by SM Blooding
“What did they do to you in all this time?”
The pulleys squeaked after the technician closed the metal grate behind me, and we rose.
“We talked. Ate cookies. Drank tea.”
Oki elbowed me, but let it drop.
I didn’t want to repeat myself a hundred times. The important information was that I was fine, there was no lasting damage, and I wasn’t bonded to anyone else.
We stopped and the grate opened to what I had called the communications floor. From the looks of it, I was going to have to call it something else.
This level was one very large platform, but I knew that was impossible. The lethara’s trunks stood out as gentle reminders of the feat he’d just pulled off. So . . .
I looked down as I walked and saw that instead of rope bridges, there were planks covering the gaps. Fantastic.
The equipment was made out of the Hand’s metal. I had no idea what some of these things did. There were a lot of dials, screens, lines, numbers, buttons, switches, but everything was in Adalic.
I lifted one corner of my lips. “Oki, my little sister.”
She glared.
I chuckled. For all that she was older than me, she was still shorter. “Tell me what we have here.”
She did.
The radio had been modified and now worked even better, with a long range antennae that worked with the biometric long range antennae in our lethara’s brain. I looked up at his underbelly overhead. It was gelatinous and in constant movement, pulsing with different lights. Somewhere in there was an antennae. Interesting.
The sonar and radar had morphed, growing in size. According to Oki, our sonar had a longer range as well, but had changed significantly because we’d been able to tap into our lethara’s biometrics.
Based on what they’d learned with the sonar, they’d been able to apply the same basic principles to the radar. Though it wasn’t working quite as well as the sonar, it was still working better than anything the Hands had. At least that we knew of.
Our communications had altered as well. The previous version of radio that the Families had used to communicate had been awkward for everyone. Joshua, who apparently had entirely too much time on his hands, had adapted a type of communication that the ocwhals used. They were a really big fish capable of communicating via song over long distances.
The bad news was that it only worked underwater for now. So any above ocean messages had to be communicated the old fashioned way.
The good news was that Joshua was working on an adaptation for that as well.
A red light lit the dashboard and a warning buzzed through the air before one of the technicians flipped a switch. The buzzing went away, as did the blinking red light.
“What was that?”
The technician looked up at me, startled, his almond-shaped eyes widening as soon as he saw who he was talking to. “That, sayyd, is our pollution detector.”
Oki stepped up and the technician sighed with relief.
I frowned at the back of his head. What was that about?
“We’ve taken in a few of the Hands’ planes. They burn fuels. Keeley—who has officially become your lethara’s healer—was the first to point out that the fumes they emit were making him sick. This tells us when we need to circulate the air around the docks.”
“But the city is open to the cavern.”
“We just opened up from a tight space. That’s perfectly normal. Trust me. Your lethara is quite happy with this new development. His neural system is linked to the device. It’s possible he just wanted some air. We are in a confined space. I doubt he’s happy about it.”
I nodded and looked up at him. He filled nearly the entire cavern. He was a creature of the sea and the air. If I were him, I would feel a little claustrophobic as well. I reached out and put my hand on the closest trunk. His skin was thin and almost slimy. “If he needs to travel to open waters, then I suggest you let him.”
Oki nodded and turned back to the controls. “Well, I know you have some catching up to do with Keeley.” She winked at me. “In your absence, Mother named me acting command, so feel free to scamper off.”
Acting command, huh? I really didn’t think Mother would let her leave. “Where’s Ryo?”
“Playing acting command of the Fleet.” She turned to me. “Really, Synn, you need to figure out what you’re going to do there. You have two cities. You can’t be in both places at once.”
If we had a working communications system that that worked better, I might be able to.
I headed down to the docks, which currently submerged in the water. A thin film poured from the larger trunks of the lethara and surrounded the piers to keep the water out. Airplanes of several different types littered the docks, all one or two-seaters. Some had wings that had to flap. Others had propellers. I needed to incorporate this technology into my fleet of airships. If we ever found ourselves in a fight with the Hands and their planes, our airships were going to need something more than sails and wind to maneuver.
What if we could pull the sails, stash the rigging and masts, and use propellers instead when needed? What would we use for fuel? We didn’t believe in harvesting jelly gas. We believed in cohabitating with the air jellies.
I needed to talk to Joshua and discuss them with him. He was the real genius anyway.
It was time to leave the docks and find Keeley and Yvette. I was directed to what the people of Peacock Rock called the west common room. The water fell lighter now and the harvesting of the wall algae had stopped.
There were a few more familiar faces.
Ryo turned, his black hair tied in a tight top knot, his slanted eyes nearly closed with happiness. He wrapped me in a rib-crushing hug. He wasn’t dressed in the silks of the Ino people, but instead he wore the knee pants, high boots, and white shirt with the red sash of the El’Asim. The only difference was the placement of his sword. My curved blade normally rested on my hip. His long sword was strapped across his back.
“It’s good to see you, little brother,” he said, pulling away, clapping me on the shoulder. “I am happy to see you are alive and in one piece.”
I pointed at his sword strap. There was a leather circle with the emblem of the El’Asim Family, the spitfyre falcon. One didn’t simply wear this. It had to be awarded. “You have a story to tell, brother.”
He opened his mouth.
Someone pushed her dark brown, curly-haired head under my arm and wormed her way in, taking my head in her hands.
I grinned and released my brother to welcome my not so favorite sister. She was older than me and never let me forget it. “Zara.” I released her head and gave her a tight squeeze. “It is good to see you. Are things all right?”
She nodded, burying her head in my shoulder. Then she pushed away and slugged me in the arm. Hard. “I was worried about you.”
I snorted, rubbing away the pain. “I’m fine, Zar.”
Her dark eyes lit with fiery worry. “Don’t you ever do that again.”
I tucked her deeper into my arms. “I won’t.” I hoped.
Her falcon settled on her shoulder. His feather tail poked at my arm. His lizard tail curled around it and gripped my elbow. Even Fadi seemed to be glad to see me.
“Are you whole, my sayyd?” Isra asked behind me.
I twisted around, not letting Zara go.
Isra’s scarred face rose. Her eyes, marked with deep crow’s feet, met mine in defiance. She was tall and severe, her dark brown hair pulled back in a braid, her raggedly gloved hand resting on the curved sword at her hip.
“I am whole, Isra Um’Binte.”
Hala, her spitfyre falcon stood guard on Isra’s shoulder. Hala was small for a spitfyre. Her markings were dark, her chest pale. As she watched me, a plume of smoke escaped her beak.
“Are you coming home to your people, sayyd?” Isra’s eyes were like knives, holding mine with a steel intensity.
“I don’t know. I hope so, but I feel as though there is a l
ong path before me I still have yet to travel.”
My father’s second in command nodded. “You will need to set things in order.”
“I am aware. How have our people been to you?”
She blinked, her iron-clad gaze shifting off of me to rest on Ryo. “They required a male.”
Or for Zara to step up and claim her Family’s right, which she wouldn’t. She never wanted it and she was ill prepared for it. There were people willing to shoulder responsibility and those that weren’t. I was learning that the hard way, fast.
“Your mother was kind enough to let us borrow Ryo, but we are tasked to find a more permanent solution.”
“Mother wants Zara to find a mate,” Ryo said, his voice dark, his expression even darker.
Zara sighed.
“And this mate is supposed to lead our people?” I asked.
My warrior brother nodded. “I wish I could lead the sky people, Synn. I love it up there. I feel as though I was born to be there.”
I smiled. “You would leave Ino City’s protection to who, then? Makoto?” Makoto was older than me, but, like Zara, had no wish to rule. He preferred numbers to people.
“Oki will lead them. She can find someone worthy to protect her city. Someone who isn’t me.”
“We will figure something out.” I pressed a kiss on top of Zara’s head.
She stepped out of my arms. Her lips were firm, her brown eyes narrowed, her hands fisted. “I will not marry someone simply because Mother says I should.”
“And if I say it?” It felt so weird to look at my older sister and even dream of issuing an order like that. She told stories of dressing me up like a doll and wiping my butt as a baby. How was I ever going to fill my father’s roll as leader?
Her hands fidgeted with the dark purple fringe of the handkerchief tied around her slim waist, the gold hilt of her throwing dagger protruding from her belt. Fadi groomed her hair. “You are my sayyd and my brother. If you wish it so, I will choose a man.”
“Preparations for the choosing of her mate have already begun,” Ryo said.
I shook my head. “Mother could learn a little patience.”
Ryo’s eyes widened. “I say we eat, take a tour of this fantastic city, and you tell us how you were able to escape from Sky City a second time.”
Laughing, we all turned to the food slab.
CHAPTER 11
SENDING OUT THE INVITATIONS
Ino City radioed in saying they were located in the western bay the next day. That didn’t give my siblings, friends, and I nearly enough time to catch up. Mother’s arrival heralded many things I didn’t know if I was ready to face, but I wasn’t the type of person who liked to hide.
The easiest way to meet her was via Asim City. The undulating underbelly of my lethara came closer and closer as the city shifted inside his tentacles. Technicians scrambled, removing the planks that connected each square of floor so they could rise individually, or sink and fold under. The people watching the consoles moved their equipment with practiced efficiency.
Asim City worked like a well-oiled machine. I had no doubts that was thanks to my sister.
Oki, Ryo and Keeley seemed unaffected. They didn’t even twitch. Zara, Yvette and I, though . . . My skin was clammy. My breath was shallow. The world around me constricted. The air grew heavier.
What remained of command central was four platforms square, just wide enough for most of our equipment, though there were still a few pieces on platforms below us.
A transparent veil of skin cascaded from the lethara’s medusa. The cavern disappeared. His medusa was thick and hard to see through, even though it was largely translucent. My stomach rose into my throat and my ears popped.
We were moving.
The scene outside the skin changed from the blurred view of the cavern to water, to rock. I gripped my hands tight behind my back as I watched metre after metre of rock wall pass by. How long was it going to take to get into open water, or better yet, open air?
I had thought we’d have been dumped on our heads, but the only indication that we’d changed direction of any sort was a slight tug of the gut. Riding in a lethara was almost as smooth as traveling in Sky City, though a lot quieter.
I had no idea where we were until the platforms lowered and the rest of command central was unfolded and brought back, the technicians replacing the planks to make it all one level again. Everyone else resumed their places at their assigned consoles.
Zara was plastered to the communications module, her dark eyes wide, her knuckles white.
I walked to the edge of the floor, and stared through the thin film wall. Sunlight stabbed through the water. We swam over a coral reef filled with many bright colors and different types of fish.
Where was Keeley? Why wasn’t she watching this?
I turned.
She had her hand on one of the trunks, talking to one of the technicians. She’d really taken to the roll of healer, which was how she used her Mark. Had that happened during the few weeks I’d been gone? Or had this happened in the time we’d spent running together? If it were the latter, how had I never realized it before?
I didn’t have much more time for contemplation. Ino City’s lethara loomed ahead. He made Asim City look like a small, scuttling cloud compared to a bulking, raging storm. Where my lethara had a couple dozen tendrils, he had a couple hundred.
The city housed inside his trunks was immense and bright. This lethara had lived several centurns. He housed tens of thousands of people. Asim City housed maybe a hundred. Ino City was bigger in diameter than the island of Peacock Rock was wide.
The waters around Ino City glowed in shifting colors. Soon, we were under Ino’s medusa, no longer able to see the shoots of sunlight filtering through the water.
The thin film that had held back the ocean’s water slowly rose. The air lightened minutely. Enough for an airman to notice, anyway. Zara’s shoulders relaxed as she glanced over at me. We were breathing Ino’s air now.
Whoever was directing Asim City—I needed to find out how that worked—pointed us to an empty dock. We moored, his tendrils drifting in the water directly below, some of which were tangled with Ino’s. My lethara was still young and needed to connect with the older ones. If he didn’t, he could die. There was no way I wanted that.
I led the way to the elevator and down to the docks, the smell of the city assaulting my nose.
It was noisy. We were far from the only people arriving at Ino City, which was normal. It was a thriving hub of information and resources. I’d only ever seen one other letharan city close to this size; Shankara City. I hadn’t seen it for long, as it had helped to support Sky City as it fell to the ocean.
My thoughts were on what Mother would want to know, what she would already be planning. The rest of my group dispersed almost immediately upon arrival at the docks. Everyone had something they needed to do and no one needed to be with me to meet my mother.
Standing on the docks, I could barely see the outlines of the medusa. The city stacked above me, blocking the view. On the far side and on the top most reaches sat the Family quarters. They looked like a majestic building rising out of the clouds, almost.
That’s where I needed to go. I headed up the dock and then followed the series of rope and plank bridges leading up. I could have taken the elevator. There were several along the way, but I wanted to see her city in motion. I’d never had the opportunity before.
Each level had a different purpose—or at least the portions I walked. I didn’t think a single person could walk the entire city in one hour and see much of anything. From what I saw, there were three levels dedicated to food. The houses were made of tent flaps that hung from the platform above. A few were made out of dried and flattened sea flax, but those were mostly in the very center of the city. Anything along the outer edges had to remain mobile.
The clothing market was probably the noisiest. People from all over the world had set up shop. I saw every color of hair
, dress, eyes. I heard dialects from all over my travels. I’d always known Ino City was a hub, but I guess I’d never quite understood what that meant. In the El’Asim Fleet, we didn’t have shops. We weren’t a city, really. The only people who flew with us were our own.
As I got closer to the Family quarters, the space between buildings widened, the noise dampened, and the battle of smells waned.
Mother’s command central was massive and filled with many pieces of equipment, several of which were new and nothing like what I had in mine. The writing on the screens were in Sakin, each word a symbol. Mother was in deep conversation with a group of people around a large table that would have taken up my entire command center.
She looked up, nodded, and proceeded to ignore me as she pointed with her short arms to spots on the map.
I took that moment to study her. She was a tall woman for the Sakin people, but short by Adalic standards. Her round face was punctuated by sharp cheekbones, a pointed chin and almond-shaped eyes. She was dressed in turquoise and sapphire robes, her black hair pulled back in a high network of knots, shells pinned throughout her hair.
The silver letharan jewel which denoted her rank as high elder jingled in her hair, the many wire tendrils tangling with one another.
She was a true lady of the Sakin people.
She brought the discussion to a close and rose. “Gentlemen, ladies,” she said in Sakin, finishing in Adalic, “the El’Asim has arrived.”
The El’Asim. That had been my father. Now it was me.
It didn’t feel real.
Everyone straightened, turned to me, put fist to palm and bowed.
I didn’t know what to do. I’d been at my father’s side when others had shown that honor to him, but had never been in this position before. I just stood there, and nodded once to my mother.
She came to me and took my hands in hers. “How are you?” she asked in Adalic.
I didn’t know why she was speaking my language in her city. She and her citizens had done the same thing when we’d attempted to take down Sky City.
“I am fine, okaasan,” I answered in Sakin, giving her hands a gentle squeeze.
