Spacer Clans Adventure 2: Naero's Gambit (18 page)

As they lay back, she felt herself drifting off within a few minutes of controlled breathing. Her eyes closed.

Next thing she knew, she and Master Vane floated up in the sky, high in the atmosphere.

She would have gasped, but then she realized she wasn
’t breathing. That fact almost panicked her. Vane tried to calm her through their link.

Easy, Maeris.
You don’t have a physical body in the Astral Plane. This is your astral form, and it does not need to breathe. There are ways to manipulate your form here, but the other High Masters worry and diddle with all of that crap. Just one of the many reasons why they’re so stupid and distracted half the time. They’re addicted to extra-planar travel like some kind of drug.

Suddenly they passed into what seemed to be a swirling miasma of light and color that enveloped them out of nowhere.

What are the dangers? Can we be harmed here?

“M
any, and yes. If you die on any plane or reality, you perish in all the others that you inhabit. But that’s all you need to know for now. You travel within the Astral Plane by force of will, picking a direction, or focusing on a location or entity that you know well. We’ll train you more in Astral travel later. You do not need to be very good at it for now. You must not enter it without a good reason or stay very long. Here is my marker for you that I shall create. You can use it to find me if you must.”

A small black, glistening three dimensional star, shifting and pulsing with veins of scarlet energy, floated in front of her.

She could hold it in her hands, but when she attempted to touch it, it melted into her right hand and vanished.

Naero gave up a little cry at the sharpness of the quick stab of agony.

Damn Vane. Everything always seemed to be taught through pain with him. The sadistic old bastard.

Yes,
yes, I know it hurts. Curse me as you usually do I imagine; I rather enjoy it. Concentrate on me in the Astral Plane and that Marker will transport you to wherever I happen to be at the time. But I’m warning you; if you bother me without good cause, I will find new ways to make you suffer, Maeris. Now, let’s return to Janosha.

How do we do that?

Simple you simpleton. You are your own, best known astral marker. Focus on returning to your physical body. Like waking up. Picture yourself opening your eyes.

In the flash of an instant, they were back in Naero
’s cave. Her eyes fluttered open. Master Vane already let go of her hand and rose up, floating out the opening and up toward his chamber.

“R
emember. Do not bother us on the Astral Plane unless it’s very important. It’s only for one week, Maeris. Consider it a holiday. We’ll continue your training after we return.”

21

Later that morning, Naero climbed down among the Tua to seek out Bahan and Iika.
With Vane and Hashiko away in the Astral Plane, she had little else to occupy her time, besides practicing on her own.

She said her greetings.

It continued to be a great comfort to her that the simple, gentle Tua always seemed happy to see her. No longer showing any fear of her. Even though she was halaena, they accepted her among them completely. Just like family.

Naero was used to being around others
, and gladly enjoyed being part of their lives.

The Tua kits favored her
immensely and climbed up all over her like little furry beetles, squeaking and mewing in glee. They covered her like a furry suit.

A very hot, itchy
, furry suit in the current heat of the high summer season.

Nae
ro ignored the mild discomfort and laughed with them, kissing and petting the various kits until they clung to her and purred, falling happily asleep.

The
entire tribe kept the kits so clean. They even smelled good, kind of like caramel and vanilla and fruit.

Pa
rents and great-parents wandered over and plucked their kits off of her without a word, apparently knowing which ones were theirs.

Usually Tua females gave birth to
two to four kits at a time. Six in some rare cases.

Yet the women
also had some way of controlling when they conceived that Naero hadn’t figured out yet. Were they biomancers on some level? They were not constantly pregnant, that was for sure, despite plenty of chunga.

Chung
a in full view, often in public among the adults, just like most everything they did.

Very little convention. No shame.

Little chunga breaks erupted here and there all day long among the mated pairs, and then they went right back to their business like nothing had just happened.

Completely natural to them and all of the Tua around them.

And as with many sentients, about ten percent of the mated pairs were either male-male, or female-female. Such pairs either worked out chunga pairings to have kits of their own, or in general helped out with the other village kits as needed or to their liking.

Some
pairs of all varieties even chose to have no kits at all.

But in fact, once a mated pair had a litter of kits, they didn
’t get pregnant again for a long time. Iika explained that most mated pairs only had one or two litters in their entire three decade lifetimes.

And they could only mate after their coming of age of fourteen summers, at which time, most were eager and prepared to do so.

Any young adults caught sneaking off to chunga before they came of age were beaten with switches and kept separate by the Tua elders.

Somehow the populat
ion remained relatively stable around the caves, although Naero knew that other tribes of Tua existed in countless other places. And many chose to live among them.

Once all the kits were off her, she located Bahan and Iika. About
sixty adult and young Tua prepared to journey with them.

Bahan explained that they were going to harvest a snoka tree
after lunch.

The hunting party checked all of their tools and implements.

“We never try to kill snoka trees. They live for a very long time and provide many useful things. When one does die, many tribes come to feast off it before it rots. The snoka tree is not really a tree.”

“What do you mean it
’s not a tree?”

“You shall see,” Iika said. “The snoka pretends to be a tree. It is really an animal. It bleeds. It can even move among the galu trees it feeds off of. It appears to slowly absorb them, but it is really devouring them.”

“Amazing, an animal that mimics and eats trees.”

“Yes” Bahan said. “As long as we don
’t cut the snoka all the way around, it won’t die before its time. But we can take long strips off without doing much harm. The snoka will heal easily, as long as you don’t harvest the same strip on it twice. They are so large, there is is no need.”

Iika pulled out several samples of materials they harvest
ed from the snoka. “We cure and use the outer hide for skins, sleeping hides, screens, and tents. Certain layers are perfect for making thongs, cords, and braided rope. The softer, inner flesh can be cooked and eaten, even dried into jerky. The snoka has many good uses.”

Naero pointed to some jerky. “That
’s what I’ve been eating all this time? I gotta say, it’s not bad.”

Bahan nibbled on some as they went. “We try to respect the lives of the snoka, and the galu. Both have many uses, and their own ways of life. The snoka only feeds on the old galu trees that are in their decline, keeping the forests from being choked with dead wood and brush
. A very real fire hazard. Snoka keep the forests healthy–even their droppings enrich the soil. And healthy forests protect the Tua from many large predators.”

“How do they do that?”

Iika sang a little bit. “Some predators, like the akakoth tunnel through the earth to get at their prey. The deep, thick tree roots block them. And many predators do not like the taste or smell of certain grasses or trees, or their roots.”

Bahan laughed. “Some snoka even do the same, to keep predators from eating them, or seeing them as food.”

Naero smiled. “I like and respect how the Tua seem to live in harmony with everything on Janosha.”

Her friends looked at her in confusion, as they sometimes did.

“There is another way to do things?” Iika asked.

Naero sighed and smiled. She did not say anything more for a long while.

The hunters came to the snoka tree that they had selected.

A towering specimen seventy meters tall, in the process of devouring a galu tree of similar size.

This snoka had been harvested many times over the years. Naero saw the patchwork of strips taken from its sides that had healed over in a matter of weeks. Never in the same place.

Her friends were right. The snoka were so enormous, taking the long strips from them would be like a human scraping an elbow or knee.

The dark brown bark or hide of the snoka was in fact leathery and even cracked and weathered in places. Yet mostly smooth. Only the slight nubs in the hide allowed the agile Tua hunters to clamber up the creature so deftly.

The Tua went to work with their stone tools. First they measured the strip precisely, and then peeled off the layers they needed, rolling them up and cutting the sheets in lengths that any adult Tua could carry.

Each layer could be used in different ways.

As the
y carved deeper, the snoka oozed reddish, sap-like sticky blood, which they also collected.

The sap-
blood had a woody, earthy, yet pungent smell. Not like pine. More like the metallic tang of copper and wood pulp.

The harvest took over three hours of hard labor, with the Tua working quickly and methodically. They neither hurried nor dawdled. And for once, none of them stopped to chunga. Such harvests were extremely important to the tribe
’s survival.

Naero
marveled as she watched them achieve their tasks. Learning new respect for them the more time she spent with them. The Tua were far from being vermin or dumb brutes. They were clever and very smart after their own fashion. And they had a natural compassion for each other and everything around them that was both beautiful and inspiring.

The Tua normally seemed serene and happy left to themselves. Diligent, playful. Even funny.

Naero liked that they played cute little harmless tricks on each other and spent a good deal of their time teasing one another, telling stories, singing, and laughing.

Their forests rang with joy and laughter when they were free to be who and what they were.

Naero had the sense that the Tua knew themselves very well. and most likely, they knew Janosha and all of its ways more intimately and far better than even the Mystic High Masters ever would.

Especially the real brutes–like Vane.

Chaos knowledge was not the only knowledge that held any value, whether Vane would admit to that or not. Yes, even Naero began to see how important Chaos energy truly was. How it permeated and connected and even fueled everything.

Yet it was only one component of a greater whole. A vital component, but not the sum total of all things. Not by far.

Somehow, being around the Tua helped her put and keep everything in perspective.

The harvesting done, the Tua even covered the open wound on the snoka with great quantities of the bluish-purple healing salve that they kept with them.

“That seems like a waste,” Naero said. “The snoka are strong. Wouldn’t they heal on their own?”

Bahan explained. “We give back to the snoka, for giving us so much in return. Our precious balm heals them faster, and helps keep them healthy and strong. A healthy forest of snoka and galu is a good thing for all.”

Some of the adult Tua prepared a celebration meal for the hunters. Prime cuts of the deepest, juiciest, tenderest snoka strip, a few millimeters thick, got cubed and put in mixing bowls raw, with salt and herbs and pungent, tangy nuc sauce that the Tua fermented in skins and bladders.

Every one eagerly began to feast on the cubed snoka meat from the bowls once they were set out.

Naero tried some.

She normally did not favor raw meat dishes, but quickly found
this one to be a pungent, delicious delicacy.

She smiled at her friends, wiping juice from her chin on one arm before grabbing another handful of succulent, meaty cubes.

When the meal was done, the Tua took her to a nearby stream where they bathed to wash off the sweat of the day and any stickiness from the meal. They cleaned their bowls and then filled them with pure sparkling water from the river.

Iika handed a small bowl of water to Naero.

“Watch us, and do as we do. We shall give thanks to the snoka and the galu for their gifts to us. We shall thank all the forest and Tua’Ka itself.”

Together they all held their bowls of water before them and went back to the snoka tree they harvested, forming a great ring around it.

Then they sang their song of praise and thankfulness.

Naero was already beginning to learn their many songs, and sang along with them.

Yah-duu Ah Shah Lah! Shah hah lah shah-dae! Yah Jhah Vah Shah-Lae. Ae duu vah. Ae duu vah shah lah!

Then a strange thing happened.

The plain river water in the wooden bowls began to glow slightly.

Naero could sense it. It wasn
’t just water any more. It was fused with the Cosmic energies of Janosha.

On an impulse, she raised the bowl to her lips and drank some.

Instantly, she felt as if every centimeter of her body became electrified, charged with power from deep within.

Her skin began to glow with the same light.

Naero gasped again. So filled with power.

Was this what it was like to begin to transform into a being of pure light, darkness, and energy?

Om nearly panicked.

Naero, what is happening?

Take it easy Om. Everything’s all right. Go back to what you were doing.

The Tua glanced at her in curiosity, but kept singing.

Yah-duu Ah Shah Lah! Shah hah lah shah-dae! Yah Jhah Vah Shah-Lae. Ae duu vah. Ae duu vah shah lah!

The Tua lifted their bowls, then tipped them and poured out the glowing liquid all around the base of the galu and the snoka.

The glowing energy seeped into the rich earth, and even faded away gently from within Naero herself.

That was it. That was the answer.

They were all one. One with Janosha. One with…everything.

She felt as if she could pluck the sun from space and feast upon it like ripe fruit.

The flows of all things Cosmic streamed through her veins.

They were in fact the stars–just as Spacers believed.

And the stars and all things were them.

The Great Truth, the Great Mystery of All Things was in fact, Blazing and Blinding True.

Why did she ache that when this moment passed on, she would no longer understand these things this completely?

Naero realized that she had only known such peace and joy at fleeting times before.

In the pure love of her lost parents.

At precious moments with Gallan and her closest friends.

The Tua sang a third and final time.

Naero lifted up her voice as one with them.

Tears of joy and sorrow rivering from her eyes.

Yah-duu Ah Shah Lah! Shah hah lah shah-dae! Yah Jhah Vah Shah-Lae. Ae duu vah. Ae duu vah shah lah!