Astra (13 page)

‘Good girl,’ Hokma crooned as she belted her into the front seat of the van. ‘Now let’s take you home to Nimma, and in the afternoon we’ll go up to see the Owleons.’

Astra groaned, because her throat still hurt too much to talk. But Hokma had brought her a soy yoghurt drink to calm her tummy and she sipped it slowly, knowing that she had followed orders and would be a great scientist one day like Hokma and Dr Samrod Blesserson. The van sailed smoothly over the main road out of New Bangor, sunshine and warm woodsy air flowing in through the windows from the firegrounds beneath the escarpment, and when they turned off to climb the steep, dusty road to Or, Hokma drove extra slowly all the rest of the way home.

‘What in Gaia’s holy name happened?’ Nimma came rushing out of Craft House to meet Hokma and Astra, the pink ribbons of her faux-grass skirt fluttering around her hips. Hokma had called her from West Gate.

‘She was sick.’ Hokma hugged Astra to her side. ‘She must have eaten some roots or leaves in the woods yesterday.’

‘Astra.’ It didn’t match her pearly pink lipstick and feather earrings, but Nimma put her spiky voice on. ‘How many times do we have to tell you? You must never eat anything from the woods unless we pick it with you.’

‘I didn’t eat any leaves.’ Her voice rising, Astra pushed Hokma away, harder than she’d meant to. This was the acting part, but with both her Shelter mothers accusing her of something she hadn’t done, for a moment it almost felt as if she
had
.

‘No one else was sick, were they?’ Hokma said, reasonably.

‘If you did, let this be a lesson to you.’ Nimma waggled her finger at Astra, the one with the big emerald ring. ‘You didn’t sleep properly, you’ve been sick at school and you’ve missed your Security shot. Have you checked her temperature, Hokma?’

‘The nurse said it wasn’t too high,’ Hokma said as Nimma rested the back of her hand on Astra’s forehead.

‘I didn’t do anything wrong. I just got sick, that’s all.’ Astra folded her arms and glared up at Nimma.

‘Shush, Astra.’ Hokma rubbed her shoulders. ‘It’s okay, we believe you. Nimma, don’t worry, get back to work. I’ll take Astra to her room.’

She could tell Nimma was on the verge of getting really cross now. ‘But what about her shot, Hokma?’ her Shelter mother insisted. ‘She has to have it – what did you arrange with the school?’

‘Samrod will give it to her tomorrow. Mr Watersson’s fine with that.’

‘Samrod? I thought you weren’t—’ Nimma glanced down at Astra and tightened her lips.

‘I’ve just been so busy lately. I’ll call him today – it will be a good chance to catch up. I can take her tomorrow, in the morning.’

‘All the way to Sippur? She’s ill. And—’ Nimma paused and her face seemed to crinkle for a moment. ‘Klor and I wanted to take her there. With the others.’

Dr Blesserson lived in Sippur? Where Sheba had died? And she might get to go there before Peat did? Astra held her breath.

‘If she’s not better, of course we won’t go,’ Hokma said. ‘And we can take flowers for Sheba. Would you like to do that, Astra?’

Before Astra could answer, Nimma raised her hands, palms in the air. ‘Oh I give up. As long as the school approves.’ She glanced back at Craft House. ‘I would take a break, Hokma, but we have to finish the new dining-hall curtains before the next load of visitors runs us off our feet again.’

‘I know, Nimma. I’ll settle her in. She’ll be fine on her own. Won’t you, Astra?’ Clinging to Hokma’s fingers, Astra nodded. The yoghurt drink had comforted her tummy and she was already feeling much better. As soon as siesta was over, Hokma was going to take her up to see the Owleons again.

‘Astra,’ Nimma ordered, ‘you must go to bed and stay there – no playing in the woods today, or you won’t be coming to the Fountain tonight.’

She had to stay in bed? ‘But Hokma said—’ Astra beseeched.

Hokma shushed her again. ‘Nimma’s right,’ she said. ‘You need to rest.’

Astra scowled. Typical Shared Shelter parents: always breaking promises and siding with each other.

‘I want Tabby back,’ she demanded. ‘Has Klor finished fixing him?’

‘Temper, Astra!’ Nimma warned. ‘Believe it or not, Klor and I have not been messaging each other all day on Tabby’s progress. You’ll get him back at dinner
if
you are good today and
if
Klor is done with him.’

‘Hush Astra,’ Hokma said. ‘You’re tired and you need to sleep.’

It was too much. The two of them were merging into one big NO machine. She turned her back on her Shelter mothers, only just resisting
the temptation to bat at some brown-eyed Susans on the path verge. She wouldn’t be hurting the flowers, just helping them seed, but Nimma and Hokma would probably accuse her of plant abuse.

‘Thank you so much, Hokma,’ Nimma was saying. ‘I’m sorry if I was rude just then. You know how it is: just the word Sippur puts me on edge.’ Her voice softened. ‘It’s very sweet of you to think about taking flowers. I’ll tell Klor how helpful you’re being.’

‘Nimma, it’s nothing,’ Hokma said, pulling Astra back to her side. ‘We’ve always said I would get more involved in Astra’s life when she started school. And besides, Or’s supposed to be about co-operation, isn’t it?’

‘It’s nice that you still feel that way, Hokma. I know Klor and I do too.’ Nimma put her hand, with its wrinkly brown skin and faint speckles, on Hokma’s, and patted it. Astra risked a peek up at her. Nimma’s face had relaxed and suddenly she smiled, like she used to do before Elpis had her stroke. She looked pretty again, instead of pinched and worn.

But then she cupped Astra’s face and inspected her one more time. ‘You’re positively green around the gills, young lady. Better make sure she has a bucket by the bed, Hokma.’

‘C’mon, Astra.’ Hokma gently shook her shoulder. ‘Let’s get you to bed.’

* * *

It wasn’t fair that she didn’t get to see the Owleons today after drinking that horrible juice and throwing up on Ms Raintree and agreeing to lie to Klor and Nimma and everyone forever. But Astra had to admit she felt, if not exactly tired, a bit weak. Hokma tucked her in, fetched a glass of water and a bucket and closed the greenhouse corridor blinds so the bedroom was shady like the forest.

‘Now you get some sleep and Nimma will come up later with some lunch.’

Astra flounced beneath the sheets. ‘I don’t want Nimma to come up. She’s
mean
to me sometimes.’

Hokma looked at her sternly. ‘Nimma’s not mean, Astra. She loves you very much. She just doesn’t want you to get hurt or lost running around in the woods.’

‘But …’ But Astra was yawning now and her complaint got lost in her pillow.

Hokma laughed. ‘I think it’s time for someone to get some sleep. I’ll see you this evening, and tomorrow we’ll leave early to meet Dr Blesserson. We haven’t completed our mission yet, remember.’

Hokma got up and left her to sleep. Astra burrowed deeper into bed. Tonight was Storytelling at the Fountain, and tomorrow she was going to meet the famous Dr Samrod Blesserson. But right now she was a brave Is-Land constable recovering from a dangerous mission and basking in the glow of her rewards: a day off school and the promise of the Owleons. She stretched between the cottony-clean sheets and as she did, a quiet tingle stole over her. It was the feeling she had when she and Meem and Yoki pretended to be lion cubs fighting, or were cuddling together in bed: a flame flickering between her legs, making her feel bigger and warmer, as though something important was going to happen.

Now they were at school, she, Meem and Yoki didn’t play those games very much any more; they played with their Tablettes instead. But Astra still sometimes had the feeling by herself: when she’d run a race, or swum all the way across Green Lake. Nimma had told her, Meem and Yoki that the feeling was Gaia Power, and it felt so nice because it was Gaia’s special gift to everyone. Gaia Power, Nimma said, is the life force that flows through everything on the planet: trees, flowers, animals, water, even stones and metals. In human beings Gaia Power is especially strong in the sexual organs, because these are the parts of the body that create and nourish new life. Mostly people just use enough Gaia Power to do everyday work and hardly notice their sexual organs, but sometimes our Gaia Power turns up the volume and reminds us just what a miracle our bodies are. Then we feel extra excited and happy to be alive. Gaia Power, Nimma had said, will always help you feel good about yourself and the world. When you get older, the feeling will be stronger and you might want to share it with other people, but for now you should just enjoy it quietly.

Of course Astra had asked why she had to be quiet about her Gaia Power and Nimma told her it was because Gaia Power needed privacy to sprout. It was like a seed, which was why women call their vaginas Gaia gardens, and men call their penises Gaia ploughs or when they’re still boys, Gaia peppers. But Nimma and Hokma would always answer questions about it, and if anyone ever tried to touch Astra’s Gaia garden, she was to come and tell Nimma at once.

If Astra was with other people, her Gaia Power was usually fleeting – an Or-child would say something stupid or an adult would give a
command – and the spell would be broken. But if her Gaia Power lit up when she was by herself, in the forest, or in bed with the lights out, she sometimes rubbed herself to make the feeling stay longer. She reached down now and put her hand between her legs. Often it was nice just to feel the pressure of her wrist there. Was that what a Gaia plough felt like? As she gripped her wrist bone with her thighs, images of the girl in the tree floated through her mind. Had she been feeling her Gaia Power too, so high up there in the tree?

Astra yawned and snuggled under the sheets. One day she was going to capture the Non-Lander girl and then something very important would happen. Leaving her fingers planted in her damp Gaia garden, she drifted like a leaf into sleep.

* * *

When she woke up, Nimma was setting a tray of green almond stew down on the bed. As she ate, Nimma pulled up a chair and talked. She said the other children were back from school now, showing off their Security Serum certificates. But Astra shouldn’t worry; Hokma had spoken to Dr Blesserson and he had some extra shots at his clinic and was definitely going to see her tomorrow.

‘Hokma will take you,’ Nimma said as Astra licked her spoon clean. ‘She’s going to be looking after you more from now on.’

Astra put the spoon back on the tray. Like the yoghurt, the slippery, delicate flesh of the green almonds had been just the right medicine for her tummy. ‘I know. She said I could stay at Wise House with her sometimes.’

‘And how do you feel about that?’

‘Great!’

Nimma was smiling, but her face looked like it did when she gazed at Elpis sometimes: as though, like at the brook, an eddy of sad thoughts were trapped beneath the surface of her features.

‘I mean, as long as I can still stay here too,’ Astra hurriedly added.

Nimma wrinkled her nose in that cutesy way she had. ‘Of course you can,’ she said, in her nicest, warmest tone. ‘Klor and I will always be your Shared Shelter parents, and this will always be your’s and Meem’s room.’

Nimma picked up the tray. Astra thought she was going to get up and take it downstairs, but she set it on the bedside table and remained in her chair.

‘You’re our angel, Astra,’ she said. ‘Gaia gave you to us and we promised Her we’d always look after you. I’m sorry I’ve been a little cross with you
lately. I’ve had a lot of extra responsibilities this year. But things will be a lot easier now that Hokma can share taking care of you. I promise I’ll try to be nicer; how’s that?’

Astra squirmed a little beneath the sheets. Had Hokma told Nimma she’d said Nimma was mean? ‘You’re not cross,’ she mumbled. ‘Only when I’m naughty.’

‘You wouldn’t be Astra if you weren’t naughty sometimes.’ Nimma smiled properly now, her eyes crinkling at the edges. But she still didn’t get up to go.

‘What are your responsibilities?’ Astra asked, enjoying the way the big word made her mouth move in lots of different ways.

‘Well, Elpis needs a lot of care now. And at Craft House we’re already preparing for next year’s twentieth anniverary celebrations. I haven’t been sleeping very well lately. But I’m sure that will pass.’

Astra played with her sheet, rolling the edge up like a veggie sausage. It had never occurred to her that Nimma found her jobs hard. ‘Can I help with Elpis?’ she asked.

‘That’s very kind of you, Astra. It helps Elpis when you play in the living room. It’s good for her to have company.’ Nimma rested her wrist on Astra’s forehead again. ‘Your temperature’s gone down. Do you want to sit downstairs with her now and do some Tablette drawing on the sofa?’

Astra did want to get up, but at the same time it was so nice to have Nimma all to herself. With her golden coils of braids piled up on her head and all her
responsibilities
her Shelter mother was like an Old World Queen, and when she was especially nice to Astra it felt like being given a gift of royal treasure. ‘Can you tell me a story first?’ she asked. ‘Like you used to do?’

‘A story? There’ll be lots of stories tonight.’

‘Yes, but I want to hear my story – the story of my Birth-Code mother.’

‘Ah.’ Nimma stroked Astra’s hand. ‘That’s a good story, isn’t it?’ Her eyes creased and twinkled. ‘And I did just promise to be nicer to you, didn’t I?’

Astra nodded happily and settled down into the pillows.

‘This story has a sad part, remember?’ Nimma cautioned.

‘That’s okay. I like the sad part now.’

‘All right then. Well,’ Nimma began, ‘as we all know, all Or-children have Code parents, Shelter parents and a Birth mother. Sometimes these
are the same person, but mostly they’re different, and so every Or-kid has a different combination of Parent Stories. This is the story of Astra Ordott’s Birth-Code mother. Her name was Eya. Eya was young and strong and very pretty, and she’d grown up in a small community in Bracelet Valley. Her community wasn’t like Or. The people there still followed some Old World customs. They had only one Gaia partner, and they didn’t usually Shelter other people’s children. The children still did IMBOD Service and went to college with everyone else, and sometimes they moved away from the community and began to live more like other Gaians. After Eya’s IMBOD Service she moved to Atourne to attend Craft College. There she Gaia-bonded with a handsome older man who worked at a restaurant near the college. But even though he was very intelligent, her lover was uneducated and Eya knew that her Code-Shelter father wouldn’t approve of him. So she kept their Gaia bond secret. And when she found out she was pregnant, she was very scared.’