Aftermath

by Meiling Colorado

  For a while, though, Ren made her almost forget her grievances. He kept taking most of the load, pretending she was unable to carry it, generally behaving like the silly ass he was, joking and teasing her until she had to laugh in spite of herself. To be honest, with all the effort he was putting into it, anything less would have been churlish.

  From her seat among the council elders Leiren's grey eyes scanned the crowd gathered in the Hall. Her expressionless face gave no hint to what her thoughts on the commotion before them were, commotion largely due to her words, of course.

  Her decision was final, yet she couldn't avoid feeling a slight flutter of anticipation, now the wheels were in motion. The groundwork had been painstakingly done with the Elders and, although she couldn't expect them to understand her choices, they had accepted the list of expedition members and would follow her lead, as usual. Her hand curled around the pouch Resnan had risked his life to bring her. It was true her decisions had been largely conditioned by Garand's letter, but she had other reasons, too.

  She noticed Benton's slightly stunned look and suppressed a smile. He'd expected to be part of the group leaving in a couple of days, but not that his nephew would be, too. She wasn't about to let that boy out of her sight anytime soon, she reflected, shaking her head mentally.

  As for the rest... everybody understood the need for weapons and people that knew how to use them after the last expedition's fiasco. Taking as many able-bodied fighting men as the settlement could spare was nothing but common sense. Dinain's presence would be deemed necessary, too: he was the one who had put together the few vehicles available, and they might need a trouble-shooter. Besides, who knew what useful mechanical gadgets they could come across in their journey, things that could prove important for the community with his expertise? The need for healers was less clear, she knew, but then they didn't have the privileged information she did, Leiren mused as she gripped the pouch firmly. She had been obliged to share some information with the elders, of course, enough to guide them in their votes, and convince them the settlement would be in good enough hands with Tess, the apprentice she would leave in her stead, but she hadn't told them everything. Not even Resnan was aware of exactly why Garand had stayed behind and sent him home on his own.

  That had been nearly a month ago – it had taken the boy that long to make it back on foot; lucky to have made it at all, actually, she thought, while critically observing the reactions of the settlers gathered in front of her. Now there was no time to be lost. She reminded herself that with the vehicles and the boy's directions they should get to Garand in less than a week. If his directions could be trusted, of course. There had been some comment on how he had basically ¨followed his nose¨ at the end.

  She took a deep breath, trying to relax.

  Yeshra's plaintive voice broke into her thoughts, making itself heard above the general murmur of voices. ¨Lillith! Why Lillith?¨

  The Healer sighed to herself. True to character, she thought wryly. If anyone could be trusted to try to put a spoke in her wheel it was that woman. She hadn't paid any attention to her daughter in two years and now she was going to make a fuss.

  ¨Two of my apprentices are on the list, Yeshra.¨ She didn't have to raise her tone for her grave voice to cut through the muttering in the Hall, in spite of the soft sound of rain falling on the roof. Every eye was now fixed on her. ¨And, in case you missed it,¨ she added calmly, ¨so are you.¨

  No need to let Yeshra know she had been certain the woman had decided to accompany her son no matter what. Putting her name on the list had simply seemed a better alternative to battling it out.

  Not that she was afraid of losing. Of course not.

  And anyway, Leiren admitted to herself, the blond woman's gifts could be a valuable asset to the expedition, and she did want to get to the bottom of that particular can of worms.

  ¨But she's just fifteen!¨ wailed Yeshra. ¨And Ren, too. What possible need could you have for two children, Leiren?¨

  Benton's strong voice rang out from the back, ¨With all due respect, Yeshra, leave my nephew out of this. We have to trust the Elders' decisions, even if we may not always totally understand them. And as for Leiren herself,¨ his green eyes looked straight up at the woman whose slim figure commanded all the attention in the Hall, ¨I've never known her to do something without good reason, or that went against the settlement's best interest. I'll talk to her myself after the meeting is over.¨

  Leiren's keen grey eyes scrutinized the young man's face, nodding slowly. He might be strong and tall, but there was nothing slow about Benton in spite of his bulk, she mused. She might need to talk to him…but that had to wait.

  Meanwhile Dinain, in a resigned manner, was trying to calm his wife down.

  ¨Actually, if you think about it, it could almost be considered a family outing – all of us will be there. And she'll be with her teacher, after all.¨

  The Healer couldn't help but snort in exasperation. Honestly, who did the fool woman think had been looking after her daughter while she was lost in cuckoo-land. There seemed to be no middle ground with her. She was either half-way catatonic or too active for her own good. She could see her muttering under her breath, but it did seem like Yeshra had run out of arguments, for the time being at least, though she didn't seem in the least mollified.

  Enough of this. She looked at the Elders, who nodded back.

  Getting up, Leiren waited for a hush to fall on the room. Grey headed Lars looked at her expectantly, as did the other two men and three women who composed the Council. Her soft voice carried all the way to the back of the room, ¨If there are no more questions or suggestions, we'd best speed up our preparations. Garand is waiting for us and,¨ a small smile accompanied her lighter tone, ¨I for one can't wait to meet this new community of his.¨

  Let them make of that what they would. They had no idea how true it was.

  Serbell hovered nervously by the door. Not much longer, she thought. Leiren would be leaving soon enough, not being one to dally around once her business was finished. That was the good part. The not so good side was that she herself was not really sure she was doing the right thing…she had hoped the decision would be taken out of her hands, but that hope had been dashed once the list of those included in the expedition had been made public, and her name hadn't been in it.

  Less than fully confident was definitely not how you wanted to face the Healer, and even though she hated to admit how intimidating she found the haughty woman, she knew she had nearly talked herself out of this meeting. She couldn't let this opportunity pass, though. Which, she thought heavily, was just a measure of her desperation.

  She took a deep, calming breath as she saw Leiren take her leave of the elders and make her way to the door. Steeling herself to meet the wise-woman's unsettling gray gaze she stepped out in front of her as she drew near.

  ¨Excuse me, Leiren. Could I have a word with you?¨ Slightly taken aback, she noticed the slim, dark woman seemed to be trying to repress a smile. ¨But of course, Serbell,¨ The corners of her eyes wrinkled, and there was a decidedly amused cast to her usually stern features. ¨What can I do for you?¨

  The affability on the Healer's part puzzled her. Furthermore, she had the uncomfortable impression that Leiren already knew what she was going to say. Maybe that was just part of her image as the all-seeing, all-knowing wise-woman of the settlement, but she certainly had it down to an art. Still, as her mother used to say, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

  ¨Hmmm...well,¨ Then, hesitantly, ¨I don't want to sound presumptuous, but I believe my going on the expedition would be an asset to the settlement.¨ She paused, embarrassed. She had never been good at tooting her own horn and she knew only too well the settlement's needs were only part of the reason she was fired up to go. She forced herself to continue, ¨The knowledge acquired in such a first-hand experience could prove invaluable in fulfilling my job as the community's agricultural organizer.¨ Serbell finished in a rush, looking up into
the older woman's eyes, and hoping she sounded more confident than she felt. After all, that was one of her motives, wasn't it? The purest, anyway.

  Leiren's face remained inscrutable, but her eyebrows did rise a fraction. ¨Are you sure of this? I'm aware you run the settlement's farming system nearly single-handedly. Is there someone you can safely delegate that job too?¨

  Serbell felt tension she had not been aware of leave her muscles. She had thought that through too. And had an answer ready. ¨I believe Liam would be fully competent, Leiren,¨ she said, ¨and Sally would help him, of course. They are already working on a couple of projects together. Everything is planned out for the season, anyway, so there would be no problem.¨

  There was a moment's silence while the wise woman considered this, and Serbell held her breath, heart racing. ¨Get ready, then,¨ she said at last. ¨I'll straighten it out with the Elders. We'll be leaving as soon as possible.¨ The young woman stifled a sigh of relief, but before she could articulate a word Leiren was already turning away, thin black braids swinging, as if what had just happened were no big deal. It was rather anti-climactic, really, thought Serbell ruefully.

  Somebody brushed past her, following the Healer out the door into the rain. When she saw the flame-headed figure hurrying in Leiren's wake she realized Lorenna had probably been standing behind her all the time, listening to their conversation. Well, thought Serbell acidly, I hope she profits from the information.

  CHAPTER 5

  DEPARTURE

  By the time Lorenna caught up with Leiren she was seething. She was aware of the competition caramel skinned Serbell posed for Benton's affections, even if he seemed to be totally oblivious, and wasn't happy, not at all. In her opinion those heated arguments the two were always having were highly suspect, and too close to lovers' quarrels for comfort. She had hoped the fiery tempered woman would be left behind. She just knew that if she had the man to herself long enough, well....

  But now that hope had gone up in smoke...unless…dashing the rain-water from her brow she shot her teacher a sideways look out of her tilted blue-green eyes. Leiren as usual walked straight and stiffed-back, seemingly completely oblivious to the rain running down her face.

  ¨Do you think Serbell is making the right decision, Leiren?¨

  She was quite proud of the apparent calmness of her voice. ¨I mean, do you think she has really thought this through? As you yourself said, she's the alma-mater of the settlement's whole agricultural system. If it fails in her absence we could have a dire winter ahead of us.¨ She had the grace to blush, but she did think that sounded rather convincing, and the situation warranted extreme measures. Braving a glance at her teacher she was shocked to see Leiren's shoulders shaking uncontrollably. She seemed to be having difficulty in controlling her mirth.

  ¨Ah, yes. Now that was definitely worth it!¨ The Healer exclaimed at last, wiping her eyes with the back of a slim dark hand. She turned to her apprentice, and the familiar stern look was back, though her tone was a whit gentler than usual, perhaps, ¨Let me clear up any doubts you may have, Lorenna. It was always my intention to include Serbell in the expedition. Do you have any objections?¨

  ¨N…no. Of course not! Why should I?¨ stammered Lorenna. Mortified, she nearly stumbled into the wise-woman as Leiren stopped short and turned to face her.

  ¨Why indeed? At any rate, I apologize for any misunderstandings my initial oversight might have caused. As I just told her, we don't have a lot of time. The sooner we are on our way, the better.¨ And so saying, the Healer walked on, following by a severely discomfited and disgruntled Lorenna, Sometimes she didn't like her teacher, at all.

  They set off two days later, and it seemed to Ren the whole settlement was there to see them off, which it probably was, in spite of the rain. He could distinctly remember being in the crowd next to his uncle watching when the last expedition left, feeling awed and quite a bit jealous of Resnan. His friend had looked so grown up walking at Dinain's side. How he'd wished his father had seen fit to include him in that select group.

  There were seventeen people in this expedition including eight men at arms, or ¨warriors¨, as Lorenna had jokingly called them, mostly ex-soldiers. Lillith had made some crack about the flame haired apprentice being partial to such, but the tall woman had just laughed it off, so maybe it was just a joke.

  He didn't always understand the girls' humour, a fact which had been driven home forcibly during these days of working so closely together with them. At times he had felt definitely uncomfortable and welcomed having to help Dinain or even the so called ¨warriors¨, with their rougher, earthy but more understandable jesting. His uncle was in charge of them, naturally, since they all belonged to the group of scouts who guarded the settlement.

  There wouldn't be much walking this time, hopefully. Resnan was still getting over his injury and Dinain had managed to put together five vehicles from, as far as Ren could tell, scraps and junk. The man was a wizard in his eyes. He had even come up with enough fuel for their journey and, with luck, back.

  As for provisions, the mud-smeared jeep was filled to capacity with goods Serbell had gathered, from food and water, to extra clothes and blankets. And the tents, of course.

  As far as weapons it was every man for himself. Ren eyed the wicked looking double-edged dagger he had been given by his uncle along with a few extra lessons. Everyone at the settlement had some notions of self-defense, Benton and his guys made sure of that, but he sure hoped he wouldn't be obliged to use the thing.

  Then they were off, and Ren felt a big grin splitting his face as they lost sight of the settlement he had lived the last years of his life in. He couldn't help feeling excited....and proud. This time he was part of the adventure. He'd been overjoyed to find out Lillith would also be part of the group. He didn't have an inkling of why Leiren had included either of them, but he had no quarrel with it. The two people he cared about, Benton and Lillith, were with him, and for the first time in ages he would be outside the settlement, traveling to meet his father, who he'd believed dead for the last two years. It couldn't get much better than that, could it?

  That's what he had thought as they set off, anyway.

  He was soon to find out that there was nothing very exciting about a day's drive at what was barely more than a snail's pace through what was now a wilderness, especially with two dour scouts and Benton for company. He had tried to make conversation for a while, but his uncle seemed to be in an especially foul mood this morning. Strange, he had been civil enough when they got up... though a bit distracted, as had been usual for him of late. Something must have set him off since then, and when he wasn't muttering under his breath he just looked straight ahead, driving at a steady pace with the rest of the caravan, jaw clenched. The other two men in the car took their cue from him and rode in silence, leaving Ren to stare out the window.

  As for the scenery, well......he hadn't left the settlement's surroundings for the last five years, but this all looked the same to him – greenery, ragged terrain, and some more greenery.

  He was aware, of course, that little, if anything, remained of the buildings and houses of his vague childhood memories – the successive Wars had taken care of that. Civilization as his parents and grandparents had known it, with all its gadgets and advanced technology, had disappeared. In its place, Nature had thrown a thick green mantle which had had ten years to thrive without mankind's interference. So far, Ren's opinion of Nature's efforts wasn't great. This was monotonous at best, if not downright boring. Sighing, he looked out at the wet landscape under the light drizzle and wondered what Lillith was thinking about.

  Resnan had finally buckled over and nodded in the back seat. Yeshra, watching over him lovingly, turned around in the co-pilot seat and gently unclasped his hand from the compass Dinain had fashioned for him. He'd been holding on to it for six hours now, she thought with tender amusement. Completely unnecessary, too, when you considered who was really in charge of this trip. She was pretty certain L
eiren wasn't going to deviate an inch from the correct itinerary. In spite of her own rocky relationship with her there was no one she'd rather trust with their lives than the haughty wise-woman. Which is just what we may be doing, she thought sighing. At least this time around they were all together, the whole family. Her thoughts flew to Lillith, in the car behind them, with Leiren and Lorenna. Not that the Healer had insisted on having her apprentices with her, she admitted grudgingly. It had just happened. Looking through the back window she could also make out Dinain at the wheel, but she mentally dodged uncomfortable thoughts about her husband. Thinking about her daughter was hard enough.

  She had grown up so fast, she mused. Yeshra had to admit she hadn't been very aware of her during the last two years, and this young woman who trailed behind Leiren and Lorenna with an air of efficient bustle around her was a complete stranger to her.

  She had also noticed how close she seemed to have grown to young Ren, and wondered about that, too; they were both so young. Not that she was planning to say anything to them any time soon. After all, whether she cared to admit it or not Leiren was right, insufferable woman she was. Her moral position wasn't too strong – one couldn't start preaching after having ignored the child for a good two years. She might have to talk to Dinain, though...she had seen him shooting the boy a couple of hard stares, and she knew her husband.

  Or at least she used to.

  A heavy sigh escaped her lips, and she glanced sideways at her traveling companion in case she had noticed. Serbell, however, was looking straight ahead, seemingly lost in thought, still wearing the same tight frown she'd got in the driving seat with. Yeshra had tried to make conversation at first, but my, was the woman prickly. An uneasy silence had fallen over the three of them, now only broken by Resnan's deep relaxed breathing. Hoping his leg wouldn't be too stiff when he woke up Yeshra lapsed back into her inner thoughts.