Of course my good intentions wavered when Ista Temen tut-tutted the idea of going swimming, took off my blue goop bandages and said the new skin was in a fragile state. But I must have produced a particularly effective Sad Puppy Face, because she decided she could seal the treatment so long as I stayed in medical a few hours for monitoring. After a full dose of fortifiers I slept until just before lunch, but then was fortunately cleared to go. My skin is vividly pink and tender, and terribly sensitive to temperature, but no bandage.
Currently Kaoren’s not allowed to take me even a short flight away without additional guards – I have to have a handful of Setari within immediate response range – but First Squad made it all a very picnicky kind of guarding. We brought along big hampers of food, and then split up before we ate it – swimming lessons at the central pool and First Squad on the shore of the lake within range of a quick dash. We could occasionally hear the echo of conversation or a splash, but otherwise it did feel like just me and Kaoren and the kids alone on a family outing.
The day was very sunny, but humid and heavy – perfect for wanting to get in the water. We walked about the hill, examining the way the spring welled up, and spotting pippins among the tree roots and some small blue wren-type birds building nests, and then went down to the pool to swim and escape pestering insects. I’d gone for a lycra shorts and t-shirt look for my swimming outfit. I’d just feel way too weird parading about in a bikini, even if I could find one and didn’t have a very strange-looking stomach. Similar clothes for the kids, at least in part to avoid the question of exposing the scars on their backs. Like most of the other Setari, Kaoren was wearing the nanoliquid swimming outfit for a just visiting from the Olympics vibe.
Swimming has been a big part of my life, and watching Ys and Rye grasping the basics of dog paddling made me feel like I was on Earth, and I had to work to not look too goopily teary as they swam back and forth between me and Kaoren until they were comfortable enough to keep themselves up without panicking. Sen was the most nervous of the three, surprising me since she loves baths so much and is so generally brave. She wouldn’t go out of arm’s reach, and a nose full of water sent her clinging to me, but she was happy enough so long as one of us held her.
We moved back into the shallower water to give them a rest, and I told them about how Australia is the largest island on my planet and that most of the people live around the edges of it, and almost everyone learns how to swim there because there’s so much coast and it gets very hot. And then I told them about the people who go swimming across the English Channel, all covered in Vaseline, and about scuba diving and krakens and mermaids. Just like when I was explaining volcanos, the difference between what’s real and not-real about Earth exists in a strange land of could-be because I’m the only person who’s been there. I was highly tempted to try and convince them mermaids were real – would it really be so different from telling little kids Santa Claus is coming? Or tourists to watch out for Drop Bears?
I think Sen would know, though.
That thought made me open a channel to Kaoren to ask how to lie to a Sight Sight talent – or, more to the point, how the people behind the conspiracy on Nuri ever managed to hide what they were doing from their Setari.
"Embed the lie behind a lie," Kaoren said. "While it’s not unusual for Sight to reveal that a person is lying, it is rare that Sight can convey the truth behind the lie. The Nurans saw deception aimed at political gain, and very likely were rarely given a chance to closely question the conspirators. Half-truths can also work – the power stones are shield generators. That is true enough to hide whatever else they can be used for."
Ys and Rye were the most relaxed with us they’ve been so far – not totally without their guard up, but Rye is more and more willing to ask questions and Ys at least spends less of her energy glowering. During their second session, paddling about became less of an ordeal and more of an adventure and they had a little dog-paddle race over to the scary deepest part of the pool by the hill, and then back to us. And their eyes went huge when Kaoren said that next training session that fell on a hot day, he’d see if Fourth Squad could swim from the Setari building to the nearest water landmark, Tupal Rock, which is much closer than our barely visible island.
The pool is cool and shady, all dappled light and the occasional drifting leaf or flower petal, so when the kids started to get tired we went out to the sunnier lakeshore to join First Squad. They’d also been swimming – and were talking about bringing breathers and goggles another time so that they could look to see what the lake was like under water – and our arrival was the signal for lunch, which was tasty and sumptuous, and we all lay about basking on big black rocks to digest and chat and watch the truly spectacular number of birds wheeling over the distant northern bank of the lake. A couple of thin spirals of smoke were visible, further west than our island, and Maze confirmed that the breakaway group had stopped walking on the second day and set up camp near the ducks nesting on the north shore. When storm clouds started to roll in we all felt thoroughly sorry for the Nurans, but of course there wasn’t much we could do but collect up all our scraps and head back to Pandora.
It was a serious storm, breaking in late afternoon – it’s been a while since we’ve had any really rainy weather – and we watched the lightning and the sheets of rain with wincing sympathy from the safety of our snug apartment. We’ve had no specific news on how the Nurans are doing, though one of the Nuran Setari is always off watching them.
Another platform town exploration tomorrow. We’ll resume training every second day once the initial survey has been done on all of them, but all-day flying is too energy-intensive to not schedule in lots of rest days.
Friday, September 12
Nursery rhymes and fairy tales
Kaoren woke me earlier than usual this morning, and held a hand to my mouth so I wouldn’t say anything, murmuring: "Listen."
So I listened, and heard singing: "Thiz li’l piggy had roass biff. An thiz li’l piggy had non. An thiz li’l piggy wen wee wee wee all the way hom!"
Ys. And then Sen, giggling with hysterical delight, just as she’d done last night before story time when I’d been playing silly games with her. I’d sung it in English first, then translated the words, but Sen had vastly preferred the English version.
"Did she log it?" I asked Kaoren.
He shook his head. "They don’t have that function yet. This is from memory."
Ys moved on to Inzy Winzy spida, and then Rown an rown the gar den, her pronunciation off, but word perfect each time, for all that I’d only repeated each rhyme a couple of times the night before.
"They were beaten for eavesdropping on the lessons of the household’s heir," Kaoren told me, and when I glanced sharply at him, added: "A Sight dream. There was no reason for the ban, no law among Nurans that servants should not learn more than how to serve, though it is unusual for them to aspire. The master of the house was cruel, and saw how much they wanted, and so took pleasure in denial. That was my dream – from the master’s point of view, enjoying giving the order."