Fire Island: Book 3 of The Chatterre Trilody (Chatterre Trilogy) (10 page)

Chapter 14

Larwin plopped down at the dinner table, his posture so slumped that Nimri's stomach clenched in sympathy at his glum expression. She silently passed him the ceramic bowl of mixed vegetables. Larwin plunked a spoonful on his plate, then speared a piece of chicken and started cutting it into bite-size pieces with a determined vengeance Nimri hadn't seen since the madrox had broken through the Star Bridge and invaded their world.

Bryta chewed her food thoughtfully. "No luck?"

"No!" Larwin said.

"Not surprising," Bryta said, even though Nimri signaled her to be quiet.

"No!" he said, again.

"Bryta, how is Tansy?" Nimri asked.

"Fine."

"So, she's over her head-cold?"

"I would have said, if she wasn't." Bryta's eyes snapped with irritation and Nimri knew she wanted to continue pestering Larwin about his sister. Why did the woman poke at sore spots?

"Well then, I imagine you will want to go visit her, soon."

"What, me visit her on the other side?" Bryta half-stood at the idea of crossing the river to visit her granddaughter, who now lived on what had previously been called the side of the Lost.

"Isn't it about time?" Nimri asked, keeping her tone mild. "You are one of the few who still holds to the old hostilities."

"I do not!"

Nimri raised a brow. "Really? Then why do you only see Tansy when she comes to Market Day?"

"I am too busy, here to leave more than one day per week."

"With what?" Nimri held up her hand. "Don't tell me cooking and cleaning because, while you do a wonderful job, you need to take time for yourself, too."

"Are you going to sweep and polish?"

"If that is what it takes," Nimri said, even though she privately thought that polishing the furniture once in every eight-day-week was enough and that Bryta's constant waxing was a waste of time and energy. Not that the scent of bee's wax didn't smell good, but it was a wonder that a colony of bees hadn't moved in, due to the mistaken belief that her home was a long lost hive.

"Maybe I'll think about it."

"Do more than that, pack a bag and go for a nice long visit."

"And where would I stay?"

"Thunder has a lovely guest room."

Bryta's eyes widened at that thought and a great deal of the starch seemed to go out of her. "You said the climb up to his home was difficult."

Nimri nodded. "Particularly in the dark, but not really worse than the one to get here and you do that once a week."

"Have those bartons of his come back?

"Not that I know of."

"He doesn't have anyone to take care of him, I imagine his home is a disaster." Bryta's eyes began to gleam with a light Nimri hadn't seen since her great-grandfather died.

Nimri put down her fork and studied Bryta. Had her surrogate mother been suffering from depression for the past year and a half? If her present look of animation was any indication, it was likely. Self-doubt gnawed at Nimri as she wondered how many other obvious ailments and problems she was oblivious to. How could she have lived with someone for months and not noticed their unhappiness? Didn't Bryta realize that her brother and Raine could take care of themselves? Or did she need to believe she was needed by a Tramontain?

What kind of a keeper of the peace was she, when she didn't see a problem right under her own nose?

Nimri's attention turned to Larwin. While she saw her mate's pain, what was she doing to help him? Aside from trying to distract Bryta, nothing. Was that what a keeper of the peace should do?

Probably not.

Still, she didn't think it was her responsibility to try and make everyone happy. So, where was the balance?

A large, warm hand covered hers, and gave it a quick, tender squeeze. She looked into Larwin's warm brown eyes. "I love you," he said. Another soft squeeze and he resumed eating, fortunately, with much less bottled frustration.

Nimri smiled. "I love you, too."

"Well!" Bryta snapped, as she got up, took her plate and left. "I can see when I'm not wanted." Head high she went toward the kitchen.

"Bryta, that's not what I meant."

The plump shoulders stiffened and she disappeared through the door. Nimri started to rise, but Larwin held her back. "Let her go and don't worry about her feelings."

But-"

He put a gentle finger on her lips. "Some people need to exhibit anger in order to do something new."

Nimri blinked. Was Bryta that sort of person? Probably. She sighed. "Most of the time, I think you see things much better than I."

Larwin shook his head. "I just have a different perspective."

"How long have you realized she was depressed?"

"About five seconds less than you."

"Honestly?" He nodded. "Did you find out anything about the skull?"

"I think it responds to thoughts."

"Something like myst power?"

"Rolf's other things work on myst, so it's logical." If it worked on myst, she might be able to figure out how it worked and help him find his sister.

~o~

As she had done each morning since arriving, Tem-aki went down the steep steps from the cliffside house to the beach. Sitting on the next to the last step, she took off the leather and rope sandals Cameron had given her, and put them on the stairs, then walked toward the lapping waves, until they caressed her toes and she needed to raise her robe to keep it dry.

She had never imagined anything like this secluded beach, or the way that each receding wave took grains of sand from under her feet, so little by little she was buried up to her ankles.

The first time this had happened, she had been terrified, fearing that she was being sucked into the earth and could not break free. But now, she was merely amused to feel hydro-power in action. Of course, she had also learned not to test the power of the water over her ankles.

Pulling her feet from the sucking sand, she ventured down the shore to a boulder, which was bigger than the cubical she called her home. Carefully, she climbed the rough granite until she could sit on top of it. Lying back, she watched fluffy white clouds drift by. Some reminded her of the tasty grains Cameron had popped the night before. Others almost seemed like they were some sort of placid animal floating past. Thankfully, none of them looked like the terrifying images she had seen battling to the death in the crystal-quartz skull, which GEA-4 was preoccupied with.

Until she had witnessed the android's fixation with the strange object, she would never have thought an android could act so obsessive, unless they were following a direct order.

Was GEA-4 correct in her theory about the skull being some form of informational archive? She hoped so, but even if it was and she figured out how to access it, would it do them any good?

Gradually, Tem-aki realized that in addition to soothing sounds of the water and the cries of the birds, she heard human voices, which were gradually getting louder. Closing her eyes, she concentrated on the rhythm of the words.

"I thought you said the golden-haired one came down here."

"She did."

"Well, then, where is she?"

"She has to be here, somewhere."

"Doesn't look like it."

"Keep looking. There isn't another way up from this beach."

"Only if you want to keep dry."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Don't you remember Draco O’ryan saying that the golden-hair had walked out of the water?"

"So you think she comes down here every day to return to the water or something?"

"I don't know, but have you watched her? Noticed how often she stares at the water? Never helps with preparations for the festival – just stares at the sea." The voices sounded like they were getting farther away.

"Now that you mention it, yes, I've noticed. Why do you think she came from beyond if not to participate in the Dragon Ceremony?"

"I've been trying to figure that out for days. Summer Solstice is in twenty-two days, yet she doesn't help prepare in any way. Not with the costumes; not with the decorations; she doesn't even practice chants or her dance steps."

Overhead, a bird seemed to shriek in agreement and Tem-aki wondered what they had been talking about and why she was so sure that they were talking about her, even though the only word that she had understood had been 'dragon'.

She lay on the rock until her face began to burn, then retraced her steps to the stairs, put her sandals on and began to climb toward the terrace, where she could hear raised male voices. Fortunately, none of them sounded hostile.

Tem-aki quietly approached the top of the stairs and was rewarded when she heard someone say, "Do you know when Annosha will be here?"

"Draco O’ryan invited her for the mid-day meal."

"And Annosha accepted?" There was an odd sound that Tem-aki interpreted as agreement. "Imagine, the high priestess here! It is unprecedented!"

"Is it?"

"What do you mean?"

"The two females have been staying here for days and before that, they were on The Sirocco. Seems to me the old tradition of a division between the sexes in their ways of dealing with the masses has been broken."

"Cracked, maybe, but not broken." A snort of disdain, which did not require any translation followed that comment. Tem-aki wished she understood what was being said, but the only word she had understood had been females. At least she thought she'd understood that, but the fast way they talked and slurred the words together made their language particularly difficult to decipher. Perhaps their language was a gesture-based one and not completely verbal. If that were so, it wasn't surprising that she and GEA-4 were having so much difficulty.

The worst language she had ever heard of was Calpurn, because on Calpurnia, everyone spoke in metaphors and one needed to know the event and people involved in order to understand the idea. Tem-aki shivered and hoped that this language wasn't similar.

She studied the people, who reminded her of a chattering flock of saffron-gold birds, as their robes fluttered with their movements and they chattered, while doing whatever it was that they were doing. Though there were still at least a half-dozen separate projects going on, she had the impression that they were all working on small parts of one bigger thing. Unfortunately, watching and listening for days had not given her a clue about what that might be.

Abruptly, everyone became silent and hands stilled. Tem-aki looked to see what had caused such a reaction. A small figure, had appeared. Aside from the new individual barely being larger than GEA-4, it was dressed in a layers of a thin, green fabric from the top of its head to the curled up points of its shoes.

Someone whispered, "Annosha." Tem-aki assumed it was the individual's name, but was no closer to figuring out the reason for the sudden quiet, which reminded her of the silence preceding an attack.

"Annosha, welcome," Cameron said, as he strolled to greet her, hands outstretched in welcome. "You honor us with your visit."

"Do I?" The voice was high-pitched and seemed to talk without taking a breath. Was the new person either a child or a female? Tem-aki squinted at the fluttering green figure, but could not get any clues from the body shape, nor could she see the person's face, which was half-hidden by a layer of fabric.

She glanced at the window, to assure herself that GEA-4 was paying attention to this talkative person, but, for once, she was not hovering over the hunk of quartz. Tem-aki wished she knew where GEA-4 was, so she could find out what a scan indicated, but the robot was nowhere in sight. Which was as strange as it was unexpected. In the past few days, any time she wanted to find GEA-4, all she had needed to do was go to the skull, but today, it sat in the window, its vacant eye sockets staring silently at the unprecedentedly peaceful patio. In fact, except for the chatty green figure, who seemed to pat Cameron's arm with every word, it was so quiet that she could hear waves land on the beach below. Glancing at the yellow-clad figures, she realized that many seemed to be holding their breathes.

Why such a dramatic reaction?

"Permit me to present you to our guests," Cameron said, as he ushered the stranger directly toward her.

Tem-aki gulped, but stood her ground and the next thing she knew Cameron seemed to be introducing them.

Up close, the heavily-lashed eyes, with the equally heavy makeup appeared female, which could explain what the topic of conversation had been about, but the eerie thing was that the irises of her eyes were orange.

Tem-aki gulped, then squared her shoulders, tried not to shiver and pasted a smile on her lips, as Cameron said, "Annosha, Captaintemakiatano. Captaintemakiatano, Annosha."

Tem-aki nodded at the eerie eyes, then directed her, attention on Cameron. "Tem-aki." She was tempted to say, 'just Tem-aki', but feared that with their communication issues, he would begin calling her 'Justtemaki'.

"Tem-aki," he repeated. She smiled and nodded. His answering smile warmed her enough to look back at the freaky orange eyes and smile.