Kingdoms Away 1: Jorian Cluster Archives (11 page)

Serafina had already identified at least
three different bat species on their way through the shorter
tunnels. There was a very small colony hanging from her new
family’s home caves.

Shelves recessed into the rock walls held
assorted items. Stools, rugs and huge cushions grouped on the other
side of the fire. It was big enough for at least twenty full-grown
Heikavians. From that main family room, two crevices led to smaller
caves for sleeping. Thonnurr directed her down one passage. Two
even smaller caves off the passage contained hygiene units, toilet
and bathing facilities. Fin thought she could see what looked like
plumbing disappearing into the cave wall.

Thonnurr showed off his cave-room and then
led her to an empty one next to it. She felt dwarfed in it until
Thonnurr and two adult Heikavians crowded in.

“Fin.” A large female Heikavian smiled down
at her, she pointed to her chest. “Yewennossua.”

A deep voice next to Yewennossua said,
“Sutternnivva.”

Thonnurr pointed to them both, “Fadar and
mutimi.”

Fin guessed it was his mother and father. She
nodded to them, not sure of what to do next.

Sutternnivva, in his deep musical voice,
spoke quickly to Yewennossua, his bondsmate, and then to his son.
He stroked Fin’s head with his large hand and left.

Yewennossua, with Thonnurr’s help, dragged
her off to many other caverns. They let her pick out bedding and
clothes too big for her. She had seen some Heikavians wearing
clothes, more for decoration than decorum. She selected rugs, cave
plants, pictures and ornaments.

Laden with items, some piled in a cart they
had picked up, and she followed Yewennossua and Thonnurr back to
her room just in time to see Sutternnivva finish putting together a
long, low slat base and place a thick, firm mattress made of a soft
material. He had also brought in a small, exquisite chest and table
made of dark red wood with small black flecks. It was warm in the
cave already. Sutternnivva helped them unload and, with some help,
Fin organized her new things and within minutes had her room
looking cosy and welcoming. She smiled gratefully at her new
family.

Fin looked up and saw that the walls did not
reach the top. She wondered if the stone had been cut out or if it
was a natural feature. The floors of the caves were mainly stone or
sand. The family caves contained many floor rugs and wall
tapestries. There were other areas for cooking and working.
Thonnurr had demonstrated how to light a fire using a bulky ring
device they called a fire ring. After a few goes she was able to
light, feed and maintain a fire. Sutternnivva had pointed out how
to recognize the different ventilation shafts.

There were linked grottos off the main cavern
that led to a lesson area. She attended lessons with different age
groups and studied as much as she could while learning their
language. Her whole world became these people and their ways.

For the first three of her years they adopted
her. Like all intelligent species, she had to learn their complex
social structures such as their laws, traditional ways and moral
structures. Feena learnt that they called themselves “Heikavian,”
which meant people of the caverns.

Fin reveled in some of her lessons. She
learnt how to make all sorts of pottery for practical use and art.
She learnt how to produce her own art supplies. Some lessons were
painful; she disliked any sewing but she suffered weaving, which
she liked but found her pieces usually looked lopsided. To her
embarrassment her baskets, bags and containers went into the
general stores and she frequently saw Heikavians with her
creations.

Yewennossua smiled down at the glowering face
one day in the main cave, the golden eyes following a matura
packing a lopsided bag ready for a journey.

“What is it, Fin?”

When the sour reply of “nothing” came, the
kind Heikavian gave her a little hug. “Your works are very popular.
They may be a little asymmetrical, but the way you combine
materials and colors in your work is greatly admired and
emulated.”

It was true, for over time Fin saw more bags
like the ones she made and she could never seem to make enough to
satisfy demand. She also began to make specialty bags for medicines
and the salvus teams. Soon Heikavians put in special orders. Fin
even had to hold her own lessons and teach the Heikavian people
what she knew of her language and people. She had to help with
basic chores that included cleaning up animal droppings, care for
Heikavian infans, some of whom were bigger than she was, and care
for the animals that came and went, some of which stayed frequently
in her room. She would often have some animal or another following
her around or hanging off her, much to the amusement of the
Heikavian people. Bats frequented her room; they would climb down
to hang off her back or shoulder. She had a good ear for mimicry
and would often sit with her menagerie of foxes, ducks, rodents and
marsupials practicing their sounds.

She never felt left out, as they always found
a way to include her without breaking their laws. The Heikavian, on
their part, noticed her physical differences, her needing to sleep
during the day, being awake for periods during the night, her
growth rates and other unusual traits, yet they accepted her fully
and without reservation. Without her knowing, they often fondly
called her “little treasure” or “little gem.” Occasionally it was
“little storm” and it amused the people of the caves when the storm
rolled in.

As Fin grew, her memories dimmed of her
former life, becoming just a shadow in the corners of her mind.
Only Mr. Pollocks remained clear in her mind. At first she cried
about her parents, hurting that they would be so worried, but she
grew to love the Heikavians.

The Ellri, the older ones, over the following
years noted that she worked hard, complained little, learned with
determination and had a special relationship with the animals. This
endeared her to them. They had a great respect for Animalia and had
legends of those whose minds and hearts were aligned with the
Elysians just as theirs were. They knew not if she was one, but
they carefully nurtured her gift, at the same time allowing her to
develop without preconceptions. One day, they were showing her
around their extensive cave networks and she saw a cave drawing of
a black bear. She had begun to cry and wept the name Mr.
Pollocks.

“…
the Insecta shall act as
distraction, causing the Enemy to become frustrated and down of
heart, …”

Excerpt from the Joiran Cluster Archives, the Third
Hostility

{[AIS] [Aislant] [Main Cave]

[607125/1398/393/winter]}

Fina, as the Heikavians now called her at age
twelve—she still considered herself as Fin—found it difficult to
keep track of time for her species. The Heikavian people tried to
teach her the methods of timekeeping but, between the language
barrier and not knowing the conversion between their hours and days
and her home world, she had no real way of knowing how much of
“her” time passed. She thought that a day and night was much
longer, and they seemed to live in perpetual cold and snow. This
posed no real problems except they couldn’t determine her age
accurately. Her previous environment had been mostly artificial.
She remembered laboratories and ships, so, with the exception of a
few brief scattered memories of visiting planets, her timekeeping
had been clocks and computer-generated diurnal variations.

Thonnurran became a good friend and they kept
markers on how high they grew. To their amazement, they had to redo
Fin’s measurements regularly, whereas Thonnurran’s growth rate was
a lot slower, normal for his people. Thonnurran teased her
continually about height because, even though she grew quickly, she
was still much shorter than he and the others in their lessons. She
in turn would tease him about not being able to fit into the small
places when they ventured with their friends into the deep, secret
caves of the mountain range they inhabited. He fondly called her
his “little sister.”

The Ellri had decided to perform a Tendere of
Fin’s name, after roughly estimating her age. The Tendere was a
great moment and they held a feast. She was renamed Fina. She
supposed it had something to do with her reaching womanhood. She
was shown how to care for her needs and when she suffered from
severe cramps, she was shown how to prepare and administer Hylera,
an herb, which was found on the mountainous slopes where she lived.
To her relief, many other women used the herb and she found that
her cycle was shorter than theirs was but came around more
frequently.

There were times in Fin’s life when she still
had moments of grief but there was always some comfort at hand.
These times grew less frequent and the Heikavians enjoyed her humor
and quick smile. She was always busy with chores and had much to
learn. Despite being a close-knit community, the Heikavian people
seemed to know when she needed space. They did not resent the times
when she would quietly meld into the background. They accepted her
into their society and taught her their ways. They were a patient
people, always monitoring the young and keeping them busy according
to their abilities. In the beginning, she grew impatient and
frustrated with activities and communication.

She missed technology and the speed of ship
life. She eventually learnt that time was relative and, in the
caves, moved at a slower pace. If she showed signs of impatience
and acted churlish with her peers, she would be kindly redirected
back to the task. If too brusque, they sent her out. Sometimes,
other young Heikavians joined her, as embarrassed as she was. There
were often times when she simply couldn’t contain herself and, when
separated from the class, she would attempt to rein in those
feelings and would rejoin the class after a nominated time.

Thon, as she often called her brother when
the maturas weren’t around, learned very quickly not to tease her
about this subject. On one occasion, while waiting to go back in,
she suddenly realized that she was fighting against the Heikavian
way of life. This was creating friction. She adjusted her thinking
and set about applying herself to learning how to create things
from “scratch.” Her life improved. If she missed the sagacious
looks of the Ellri as they registered her self-transformation and
dedication, she nevertheless basked in their inexhaustible
nurturing ways.

Thon was happily showing her his journals one
day, unaware of the envy and hunger her face held at that moment.
He missed the look but a matura did not. Thon had three journals
now and had great pride in his recordkeeping. The first one was his
compulsory Time Keeper and in this journal, he showed her the
section when she had arrived. Main events since that time included
the death of six Ellri from different clans. She felt saddened by
this, for they had died of old age. She promised herself that if
she were ever rescued, she would help them to apply for extended
life.

Also, in Thon’s journals, there had been
seven Major Journeys and seven Minor Journeys and he’d included
maps, times and routes for each. There were many other significant
events neatly recorded. On the journeys the white wolves, who
always accompanied the Heikavians, would reconnoiter the
surrounding territory and warn of any danger from weather, terrain
or Terasians.

Fin noticed over time that they seemed to
avoid travelling in the general direction of where she assumed the
Terasians and the beasts might be located. She believed they wished
to avoid them to prevent any conflict. But it wasn’t a subject
discussed with such young ones.

In time, she went on two Minor Journeys with
Thon in the warmer seasons. This meant that instead of being fifty
below it was ten below. She had been a little worried that they
would not allow her to journey at all, even though she had met the
required skill level. At first, she had been apprehensive that her
brother might be upset at her progression, but he was the epitome
of all Heikavians, peaceful and welcoming even if, as a brother,
infinitely irritating.

Fin sat next to Thon by the family fire that
was kept burning throughout the day for warmth. Fin was repeatedly
poking a stick through the coals, agitated. Her large, hairy
brother scowled at her and tried to swat the stick from her hands.
She ducked from his swat but stopped poking. A wattle bat flapped
down from the ceiling onto her back. She waited until it climbed to
her neck before gently removing it. The small bat started its
gentle murmuring in her hand. Fin glanced at Thon. “Do you think
they’ll let me go?”

Thon smiled at her holding the bat. “Yes, but
they are concerned about you feeling the cold. They are organizing
something for you—”

“What?”

“Imp Fin—”

“Thon, don’t say that, what are they doing
for me? Pleeeeeassse?”

“I don’t know, but I wouldn’t tell you
anyway. Master Hernnurrenna says that you must learn patience in
all things in your life, but especially before your first Major
Journey.”

“He did not.”

“Well, maybe not specific to the expedition,
but he generalized.”

Fin snorted. She had heard it a dozen times
before she’d begun to improve and Thon now felt free to tease her
about her impatience. She knew there was some concern about her
ability to withstand the cold and it was twenty below outside.

Finally, after a few days of waiting, the
Ellri approached Fin, who was working beside three maturas in a
well-ventilated specialized cave. They were preparing herb lotions
and the fumes were causing all four to cough even though they wore
masks. They stepped back to allow room for the two elders, but the
Ellri, gaining a whiff of the stench emanating from the potions,
stopped short and motioned for the girl to come to them. Fin
noticed the maturas were smiling from behind their masks.