He had to squeeze me for a while, caught between revulsion and fury. It’s rare that Kaoren has Sight dreams now, but when he does they’re particularly strong, and all day today I could see the shadow of it on him. And he’s furious, because the two of them are so very smart, and someone thought it fun to hurt them.
When we made a noise, Ys immediately stopped singing, so we went out and pretended it was just another morning. Over breakfast our explanation for why we’d be later back today led to a discussion of time zones and planetary rotation and we spent a lot of time in a shared space showing them my log of golden plains, and looking at a gorgeous room-sized image of Muina, pointing out the locations of where we were now, where Kalasa was, where we’d been the day before yesterday and where we were going tomorrow. Kaoren showed them how to zoom in to locations, and different interactions they could do with the globe – and then gave them an exercise to locate and view the two other towns we were scheduled to visit, which made me laugh at him and call him such a captain. But the kids loved being able to make the connection between our calendars and the planet, and just looking at different places in the world – particularly the immensely detailed aerial view of Pandora and the live views from numerous scanners which have been placed around the lake and town.
The storm had died away to another muggy morning, but our mission location was Firiana, a town on the largest of a series of small islands in the next big lake to the east. It was cold and raining there, a constant heavy downpour which didn’t let up for the entire long day. It wasn’t all bad – our hoods were happy to be waterproof and we adapted our uniforms to be partially Taren Setari and partially Muinan Setari and so were quite snug. Just constantly a bit damp.
The islands were home to a lot of long, slender furry seal-things with an odd resemblance to Afghan Hounds. And bigger lake serpents which appear to be the sharks of this world (and fortunately don’t live in the waters Pandora borders upon). They’re about ten metres long, furry, and have a touch of Luck Dragon about them. Possibly they’re relatives of the seal-dogs, but much larger and toothier. All the Setari developed rather odd expressions when we found the seal-dogs, and when we stopped for lunch Glade told me old Taren-Muinan stories about benevolent creatures called surri which would rescue people who’d fallen in the water, and which they’d thought were mythical. Today would be like me finding a flock of griffins roosting at Bondi.
After a long, wet day we reached Pandora a little behind schedule – past sunset – to find Sen fretful and worked up. She’d refused to let Mara read the next chapter of the current story, though she’d been happy and cheerful up to that point. Ys was watchful and withdrawn, and Rye seemed simply relieved that we were both in one piece. Teaching the kids the clock and calendar means they know when we’re late.
My solution was to show them how to send us emails and voicemail, explaining that at least when we’re on Muina, if they need to ask us a question then sending an email is a good way to ask without worrying about interrupting us with a channel request. But I should have thought to send them one, before late became an issue. This Mum thing has a huge learning curve.
After story time was over, Kaoren and I had dinner with Lohn and Mara and discussed our mutual interest in the kids. I squirmed a little because it was so clear that they’d both been aching to have children for I don’t know how long, and it wasn’t till Mara had spoken to me that I’d even thought about their feelings. Lohn is already completely wrapped around Sen’s little finger, and proud as any Dad about how quickly Ys and Rye are progressing with their lessons. And relieved, I think, that the kids are distracting Mara from her frustration at being on sick leave.
Despite bedtime fretting, Mara said it had been a good day. "When I checked on them at lunch it looked to be a drama because they’d been playing with the Muina map, only to be discovered by the other students. Since to those without the interface it looked like three children standing in an empty room pointing at nothing, that not surprisingly produced a little spate of mockery." She caught my eye. "And Ys and Rye reacted as you described, that self-erasing pose, not even trying to explain. Sentarestel’s attempts to defend them were not entirely intelligible – she has something of a temper, you’ve noticed? Fortunately Squad One hadn’t left yet, so I called down Diav and had her use Illusion to show the rest of the students what Ys, Rye and Sen had been seeing."
Mara’s smile took on a wicked edge. "I probably shouldn’t have enjoyed their reaction so much, but one of the more opinionated students has been arguing against any suggestion that they consider the interface. What point tainting yourself, she’s been saying, when the handhelds will do the same thing? That map is a wonderful counter-argument. The girl did, rather feebly, try to suggest that a bigger screen would produce much the same result. Here."
She gave me a log of the scene, and I can’t stop grinning at the image of Rye, pink-faced but determined, lifting his head to say: "It’s nothing alike. It’s a narf to a tarena. Using those little boxes is like crawling in the mud."
A narf and a tarena are – were – apparently two Nuran animals, the equivalent of comparing a slug to an eagle.
"He sounded sorry for them," Mara added. "I think that’s what clinched it. We’ve abruptly gone from only your three here with the interface installed, to a mere six holdouts in all of the talent school – and by the afternoon the other four schools were logging a handful of requests as well. It’s not so big a shift there, but it’s the most progress we’ve had since the initial processing. Those in leadership roles recommending the change didn’t have nearly as much effect as pity from what these children consider their social inferiors."
I bet it was that Karasayen girl arguing against the interface.
"Any overtures?" I asked, not very hopefully, and Mara shook her head. I’ve been bugging the people in charge of the talent school probably a little too much about the behaviour of the other children to the servants in their midst. Other than to try and pry information about me out of them, they’re usually leaving Ys and Rye alone. Not unexpected but the main reason why I’m not sure if the talent school is the right place for them.
Sen they treat very differently, and she’s cheerfully social in her age group for the sport sessions. Of course, Ys and Rye hardly encourage anyone to talk with them either and at this stage aren’t the least bit interested in friends and to tell the truth that’s probably the best thing for the moment. Eventually I’d like to see them with friends, but I want them feeling safe and secure with us first.
Another late day tomorrow.
Saturday, September 13
Tiny steps forward
Finally a new marble. Ninth found it, at the very edge of their range out from the equatorial platform town called Pelamath (the old Muinans were very fond of putting ath in their town names). The area is a bit like those plateaus in South America, though not quite as high I think. Very rainy. Up on top of the plateau it’s scrubby, all bushes and spindly trees, while down below is jungle. The platform town is up top, and they found the marble (or, rather, another set of boastful doors) buried in a notch at the base of one of the sheer sides of a different plateau.