“You are right, Tenashar. It’s not easy, but we must wait,” said Knode.
“This part of the city we are in seems quite deserted. Look over there; the distant Sinqualna has large numbers of people. The other buildings in the city are filled with people, but they were oblivious to the new arrivals,” said Tenashar. For a long while, nothing moved. Even the air remained still.
Feiadysium finally returned, though Hedariad wasn’t with him. A fire started to burn in Tenashar’s heart because he sensed something was amiss.
Feiadysium asked them to remain for a while at a holding place called the Vicqacidoi, which resembled a beach with sand and a pool of water. In some ways, it was similar to the Oquitoc meeting place for the islanders who lived in the north. The only difference was that this one was enclosed in transparent metal.
The sun was out and shone brightly through the transparent metal dome. It was a pleasant stay.
In most circumstances, the Vicqacidoi was used as a quarantine station for those Sahaynaiviums who got sick in foreign lands. These quarantine stations weren’t used very often. Lately, many of them had become places for children to play in.
Bored, Tenashar doodled in the sand, drawing symbols and anything else that came into his mind.
Osinthaph came over and said; “I’ve seen similar marks in very old books, written hundreds of centuries ago. How do you know of such things? Very few people know about these marks.”
“For as long as I can remember, I’ve drawn images like these in the soil. No one ever taught me. The marks just come to my hand, and I draw them on the sand or anyplace else,” replied Tenashar.
Tenashar felt strange vibes as he heard someone coming toward him. It was Hedariad, who had come to deliver a summons of the council.
“My cousin, please explain what has been going on. Is it the latest Sahaynaivium protocol to force guests to go where they don’t have a desire to be?” asked Knode.
“The situation here has changed. It’s not the way it was before. A threat is developing in the world. I can’t say anymore.”
“What is the reasoning? Nothing makes sense! Without freedom to go anywhere, life is at a standstill. There’s no rational reason why we should be kept here,” said Knode.
Hedariad did not reply. He just escorted Knode and friends into the building.
Once they were inside, they were led down into a narrow corridor like a cube-shaped tunnel. The most curious thing was the light; it was extremely bright and of an orange-blue tint. The tunnel was a series of cubes strung together with that orange light emanating from the sides.
They didn’t walk far before they came out of the tunnel and into a rounder corridor, resembling a series of short tubes with the same arrangement of the strange orange light. Finally Hedariad led them to a door that slid open, revealing a larger room. This room was composed of tubes, cubes, and pyramids all juxtaposed with one another.
This jumble of shapes was jarring to Tenashar. To him, there was no sense of order. “Knode, why is there so much strangeness in this room?” Tenashar asked him in a whisper.
“I don’t understand what this room is for,” said Knode.
“This is the first time I’ve seen a room this strange in my whole life,” said Marhidium.
No one liked the arrangement of the room. Even Hedariad kept his eyes straight ahead to avoid looking at the room. A-amar and Una-sei said they would destroy the room. This room conjured up feelings of confusion in anyone who passed through it.
“I think it’s used to confuse enemies who would try to disturb the council. I believe it was the council members who designed the thing,” said Marhidium.
There was complete agreement on this suggestion.
They now passed into another corridor, one that was far more pleasing, and finally walked into an enormous interior room with a large pool of water, with decorative glass mosaics covering the bottom of the pool.
The amazing thing about the pools of water was that they hung suspended in midair without any structural support. They looked still and quiet and tranquil. Some circular-shaped pools were even suspended in a vertical position, where it looked as if the water could fall out at any time. The circular rims that held the pools together were held in place by a bowl-shaped rib that crossed the rim horizontally. These made the pools look like a gyroscope suspended in midair. The rest of it was composed of translucent metal.
One of the vertical pools was close to the ground. Hedariad hurriedly stepped into and through the pool. The others followed him and emerged in an even larger chamber—several miles across. This chamber looked like a whole world in itself. Tenashar couldn’t see the end of the surrounding walls of the chamber. It was just an open, beautiful chamber of lights and spheres made of floating water.
They walked on at a fierce pace, and it still took an hour to cross the room. Finally they came to a long table with cylindrical chairs, not too different from the ones Tenashar had seen in Honazal. No one else was present in the chamber yet. Everything seemed quiet and empty.
Hedariad said that he would have to leave them. His walk quickened, and he disappeared into a hanging sphere of water.
When he was gone, Tenashar felt strange and alone. He was mystified as to how a body of water could transport them. “Knode, what mechanisms causes the pool to bring us to another part of the building? How did Hedariad exit? Where is he going now?”
Knode said, “I’ve heard of people going through a pool of water and ending up someplace else. And that people stepping into the walls in the council chamber go elsewhere instead of the next room. But I haven’t seen it done.”
A memory started to stir in Tenashar’s mind—bringing to mind Nainashari’s spheres of life that kept every type of environment alive. He had once walked into one of these spheres. A connection began forming in Tenashar’s mind. A chain started linking up. The Orbs drained the life out of things, and the spheres preserved life. He once went from Nainashari’s world into Cadica’s desert world, and he remembered passing through some kind of barrier, just as Hedariad did when he stepped into the pool.
Tenashar was beginning to find the reason for his journey. He couldn’t quite fully understand just yet, but he started to nurture a thought, like a word at the tip of his tongue.
Tenashar knew that few Sahaynaiviums ever saw the council chamber. It was a rare event unless one was asked to be there.
“I am curious to see the Salseth. I want see what he is like,” said Marhidium. “This is a situation that isn’t too common. Long ago, all Sahaynaiviums were granted the privilege to see the Salseth and the council chamber, but things have changed since then.”
Tenashar lost himself in a rush of memory once more. Words started to flow out of the past. Ilaythesia had taught him not to judge people by their appearances—that things didn’t always seem as they really were. Originally, Tenashar had considered Knode an annoyance, but he had come to respect the man. He had also begun by thinking of Siytai as a person of very little wisdom who hardly ever spoke. Yet he had come to realize that when Siytai said something, it meant a lot and had depth.
So, he wondered, was Feiadysium really the unfeeling person he seemed to be? He refused to linger on these confusing thoughts. It was best to observe things and find out what they truly were, instead of making hasty judgments.
As he remained silent and took in the splendor of the council chamber, Tenashar marveled at its immensity.
In the distance, tiny lights started coming toward them. It appeared to be a continuous line of lights, streaming ever forward. Then the lights turned to the left, approaching the great table. Another group of lights appeared, turning right. Tenashar saw people—some holding globe lanterns in their hands, and others holding lanterns attached to long handles.
Knode said, “What you are seeing are lanterns that signal the ceremony that opens the council session.”
“You see, each Ceremonial Lantern Bearer wears a draped light blue robe,” Marhidium said. �
��One side of the robe reaches to their hips, while the other side of the robe flows down toward the floor. Underneath these blue robes, the Ceremonial Lantern Bearers wear the typical black tunic with its colored stripes and patterns.”
Jarviashar smiled. “It looks as if someone used scissors to cut one side of it!” she whispered.
There were alternating lines of male and female Ceremonial Lantern Bearers. The male bearers wore triangular berets. Female lantern bearers had their hair in coiled braids at the back, with alternating strips of color across their hair, making them appear very attractive.
Once the bearers got to their positions, lined up in rows like soldiers facing each other, they were still barely discernible, being half a mile away, across the huge room.
“You don’t have anything like this in Senetha, do you?” Marhidium asked Tenashar.
“The globe lanterns represent the harmony of the world. It sort of signifies the turning of day and night. Yet the lanterns can also represent the combined light of the moon and sun. This ceremony and the lanterns symbolize an ancient concept of a beautiful world that is contained in a globe and that such a globe can be entered by those of great merit and virtue.”
Tenashar’s eyes started to widen. “Why didn’t you say anything about this? You remember I told you about Nainashari the Aura-Laei-i and his spherical worlds.”
Marhidium replied, “I had not made the connection between these globes and the spheres. I’ve seen them in so many ceremonies. But I’ve never been here in the council chamber before.” She went on to point out that she felt Tenashar wasn’t ready to know more about the ceremony.
Tenashar saw the strange connection between the Aura-Laei-i, the Orbs, ceremonial globes, and the spheres.
A beautiful voice emanated from everywhere and nowhere, and yet it was crystal clear. Even the Ceremonial Lantern Bearers heard the same sounds. The bearers knelt down as one.
Tenashar realized it was a recording. “It was crystal clear.”
From the haze all around the council chamber, figures appeared in front of the cylindrical seats and sat down. Other council members emerged from doors that were located on the left and right of the council table.
Tenashar expected to see council members dressed in the common black tunics and colorful lines going across them. Instead, he saw a multitude of dress styles and hues, with the exception of the central core of councilors, who wore the black, striped tunics and berets.
One of the council members was rotund, and long, white braids that reached down to his chest framed his face.
“Who is that fat, old man?” Tenashar asked Knode.
“That’s Obsiesa,” Knode whispered.
“He looks very stern,” replied Tenashar.
Despite his jolly, round face, his eyes were narrow, and his lips were thin and quite stern. Sitting on either side of him were two other young councilors dressed like him, a woman on his left, and on his right a man.
“Who is that woman and that young man?” asked Tenashar.
“The woman is Geithelasa, and the young man is called Kouxisphi,” replied Knode.
The core of senior councilors paid no attention to Tenashar and his friends. They busied themselves with preparations and talked amongst themselves. Some council members fidgeted around with their viewing tablets and pens that lit up when touched to the screen.
Tenashar was wondering where Hedariad and Feiadysium were.
A woman came down the nearby stairs, dressed in the bluish-white ceremonial robes, and told the group of visitors to sit and relax; no harm would come to them.
Knode asked her what was going on, but she made no answer. She merely smiled. Tenashar was curious as to what happens to an aeronaut when they were away in other lands for such a long time. Did an aeronaut forget their rank? Did they still have a rank?
Obsiesa looked at them as if he were studying a specimen in a test tube. There was slight compassion and sympathy in his eyes, above a smile that seemed nice but might have been hiding nervousness. With a mixture of all these complex emotions, he looked down to read his tablet. Then he looked around at the other council members without confidence. It was as if he was asking if it was all right to begin.
When he got nods from those gathered around, he spoke. “The council of Himoicum has surrounded you here. Those who are present are deemed necessary and important, as we have a desire to ask you questions. I know you feel we have been rude and have not treated you well. We kept you hidden so that you wouldn’t say anything to the people of Himoicum. We do not want rumors to spread. This is an emergency meeting of the council. As you know, the situations of late are hurting our island homes—you have even seen some of the events that have unfolded here. So please excuse the way we brought you here.”
For Tenashar, it was enough of an explanation—for the moment.
Knode whispered to Tenashar that he didn’t take the word of the council to be an apology. Instead, Knode believed it to be an explanation or a hidden agenda to disguise something that was important.
After reading these words from the council, Obsiesa looked to the woman at his side.
She then spoke. “You have already heard of the Orb shaped creatures that have been wreaking havoc on our oceans and land. Two of you are from other lands. We have heard that your lands are also being drained by these Orbs.”
Obsiesa then looked to the young man on his right to confirm something before he spoke again. “Messengers were sent to the continent, but they did not return for a long time. Now we have reconnected with them. We are aware now of a people called the Senetha. The council has heard of these people from the Veazith.” He looked at Tenashar. “We welcome you as an envoy from the Senetha, but I see that you are very young. I have been told that you are Tenashar, one of the elite of your tribe. Perhaps you are one of those people the Senetha call Aura-Laei-i?”
Tenashar was surprised to hear the words Senetha and Aura-Laei-i from the senior councilman. Athtap must have sent word of him, or perhaps Seveaha and Leineha.
Even Knode’s eyes widened with surprise and confusion. Deep within his heart, he had sensed something about Tenashar.
Tenashar began to understand why his people sent him instead of a seasoned warrior to search for answers. Sanashei must have known something about Tenashar. He began to realize that a warrior would be unable to handle the emotional impact of the journey—the revelation of flying ships, the immensity of the cities of Sahaynaivium, and even the legendary ships of Honazal. It would be too much for most Senetha to deal with.
A warrior wouldn’t be needed for this journey. Only a person of learning, compassion, and courage was supposed to make the journey across the sea.
Obsiesa spoke to them again. “At first, the council heard rumors that some of the mountain people of the outlying islands in the south had begun to see strange lights moving across the sky. They believed at first that the lights were shooting stars or the lights of our flying ships. But they soon saw that the lights were glowing Orbs. Perhaps the mountain people thought them to be visitors from the stars—don’t be surprised; many different peoples have tales of visitors from the stars, passed down through the generations.
“So these mountain folk at first thought these lights were such visitors and made celebrations to welcome them. Enthusiasm turned to disappointment as the mountain people watched these cherished lights descend onto the land around them, and the plants start to wilt and die. Everything dried and shriveled into nothing. Then some of the people started to shrivel up and fall apart right before the eyes of others. They began to panic and run, but the only people that survived were the ones farthest away from the Orbs.
“So word spread, but before anyone could act or even find out what had happened, the glowing Orbs disappeared and never returned. The Orbs were not seen for a long time.
“When we learned what had happened, our scholars and scientists investigated the site. They soon found that the bodies and plants that were destroyed by t
he Orbs had turned into inanimate objects, as if they had never been living things. No living tissue remained. The bodies fell to dust as if made of solid clay. Many of these remains were brought here for study, but no matter how much effort, research, or study was used, the secret behind it remained elusive. The studies continued for years. Eventually our scholars found that the ancient texts yielded some cryptic answers—unfortunately, too vague to be of any help.” Obsiesa fell silent.
Tenashar sensed that this was not the full story of what really happened many years ago to the mountain people.
Tenashar had been secretly hoping that Seveaha and Leineha were already at the council chamber. He wondered if they were delayed. Were they being “protected” in quarantine as their group had been?
Obsiesa talked about the ancient writings concerning something that vaguely resembled the Orbs. “No matter what experiments were conducted, everything failed. Our wisest people were baffled. They found no answers, only inconclusive or inadequate results. Sahaynaivium science had failed. None of the scholars could decipher the ancient writings. They had been defeated.”
Eventually, the council questioned Tenashar and Jarviashar.
“Our people were mystified by what happened when the Orbs came,” Tenashar began, trying not to sound nervous. “We have been hoping to hear answers from you. My people sent me here to find out what you might know of the Orbs. When they came, my people had no idea of what was happening. Perhaps Heitac—our master Aura-Laei-i—may have known what was happening, but our people only went to her for advice after the Orbs departed. If she had any answers for us, she would have called us to council.”
Marhidium spoke up then, aiming her words at Obsiesa. “You wanted us to bring back information, but we have come back with nothing new. I expect that this is a problem all over the planet, even in places we have not yet visited. In all the villages we visited, people spoke about rumors concerning the Orbs.”
Obsiesa’s eyes showed a lot of frustration. He clearly expected some kind of answers from the highly trained aeronauts.
On his left, Geithelasa—the woman who was second in rank—was tapping her fingers on the table. “You should have found some information, but you didn’t. There is protocol that must be exactly adhered to. We need information. You lost the ship. This is incompetence. The council doesn’t wish to hear excuses.” She glared across at Osinthaph and Marhidium.
Journey to the Grassland and Sea Page 17
