Travelers

by Alia Hess

  “It’s what you always say? How many times have you guys done something like this?” Trav shook his head, bewildered. “Actually—nevermind. I don’t want to know.” He pushed away from the table and stood, looking at his cousins. “I don’t think it was quite right the way you took care of things, but… I do appreciate your help and that you’re looking out for us. Thanks.”

  He looked at Darksky. “Thank you for your help as well, father. It was… unexpected. I appreciate it. And I want you to know that if you want to be a part of our child’s life—and our lives—you are welcome.”

  Trav’s cousins stood up. Shiningfin gestured to the bread on the table with a half-eaten slice of his own. “Excellent bread, Owl. Thanks. You’re a great cook.”

  “Thank you, Shiningfin. And thank you to all of you. I feel much better knowing that you found the people responsible.”

  Trav’s cousins headed for the door. Darksky looked at Trav, eyes hard, then at Owl, his face stony and unreadable. He reached into his pocket and pulled something out, setting it on the table. It was a pair of tiny, crocheted booties. He looked at the two of them again, then headed for the door.

  19 ~ Aki ~

  July 12, 154—Trav is still having a hard time with what his cousins did for us. He knows Quietbird is involved, and that bothers him even more. I think he’s worried more about what the island would think of Quietbird if they found out, than of the acts themselves.

  July 19, 154—I thought everyone would be confused or angry when they found out I was still pregnant, but it didn’t faze them at all. Apparently, they think Mainlanders are such badasses that I drank the tea and it did nothing! Not sure if I should correct them.

  August 08, 154—I finally got to go to that shop of Mainland goods on Pearlolla. Seasalt came with me. They had so many things that I used to pick up—necklaces and magazines and cotton thread. When I started crying, Seasalt told me it was hormones and went into some story about what a bawl-baby she’s been lately too. I didn’t tell her it’s because I miss the Mainland. She wouldn’t understand.

  August 28, 154—Darksky paid us a visit today. Wanted to make sure that no one was hassling us. I swear he’s more over-protective than Trav.

  “Privet, Owl. Kak dela?”

  Owl turned on the path home with a small smile, looking around. “Sasha?”

  “Yes, it’s me. I am hiding in trees again. You want to come this way?”

  She hopped over the bubbling river, slipping between the shredded trunks of the moon trees. The drone sat in the grass on its spider legs. Sasha’s grinning face filled most of the screen. His hair hung about his head in messy black curls, and a large bruise marked one of his cheeks.

  Owl sat awkwardly in the grass, setting her egg basket beside her. She grinned.

  “It’s so nice that you take same path every day. You are easy to find,” Sasha said.

  “How are you? How is your list coming along?”

  “I am doing good. And I have great story to tell you. I have apologized to almost everyone on my list, but sometimes I have to add new names because I screw up again.”

  The drone tilted to the grass, then back up. “And I see you are looking great too. Got baby in there, yeah? You and Trav?”

  “Yes.”

  Sasha wiggled his eyebrows. “Congratulations. That’s great. How many months you are now?”

  “Four.”

  “I am happy for you. And I must thank you for helping me with the womans. This little towns close by think I am great poet, and now I can literally charm pants off ladies.” He grinned slyly, leaning back in his chair, then pointed to the bruise on his cheek. “Well, almost all womans. Sometime don’t work.”

  Owl chuckled and Sasha continued. “So, I told you I would come back if things in slaver territory changed, right? I want to tell you that everything is okay now. People are too scared to make new army.”

  “Scared of what?”

  “Me.”

  Owl raised her eyebrows. “What did you do this time?”

  Sasha rested a hand on his chin and beamed into the camera. “I shot couple more slavers after Winter, and then I notice people always looking to sky. Looking scared. I don’t know if it is because of superstition, or because drone is stealthy and they can’t see, but it give me idea. Next time I fly drone and see slavers, instead of shooting, I yelled at them through the speakers. That really scared them. A week later, I come back by with drone and see these guys with womans on chain. I fly this stealthy drone closer and shout, ‘Hey assholes! I see you! Let the ladies go or I will shoot you in the head!’”

  She could imagine how frightening it must be to people already uneasy about the drones and the fear of another Collapse, but knowing Sasha and his orange shoes were behind the drone operation made her giggle.

  Sasha laughed. “You should have seen their faces! Oh, wait. I have video. You want to see their faces?”

  “No.” She smirked. “Just finish the story.”

  “Okay. Anyway, they run away and ladies are standing around, confused. So I say, ‘You are free, baby. Go tell everyone that Sasha saved you. Tell them I am watching all the time.’” Somehow, Sasha’s grin grew even bigger. “You never guess what happen after that. Last week, I’m flying drone by same place, and I see shrine. To me. People standing around, looking at sky, burning candles. It is like Cult of Sasha. They spelled my name wrong on sign, but it’s okay.”

  Owl couldn’t contain her laughter.

  “Yeah, great, right? I mean, I seen people pray to my drones before, but never make me shrine. And now everyone is too scared to do something bad in that area. Looks pretty safe.”

  “Wow. Well, that’s great news. Sounds like you’ve done a lot of good, Sasha. Thanks for coming back to tell me.”

  “No problem. And you know, being a god is fun and all, but I am getting tired sitting in this facility, and want to go explore and have adventures.” He shrugged. “Going to be hard to find way to get around with weak heart, but I want to go east. I hear they have strange type of technology there. Very new inventions. I would love to look at it.”

  “My brother Corvin and my parents live in Hammerlink. They say it’s a really nice city with lots of machines. You’d probably love it.”

  “Oh, yes, that is where new Russian team has set up. And same place I am thinking of going. I asked for transfer, but doctors say I have to stay here and finish map. Maybe when I am done, I will go.”

  Owl’s brows pushed together as she stared at Sasha, a request poised on her lips.

  He cocked his head and gave her an impish smile. “Why you looking at me like that, baby?”

  “I miss my brother.” Saying it out loud somehow hurt worse than keeping it in, and she put a hand over her mouth.

  Sasha bunched his lips and shifted in his seat. “Well… I can’t promise to be going to Hammerlink, but if I do, you want me to find him? I could make video and send to you.”

  “You would do that for me?”

  He grinned. “I will tell you secret—every lady that spend more than one hour around me hate my guts. …Okay, maybe that is not secret. Everybody know. But point is, you are always nice to me. I got no idea why, but if I can help you, I will. You are nice girl and I am bit jealous of Trav. Don’t tell him I say that, okay?”

  Owl exhaled a laugh and wiped her eye. “As long as you don’t tell him I’ve looked forward to you coming back.”

  Sasha raised his eyebrows. “Really?”

  She chuckled, cheeks growing hot. “I walk this path every day, as you apparently know, and sometimes I look up at the trees, expecting you to show up.” Owl shrugged. “You didn’t make that great of an impression when we first met, but I admire that you’ve changed yourself for the better. It’s good.”

  He sighed. “I still have long way to go. And have to remember to stay away from moonshine. That is hard one. But I’m trying.”

  “You’re a good guy, Sasha. And I know you might not even go to Hammerlink, but
I appreciate you keeping me in mind and offering to find Corvin for me.”

  “You bet, baby.” He looked away. “I should get back to work now before someone catch me, but I am going to come visit you again sometime, okay? Think about me—but not too hard.” He winked. “You got Trav and baby to think about. Congratulations again. Bye!”

  Owl smiled. “Thanks. Bye, Sasha.”

  The screen turned black and the drone became invisible. She pushed herself up and walked back to the cobblestone path.

  “Cult of Sasha.” She laughed.

  Several hours later, there was a knock at the door as Owl dusted shelves in the living room. Maybe it was Seasalt. Quietbird and Trav had gone to Tam overnight to visit relatives, and Seasalt got bored if there was no one to hear her unsolicited advice.

  Owl opened the door. Two men stood on the step—one was Brokenshell —the man who looked like he might explode when she and Trav arrived on Nis. She didn’t know the name of the other one.

  What in the world?

  “Uh, yes?” She gripped the doorknob tightly, wishing Trav was home.

  “Hi, Owl. I’m Brokenshell, do you remember?” That awful impression of a smile spread across his face.

  “Yeah…”

  “This is Speartip.” Brokenshell gestured to the man behind him. “Can we come in?”

  Owl put a hand to her stomach protectively and swallowed.

  Why can’t these people just let us live our lives and be happy?

  “Trav’s not here, so—” She tried to close the door, but Brokenshell shot out a hand, pushing it open further.

  “We don’t want Trav. We want you.”

  Fear dragged its nails across her skin. If only she still had her machete. There had to be something heavy in the room to use as a weapon.

  “We need your help,” Speartip said.

  She paused. “My help?”

  “Yes,” Brokenshell agreed. “Something very strange has happened, and you’re the only one who can help us.” His smile turned ghastly. “We really would like to come in.”

  Her mouth pulled tight. “I think you should wait until Trav is back tomorrow.”

  “We can’t wait,” Speartip protested. “We don’t know what to do.”

  “What to do about what?” She slid her hand to the bookshelf and picked up a heavy clay vase.

  Brokenshell looked impatient. “If you won’t let us in, we can explain on the way. Please. She’s not happy. We need you.”

  Owl frowned, her heart thudding fast. “Tell me what this is about right now or leave.”

  Brokenshell sighed. “A couple days ago, we were fishing near one of the sand bars when we spotted a ship out in the water. It didn’t look like any ship we’d seen before. It was metal. It had no sails. The people aboard weren’t Islanders. I don’t know what part of the Mainland they came from, but they didn’t like us. At first they looked like they wanted us to come aboard—waving and gesturing to us. But when they saw our faces they got scared and tried to push us off their ship.”

  Speartip continued the story. “Yeah, so today we were fishing there again, and we see the ship wrecked up against some rocks in an area pretty close to where it was the day before. We thought maybe we could help, so we climbed aboard and—”

  “That’s when we saw the bodies.” Brokenshell’s eyes grew wide. “Everyone was dead. It was horrible! Blood coming out of their eyes, and ears, and noses.”

  The virus.

  Speartip continued. “I’ve never puked so much in my life. We were really afraid that these guys had some disease and we were going to get it, but so far we’re fine. We thought maybe we should stay away from Nis until we were sure—”

  “You won’t get it. You already have it. We all do. We’re resistant to the effects. But whoever was on that ship wasn’t,” Owl replied.

  “How do you—” Speartip started. Brokenshell elbowed him.

  “Tell her why we’re here!”

  “Right,” Speartip said. “So that’s when we heard crying. We went looking and found a little girl hiding under a bed inside the ship. She looks like she’s about three. Other than being scared to death of us, she seems perfectly fine. Not sick. But now we don’t know what to do with her.”

  Owl set the vase back on the shelf. “So why come to me?”

  “Because she’s not an Islander. She looks like you. She’s been crying on the beach for hours. We thought maybe if she sees you, she won’t be so scared.”

  Speartip scowled. “Well, if you’d wipe that damn stupid smile off your face and quit showing her your teeth, she might not be so afraid.” He looked at Owl. “So will you come? If anyone can help her, it’s you.”

  Owl frowned and rubbed her stomach again. What country did that ship come from? Russia again? If only Sasha were still here… She reluctantly walked outside and shut the door.

  The men sighed in relief. Speartip said, “She won’t leave the beach. She just sits in the sand and when anyone tries to go near her, she starts to scream and cry.”

  Owl followed the two men through town. Why did a foreign ship get this close to America? Was it an accident? That poor girl.

  They reached the beach. Water sloshed against a warped wooden dock and people stood in clusters, decidedly far away from a small figure sitting in the sand.

  Brokenshell and Speartip stood in place as Owl walked forward, passing murmuring villagers. The little girl had glossy black hair, like the island’s children, but with thick, blunt bangs that rested on her eyebrows. Her skin was pale, nearly the color of Trav’s, and her dark almond eyes shined with tears. Dirt trails streaked her chubby cheeks.

  The girl’s face scrunched in fear, then softened when she looked at Owl’s smile.

  “Hi.” Owl eased next to her. The girl reached out a small hand and pointed to Owl’s mouth. Owl bared her teeth and the girl did the same.

  “Yep. Same. So, what’s your name?”

  The girl stared, then poked a finger into the sand.

  “Are you hungry?”

  “I don’t think she speaks American.” One of the bystanders took a step forward. “We tried asking her the same things, but she answered back in a language we don’t know.”

  Owl scratched her head. What do I say to a little girl that doesn’t speak my language? Who just lost her family in a horrifying way?

  She leaned in and gave the girl a hug. The girl put her small arms around Owl’s neck and hung there, then looked at her protruding stomach and patted it.

  “Akachan?”

  Owl raised her eyebrows and touched her stomach. “Baby.”

  “Akachan!”

  “Akachan.” Owl nodded as the girl poked her belly. What was it Sasha had said? “Privet? Privet?”

  The girl stared at her blankly. Not from Russia. She supposed it didn’t matter what country the girl came from. It wouldn’t help her communicate.

  “I’m Owl. Owl.” She pointed to her chest, then to her belly. “Akachan.”

  Owl touched the girl’s chest.

  “Aki.”

  “Aki? Okay.”

  What now? Feed her? Then what? Let her nap at the house until someone knows what to do? But they came to me. They don’t know what to do, either. Quietbird would know but I can’t talk to him until tomorrow.

  “Come on, sweetie. I’m sure you’re starving.” Owl pried Aki’s arms from her neck and stood up. The girl held her arms up.

  “I can’t carry you. Akachan, remember?”

  Aki grabbed at Owl’s dress and started to whine.

  “I can’t.”

  Aki’s whine grew louder. She finally settled for Owl’s hand and together they walked across the beach. People around them clapped and cheered.

  Brokenshell grinned but this time it looked genuine. “I knew you were the right person to ask. Thank God you’re here.” It was the last phrase she expected to hear from him.

  Aki shirked from his presence, pressing herself into Owl’s arm and crying.

&nb
sp; “It’s okay. He’s not going to hurt you.” Although half an hour ago I was unsure of that myself.

  Speartip said, “Where are you taking her?”

  “Home. Going to get her something to eat.”

  People murmured approval. Owl turned to Brokenshell and Speartip. “Can someone get Seasalt and tell her what’s going on since Quietbird isn’t here?”

  “Yeah, of course.”

  All eyes were on Owl as she walked hand-in-hand with Aki.

  They’re going to have gossip fodder for a month.

  They drew even more stares as they walked through town. Owl could have taken the back path, like she normally did, but it was longer, and the little girl looked tired and was surely hungry.

  When they reached the house, Aki dropped her hand to chase the chickens wandering around the yard. “Niwatori! Niwatori!”

  Owl scooped her up and hauled her into the house. “You sure seem to be taking things well, kid.”

  Hopefully Seasalt would know what to do, because beyond giving the girl a hug and some food, Owl was at a loss.

  Aki stood in the middle of the living room, looking around. She climbed into a chair and sat with her hands in her lap, her face unreadable.

  “Okay, sit tight. I’m going to make you something to eat.” Owl went into the kitchen. What do kids even eat? She rubbed her belly. I’m having a kid and I don’t even know how to take care of one.

  She arranged a plate with cured fish, apple slices, and bread, and brought it to the table in the living room. Aki was no longer in the chair. Owl found her standing in the doorway of the partially-completed nursery.

  Aki clutched a teddy bear in her small arms.

  “You like that? I got it for the baby, but we have more.”

  A box of baby items lay scattered across the nursery floor. Owl sighed and walked into the room, stooping uncomfortably to collect the toys and books. Aki grabbed a wooden rattle.

  “Okay, I need that back, please.” She reached for the rattle and Aki whined, jerking it away. Owl pulled the rattle from her hand and the girl cried out, emitting a crescendo of sobs.

  “Fine. Here.” Owl held out the rattle, but Aki squeezed the bear in her arms and turned away.