by Nōnen Títi
“Okay, if that’s how you want it. If you ever change your mind, we’ll be the only inhabited place on the other side of the continent.”
Did that mean no challenge or no time limit? “So now what?”
“Now you have the right to counter my treyak,” Benjamar said.
Aryan tried to sit back down to think this over, but he misjudged the distance to the chest and landed too hard. He cursed out loud, no doubt to Benjamar’s amusement. “You never make mistakes, Benjamar, do you? Or do you just not admit them? I listen to a leader only when he deserves to be one. A person like all others, who makes mistakes and admits them. If you want to win this challenge, I want to hear you do that, in public. Until that day I will not obey any orders from you.”
What did he care? In two days Benjamar would be gone. He may never come back.
To Aryan’s surprise, Benjamar accepted the counter-challenge and wanted to shake hands on it. “Whether here or in the new place, we’ll meet up again, Aryan.”
“Sure.”
OT AND SJARI
The idea of having shelters and latrines ready for the new arrivals had proven impossible. Nini wasn’t even sure how many people they were to expect. The clearing was large enough for a settlement – not as large as town, but two sets of huts would easily sit here.
On the back of Daili’s map, Hani had drawn the Two Trees area as big as she could, including the stream and the hills. Evening after evening they discussed the possible layout and where shelters could and could not sit. In the daytime they concentrated on making the smaller items, the basic necessities. Shelters would have to be built by the people themselves.
Nini went out looking for mosses and other plamals she wanted to collect so she’d have them nearby if needed. She came back from one of her walks to find Leyon and Hani in an argument.
“I told him to leave me alone, but he won’t and I’m sick of it,” Hani said.
“It’s only a bit of fun, what’s wrong with that?” Leyon asked.
Nini had hoped the new people would arrive before this happened. “It’s fun for you, but not for Hani, so that’s what’s wrong.”
Nini sat down beside Hani, once more telling them to wait; others would come soon. Leyon didn’t carry on and went back to his work. Nini watched him walk away. Should she leave it and see what happened? But then she’d worry every time she left camp. Did she know Leyon well enough to be sure he was only playing? What if she was wrong?
“He’s getting on my nerves. I don’t think he means any harm, but I’m tired of telling him no. It’s all taking a bit long, you know. Sometimes I wish I hadn’t offered to stay behind,” Hani said.
Nini could only repeat what she’d told them before. “It won’t be long now, Hani. I’m very glad you stayed. You’re the one with the ideas.”
Hani just wanted to see more people. They all did, by now. The expedition had left them more than a station ago. Apart from the two fishermen, they hadn’t seen anybody else.
“I’ll talk to Leyon,” Nini promised, though she wasn’t sure how nor did she really want to. She asked Kunag first. “You know him better.”
“He’s just messing around. He really likes her, but he has liked every girl on the expedition for a time,” Kunag answered.
Nini found Leyon working with mud near the north latrine. She sat down next to him.
“Yes, I know,” he said, without looking at her.
“What do you know?”
“That she’s so young, that I’m a nuisance, same old story.” He rolled the mud into a coil before sticking it on top of the bowl. “I wouldn’t hurt her, you know. I’m only trying. Can you blame me?”
Leyon was a lot easier to talk to than Kunag – or rather, to listen to.
“Hey, I’m sorry, okay? Don’t just sit there. I like it better when I know what you’re thinking,” he said.
Nini didn’t answer yet.
He stopped smoothing the mud and put it down on the ground beside him. He dipped his hands in a bowl of water and then dried them on his shirt. “Do you think Maike will come back?” he asked.
“I hope so. Are you worried about that?”
“Nah. I miss her, though.”
“So do I.”
“She won’t be angry anymore, not really.” He started grinning. “See, you don’t have to worry about me doing something stupid. You know what I’m saying?”
“That shouldn’t be the only reason. You should respect Hani. If she says ‘no’ that should be it; doesn’t need explaining.”
“I’ll go say sorry to Hani if you want,” he replied.
“No, not if I want, Leyon. You need to say sorry if you feel sorry. If you don’t then just leave it, but leave her alone.”
“Okay, I’ll say sorry because I want to.”
He was so easy to like. “Good. Now, if for whatever reason Maike doesn’t come, what would you do?” she asked.
He thought for a while, picked up the mud bowl again and wet his hands to smooth out the edge. “I’d find a girl who doesn’t say no. Only maybe none will come.”
Nini assured him there’d be plenty of people coming once they heard how good this place was. He’d find a girl some time.
“Do you have a boyfriend?” he asked.
She answered him with a shake of her head, wondering where he was headed.
“What about a girlfriend?”
She answered that with a smile.
“I had a girl on Habitat Three. We were good friends, you know, until… Anyway it wouldn’t have worked out.” He picked up a new coil.
“Why is that?”
“Because I always end up in trouble.”
Under the grin that accompanied his words, Nini sensed a sudden sadness. His girl might have been on that lander with Gina. She watched him quietly until his hands stopped moving, still holding the bowl.
“I was going to kill Thalo, you know. I would have if Maike hadn’t locked me away.”
“Why?”
He opened his mouth, then hesitated and shrugged. “I’ll still kill Haslag someday.”
“What good will that do?”
He didn’t answer that, either. Maybe he was just trying to get a reaction out of her.
“It would make you feel better for a while, but you’d be in trouble for a long time after.”
“I don’t care.”
“I think you do,” Nini answered.
Leyon focused on the pot again and withdrew from talking. His hands worked quick and determined. She didn’t want to leave it at this. He had tried to share something that was hurting him. There was nothing she could do to make him talk, but she couldn’t walk away either. For a long time she sat with him in silence while he finished his handiwork. When he didn’t try again she put her hand on his leg for a moment. “Come on, let’s go back. It’s almost Kundown.” He would know he could come to her if he wanted to tell.
That night, she talked to Hani. The girl gave the impression of being a pillar of strength; Hani was seventeen in DJar years now, five years younger than Leyon, but ages were irrelevant for emotional maturity. “Aren’t you lonely?”
“Yes, sometimes. I miss Daili, you know. I loved that woman so much, and I just wish I would have thought about the water just a little sooner, so it could have saved her.”
“Nobody thought about the water, Hani.”
“Daili did. She just didn’t tell because she didn’t want people to make fun of her. Same as when we were first here, when you said to let the boys try things and not turn them down with too many logical answers, because that’s what the scientists did when Daili told them that she sometimes felt that Kun DJar was trying to say something; even Kalim didn’t believe her. But now we all believe it, don’t we? So she died because we were trying too hard to be scientific. Do you think some people are better at thinking and others at sensing things?”
“That’s what the myths tell us, Hani. Long ago OT’s essence was split into OT and SJari. OT was the lap of t
he mother, providing protection and the love of the heart, but also the lesson and the knowledge of the mind, while SJari was body and soul, giving nutrition, procreation, and motivation; the passion to help conceive the ideas and the offspring. Then both got split up again so their children could each have a special skill: heart, mind, body, or soul. Some people are more like OT’s children, while others are more like SJari’s, but every child needs to be created with the passion of SJari and conceived by her body before it can be born, and no child that is born can become happy and mature without the love and the lessons of OT.”
“But those are myths; they’re just stories.”
“Yes, they’re stories the ancient people told to explain what they observed, and they observed that not all people were alike, Hani. Both you and Daili belong to OT, but you are the mind where she represented the heart. Laytji is SJari’s child, like the boys are, less inclined to teach or care for others, but also less inclined to tell others right from wrong. Nobody can change who they are born to be, but it helps to know.”
Hani contemplated for a while, frown lines wrinkling her forehead. “…I really appreciate you telling me this, Nini.”
Maybe it had been good to be so far away from town. Maybe everybody needed some time to ponder, time to get to know each other properly rather than just live alongside each other. Maybe it would be better if only a few people came; a few sets instead of a few gran, a village instead of a town: Two Tree Village.
SHIMMER AND SHINE
The endless ocean spread out like a shimmering, bobbing sheet under the light of Kun. Standing at the railing of the prefab kabin, where the spray hit him in the face, Benjamar looked into the distance. It brought back memories from long ago, from when he was a young man and had travelled around DJar. Everything after that, from settling down and raising two sons to the journey which had taken him and Jitsi away from DJar, rolled through his mind.
The soft noise of the water below carried him back to those lonely days after Jitsi. He’d prepared for the worst, but not for the bitterness, the loneliness and the guilt. If Nini hadn’t been on duty that day he might not be here to see this sight, to enjoy the ocean carrying him to yet another beginning. Back to Nini.
The kabin was small, even more so since Erwin had stopped to collect the large reeds – as high as small DJar trees – at the southern coast. These he would carry back to town for one last attempt at building a vessel, so they’d have more than one kabin to move the settlers. Since they had taken them on board, now a kor ago, the deck had been an obstacle course. Due to that stop, they had already been travelling for more than half a moon. Benjamar didn’t mind; he enjoyed the journey, but Marya wasn’t so happy. Her stomach didn’t agree with the sea. Erwin couldn’t understand that – he considered it the best place to live. “You’re only passengers, but the ocean is my home.”
“What about the storms?” Benjamar asked.
“They were pretty rough, but water is water. As long as we go with the flow.”
Maybe it was just a tan from being out on the water all day, but somehow Erwin looked different than other people. He almost seemed to glow like the water did at night. He never ate.
“I don’t need to. I drink the seawater and that gives me all the nutrition I need.”
“How did you know it was safe?”
“I didn’t at first, but after losing my family to the disease I didn’t care, so I drank it. I feel healthier now than I ever did on DJar.”
That evoked Remag’s interest. He had spent a large part of the journey skimming the glowing substance off the water to study, and had found that the film was made of proteins: four different kinds, all of which seemed to function as a protective bubble for the cells of this organism. He was convinced it was that. “I’ve seen it in those coloured clouds before,” he said.
Erwin explained that he didn’t drink the film, but scooped the water from underneath it. Remag then tested that as well and concluded that the water was saturated with miniature life forms which could indeed provide all the nutrients a person would ever need. Nevertheless, his own attempt to live on just water failed. “I guess I enjoy eating too much,” he said.
Benjamar recounted the organism’s reaction to the discharged immobilizer and the reaction of the fog. “But the fog didn’t come when it exploded on the starscope.”
“Because those cells were separated from the collective by then, and no longer part of Kun DJar’s defence mechanism,” Remag replied.
“So am I injuring Kun DJar with my kabin?” Erwin asked.
“I don’t think so. If it harmed her, you wouldn’t be here anymore,” Remag answered.
Benjamar withdrew from the conversation. It was one thing to consider the light-emitting film on the surface an organism in its own right, but he couldn’t cope with people speaking of the planet as if it had a purpose.
Two days later, land was in sight. Another day and they sailed into a small bay. The seven chests were unloaded – one for each of the four travellers, one for every two people who’d stayed behind, and one carrying tools and other requirements needed to build a village. Erwin wished them all the best. He was going back to build a new kabin and prepare to move the settlers.
Now they had a two day walk ahead of them in order to reach the new settlement. The two fishermen who knew the way would go along to pull the sleds, which were made from prefab material and ropes, to transport the chests. As the kabin had lacked engines and had to rely on the wind – which was no problem on Kun DJar – so people had to walk.
Marya’s demeanour changed as soon as she set foot on dry land, which was a relief for Yako, who’d been on the receiving end of her mood swings. Together they remembered having been here before and their enthusiasm stirred up Benjamar’s own anticipation of the new place.
Leaving the sandy beach, the vegetation became thicker and they were soon forced to leave the sleds behind and carry the chests. But seven chests between six people meant going back and forth all the time. Benjamar scolded the fishermen for not letting him help, but without success. Twice they camped overnight. By the end of the third day, Benjamar found himself overlooking a large clearing with two great trees at the centre of it. Beside those sat three amazing shelters.
It took the four people coming out of those only fractions to recognize them. Nini greeted him with a quick embrace, which he didn’t protest. The others, Kunag and Leyon – the cause of Nini’s forced stay – and Hani, were keen to show him all around. Maike and Wolt had not exaggerated: This area was more lush than he’d believed possible.
One of the two big reed shelters, the one in which Kunag and Leyon had made their home, was re-arranged to make space for Remag, Yako and himself, while Marya moved in with the girls. The two fishermen would bed down in the mud shelter in which they were all given a meal.
Kunag asked after his family and Leyon wanted to know if Maike would come back. Benjamar handed them the letters he carried and only told them that everybody in town was healthy and people would start arriving over the course of the next three moons – faster if they managed to build another kabin. There would be plenty of time to go into detail later.
MAMA
The Hearth easily held all ten people.
“If I had any doubts about coming here they’re now gone for good. This food is beautiful,” Benjamar said.
Nini answered his smile, aware of the three letters burning in the pocket of her tunic. She would have liked to sit down somewhere alone. She was really happy to see the arrivals, but no longer used to the noise.
Leyon stood up to finish the last of his mats so that the four newcomers would each have a good place to sleep. Marya and Yako answered most of the questions about town: Life was good, relatively speaking, and people were optimistic. Many of the four sets who were to come here were farmers who’d lost their seeds or cattle to the new land. The temperatures were dropping in town as well, and the first rain had fallen. Many clouds of different colours were turning
up. Kalim and Remag had determined they were full of life, which was still scarce on the east coast.
“That’s why I came as soon as I heard you had animals here. I can’t wait to see them,” Remag said.
“You’ll have to wait, since they’re shy and easily disturbed and they don’t like strangers.”
In Kunag’s voice was the resentment Nini had expected. He ran out of the Hearth. Nini excused herself and followed him. “Kunag?”
“You told him! You wrote to him about it. Now they’ll ruin everything.”
“Yes, I told them. They had the right to know.”
“It isn’t fair. It was our secret!” Kunag literally shouted, which wasn’t like him.
“I agreed it would be a secret for a while but not forever. We will explain and caution them, but you can’t keep the eyecreatures to yourself. They’re bound to be seen some time.”
He was shaking his head, his eyes shimmering with the water that was evidence of his pain. “It’s not fair!”
“Fair or not, this is how it is, Kunag,” Nini whispered. “I don’t want the animals hurt either. Confrontations are bound to occur. It’s better if people are prepared.”
“I trusted you!” he hissed. Then he swung around and disappeared into his shelter.
“Kunag, wait…”
But he didn’t. It was hard to predict him. What if he decided to walk away now or in the middle of the night, angry because Remag was sharing his home? She called at the entrance. “I hope you guys are decent because I’m coming in.”
“Life is getting good – now they come walking in,” Leyon joked.
Nini smiled back at him. “Kunag, we need to talk.”
“We already did.”
“No we didn’t. You yelled at me and then walked away. That’s not talking.”
He was sitting on his mat with the letter he’d been given in his hand. Nini sat down next to him. “Good news?”
“From Mom. She’s working and Jari has a boyfriend. They’re not coming. Mom says I don’t have to come back, just to think of them.”
