The Namura Stone

by Andrews, Gillian

  Grace looked to her right. She realized that Six had gone far away, deep within his own memories. He was no longer aware of her sitting beside him. Perhaps it would be kinder to leave him there. She had come to keep him company, but perhaps his vigil was one he had to undertake alone. She could feel that he wanted to do this unaccompanied. He would know, better than anyone, that it might take days or it might take years for Diva to recover. Perhaps this ritual of waiting in the tree house was one he needed to do, to make himself keep her close in his memory. Would she fade, otherwise?

  Grace slipped out of the tree house and let herself slowly and quietly down through the warm night air to the ground. Then she stared across at the lake.

  It shone silver in the dark sky, looking like a dream. Cian was reflected along a line which seemed to reach right from the distant planet to her eyes. The water was so still that the reflection was very nearly stationary. She could only hear the occasional plop in the distance, as a fish leapt – perhaps trying to see the moon?

  With one last, upward look towards the tree house, she ducked along the path which led to the houses. She had children and a husband to feed. But she wished she could have done more for Six.

  The stars moved in an arch across the sky and the night began to take on a slight chill as Cian slowly went over the horizon. Now Valhai was visible in the left hand part of the sky, but only as a low, glowing crescent.

  The night owl began to make its regular, metallic, repetitive call. Every three seconds it sounded across the lake. ‘Innnnnnnn ………. innnnnnnn ………. innnnnnnn.’ The small Xianthan bird was calling for another to acknowledge its cry, calling for a partner to bring an end to solitude.

  Six heard the owl start up his nightly warble, and smiled wryly. It had been repeating its monotonous call every night for the last six months. He felt a certain affinity with it. He hoped that tonight would be the night one of them would finally receive an answer.

  SIX’S CHIN HAD dropped onto his chest and he was half asleep when he was woken up by a faint buzz of reproach in his right ear.

  “Six, you are the limit. I come all this way, and here you are, doing a very good imitation of a log.”

  He scrambled up, hitting his head on the ceiling in the confined quarters of the tree house and glaring at her accusingly, as if it were her fault. “Diva? You chose a fine time to reappear, I must say!”

  She hovered beside him. “I couldn’t come before. I am sorry.”

  “You are here now.”

  “I came as soon as I could. You knew I would.” She gave the morphic equivalent of a sigh of pleasure. “It’s good to be back.”

  “It is a beautiful night.”

  They both stared out at the stars.

  “It’s stunning,” she said. “I am glad I am here to see it with you.”

  “It is tough to wait here, alone. I wish I could be a firemorph like you. I don’t want to spend the rest of my life here without you.”

  “But you aren’t alone; you are surrounded by people. Anyway, Raven needs you. All the other children need you too.”

  “It is hard. I miss you. I feel incomplete without you here.”

  “I think there may be a way to solve that.”

  “How?”

  “We could try a mindmerge. I think we would both be the same as always in a mental merge, wouldn’t we? That might help a little, don’t you think?”

  Six’s heart gave a lurch. “I hadn’t thought of that. Yes, I suppose it might. Here? Now?”

  Diva shimmered in the velvet obscurity of the night. “Why not?”

  “Are you sure we will both be all right?”

  The sphere rippled with amusement. “I am not going to eat you, if that is what you mean.”

  He stiffened. “I just meant … well, we are different now.”

  “That shouldn’t matter. —Don’t you remember that very first mindmerge? When the visitor tried to connect us all to the Dessites?”

  “Yes. Of course. I was forgetting.” His face looked suddenly eager. “Then … can we?”

  “We won’t know if we don’t try.” Diva moved away from his shoulder until she was directly in front of him. Then she pulsated slightly as she tried to establish a mental link with him.

  Six closed his eyes. It was hard to make his own mind blank, especially knowing that Diva was hovering so close, but he concentrated on falling back into the darkness behind his eyes.

  For a long time he felt nothing. Then, at last, he became aware of a light in front of him. It seemed to be beckoning him on, calling to him.

  He was aware of a slight bump as his mind freed itself from his body and moved slowly out to meet the blue light.

  Closer up, he could see the cobalt blue that represented Diva. It was exactly the same as it had been before she died. He could sense the leaping flames that characterized her, mixed in with the crisp sharpness of her personality. It was tantalizing to find her again, just as she had always been. He edged closer to her light.

  Where their minds merged, golden flecks appeared in the cobalt, and a warm pattern of sunbeams played amidst the fire.

  They twirled around each other in the mindmerge, and suddenly all the barriers of being in different forms disappeared. Six could sense Diva as she had always been, as the love of his life, as the only woman he could ever want. At that moment he realized that it was enough, that it would always be enough.

  He let himself float freely, the edges of his consciousness washing against Diva’s. They were in a space where words had no meaning, where he could finally relax. He let himself go, let his mind drift alongside hers, watching the strands of gold mingle with the blue.

  He felt deeply happy; a sense of great relief took him over. He was only dimly aware that on the empty face of his body, left far behind, tears were now streaming down the cheeks.

  It was a moment of inevitability, of such warmth and belonging that Six was dazed by the sensation. It made all of the waiting worthwhile, because here, in the mindmerge, was the same Diva. His Diva.

  He hovered at the edges of her aura, basking in the comfort of returning to something he had thought lost forever. He had tried to tell himself that he shouldn’t expect to find the same person he had lost, and yet here she was. The blazing surge of happiness that knowledge gave him was so strong that his heart, abandoned back in the shell of his body, gave a leap and threatened to tear free of his rib cage. He hadn’t thought himself capable of feeling so much again.

  Far too soon, their joined consciousness thinned, and he was carried back down to where his vacant body was waiting. He felt his mind disassociate itself unwillingly from the merge, reluctant to return to cold isolation.

  He opened his eyes. “You were right.”

  Diva danced around his head. “It felt the same, nomus. The same!”

  “I know. —As if neither of us had changed.” He shook his head slowly. “I didn’t think … it never occurred to me …”

  “That’s because you Kwaidians have more skull than brain.”

  He took that as a compliment. “No need to be jealous. We can’t all be perfect.”

  She choked. “What?”

  “After all, it saved Temar’s life and it might have saved yours if you’d had the sense to stay clear of an explosion big enough to crisp a shuttle. You should look where you’re going!”

  Diva glittered. “I’m sorry?”

  “Yes; well, you’re not the only one.” Then he saw that little spiky bumps were appearing all over his wife’s body and decided a change of subject might be prudent. “Anyway, I liked that. Can we do it again?”

  Diva was contemplating scorching a satisfying line right around his annoying Kwaidian neck, but then he gave a grin which made him look exactly like the boy she had met seven years earlier.
For some reason her anger evaporated instantly. The spikes disappeared and she gave a rueful spin. “Not just yet. I feel really tired. Trying a mindmerge so soon was absolutely stupid. I am not ready for that sort of thing. I need to get back to Pictoria. Remember, I am still recovering from the Enaran attack, and I was only a new morphic when all that happened. The visitor and the twins will be angry with me for risking a relapse. They specifically told me not to do any more than come over here briefly.” Then she stopped before him for a few seconds. “Six?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Are we … you know … all right, now?”

  He smiled. “We always were all right. But I … I didn’t think I would ever be able to find the old Diva again. That was … something very special. I thought she was gone forever.” He didn’t expect the sudden tightening in his throat. He gave a swallow. “I thought I was more alone than I really am.”

  “I am still here.”

  “Yes. Now I know that.” He felt an inner sense of wellbeing as he gazed out on the stars, which were just beginning to fade into a lighter sky as dawn approached.

  The small sphere settled herself comfortably beside him again. They both felt as if the distance between them had diminished, and neither of them wanted to break the spell.

  They stayed like that for nearly an hour, just watching the slowly brightening sky and chatting together from time to time. Then Diva stirred.

  “It is time. I can’t stay any longer.”

  “Feel free to visit whenever you can. I will tell my butler to admit you.”

  “You had better start eating again, nomus. You have been wasting away.”

  “Don’t go on about it, Diva. I haven’t felt like eating.”

  “Oh? Then it is about time you did, isn’t it? Trust a Kwaidian to ignore basics like a decent diet. I shall speak to Grace about it.”

  “Don’t you dare! I will be perfectly all right.”

  “—That from a man who has hardly slept for months!”

  “How do you know that?”

  “I saw quite a lot in the mindmerge, moron!”

  “You have no right to go digging around in my private memories!”

  “Says who?” She flashed angrily against the backdrop of stars.

  “Says the moron you married.”

  “You said it, not me.”

  Six grabbed at her and was lucky enough to catch her unawares. She spun furiously in his hand, burning his palm. He gave an exclamation and dropped her.

  She whirled victoriously about his head. “See, no-name. I am unstoppable.”

  “Nothing new there,” he grumbled.

  “Only now I can travel all over the galaxy!”

  “Being a person never stopped you doing that, either.”

  There was a sudden whirl of air close by as the visitor and the two trimorph twins appeared.

  “What are you two fighting about now?” asked the visitor, in a long-suffering tone.

  Six turned in surprise. “We were just having some fun, is all.”

  The twins scintillated. “Fun? Shouting at each other is fun?”

  Six nodded. “We always do that. It is Diva’s idea of communication.”

  Diva darkened. “Take that back, nomus! You are the one who started it all!”

  “Yeah, yeah. It is all my fault. What a surprise! Honestly, Diva, no wonder your parents decided to pack you off to Valhai; I’m surprised they put up with you for as long as they did.”

  “That reminds me: I never asked you how my funeral went.”

  “Shame you missed it. They put on quite a show.”

  “I wish I had been there. Were my parents very upset?”

  Six hardly knew how to answer that one. “I guess,” he said, wrinkling his nose rather doubtfully. “You know how little they show their feelings. Your mother seemed a bit put out.”

  “A bit put out? Is that all?” Diva sounded quite huffy.

  “No, well, I mean … very put out.”

  Diva shimmered. “What exactly did she say?”

  Six squirmed. “How do I know? She said my information was apodictic. I hadn’t a clue what she meant, so I switched off after that.”

  “It was my FUNERAL, you idiot. Couldn’t you even concentrate for that?”

  Diva was spinning ominously.

  “Hang it all, Diva! You can’t expect me to remember every single little thing. You should have gone yourself if it was that important to you.”

  She gave an exasperated sigh. “I told you. I hadn’t been made then. I was only stopped light. But I would have thought you could have paid a little bit of attention. I mean, it isn’t every day your wife has a funeral, now is it?”

  “Yes, but you know what I feel about ceremonies. Why don’t you ask Grace? She was there too. So was Ledin. I bet you wouldn’t expect him to remember every word!”

  “He wasn’t married to me!”

  “So? What is your point?”

  “I just think a wife might expect her husband to concentrate during her funeral service!”

  “I can’t see why you should. After all, you are supposed to be dead, right? I think it is a bit much to come back and moan about it now.” Six sounded quite offended. He turned to the visitor. “You’d think dead wives would at least have the decency not to nag.”

  “Nag ..? I so do not nag. Any other man would have listened to the eulogies.”

  Six looked revolted. “They would not! That’s a female sort of thing, listening to eulogies. Kwaidians don’t do things like that.” His tone indicated that he thought he should be congratulated.

  “Well, next time you go back to Coriolis I will thank you to make a note of what they say. They are my parents, when all is said and done.”

  “I am NOT going to make a note of what your parents say,” snapped Six. “You have a lot of nerve asking me to do that. I ask you!”

  “Can’t you even do the least little thing for me?”

  He gave a hollow laugh. “Little? LITTLE? Your father can go on for hours during those ceremonies of his. And your mother uses interminable words. How am I supposed to remember what she says when I don’t understand more than half of it? No, look here, Diva, you can’t ask me that. You should have thought of all this before you died.”

  “Oh, should I? So now it is my fault you can’t remember anything about my funeral?” Diva put her hands on her hips, though Six only saw that she had swollen up rather pugnaciously.

  “Yes.” Six looked pleased. “I’m glad you finally understood.”

  “Grrrghh!”

  He peered at the sphere. “Are you feeling all right? You have gone a funny, muddy colour.”

  “You are totally impossible!”

  “Pot calling kettle, if you ask me, your royal morphness.”

  “How dare you call me that!” Even he could tell she was stamping a non-existent foot.

  “Well, as I see it, dying hasn’t stopped you telling everybody else what to do!”

  “That’s because you don’t do anything at all!”

  “Well look who’s talking! And just what have you done recently, milady? Apart from floating around in mid air and giving orders left, right and centre?”

  Diva gave an indignant buzz. “I give up; you are quite impossible.”

  Six bowed. “I try to give satisfaction.”

  The firemorph quivered. “I shall be back soon.”

  “I wasn’t planning on going anywhere. You will always find me in.”

  Diva moved towards the other morphics. “Well. I’ll be going then.”

  “Fine.”

  Suddenly they were silent, and Six pressed his lips together. It made him look almost like a little boy again. “Take care of yourself?” Little lines
of worry furrowed across his forehead.

  Diva’s tone softened. “You too, nomus.” She leaned forwards slightly, until her morphic body gently spun against his cheek, just grazing it. It was the briefest of touches, but enough to transmit what she was trying to tell him.

  He nodded, and his hand went up to his face as he watched the four small forms wink out of sight. For a few moments he closed his eyes and held his breath as his skin gradually lost the imprint of that last caress. Then he gave a wry smile and settled back to watch the dawn come up over the Emerald Lake. At last he felt calm, almost at one with the waning night.

  But the night owl was still calling plaintively into the warm air as the sky began to lighten. ‘Innnnnnnn ………. innnnnnnn ………. innnnnnnn.’ There had been no response, not for it, not that night.

  The End

  More in the Ammonite Galaxy series...

  The Ammonite Galaxy series continues with The Trimophs:

  “The morphics can’t be reached — they are far, far away in the Luzon Great Void — but Arcan needs someone to go to Dessia, where things are not going to plan.

  When Six and Grace, together with Ledin and Bennel, become trapped there, it will be down to the next generation to travel deep into the void to get help.

  Can they find the morphics, even with the help of the canths? And will they be in time, or will they all be forced into a last, desperate, final confrontation?”

  For more about the other books in the Ammonite Galaxy series, together with links ...

  Book One: Valhai

  Book Two: Kwaide

  Book Three: Xiantha

  Book Four: Pictoria

  Book Five: The Lost Animas

  Book Six: The Namura Stone