to Caro’s experience. Worse, most of it was an adult world she coul
dn’t possibly understand.

  I pulled her hand away from her eyes. She squinted more tightly. “Mommy . . . it hurts.”

  “Shield like Uncle Joseph taught you.”

  “I’m trying,” she said.

  Liam shook himself and reached down and folded her in a hug. “Does that help?”

  She buried her head in his chest with one eye peeking out at me. “Yes, Daddy.”

  Now I worried about both of them.

  Seeyan pointed toward a set of rolling grassy hills with perches, benches, and small gardens arranged in squares and circles and triangles. “Those are the Temple Hills. Most casual tourists end up there. It’s kind of the first stop for people finding peace within themselves.” She sounded almost in awe of the place. “You can barely tell from driving by, especially since a lot of them are away from the road, but some of the best gardens in Oshai are there.”

  “The gardens you want to work in?”

  She turned her gaze away from the Temple Hills and back to the controls in front of her. “I will die long before I could become accepted to keep those gardens. I’m not . . . calm enough.”

  She could have fooled me. “I’d like to see the gardens.”

  “You will.”

  “Good.” And I was looking forward to it. After a long silence, I added, “I appreciate what you’re doing now.”

  “It’s nothing.” She pointed to the other side of the road. “See the flags up ahead?”

  “Sure.” Yellow, red, blue, and purple flags snapped in a light wind, surrounding small houses and open booths and wide walkways thronged with people. Metal and wood sculptures spilled out of the place with the most flags; surely the entrance. Above it all, fliers brightened the sky.

  “That’s the first of three summer fairs. There’re so many people there you can get lost. Anybody could. So if you get in trouble of any kind here, and you want to hide, hide in the summer fair.”

  “What’s at the fair?” Alicia asked.

  Seeyan jumped, as if she’d forgotten Alicia was there. “Art, mostly. Some poetry and personal services and the like. You’d like it.”

  “That sounds like fun.” I didn’t know if she knew the five women were going there, so I didn’t say anything. We traveled slowly enough that I could pick out details like a clothing booth and food stalls.

  Seeyan continued. “If you need help, buy some bright blue clothes and find a tall man that tells tourists’ fortunes and sells feathers. His name is Juss. Juss can reach me.”

  She looked so serious. “I hope it doesn’t come to that,” I whispered.

  “Me, too. Can you tell it back to me?”

  I obliged her, making sure that Liam and Bryan were paying attention. When I was done, I said, “Alicia?”

  I still couldn’t see her, but a small relieved breath escaped me as she answered, “Wear blue. Find Juss who sells feathers and fortunes.”

  As we came closer to the fair, it was easy to see a crowd mingling and talking, dressed in clothing from all of the other four worlds. Caro sat up straight and opened her eyes, looking much more like her usual curious self.

  “How come there’re not many human fliers here?” Bryan asked. “You know, like us?”

  Seeyan laughed. “The skies here are too busy for students. You won’t be able to fly here, either.”

  Alicia’s voice floated forward from the backseat. “Could Chance?”

  “Probably,” Seeyan said. “You can ask him.”

  “Why don’t you fly?” Jherrel asked her.

  I grimaced at the intimacy of the question. Children’s mouths said the strangest things. But Seeyan didn’t miss a beat. “I had real wings once. I don’t want to forget what that was like.”

  Caro stirred. “It’s better here, Mommy.”

  “I’m glad.” Maybe because we’d passed the fair, or because of the Temple Hills, which still rose and fell on our right?

  The transport turned, heading even farther in toward the center of Oshai. We turned right again, down a smaller track between rolling hills. From the crest of a hill just past the turn, a flier with pastel purple wings and bright blue eyes on her wings pushed into the sky and flew away. The blonde from our greeting feast? Were we being watched?

  Caro clambered across my lap and stuck her face next to Jherrel’s, looking out the window. “I want to go outside, Mommy.”

  “I know.”

  We pulled up beside a long, low building, more like a line in the side of a hill with windows and doors in it and a walkway along the front. Earth mounded on top of it, and grass, and I could imagine picnickers on the far side not knowing they sat on a hollow hill. Were all of the Temple Hills fake like this?

  Seeyan smiled as she slowed the vehicle. “Now you’ll believe me. You’ll meet some of the Keepers who tend the Temple Hills Gardens.”

  “Why are we going here?” Alicia asked from the back.

  “You’re pretending to be rich tourists. It’s the only disguise that makes sense for the kids. The ultra-rich do what they want.”

  “Who’s paying for it?” Bryan asked.

  “The Keepers are donating rooms for you. Trade’s down anyway, since the war is closer. You’ll be taking the spots of a tourist family, since the ship they booked passage on went to war.”

  Liam glanced up at Seeyan, always interested in war news. “To fight?”

  She shrugged. “I hear interplanetary ships are getting conscripted.”

  I had a lot more questions for her, including why the Keepers would help hide us, and why the government here didn’t just outright refuse to give us up instead of hiding us. It made me uneasy that I couldn’t quite tell who was supporting us and why.

  Someone had been watching for us. A man—wingless and hairless—walked out of the closest door. He nearly glided to the side of the vehicle, and stood, hands in front of him, head slightly bowed, the very picture of patience. In a few moments, a younger-looking man and woman joined him just as silently. What training or mod made them move so elegantly?

  After we all got out, the two latecomers unloaded the transport and carried our duffels and bags into the hill. I watched them go. Here we were. Wherever that was. Somehow I doubted it was going to be a new home, at least not for long.

  19

  JOSEPH: FLYING LONG

  The rest of us stood under a grouping of three trees as Seeyan drove off with Chelo, Bryan, Liam, Alicia, and the kids. I couldn’t see my sister or my sweetheart as Seeyan drove them away in a slow, overgrown version of our roamers’ wagons, only made of metal and rubber with glass windows and powered by light and air. It creaked as they left us—as they left me. Kayleen stood so close I could smell the children’s last hug on her, but we didn’t touch. When they were out of sight, a soft moan escaped her lips, and I brought her into my arms, remembering that we were both losing all of our family except each other. “It will be okay,” I whispered, not sure if I lied.

  She gave me a hard squeeze and pushed away gently, walking over to the edge of the little meadow farthest from the road. She leaned against a tall evergreen tree with soft gray-green needles, she looked away from me.

  A few moments later, Jenna kissed Marcus good-bye, and Tiala and Paloma hugged him good-bye, and then Paloma hugged me good-bye for good measure, looked up in my eyes and said, “Take care.” They were the next to leave: Jenna, Tiala, Dianne, Ming, and Paloma. Induan had dubbed them the “Gang of Girls.” I didn’t know their ages, but I was willing to bet the youngest among them was over fifty years old. They walked away, none of them looking back at us even once.

  The Gang of Girls had an elaborate plan. Unlike sleepy SoBright, Oshai had a lot more humans who weren’t also Keepers. Since they needed to earn livings, the women had chosen jobs to ply at some kind of fair. Dianne had been preparing the way for them in the nets, building histories and professions. Not that it was too tough: everything in Oshai dealt with the tourists and seekers. Paloma had become, of course, a healer. Ming taught dance therapy.
Jenna and Tiala had worked up a comical routine as good-gal/bad-gal physical trainers. Dianne swore she had developed an ability to lead people through guided meditations. Given her nonexistent sense of humor, I already felt a little sorry for her patients.

  Of course, since I could barely fly at all, I ended up in the group scheduled to fly out of here.

  The skies above us were clear, the air hot, and if we went up into them we would be the only fliers there. We had hours to kill. After a long walk, burdened with gear, we arrived at another meadow Seeyan had pointed out as belonging to a friendly Keeper. There, we waited the sun out in a shady spot halfway around the circle of SoBright from the guest house we’d just abandoned. Induan showed off her planning and logistics skills. She pulled a bag out of her pocket with blue bands the color of Kayleen’s eyes, blue buttons, blue shells, and silver beads. In moments, she had a third of Kayleen’s hair in her hands, I had a third, and Marcus had a third. “Now,” she grinned, “each of you make two braids so she has six when she’s done, and decorate them while you’re at it.”

  “Wow.” Okay. Except I’d never braided a girl’s hair and after two tries Induan reduced me to handing her silver and blue baubles to string onto blue ribbon as she spun Kayleen’s unruly hair into a single, smooth braid. Marcus did all right, although Induan finished four braids in the time he did two.

  Next, Induan pulled out a pair of scissors. She looked at me, the same evil grin quirking her mouth again. I shook my head until she pulled a long fake braid out of her other pocket. So maybe being the one to get my hair cut wasn’t so bad after all; Marcus kept pawing at the extra hair that ran down his back, adjusting the fit and readjusting it.

  We watched Induan fiddle with her wings. She seemed to enjoy being the center of attention. But hey, it made perfect sense for someone who liked to be watched to get an invisibility mod, right?

  She’d figured out how to jury-rig her mod so she looked like a failed flier. Too bad she couldn’t get all the way to looking like a flier. But at its core, her mod was meant to reflect her surroundings and make her invisible rather than to change her appearance, and it took some clever use of mirrors to get as much as she managed to out of it.