Noting another of the scientists darting a fascinated glance at her granddaughter, Laura moved so she could drop comforting hands on Cass and Lira's shoulders. Two girls, very different, but both Touchstones who had been fulcrums for the events that had left those lunar scars. The sheer scope of their potential occasionally left Laura gasping, but also wishing there was more she could do to protect them.
The vigilant attendance of an entire squad of highly trained psychic space ninjas—Sixth Squad today—were a reminder that there was plenty of protection about. But physical safety was only one layer, and Laura was entirely determined to be someone who would spoil and hug and be glad of all her family, not for the things they could do, but for their own selves.
"The amphitheatre arrangement speaks to a design philosophy prioritising efficiency and multipurpose function," Isten Sydel continued, as they at last turned away from the view. "The primary purpose of these towns is undoubtedly the refinement of aether. But that single process channels that aether to the Ena stabilisation pillars, the teleportation platforms, and, we are coming to surmise, to heating and lighting the towns themselves, although that system appears inactive. Since aether has restorative aspects, even the use of an amphitheatre as the power collection point suggests that this is, in fact, a kind of hospital or wellness centre."
He paused as one of his team, almost bouncing, said: "Given how very beneficial aether is on a cellular level—to the point where we're seeing rejuvenation in older subjects—these settlements may have been intended for privileged residents. Or perhaps simply health retreats. The population of the planet certainly exceeded the capacity of the platform towns."
There was an enormous amount of Not Looking at Lira going on. Too much to hope that Lira hadn't noticed, wasn't aware of the mute pressure for her to dredge her memory and speak up about past visits to similar villages, and any dropped titbits of overheard conversation. But Lira, mouth compressed, only stared at the ground, and it was surely no coincidence that Kaoren now stood between his daughter and the hopeful scientists.
Laura couldn't entirely blame them—it must be eternally frustrating to have a witness to the thing you were investigating and be told to keep away. Fortunately Isten Sydel was obedient to his no-doubt strict orders, quickly shifting to ushering them along the upper rim of the amphitheatre to a wide platform.
"This location is ideal for observing the beginning of aether generation, both at the centre of the amphitheatre and across a large swathe of the pattern-roof dwellings. We've established that the generation process does not commence until the sun is no longer visible, which gives us fifteen joden or more to wait."
Kaoren and Cass began to ask questions about the kind of experiments the research team were conducting. Recognising deliberate distraction, Laura linked her arms with her two older granddaughters and moved with them to a handy knee-high ledge that made a useful seat.
"I feel like I'm in one of my favourite stories," she said, squeezing their hands. "Walking through mysterious ruins, witnessing ancient marvels. I'm going to have a thousand adventures in my dreams tonight."
"Which stories?" asked Ys, ever the voracious reader.
Laura glanced at her internal ebook collection, and pointed Ys to Catseye as a starter, then added: "Although most people in stories have a rather uncomfortable time of it, while I'd prefer my story free of people shooting at me, or toothy carnivores sniffing out my path."
"Is it still an adventure if it's safe?" Ys asked, dubious.
"I think so. We're in an exciting new place, about to witness a marvel. What about that doesn't feel like an adventure?"
"I don't know 'marvel', Unna Laura," Sen said, wriggling onto the ledge next to Lira.
"It means 'amazing'," Maddy said, squishing in on Lira's other side. "Things that make you leave your mouth open and go 'ooh!'."
"Like cakes," Lira said, in a mild shot across Sen's bows that the younger girl didn't acknowledge.
"Do you feel you're having an adventure, Maddy?" Laura asked.
Maddy nodded emphatically. "And there are toothy monsters, just down there," she noted, pointing to the now deeply-shadowed rocks.
"Not monsters," Rye said, tucking himself onto the last inch of the ledge. "Those are zatrals. They eat water weed."
"I bet they're still pretty toothy," Laura said, and led the conversation further into the safely neutral topic of local wildlife, and the not-so-local creatures that could be found outside the relatively safe zones around the platform towns.
Sue: What happened to Serious Soldier? I thought he was meeting us here.
Laura: Minor crisis at Kalasa.
Sue: Story of his life, from the sounds of it. Are the cancellations getting to you?
Laura: I figure it's a bit like being married to a doctor or a police officer. Never quite off-duty, so last-minute rescheduling is to be expected.
Sue: Ooh, the M-word. Haven't heard you go there before now. When are you telling Cass? Did you tell her who organised our weekend trip?
Laura: I told her a friend had invited us. Somehow, telling Cass feels like a point of no return. Not that I'm going out of my way to hide it from her either—I thought I'd be having an interesting discussion tonight on the topic of Mum Sex, but I guess not. There's no hurry. I mightn't be wibbling anymore, but I don't see a reason to rush through the getting-to-know-you stage. I've yet to see how he behaves when annoyed, or even noticeably under stress.
Sue: Hard to push off-balance isn't he? Maybe he's a robot! What would you do if you discovered circuitry?
Laura: Well, I already know he's fully functional...
Sue and Laura both burst out laughing, and only laughed harder at Cass' demand to know what was so funny. Laura hugged her daughter, their helmets knocking together.
"Things that would make you go 'ew'," she said, giving Cass one last squeeze.
Letting go, she caught a faint shift in Kaoren's expression, and guessed that he, at least, knew exactly where Gidds Selkie spent his nights. And, obedient to Sight Sight etiquette, he would not tell tales to Cass, but leave Laura to make her own announcements.
No doubt recognising her comprehension just as effortlessly, Kaoren offered Laura a sudden, warm smile. Entirely approving. Laura smiled back, and then said: "I think—is it starting?"
Modern Muinans did not yet know what role the moon played in the refinement of aether. But it certainly played some part, for it was only when the light of the moon fell on the complex medallion patterns etched into the whitestone roofs that aether was produced.
At first there was only the faintest haze, hanging like a summer mist above each of the rooftop circles and the much larger pattern located in the centre of the amphitheatre. This thickened, brightened, and began to drift downward: a glowing, heavier-than-air gas that then defied expectation by beginning to flow upward.
Laura forgot everything else. The fabric of another dimension was being woven before her eyes into a light that healed, and powered teleporters, and had the potential to do so much more, if only they understood how to use it.
"Magic," Sue breathed, as the amphitheatre began to swim, a bowl of light dominated by a shimmering central column. "Mana, even. If I soak myself in the stuff, do you think I could learn to be a space mage?"
"I gather you're more likely to be unconscious," Laura said, then added to Isten Sydel: "Can we go down there?"
They could, of course. That was the point of the visit, and the reason for the Exclusion Suits. Aether was apparently as much radiation as mist, and it was not enough to simply wear a gas mask. Only suits that generated a barrier shield would allow them to move through aether unaffected.
Laura walked into light.
After a period of straightforward amazement, she deactivated the suit and, opening the helmet, inhaled a cold, tingling mist that ran warm butter through her bones. A gentle sense of wellbeing made her sigh. Her life really had become the stuff of dreams.
But, not minded to finish the o
uting unconscious, she sealed the suit again and turned to see her sister closing up her own helmet, her own gaze fixed on Nick, who was walking hand-in-hand with Alyssa.
Laura: He looks happy.
Sue: He is. But he's always been able to make the best of wherever he is.
For a moment Sue's own naturally-upbeat attitude slipped, and an ache rose in her eyes. To throw your heart and soul into someone, and have them taken away, left a deep, abiding mark. The wound might heal, circumstances might improve, but the scar remained.
Sen had run up to Nick and Alyssa and was pretending to ice skate through the billowing light. Adorable, but Laura had learned enough of Sen by now to know that she would react to unhappiness by trying to comfort or distract. Of course, so would Sue and Laura.
"So, have you made a decision yet, Alyssa?" Sue asked, as she crossed to the pair. It had only taken a day after Alyssa's brief skating tutorial for offers of something more permanent to roll in.
Alyssa groaned. "Is it bad that I've been trying not to think about it?"
"Procrastination is good," Sue said, positively. "Maybe even smart, since you might spark some kind of bidding war."
"That sounds—" Alyssa shook her head.
"I think it's the idea that they'd go and build an entire skating rink just for Lyss to teach in. And the amount of money they're willing to pay..." Nick shook his head slowly. "I can only do the basics and they're still waving ridiculous amounts at me."
"The value of scarcity," Laura said. "Is it that you don't think you'd like teaching?"
"That would probably depend on the brat-quotient in the class," Alyssa said. "But I think it's more there seems to be an expectation that I can train people to Olympic level. I couldn't even make the State finals."
"So tell them how far you think you can take them," Sue said, shrugging. "It's not like anyone—except maybe Zee, who I'd believe anything of—could get to your level in less than a bunch of years. And by that time maybe they'll really have found the deep-space route to Earth, and can import top-tier coaches."
"At which point the exorbitant salary will drop," Nick noted. "I guess we should make hay, etcetera."
"What about joining KOTIS?" Alyssa asked.
"We can do that later."
Alyssa hesitated, then nodded. "You're right, of course. I think it's the idea of being the one in charge that's scaring me." She put a hand against her helmet, smiling wryly. "It's stupid to feel like a fake, isn't it? And at least, if we go with Pandora Shore's offer, we'll be covered by the school's security and won't have to worry about that complication."
She glanced at the upper level of the amphitheatre, and Laura managed to stop herself from following the line of her gaze, knowing that Sixth Squad would be there, similarly suited, but alert and unfailingly on duty. There were around two dozen squads, counting Kolar and Tare's, and despite Laura's best efforts of memory, everyone outside First, Second and Fourth Squad tended to blur into interchangeable black-clad figures.
"Even if I'd planned to do more than sample aether, that would be off-putting," Alyssa said. "I keep thinking how dull it must be for trained monster-hunters to play bodyguard."
"I expect seeing moonfall close up is a nice treat for them," Laura said. "Since trained elemental talents aren't allowed to get drunk, they would usually have to stay well away from any free-floating aether."
"Good point."
"I wonder if untrained elemental talents have the same restrictions?" Sue said. "A Fire talent could do plenty of damage, even if they weren't at pillar-of-flame level."
As this question was settled via Kaoren, Laura looked about for Julian, and for a moment couldn't see him. But then she saw his outline before the central column of light and, coming closer, was surprised to see that he, too, had resealed his suit.
"Not going to demonstrate your new adult status?"
"By zonking out in front of everyone?" Julian shot his sister a disgusted glance. "That's just what Cass thinks I'm going to do. I should moon the guy in charge just to make her feel she was right."
"The ten minutes it'd take you to get that suit off would take the fun out of it," Laura said, trying not to laugh. Sibling rivalry hadn't gone away, no matter what else had changed.
"Maybe. But then she could tch at me for months. She'd like that."
"I know this isn't as fun as it would be going with your friends," Laura said, offering up an apologetic smile.
"Bleh. I probably wouldn't have gone. Too much risk that they'd find out who I am. And then it'd be all weird and stuff. Maybe I'll go to that avatar café to meet up with them."
"I can see why you like that guild, though. The Star Claw went down neatly, and Haelin's very happy with the new teszen she got out of it."
"Who?"
"One of Gidds' daughters. You'll meet her this weekend."
Julian briefly showed the whites of his eyes, but he only said: "I thought you were playing with Cass' kids."
Laura was starting to suspect that the topic of Mum Sex was going to be more challenging than she expected, but they were both rescued from further attempts by Cass, who came to ask if they wanted to follow the aether down as it drained toward the teleport platform below the amphitheatre.
"Not that we'll see much except glowy mist. And make sure you don't actually get on the platform, or you'll end up back in Kalasa."
"Tell us something we don't know," Julian said.
"Wouldn't put anything past you, brat," Cass said, and they traded amiable barbs until the sheer wonder of the moonfall caught up with them again, and the three of them stepped together into the rising pillar of light and held each other's hands and stared through the vivid glow at the moon, in all its fractured glory.
Awkward conversations could wait. Today, they were together in wonder.
Chapter Sixteen
In the nature of careless wishes, Laura's desire to see how Gidds dealt with stress was gratified the day before their weekend trip. She woke, not long after midnight, feeling strangely cold and oppressed and, shifting, saw Gidds sitting on the edge of the bed. In the bare light of the stars, Laura could make out no detail, so she raised the room lights to a dim partial visibility.
His back was rigid.
This was such a contrast to Gidds' usual composed calm that for a moment Laura just blinked at him. What had happened?
Thought caught up with astonishment, and Laura realised that of course he must be talking to someone over the interface. Not wanting to interrupt what was probably an important conversation, Laura rose and slipped on her robe before heading out to the kitchen to make something to drink.
She had barely poured out when Gidds came out of the bedroom, shrugging into his uniform jacket. She lifted a mug of perfectly-warmed spider milk enquiringly, and was pleased when he accepted it.
"I'm sorry for waking you, Laura," he said. "There is a situation at Liriath."
He was still…not visibly angry, but very tense, and somehow remote. Locked down.
"Is it something you can tell me about?" she asked, as he drained the mug.
"A group of children overdue at their homes, with no location trace visible through the interface. A sibling confessed that they'd discovered a cave system in the hills south of the city, and gone exploring. The caves appear to be extensive, and the children must be far enough in that the rock is blocking any signal from their interface uplink. A number of Kalrani were in Liriath for a training exercise, and their supervisor volunteered them for the retrieval." His jaw tightened. "They, too, are now non-contactable."
"Are these caves outside the Ionoth-clear zone around the settlement?" Laura asked, biting down on sudden horror. All the platform towns were kept free of Ionoth by powerful constructs called 'ddura', but the vast majority of Muina was still considered too dangerous for unarmed travel.
"They are on the edge of the ddura's range. But there are also native predators, and adapted Ionoth."
Laura hesitated, for she was still negotiating
an understanding of his Sights, and how much her own feelings might distract or interrupt much-needed focus. That sense of separateness that was very much a part of him was particularly to the fore just now. But then she stepped forward and wrapped her arms around him.
"I'll hope for the best result for the search, then."
The right decision. His arms closed around her, fierce and tight, and he let out his breath as if the contact had helped. Then he brushed her cheek with a kiss, and was halfway to the door before she even caught the faint hum of an approaching flyer.
Laura drank her spider milk slowly, activated the cleaning unit, and returned to her bedroom, but only to dress and walk down to the bottom of the hill, leaving the path to head directly to the island's stony shore.
The dark water breathed cold, but Laura had not held back on layers, and was not troubled by the chill as she sat herself down on one of the large rocks.
Impossible not to imagine horrors. Children in caves of teeth and claw. Parents waiting with rising dread for news of the vanished, and every hour feeling like days, like months.
Laura could picture that all too well.
Nor did she wonder at the strength of Gidds' reaction. Students sent in without preparation. And civilian children who must surely bring to the forefront of his mind one terrible day long ago, when a dimensional tear had opened and death had swarmed through.
Sinuous, with bone-white claws and a ridge of razor scales, those Ionoth had been small, not much larger than cats. But their numbers and their ferocity had seen them cut effortlessly through an entire residential district of one of the beehive Taren cities. Gidds had been very young, and those things had killed his family, and...
Partially eaten.
Laura shuddered, and closed her eyes. The situation might not be as desperately bad as that. And he would have told her if Allidi or Haelin were involved. But still...
A faint rattle of stone made her stiffen, but it was followed by a small cough, and so she activated the interface proximity display. It showed Maze, making his way down to her from the path above. He, too, would have taught some of the missing Kalrani, and no doubt was itching against the constraints of guard duty.
In Arcadia (Touchstone Book 5) Page 17