Gama and Hest: An Ahsenthe Cycle companion novella (The Ahsenthe Cycle) (4 page)

Five

Voices buzzed inside Community Hall, everyone trying to keep the sound down but the accumulated noise still as loud as standing inside a giant lair of angry insects. More soumyo poured into Hall. The buzz became rushing water, then wild, rock-strewn cataracts. Gama gave up trying to voice-talk to Hest at all. Others had abandoned speech as well, judging by the thought-grains flying around.

Hall’s closed doors swung open, banging softly against the walls. Reln strode in and headed straight toward the dais at the rear without a glance or word to anyone. Soumyo began to settle down as he walked by, everyone falling quiet by the time he climbed the steps to the platform. They were silent when he faced the kin and sat near the edge, his legs crossed beneath him — an unusual pose. Speakers stood. It was the way it was done. Reln sitting, Gama noticed, made everyone pay more attention, pull their spines straighter, lean forward.

Reln splayed his fingers on his thighs. “We’ve all heard what Gama and Hest saw in the meadow yesterday. Disappearing brez! It sounds almost like a hatchling’s excuse for not having done their work. But Gama and Hest are no hatchlings and never has either of them been known to slack. Now there’s something new to add.”

He nodded toward the center of the hall. Frarm slowly pulled to his feet and walked to the dais. Gama knew he’d tell of the disappearing birds. Frarm was as hardworking and trustworthy as she and Hest. The kin wouldn’t find comfort in his story.

As Frarm stepped up onto the platform, Reln stood, so that the two were side by side. Frarm told the incident in his usual, plainspoken way. No one broke the silence when he finished, though Gama saw thought-grains passing between some kin. Reln waited long moments for someone to ask a question, voice an opinion, maybe stand and tell something they had seen as well. He waited so long that the quiet began to weigh them down, stifling any words they might have said.

Is
there
history
of
these
sorts
of
things
happening
—
maybe
log
ago
? Hest sent to Community Hall, and let Gama hear.
Are
we
worried
for
nothing
?

Let
me
look
, Hall sent.

Gama and Hest waited while it searched its long memory for anything that had ever occurred that might be close to beasts and birds disappearing right in front of someone. Hall was nearly as old as Wall. The two of them kept the corenta’s history stored in their grains.

No
, Hall sent finally.
There’ve
never
been
happenings
like
this
.

A tremble ran across Gama’s shoulders. Hest sighed quietly.

Reln seemed to have run out of patience with the long silence. He turned his hands palms up. “If no one has anything to say, best you go back to your dwellings now. Sometimes our minds work better alone than in a crowd. All are welcome to come to my dwelling if there is something private to share.”

Everyone came to their feet, some jumping up and heading for the doors quickly, others pushing up slowly, as though through a thick stew — no one speaking. Gama and Hest walked more slowly than normal, no words or thoughts between them. Her stomach felt queasy. She wished that Hall had remembered something. It would be comforting to know others had similar experiences, and to hear how they had gotten through it. Instead, they were alone now in an unknown territory, with no history to guide them.

She heard running feet and turned to see Frarm standing at her shoulder.

“Can I stay with you tonight?” he asked, a little out of breath.

Nerves, she thought. Nerves and fear stealing the air from his lungs.

Frarm glanced at the soumyo around them and dropped his voice low. “Before we came to Community Hall, I told my dwelling-mates what I’d seen. I don’t think they believed me. I think they’re afraid to believe me, or maybe they suspect something’s wrong with me — seeing birds disappear in the sky. Maybe they
want
to believe something’s wrong with me.” He pulled anxiously at his hipwrap. “You saw what happened to the brez. I know you believe me about the birds. I’d be more comfortable with you two tonight.”

Gama could see how comforting it was for others to think that she, Hest, and Frarm had made up their stories or to believe they’d eaten insanity-causing villisity or that stickerbrump had drilled into the soles of their feet — that what they said wasn’t real, however much they might believe it. She’d spied it on their necks. It was easier for them to not be around those who had seen strange things with their own eyes — constant reminders that something was going wrong. Gama understood, but she didn’t like it.

Home
, she sent as they drew near it,
we’ll
have
a
guest
with
us
for
a
while
.

They crossed the last open space between Home and their closest neighbor, but Home didn’t open the door like it usually did as they approached.

Why
is
Frarm
with
you
? it sent.

He’s
going
to
stay
with
us
tonight
.

Then
my
door
stays
shut
.

Hest pulled to a stop.
Tell
me
why
.

Home didn’t answer.

Gama put her hand on Hest’s arm. She thought she should have touched Frarm instead. He was the one she wanted to distract from wondering why they weren’t going inside. “I’m hungry. Can we go to the communiteria before settling in?”

Hest shot her a subtle look — he knew she’d eaten before they went to Community Hall — but he always backed her in anything, same as she would for him.

“I could eat,” he said. “How about you, Frarm?”

Frarm shrugged uneasily. “I’m not hungry, but I’ll keep you company.”

A few other corenta-kin were in the communiteria when they arrived. No one was cooking this late after evening-meal, but cold dishes waited for any who might want them. They’d found a table by the door. Hest sat quietly and devoured a large awa fruit. A bit of juice dribbled onto his chin. Gama reached over and wiped it off, then pushed aside the bowl of vero she’d made herself eat, to keep up her pretense of hunger. Frarm hadn’t wanted anything, and stared at nothing in the center of the room. The silence at their table felt louder to Gama than any of the conversations going on around them.

She sent a thought back to Home and let Hest hear it.
Will
you
say
why
you
don’t
want
Frarm
inside
?

Disappearing
birds
! Home sent.
I
don’t
believe
him
.
He’s
stirring
up
disharmony
.

Do
you
believe
Hest
and
I
saw
brez
disappear
?

Even
though
your
blood
and
sweat
isn’t
in
my
mortar
.
I
know
you
would
never
say
what
you
didn’t
believe
to
be
true
.

Usually a newly emerged member of the corenta would work with her or his dwelling to build it, so that both were happy. But doing that meant tearing down an old dwelling or other structure for materials — destroying that structure’s personality. Gama and Hest had chosen instead to move together into Home, which was empty since its occupant had Returned to the creator almost a year before they emerged. Others had done the same before, in other dwellings, with good results. The three of them weren’t as close as they’d be if they’d built the dwelling together, but the arrangement had worked well so far.

Frarm
believes
what
he
says
,
too
, Gama sent.
You
should
let
him
in
.
Who
better
than
you
to
protect
him
at
this
difficult
time
?
Frarm
could
have
gone
anywhere
.
He
chose
to
ask
us
—
because
of
you
—
for
shelter
.
Please
don’t
deny
him
just
one
night
under
your
roof
.

Gama didn’t know where Home had gotten the inflated sense of self it certainly possessed — likely from its original builder, but sometimes dwellings developed personalities quite different from the soumyo who’d built them. Flattery always worked with Home, and she was not above using silky words when needed.

There was a long silence, then Home sent,
All
right
.
Only
for
tonight
.
But
you’d
all
better
do
a
lot
of
talking
.
I
want
to
hear
the
whole
story
from
Frarm
.
I’ll
judge
the
truth
of
things
from
that
.

-=o=-

Gama supposed Home felt a little sorry for its attitude, because it listened without interruption to all that Frarm had to say.

I
don’t
know
, Home sent when Frarm finished, but it let all three of them hear its thoughts, and that was a good sign.
Things
are
wrong
here
.

In
Frarm’s
story
?
Something
you
don’t
believe
?

No
, Home sent.
Here
.
In
the
world
.

-=o=-

Hest grumbled under his breath. Gama shot a quick look at his neck. Whatever annoyed him wasn’t irritating enough to raise a color on his emotion spots but she knew him well enough to know when his grumbles should be ignored and when he needed to talk.

Gama shifted the wood yoke on her shoulders and jabbed him lightly in the ribs with her elbow. The water buckets on either end of the yoke swung with her movement. “Might as well say it loud enough for everyone to hear.”

“This.” Hest twisted his body slightly so that the empty buckets on his yoke swung like heavy fruit in a strong wind. His gaze swung across the landscape of stubby brown grass to the river. “If we’d stayed at the meadow, by now it would have rained enough to fill the reservoirs and we wouldn’t be out here fetching water by the bucketful.”

Frarm and Prill were with them, and Iya and Vonti. Gama was happy Iya had been assigned. She was practical, honest, and not a complainer — three traits Gama appreciated in a workmate. Other units would be making the journey down to the river and back as well. It took a lot of trips to make up for one good rain. But this, with the possible exception of Prill, was the exact crew she would have chosen if it’d been up to her instead of Reln.

“I’d rather be hauling water,” Iya said, “than be by a meadow or stream where beasts and birds disappeared into nothing. That meadow made me shiver.”

“Not the place itself,” Hest said.

Gama finished his sentence, knowing what he was thinking. “The cause.”

“What is the cause?” Iya shifted her yoke on her shoulders. “Either strange things are happening, or my sisters and brothers are imagining things that aren’t real. Neither is a good thing.”