In Arcadia

Chapter Seventeen

"So this place is going to be on a river instead of a lake?" Julian said.

"What makes you say that?" Laura asked absently, casting an eye over Lira and Julian to ensure that all sensible precautions for a day out in the sun had been taken.

"Because it’s called Areziath, Unna Laura," Lira said. "River City."

"I thought river was Avez," Laura said, picking up one of the backpacks weighted down with lunch.

"Arez," Lira said firmly.

"In Old Muinan, Mum," Julian said, grabbing his backpack. "Come on—we’d better go make sure Aunt Sue isn’t still in bed."

But Sue had Nick, Alyssa and Maddy to haul her out of her Pikachu onesie and into some semblance of order.

"Come on, slowpokes!" she called, waving from further down the path. "Laura, you need to overcome this habit of always showing up late."

Laura offered her sister some rolled eyes, then said to Julian: "If you’ve managed to add Old Muinan to your accomplishments, along with beating me to adulthood, I’m going to have to seriously think about getting up earlier to make up lost ground."

"The trick is to stay up all night, Mum. Or just asking Lira."

"Ask Lira what?" Sue asked.

"What Areziath means."

"River City. According to Muinapedia."

"Hey, we weren’t going to look it up beforehand," Laura protested.

Sue shrugged. "I didn’t look at any pictures. Just checked the bugs and heat factor. Southern hemisphere, spring, but a bit more temperate than the Pandora region. If it gets snow at all, it’d only be a light dusting, and we’d be well past any spring melt."

Since this was barely more than Gidds had already told them, Laura relaxed and instead waved to the trio of black-clad Setari waiting at the docks. Zee, Mara and Alay had most likely already been involved in performing surveys of Areziath during the initial months of Muina’s resettlement, but all three of the senior Setari greeted the small expedition with bright smiles and no sign that they resented their years of training and incredibly deadly skills being wasted on guard duty at a picnic.

"All I know is that Areziath is beautiful, and an unusual example of the platform towns," Laura said, in response to a question from Alay. "Gidds thought I’d like it, but suggested I not look it up."

"Maze loves it," Alay said. "And visiting without any idea of what to expect—especially at this time of year—is an excellent idea. There’s a good deal of debate over what to do with the site…but I won’t go on. You’ll see soon enough."

"It’s so special that we had a little competition to see who got this assignment," Mara said, with a meaning grin at Laura.

To watch wide-eyed? Laura smiled wryly, finding she wasn’t bothered by their warm curiosity.

The arrival of their transport distracted her from further reflection. This was a small aircraft known as a tanz: a highly manoeuvrable vehicle that always made Laura think of the space shuttle as if designed by Batman.

It settled into the water just off the end of the dock, and they walked across the wing to board, with Laura revisiting her perennial bemusement about military transports being used as taxis for her family. That was likely not even due to Gidds, but instead because of Lira, so valuable and so potentially dangerous.

And currently sitting with her head bowed, expression distracted. Of course, she’d visited Areziath before, and knew what to expect, but she’d seemed to enjoy the idea of another visit—and the fact that Laura wanted to be surprised by what it was like.

Squeezing her granddaughter’s hand, Laura sent a text.

Laura: Feeling okay?

Liranadestar: I’m just checking on Nimenny, Unna Laura.

Laura: You’re lucky your Nimenny is so much less grumpy than my Kirr-tut. Would you like to go on another group quest with us tomorrow?

Liranadestar: Maybe.

Laura left it at that, not wanting to do anything to push the girl away from Red Exchange. Cass had noticed a sharp decrease in Lira’s nightmares since she’d started playing, and so adventures with Nimenny would not be complicated by the prospect of stealth Kalrani bodyguards.

On the flip side, Laura had to wonder if there had been a committee meeting or two about the relative dangers of Touchstones who became devoted to computer-generated water spirits. As virtual pets went, the teszen were light-years from Tamagotchi.

Literally. Literally light-years from Earth. She would never quite get over that.

The trip to Pandora’s old town was brief and direct, with the tanz dropping them directly into the amphitheatre, allowing the shortest of walks to the teleport platform. A green-suited security detail was waiting to ensure no onlookers pressed too close, but as they disembarked Zee, Mara and Alay still shifted from relaxed and chatty to alert and focused. Laura was fascinated by the change, and the reminder that these three personable and friendly women were some of the most dangerous people on the planet, quite capable of swatting attackers like flies. Their training had been intended for killing monsters in the Ena, but they were more than equal to human threats—and over-eager fans, which was all they faced now, with a ring of spectators at the upper rim of the amphitheatre waving and calling out names. Mostly the three Setari’s, ironically, but also Lira’s and—to Laura’s immense and carefully hidden amusement—Julian’s.

He might be growing into his father’s gawky, stork-like figure, but Julian’s features were even and pleasantly attractive when not quite so crimson, and he had accrued a not-insubstantial fan club. Though, as he had repeatedly pointed out, having a fan club for being someone’s brother didn’t really count.

Their Setari escort ushered them below the amphitheatre to a simple round room with an unassuming white platform in the centre. This activated as soon as they had all filed on, replacing one round room with a second, almost identical, the only visible difference a sign that switched from Pandora to Kalasa.

It was entirely impossible for Laura to make this trip without a burst of wonder at actual, real teleportation platforms, and a lurch of distress because Cass had been the one who’d discovered the function of the platforms—a development that had left her trapped in Kalasa, hunted by monsters.

Laura always looked at the wall opposite the entrance, searching for signs of the gap that had allowed Cass to escape capture, but the patch was seamless. Repairs were underway all over Kalasa since, after considerable argument, the decision had been made to restore the ancient city rather than preserve it in the fractured state in which it had been found.

Having imperfectly followed some of the debate, Laura knew there were practical reasons for making use of Kalasa, but could not help but wish it could be left untouched. A whitestone city filling a valley protected and concealed by an ancient and still-functioning forcefield, it truly was an abandoned ruin out of Forerunner legend.

But KOTIS—recruiting a massive team of archaeologists—had moved in and, after years of cataloguing, were now cleaning and patching, decently dealing with the bodies of the long-ago fallen, and cautiously making the place habitable, because Kalasa was the place all the teleport platforms linked up: a planetary Grand Central Station.

Since Laura’s last visit, the technicians had finished restoring the arching fountain that soared above the teleportation platforms. A curving and elegant tripod structure, it would produce a vertical drop into a blue-tiled pool at the very centre of the city, though no water fell as yet.

"The devices team refuses to allow installation of a conventional pump," Alay informed Laura. "As much as possible they’re aiming to restore the original systems, which is quite a challenge when we barely understand them."

Laura was looking about for Gidds, surprised to not find him waiting at the fountain as planned. While last-minute demands on his time were something she now expected, he was punctilious in keeping her informed of delays, and she’d expect him to be even more particular for their first almost-public date. Had something happened that–?

But no, there he was, walking with Allidi and Haelin from the direction of the city gate.

Sue: Ooh, civvies. Fit snug, don’t they?

Laura: Indeed.

Sue: Do you think he’d do a few push-ups if I asked nicely?

Laura: I think he would smile at you if you asked him that.

Sue: You mean "Ah yes, humour"? Pfui.

Laura: After a couple of decades of students, I suspect that’s a built-in response.

"A side-trip to view the tedan," Gidds explained, when the three Selkies reached the main group.

"Tedan?" Sue echoed.

"Freshwater version of seals," Laura explained, and then introduced Allidi and Haelin.

The two girls responded with calm self-possession. It was one of those times when Laura felt challenged when faced with Sight Sight, knowing that chances were high that they would see she felt a little anxious, fretting over nothing. Perhaps she should ask Gidds to teach her a few Sights exercises as well.

"Laura’s been giving you selkie stories, has she?" Sue asked.

"Just one. About a girl who met a man who was really a tedan," Haelin said, then glanced at Laura and added: "Are they all sad stories?"

"Mostly. If you could dance in the sea, it seems almost inevitable to miss it when clumping about on land."

"Hm," Haelin said, and then crossed to Alyssa and began to ply her with questions about the planned skating rink, Allidi following along behind.

In their position, Laura would also have found ice skating infinitely more interesting than parental partners, and so she suppressed an impulse to push for their attention, instead taking the opportunity to briefly brush her fingers against Gidds'. Still, it was difficult not to think about the distance between indulgent grandma and wicked stepmother. She had been quickly accepted by Cass' children, but the situation she was facing with these two girls was one that left her full of questions about belonging.

Getting way ahead of yourself, Laura.

As they started into the building housing the Areziath platform, she put complexities aside and smiled at Gidds. "I feel like I’ve accidentally changed your relationship to your own name."

"I have been thinking about that story a great deal," he admitted. "And contrasting the tedan’s movements with my swimming ability. Swimming is not common on Tare, and I only learned relatively recently."

Picturing him learning gave her one of those flashes of hilarity that she knew by now he would see, so she smiled apologetically and said: "It’s a useful skill to have when moving to a planet covered with lakes."

They reached the platform, and stepped from one hemisphere to the other with no effort at all, and Laura gave herself up to a burble of anticipation. Going to a beautiful place she’d never seen. Of course, all that met her eyes was a round white room, blandly identical except for the location sign, and perhaps the faintest shift of temperature. And when they headed up, it was to yet another amphitheatre, this one beneath a pale, thin sky.

"Why is it you’ve only settled five out of the fourteen pattern-roof towns?" Sue asked Gidds.

"We were in danger of tripping over our feet," he told her. "There needs to be a period of consolidation and balancing before any further expansion. Nor do we necessarily want to build cities at every one of the platform locations."

"Definitely not Areziath," Zee said, shifting briefly from her ultra-professional guard stance. "Or, at least, it would have to be managed sensitively."

"Nothing here until we understand its purpose," Gidds said, deliberately mysterious, and took Laura’s hand firmly as they climbed the stair.

She regarded him with faint amusement, knowing that he was anticipating the moment she saw the town. But she was glad she’d resisted the temptation to look the place up beforehand. What could be so special? Yet another whitestone town, but presumably in a particularly dramatic setting?

"What’s that weird sound?" Maddy asked. "Is that rain?"

"What?" Alyssa asked, then lifted her head. "Oh, I hear it."

"Kind of…whirry," Maddy said.

"Maybe it’s robots," Julian said, on an eager note, but then almost fell over backward as a formless amoeba blotted the pale sky above. Constantly changing shape, it crossed over the amphitheatre, abruptly reversed direction, and was lost to sight.

Sue had gripped Laura’s arm, but now raced up the stair, only to stop dead as she reached the top.

"A murmuration!" Laura said, thoroughly delighted, and added to Gidds: "Sue’s always wanted to see one."

"It is a behaviour seen on Earth, then?"

"Oh, yes, although I’ve never seen it in Australia. I wonder if it’s the same species of bird?"

The top of the stair had become crowded with people standing staring, but Gidds deftly manoeuvred Laura sideways, and then she, too, stopped in her tracks and gaped.

The amphitheatre sat on the crown of a lone hill in the centre of large plain. There was, as anticipated, a collection of pattern-roof buildings, but these were confined to the slopes of the hill. Beyond was pearl and silver and milky blues in a mist-shrouded dawn.

"River City," Laura said, with a full appreciation of a very literal name.

The region was all river. Not a driving torrent or lazy rills, but…fretwork. Artificial channels—they had to be—had been cut into the entire sweep of land around the amphitheatre hill, to form a kind of Art Nouveau Norfolk Broads, with shades of a Japanese hanabi, for it was spring in Areziath, and a millennia ago someone had carefully chosen the trees.

Sue: When Howl took Sophie to the garden in the Waste.

Impossible not to agree. This was the stuff of purest fantasy. Magic.

Laura: I would definitely not be surprised to encounter moving castles, talking fire, or a door that leads four ways.

Sue: I’m going to spend the rest of the day picturing Serious Soldier moaning about his hair.

"Teleport platform or door into Faerie?" Alyssa asked, with a catch in her throat that spoke for all of them.

"Can we see it from above, Dzo?" Allidi asked, lifting bright eyes to her father.

He nodded, and Zee said: "Groups of four, please."

She took Maddy, Lira, Allidi and Haelin first, all four of the girls looking delighted, though three not as thunderstruck as the Earth contingent, since they’d all known about Areziath beforehand, but had politely kept details to themselves.

"We don’t really know if it’s purely decorative, or has some purpose," Mara was saying. "It functions in the same way as the other pattern-roof villages—produces aether each moonfall—but no-one’s been able to rule out the possibility that it’s more than extreme landscape design."

"There are houses out there," Alay added. "Exactly eleven, and much larger and more complex than the simple, repetitive design of these box structures on the hillside. There might be a lot of theories, but the most likely explanation is this was simply a pretty place for an elite to visit."

"I’m going to stick with it being an outpost of Faerie," Sue said, firmly, and began to circle the rim of the amphitheatre, which had clearly been designed for the purpose of looking out rather than in.

Laura followed a step behind, still holding Gidds' hand, and glad when everyone lapsed back into appreciative silence, for this was a dawn for hush and wonder.

She spotted one of the houses, buried beneath overhanging branches on one of the countless islands. A slender curved bridge connected that island to the next, and Laura was able to pick out occasional sections of a whitestone path, patchily visible beneath undisturbed centuries of leaves turned to mulch, encroaching bushes, and a top layer of fallen petals. Birds were everywhere. Elegant herons. Fat ducks. Sleek divers. Flittings in the bushes. And, above, an ever-changing cloud swirling, darting, turning.

Zee returned with the girls, and took Gidds, Laura, Sue and Julian straight up. Laura gulped because thinking flying incredible didn’t stop her stomach from feeling like it dropped to her feet whenever she was being whizzed about. She started to let go of Gidds' hand, but he tightened his grip briefly, and shook his head to show he wasn’t bothered, and she found that having something to hold on to helped convince her innards that she wasn’t freefalling.

They rose to a point where they could take in the whole of the plain—high enough that it almost felt like a later part of the day—and then Zee tilted them gently forward so that they were hovering Superman-style, and could just look.

The river really was a river. Laura could see it stretching from their left to their right: a natural flow that only happened to be interrupted by a vast circle of channels in the shape of a tree, all wide spreading branches and tangled roots picked out in shimmering water.

"There’s only a single route through," Sue said, eventually. "By land, I mean."

Impressed that she’d been able to work this out, Laura tried to track the path.

"From the amphitheatre, you can walk across the whole thing," Zee said. "It loops all the way through the roots and the branches and returns to the central hill."

"Is anyone studying this?" Sue asked. "Documenting it? I suppose they must be, and there’s a million volunteers wanting to help."

"There are multiple studies," Gidds told her. "And opportunities are certainly competitive. However, those vetting the applications may well take your special circumstances into account."

"Cass opens a lot of doors, huh?" Sue said. "Well, I’m not one to stand on principle to the point of idiocy. Nepotism it shall be."

Zee laughed. "Your perspective as a person from an entirely different culture is not so small a factor. And you know we all clamour for copies of the scans you take of the children. I don’t know what it is about them that makes for the one image we want to keep of each occasion."

"Framing, mostly," Sue said with a professional’s abstraction, gazing at the shimmering scene below.

"Eleven was a significant number in old Muinan society," Gidds offered. "Though whether it has been used here for luck or has greater significance we cannot tell, and until a full study has been made, there will be no construction whatsoever on this site—or even outside its bounds. The research teams are based out of Pandora."

Sue’s attention had been stolen by the murmuration, returning from a circuit of the roots of the city. The flight of birds was incredible enough to watch from the ground. Witnessing it from above—and perilously near to within—stunned them to silence until Zee dropped them back to the amphitheatre.

"I think they are starlings," Sue said. "Same as Earth, or very similar. Though I thought murmurations were a dusk behaviour for them, not dawn."

As Zee took Nick, Alyssa, Mara and Alay for their turn, Gidds asked the four girls which direction they’d like to walk. Haelin and Lira immediately said opposite directions, and were each seconded by Allidi and Maddy.

"Which do you prefer, Unna Laura?" Lira asked, but Laura was not going to start the day playing favourites.

"I’d say flip a coin—which is how a decision between two choices is often made on Earth—but I don’t think any of us would have a coin. I wonder if you have an equivalent of rock-paper-scissors?"

After some explanation she learned that Tare had cloth-razor-stone and old Muina had had spider-snake-bird, but Gidds annoyed his daughters by pointing out that this was not a game you wanted to play against Sight Sight talents, and so they created a makeshift coin, and Haelin won the toss.

Lira was not someone who enjoyed losing, but after a moment’s scowl she asked Haelin: "Why do you want to go into the roots instead of the branches?"

"Because that’s where trees start," Haelin said, matter-of-factly. "Going the other way would be starting at the end."

"The light comes in at the leaves," Lira countered, though without real heat.

"How long would it take to walk all about this place?" Maddy asked. "Could we do the whole thing?"

"Quite a few days, I’d say," Sue said. "You could maybe walk the edge in a long day, but that path was twisty. Did you notice that there were distinct regions? Blurred by time, but definitely different original plantings."

Zee returned with her last batch, and Laura saw that even the Setari, who had visited Areziath before, were wide-eyed and awed.

"Let’s walk without talking—at least at the start," Alyssa said. "It’s kind of a place for being quiet."

They started down off the hill: a walk that took a half hour in itself, and made for an eerie progress, for the ruins had been left undisturbed by those who studied them, and the empty doors and windows of the houses gave glimpses into an ancient past, where one day every occupant had died all at once. Whatever the city’s purpose in the past, it was a mass grave now.

Yet it was not an oppressive place. Empty, almost lonely, but with no sense of ancient violence. Laura let her breath out in a muted sigh after they had passed the last of the platform-roof houses, and then checked on Lira, who had not precisely lived through that long-ago disaster. The girl’s brow was clear, and when she noticed Laura looking she gave her a reassuring smile. Kids.

Liranadestar: Do you think everyone will like the cookies I made, Unna Laura?

Laura: If they taste half as nice as they smelled baking, I think they’re sure to. Especially after a long walk.

The entrance to the path was through a stone arch, sadly fractured in several places, but still giving the transition an air of formal commencement. They walked into birdsong, a heady scent of blossom, and the chirrup and whine of insects—fortunately kept at bay by simple sonic devices worn clipped to clothing. Crossing to the second of the countless islands, Gidds sent Laura his visual feed, and a whole extra world of small animals was revealed.

The reverent silence did not last, and they began to point out particular features to each other. Small nests built precariously on the ends of reeds. A turquoise flash as a fishing bird dived. Water thickly layered with blue and white petals. Otters.

Laura gripped Gidds' hand at this latest discovery, and his feed showed he glanced at her rather than the ripples in the water. He was enjoying their reaction to Areziath as much as the walk itself. But then he helpfully indicated the direction the otters had headed, and seemed as interested in them as he was pleased by the expression on his daughters' faces as a sleek brown head popped out of the water almost at their feet.

It took all of two hours to reach the first of the structures dotted along the winding path: a rambling house, almost lost beneath a mass of creepers, and a pavilion structure that sat separate, in the point section of a large, teardrop-shaped island.

"Lunchtime," Sue said firmly, and headed for the pavilion.

It was a splendid meal. They spread picnic blankets, shared out dishes, and talked theories—the Setari taking turns to stand on guard. Alay told them some of the details they could not see: the depth of the water, the hidden channels that ensured that there was a cross-flow in places that might otherwise lie stagnant, and the silting that blocked many of them. There was a big push to allow more visitors, but also a counter movement to simply recreate Areziath elsewhere if people wanted to trail about it.

Gidds somehow managed to maintain his upright posture even while sitting cross-legged on a blanket, with a cluster of pink, trumpet-shaped flowers dangling an inch above his head. His daughters imitated him with the ease of long practice, and Laura, noticing her own back was very straight, consciously adjusted her posture. She would never fully understand how a man could be so quiet, and yet have such an impact on those around him. Even Julian was less sprawling than usual.

But it was not an uncomfortable atmosphere, and Laura watched him being happy, while they sampled all the food. Each household had brought a contribution to the picnic, so there was plenty to eat. The cookies were a success.

"Places ending in iath definitely mean city, right, Lira?" Sue was saying. "Yet this place can’t possibly be intended for a city’s population."

"But it is very big," Lira pointed out, with some surprise. "That makes it a city."

"I’d call it a town surrounded by a water park. I wonder whether the otters are local, given that they occur around Pandora as well. Perhaps this was started off as some kind of wetland specimen collection? There’s certainly a massive variation of plants."

"Can we explore the house, Dzo?" Allidi asked.

Gidds shook his head. "The research teams have so far catalogued without removing objects, and do not want the interiors disturbed. You can circle the outside of it, if you wish—or take a half-kasse to explore the island. The site map shows areas of use."

Laura hadn’t even thought to look for an interface map, and guessed that areas of use was an oblique way of pointing out a set of bushes that had been designated as a latrine area. There she found that the interdiction on building at Areziath did not mean you could not send in floating kiosks containing roomy bathrooms, and so she would not need the trowel she had thoughtfully packed—and could even take a hot shower if the notion struck her. The researchers likely didn’t want to introduce an accumulation of human waste to a sensitive site. Or Tarens didn’t think much of squatting over a hole. Either way, Laura was grateful for unexpected luxuries.

The island was large, and overgrown enough that when Laura emerged she could not see a single person. Walking to the nearest shore, she settled on a convenient rock and—after sending Sue a suggestion that she check out 'Howl’s Perambulating Pottie'—searched the water for more glimpses of otters.

A charming blue and black duck presented itself instead, swimming along the channel and nibbling at waterweed. Laura promptly added it to a collection of scans she was building as a gift for Rye, who—thanks to a stream of subtitled BBC documentaries provided by Cass—idolised David Attenborough, and diligently catalogued every plant and animal he encountered.

There were quite a few birthdays to prepare for. Sen’s was very soon, and Lira’s fourteenth. And then it would be not so very long before Tyrian turned one—by the Muinan calendar. By Earth reckoning Tyrian would be one much sooner. Laura would have to–

With a muted plup, the blue and black duck vanished. Pulled under. Frozen, Laura stared at the spreading circle of ripples, not sure whether to leap away. It was all too easy to picture something drawn by her movement, exploding from the water in a tentacular frenzy.

Pond weed. Ripples. Nothing.

Laura relaxed, and then murmured: "Et in Arcadia ego."

"Tsa Devlin?"

Laura turned to find Allidi and Haelin dividing their attention between her and the water.

"I was just wondering whether I should move back," Laura said, hoping she hadn’t painted herself a coward.

"There’s no directed threat," Allidi told her.

"Good to know," Laura said, and then gestured to the rock next to hers, glad for a conversational opener that was less inane than asking if they liked being Kalrani. "I don’t really understand Combat Sight. Can you sense all living things, or only those that want to hurt you?"

"Neither," Allidi replied, neatly arranging herself on the rock. "It is an awareness of potential danger."

"Things like worms and most bugs don’t register at all," Haelin added, plunking herself down beside her sister, but then making a habitual adjustment to a more arranged posture. "Things that can’t hurt you, really, and don’t want to."

"Whatever is there is a predator," Allidi said, indicating the now-still water with a faint lift of her chin. "It’s not aware of us, and probably would not ordinarily attack creatures our size, but it registers to Combat Sight because there is a potential for danger."

"If we splashed our feet in the water it might bite them," Haelin interpolated. "But it’s not going to leap at us."

"Combat Sight tells you all that?"

"It’s like coloured static, but without noise, and you can’t really see it," Haelin explained—not at all helpfully.

"Something not very dangerous and not interested in us—one of those birds—is barely there," Allidi added. "A grey haze that is hard to even notice. If we made it angry somehow, and it decided to attack us, it would be yellower and a little stronger to see, and we would feel it as a directed threat. Something that could be dangerous, but isn’t interested in us would be a green—the more dangerous the easier it is to see. If it decided it wanted to attack us, it would become yellow, and sharper." She paused apologetically. "Those are words to give you some idea. It’s not really colours."

"The shape of the experience, but not the taste," Laura said, with a wry smile. "What about if, oh, the pavilion we had lunch in was cracked, and was about to fall on our head. Would Combat Sight notice that?"

"No, it could not have any potential for intent," Allidi said.

"We’d probably see that with Sight Sight, though," Haelin said, shrugging. "What did you say about Arcadia, before you noticed us?"

Laura paused so she could phrase the words as correctly as possible in Muinan. "Even in Arcadia, there I am."

Most Muinans would probably meet this with blankness or mild confusion, and Haelin did precisely that, but Allidi straightened, delicate brows drawing together, and after a distinct pause she said: "Death?"

Sight Sight truly was remarkable. "Has—do you know the meaning of Arcadia?"

"Gelezan," Haelin said.

Laura looked the word up to confirm that Gelezan was, indeed, the equivalent of a rural utopia.

"Yes. On Earth there is a painting—it’s about five hundred years old—of people standing in a rural landscape around a tomb. A monument to a dead person. And on it, in a rather old language, is carved what we translate as Even in Arcadia, there I am. There’s plenty of debate over what exactly this symbolises—the immortality of art or some such—but on the most basic level it is a reminder that death comes to even the best of places."

"Oh," Haelin said. The younger girl’s tone and expression were an unexpected mix of disappointment and frustration, and she sighed deeply before adding: "I wish you would hurry up. Dzo has been waiting so long."

"Haelin!" Allidi said, sharply.

"Well it’s true," Haelin retorted. "For years and years."

Laura, very confused, said: "We only met a few months ago, you know."

"But it’s been forever since you came to Muina," Haelin said. "And we’ve been waiting and waiting since long before that, ever since Dzo’s Sight told him, and, really, you are so very slow."

Laura didn’t feel slow. She felt like she was in freefall. It had been little more than a Taren year since she’d first met Gidds Selkie. Yet Haelin had said long before she came to Muina.

What in the world was going on?