He put an arm around her and pulled her towards him, tucking her under his shoulder. “You are a bad influence.”
“I know.” She sounded pleased with herself.
“It is hard to believe we are parents, isn’t it?”
She nodded. “No kidding!”
“Raven is like you.”
“Yes.”
“Any regrets?”
“None at all.”
He chewed on the stalk. “Good.”
They settled down to wait, in companionable silence.
IT DIDN’T TAKE long for the others to join them, and they all arrived together at the canth farm. The man who spoke to canths was waiting, his own bay canth saddled up and ready.
Grace brought the magsled to a halt, and she and Temar tumbled out after Bennel and Tallen, happy to stretch their legs. Tallen moved quickly over to Raven to help her down from her canth. She would benefit from a short break, too, he thought. It could not be easy staying in the saddle, not at her age.
Raven let herself fall into Tallen’s waiting arms. “You see?” she asked him excitedly. “’Aven ride good!”
“You ride very well, young one. One day you will be as good as your mother!”
Raven looked across at her magnificent mother, who was sitting quite happily in the saddle while making her canth plunge. Her mouth dropped open. It was the first sign she had had that one day she might grow like her mother. The concept was puzzling, but she couldn’t think of anybody she would rather be like. She gazed at her mother, eyebrows furrowed.
Six grinned at Diva. “She has your eyebrows! They snap together when she’s cross, just like yours do!”
Diva’s eyebrows instantly formed the referred-to shape. “Mine don’t do that!”
But Six was pointing at her face and laughing too much to reply. Diva tossed her head.
The canth keeper ignored them, congratulating Tallen on his recovery. He asked him about any possible permanent damage, and the Namuri was reassuring him, when the canth keeper held up one hand in surprise. Two large canths had come up to the gates of their respective corrals. The Xianthan opened them slowly, his face showing confusion.
“That is strange. Look at their stance – they only do that when there is to be a joining,” he explained.
Grace had already guessed what was happening, and clapped her mangled hands together in delight. “Bennel and Tallen!” she said.
The two Coriolans exchanged incredulous looks. “Us?” said Tallen. “But we don’t deserve … we are nobody.”
“The canths clearly don’t think so!” Grace told them both severely. “Don’t forget; they got to know you both during the trip to Kintara. This is great!”
Bennel stared in amazement at the tall chestnut canth that had placed its muzzle gently against his arm and lowered its head to him. He stretched up to scratch its forehead, just where it had a small white star, and it rubbed its nose against him and blew air into the palm of his hand. He gazed into the intelligent eyes with awe.
“Me?” he muttered. “A canth has really chosen me? But I am just a companion.”
Diva looked in Six’s direction. She could feel his thoughts. He might just as well have spoken them aloud. She put them into words herself. “You are not ‘just’ anything, Bennel. The canths obviously think you have much colour.”
The man still shook his head, so moved that he couldn’t speak.
Tallen was not so modest. He gave a small shout of pleased surprise and then sprang up onto his pinto’s back. “I have a canth!” he proclaimed into the air. “He chose me! He chose a Namuri!”
Then the boy grinned widely at them all and cantered wildly around the top circular paddock, rider and canth in total agreement that such a day deserved to be acknowledged with energy. The canth even gave a buck which nearly unseated its rider, but Tallen received it with a cry of glee, staying on his mount effortlessly despite his still-recuperating leg. He might have been born in the saddle. Diva thought of the sight of her small daughter leading a crippled boy out of the marshes only a month earlier, and felt her heart swell; the Namuri deserved this. He deserved some joy in his life.
THEY REACHED THE Lost Valley after a few more hours. The magsled which had brought Grace and Temar was already parked near a small clearing, next to a portable tent they had put up for changing and for shade. The others made their way over.
“We are the only ones here today,” Grace told them.
“We are?” Six sounded surprised. “How come?”
“Well, actually, because of you.”
“Me?”
“Yes. Apparently, since one of us is an ambassador, the whole place has had to be closed down.”
“No! —That makes me feel just like an Elder. I do hate being an ambassador.”
“By the way,” said Ledin. “I forgot to tell you, Kwaide has decided to make the position permanent and extend it to the whole of the Almagest system.”
Six was horrified. “You’re joking! They know I loathe the job. Why would they do that?”
“Because Arcan told them that under the conditions of the treaty he can’t and won’t transport anybody else all over the system.”
Grace nodded. “It does make sense, Six. I mean, it would be a bit compromising to have anybody else sent over from Kwaide. They wouldn’t know about the canths, or the lost animas, or anything.”
Six gave a grunt. “This is all Ledin’s fault. Why doesn’t he give up the orbital station and live full-time here on Xiantha? Then he could do the job.”
Ledin grinned. “Because you do it so much better than I could? All the Xianthans know you are a Valhai, which gives you instant respect and colour. I would have to work at it so much harder than you.”
“You just wanted to get out of it.”
“No. Putting up with Tartalus’s visits through the orbital station is worse, believe me.”
“Is he still going backwards and forwards?”
“Once a month. Never fails. I don’t know quite what he is doing down there in the areas around Benefice, but I am fairly sure I wouldn’t like it.”
“So am I. One day we should take the time to find out just what his ambassadorship entails.”
“You’re right. We should.”
Six sighed. “Oh well, if Arcan has decided it is to be me, I suppose there is nothing else left to say. But I don’t want the Xianthans told they can’t come in today just because I am here. I don’t want to be that sort of person. Can’t you change the instructions, Man who speaks to canths?”
The Xianthan nodded. “I can try, if you are sure.”
He got back into the magsled and disappeared in the direction of the canths. Sometime later they saw that he had been successful, for the area began to fill up with visitors, although these were careful to leave quite a big circle around the ambassador’s party.
“As if we had the Cesan plague,” said Diva. “Still, at least they have been allowed in.”
“Now we can find this bottomless pool they all talk about.” Six unsaddled his canth, and freed it, where it immediately began to graze on a small patch of grass which was clearly tended to especially for canths. The other equines followed suit.
Ledin found himself joining the others, who had all stripped down to the simple bathing costumes which the Xianthans used. He plucked Temar out of the tent and lifted him up easily onto his shoulders. They made their way along to the edge of the clearing and peered over.
“Sacras!” Ledin opened his eyes wide and clutched at the chubby legs dangling to either side of his neck.
“That looks a long way down!” said Six, in awe, coming up behind him.
Ledin gave a silent whistle. “A long, long way down!”
The baby stared, looked frightened and grabbed hold
of Ledin’s hair.
They were all so surprised that they simply stood there, staring, and didn’t even hear the others come up.
Diva found herself gazing down into the bottomless pool in silence, too.
There was a small drop to the surface of the water, of only about one metre. But the pool was not called bottomless for no reason. It must have been perhaps forty or fifty metres in diameter, a hole in the crust of the Lost Valley which sparkled with wonderfully clear water. Through the transparent water, the sides of the pool were visible. They consisted in cliffs of solid rock, which seemed to plunge down right to the centre of the planet, a vertiginous drop which plummeted vertically away from them below their feet. The sensation of great height was overwhelming, dizzying. The cliffs fell away beneath them as far as the eye could see, their sides partially streaked by green vegetation. At the surface the water was clearer and you could see how the shiny moss became gradually darker and darker as you looked further down, but in the centre the pool’s depth made the water appear completely black; there was no sign of it ever ending.
“Lumina!” said Six. “I wonder what made that?”
The canth keeper had come back up. “It was originally a large vertical cavern, in prehistoric times, but the roof caved in after the collision with Valhai, and then it flooded in the last glacial age.”
“How far down does it go?” asked Six, intrigued.
“No-one knows. Immersions have been made up to two hundred metres, and no end was seen.” The canth keeper waved a hand. “The water is not static, however; it seems to be continually refreshed by small springs and filtration, which is why we can swim safely in it.”
Grace was impressed. “I didn’t think there was much water up here near the Xianthes.”
“There isn’t; it is mostly way underground, except for the Emerald Lake, but this is the Lost Valley, so much lower than the rest of the surrounding land that there are three or four areas of surface-lying water.”
“What do we do?” asked Raven, impatient.
“Well, Raven of Xiantha, you jump in.”
“Jump in?” Raven peered warily over the edge again and gave a shiver. “Deep. Don’t want to.”
“You know how to swim. The water will keep you buoyant.”
Raven squinted again. “Not going to jump. Big drop. Will fall.”
“Then don’t,” said Six. He walked slowly back about five paces and then winked at Ledin. “Raven, you stay here.” With that, he began to run towards the lake, gave as high a leap as he could, and dived neatly into the water.
Both Raven and Temar gave cries of concern, until they saw that he had come to the surface, and was swimming naturally. Six made his way over to the edge and put his arms up for Temar. Ledin lifted the boy from his neck and began to pass him down.
The little boy was looking nervous. He squirmed back to look behind him at Ledin, trying to cling to his father’s arms.
Ledin nodded reassuringly. “Go with Valhai Six, Temar. It is quite safe.”
The baby clearly was doubtful, muttering some unknown combination of sounds to himself. Ledin quickly lowered him into Six’s arms and then slipped into the water himself, receiving his son back again. At first Temar clung obstinately to his father, but then he began to gurgle a little on his own, splashing his chubby arms.
Bennel stared down into the depths and gave a small grimace. “My daughter wouldn’t like this very much.”
Tallen lifted one eyebrow. “Scared of heights?”
“Petrified.” Then Bennel grinned at Tallen. “Happily, I am not. Namuri?”
“Sycophant?”
“Shall we?” Bennel jumped into the water, grinning.
Tallen peered over the edge. Truth be told, the sight of those walls plummeting down into the black depths was not exactly enticing, but he looked over at Raven and smiled.
Diva turned to Raven. “Coming?”
Raven shook her head, the mulish expression still on her face.
“What a pity, darling. Never mind, you can stay here.” Diva grinned at Six, then dived neatly into the pool.
Tallen stood looking into the water.
“You scared, T’an?” asked Raven. She was standing still, rather vulnerable.
He looked sideways at her. “Very,” he told her mendaciously. “I am frightened to go in on my own.”
“Do you need help?”
“That would be nice.”
“If I hold your hand, will you be able to jump?”
He hid a grin. “I might.”
She offered him a small hand, and he took it.
“I will jump with you, T’an. You needn’t be scared your leg will hurt. You are with me.”
“Then I shall jump fearlessly.”
“Sure?” She tilted her head sideways, looking bird-like.
“Sure.”
Raven led him over to the side, and then began to count. “Three … two … one … now!”
They both made a leap towards the water, and Raven gave an uncharacteristic squeak. Then they were in.
Instantly, Raven let go of his hand.
“Did you see?” she shrieked, looking at her parents. “Raven helped Tallen!”
“That was very brave of you,” Diva told her, smiling her thanks at Tallen.
Six swam over, and raised her out of the water, above his head. “Well done!”
After that, it was a day in paradise. They splashed about, and laughed, and played, and those who could dived a little in the cool water.
It was perfect.
Chapter 6
THREE DAYS LATER, Grace decided to go with Ledin to the Kwaide Orbital Space Station when Arcan took him over to work. She wanted to take Cimma the picture she had painted of their lifesharing ceremony, as promised, and she wanted to show her how well her grandson was getting on. She knew how happy it would make her mother to see him, to hear his happy babbling.
At the house by the Emerald Lake, she wrapped the painting up carefully in cloth. It had taken her a long time to paint because it was so important to her. In the end, it hadn’t really been about Ledin and herself, she had realized. The finished painting showed Cimma, standing in a bubble, her face pressed against the orthogel, looking so happy and proud that the whole of her face shone.
Cimma was the centre of the painting, but behind her was Valhai, stretched out under a slate sky, with just a tinge of brilliant orange where the arc of division between the day and the night side could be seen, far away in the distance. In the foreground was Arcan, fountains inside fountains flashing with a rainbow of colours against the rest of the lake, and the dotted forms of the others. They should have been unrecognizable, because they were all dressed identically in bodywraps and mask packs, but Grace had somehow managed to instill something special in each figure, something that made them all instantly identifiable.
Six and Diva were side by side, exchanging a conspiratorial grin, it seemed, though Six’s figure was in the process of taking a step back, as if to say he was tired of the ceremony already. Diva’s fingers were reaching out slightly to his hand, restraining him, drawing him back into the proceedings.
The canth keeper was standing with the small piece of cloth which he had held over Ledin and Grace’s joined hands. His mask pack seemed to radiate his pleasure at performing the ceremony and there was a sense of colour around his head, almost an aura, which seemed to extend to the couple too.
Lastly, hovering slightly to one side and above head height, was the visitor. Grace had painted him as just a touch of light, an area of white which was almost like a shimmering star. She had wanted it to be ambiguous; only the people who knew about the morphics should realize exactly who and what it was, the rest of the world should think it only to be an area of illumination in the painting.
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br /> As she wrapped the canvas up she was smiling. It had taken her a long time to paint and had cost her many hours of frustration. Her hands were so damaged now that it was hard to use a paintbrush; more often than not the strokes of the brush bore no resemblance to the picture in her mind. She had struggled with herself for many a long hour, often crying with impotence when she was unable to transmit her vision onto the canvas. In the end, despite many false starts, despite much repainting, it was finally done. Even Grace herself had been surprised at the result. It was different from her earlier attempts; the sheer difficulty she had experienced in painting it had given it an extra depth. She was pleased, in some private place inside her. She thought it was the best thing she had ever painted, and that was appropriate too. This painting was a way to thank her mother for everything she had done.
She hoped her mother would like it; it was hard when you produced something like this. You yourself might feel that it was all right, but that didn’t mean somebody else would feel the same way. Grace was unexpectedly nervous.
Ledin came up and planted a small kiss on the back of her bent neck. “She will love it,” he said, clearly guessing her thoughts.
“Do you think so?” Grace chewed her lip. “I was just wondering if I should have made Cian a slightly darker shade. Do you think there is time …?”
Ledin grinned and firmly folded the cloth over the painting. “It is over,” he said. “I think it is by far the best thing you have ever done, and I refuse to let you fiddle with it any more. In any case, Arcan will be here any second.”
He was; she could already detect the characteristic swirl of air that announced his arrival. Grace looked horrified and leapt to pile together all the things that had to be taken when travelling anywhere with a 6-month-old baby. Arcan was forced to wait as she finished her preparations.
“I cannot see why you need so much just for a day’s outing,” he said. “Your son is only small. Why should he require so much?”
The Namura Stone Page 11