Kingdoms Away 1: Jorian Cluster Archives (12 page)

“You may go on the Major Journey, Fina—”

She gave a shout of joy but a firm hand rose
up, which had the effect of snapping her jaw shut. “In a cradol.
Klarrannyouu will carry you.”

She nodded and took off her mask, stepping
further away from the fire. “Thank you Ellri-Noppellurranna and
Ellri-Dirrullemmulla.”

Her golden eyes expressed her gratitude and
the two Ellri turned to leave after a nod to the maturas. Once they
had reached a safe distance, the Ellri chuckled, knowing exactly
how she was feeling. A few years ago, she would have blurted her
emotions out for all to see and hear. Now she was learning and
exercising self-control. Just.

In the smelly cave, Fin grimaced slightly,
trying hard not to say anything to the maturas now beckoning her to
continue her work. She finished her duties and hurried back to the
family caves, where she met up with her six foot eight mother
Yewennossua and received a big hug, the furry arms wrapping
themselves around the small girl. Yewennossua released her little
daughter and set her back down on the ground. Fina was only a tiny
thing, but physically powerful and sinewy. Yewennossua brushed the
fine hair away from the freckled face and noticed the
disturbance.

“What is it, Fina? You’ve had some good news,
haven’t you?”

Yewennossua could only just hear the little
sigh as the two entered into the family’s cave. They sat down by
the fire on a soft blue rug with Fin leaning up against her
mother.

“Yes.”

“But?”

“Klarrannyouu has to carry me in a
cradol.”

“There is no shame, Fina. I’d imagine that
some of the younger ones who have to walk will be quite envious of
you.”

“I’d rather walk.”

“It would kill you, Fina. I know it’s hard
for you to accept these limitations, but to attend and enjoy the
long journeys it is a necessity.”

Fin considered this. She knew she wouldn’t be
able to survive the journey without protection. She barely managed
in the ten below temperatures. Yet, she still felt torn between
humiliation, desire and excitement. The excitement grew and desire
strengthened.

“Do you know our twenty-third maxim yet?”

Fin shook her head and looked up into the
blue eyes.

“It says that, ‘When you know your
limitations, you will be set on a path of humility.

‘When you accept your limitations, you will
be set on a path of peace.

‘When you work your limitations, you will be
set on a path of achievement.’”

“I don’t understand the last one, how can you
work your limitations?”

“You’ll learn that it is not always necessary
to remain passive about your limitations. Often there are ways to
work around your limitations.”

“Or others.”

Yewennossua smiled over Fina’s head without
her seeing it. The girl’s startling perceptions made the Heikavians
speculate at her origins and if Fina’s people had similar traits or
whether it was unique to only a few.

“Yes, but I am talking about you.”
Yewennossua gently touched Fina’s nose. “You can work around them,
through them or for them.”

Before Fin could ask another question,
Yewennossua hugged her again. The question did not come and they
were silent for a few minutes as the girl pondered over the maxim.
Another sigh came and a change of topic.

“How was your day? Did you get the Bolan
Trees planted?”

“All of them. We were able to plant the
understory seeds as well. The weather on the plateau was kind for a
change. According to our records, we have achieved excess
resources. By the time these trees are fully grown they won’t need
to be logged for some time.”

“Did you have time to check the Isacio Trees?
I relocated some owls there …”

“It worked wonderfully, Fina. The Ellri were
very pleased with your suggestion. The Isacio Trees have a
wonderful hollow network through their trunk system. If you hadn’t
fallen through one, we would never have known.”

Fin and her mother laughed, Yewennossua
remembering Fina’s astonished face as she had disappeared down a
hollow and Fin remembering her shock at falling in. The huge trees,
no longer logged, housed animals requiring tree hollows. That had
been a hot summer, two degrees above zero and she’d been allowed
out.

Fin loved listening to her mother’s musical,
soft voice. All the Heikavians had gentle voices but her mother
could talk beautifully and sing like a Grey Shrike-thrush.

Fin became despondent, once again thinking
about the cradol. “Well, it doesn’t matter about not actually
walking the journey; I can’t record it anyway so it’s not like
it’ll be there for someone’s historical reference …”

“Oh, I don’t know about that, Fin …” Thon
came in through the colorful hanging rug and saw his mother give
him a look, “… err … Fina. I might put it in my journal and claim
your glory …” he grimaced when he saw his mother’s exasperated
expression, “… or not.”

“Not, young Thonnurran, if you don’t want to
have a reverse Tendere.”

“What?”

Thon looked aghast and Fin twisted in her
mother’s arms to find out more.

Fin grinned suddenly, and gave her brother a
look. “Watch out, Thonnurran, or should I say Thon?”

He stared at his sister through narrowed
eyes. His mother smiled but didn’t tell Fin off for shortening his
name. “They couldn’t reverse it. Could they?”

His mother got up and left the two to their
squabbles. She had chores to complete and then had to return to the
Eastern Forest for five days. At least Fina would be distracted
with her brother for a time.

Thon and Fin always used their infan names
with each other but were very careful to use full names in the
company of others. The Tendere ceremony was very significant and
was a serious occasion. Name extensions had been going on ever
since the Heikavians first arrived on Aislant. Every five or so
years a name was extended to include more letters. After so many
years, the extensions stopped but designations began if you chose
further qualifications.

Fin was daydreaming when Thon interrupted her
by poking her in the side. “You have to go to the main cave. You
have some unfinished chores.” They eyed each other.

She got up, knowing he’d win the stare
contest and headed out humming a little song.

The day of the Major Journey finally came.
She felt the embarrassment rise up in her when she saw the cradol
lying on the sandy floor in the main cavern by other equipment. Fin
tried to tell herself it wasn’t that bad in a cradol. It didn’t
work. But the Heikavian she was attached to made a difference, for
she was slung to the chest of a Great One. He was seven foot five
tall and very wide. There was no shame. In fact, near the end of
the journey, Thon looked envious. Every now and then, he would
complain of the cold. He really did know how to irritate his elders
sometimes. At every stop, she was set down to wander around
studying different plants, rocks and icy waterways. She had thick
woven material covering her upper and lower body, a woven
headpiece, thick socks and woven shoes. Under the thick fabric, a
thinner layer allowed her trapped body heat to flow around,
providing plenty of warmth. Even so, she had to return to
Klarrannyouu before her body temperature dropped too low. Her face
was covered with special transparent gauze so at least she could
peer out from the folds of the cradol.

It was not her last big journey. After some
experimentation, she went on many. It was on these journeys she
learned the skill of navigation and grew to love it.
Klarrannyouus’s mate was a Great Navigator and when they noted her
interest, they would often walk together so that Fin could
watch.

Though Fin did not walk on the Major
Journeys, she had to maintain her fitness with additional exercises
when back at the caves. The stretching and folding continued
throughout her days, and as she got older she danced and ran
through the caves and when she reached womanhood, additional
exercises were drawn up to improve her strength.

After that first journey in the cradol, she
would try to find any work nearby to watch the preparations of all
journeys. One of her jobs was to take Klarrannyouus’s cloak to him.
She could barely drag its great mass, but after some thought went
down to the animal caves and herded up a young bull. He snorted at
her but stood his ground as she heaved the cloak up and over his
back. The first time it had slid down the other side but she was
determined. The second time she succeeded and the bull followed her
to the preparations after she clicked and clucked at him.
Klarrannyouus stared at her grinning face with the lumbering young
bull plodding behind her. He saw his cloak on the top of the broad
back and lifted it off when she ushered the bull to him. He sniffed
it carefully but noted the sudden concern in her eyes. He did not
want to dampen her exuberance so he smiled at her and nodded. It
was enough approval for her.

Still, as she herded the animal back, she was
chewing her lip in agitation. Why hadn’t she considered the smell?
Did he smell? She sniffed the back of the bull. It smelled all
right to her. Would it affect the trip? Maybe they were careful
with smells so as not to attract the Terasians. She arrived at one
of the huge caverns and settled him with the other young bulls. Fin
reached up and rubbed around his ears; his head was higher than
hers was. Soon, she saw that other animals were plodding, click
clacking, ambling, hopping and trotting her way, up the wide path.
Whenever she finished milking the cows, animals would appear out of
nowhere. It was time to go. Otherwise, she’d be stuck down there
all day patting and scratching. She could hear them quicken their
pace behind her but she could run fast through the narrower
fissures that led up to the living areas.

Four family groups of Heikavians were busy in
the main caves. Fin, slightly puffed, joined her brother by one of
the fires. Geonglings, aged between five and nine, and older ones
were talking quietly amongst themselves in smaller groups.

“Come here, Fina, see this.” Thon was showing
off his journals, again.

He opened his second compulsory journal, his
“Allotted Chores.” Neither he nor she thought that journal
particularly exciting. The third was of free choice where he
specialized in Herbal Law, which she found a little boring but
listened politely as he explained the new entries and drawings to
her. The fourth one would be the study of any animal on the planet
and he hadn’t decided what animal would be his subject. She and
Thon spent many hours arguing over which animal it should be.
Patient maturas, and not so patient friends, broke them up.

Heikavians could maintain up to four journals
at once. The “Time Keeper” was the first journal and a continuous
record of all goings on.

Because Fin had no real knowledge of the
planet itself and her own life cycle was so different from the
planet’s natural timing, the Heikavian people knew that her own
home must have been very different, but at the same time, they had
their own traditions to follow. So when Thon left Fin’s side,
Ikaren, not yet a matura, had an idea. She went to the Ellri who
cared for the needs of Fin. They listened and expressed their
approval, as it would not break with traditional law.

Fin was busy practicing tying knots with some
thin rope when she felt the gaze of Ikaren upon her. “Fina, why
don’t you keep track of your cycles? They will start to become more
regular as you get older. This can be your Time Keeper.”

Fin met the idea with such enthusiasm that
the women, geonglings and Thon all helped her set up her first
important journal. Once she had this journal started, she could
then begin to maintain others. The journals were bound in beautiful
cloth but she knew that once a level of expertise was reached her
journals would be bound by the skin of a white wolf that passed
away of natural causes. Now, she could also be allotted chores
instead of being directed by the maturas.

But more importantly, she could begin her
chosen journal, that of Navigation. She knew there would be little
or no resistance to her choice as she applied herself studiously to
her basic navigation lessons. She looked forward to the time when
she could be out on her own and stare up at the bright stars and
satellites. The Master Clothiers were already working on new
clothing for her. Hopefully, they would keep her warm and allow her
to still move around in them. The Clothiers had recently made her
an outfit to try on, and when she couldn’t move, Thon had burst out
laughing. Even mutimi and fadar had chuckled. The only thing the
clothes had going for them was that they were warm. In fact, inside
the caves, she had broken out in a sweat so Thon carried her out.
By the time they were outside both were laughing so hard Thon
couldn’t stand up anymore and Fin couldn’t bend over.

On some clear nights, Thon would carry the
clothes out onto a rocky ledge and Fin would dash out at the last
moment and dress in them. Or Fin would dress in them, and Thon
would carry her out complaining. Despite their squabbling, Fin and
Thon would often study the stars on the top of a side ridge near
their family’s cave. Every now and then, they fancied they saw
movement in the night skies. Fin thought they may have been ships
but wondered why they didn’t communicate with her people. But
mostly she and Thon shared fanciful plans of visiting other
planets.

During these times, Fin often opened her
heart to her brother, expressing her fears of being both rescued,
and abandoned. Thon had no answers but would hold her gloved hand
or sit close by so that she could physically lean on him.

In Fin, he found a loyal friend. He confided
in her many times and dreaded her ever finding out his secret. It
would devastate her, but the risk was too great and he did not want
to involve her in the event that he and his friends were
discovered.