"This is the entrance," says Ty. I turn from the deadly drop and face the wind- and ice-carved opening in the rock wall. Ty leads us into it. When we reach the back of the opening, Ty opens a door made of sticks and strips of leather and enters. Beyond the door is a passage. I feel the warmth from the cave beyond and suddenly am afraid.
I think for a moment and find that my fear is that my life will be forever changed by entering this cave. Before taking any kind of path, I want to see its destination. The Ovjetah said, though, that knowledge of the path might close it. Is that because if I knew where the path leads I would refuse to go?
"Hey!" calls an unfamiliar voice. I see a human walk around a turn in the passage. He is clad in rigged skins and has a cap made of the same skins on his head. His hair is long as is his beard. I recognize him from his likeness on the book. It is Willis E. Davidge. He looks at me and points toward the entrance. "Were you born in a goddamned barn?"
"What?"
"Close the door!" He shakes his head, turns and disappears down the passage. I close the door and follow, my path set.
FOURTEEN
We are in crudely made chairs sitting around the large hearth fire, which provides the chamber’s heat and only illumination. The smoke from the fire is drawn through a crack in the chamber’s ceiling, but the smell of smoke is strong in the air. Wood for the fire is stacked along the wall behind me and there are chests and large wooden boxes next to the beds behind the human’s chair. The beds are made of skins thrown over piles of branches. Webbed nets, leather sacks, and other objects hang from wooden pegs hammered into cracks in the walls. Nearly everything appears to be handmade of wood, leather, bone, or plant fiber.
Davidge sits in his leather and stick throne like some sort of primitive tribal chief. He looks over the tops of his reading glasses at me, then shifts his gaze to Ty and Haesni, returning it to the manuscript, the reading surface cocked toward the flames.
"So, Yazi Ro, you taking this book to me is supposed to stop a war." The tone sounds mocking and I remain silent. Davidge glances up at me. "I don’t suppose Shiggy told you how we’re supposed to do it."
"Shiggy?"
"Shigan. The Ovjetah? The guy who sent you here? Work with me, Ro; life is too short, especially for Dracs."
I feel the anger rising. "No. It did not tell me how."
The human wrinkles up his forehead and holds up his hands. "If we don’t know how, what are we supposed to do?"
Ty leans forward in its chair. "Uncle, perhaps you are supposed to figure it out for yourself."
"Damned silly. I mean, if Shiggy knows a way, why doesn’t it just tell me?"
"The Ovjetah," I interrupt, "told me that knowledge of the path might close it."
The human flips through a few pages and shakes his head. "Shiggy always was a little smart aleck." Davidge’s eyes suddenly look up at me. "It was well?"
I fold my arms as I accept two truths: Davidge does not like me and I do not like Davidge. "I am not a healing Jetah. The Ovjetah’s fitness is not within my area of expertise."
The human sits back in his chair, both of his hands resting upon the closed manuscript on his lap. "Did Shigan seem well?"
"I detected no bleeding wounds or consequential diseases, Uncle Willy."
Davidge’s head goes back a degree as he stares at me with very blue eyes. He nods once, opens the manuscript to the first page, and begins reading. As he turns the page he says, "That’s a big stick you have up your ass, Yazi Ro. Try not to scratch the chair."
Ty, its jaw clamped shut against its laughter, stands, grabs its coat, and walks to the entrance, barely nodding at me along the way. Haesni, less successful at suppressing its laughter, makes a snorting sound and hurries to the back of the chamber where the child vanishes into another passage. I feel a cold draft against my legs as Ty opens the door. It stops as the door is closed. I hear muffled laughter coming from outside the cave.
I sit fixed in the chair, glaring at the human, until I think I must look as big a fool as I feel. I stand, close my coat and put up my hood as I storm toward the cave’s opening. When I go through the entrance into the cold, I look at my hand holding the door as a debate rages within me: Should I close it or leave it open?
Leaving it open would be childish. It would, however, feel quite good. Perhaps to end a war I must work with this human, and warring with him over a silly door might close Zenak Abi’s path to peace before it opens. It would, however, feel thoroughly good. Involuntarily I emit a growl and slam the door shut. As I turn away I hear Davidge’s voice call, "Thank you."
In the harsh wind at the top of the cliff, my gaze on the tortured waters below, the questions stand before me. Is this human the great teacher of the Ovjetah of the Talman Kovah? Is this the mentor of the Jeriba line? Is that creature one of the founders of this planet, refuge of 'harmony between the peoples of the quadrant? I see something all too mortal.
I know myself. I am no mountain of wisdom. Now I have seen enough of the human. No matter what Zenak Abi and Jeriba Shigan think they see, we are not the ones who will find peace for Amadeen.
"You are disappointed."
I hear Ty’s voice coming from behind me. Without turning I answer. "I have seen the size of war, Jeriba Ty. I have felt its breath on my face. I know its power, its complexity, its pain, its fear." I turn and face the firstborn of Jeriba Zammis. "In a moment of intense anguish I went to an old fool to find peace. That old fool sent me to another old fool who sent me here to yet another old fool."
"I don’t think you always thought of them as fools."
I look back at the sea. "After I met Zenak Abi, the traitor on Amadeen, I did not believe in its possibilities for peace, It was old, foolish-looking, and ran with a pack of renegade Dracs and humans. I took on its mission because it was my only way off Amadeen."
"You believed the Ovjetah, though," interrupted Ty.
"Yes. I believed Jeriba Shigan. The Ovjetah did not look foolish and it had all of the wisdom of the Jetah Diea honoring it. A part of me believed that the Ovjetah might know a way to peace." I raise my hand and wave it toward the sea with a certain degree of violence. "Yazi Ro, take a copy of the Koda Nusinda to this great teacher, this giant of wisdom, on Fyrine IV. Put this manuscript together with this great mind and that act will take thirty years of blood and horror and bring it to an end." I look back at Jeriba Ty. "I believed that. That’s how big a fool I am."
Ty smiles sympathetically. "Poor Ro. You came to Friendship looking for a god and Willis E. Davidge turns out to be only a man."
"And such an ordinary man," I add. "Is this what the machinations of the Ovjetah’s talma would have me find!"
Ty places its gloved hand on my arm and bursts out with a laugh. "I certainly hope so, my friend. Uncle gave you his very best I’m just plain folks routine." It looks at me, laughs again, and cocks its head toward the estate. "Come along. It’s almost time for the repast. Uncle will be occupied for hours and Haesni will be eating smoked snake in the cave. It will be good to have more company at the house. Falna should be there by now. The ship from Draco eventually came in and Falna was on it."
Falna, the child of Estone Nev’s namechild, is at the table for the repast. It is tall, beautiful, and so brilliant I keep silent for fear of sounding like the fool I feel. Although Falna is so far above my aspirations it might as well be back on Earth, I listen, captivated by its words, its laugh, the devil look to its eyes. Once Falna’s gaze meets mine and I see it smile as I turn away, my face hot with embarrassment. Also at the table are Jeriba Zammis, Ty, and Estone Nev. As the most senior, Nev stands at its place and leads the ceremony of the repasts, something I had not seen since my parent’s death.