But that would mean Mom, and others, thought there was a chance we’d find people up here. She was prepared for this.
Mira and Hria exchanged one of those glances like Mom did with Alondri and Kayla when they were trying to decide something.
“The crops,” Hria began, but Mira flipped a wing out, and he fell silent. Then she tilted her head in Avi’s and my direction, and Hria took in a deep breath, the colorful plume on his head perking up.
“We must stay here to harvest toka tomorrow,” he said. “They are at their full ripeness, and we will get the best price for them.” Mom’s shoulder’s drooped and she opened her mouth, but Hria kept speaking. “However, I think we can get by without our Avi for a few days. They need to bring a crate of silk to the town anyway.”
Mom straightened. “That would be quite helpful. Avi has already been a superb guide.”
“The town has no doubt seen you already from the telescopes in the holy one’s home,” Mira said. “It will be good to arrive with an escort of one of our own people.”
“Thank you,” Majus E’Flyr said.
I looked back and forth between my group and Avi’s family. They had promised we would be watched. Surely they don’t think we’ll hurt their child? But we were strangers. I wondered what I would do if a new species appeared on the beach near our home on Etan. Could I lead them to the nearest city?
“For now, please, finish your meal,” Hria said. “We will give you hammocks to sleep in, and you can begin your journey early in the morning, if that is acceptable.”
TEN-DAY FOUR
Top of the Nether
- This species, far from being the poor community I was imagining upon finding a people living in isolation at the top of the Nether, were actually to be quite rich. They were having access to several types of material that cannot be found anywhere else in the ten homeworlds and the Nether. I was trying my best to create a lasting trading partnership, but alas, my efforts were to be stymied by my accidental traveling companions.
From “Remembrances from the Wall of Light,” A memoir by Surigran Wailimani
We left early the next morning, accompanied by Avi. Once out of the house, we attached our ropes to Majus E’Flyr, and made our way back down the main beam which connected the Grumv’s house to the wall.
It was nice walking upright for a while.
At the wall, Majus E’Flyr reactivated the beetle, and we tied our ropes to her shell again and got on board. Avi carried a net filled with white fiber—the silk delivery for the town, and hooked it to another leg. It weighed almost nothing.
Churi Iruhc skittered along beside us, clambering from tree to tree, and Wailimani kept well away from the creature.
“Will…he come all the way to the town with us?” I asked Avi. I watched the way the little beast hooked his hairy legs over the plants, climbing as quickly as I could walk on the ground. The way his legs can support his weight is fascinating. He’s sort of like the beetle. I wonder if the people who made it watched creatures like this.
“Only to the rest of the herd,” Avi answered, spreading their wings to hop over a few bushes and cling to a tree. “He likes to see his family every couple days, but he always comes back to the house.”
“We will be seeing more of them?” Wailimani asked. His crest was spiky and I tried to hide a smile.
Yes, Churi Iruhc is pretty scary, but he’s not as devious as you, once you get to know him. I reached down with one hand to gently pat the coarse black hairs on the Arach Hanar’s head. He bumped his head up into my hand and I drew it back quickly, then realized he wasn’t going to bite me. I rubbed his head again, and he made that chirping noise.
“Aw, he likes you,” Avi said.
I glanced back to Wailimani, whose lip was curled up in a sneer, his crest straight back in disgust. “Don’t pay any attention to that Kirian,” I told Churi Iruhc. “He’s just a big baby.” And maybe a murderer. Wailimani had been on his best behavior since Mom threatened him at the big tree by the waterfall, but I felt like the warning was losing its effectiveness. We could give him another reminder, but it wouldn’t work as well with all the trees around us to catch onto.
Wailimani grunted, but the majus chuckled, from where she rode in front of us. The sweet scent of toka fruit was everywhere, like a coating of jasmine and marzipan.
Along the way, we passed Hria, already out among the toka trees, his brilliant coloring standing out even among the green and brown and purple of the trees, and against the early morning shine from the brightening wall. He was lobbing ripe fruit into a net strung between two trees, and waved to us as we passed. We waved back.
“How does he get all that fruit back to the house?” I asked Avi, who was hopping along beside us, from tree to tree to bush. Mom turned around, interested. But I asked the question before she did, didn’t I? That’s what comes from knowing how to research, not just stumbling on things out in the world. I sat a little straighter.
Avi hopped near the beetle and grabbed on so they could talk to us. I froze, remembering the beetle tipping out from the wall, under the waterfall, but Avi must not have weighed much. The beetle kept her steady crawl upward, jointed legs wrapping around the plant life that grew from the wall.
“See right there?” Avi pointed with a finger of one webbed hand, and we all looked up and to the left. There was a pulley system, attached to a particularly large toka tree. I followed the smooth white ropes out into the distance, where they intersected the house.
“Do you carry everything by pulley?” Mom asked. “I can’t imagine you can hop or fly, holding a bag full of fruit.”
“We use the pulley for most things,” Avi said. They scratched at their chin. “For long distances, we hook up one of the bigger Arach Hanar with nets, like you’re doing with this mechanical beastie.” They thumped one hand on the beetle’s shell.
I made a mental note to write down my theory about the beetle’s designers the next time I had my notebooks out.
It was most of a lightening later when we got to the herd of Arach Hanar. I could feel Wailimani and Majus E’Flyr both tense up beside me when the mass of webs came into view, crossing from tree to tree, but Mom leaned forward.
The creatures saw us coming too, and swarmed along sticky strands, hissing and chittering. The creatures seemed offended by the beetle’s slow lumbering climb up the wall, as if she was going to invade their webs.
“Quiet down!” Avi shouted, and the chittering lessened. “Pater will be along soon to get your silk, so be good.”
As we came closer, one Arach Hanar, with silver spots interspersed in its coarse black hair, came off the webs, and approached us, front legs waving in the air at the beetle.
“Hm. A defensive posture similar to the small arachnids on the floor of the Nether,” Mom said, leaning out over the side of the beetle. “I wonder if they are related species?”
Well, maybe finding stuff out the middle of nowhere can help as much as research, sometimes.
“I can study them when we get back to the floor,” I volunteered. Now I took my notebook out and jotted down a note, as well as the other things I’d thought of. I tucked it tight into my harness, in case I thought of anything else.
“Perhaps now is not to be the best time to play scientist?” Wailimani said. He jerked one foot back under his colorful robe, away from the hissing Arach Hanar.
“Oh that’s Mater Rutha Ahtur,” Avi said. “She runs the herd, but don’t pay her any mind.” The Grumv leaned out and thunked the big creature just above her beak and under her mass of eyes. The Arach Hanar chittered again and backed away. “Get back now. Back to your web and leave these nice people alone.”
I heard Wailimani let out a long breath as the big creature moved off.
I hope he didn’t wet himself. We have a while until we get to the town. I carefully kept the smile off my face, and watched the herd as we climbed past, wondering if there were creatures like this anywhe
re else among the ten species.
* * *
It took the rest of the day to climb up the wall to the Grumv town. We had plenty of time to talk with Avi, and learn more about their culture, as the beetle trundled upward. We watched the bright haze of the ceiling gradually coalesce into a sheet of crystal like the walls. The wall itself was hidden by the vertical forest, but now the top of the Nether hulked over us, stretching out into the distance as if we were in a giant cave. It was bright enough I could pretend it was the sky on a cloudy day, but it still made my shoulders hunch.
As we got closer to the city, the mass of beams and woven mats got clearer. The individual buildings had curved walls like Avi’s home, giving the town an organic feel. There was a low wall around the whole thing, and I could see a huge system of pulleys around and below the town, with goods being carted back and forth along them. There were even a few other Arach Hanar, climbing along the pulley lines or on the underside of the great woven bowls. Some had riders, and their coarse hair was painted in patterns and stripes. I made a sketch in my notebook so I could study it later.
Word of our arrival had traveled ahead of us, and I saw other young Grumv, brown and green with short plumes, looking over the edge of the bowls, or hanging from plants on the wall. Avi waved to one of them.
“That’s Luna. I’ll introduce you later.”
We reached the edge of the city near evening, and Majus E’Flyr brought the beetle to a halt. There were three Grumv waiting where a wide trellis was tied into the plants growing from the wall. We transferred our ropes to the majus’ harness, climbing the last distance to where wooden trusses tied into two giant trees, arcing sideways from the wall.
The delegation stood on carved steps, and posts behind them bore lights on top. The lights, which we hadn’t seen at Avi’s family’s house, were all through the city, making it sparkle in the waning light from the walls. With the dimming ceiling close overhead, it felt almost like we were in a huge building, with smaller, circular, houses built inside.
The leftmost of the three winged people was an ancient and stooped male, his once bright colors muted and faded. His crest was limp and fell to one side.
Next to him was another male, much younger. This one reminded me of Avi’s Pater, with bright green and blue around his head, and short yellow and black legs. He spread his wings as we approached, and I could see a pattern of hexagons mixed with what I thought were letters and numbers of the Grumv language.
So they are tattoos on the wings. I wonder if any of the coloration is natural? I looked behind the three to where other Grumv stood, waiting for us to come closer. There was less coloring on the younger males, when they opened their wings. I’d have to discuss the markings with Mom later.
“We welcome you to our city,” the third of the trio said, and I brought my attention back to group. The female was the one who had spoken. She was just as drab as the other females, her skin bland brown with green striping. But she held herself upright, her hair and feather plume sticking straight out. Her large blue eyes shifted from Mom, to Majus E’Flyr, to Wailimani, and finally to me and Avi. “I am Kita Atik Tikka Akan Kaiti, the mayor of this town.” She gestured to the two males. “This is Gami Imag Maig Agga Gaima, our city’s announcer, and Shura Aruhs Hara Raaka Shiare, our holy man.” The younger man bobbed his head at the first name, and the older one swept one wing in front of him at the second.
“We have been traveling for many days and are being honored to meet you,” Wailimani said, pushing in front before Mom could introduce us. We all glared at him. “We represent the people from far below, living on the floor of the Nether.”
He’s going to try to take advantage of these people like he did to us. But this wasn’t the place to start an argument with him.
Fortunately, Mom edged around the Kirian. “Yes, I put together this expedition to explore the wall.” I heard the emphasis in her tone. “We wanted to be the first to find out what the top of the Nether looked like. We could not guess your city was here, but we look forward to our future relations.”
Wailimani tried to step forward again, but I stamped on his toe and he glared at me, his crest all spiky. Not so fast. Meanwhile, Mom took the chance to introduce us.
“You stay out of this,” the Kirian hissed at me in a low voice. “I am having one chance to make an impression on these people. They may be having unknown kinds of wealth.”
“Which is theirs,” I whispered back. “Remember what Mom said? You don’t have any more chances with us. We’re meeting a new species, for the Sea Mother’s sake! They may not want to even come down to the floor of the Nether.”
Wailimani glared at me, but said nothing.
He’ll find someone to talk at, the first chance he gets. I need to watch him.
“…and we met young Avi at their parents’ farm yesterday. They volunteered to bring us to meet you.” Mom was still speaking to the mayor.
“I am most interested to talk to a fellow majus, or holy man,” Majus E’Flyr said to the old Grumv—Shura. “Which Symphony can you hear?”
The old Grumv perked up at that, speaking in a scratchy, but resonant voice. “I hear the Symphony that interweaves through all living things, playing the notes of their heartbeat and growth.”
“We call that the House of Healing,” Majus E’Flyr said. “I hear the House of Strength—the Symphony that binds and strengthens living and nonliving objects.” She tilted her head to one side, her head-tentacles twitching. All I noticed was that she planted her feet more firmly on the beam supporting us, but the old Grumv’s eyes widened.
“Yes—the emerald green of your changes is familiar. I have heard our city far to the other end of the Nether has a holy one who can hear the same song.” He spread one wing, pointing along the dimming wall back toward the waterfall. “My teacher heard the song that connects all things and creates heat. An orange aura.”
“The House of Power.” Majus E’Flyr nodded. “We have much to talk about.”
“As do we,” Kita, the mayor, said. She pointed behind her. “Please, come into our city.”
* * *
We had an evening meal with the Grumv mayor and a few others who helped run the city. They had to push some other Grumv out of the door of the cylindrical building, and roll down one of the mats they used for doors. This species seemed generally friendly, and they were all eager to meet us, or at least stare at us. I probably would have been the same. The ten species had been together a long time, but there were Etanela who hadn’t ever left their homeworld. Even though I’d traveled a lot with my family, I still found some of the other species strange.
As the mayor spoke, I let the string of names wash over me, and watched the ceiling of the Nether above us slowly darken, through the building’s open roof. I let out a breath. We made it. Except our goal felt like second place, now we’d met the people who lived within sight of it. I thought it was a fair trade—I liked the Grumv.
I went to a hammock of toka fruit hanging on one side of the massive bowl serving as town hall. The open area was as wide as our house back on Etan, and ripples moved through the mat as people walked on it.
I looked down at the floor as I chewed the blue fruit. How did they weave so many fibers together and keep it from breaking? There were white strands running through the mat, like the ropes Hria used to pass his produce back to the house. Come to think of it, all the pulley systems had the same white rope.
Oh! Arach Hanar silk! It must be very strong to support the biggest creatures. White strands ran all through the mat, most of which was made of plant fiber. I would have bent down to look closer, but Avi approached me.
“Pater said I could stay with you while you were in the city, if that’s all right,” they said. “I don’t have many friends here, except for Luna, since Mater and Pater’s farm is so far away.” They looked down at the mat, then back up.
“Of course it is!” A well of relief rose in my chest. I was hoping
Avi would stay with us. “I have a few friends back on Etan. Maybe I can introduce them to you sometime.” I gave an overdramatic sigh. “And I suppose you’ll have to meet my two younger brothers, even though they can be pests.”
Avi laughed at that, a deep grunting. They reached out and put their arm around me. It was like being wrapped in a cozy blanket, with the skin of their wing draping down my back. The Grumv all had a warm, spicy smell, strong but not unpleasant. “Come on,” they said. “The toka fruit is good, but I bet you don’t have any yuka akuy where you come from.”
“I don’t think so,” I said, and followed them to the other side of the room, through shadows cast by more pillars with those strange lights on top.
Mom was talking with the mayor, and Majus E’Flyr was deep in discussion with the old holy man, but Wailimani was off in another corner, three male Grumv standing around him, their heads close together. The Kirian’s crest was spiking up and then relaxing as he talked, and he gestured up and around, and then down below his feet.
I’ll be keeping an eye on you, Wailimani.
* * *
We were given rooms in the city, which consisted of cylindrical walls and flexible floor mats, like at the farm house. The ceiling of the Nether was wet that night, and this close, I could see drops falling all over town. It was like a slow, but steady rain. Other Grumv were in the beams above the city, rolling out the mats that were normally kept stored to one side of the rooms.
Avi was staying in my room and we both rolled out our ceiling mat to keep off the rain. It was lighter than it looked, and I got a good chance to see the Arach Hanar silk running through it. While the other fibers ripped if you put too much pressure on them, the silk was much stronger—I couldn’t even break the thinnest strands.
Tales of the Dissolutionverse Box Set Page 56
