The Island on the Edge of Forever (The Epic of Aravinda Book 2)

by Andrew M. Crusoe

  Zahn took a long breath. “It’s probably nothing. Vayuna mentioned something about ghosts that cling to the past. But after interacting with these people, I can’t see how that would be possible. If these people are ghosts, then how are we able to touch and feel them?”

  “Ghosts.” Asha’s eyes grew wide, and she stared directly into Zahn’s sapphire blue eyes. “We have been talking to ghosts, Zahn. When you said that, I felt it. The people, even the buildings, completely vanish in the sunlight. And the Kiss of Life. Who knows what effect it might have on the dead… And Vayuna mentioned clinging to the past? Maybe that’s what they’re doing.”

  “The buildings disappear?”

  “Well no, but they change dramatically, as if—as if they’d been abandoned for hundreds of years!” Her eyes sparked like fire. “Like how Lakshmi’s hut was suddenly overgrown, overnight. And other things, too, like her cups just materializing on the shelf when we had tea. Zahn, it all lines up!”

  “Whoa, take it easy! Could be a million things. Maybe they’re some kind of holographic life form. I don’t know.”

  “Holographic life form?” Asha shook her head. “I’ve seen those before. It’s nothing like that. No, Zahn. It makes perfect sense. Perhaps the Kiss of Life gives them a certain power; I’m not sure. But Lakshmi did say that they’d had their ‘Sight’ ability for millennia.”

  “I guess so, but I’d still be open to other possibilities. Oh, oh! Maybe they’re bug people!” Zahn held two of his fingers close together and made a funny face at her. “Their bodies are made of tiny bugs.”

  She couldn’t help but laugh. “You’re so goofy, Zahn.”

  “Sorry.” He stuck his tongue out to one side and winked. “I was born this way.”

  Asha chuckled again and messed up his hair. “Goof head.”

  Zahn smiled at her warmly and studied her face. “You know, I’ve been thinking about the traditions here, and I want to take some back to Avani, like the potlucks and the dancing on the beach. There’s such a wonderful spirit of community here. It’s too bad you’re leaving.”

  She tilted her head. “Leaving? Zahn, until we’ve completed our mission, no one is leaving Vaari.”

  “No, I meant leaving Avani.”

  “Oh.” Asha looked down onto the fine sand at her feet. “Well, I never specifically said that I was.”

  “That’s not what I remember hearing.” Zahn sat up straighter. “You said it wasn’t the right thing to do. And I’ve been realizing that, even though I may have stopped the marauders from threatening the Outpost Ring, that doesn’t mean you’ll choose to stay on Avani. You don’t owe me that. After all, the outpost has been the only home you’ve known since you were small. I’ve thought about it, and I can’t blame you if you don’t want to leave your old home. Maybe it’s better if—”

  “Zahn, I didn’t,” she interrupted, “I mean, I said I couldn’t commit to it. But yeah, I guess you could say I haven’t reached my final decision yet.”

  Zahn was silent, studying every facet of her face.

  “What are you doing?” Asha smirked.

  “Sorry, I was just appreciating your dimples as you spoke. It’s hard not to notice.”

  “Yeah? Next thing I know you’re going to say that you make a study of me.”

  “And what if I did?” Zahn’s gaze drifted back over to the fire. “I study what draws me, Ashakirta.”

  Asha scooted closer and leaned in. “Is that so?”

  “Yes, and what you did back there was incredible.” He turned back to face her, his face close to hers. “You are a true healer, Asha. The Council was right all along. You were incredible.”

  Asha’s eyes grew wet, but she blinked it away. “Thanks.” She smiled. “I think it’s because I’m finally opening up a channel of healing power within myself.”

  “Which is?”

  “Direct through the heart, Zahn.” She reached down, took his hand, and looked into his deep sapphire eyes once more. “I know I said this before, but I feel like saying it again. I’m sorry I called you blind, especially since you were being so kind and showing me the golden waterfall. I allowed my feelings to put me off balance, and I lashed out. I’m sorry.”

  Zahn inhaled deeply. “It’s okay, Asha. I was putting pressure on you; I’m the one who should be apologizing.”

  “No, I’m not done yet.” She swallowed. “Zahn, I want you to know that I don’t want us to be thousands of light-years apart. I’ve been thinking about what you said, and it makes sense. Together, we’re more powerful. And you said yourself that the Vakragha are bound to strike at Avani again.” She paused and took a deep breath. “Anyway, I’ve thought a lot about it, and I’ve decided to stay, at least for a while. I’ll try to persuade my dad to stay too, which should be easier when he learns about what you did to the marauders.”

  Zahn’s expression was a mixture of shock and relief.

  “I’m not saying this is forever,” Asha continued. “Because I’m not sure if anything is really forever, but I hope you can welcome us to your home even though I turned you down the first time.”

  Zahn’s feeling of shock melted into a warm smile. “Do you remember when I showed you Zikhara Peak? I suppose that was only a couple days ago, but it feels like longer.”

  “Yeah.” Asha nodded. “I do.”

  “I loved sharing that with you, and I wanted to share more with you, too. But I must confess that I felt hesitance.” Zahn furrowed his eyebrows. “I care about you very much, Asha. But part of me didn’t want to get too attached if you were just going to leave. Do you know what I mean?”

  To his surprise, Asha leaned in closer, her warm breath caressing his neck. The heated feeling washed over his body, and he inhaled sharply.

  “I know exactly what you mean,” she whispered and her eyes flickered up into the sapphire depths of his gaze. She ached to swim within those eyes and find refuge there.

  Zahn studied her lips and glistening ivory smile, imagining what it would be like to finally kiss her, to meet her heart through that yet unexplored touch; and he leaned in closer.

  So close. His warm breath felt like pure joy on her lips. Was this finally happening?

  Their lips touched softly, as tenderly as Zahn had imagined it might be.

  A wave of gratitude washed over Asha, as she grew lost in the feeling of their oneness.

  BZZT!

  An obnoxious sound shocked them out of their reverie, and they backed away from one another and gasped. Asha’s gaze shot down to her wrist.

  She looked back up to him, her eyes regretful. “Sorry, Zahn.”

  He took another breath to calm himself. “No, that’s okay. It sounds important.”

  Asha’s eyes went wide as she studied the silvery loop around her wrist. The wristcomm was endlessly useful, but why did it have to interrupt them now?

  “What?” Zahn asked. “What is it?”

  Asha’s eyes met his.

  “She’s awake.”

  CHAPTER 36

  AN EPIPHANY

  Both of them darted back down the path they’d created until they reached the Temple. Asha threw the door open and noticed that the twenty-sided crystal was glowing again.

  Mira was meditating quietly as she sat on the narrow wooden bed on the far side of the room, now decorated with small, indigo leaves and shells. And on one side of the bed, a group of healers were sitting with their eyes closed. At seeing this, Asha caught her breath and tried to calm down.

  As quietly as they could, they approached, and just as they reached the bed, Mira’s eyes flashed open once more. When Asha met her gaze, she noticed that her eyes were filled with an intense energy.

  “Mira, are you all right?” Asha said.

  “Yes.” Her words burned with intensity. “You did it, Asha. You thought you weren’t ready, but the healing power was always within you.”

  “Perhaps, or perhaps I just learned to harness what was already all around me.”

  From behind Asha
, Zahn walked up and bowed slightly. “Hello, I’m Zahn.”

  “Oh, yes. I almost forgot. You two haven’t been introduced. Mira, this is Zahn, my—” Asha struggled for words. “Close ally,” she finally said. “Anyway, without him, I seriously doubt I would have escaped the underground chamber alive. You have him to thank, as well.”

  For a few moments, Zahn observed the petite, blonde woman, whose age was just as difficult to guess as Oonak’s age had been.

  “Good to meet you, Zahn.” Mira flashed a smile at him. “Thank you for your help. However, this brings up the first issue that we must address.” Mira’s smile disappeared. “Zahn, I have honorable cause to bind you up in a restraining harness.”

  “What?” Zahn’s mouth twisted in confusion. “Why?”

  “You stole Navika. Even in light of the situation, protocol requires that I interrogate you with a mindscan and suspend all of your starship clearances.”

  “But Navika never said—”

  “Please, allow me to finish.” Mira raised her index finger. “Furthermore, you will spend the remainder of the mission restrained within Navika. Afterwards you—”

  “WHAT?” he burst out. “This is crazy! Mira, I’m on this planet for a reason. Remember the Radiant One? I’m sure Oonak reported back to the Confederation about…” Zahn’s expression fell for a moment. “That’s right. That happened after he left. But that doesn’t matter! Ask Navika. The Radiant One was in Navika’s garden bay. It’s so bright that we don’t even know if it’s even a physical being, but without it, our entire quest to recover the Tulari would have been a failure. And it appeared again and told me to come here. It gave me precise coordinates to an underground tunnel system, where I found Vayuna. Anyway, what’s important is that I would have never come here in time to save Asha if it wasn’t for that.”

  “He’s right,” Asha said. “The Radiant Figure tends to show up when you least expect it. And if Zahn hadn’t shown up with Navika when he did, I would have been jellyfish food.”

  Mira looked down to narrow bed she was still sitting on, reflecting quietly.

  “This figure helped you get one of the Chintamani stones?” Mira studied his face. “Are you absolutely sure that it’s the same entity who told you to come here?”

  Zahn nodded. “Definitely. I’ve never seen anything like it. And its voice… I don’t think I could ever forget a voice so pure and resonant.”

  Mira turned to face them and stepped up, out of the bed. She seemed shorter without her silvery-violet uniform and boots; yet the white robe also made her feel more approachable, softer.

  “Very well,” she said, turning to Zahn. “In light of your selfless acts and your help in retrieving the Kiss of Life, I will refrain until I can consult with the Confederation.”

  “What do you think they’ll do?” Asha said in almost a whisper. “He acted rashly, but he’s more than made up for it.”

  “Difficult to say,” Mira said, stretching her back. “I cannot recall anyone else carrying out such a contradictory mix of actions before.”

  Zahn squinted at her. “Your planet is full of nothing but really predictable, saintly people, isn’t it?”

  Mira turned to him, her gaze utterly calm. “Scientists, yes. Explorers, linguists, philosophers, and more. But we would not consider ourselves saints, only galactic citizens. We endeavor to balance our emotions,” she paused. “But this is ancillary. We must go to Liila as quickly as possible.”

  Mira looked down and tapped on her wristcomm for a few seconds. “Asha, why is Navika cloaked just outside?”

  Asha’s expression darkened. “I’m sorry, Mira. Liila was damaged in the battle. Because her cloaking field was unstable, we left her hidden in the forest.”

  “But we do have Navika,” Zahn said. “In surprisingly good condition, I might add.”

  Mira remained silent for a few moments. “Liila is not meant to be left alone. She is unpredictable.”

  “Unpredictable?” Zahn repeated.

  “But, she will have to wait. We have interacted with this world more than I would have liked. Follow me. We must reconvene within Navika. He may be able to help us formulate a sound strategy.” Still wearing the white meditation robe, Mira grabbed a small bag on the floor and headed toward the door.

  “Hold on!” Asha said, following her. “What do you mean by unpredictable? Is Liila dangerous?”

  But Mira didn’t slow down.

  When they were outside, Mira wasted no time in using her wristcomm to find Navika, cloaked within the forest. Almost as if she could see in the dark, she found his invisible shape and pressed her fingers to his surface. The door rolled open, and soon they were all standing inside of Navika’s central node.

  Mira set her small bag down and pulled out some clothes.

  To their surprise, Zahn and Asha realized she was going to change clothes there, in the central node room, and they turned away as she put her pants on under her robe. She seemed completely unperturbed by anyone watching her get dressed.

  Once she finished, she froze.

  “Did you hear that?” she said, glancing around.

  “Where?” Zahn said. “Oh, right.”

  Everyone looked up to one of the corners of the ceiling where a small creature was scurrying along one of the cables. It stopped and stared back down to them with its voluminous black pupils.

  “That’s the jagrul,” Zahn said. “He’s fine. I just fed him.”

  “That’s the creature from Amithya, isn’t it?” Mira said.

  Asha furrowed her eyebrows. “But how would you know about that? Did Oonak file a report on us or something?”

  “The Confederation regards transparency highly. Navika reports to us regularly, and you should return that creature as soon as possible.” Mira frowned. “However, we don’t have time for that now.”

  She pressed her hand to the door pad and waved them into the command bay. There was no question who would be in the command chair for this flight, and Asha and Zahn found themselves sitting together on the passenger bench for the first time in a while.

  As she sat in the command chair, Mira’s eyes darted back and forth. Zahn knew the look. He’d seen it on Oonak’s face a hundred times before; she was reviewing great quantities of data.

  She looked down to them. “A stroke of good luck and a stroke of bad, if we could call it such a thing.”

  “What do you mean?” Asha said.

  “Navika cannot sense them, but after consulting with Liila, we’ve made a terrible discovery: dozens of Vakragha cruisers are in high orbit above this planet. The signature is so faint that I wouldn’t have found it if it wasn’t for Liila’s new trace sensors, but it’s there.”

  In the middle space of the cabin, the image of Vaari, shimmering in an ultramarine hue, faded into view, surrounded on all sides by dozens of angular, menacing shadows.

  “Great. How are we supposed to survive that?” Zahn said. “We only have two ships!”

  “Calm yourself, Zahn. They’re holding their relative positions, and Navika detects no power surges from any of the ships. It seems something is keeping them from attacking.”

  Something about that felt familiar to Zahn, but he couldn’t place it. And as he watched, the image of the planet faded away.

  “What about the communication interference?” Asha asked. “Has it changed now that we found the Kiss of Life?”

  “No, off-world communications are still blocked somehow, raising questions about the nature of this planet.”

  “So what do we do?” Asha said. “There’s no way we can face that armada. We’ll get ripped apart faster than the turning of the worlds. And if you can’t contact the Confederation, we’re on our own. We are surrounded and cut off. What do you think we should do, Mira?”

  “We could try a low orbit jump, but that altitude is certainly crawling with their scouts.” Mira scratched her head furiously. “We are silenced and trapped. Let me think about this.”

  Mira was silent f
or some time, and after a while Zahn glanced over to Asha, raising his eyebrows. His eyes seem to suggest that he thought Mira needed help, and Asha turned around, leaning up against the back of the passenger bench. Mira appeared stunned as she took in the sensor data.

  Slowly, she raised her gaze to them. A sadness was in her eyes that Asha hadn’t seen before. “I’m sorry. I am having trouble focusing. Perhaps the Kiss of Life affects—” She trailed off.

  “How about we hold an intention together?” Asha said.

  “Sure,” Zahn said, “but don’t we do that all the time?”

  Asha stood up. “I mean that we meditate. Together. It’s something I learned here. I close my eyes and focus my attention on my breath. When thoughts come up, I always bring my attention back to how my breath feels. Even doing this for a few minutes has really helped me.”

  “Yes,” Mira nodded. “I suppose one of the Vaari meditations would be helpful in this instance.”

  “So,” Zahn said, “we just sit together, close our eyes, and focus on the feeling of the air in our noses?”

  “Yep,” Asha said. “What’s important is that you remain focused on the sensation of air touching your nostrils. Whatever you feel, you just calmly observe it without attachment. The person who taught me this said that it would grow my awareness, and it really has.” Asha paused as they considered this. “Does everyone understand?”

  “Sure,” Zahn said.

  “Yes,” Mira said, “but time is still of the essence. How about I set a timer for ten minutes?”

  “I’d prefer longer, but under the circumstances, I agree.”

  “Timer set.”

  Asha sat back down and closed her eyes. She closed her mouth, and noticed that she could only breathe out of her left nostril. The edges of wandering thoughts surfaced, but she turned her attention back to the touch of breath on her skin.

  Time moved swiftly for Asha, and once again she wondered why she hadn’t been able to heal Mira on her own. Why had she needed the Kiss of Life? And why couldn’t she completely heal her foot? Her Amithyan teachers had told her that it was possible to overcome any disease if the healer possessed enough love and light. What was diminishing her light?