“Yes, Kei, because we didn’t want him growing up as disorderly as you,” Jena said, sticking her tongue out, which made her friends laugh.
Wyma tsked at them. “Dear, dear, such rudeness. People have changed so much since I was a boy. Karik, say hello to Seiki. She’s the youngest of us here at the moment. Come here, my child,” he said, motioning to a tall girl who’d been hiding shyly behind the others. “Karik, this is Seiki. Say hello, my dear.”
“Hello, Karik, “ Seiki said quietly. She was probably slightly older than him, but not much. She seemed rather sad, and he recalled what Reis had told him about missing her mother.
“Seiki, why don’t you sit near Karik and keep him company while the rest of us chatter? I’m sure you don’t want to be bothered by our nonsense.”
She looked rather dubious, but someone—Reis?—floated a cushion over to her, so she had little choice but to do as Wyma suggested. “Do you mind?”
Karik jerked a little in surprise—he hadn’t realised she was a mind-speaker. “Not at all. Do you? I can make an excuse or something.”
“No, it’s all right. Wyma just wants me to get used to everyone and to cheer up. I don’t think he remembers his family, so he doesn’t understand what it’s like to miss them. And you’ve got yours right here.”
He couldn’t miss the jealousy. “I’m sorry. Reis explained what happened to him.”
She nodded and picked at the material of her trousers. “Are you enjoying yourself?”
“Yes, I am. We only got here yesterday, but so far it’s great. Do you like Darshek?”
“Haven’t seen much of it, except once when Reis took me for a flight over the city.”
“How long have you been here?”
“Only five months. I’d like to see the city but I don’t want to do that on my own. Before, I didn’t have control over my Gift and now...well, people are busy.”
“Don’t you have any contact with your parents? Where do they live?”
“They live in Ai-Rutej, and I can speak to them if I want, but....” She bit her lip. “It’s not the same.”
“Did you have friends there? Do you miss them?”
She shook her head and looked at her hands. “Once people realised I had this Gift, they avoided me. Ma told me to hide it, but they found out eventually, and after that, no one wanted me around them. They said I could tell what they were thinking, but it’s not like I can stop doing that. I never told anyone anything I read in anyone’s minds. They don’t understand that’s it’s not my fault. They never trusted me. My Ma did, but she said I had to come up here, because of the law.”
“Your Pa?”
“Pa didn’t even say goodbye.” To Karik’s horror, a tear slipped down her face and she hung her head. He put a hand on her shoulder in comfort—to think he’d thought he had a hard life, whiny brat that he was.
“I’m sorry. I really am, Seiki.”
She looked up at him with damp lashes. “No, I am. I’m being rude, telling you all this. I’m not always this pathetic. It’s just seeing your Ma and Pa reminded me.”
“I don’t think you’re rude. Maybe we can go outside for a walk? Get away from all these people?” It was a good thing he and Seiki were talking in their heads—the sound of several conversations over their heads was getting a bit much.
Seiki looked over at Wyma. “May we go outside?”
“Of course, my child. Just come in before dark so we can have our supper.”
She stood and held out her hand to him. “We’re going out to the garden,” she announced.
Karik saw Ma start as if she was about to offer to go with them, but then she settled back on the cushions. Someone had explained to her. “Wuh-we’ll come back s-soon.”
Seiki held his hand as she led him out of the glass doors and down a wide path to the garden. “Reis showed you the pattern?”
“Yes, it’s amazing. The whole place is amazing.”
“It’s really beautiful, and people have been so nice to me. I don’t know why I can’t get over being so homesick. Some days I do nothing but cry.” Unlike Karik’s Ma, Seiki could talk to him without touching him, so he could hear her though she had wandered over to smell the blue flowers blooming on a large bush. “Everyone’s been really curious to meet you. That doesn’t happen very often, that Wyma wants to meet a normal, I mean.”
“I know. I don’t know why, though. I’m nothing special. My parents are, Kei is.”
“Well, that’s the reason. Because they all like Kei so much, and Kei was so excited about you coming up, they wanted to know what you were like, and then after you got taken away, Neka got involved.” She shrugged. “Some of us don’t have very much to occupy ourselves.”
“What do you do? Do you work for the Rulers?”
“Not yet—I’m too young, and I haven’t been fully trained to control my Gift. I can just about manage not to hear everyone at the same time, but if I try to listen too hard for someone, then they all come crashing in. It gives me such a headache.”
“But you want to work with them? Is that what you would have done, I mean, if you hadn’t had a Gift?”
“My Ma makes pottery and she was teaching me. My father is a farmer.” She walked off a little way. “I like making pots. But they don’t need me for that here.”
“Maybe you could learn to do something else. Study at the academy, or with someone else?”
“Everyone thinks I’m a freak. No one would teach me anything.”
Karik came a little closer to her. “You’re not a freak. That’s what they call me, back home. But I’m not a freak either.”
“Because you don’t have a braid?”
“Because I’m Prijian.”
She stared at him. “But you’re normal.”
“I’m different from them. You’re different from me, but you’re not a freak. You seem really nice to me.”
She gave him a smile then, which showed him how pretty she was when she wasn’t crying. “You’re nice too. Do you have friends? Back home?”
“Yes. There’s Risa and Meran and Keiji, and Gyo, only he lives near Ai-Tuek so I don’t see him much. Those are the ones closest to me.”
“You’re lucky. To have friends, and your family too....”
“Seiki, I got beaten up three weeks before I left. It’s not all wonderful. Living in this house and with such nice people...could be good, couldn’t it?”
“I guess so. So tell me what you are going to do while you’re here.”
“I’m not sure. Pa wants to visit a jesig breeder, and Ma wants to go to the menagerie and the herbarium, and Risa’s got things to do for the village. I guess I’ll be following them around. It’s all new to me.”
“And it means you’re not back with those people who beat you up?”
“Yes. Stupid Jos,” he added in disgust.
“So he doesn’t like you because...you’re Prijian?”
“Well, he says that’s the reason. Pa thinks it’s because I’m smarter than him, and he’s jealous because my parents are elders, but that’s just stupid too. He makes fun of my stutter, like that’s got anything to do with anything at all.”
“I know what that’s like.” She smiled again. “Can I tell you a secret?”
“Sure.”
“I used to stutter like you do.”
He stared. That was about the last thing he expected her to say. “U-used to?”
“Uh huh. Still do, if I don’t concentrate or I’m upset.” At Karik’s continued look of amazement, she explained. “My Ma’s brother used to stutter and her Ma worked out a way of helping him, and then when I started, my Ma taught me. It takes a while and you have to work at it.”
“C-Can you teach me?”
“Of course. Oh, but you’re going home....”
How long would it take, he wondered. “Can you write down what I need to do?”
“I can try, but you need someone to work with you.”
“I need to tell my Ma.”
/>
“Wait, I’ll call her.” Seiki went silent for a few moments, and then moments after that, both Karik’s parents and Kei came walking down the path beside the house.
“Ma! P-Pa! Suh-Seiki knows how to fuh-fix my stutter!”
Ma looked as shocked as he’d felt a few minutes before. “Could you explain that to us, dear?” she said, coming to Karik’s side.
Seiki looked embarrassed by the undivided attention of so many people. “Um, I was just telling Karik th-that I stammered as bad as he does. But my Ma taught me how to stop.”
Kei frowned. “I don’t understand. I know I asked all the village healers to tell me if they knew of any stammering cases, and if anyone had any success with treating them. Did your Ma tell your healer about you?”
“Yes, I know she did because Mara spent a long time asking me about it.”
“Pissing Mara!” Ma said, making Karik jump. “She knew why we wanted it!”
“Jena....”
“Wh-who?”
“I’ll explain later,” Kei said, his expression surprisingly grim. “Never mind all that. Seiki, would you be able to explain to me what your Ma did for you? Perhaps after Wyma goes to bed?”
“Of course. But why didn’t Mara tell you about it?”
“Um...well....”
“Because she’s a nasty little bitch,” Ma spat. Kei flushed hot in embarrassment.
“Jena love, not in front of the children,” Pa said, but his expression made it look like he wasn’t all that surprised at her reaction.
Kei put his hand on Karik’s shoulder. “Well, whatever the reason, at least Seiki has offered to help you. Can Karik do it at home, do you think?”
“I don’t know, my Ma was there to help me,” Seiki said.
“We’ll see what we can do while Karik’s up here then. Now, everyone, I think we should go inside, because Wyma wants his tea and then we’ll eat supper.”
Karik was so excited, he could hardly sit still. Could they really stop this stupid stuttering? Seiki had caught something of his mood, and was altogether more cheerful. She was a really sweet girl. And not a freak. He wasn’t a freak either.
But for now, he had to be patient and wait. The dinner was...different. For one thing, the Gifted were about the most informal people he’d ever met, and even the casual manners of the village were discarded. People moved around the table from seat to seat, exchanged food off each other’s plates, floated things to each other, and the noise was incredible. Karik watched in silent amazement, almost too distracted to eat. Kei appeared used to it, and Karik’s parents didn’t seem to think there was anything unusual at all. Maybe it was because he was an only child, and so meals were never as busy as this anyway.
Wyma sat at the head of the table, waited on attentively by the two people sitting near him—not people who had been in the indoor garden. Kei had already explained that most of the Gifted were reclusive and quite a few never met with strangers, or left the House, though they were perfectly able to do so. Certainly only eight or so of the twenty people at table spoke to him or his parents directly, though they were free enough with each other. After hearing what had happened to Reis and Seiki, Karik could understand how they might reject the ‘normal’ world.
There were over thirty Gifted living in the House, Kei had told them, so there must have been some who wouldn’t come to this meal because he and his parents were there—or perhaps simply because there were other people there. He wondered how awful life had to become before being entirely on your own was preferable to meeting anyone else. Looking around the table, he thought how people had responded so differently to a shared situation, similar grief. He had thought Reis child-like, but to have come out of such an experience so remarkably free from bitterness and with his trust and curiosity intact, meant in some ways, Reis must be a very wise man indeed.
The chaotic meal went on for over two hours, until Wyma announced that he was retiring for the evening. “Goodnight to you, young Karik, Jena, Reji. I see this visit has brought you joy. May you return and find more of it.” His parents bowed respectfully, so Karik imitated them.
“Goodnight, Wyma,” Kei said, going to him and taking his hand. Wyma indicated he would like Kei to go with him, so they left together, Wyma leaning on Kei’s arm, and speaking quietly to each other.
Seiki came to sit next to Karik. “I hope I can help you. I should really ask my Ma for some advice.”
“Can you?”
“I guess—if Pa doesn’t know about it.”
How could her father be so cruel? How could he know his daughter for seventeen years and turn his back on her like that? At least Karik’s real parents had hardly known him at all, so he had been easy to set aside. “I’ll be grateful for whatever you do,” he told her firmly.
“I’d like to help. I’d like to feel I was doing something useful instead of playing all the time.”
Kei was gone some time, and most of the Gifted had wandered off to elsewhere in the House, leaving a mess that two servants had begun to clear up. Karik felt he should help, but no one seemed to think he should, so he followed his parents’ lead.
Meda stood up once most of her friends had gone. “Let’s go to the sitting room,” she said, linking arms with her two lovers. Neris was a lot less friendly-looking than Reis, but was great friends with Pa and had spent much of the meal chatting to him. Meda was a friendly, quiet lady who was very fond of her two men, and they obviously adored her. Karik couldn’t begin to imagine how one managed to be in love with two people at the same time, but they seemed perfectly happy with their arrangement.
The sitting room was a large, informal room with long chairs and big cushions scattered around, bookshelves lining one wall, and several pictures, including one of Wyma that had to be recent, since it showed him as he was now. The Gifted flopped down onto chairs or the cushions, and Karik was tugged down to the floor by Reis. “Now, tell me what you and Seiki are up to—is it a secret?”
“Nosy,” Meda said, poking him in the side. “Maybe Karik doesn’t want to tell you.”
“It’s n-not a s-secret. S-Seiki muh-might be able to huh-help my s-stutter.” He rolled his eyes at this demonstration of exactly why he needed the help.
“Really? Oh that’s wonderful.” Reis looked nearly as delighted as Karik felt. “Can we watch?”
“Reis,” Ma said, “it’s not something that happens quickly, if at all.”
“It must be like learning to control our Gift,” Neka said thoughtfully. “At first you have to think about it all the time and you don’t dare let it slip, and then suddenly, you don’t have to think about it.”
“That is what it’s like,” Seiki confirmed. “Sometimes I forget though, if I get excited or nervous. But I know that as soon as I remember what to do, it will stop.”
“If you know how to cure stammering, Seiki, you could have people beating your door down for help,” Pa said to her. “Kei’s been tearing his hair out looking for someone to help Karik and other children he knows of. You could make a whole career out of it.”
Her eyes widened at his words. “Really?”
Neka, lounging against Jera as she had been, rolled over to look at her. “Of course, darling. You can do what you want, so long as you live in Darshek. Nobody makes me work with the Rulers, I just like to. You could work with them or Kei, or whoever you want, if it interests you. If you can help people with this thing you know, that would be wonderful.”
“Well, it’s my Ma who knows it,” she said shyly.
“It doesn’t matter,” Pa told her. “It’s like me and beasts—I learned from my Pa, and he learned from his uncle. I taught Risa and Karik, and they’ll teach other people. The important thing is to share the knowledge.”
“And not to keep it secret because you’re a devious little bitch with a grudge,” Karik’s mother muttered, low enough that he hoped Seiki hadn’t heard it. He really wanted to know the story behind this. Pa whispered something into his Ma’s ear which made h
er smile. “Yes, I guess I do owe her something. But I’ll still kick her in the backside when I see her.”
“I suspect more than a kicking might be on its way from Kei,” Pa said firmly. “Where is that damn man, anyway?”
“Oh, Wyma’s bending his ear,” Neka said. “But he’s coming down, I just asked him.”
This evening was about as different from any in Ai-Albon as Karik had ever experienced, and if he hadn’t just spent a month in Utuk in yet another very different, though far less pleasant environment, he thought he might have been overwhelmed. But as it was, it felt perfectly natural to be sprawled on the floor with several people he had only just met, watching the couples holding hands and stroking each other fondly, his parents doing the same as if they were still courting. In fact he and Seiki were the only two who weren’t lovers—and when he had that thought, he suddenly blushed. Catching Seiki’s eye, he saw her redden and then grin. “Sorry, Karik, I can’t not hear you when you’re this close and you’re thinking about me.”
“It’s all right, I know it’s automatic. I didn’t mean....”
“No, I saw that too. If you didn’t want to, you wouldn’t have to tell me anything, but then that would be no fun, would it?”
“I guess not.”
“Sorry I kept you waiting, Seiki,” Kei said, walking into the room. “Everyone’s comfortable except me. Karik, can I share your cushion?” Karik moved over and his uncle flopped down next to him. “I’m exhausted,” he declared. “You damn visitors from the villages, you’re so much work.”
“Listen to him,” Ma said dryly. “Like you don’t run us all ragged when you and that great oaf come to visit in the summer. I need a month to recover, don’t I, Reji?”
“Oh, easily. I have to confine her to bed.”
“I didn’t realise you needed an excuse to do that,” Kei said with an innocent smile.
“Keep it clean in front of the children, Keichichi.”
“You started it, Rei-ki.”
“Gods, you two, stop it,” Ma said, poking Pa. “Kei, we need to know what Seiki can do for Karik.”
Falling From the Tree (Darshian Tales #2) Page 46