Iliona and the resumption of ties

by Ariane Souza

  Iliona City night sky was as black as the human’s, and a bluish full moon stood out among the fake stars. When Muriel got inside the train, she sat by the window, and took a nap, while the moonlight passing through the window’s smoked glass touched her face.

  Although not cold where she was, she had prepared herself for the weather of her next destination. She was wearing a black windproof jacket over her regular clothes and warm gray pants. Along with a thick yellow scarf made of wool, an also woolen pair of black gloves, a white ribbed hat, and black winter boots.

  When she woke up from her nap, there was no one in the train but her. And a few minutes later, an electronic voice coming from the train speakers informed they had reached their final stop.

  She got off in the Grooves Valley station, which was empty but for a hovering abandonment, and headed to its outside, toward the dark hills ahead of her. Walking with steady steps and no hurry, with her voluminous black hair bobbing in the wind. She lit her way with a blue flashlight she had brought within her jacket.

  *

  They were in the cosmians’ command room. Where the most traditional element was the golden rudder that Elin was conducting. Despite being late of night, she and Nense were used to stay up ‘till late because of the night watch they took turns in. While she conducted the glass boat, Nense was also busy fixing the hinges of a trapdoor in the middle of the room, which worked as the entry door, while Tevis was distracted observing the night view from the glass wall behind Nense. He had taken a nap on the kitchen’s chair, after talking with her, but when he went to bed for a deeper sleep, the whistling sound of the wind passing through the grooves didn’t allow him. His finger was better, although still healing.

  “I don’t know how you get to sleep with this sound, it’s so annoying.” He commented still looking ahead.

  “Well, there’s a saying that there are two ways of sleeping in the Grooves Valley: or you get used to this whistling noises, or you can always get used to this whistling noises,” Nense said with a smile.

  “We have company again,” Elin announced to both of them behind her.

  Since the cosmian was made mostly of glass, in the command room, you could see the things you were overflying just by looking down, through its floor. However, this view was not as clear as the one from the control panel, whose powerful spotlights lit the outside.

  “Where?” Nense stood up from the floor and walked toward the panel. Tevis also moved to the same direction.

  By the frontal spotlights of the cosmian, they could see the silver and blue colors of the sower dragon passing in front of them.

  “That sower dragon again?” Nense asked more to herself than to the others.

  “No,” Tevis said approaching his face to the flying dragon moving on the screen of the digital panel. “That’s not the dragon of before. That’s Hugo.”

  “Hugo?” Elin repeated.

  “Yah, it’s Zian’s...” But he stopped in the middle of his phrase since Zian had told him no one was supposed to know he had a dragon. “It seems there is somebody on his back. Can you zoom in, Elin?”

  “Sure.” She touched the screen with her fingertips making large movements, and the image quickly zoomed in. And they could see there were three people among the trunks made of Hugo’s skin.

  *

  “Even though I suggested it, I’m never prepared to the Grooves Valley,” Zian commented, feeling his hands and the tip of his nose getting cold. Ed was also starting to feel the sudden change of temperature but said nothing about it. While Timothy was so dazed with the cosmian view, reflecting the many fake stars above them, he just forgot about the cold. With the spotlights hitting their faces, it was easier to see which way to go.

  “It’s a cosmian,” Zian said toward him as noticing he couldn’t deviate his look. “We’re heading to there,” He added. When Hugo approached closer to the flying boat, they saw a metal ladder coming down from beneath it. It was Nense’s sign for them to climb on board.

  *

  “The Grooves Valley is so vast that I’m glad we got to appear near you,” Zian said, already inside the cosmian, while embracing Nense.

  “Of course we appeared near them.” Ed gave him a confident look that spoke for his timer’s skills.

  “What happened now?” Nense asked.

  “The usual. People were chasing us. Timers.” Ed said shortly, sitting on the floor and leaning against one of the glass walls. His hair was messy, and his clothes were untidy. There was a rip in the left knee of his pants, something made by Hugo’s scales, and there were stains of sweat under his arms, which got sticky after the cold wind outside. There were also some missing buttons in the sleeves of his suit of when he folded them up to his elbows due to Nagranto’s hot weather.

  Zian and Timothy weren’t so different from Ed, but at least their clothes weren't torn.

  “Didn’t I tell you? They are not kidding.” Tevis said as if reminding Nense of everything he told her when they were upstairs.

  “What about your finger?” Zian asked.

  “It’s healing. Elin took good care of it.” Tevis said with a smile.

  “And who is this one?” Elin turned her eyes at Timothy. Like regular boats, the cosmian also had an anchor, to stop when necessary. Therefore, Elin just had anchored it and was receiving them with Nense.

  “I’m Timothy, nice to meet you.” He said offering a handshake, which she accepted. Until that moment, he hadn’t said anything, just observed the cosmian glass interior with its semi-transparent floor and walls, which allowed the crew to see the fake stars in all directions.

  “He’s a human Muriel brought along with us,” Ed explained, uninterested. “Do you have something warm to drink? I still can feel the cold wind in my skin.” He said, standing up and heading to the kitchen floor.

  “What a way to enter someone else’s rooms,” Tevis said with disapproval, referring to Ed’s behavior, who backed a few steps when heard this, and looking at him said:

  “I don’t know if you noticed it, but I’m not exactly dressed for freezing temperatures. Do you know why? Because I’ve been sweating under Nagranto’s sun for hours, after running away from my fellow timers who wanted to arrest us, with that kid making me non-stop questions in the background.” He pointed to Timothy. “I lost my cloak due to the abnormal wind gusts on the back of that dragon. And I almost had a thermal shock when we got to these freezing mountains, after exhausting attempts of opening a nil that could get us in here. So yes, I’ll be intrusive and get me some hot drink by my own.” He continued his way upstairs without saying further words.

  “We still have some tea left; I’ll show you,” Elin said, following him.

  “So, you’re the human?” Nense asked in a kind way that made Tevis and Zian deviate their look from the stairs to her again. She added:

  “Tevis told me about you. I’m sorry for your parents, by the way.”

  “Thanks. But they are fine. They seem to be sleeping peacefully. I saw them.”

  “Good. However, I meant it because of their memory. Timers should not act so hasty in the use of their techniques.” She replied.

  “The Administration is desperate,” Tevis commented sitting on the floor in the same spot Nense had been sat fixing the trapdoor. With the utmost care with his immobilized finger.

  “He’s sitting up there with a hot cup of tea in his hands, deep in thought. So, I thought better to leave him with his wonders and back to my helm.” Elin said as a matter of explanation going down the stairs and heading to the pilot chair. Even with the cosmian still anchored, she enjoyed staying at the guiding panel.

  “You did it right, I bet he even noticed you left,” Zian commented.

  “Elin, did you see that?” Ed suddenly appeared again right after Zian had finished talking, moving down the stairs. He seemed a bit more rested but still with a messy look.

  “That blue light? I saw it, but I was waiting for it to appear again, so to be sure of what it was.”
She answered him.

  “Could it be a nil?” Zian suggested.

  “No, it didn’t seem like a nil spark,” Ed said, already by Elin’s side, looking ahead through the glass.

  Nense walked toward them. Elin had turned on the frontal spotlights again, but there wasn’t anything ahead but mountains, grooves, and Hugo lying under the cosmian.

  “I saw it through the kitchen walls. It can be the same blue flashlight we saw when we escaped from the lake to here.” Ed mentioned. “With the spotlights on, they’ll know we’re looking for them. It’s better to turn them off.” He suggested.

  Elin turned off the cosmian frontal lights, and by that point, everybody was around her at the control panel, trying to depict things in the outside windy darkness.

  “There, again!” Ed pointed to a blue point ahead not so far from them. Nense hurried and took the night vision binoculars lying on her vacant seat by the panel. While the others also confirmed they had seen that light.

  And with a confused expression on her face, Nense announced:

  “It’s Muriel.”

  Everybody in the room looked at her.

  “Are you sure? The environment doesn’t help much, it can be anyone in this darkness.” Ed said, accepting the binoculars Nense was handing to him and seeing for himself. When the blue light shone again for a longer time, he could depict some features of her face and her long swaying hair. “It’s her indeed. She’s walking, like coming in our direction.”

  “Why she is flickering the light, anyway? Her flashlight must be failing.” Tevis commented.

  “We need to go down there. She might be running away too.” Zian said right away.

  “She’s not heading to here, though, she’s descending a slope.” Ed continued to describe what he was seeing. “Like getting into a groove.” He added.

  “She doesn’t answer her phone.” Zian declared next, trying to call her from the cell phone he took out of Ed’s pocket.

  “Really? You expected to have phone signal in the middle of these mountains?” Ed said still looking through the binoculars.

  “We have good signal around here,” Elin answered him with a defensive tone. “It’s not great when you are down there in the hills, but the improvement is spectacular from up here.”

  “Anyway, I don’t think the cosmian can go down there. It can be stuck in the groove.” Ed said handing the binoculars back to Nense. “isn’t it?”

  “It seems a narrow path indeed. We can carry you there, but we will not be able to go down.” She confirmed, using the binoculars, trying to find the spot where Ed said he had seen Muriel.

  “There’s no need of this, Nense. It doesn’t seem far from here anyway. I think with a thick coat on I can walk down there.” Ed said.

  “Why don’t you open a nil ‘till there?” Timothy asked him, forgetting about the deal they had made. But he regretted right after it because Ed answered:

  “And focus on what? On a moving Muriel inside a dark groove? Tsk, honestly. Moreover, I’m too tired to open nils for now. I need to feel more rested to do it.” He said, without even looking at him.

  “I’m going with you,” Zian announced.

  “Ok.” Ed nodded.

  “I’m going to get coats for both of you,” Nense said heading upstairs.

  “I’m going too,” Timothy spoke.

  “Before you say you also want to go, Tevis, I strongly recommend you to don’t. As much as you rest, faster the healing process happens.” Elin said toward him.

  “It’s fine. I wasn’t planning to go anyway. Just remembering the cold I felt outside is enough to make my finger ache again.” He said.

  “So, let’s go,” Zian said after Nense returned with two red windproof coats and two pairs of black gloves.

  “What about me?” Timothy asked toward Nense, making Ed roll his eyes. “Do you have any coat that can fit me too?”

  “Are you sure you want to go as well? Isn’t better to stay and wait here with us, in a warm place?” She suggested.

  “It’s fine. I’ll not be a bother. I just want to go along.” He said looking at her, then to Ed, who said, dressing his coat:

  “It’s too late to worry about being a bother. You should have thought about that back in Nagranto when I told you not to enter my house.”

  Nense looked at Timothy with questioning eyes, as silently asking if he really wanted to go outside with Ed, but Timothy just nodded to her in response.

  “I’ll see if I can find a smaller coat then.” She said, heading upstairs again.

  “You should carry it with you; it’s very useful outside.” Elin threw the night vision binoculars to Ed. Then she touched the screen of the digital panel onto the option responsible for descending the ladder outside the cosmian, under the trapdoor that Ed had already opened for them.

  “Here you go, it’s not your size yet, but it’s the smaller one we have.” Nense came back holding a green coat and black gloves she handed to Timothy. They were a bit larger than his size indeed, but Timothy didn’t care. He just put them on and prepared to leave.

  Zian went down first, then Ed. But when it was Timothy’s turn Ed pushed him aside with his arm, abruptly:

  “You broke our deal twice. Two questions around me again. This is your consequence. You’re not coming with us this time, kid.” Timothy looked at him with consternation in his eyes, fallen near the open trap door, which Ed closed so firmly the hinges Nense had just fixed broke again, making the trapdoor stuck. So neither Timothy nor Nense got to pull it back right away.

  “Typical of him,” Tevis said, helping Timothy to stand up.

  “I’ll have to fix these again,” Nense said, analyzing the damaged hinges.

  “Trust me, it was better for you to stay here this time. Ed isn’t a good company already, let alone when he’s in a bad mood.” Tevis tried to comfort Timothy.

  “I wonder when he is in a good mood,” Timothy replied.

  *

  “Where’s Timothy?” Zian asked when noticing the boy wasn’t next to Ed.

  “He couldn’t come this time,” Ed replied, serious. The wind was baffling his voice. And as Zian continued to stare at him, he just added: “Fine, I’m tired of him walking with us all the time. Consider it as a request for a time off.”

  “At least he’s in a warm place and not alone,” Zian said more to himself than to Ed.

  They passed by the anchor, which was a giant tripod that prevented the wind from carrying the cosmian away. And also by Hugo, who, because of its thick skin, couldn’t care less to that cold weather, taking a nap under the cosmian. He opened his eyes when Zian passed by him with a white flashlight but closed them again when he caressed his snout and walked away.

  20

  Where the wishes wander

  The lemonish yellow lights of the glass oval table were off. Instead of them, dim white lights bathed the octagonal room where Lumma was. She was in front of a closed window, thoughtfully looking at the pinkish clouds outside, which were pierced by the tops of other buildings now and then.

  She was wearing the same clothes of the earlier reunion, with her long purple cloak covering her back. Flen entered the room, and she noticed his footsteps on the smoked glass floor, but she didn’t turn to him immediately.

  “So, did we get it?” She asked.

  “It seems so. Because we anticipated the singing, many of the humans who received Erry’s invitation to flee before it were caught off guard, and therefore are sleeping soundly right now.” He answered with a steady voice.

  “Good.” She said turning to him. “Aren’t you curious about why I demanded you to go check this information for me?”

  “Because you suspect of me.”

  “Nowadays, we’re suspecting of anybody. Nevertheless, I refused to believe so promptly you would follow Erry or Muriel since you’ve always been so committed with the Council. This was a test then. One of some. However, you came back here and told me everything, instead of running away after knowi
ng the failure of Erry’s plans. I was told you even offered yourself to seek for Muriel personally. If you’re just acting, then you’re excellent at it.”

  “I really meant it. I’m engaged in our cause of preserving Iliona City from humans, and I’ll convince you of such.”

  “You don’t need to convince me. Start by convincing yourself of that, and it’ll be enough for me.”

  He nodded.

  “Do you know what this is?” She took a black card the size of a pamphlet out of her pocket. It was made of thick paper, with nothing on it but a dot the size of a coin, printed with golden ink on one side and an also golden phrase with elaborate letters on the other. Where Flen could read the following message when Lumma handed it to him: “Where the wishes wander.”

  He paused a moment after reading it, still looking at the paper. He knew what it was. He had seen it before, “Another test,” he thought to himself.

  “No, I don’t.” Flen lied calmly, looking into her eyes.

  “It seems is how Iliona City is being called out there.” She explained with a steady voice. “We were naive to believe that Erry was acting just by gathering groups to visit human houses. It seems he has bigger plans. We intercepted a person from Nagranto trying to escape before the singing, and he had this card with him. Before we change his memory, he told us this card worked as an invitation, and the ones who received it were supposed to leave the town before the singing. The golden dot replaces their names, like a bar code, to make things more discreet. And we don’t know how many received these black cards, but some of them certainly are not in Nagranto anymore.”

  He made a silence of consent.

  “Any news from Erry, by the way?” She said again.

  “None. But we still searching for him.”

  “And Muriel and Ed?”

  “She was last seen heading towards the Grooves Valley. We have two of ours following her, and they already asked for reinforcement. We might be able to arrest her tonight yet. About Ed, the last time we heard of him he was at Zian Primey’s house, a mutual friend of Muriel and him, running away. And that’s all we know about him for now.”