Wings of Creation

by Brenda Cooper

  “Of course.”

  Marcus walked up to a wall, and a door opened in it, just like that. I was sure it had been invisible before. Of course, everything in this cave had been made, and so I shouldn’t have been so surprised.

  Dim lights illuminated a long thin corridor behind the door. Marcus led us in, holding the door open to include Sasha before it swung shut behind us. I looked; there didn’t seem to be any mechanism for opening the door from this side.

  The tunnel angled down a few degrees, the floor a rough surface that our feet scraped on as we went. The air smelled stale, although every once in a while, fans blew fresher air in via round ducts in the ceiling. Sasha whined softly, and sniffed at the air and the floor.

  Kayleen still wasn’t walking as fast as usual, but she didn’t need either of us for support. We kept her between us, Marcus in front and me behind, Sasha patrolling front to back.

  From time to time the corridor branched. Marcus had been here before, since he seemed to know instinctively whether to turn left or right at any given intersection. We saw no one else in the underground hallways, and given how loud our footsteps were I’m pretty sure we would have heard anyone there.

  “What is this place?” Kayleen whispered.

  Marcus gave a soft, ironic laugh. “It’s left over from when the Wingmakers made Lopali.”

  He was old, but not quite that old. “How did you know about it?”

  “My father’s father was a Wingmaker.”

  Oh. Wow. I hadn’t know anything about his history. “What was your dad?”

  “Short-lived. He left the Wingmakers because he didn’t like the choices they were making. He’s the one who taught me not to be part of any affinity group, but to just be myself. Free agents are both stronger and weaker than groups, but if you violate your own principles as a free agent, you can only blame yourself.”

  We turned again, right this time, and the downslope became steeper. Sasha’s nails scraped on the surface as she struggled not to slide. Kayleen spoke up instead of whispering, like we had been. “But you need family. Family matters. I’d be . . . I’d be gone somewhere if it weren’t for Caro and Joseph . . . and you.”

  I agreed. “How is a family different from an affinity group?”

  “Sometimes it isn’t. Some affinity groups are run by a family, or only admit family members. There’s one in banking that manages to get cuts of half the credit flow on Silver’s Home, and another family group in tourism that’s been known for booking the best vacations for three hundred years. Mostly, they’re built around an idea or a business. Say you’re interested in making space ships? Well, there’s at least seven or eight premier affinity groups that do that, and two or three of those have been doing it since we colonized Silver’s Home. Others are trying to get a name in the business. You’d research them all and then choose.”

  “But you don’t have to join an affinity group, right?” Kayleen asked.

  “No. But you have to have something to sell if you don’t. I sell my ability to fly and my ability to create.”

  “So Joseph never needs to join a group?”

  Marcus laughed. “Not if he doesn’t want to.” And then he added, “But, technically, I’m pretty sure you are all still members of the Family of Exploration. You’ll show on their rolls until you reject your rights.”

  “Huh?” Kayleen asked.

  It would take too long to go there now, and I was too tired. “I’ll fill you in later.”

  The slope changed again, and we were walking almost straight now, with just a little downhill. It seemed like a good time to ask about something I didn’t understand. “But all those people in the war room, and the person that lends you the ship storage space on the Silver Eyes, and other people like that, aren’t you all an affinity group?”

  “We’re not registered as one and we don’t get taxed as one, and some of us are in others. We’re just aligned.”

  Oh. I got it. “Like the Wind Readers that just helped us. They said they were something—in affinity?—but of course they work for other groups.”

  “Nicely deduced,” he said.

  Even though we were going downhill, Kayleen’s breathing sounded louder. “Can we have a short break?”

  “Not until we get off this planet.”

  “What I want to know,” Kayleen wheezed out between steps, “is about your dad. It sounds like he died.”

  “He went crazy.”

  Oh. No wonder part of Marcus’s life had been dedicated to keeping students from being wind-burned. “So it’s not a coincidence you’re here?”

  “It’s mostly one,” he said. Then he stopped and turned to Kayleen. The light was dim enough I couldn’t read Marcus’s expression as closely as I wanted to, but his voice sounded grave. “But this is one important thing that needs to be done, and I was available to do it. And we needed Joseph, and maybe you, to do it.”

  “Is the sim okay?” she asked.

  “Too early to tell. But she was when we left.”

  I felt relieved, especially since we were apparently leaving more than the cave behind. After we found the others. Surely we weren’t going to walk all the way to Oshai. And surely we would find them.

  36

  CHELO: A FORTUNE

  As I walked away from the Temple Hills, the orange and red rays of the setting sun lent urgency to my steps. I’d dressed comfortably, as plainly as I could, except that I wore Sasha’s knotted belt around my waist. Mohami had drawn me a map, and I wanted to find the festival before dark; Lopali still seemed strange, if beautiful. I hadn’t been alone like this since sometime back on Fremont. A few years on space ships had kept my alone time to walks and exercising, and of course, being part of a family of five didn’t make it common to spend much time by myself, either.

  I followed the road we’d driven in on, walking by the side, occasionally passed by people on cycles or running. Fliers made shadows over me from time to time, and I struggled to ignore them, to make sure I looked like I belonged. Kala had found me a blue wrap left behind by a seeker who had returned to Paradise, and she had also done up my hair in high braids that helped my face look so narrow I barely recognized myself. When the kids saw me just before I left, Caro had shrunk back in Liam’s arms until he convinced her I was really me.

  I needed Joseph. He and I could do this together—find the others and free them and go away. But he wasn’t here.

  It took almost an hour to walk to the festival, and by then the sky had faded to black, lit by stars and stations and ships. I would have preferred moons, but of course, everything orbiting here was as man-made as Lopali itself. Fliers had stopped going by overhead, but a few walked now, or moved on wheeled platforms, and the foot traffic of Keepers and ordinary humans had grown.

  Approaching the entrance, I paused as shadows quivered around me. Statues loomed and shone and glittered and moved under bright lights, and small groups of humans and fliers walked, some in silent appreciation and other engaged in animated conversation. Between the art of bringing souls together in the morning ceremony and the art around us, the creativity of Lopali awed me.

  I dragged myself through the sculptures as quickly as I could manage, actually relieved to get inside the festival itself and be surrounded by smaller art, booths, music, and people. I could feast on the scent of warm, spicy foods and the sounds of new instruments and conversation, except I had a mission. This had been a great place for Jenna and Paloma and the others to hide. So what had gone wrong?

  I found directions to Juss’s booth by keeping my eyes down like a penitent seeker and asking. The second person I asked had known the general area to look, and the third had given me exact directions.

  The booth was empty, so I walked in, dressed in my blue just like Seeyan had said. A man all in blue with blue hair looked up as I came in. “Juss?”

  He nodded, looking bored.

  “A friend of mine, Seeyan, mentioned a Juss that sold feathers and fortunes. She said maybe I should
find you if I needed anything. I don’t really, except I need to find Seeyan.” What I really needed was to stop babbling, so I shut up.

  He looked a lot more interested than he had when I first walked in. He stared, and then his eyes widened, and he whispered my name, “Chelo.”

  “Do you know where Seeyan is?”

  He chewed on his lower lip for a moment, and then shook his head. He smiled at me, but the intensity of his gaze made me feel a little bit like a specimen brought back from winter roaming to show Artistos. “She’s supposed to come by here if you want to wait. And she’s right, I sell both. But for you, I’ll give you a fortune.”

  He didn’t feel like a friend. Not like I expected him to. I wished I hadn’t come. “Maybe later.”

  His grin lightened, even though it didn’t touch his eyes. “You are the beautiful woman worth a world. A poor fortune-teller seldom gets such grand subjects. I would be honored if you would stay for five minutes.”

  I blew out a slow breath. What would I do if I left? Wander the fair looking for people in the dark? Juss’s booth was eerily quiet even though the festival outside had been noisy. I took a step back from him. “Five minutes.”

  He smiled again, the smile avoiding his eyes as if they had a plague. His eyes—blue, of course, an unnatural blue that glowed, like the blue of ice in winter with the sun on it—made me shiver. But then he closed them, and took a single long breath, in and out quietly. When they opened again he looked calmer. He did that two more times, his hands turning a blue stone over and over. When he opened his eyes the third time, the pupils were small dark dots in a field of deep blue. “Chelo who is worth a world, Chelo who began the war, you have three things in your immediate future. One is what has been in your past. You have lost people you love in war, and you will lose people you love again. Your destiny is to be dogged by the evils of humanity, and to help them see the beauty in their hearts in spite of themselves. But the price will be high, as the price of freedom is always high. As the fliers suffer to learn and grow, so will you. Your tears will drive forward a fight already begun, and add heart to the fighters. Your tears will drown you for a time, and then they will give you strength and resolve.”

  Great. I should never have stayed. What he said had been something almost surely true anyway, that we children of Fremont would have trouble surviving in this vast, complex world. I held my tongue, wishing more than one minute of the five had passed.

  The stone in Juss’s hand turned faster and his eyes nearly rolled back in his head. “A friend will appear to betray you, but she will be helping you. It will be hard for you to trust her, but you must. She has only your best interests at heart.”

  Alicia. Maybe Alicia had already been here. I should ask as soon as he finished.

  “And that is not the only betrayal that waits for you. Another in your party wishes you well, but wants a success that is different than the one you want.”

  Two betrayals. Dinner and dessert. I didn’t believe him for a minute. At least that was the three things. I opened my mouth to tell him I was leaving, but he stiffened and held up a hand.

  “So you will cry and you will be betrayed, and your children will heal some of what you cannot. That is the last part, and it is not in the now but in the future. Take care of your children.”

  Fine. Like I wouldn’t. At least something he said had a grain of hope in it. His five minutes were up. “If you haven’t seen Seeyan, have you seen anyone else in our party?” I didn’t want to name names—if he was reading the stories he knew them anyway, and if any of the Gang of Girls still hid here, I didn’t want to give them away. I wanted him to tell me he’d seen Alicia, but he shook his head, violently, once, sending his blue hair flying about his face.

  His eyes looked normal again, more normal than either time before. He looked over my shoulder. “You’re in luck. Here comes Seeyan now.”

  Good thing. But why had she ever sent me to anyone so creepy, and what did she have to do with him anyway? I turned and smiled, and she smiled at me and held out her hand. “Chelo! I’m so glad we found you.” Her voice sounded too high, and her own smile looked too enthusiastic.

  I had to get her out of here and find a place where we could talk. “I was just leaving. Will you go with me?”

  Two men stepped into the booth from outside, and stood in the door. They were both half of what Bryan was, different than normal humans, but not entirely turned to strongmen. Paradisers? Anyway, they could take me in a fight.

  “Seeyan?” Was this Seeyan’s doing? She wasn’t looking at me anymore.

  I glanced at Juss, who looked triumphant, and not at all regretful. I realized I didn’t know what was happening, not yet, but I couldn’t keep my mouth shut. “Some fortune-teller. Do you tell women they’ll find true love and then seduce them yourself?”

  He glared at me. “Many people can play the game of telling stories. Perhaps children like yourself shouldn’t try.”

  I felt Seeyan’s hand on my arm and brushed it off. Every instinct told me to run. But I’d be caught, here in this strange place with these guards, and perhaps even by Seeyan. Damn Juss, I did feel the betrayal. Seeyan had always felt like a friend, like part of the sacred circle that held Mohami and all the good things here on Lopali. I looked closely at her. Her face had none of the defiance or the triumph of Juss’s, but something more like resignation and the acceptance of an unpleasant task.

  “I presume you won’t let me just walk out of here, right?”

  Her voice was soft. “I will take you where you came here to go.”

  To the others. Trapped like them? “Very well.” But my feet wouldn’t move forward. Seeyan knew where Liam and the children were, she was my link to Mohami. She was my teacher and my friend, and she’d taught Paloma how to find herbs here. She’d lost her wings, and told us she wished us well. Believing anything else about her felt like a lie, but it must be true. The guards were prepared to follow her orders.

  My stomach and knees felt weak and I wanted to fall down there, on the spot. Of course that was no option, so I stood, breathing hard for two breaths, and then forcing calm. I pulled the cowl of the seekers’ robes up around my head, hiding my dark hair and, hopefully, my fear. I didn’t hide my eyes; I wanted to see where we were going.

  The two men took the lead, Seeyan and I following. A man and a woman fell in behind us. The men walked far enough ahead they probably didn’t look like an escort, and Seeyan walked casually, looking around here and there at the booths. I looked around, too, hoping against hope for a glimpse of an ally.

  Sounds assaulted me everywhere I went, strange accents in voices and music so different each from the other they must have come from all of the Five Worlds. The noise of a single place full of more people than had been on my whole world.

  We passed a rest room, and I whispered to Seeyan, “I need to stop.” She nodded, following me as far as the doorway. The other four all stopped, too, but too far away to hear us. Seeing Seeyan standing there made me sick to my stomach as well as in need of voiding my body’s response to the bad fortune of finding my friend. After, I splashed water on my face and neck, blotting the sickly smelling sweat from my skin. I needed to be stronger. Braver.

  As I approached the door, Seeyan put a hand on my arm again. This time I just stood, not swatting it away. She was still beautiful, tall and willowy and calm. She spoke softly. “It’s not so bad as you think. So far, everyone is okay. You can all be okay as long as you cooperate. Joseph will come for you. And then he will fail, which is all we need.”

  “Why? I thought you of all people wanted the flier children to be made normally, wanted to stop being enslaved.”

  She gave me a measured stare. “You passed the sculptures on the way in?”

  “Yes.”

  “They were beautiful, right? They spoke of pain and love and yearning.”

  “I’m sure they were. I didn’t get much time to look at them.” It was hard to keep from sounding bitter. “I was try
ing to find you.”

  “But you have seen the gardens now, and the morning ceremony, and you’ve spoken with Mohami at least once. You’ve seen how beautiful the fliers are. You know how much peace means to us. You want the same thing. You and I talked about it, and you told me how much you hate war.”

  I hated lies and betrayal, too. “Yes, I hate wars. I want them all to stop, everywhere.”

  “If we don’t have our pain, our trials, if our hearts are not ripped in two and three and four parts again and again, and put back in a place of calm, we will no longer be ourselves.”

  I didn’t understand. “And your brother, Will, wouldn’t have died trying to learn to fly, and maybe your wings wouldn’t have been cut off.”

  She winced, and then recovered. “But if they hadn’t been, I wouldn’t be who I am. I wouldn’t understand the breath of the world or Keep the Beauty. I wouldn’t be close to ready to move into the central gardens and manage some of the outlying fields that the seekers play in. All of our sufferings are the price we pay for our art, for our songs, for our ceremonies, and for the beauty of our home.”

  “I still don’t understand.”

  “Go look at the sculptures sometime. Maybe then it will make sense to you. After all, you have suffered. Who would you be if you hadn’t had your family and friends ripped from you on Fremont?”

  Happier? But I didn’t say that. I didn’t want to talk to her anymore. I walked past her out the door, leaving her to catch up to me. When she did, she whispered, “Chelo, what I’m doing is for you. You just don’t know it yet.”

  “Why? You’re doing it to the kids as well as to me. They need me. They adore you.” And she’d truly seemed to enjoy them. She’d always looked forward to seeing them, and we’d left them with her for whole days. They’d always come back happy and tired. “You’ve betrayed the deal we made with Lopali. Why?”