by Alia Luria
“Perhaps it is, and perhaps those of us charged with maintaining and enhancing your way of life deal with those emergencies without making dramatic announcements to the entire Order every time they occur. Perhaps if we did that, no one would ever sleep or eat or do anything but worry that the Compound was going to lock up at any moment.” A hint of anger rose in Cedar’s voice at the implication.
Even Mia was beginning to get a little agitated. “Oh, please,” she said. “This place can’t be in a constant state of near failure.” She waved her hand in dismissal, and Cedar tightened his mouth in response and continued his pacing. “I understand it’s a delicate job to maintain these systems,” she continued, “and that engineering should be allowed some discretion and access to resources, but now you’re just being dramatic.”
“Well, I guess you’ll never know,” he said, “since I’m forbidden to show you the logs.” At that point, they all fell into a tense silence that lasted until Cedar finally said, “We’re all clearly tired. We should pick this up again another time. I’ll look through the texts that I do have access to and try to learn what I can about any voice-controlled systems pieces we might have.”
Mia nodded and yawned. Perhaps he was right. It was late, and their nerves were raw. “Cedar, we appreciate anything you can do,” she said, yawning again.
“You two go ahead,” Taryn said. She had her notebook open and was scribbling notes, probably trying to determine what type of changes she would have to make to her research to accommodate the information she had learned tonight.
“All right,” Mia said, “but you’d better not be writing anything that will upset the engineering team. Cedar is helping us as a favor. We must remember to take it as such.”
She waved them off with a nod, and Mia and Cedar proceeded down the stairs to the main Archives. Brother Cornelius was gone for the day.
They walked slowly toward the barracks. Cedar was still agitated, but he slowed his gait to match Mia’s own shorter one. She covered another yawn with her hand and rubbed her neck as she walked. They hadn’t been alone together since the night he’d kissed her, and that moment still silently hung over them even weeks later. Mia caught stolen glances—gazes turned away the moment her head swiveled in his direction—but they had slowly grown further and further apart. She felt both a sense of relief and loss at that thought. She would be leaving soon, in any case, so it was best not to encourage those emotions. She’d never ask Cedar to betray this place or sacrifice his calling. It was bad enough that she had endangered his position by requesting his help with the Shillelagh.
Still, he could have kept his distance entirely, and Mia wouldn’t have blamed him for it, but he didn’t. He didn’t take her hand, however, or bend to her for a kiss. When her hand accidentally brushed his, he swung his own up and tucked it into the roped belt around his waist. It’s for the best, she reminded herself glumly. Cedar and I have no future together. Still, his rejection of her inadvertent attention pained her. The silence deepened as they continued their slow march back to the barracks, the warmth between them sputtering and threatening to extinguish.
21 Gathering
Lumin Cycle 10152
Mia had been waiting patiently, and the time of the next Gathering was finally nigh. The research regarding the Shillelagh’s specifications was done, and now it was time to locate a suitable shunt. Mia was a bundle of nerves. Tonight, at the Gathering, would be the first time she would leave the Compound since her arrival. She had to remind herself that she wasn’t really free; it was an illusion. As she and Taryn headed down the main entryway corridor to the large doors that protected the Compound entrance, the eyes of the those watching her tickled the back of her neck like insects, making the hairs stand on end.
Gatherings were a tradition. For an organization steeped in history and strict conformity to its mission, the Order didn’t put much stock in ritual. The Compound wasn’t a place of worship, but rather a place of study and reflection, as the clerics liked to emphasize repeatedly in open lectures, during informal gatherings, and any time they thought they had an acolyte listening. Thus, Mia and the others, as acolytes, were subjected to very little in the way of rites or other empty rhetoric. The quarterly Gatherings served as much a functional purpose as a symbolic one. As Mia understood it, they gathered, hence the name, in a clearing surrounded by mountainous terrain adjacent to the Compound on a night during each of the four quarters when the night lights were at their brightest. There the clerics made an affirmation of the mission of the Order, and then everyone would split off into the surrounding forested area to gather useful materials, especially those that were hard to come by other than on such nights as these, when the night lights shone brightly. At least that was how Cedar and Taryn had explained it to Mia. She had yet to experience one of these evenings herself, as she’d spent the last one in the brig.
So today, when the day finally came, she made every effort to blend into her surroundings, to incite no rage or ire, and to place no foot out of step. She wouldn’t risk another incident like last quarter. SainClair glared at her malevolently across the dining hall, but she pretended she didn’t see him. She intentionally sat facing away from him, kept her head down, and ate quietly. Sensing her anxiety, Taryn and Cedar likewise had made little noise or distraction during the evening meal. After dinner, Mia took Brother Cornelius his stew and proceeded directly back to the barracks.
Finally the time had come, and Mia followed Taryn along the corridor and outside the main entryway of the Compound, passing underneath two massive trees on either side, both of which were heavy with lit gourds. Even these impressive elders looked so small compared to the massive Crater Grove trees. The chilly night air whipped at Mia’s jacket and blew across her forehead. She shivered as the wind hit her face, and pulled her jacket tighter around her neck. The Compound didn’t seem so chilly in comparison. Up in the sky, the night lights threw brilliant colors across the dark. Mia followed Taryn as they walked between two walls of stone down the path away from the mountain then arced to the right along a rocky trail that led to a passageway. Whether it was naturally occurring or carved into the mountain, Mia didn’t know, but inside the towering stone walls was a clearing that served as a foyer to the forest beyond.
Mia continued to follow the trail of clerics as they formed a circle in the courtyard, elbow to elbow in the night. Everyone waited silently as the wind whipped through the open space and lights boiled in the sky. After they all had stood quietly for a while, a robed figure made its way slowly down the path. When the figure passed the threshold of the stone walls that surrounded the clearing, Mia saw that it was Dominus Nikola, his features illuminated by the night lights. He wore a solemn expression. He kept walking until he reached the center of the clerics.
“My fellow brothers and sisters,” he addressed the assembled clerics and acolytes, his voice clear and loud, “tonight we remind ourselves of the vows we have taken. It is a time to remember the mission that we’ve each made a part of ourselves. It is a time to reflect upon what those vows mean to each of us and to the future of Lumin.”
I haven’t taken any vows, Mia thought, sneaking a glance at Cedar. His eyes were fixed intently on the Dominus; he clearly was taking in every word the man spoke. She peered over at Taryn. Her attention was less raptly engaged by the Dominus, and she fidgeted, wringing her hands and tilting her head and stretching her neck. The variation in attention wasn’t confined to Mia’s two friends. Some clerics stood with bowed heads, others stroked their chins and looked off in the distance, and still others snuck glances around the group.
Brother SainClair was staring at Dominus Nikola with his usual intensity, his body rigid at attention. Brother Cornelius wasn’t present, his excuse being that his old bones wouldn’t allow it. Mia could see why he skipped the ritual if he had no plans to forage in the forest afterward. Dominus Nikola continued to expound about their duties to the Order and the great responsibility that lay with each of them to pre
serve and protect the sacred knowledge of the realm. Her mind started to wander when Dominus Nikola snapped her back to attention by announcing, “And now we shall reaffirm our sacred vows.”
She listened as the assembled clerics and those acolytes who were so inclined spoke in unison. “I do solemnly, sincerely, and truly declare and affirm that I shall protect and preserve the knowledge of my forebears; that I shall dedicate my life to the study of and reflection on those ideas lost with the passage of time; and that I shall make it my life’s goal that such may flourish again in my lifetime.”
It was a short, austere affirmation. And with that, the ritual was completed. Dominus Nikola, apparently not participating in the actual gathering portion of the evening, turned slowly and proceeded back the way he had come. Once he had passed back through the stones that buttressed the entry to the clearing, the clerics and acolytes proceeded in two lines through the entrance to the heavily forested woods.
The orderly procession broke up not far into the thicket of trees. From there the two groups split off, some choosing to disappear alone into the dimly lit forest and others going in pairs or threes. Taryn and Mia stuck together, picking their way along. Being outside exhilarated Mia. She had the urge to scale a tree and lie in it, staring up at the night sky, the way she used to do back in Hackberry. The air was considerably colder here, though, and the intermittent gusts of chilly wind breaking through the trees disrupted the tenuous illusion that she might be home. She scanned the robes disappearing into the thick foliage for signs of Cedar, but he wasn’t among them.
Mia listened carefully to the humming of the trees around her. She had no idea what the Shillelagh might sound like ensconced within the roots of the Crater Grove, but she knew they would need a powerful conduit if they wanted to complete the circuit for the security system. She stopped periodically and closed her eyes, blocking out everything but the sound, then headed in the direction of the loudest buzzing she could. She and Taryn continued this way, otherwise silent, for some time. If Taryn thought Mia was unhinged, she kept such musings to herself. After a few rounds of walking, pausing, listening, changing course, and walking again, something pricked against Mia’s ear. She motioned Taryn to follow her as she ducked around the side of a massive tree. Mia quickened her pace as the sound grew louder and she became surer of its origin. She honed in on it like a bat on a glow bug. It was coming from a particularly massive hardwood tree with thick, woody bark and sprawling branches. The branches were of no concern, however. It was the tender but powerful roots at the base of the tree where Mia focused her energy.
It had been months since she had extracted a conduit. She pulled her tool kit from her fur-trimmed bag and unrolled the soft cloth to display a series of chisels, a small hammer, some carving knives, a prying tool, and other implements. She set them out on top of a large root in a patch lit by the churning night lights above. She pulled out a small mortar and pestle and set it next to the other tools.
“You weren’t kidding about being into this stuff,” Taryn muttered under her breath.
Mia smiled and picked up a chisel and hammer. Slowly she chipped away at the outer bark of a thick portion of root, carefully peeling off long strips and setting them aside. Her goal was to try to preserve the bark to some extent. This tree would never notice if they harvested some for a conduit. Once Mia had carefully removed the bark, she asked Taryn to refresh her on the exact specifications of the Shillelagh. Taryn pulled her notebook from her bag and read the measurements out loud. Mia traced the measurements carefully along the root using a measuring tool and scored gently. Then she chiseled around the scored outline, making sure to dig deeply enough to obtain the proper thickness. The extraction went smoothly, and soon she had what she hoped approximated a good conduit to replace the Shillelagh. It was rather large and wouldn’t fit in her bag, so she handed it to Taryn for safekeeping. The next step was to carefully pack the hole in the root with a compound that would allow it to heal while providing a temporary connection.
Mia took some snippets of smaller roots that were no longer connected to a tree, some meat from a nearby gourd, and some herbs she had brought with her from Brother Cornelius’s laboratory and used the mortar and pestle to create a thick paste. As soon as a batch was ready, she spread it into the hole left by the extracted root and prepared another batch. This took a significant amount of time, and Taryn became antsy, looking about in worry. “’Tis all right,” Mia reassured her. “This is a standard practice for getting a nice conduit. It should arouse no suspicion should anyone see us foraging in this manner.”
“Yes, but this root is huge. Its size will arouse suspicion,” Taryn whispered tersely.
“We’ll encircle it with some long clippings that Brother Cornelius requested,” Mia said. “He’s attempting to graft a new kind of gourd onto an old stem, and he needs some lanky vines. This root is perfect to transport them.” Mia was sure Taryn couldn’t give two hoots about Brother Cornelius’s request for vines, but she at least seemed to relax.
Once the hole was filled with the fragrant paste, Mia carefully replaced the strips of bark onto the root in a rough semblance of where they originally had resided. It wasn’t necessary to get them perfect, but she never liked to take from a tree unless she needed to, and she never liked to leave that tree any worse for wear if possible. This root was too large to bind, but if it had been possible, she would have done that as well. With their Shillelagh approximation in hand, they quickly foraged for Brother Cornelius’s vines and secured them in a coil around the root.
Time was running low. There was so much vegetation Mia wanted to explore, and Taryn had to drag her back in the direction of the Compound. “We shouldn’t make them come looking for us,” she hissed at Mia.
“I can’t help it,” Mia said, looking longingly at a glittering purple gourd hanging high up in a tree. She was thinking of how she could connect that vine somehow to the passage of conduits that ran behind their walls in the barracks. How amazing her cubby would look with purple gourds.
“What are those gourds?” Mia asked. “I’ve not seen anything like them.”
“I’ll be blasted to the center of the Core if I know,” Taryn said, irritated. Despite her words to the contrary, Mia suspected that adventure wasn’t actually Taryn’s favorite pastime. She clearly found it stressful. Dainty beads of sweat dotted her forehead, and short blond hairs had come loose from her plait and were sticking up in odd directions. Taryn pulled on them in her anxiety. Her forehead wrinkled, her slim limbs stiff.
“All right, all right,” Mia said with more than a hint of sadness. What was the point of this lollygagging anyway? Once she had the Shillelagh, she could explore any forest in the realm to her heart’s content. This was just a distraction from the task at hand.
Mia was sure they must be close to the Compound when suddenly a low growl came from nearby. She and Taryn froze like stone columns. The growl deepened. It was moving closer, but Mia couldn’t tell exactly which direction it was coming from. It sounded like it was coming from everywhere. She looked over at Taryn, who gave Mia a pleading look, as if she were about to bolt. Mia pulled one of her knives from her belt with her left hand and grabbed Taryn’s hand with her right, squeezing it tightly. Their slight rustle caused whatever the animal was to let out a howl, and they bolted back toward the Compound. They had run only maybe twenty feet when something tall leapt out in front of them, a robe billowing. Taryn and Mia recoiled simultaneously. Mia tripped backward, taking Taryn with her, and they landed in a jumble on the root-covered forest floor. Taryn scrambled backward in fear, her eyes wildly veering this way and that, looking for an escape.
“Careful of the root,” Mia chided her.
The mass before them howled a great howl and turned to confront them. Mia brandished the knife, holding it by the tip, ready to loose it. Cedar took one look at their faces and busted out in hysterical laughter. Breathing hard, Mia dropped the knife and raked her hand through her hair and over her
face, wiping the sweat away. I could have killed him. The idiot.
“I totally got you,” he managed through guffaws.
Taryn quickly recovered her wits and charged him, pummeling his back with her fist. “What in the Great Forest is wrong with you? Have you absolutely lost your mind?” Her fists appeared to have the opposite of the intended reaction, and Cedar laughed harder.
“You should have seen your faces,” he gasped between chuckles. “I mean, Mia is already an electric-white beacon in the night, but if she’d gotten any paler, she might have been translucent!”
Mia frowned. “Well, that would be a handy skill to have, wouldn’t it?” She picked her knife up from the ground and stowed it in her belt. She then vaulted to her feet, not bothering to dust herself off, and stalked past Cedar and Taryn, continuing toward the Compound.
“Hey, now,” he said, looking somewhat remorseful. “It was just a joke, ya know?”
Mia turned around, but her eyes looked through his and out the back of his head. She was too livid to speak, so she just kept walking.
“Where are we going to store this?” Taryn asked, fingering the rough outer layer of the conduit. Mia had already removed the vines, which were piled on a table in the Archives waiting for Brother Cornelius.
“Do you have a trunk under your bunk? I don’t have one,” Mia said.
Taryn nodded. “Yes, it should fit in there, although I’ll have to move some belongings around.”
“Now the pressure is on. We only have a limited time before this root dries out so much that its conductivity will be permanently impacted.”
“But the Shillelagh must be dried out already,” Taryn said, a look of worry shadowing her face.
“Oh, I’m sure it’s quite dry, “ Mia replied, focusing her concentration. “Compendium is dry too, yet it has a power source, even if we’d be damned to know what that source is. The same is true for the Shillelagh. It’s dry, but its conductivity comes from something else. Our replacement root isn’t an artifact. Compendium and the Shillelagh can conduct energy even though they’re dead. This shunt doesn’t have that power. We’ll have to coat it with a paste and keep it moist so the cells don’t die while we figure out what to do about the doors.”