by Zen DiPietro
“Sounds good to me. But no, you’re not using me as a bargaining chip. Nice try though.” Arc patted Will on the shoulder.
“All right, but I’m not giving up.” He snapped back to business. “So. With the monorail line set, what’s next on your agenda? That didn’t take long at all.”
“It was less work than I anticipated,” Kassimeigh agreed. “Simply heaving around tons of materials is very easy compared to transmuting or conjuring.”
Arc nudged her with his elbow. “What’s funny is that when you say ‘tons’ you literally mean tons.”
She nudged him back. “Anyway, I need to go check on Élan. Make sure she’s able to keep up with the rate of degeneration and that she has everything she needs. Do you want to come?” she asked Arc. “Or would you rather stay here? Or I could take you home. I’m sure you have things to take care of there.”
Arc considered. “There’s nothing I can really do to help Élan, and I’ve jumped from place to place enough lately. I think I’ll stay here. I’ve introduced a new style of composite bow and would like to do more training with the troops. Unless you’d rather I came along.”
“No, you’re probably right. You’ll have more to do here. Besides, if I’m taking a longer trip alone, I can see how fast I can really go.”
Arc grimaced. “I must resist the urge to tell you to be careful, because I know it’s an utterly stupid thing to say.”
“It’s not stupid to be concerned for my well-being. But don’t worry.”
“I knew you’d say that.”
Will found himself on the receiving end of her gaze. “Do you want that ride you asked about earlier? I could take you for a spin before I leave.”
Now that she’d offered, he felt the need to reconsider his earlier, rash request. “Yeah, I’m not so sure about that now.” He squinted at Arc. “Should I?”
Arc shrugged. “Depends. You can ask her to take it easy on you. It’s actually kind of fun when she isn’t trying to break her last record.” He waited a beat, watching for Will’s reaction. “Give it a try.”
Fifteen minutes later Will tried to pretend his legs weren’t rubbery as he stepped off the kite. He hoped he wasn’t pale. Or green. “Uh, thanks for the ride. It was . . . fun.”
After Kassimeigh had sailed off toward the mid-lats, Arc peered at Will. “Was it fun?”
“Sure, at first. But then she started doing inversions.” He pressed a hand to his abdomen. Just thinking about it, his innards started doing inversions of their own.
Arc burst out into guffaws. “Yes. Those are the worst.” He slapped Will on the back. It did not help the roiling sensation. “Let’s go get you some water. It helps settle the stomach.”
Kassimeigh consulted her hand comm to make sure her flight path remained accurate. Reassured, she increased her speed. She fairly screamed across the landscape as her ponytail whipped back in the wind. She pushed the kite to her top speed, and then pushed it a little further. She sure liked improving. Getting faster, more accurate, better at maneuvering.
She resisted an urge to yell, “Whee!” As much as she liked traveling with Arc, he didn’t appreciate aerial acrobatics like she did, or share her enjoyment of high speed. Now that she was able to let loose, she wholeheartedly took advantage of it. She created a little cone of mana just in front of her to blunt the effect of the wind and g-force, but elected to let a good portion of it through. It was more fun that way.
A chuckle rose in her throat. She didn’t think she’d ever done anything that was so much fun. And who would have thought a year ago she’d do something just for the fun of it? She didn’t know if the change in her was due to Arc’s influence, her transformation into a manahi, or her departure from the shiv order. Most likely, it was a combination of all of those things. Whatever it was, she loved flying, and had a hell of a good time at it.
When she set down in Élan’s domain, she ran her hands over her face and hair. As she stepped off of the kite, Élan swung down from a tree and leaned against its trunk.
“You sure know how to make an entrance,” the bard observed.
“Thank you, I guess.” Kassimeigh scrutinized the area. “Everything looks good here. Still pristine, from what I can see.”
“Of course. That’s my job. I work my way through the trees here every day, touching them and giving them a boost of mana to keep them thriving. Any little patches of damage fix right up. It’s time-consuming, but the daily maintenance keeps the blight away.” She smoothed a hand over the tree’s bark, as if admiring her handiwork.
“Do you get tired when you use more mana than usual?” Kassimeigh wondered in how many ways their use of mana differed.
“No. If I do too much, I get chafed, like my nerves are sore. You get tired?”
“Oh yeah. If I really tap in, it can exhaust me entirely.”
“Interesting.”
“Yes.” Kassimeigh saw her own curiosity reflected in Élan’s eyes. Clearly, she wasn’t the only one interested in the differences in their mana use. She saw that as a positive sign. Maybe she could build on that curiosity, use it to inspire the bard to learn more. “Have you sensed anything? A drop in mana level, anything at all?”
Élan shook her head. “Nope. It’s as abundant as it ever was. If anything, it might be stronger. What do you think?”
Kassimeigh focused, paying careful attention to the feel of the mana cycling through her. “I guess you could be right. I couldn’t say for sure. If there’s an increase, it’s very small.” She’d hoped for findings of far more significance.
“You seem disappointed.”
“Well, yes. Not that I wanted the mana to deplete, but I’d hoped you’d latch right onto a clue that would help us figure things out.”
“Hmm. From what I understand about scientific research, a lack of results is as significant as finding results. It’s just a lot less exciting.”
Kassimeigh nodded, acknowledging the point. “I’m less looking for excitement and more looking for answers. On the bright side, no new areas have been deforested. Perhaps your efforts here have kept the organisms fed well enough that they haven’t had to move on. If so, that’s a significant finding.”
“Do we have some reason to assume that they have the ability to travel?”
“On my way here, I landed briefly to answer a call from Dr. Sparks. The scientists have identified the sample that had the mana signature, and travel seems like a possibility.”
“Oh! But that’s huge news! You should have led with that. So what is this thing, a plant or an animal? You were thinking plant. Plants don’t normally travel, but seeds and spores could. Oh, but I’m babbling! You talk now.” Élan pressed her hand over her mouth, which amused Kassimeigh.
“No, not a plant. Or an animal, actually.”
“I’m confused. I thought we were sure it was some kind of organism. How else could it be organic?”
“Some kind of creature is here, and it’s feeding. What we’ve discovered is the result of the feeding process.”
Élan fell silent while she worked that information through. “So we’re talking about . . . droppings?” At Kassimeigh’s nod, she exclaimed, “You mean we’ve been chasing around for weeks after poo? Poo with a mana signature?” Her forehead creased. “Gross!”
Élan seemed so offended by the idea that Kassimeigh had to smile. “Yes, that’s what it is. It might not be glamorous, but droppings prove a couple of things. First, we know that the creatures are literally eating. Second, we know that they’re creatures and not some sort of plant life. That’s important.”
“So they’re eating plants and, erm, excreting stuff that includes mana. Does that mean they eat mana? Do we try to trap some of the buggers so we can study them?”
“That would be the ideal, but the question is how to do that. We haven’t even discovered them yet.”
“How do the scientists plan to find them?”
Kassimeigh shook her head. “No, you misunderstand me. The ‘we’ I
was referring to is you and me. We’re the ones that need to figure out how to grab one of these things.”
“Oh. I’m sure this is going to be all kinds of good for me.” She heaved a sigh. “How do you propose we do that?”
“I don’t think you’re going to like it. But there’s something else you should know, before we start on that.”
Élan narrowed her eyes. “What?”
“Someone at the lab leaked information to the public and it’s gone viral on the comm system. There’s a growing outcry among people who are afraid of a creature that eats our trees and excretes mana. They think it means the creature must eat mana too, and that eventually, there will be none left for us. So far it’s just hysteria on the comm, but it’s a significant concern. Fear is a powerful motivator for really bad choices.”
“In other words, we need answers and we need them now. Because people are stupid and panic without reason.” Élan rubbed her forehead.
“Aptly put.” Kassimeigh was often of the opinion that foolish people created their own problems. Most of the adjudications she’d completed could have been avoided if the adjudicants had simply refrained from foolish behavior.
“Bah, why am I here again? I’m a bard, not a mystery-solving-type person.” Élan scowled. She bore a charming resemblance to Luc during one of his attacks of crankiness. Kassimeigh found the similarity endearing, but she didn’t think Élan would appreciate the comparison.
Instead, she pointed out the obvious. At least, it was obvious to her. “When you can do what needs to be done, you have to do it. How you define yourself is irrelevant.”
“Shiv wisdom.” Élan’s dainty face scrunched up in annoyance.
“No. Just what I’ve learned from my own experience.”
Élan gazed up into the tree canopy for a few long minutes. Kassimeigh simply waited. She knew that Élan would come to the right decision.
Finally, Élan met Kassimeigh’s eyes, and tossed her hair back over her shoulder. “You’d better tell me about this fantastic plan of yours that I’m going to hate.”
Twenty minutes later, personal pep talk notwithstanding, Élan’s face remained twisted into a scowl. “Why do you need my help? Surely you could do this without me.”
She and Kassimeigh sat cross-legged facing each other. She couldn’t help but note the size difference between them. Élan had a very healthy amount of self-confidence, but Kassimeigh’s size always made her feel like she had some growing to do.
“You have a special attunement to the environment. That makes you the ideal candidate to try to pinpoint something that’s remained so well hidden. Besides, I’ll be busy with the big things, so you can focus on the small things. It’ll be fine,” Kassimeigh assured her.
“The thing is, I really don’t want to be hanging around when you’re working some major mana.” She didn’t even know the precise risk to herself, but from her perspective, it sounded like a whole lot of bad.
“I’ve done work that required far more precision and it went perfectly. Don’t worry. I won’t blow out all of your circuits.”
“Oh, crap, you mean I should be worried about that?”
“No, I’m saying that is not going to happen.”
“But, see, you just implied that blowing my circuits could happen.”
Kassimeigh reached for Élan’s hands. “Relax. You have my word that when we’re done, you will be exactly as you were before. First, I just want to show you something.”
Kassimeigh gently molded one of Élan’s small hands into a fist and cupped it within her own. “Do whatever it is you do with mana. Let it flow. But only within this one hand. Okay?”
“Why? Are you going to show me I can have a part in making something huge?”
“No. You already know I can do big and destructive. Believe it or not, wild and massive can be easier than small and controlled. I want to show you the other side of what I can do.”
The other side. Élan didn’t know what that meant, but it seemed like she was going to find out. Pressing her lips together, she hummed a gentle, lilting tune and let mana flow into her fist. She imagined it as a small treasure against her palm.
“Good.” Kassimeigh nodded encouragingly. “Now just hold it like that. It’s small, right?”
Élan nodded.
“Couldn’t do much with it, right?”
She nodded again.
“Right. Watch.”
Kassimeigh’s hands continued to gently hold Élan’s fist, and her eyes stared into nothing as she focused outside herself. Élan wondered idly if she looked the same when she let mana flow through her. She waited to feel something. Maybe heat, maybe tingling. She knew there must be some indicator of Kassimeigh’s mana use.
“Now,” Kassimeigh surprised her by saying. “Look inside.” She pulled her hands away from Élan’s.
She still hadn’t felt a thing and wondered if Kassimeigh was making a shiv-like existential point about something or other. But when she unfurled her fingers, her breath caught.
Light peeked out between her fingers, bursting with orange, red, blue, and more. When she opened her palm flat, she could see a tiny rainbow, hovering just above her skin and radiating surprisingly bright light.
“Don’t forget to keep feeding it mana,” Kassimeigh reminded her when a ripple coursed through the rainbow. “You’re the one keeping it going.”
Élan softly hummed an aimless tune, letting just a hint of mana flow to keep this little wonder glowing. Though it was tiny and unnaturally brilliant, it otherwise looked just like any natural rainbow, with red blending through orange to yellow, green to blue, and then into shades of purple. It was tiny and lovely and most surprisingly, so carefully wrought that it registered on her senses as only a very small use of mana energy. She hadn’t realized that Kassimeigh’s ability was so fine-tuned that she could accomplish something so miniscule, yet perfect.
“Now look.” Kassimeigh pinched her thumb and forefinger together and made a slight pulling motion. The layer of red peeled away into nothingness. She did it again and the orange hues peeled off and evaporated. She repeated the process until Élan held only a little arc of purple.
“Just let it go,” instructed Kassimeigh.
She let the music die in her throat, and watched the purple evaporate as the other colors had. She let her hand drop into her lap.
“You wanted to show me that you can work in infinitesimal increments.”
“Yes,” Kassimeigh agreed.
She’d accomplished her goal. Élan had a newfound respect for Kassimeigh’s power. It was one thing to blow things up. It was another to have such precision. A soft sigh escaped her. She was about to contradict a lifetime’s worth of promises made to herself. But what else could she do? She couldn’t deny what she’d seen.
Kassimeigh’s eyes blazed with earnestness. “Working big is easy. If you have the harness power, anyone can make stuff blow up. I want you to know that no matter what happens, I will never harm you.”
Élan shook her head. She felt a bit disappointed in herself for giving in so easily. But Kassimeigh spoke the truth. No matter what other manahi had done to her, Kassimeigh was different. She’d been taking small steps away from her safe little life ever since she’d met Arc and his friend in the woods. Taking a leap now seemed the only logical thing to do.
“Let’s get to work, then,” she said.
She gave the manahi credit for not celebrating the moment. Kassimeigh simply nodded and got down to business.
“I want you to pay attention to your senses. Downplay the music part as much as you can to give yourself more room to focus. Go ahead and start. Just enough to get your mana flowing.”
Élan closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths. She hummed several bars of slow, dreamy music.
“Good. Now, I’m going to harness all the mana in this area.”
Élan’s eyes popped open and she stopped humming. “What do you mean, all of it? What happened to working small?”
“That won’t work in this case. I’m going to yank every bit of mana out of the forest and harness it. That means that all the mana will either be in me or flowing through you. Anything else should pop right out like a spark in a dark room. No place to hide.”
“I’m going to ignore the part where you’re doing something way more powerful than I want to be near. Instead, I’ll ask how, if there’s no mana left for me to use, am I supposed to use my mana to sense what’s out there?”
“I’ll be linked with you and fueling you.”
“With all the mana? Can we go back to the rainbow thing?”
A tiny smile quirked on Kassimeigh’s lips. “Of course not all of it. I’ll only slip you a teeny sliver of what I harness, once we’re ready. That way, you can ignore what I’m holding and the tiny mana signatures should pop right out against the backdrop of null energy.”
Kassimeigh looked so serious while she explained this ludicrously unlikely yet very real thing that Élan burst out laughing.
“I wasn’t trying to be funny.”
“I know. That’s what makes it funny.” Élan tried to get her chuckles under control.
“Oh. Okay.” Kassimeigh shrugged, as if taking Élan’s word for it. “Keep your mana flowing. I’m going to harness the mana now.”
Despite her very deep misgivings, Élan hummed her song. Kassimeigh’s expression tightened into intense concentration, and her long frame seemed to expand and grow stronger. A strange sensation rushed by Élan like wind. The energy whooshed right past her and straight into Kassimeigh, who absorbed it. The air around them seemed to cool as the mana drained out, leaving a startling harshness behind. The loss of the mana created a hollow sensation in Élan, although Kassimeigh remained linked and supplied her with a small pipeline of energy.
Élan searched the trees and the grasses, inch by inch. She didn’t need to look with her eyes, but she stared at each area nonetheless, as she raked her senses across the space, feeling for any mana left behind. She was focusing to her left when she perceived a flicker behind her. She extracted a sample container from her backpack and stood, then moved toward the flicker. Like a homing beacon, it called to her. As she got closer, more tiny prickles dotted the edge of her awareness. Finally, she pressed her hand against the trunk of a tree. Yes, there they were. She reached up to a branch and pulled it down so she could reach a leaf. Right there where she’d felt it, she saw a tiny green beetle-looking thing. Hesitantly, she reached a finger toward it and was surprised when the little bug flitted for a moment and alighted on her fingertip.