Gama and Hest: An Ahsenthe Cycle companion novella (The Ahsenthe Cycle) (7 page)

Come
be
with
us
, she sent to Frarm.
Quickly
.
It’s
safer
if
we’re
together
.

Was that true? Anything that could snatch up Carding House could likely grab three little soumyo as easily as she could pick up a gathering basket. But it would feel safer if they were together.

Frarm seemed to gather his courage and jumped from his cot — the thud of his feet hitting the floor sounding as loud as thunder to her. He didn’t walk slowly as Hest had. He ran, leaning so far forward that halfway across the room he stumbled and nearly fell. He pulled himself upright and stopped. Gama locked her eyes on his, as though her gaze could drag him the rest of the way.

A strange noise joined the pressing air in the room — like whirling bugs skimming past her earholes. And behind that, a low hum. And a faint smell, like something bitter burning a distance away. Hest coughed again. Her gaze slid to him for a bare moment.

When she looked back, Frarm was gone.

“Hest!” she yelped, and thought-talked,
Frarm
,
where
are
you
?
Are
you
all
right
?
Frarm
! No reply came back. Worry blasted through her. Her spots flared blue-red. One spot lit soft-green-yellow — relief that it hadn’t been Hest who was taken. Or her.

Home called to the other structures, likely telling the other structures what had happened. Her chest felt tight, her muscles cramped. The heavy chill in the air lifted and she managed to send Home a request to turn up the lights. Frarm’s cot was empty of anything but his crumpled blankets. Her heart pounded against the cage of her ribs.

“What happened?” she whispered to Hest.

“I don’t know,” he whispered back. He put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close.

Are
we
next
?

“I don’t know,” he said.

Get
out
! Home sent.
Get
out
now
!

They ran. Home threw open its door. Reln stood just outside the door and grabbed her hand as she crossed the threshold. It looked like all their sisters and brothers had fled their dwellings too. Why not? Staying indoors hadn’t protected Frarm.

“Go to Community Hall.” Reln’s voice was low and firm. “Calm yourselves. We’ll need you to tell us what happened.”

Her mouth felt dry and her neck hot from the colors flaring on her emotion spots. Hest wasn’t doing any better. He tried to send her a thought but it was jumbled. They followed Reln’s orders and went straight to Community Hall, only half-seeing their corenta-kin standing with Reln and staring after them.

Hall had opened its door only a little way. Gama had to turn sideways to slip through. The structures had been talking to each other in their own speech as she and Hest made their way across Reev, but Hall turned silent the moment she passed its jambs.

They walked all the way to the front of Hall — the further they were from their dwelling the better Gama felt — but didn’t step up to the dais. They hunkered down on the floor pillows instead, close to each other, shoulders and hips touching. Gama hoped Reln wouldn’t make them stand up there with him. She knew it was a false hope. Their sisters and brothers would want the whole story and she and Hest were the only ones left who could tell it.

“You tell it,” she whispered to Hest. She couldn’t bear the thought of describing the moment of Frarm’s disappearance, of losing a brother — it was too awful.

“You woke up first,” he whispered back. “You saw more.”

“Felt it before I saw anything.” A tremble ran across her shoulders as she remembered the odd way the air felt. The sensation that something unknown was there among them.

“You’ll have to tell it,” Hest said. “I’ll pick up the story as soon as I can.”

She rubbed her thighs with both hands and nodded.

Hall’s wide double-doors flung open and banged against the walls. Their corenta-kin flooded inside, their necks ablaze, cutting off conversations as they crossed the threshold. Her heart beat double-time, watching them find pillows and sit, watching Reln walking fast toward her and Hest.

“Come.” Reln clearly expected them to follow him onto the dais.

Gama and Hest climbed up. Reln gave her a look. She drew a deep breath and began.

Her sisters and brothers listened in the silence manners demanded, but she saw their throats flash with the color of their emotions — gray-red with shock, red-blue with anxiety, brownish-pink with uncertainty. Here and there a throat lit with the soft-green-yellow of relief — glad in their hearts that it was Frarm and not them. She almost stopped talking, seeing that, and felt her own throat warm with the gray-green of revulsion. Yet she’d felt the same relief that it hadn’t been Hest or her.

When she reached the part of the story where Hest woke, he stepped forward and took it from there.

“We couldn’t see much in the darkness,” he said, “but each of us, especially Home, felt something was wrong.”

Listening to Hest brought the memories back more clearly than telling them had. Her stomach fluttered and her throat lit purple-gray with worry for Frarm, worry about her brothers, sisters, and corenta--what these events meant and what might happen in the future. She glanced at Reln and saw the same color on his throat.

She heard Hall talking to the other structures in their own language, likely sharing Hest’s words with them. It was easy to see how their corenta-kin felt, but impossible with the structures. A soumyo couldn’t know what a structure thought or felt unless it chose to say. Were most of the structures as panicked as Home had been, or as calm as Hall seemed to be? Better to wonder about that than think on what had taken Frarm.

Hest finished talking and stepped back.

“What do we do now?” someone in the back yelled. “Nowhere is safe. No one is safe.”

Hall’s doors swung open and Vonti ran into the hall. Gama, Hest, and Reln saw him first, from their places on the dais. His neck was lit gray-red with shock and dark-gray with worry. Gama felt her own neck warm, her colors a match for Vonti’s. She held her hand out toward him. All the seated kin turned to follow Gama’s gaze.

Vonti blinked quickly a few times. “The food is gone.” His voice was raspy with despair. “Reln sent me to check on it when Gama’s dwelling sounded the alarm. I’ve searched the communiteria, the storage houses, all the dwellings. There’re scraps, but most of the food has vanished.”

Voices rose up, wild bursts of sound that Gama couldn’t make sense of. A question would float loud above the general noise, then sink in the rising tide of words. Reln raised his arms for quiet, but the corenta-kin were caught in their own concerns, their own fears. From the dais, Gama watched some of her sisters and brothers storm out the doors. She saw corenta-kin clutching each other, and wide-eyed Vonti surrounded, his brothers and sisters throwing questions at him. His neck flashed blue-red with anxiety, then orange-yellow with confusion. She jumped from the dais and cut through the crowd, shouldering aside those who pressed at him. She elbowed her way to stand next to him and leaned in to speak in his earhole.

“Do you have any more to say, Vonti? Anything to add?”

He shook his head. His emotion spots changed colors so quickly, it was hard to keep track of his feelings.

“Do you want to stay here?”

He shook his head again.

She grabbed his arm and pulled him to the door. Hest came up beside them and stepped in front, gently nudging aside anyone who tried to ask Vonti more questions or block their way.

The corenta-kin who’d gone outside were rushing toward their dwellings. Gama didn’t know what they expected to find — that Vonti had told an untruth? That the food was still there? She didn’t know which frightened her more — Frarm’s disappearance, their food being gone, or corenta-kin beginning to doubt each other’s words.

Vonti’s dwelling opened the door only a crack when they reached it, little different than how Hall had greeted Hest and her. Vonti ran his hands over his face and sighed loudly.

“Thank you, Gama. Everyone kept asking the same questions — was the food really gone? Was I sure? Had I checked their dwelling?” He threw up his hands. “What could I tell them? Yes, I kept saying, yes, but they wouldn’t stop. They kept asking.”

Hest stroked his throat, to comfort him. The colors on Vonti’s throat slowly paled.

“I’m going inside,” Vonti said. “Thank you.”

They nodded and turned. Gama heard the soft thunk of the door shutting firmly behind them.

They didn’t talk on the path back to their dwelling. What words were there to say? Gama wasn’t surprised when Home didn’t throw open the door as they approached. It was frightened too. Carding House had disappeared, which meant structures were at risk just like birds, beasts, and soumyo.

We’re
here
, she sent, even though they were certainly close enough for Home to sense them. The door still didn’t open.

Is
something
wrong
?

Home sent,
Go
away
.
Go
away
,
the
both
of
you
.

Please
,
Home
.
Open
your
door
.

No
, it sent.
You
saw
the
beasts
,
and
the
beasts
disappeared
.
You
worked
in
Carding
House
,
and
it
vanished
.
Frarm
came
to
stay
,
and
Frarm
is
gone
.
You’ve
drawn
this
misery
inside
our
walls
.
I
won’t
let
you
in
.

Seven

They stood outside Home, stunned.

Turn
around
and
walk
away
no
different
than
we
would
on
any
other
day
, Gama sent to Hest, too angry to speak out loud and let Home hear the panic she felt.

We
should
talk
to
Home
, he sent back.
Reason
with
it
.
You’ve
convinced
it
to
change
its
mind
before
.

Panic and anger bubbled in her — showing on her throat. She knew Home, its stubborn streak. It was unlikely to change its mind. She turned her back toward their dwelling.
Home
won’t
let
us
in
.
Maybe
later
,
but
not
now
.
We
need
tell
Reln
what’s
happened
,
and
find
a
place
to
stay
until
Home
comes
to
its
senses
.

Hest touched one of the spots glowing like fire on her throat.
All
right
.
Let’s
find
Reln
.

Gama put her hand over the back of her neck and walked with her head down. Panic that could be seen could easily be spread. She lifted her head once they’d gotten nearly halfway to Reln’s and she’d begun to feel calmer.

Prill met them at the door. Gama’s spots had quieted, but still showed enough color that one blue-red spot of anxiety bloomed on Prill’s own throat in response.

“Reln,” Hest said, and Gama looked past Prill at their guide coming toward the door.

The words tumbled out of her. “Home won’t let us inside. It blames us for the strange things that have happened. The brez disappearing, and the empty fields. And for Frarm. But Hest and I didn’t do anything. It was just circumstance. We have nowhere to stay.”

Reln reached out to touch her throat, then seemed to think better of it.

“You can stay here until this is straightened out,” he said. “I’ll go tomorrow and speak with your dwelling myself.”

-=o=-

Alone, Gama paced in the sleeping quarters Prill, Hest, and she now shared, restless, her mind churning. Hest and Prill had woken early, but Gama knew Hest was waiting for her to join him in the receiving room. She felt odd and alone without Hest, but she didn’t feel like rushing to meet him either. Prill’s hipwraps, cloaks, and foot casings lay strewn everywhere. Gama kicked a hipwrap, watching the fabric lift into the air and fall back to the floor.

At least Prill didn’t seem to mind sharing with Hest and her. Was glad for the company, Gama thought. Three nights had passed since Home had turned them away, and their dwelling still wouldn’t have them back, no matter what Reln said — a breach of manners nearly as strange as any of the other recent occurrences.

May
I
ask
a
question
? Gama sent to Reln’s dwelling as she secured Prill’s fallen cloak on a wall peg.

Of
course
, the dwelling sent.
But
note
before
you
do
that
I
am
known
for
truthfulness
,
not
kindness
.

Gama nodded, though she was never sure how much physical movement structures could read. In any event, she preferred truth to false kindness.

Are
you
frightened
by
Hest
and
me
?
Uncomfortable
having
us
here
?

No
, the dwelling said.
I
don’t
believe
you
have
brought
these
troubles
to
us
,
though
others
do
.

She rubbed her hands on her thighs.
Is
Prill
frightened
of
us
?

You
must
ask
Prill
that
question
.

Gama nodded again and exhaled. She’d talk to Prill, find out how she felt. And to Reln. As guide, he didn’t have much choice but to take them in. It could be that Prill and Reln would be happier if they stayed elsewhere — if there was an elsewhere that would take them
She pulled on her cloak. Hest was waiting in the receiving room. No matter what nerve-rattling things were going on around them, work and chores still had to be done.

She was assigned to the spinners that day with Vonti and Iya. Hest was assigned to the granary. It wasn’t unheard of for she and Hest to be assigned separately, but it wasn’t usual either. Reln had his reasons for separating them, she was sure, though she couldn’t guess what they might be.

-=o=-

The brez hair they’d carded had been moved before the carding house disappeared. Now it waited to be spun into thread for the weavers.

They’d each done this before, enough times that the spinners had left the room open and the spindles and brez hair waiting for her, Iya, and Vonti. Vonti hadn’t looked at or spoken to her since she’d arrived — not the way it usually was, those assigned the work for the day laughing if someone pulled the roving too hard and broke it, or mocking the full-time spinners behind their backs for their frustrations with the learners.

There’d be plenty to irritate the spinners today. Gama’s hands felt slick with nervous sweat. Vonti had his spindle between his knees, but couldn’t get an even rhythm going.

“We’re all a little nervous today,” Iya said, her hands slipping off her own spindle.

Vonti looked at Iya and then Gama, his face carefully bland. He turned his attention back to the spindle. Iya raised her eyebrow ridges and hiked one shoulder in a shrug. Gama watched them both a moment, then gave Vonti a gentle jab in the side with her elbow. “Nothing to say?”

He kept his eyes on his work.

She was fairly certain what he was thinking. Thoughts unspoken had a way of festering. Her voice dropped low. “Afraid you might disappear like Frarm if you’re with me?”

“No.” Vonti’s long fingers pricked at the roving around his wrist, trying to loosen it. “It is strange though that you seem to be there so often when things happen.”

“And Hest,” she said. “Are you blaming us?”

“Your dwelling does.”

“Do you?”

The spindle between Vonti’s knees slipped and fell over. He picked it up and threw it across the room. “I don’t know what I think.” He pulled himself to his feet and stomped out of the room.

Iya sniffed and rubbed her nose.

Gama stared at the door Vonti had slammed behind him. “He shouldn’t have left. We should have talked it out. Reln was right — if we don’t stick together, fear will destroy us.”

-=o=-

Prill pushed the chest that held her personal goods toward the center of the room. She could have simply asked the dwelling to draw the metal screens over the sky-window each night — or chances were the dwelling, knowing her preference for dark, would have done it itself — but Prill liked the physical act, she’d said — climbing onto the chest, the way the screen felt in her hands, the sounds of the chest sliding across the wood floor and the moving screen made.

Gama watched her, a bubble of anxiety forming behind her breastbone. “Prill. Leave it tonight. Please.”

Prill stopped pushing the chest and looked up.

Gama felt her neck warm. “It’s silly, but tonight, I’d like the moon and starlight. The dark — ”

“Of course,” Prill said, and began dragging the chest back into the corner.

-=o=-

Prill’s breathing was deep and even — fast asleep. Star and moonlight dimly lit the sleeping quarters. It wasn’t much light, but Gama was glad for it. She could barely make out the shape that was Hest, but knew he was awake by the soft creak of his cot as he turned restlessly.

Kis’
dwelling
turned
him
out
today
, she sent to him.

Why
are
you
still
awake
? he sent back.

Same
reason
you
are
.

The
structures
, he sent.
We
have
few
friends
among
them
these
days
.

Community
Hall
took
Kis
in
.
It
hasn’t
turned
against
us
,
but
I
sense
Wall
getting
prickly
. She rolled her shoulders, wondering if she should say what bothered her — the worrisome thought scratching at the back of her mind, then sent,
What
if
Reev
decides
it’s
better
off
without
us
?
You
and
me
.
Some
of
the
others
.

Hest’s cot creaked. In the thin light, Gama saw he was in his thinking position — his body still, his eyes wide, staring at nothing. He didn’t answer.

She drew a breath and let it out.
Reev
can’t
decide
that
though
,
can
it
?
It
would
be
like
deciding
you
didn’t
want
a
part
of
yourself
any
more
.
Even
with
some
of
the
structures
acting
strangely
,
it’s
not
like
all
of
Reev
is
siding
with
a
few
scared
dwellings
.
I’m
certain
Home
and
Kis’
dwelling
will
come
to
their
senses
.
Probably
be
embarrassed
about
how
they
acted
.
Reev
wouldn’t
suddenly
decide
it
didn’t
want
us
any
more
than
the
corenta
-
kin
would
suddenly
abandon
the
structures
and
live
outside
its
walls
.
It’s
as
unthinkable
as
you
and
me
splitting
apart
.

Gama waited, but Hest didn’t respond. Still thinking, she supposed, and not ready to share. Hest could be secretive that way. She was used to it, but that didn’t stop his silence from being annoying — and hurtful.

An odd thought jumped into her head, a thought like words sounding in her mind — Hest was being difficult for no reason. The males were different, with their one soft little hand and one hard digger claw. They had brought the troubles to Reev. They were cagey and plotted to get things their own way, not thinking of the good of the whole. Wasn’t that what Hest was doing now? Lying there so quietly, thinking about himself? Vonti had stomped off, leaving her and Iya to finish his work. The males should be driven out.