Enos’ heart sped at the thought, and she squeezed Sam’s hand back, then smoothed her pant leg. She remembered the texture of the dirt under her—Inas’—feet. The surge of emotion from him had been stronger than anything experienced in close proximity. What did it mean, being this far apart, with that strong an emotion? Had the Life Coalition learned from the other Aridori they’d captured—the unstable mess they’d found in Gloomlight prison? Were they doing the same with Inas?
Rey leaned over. “Eyah, so the majus is wantin’ to finish off the Life Coalition? Won’t they kill Inas for doin’ that? Better to talk with ‘em, I think. Some o’ the representatives from my world even think the Snakey’s aren’t all bad. They say they’re about peace, and lookin’ fer a better life. Then again, some of ‘em also think the Drain in the Assembly were a hoax.”
The statement was so foreign, it stunned Enos out of a response. People were arguing in favor of the terrorist organization? They dismissed the Drains that killed so many people? But then, no Drain had occurred on Rey’s homeworld, at least not where anyone had observed it. People were stubborn, when they couldn’t see the evidence with their own eyes, and sometimes when they could.
“The Life Coalition took Inas from us,” Sam hissed across her, and Rey held up both hands in surrender. A beam of afternoon light from the wall highlighted his hair, cut short to match the fuzz that covered the rest of his skin. She’d thought Rey’s family, the Nara, were one of the less xenophobic families, but not if they thought the Life Coalition was a viable organization.
“Aye, they did, but yer also were goin’ after them and tryin’ to fight rather than speakin’ to an agreement,” Rey argued. “I want Inas back as much as yer do, and I’m thinkin’ they’ll give him back if we just ask nice. We’ve got ‘em on the edge. It’s time to bargain.”
“She had a vision of Inas,” Sam said, and Enos stiffened. Her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth. He’d spoken before she could stop him. She specifically hadn’t told Rey. He didn’t know about her species. “The Life Coalition was hurting him.”
Rey’s hairy face scrunched into a grimace, making him even uglier. “Vision? How’s that? Some majus thing I know naught about? House of Healing, eyah? Me house can’t do that.”
Play dumb, Enos thought furiously toward Sam. She tried to think of anything she could say that wouldn’t sound suspicious, but her mind was blank, her tongue immovable. She stared at the others, useful as a dead fish, her mouth open. Her hands shook at the risk of revelation, drilled into her by her parents. If it had been Inas beside her, he might have understood her intent by the link between Aridori instances. But Inas wasn’t here.
Instead, Sam’s face changed to an expression of horror.
“Uh…yes, it’s from the House of Healing, isn’t it Enos?” he said, trying to cover his slip. Enos closed her mouth only to clench her teeth. They’d lasted a month without revealing her and Inas’s species. It had taken days of pleading with Majus Rilan, though Maji Cyrysi, Caroom, and Hand Dancer backed her up. She loved Sam dearly, but how could he be so good at blurting out exactly the wrong thing?
Think of something.
Enos smiled at Rey. She wasn’t certain what Inas saw in the Sureri. He was brash and loudmouthed, and only a little less bigoted than other Sureriaj she’d met. But then, Inas made friends a lot easier than she did.
Change the subject. Get away from the Aridori.
“Don’t you think the Life Coalition should be destroyed? After what they did to the Dome of the Assembly?” The Drain the Coalition started there badly damaged the building. The attack demonstrated even the impenetrable substance of the Nether was not immune to a Drain’s space-warping effects.
“Oh, aye,” Rey answered, “but yee’ve got to look at the reputation the maji and the Council have bodged together for themselves. They’re not greatly liked at the moment. What with the fears o’ the Aridori, people are upset. Yee’ve got to admit the Life Coalition has some effective propaganda, callin’ for peace for everyone.”
Enos stiffened at the mention of her species. Sam did the same. She’d not done enough to derail Rey.
“Surely you can’t put the Assembly and the maji on the same scale as the Aridori?” She thought her voice stayed quite calm while asking the question. Their parents had trained them to stay aware of people’s response to the “extinct” race.
“Enos,” Sam said, but she put her hand on his without even looking. She knew where they would be, clasped and wringing against each other in his lap. His pulse was fast. She didn’t think he would have an anxiety attack, but he was not calm and neither was she. He fell silent at her touch.
“What?” Rey asked, jutting his receding chin forward. “Wha’s he gonna say, ey? Are yer to claim the maji don’t have nasty spots?”
“That’s not it,” Sam said. “All organizations have problems when they get too big, or powerful. I just…I don’t think you can equate what the Life Coalition’s done with anything the maji have done.”
“And how long’ve yer been here again?” Rey asked.
Lately, any mention of Sam’s homeworld sent him into a panic. When there was time, she needed to dig into what the voice said to him, without making him retreat into his anxiety. It wasn’t always easy to tell Sam’s panic states apart.
“I’ve…I’ve been here long enough,” Sam stuttered. Enos could see him breathing too fast, and her belly clenched in agreement. “I’ve studied.”
“Eyah, but yer did no see it,” Rey pressed. “Me homeworld’s not rich, but we work hard. There were rumors a few cycles back of the maji interfering in inter-family politics—changin’ the way we govern things. What’s to say the Life Coalition don’t have the right idea, shakin’ things up?”
“Attempting to assassinate the entire Great Assembly is not the same as ‘shaking things up,’” Enos snapped at Rey, and his eyes opened wide. She took in a long breath. The vision of Inas made her itchy, like she was coming down from the heightened sensation of changing her form.
But Rey wasn’t done. “Aye, it’s no the same, but yer hafta admit the Life Coalition has some good points. They say they want us to be at peace, that together, we can work ter havin’ more resources fer everyone. How is that bad?”
“They put us in a cell, Rey,” Sam said. His voice was gaining heat, and Enos felt his pulse even out, under her hand. He’d told her anger blunted the effects of a panic attack.
“They did say they weren’t trying to harm us,” she reminded Sam.
“Weren’t try—” Sam broke off, his mouth hanging open, staring at her. Enos had to look away from that glare.
She had been the one who forced their escape from the cell. Revealed herself to him, in a moment of terror for her life. He was right—the Life Coalition hadn’t planned to hurt them, but when they figured out she was an Aridori, she was as good as dead.
Except they’ve kept Inas alive. For what purpose?
“Eyah,” Rey sat back with a smug smile. “I’m not saying the Life Coalition is so great, o’ course. Just some of what they say makes some sense. Just talk to ‘em and we can get Inas back.”
Enos pressed down on Sam’s hand as he attempted to rise to his feet.
“Quiet!” barked another voice, and they froze and looked toward Majus Ayama. As they’d been arguing, other maji had drifted in, and were staring at the three of them. Enos sunk down in her seat. How much had they heard? She risked a glance to Majus Hand Dancer, seated nearby. The slender Lobhl flipped a complicated hand gesture toward her. The Nether translated it as contrite, shared embarrassment.
Majus Caroom, to their other side, humphed and leaned back against a pillar. Their species didn’t sit.
“If you apprentices are quite finished,” Majus Ayama snapped at them, “I’d like to share my progress on creating a portal to the Life Coalition’s main forces.” She scowled at Enos. “We are trying to save your brother, last I checked.”
* * *
Rila
n glared around the room. Everyone who had been helping her track the Life Coalition was here. Ori, of course, had insisted on standing near her, as if he was also in charge. She’d hoped he’d caught the hint she’d prefer to give this speech alone. She held back the sigh and looked from Sam to Enos to Rey, heads bowed like ducklings unsure where the crocodile was. They’d almost ruined the atmosphere of the room, and her announcement was one that required attention.
Here it goes.
She smoothed her hands down her sides to keep them from shaking. This was the reason she’d called everyone together. It was time to finally corner the rogue organization.
“After a month of research, I have an answer for you.” She leaned forward, almost coming up on the toes of her boots. She could practically taste the anticipation in the room. As much as she distrusted—no, truthfully she feared—Enos’ abilities as an Aridori, they had been invaluable in creating the complex composition she held even now in the back of her mind. The music tugged at her, urging her to express it. They’d only get one chance for surprise.
All eyes were on her, and she reveled in the tension for a couple seconds. She could almost smell it.
“The Life Coalition’s main headquarters is on—no, inside—a moon of Sath Home,” Rilan revealed. She wanted to bounce up and down. She hadn’t even told Ori. The calculations—double and triple checked—had taken her an hour. Little wonder she hadn’t been able to find them. “They must have had a majus from the House of Communication create breathable air.”
The exclamations of surprise were worth the suspense. Hand Dancer gestured wildly, and Ori’s crest looked like he’d just stepped into a blast of wind.
Rilan paused to see if the Lobhl was making a joke, but it seemed he wasn’t. The mute, genderfluid species had a strange sense of humor, and of honor.
“This Sathssn, you can check with me,” Kheena—Rey’s mentor—protested. “This, it is more than ‘highly unlikely.’ It is completely impossible.” He took a step forward from his place near the door and pushed his cowl back to reveal a face covered in light green scales, set around bright red eyes. Kheena was a newcomer to their group, but Rilan had invited him because of his proficiency in the House of Potential, and with portals, and because he was already connected to Rey. He was nowhere near as religious as the Life Coalition or the Most Traditional Servants. He was more also representative of the quick minds and scholarly bent of the Sathssn, instead of the small organization tarnishing the species’ reputation.
“The Methiemum’s space program, it was the only one of its kind, and that failed, as Majus Cyrysi can tell you.”
Ori shot the Sathssn a sour look and Rilan raised a hand half toward him. Ori stepped back, sulking, his crest flat. The crash landing hadn’t totally been his fault.
“Well they got there somehow,” Rilan told him. “You may want to ask higher-ranking members of your government, Majus Kheena. The Most Traditional Servants have access to a surprising amount of information.”
Hand Dancer’s flashing fingers conveyed his disbelief, and it rang in Rilan’s head like a just-remembered sequence of words, courtesy of the Nether’s translation of languages and intent.
“Me, I have no idea,” Kheena said. “The dioceses hierarchs would certainly make a new revelation available to my people, were they able to travel through space without a majus.”
“More important, is this one absolutely certain the calculations are, hmm, correct?” Caroom rumbled the question, their bright green eyes flashing with interest. “What information backs up this, hmm, claim?” It was the most involved she’d seen the Benish in a month. Benish didn’t show depression in the same way as Methiemum, but Caroom was hurting and frustrated with their inability to rescue Inas. “Further, even with facts pointing to this, hmm, novel location, it does not matter without a way for this group to reach the same location using, hmm, a portal.” Caroom rumbled. As usual, they cut to the heart of the matter.
“Excellent question,” Rilan said, choosing to ignore Hand Dancer’s part of the puzzle. She’d thought about it, but there was no simple answer. “It leads me to the second part of my announcement: I can make a portal to this moon.” More mutterings from the group before their last member asked the obvious question.
“You can make a portal to a location unknown to the maji?” Panen asked. Rilan had known the wari—the third gender of the Lobath—socially for many cycles. Timpomitnob Gompt, Watcher, an old friend, had vouched for hir when they’d had lunch a few ten-days ago. Rilan had asked for a recommendation of a trusted member of the House of Grace, since Gompt was busy with some project or other. Rilan hadn’t seen the old Festuour in a while.
As with an orchestra, it was important to have all the instruments. With adding Panen, Kheena, and Rey, the maji and their apprentices in this room covered all six houses of the maji—and whatever Sam was. The most powerful changes to the Symphony always required the music of the six houses in tandem. Sam, however, was an enigma. She’d seen him change materials into another element altogether. Ori, in a moment of weakness, had revealed how jealous he was of his apprentice.
Panen had hir head-tentacles tied up in a mass on top of hir head, and hir continually surprised eyes held Rilan in place. Panen was sharp enough to know when she wasn’t being completely truthful. It also helped zie was of the House of Grace. That house was almost as good with interpersonal interactions as the House of Healing. “I trust no Life Coalition members have given you the coordinates.”
“Correct,” Rilan said. This was the tricky part—revealing how she’d created the calculation for the portal’s musical signature without revealing she’d been mentoring an Aridori, for Brahm’s sake. She tapped her fingers together in front of her. “I was fortunate to gather several specific identifiers—scents, textures, and visuals—about the Life Coalition’s location, enabling me to construct a composition. It should allow me to recreate a portal to this moon.”
“Should?” Caroom repeated. “This one has not, hmm, tested the portal?”
“Of course not!” Rilan drew in a breath and lowered for voice when she next spoke. She shouldn’t have snapped. “The only advantage we have over the Life Coalition is surprise. They have their hooks in some of the dioceses, and they have supplies hidden all over the ten homeworlds. We’ll only get one chance at this.”
Surprisingly, Rey was the next to speak. He glanced around at the maji, as if he was waiting for someone to ask the same thing.
“I know a smidge about portals—not near as much as yerself or me mentor, o’course—but ain’t it one o’ the hardest compositions to create a portal from scratch? Yer’d need—what—enough identifiers to define the melody of a place yer’d never experienced? It’s nigh impossible to do such a thing!”
Rilan gave him her best piercing glare. “Yes. I am that good.”
Rey slunk down in his chair. She gave the Sureri credit, though. Kheena must be an excellent teacher. She’d never created such a complex musical structure without hearing the original piece in the Symphony, or having it transferred to her from another majus.
Hand Dancer gestured with his overlarge hands.
Rilan shook her head.
“The Council was to be giving us their permission to investigate the Life Coalition,” Ori said. “We are still to be operating under that assumption.”
It was a weak argument. Feldo had implied to Ori�
��when he visited the Council alone—that their group should look into the strange coincidences concerning the Drains, the secession of a sect of the Sathssn, and several attacks on the maji. They’d been operating under that directive since before they knew the Life Coalition existed. Rilan hastily cut off any other arguments.
“The Council—or what remains of it, now Councilor Feldo has disappeared—never rescinded their directive to track down the Life Coalition,” she hedged. “We must keep them from creating any more voids. The threat to the homeworlds is too great.”
The Coalition had made no more voids since the one at the Assembly, and Rilan hoped they no longer could, but Ori’s studies had revealed nothing new about the aberrations that disobeyed the laws of the universe. She scanned the gathered maji. The Life Coalition used all six houses to create the voids, and Ori insisted they needed all six to stop them.
“Then you are asking this group to, hmm, directly engage a rogue group of maji and soldiers?” Caroom asked.
“I believe it is the only way we will get your apprentice back,” Rilan answered. Caroom knew Inas was an Aridori, though Panen, Kheena, and Rey did not.
Caroom grunted, a deep thump like a felled tree hitting the ground. “Then shall this group open the portal now?”
Rilan tried to contain her shock. “What, here? Now?”
“This one has the melody,” Caroom said, extending their hand with a creak. “One’s apprentice is a month missing. Is there a better, hmm, time?”
There was silence. When a Benish—a slow and contemplative species—was pushing for quick and decisive action, it paid to listen.
“We could find Inas now?” Sam asked, popping to his feet as if his pants had caught fire. Rilan’s apprentice was only a moment after him. Enos’ eyes were wide, her hands clenched by her sides.
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