CHANGELING: Book Two in the Weaver Series Page 8

  Kal had taken us up one day for a tour with several warnings about not coming out alone. The aerial predators were abundant and large. Some of them even had vision that picked up heat signatures so bending light around one’s self wasn’t much protection. Thick vegetation provided cover for the Imini as they shepherded their herds and gathered food in the carefully planned jungle.

  The soft tunic and trousers Cass dressed us in were a gift from Jaz after she fully recovered from her near death experience. That woman could sew. Wog skins were supple and soft but thick. Great time and effort was expended beating and stretching them thin enough to wear. I took a moment to run our hands over the evenly stitched seams of the sleeves in admiration. We left our hair down as a subtle dig at Kal’s sister. She never failed to click her teeth at our uncovered tresses. Occasionally, if Jaz was on a tear, Cass would twirl a dark brown lock on an index finger to take the heat away from the unlucky recipient of her displeasure.

  A mental tug of pressure hit us from the Web.

  Cass thought flashed, “Feels like Maggie,” before jetting off to check, worried.

  I walked us into the dim tube of the tunnel to our communal living space and paused when she returned too quickly. Excitement boiled off my sibling.

  “Maggie wants to talk to you, Silver. She’s got news. I’ll stay here.”

  She was studiously thinking blank banal thoughts. Curiosity reared its ugly head and I launched myself into the expansive mindscape I’d called home for a little too long. My aunt’s orange flame of a presence was brighter and two tiny specs of white light graced each side like the yolks of an egg. Oh crap. I never had warned Maggie about our fertility modifications. The cat was out of the bag as it were. An arrow of sarcasm hit us as she picked up our alarm.

  “Do you have anything you’d like to tell me, Silver?”

  “Congratulations?” I said with only partially manufactured cheer.

  “I went through hell and then some trying to get pregnant with your uncle for nearly ten years, Young Lady. You should have shared and you know it!”

  Her tone held censure but I could sense a barely contained elation underneath it. “You’re right, Maggie. Are you happy? Is Gerome happy? You’re having twins you know.”

  Flickering tongues of flame licked out as Maggie’s joy flared. “Gerome told me—a boy and a girl. We already have names and everything!”

  Tentatively I ventured, “So…I’m forgiven?”

  Thoughts back to serious Maggie replied, “If you show me what you did to me without my permission then…yes. But not right now. I’m too filled up with happiness to get technical.”

  “Where’s Gerome?”

  “I sent him into town, on a mission to buy two cribs with Malcolm.” Carefully she asked, “How are things with you guys?”

  This was actually a good visit so far. Usually we ended up at each other over nothing, especially if I decided to take offense at her nosiness. Not today. Today I couldn’t smash her pure joy. A tiny ghost voice in the back of my head whispered that if she was involved in her own children maybe she wouldn’t be as interested in us. “We’re okay, Maggie. Kal takes good care of us and we have friends. Don’t worry.”

  My aunt harrumphed at me. “You’re just like Gerome; if your hair was on fire right now you wouldn’t tell me. I’m here if you need me. Give Cass my best. She said you were headed for dinner so I won’t keep you.”

  Back in our body I mentally swatted my twin. “You could have warned a sister!”

  “What and ruin my fun? It’s not often I get one up on you, Silver.”

  We were still in the tunnel that led from our sleeping chamber. Abruptly I changed the subject before we ran out of time. “So, you have any ideas about Mez? We’re sure it was him right?”

  “Indubitably—did you not see him laughing?”

  “He laughs at everything, Sister.”

  Dark billowing anger rolled out from my twin. “Maybe we should make him stop.”

  “Without killing the son of the Fid of Bleo I presume? You are drawing the line at death, right?” I said dryly. While we had to tread on political eggshells, Mez had no such issues.

  Cass forced calm on herself. I hated it when she did that.

  “We’ll see what plans Lil can offer. She’s always good for a non-lethal idea or two. Stop worrying about me Silver. I’m fine.” The ‘fine’ came out hard and pitiless.

  I pictured a small child with their nose in the air, pouting.

  Cass walked us toward Kal in answer and she shut me out all the way to dinner.

  Chapter Eight: The Road to Hell

  The malleable nature of Imini households didn’t require a door. If you wanted privacy you simply sealed yourself in and if you didn’t mind company you left the entry arch open. The smell of dinners cooking was all through the long fluorescing tunnel to Kal’s sister’s den. The cooperative community didn’t often shut one another out. A steady drone of life echoed comfortingly all around us.

  Vel met us at the door with a serenely dimpled smile and a steaming spoon in hand.

  “You are late. Timing is everything.”

  His turquoise necklace hugged his neck and a slight flush reddened his cheeks from the heat of preparing dinner. Near black hair curled damply at his temples.

  From further inside Jaz sniped, “Well, let them in and quit blocking their path then.”

  We stepped into the cozy round room after Vel hurried over to finish readying whatever was for supper. There was no ventilation to the surface at night, not even a chimney. That would leave the caverns too vulnerable to predation. Since no one could cook over an open flame, all food prep requiring heat was achieved by chemical reaction in sealed clay balls called piths which were about the size of large watermelons. I smelled the familiar tangy scent of our favorite sauce as Vel cracked the pith. Embarrassed, Cass put a hand to our stomach after it growled. Jaz was sitting at the table with her sewing basket cleaning off the debris from her work in anticipation of our supper. She made time to eye our uncovered hair and grunt under her breath.

  Lil bounced in on the balls of her feet to hug Kal and lay her head on his chest. She’d chosen vibrant saffron for her head wrap today and it stood out nicely against Kal’s mint green. Our friend was a strange cross of happiness and seriousness, switching between the two like a female Jekyll and Hyde. “Yes, you have a heart. I hear it beating, Uncle.”

  Stiffly Kal smoothed the fabric of his kaftan where Lil had laid her ear. “Only for you, Lil…you are my reason for living.”

  They smiled until Jaz inserted, “Stop playing like children. You are too old for such silliness. Everyone sit.”

  Immediately I reached up for a hank of hair to slide around an index finger. Lil sat first with a mutinous tightening around her eyes and a rapid flick of her nictitating lens. Cass walked over to a chair and hopped us onto it. Height-wise things weren’t as bad with the Imini since the tallest of them were around six feet. Our feet still dangled but not as far off the floor as they would have on Aniy furniture.

  A long sinewy cinnamon arm went past our face with the steaming bottom half of the skillfully cracked open pith. Vel gave us a sideways miniscule mouth twitch as he noticed our hair twirling. Just to annoy Jaz, Kal took on the role of host and passed us all a dish from the stack at the head of the rectangular table. Each ‘plate’ was more like a shallow bowl with a ladle-like lacquered spoon resting in the center.

  We all ended up in our customary seating arrangement—Vel and Jaz at each end of the table, Lil and Kal sitting on one side and us by our lonesome on the other. I reached out to scoop some deliciousness onto our plate and Jaz clicked her teeth at us. The back of her spoon smacked our elbow as an added admonishment.

  “Not until devotion.”

  Cass sat us back down rubbing our joint in annoyance.

  Kal wove his head at his sibling with a slow three fingered forehead touch. “May I have the honor?”

  Immediately everyone stille
d.

  Jaz placed both hands flat on the table. Her face looked pained but she gave a graceful sinuous neck weave. The fastidiously creased wrap on her head was a pale pink today as if mimicking the petals of a delicate rose. A stray brilliant strand of her red hair hid behind her ear as if seeking escape.

  Kal plucked at the shoulders of his kaftan before dropping his hands to his lap. His voice deepened into a smooth trance state as he began to speak from memory. “There was a stirring and a swirling, followed by a much needed uncurling. Fingers of awareness reached out to find a nothingness that echoed back a bereft loneliness. With a single push into oblivion the essence of all life gave itself to the void, filling it with the beginnings of all matter.

  “Even this was not enough to satisfy the gaping maw of more. A new need arose. Purpose surged forth creating tiny reflections of life. Unique patterns of sentience bestowed with collective knowledge and the ability to see the very fabric of the Universe.”

  Shivers raced up our spine. The Codes of Annis were referenced often as a guide of do’s and do not’s, but the Book of Annis told a story that resonated. Our translator probably took some of the magic from the language but we still found it compelling. A few months ago I made the observation to Cass about some words not converting to English. Bleo for instance should translate to color but it never had. The clever little dot on our temple was slowly trying to teach us its language and put itself out of a job.

  Vel said reverently, “Thank you, Kal.”

  Serenely Jaz held out a hand for our dish and we passed it over with good grace. When all had their share a silence enveloped the table that only accompanied good food. No one spoke until every stomach was filled to satisfaction.

  Lil broke the silence. “We stink.”

  Jaz sat straighter in her chair then stood to gather everyone’s empty dishes in a seemingly precarious stack that barely shifted in the crook of her arm. “I am in agreement, Daughter, some of us worse than others.” Her mouth curved just barely as she sniffed in Vel’s direction.

  He pretended offense at his wife’s good natured jab as he shifted in his seat to turn sideways and extend his long legs across her path. Haughtily Jaz lifted her chin and high stepped over his shins gracefully. She was in an unusually good mood.

  There was no such thing as plumbing. All water was collected topside in a lake-sized cistern and carefully controlled. A guild of Imini was in charge of water quality and waste. Through an ingenious filtration system using the layers of rock between their caverns and the surface they established beautiful multilevel communal bathing coliseums with fluorescing stalactites and stalagmites for ambience. Living consciously in tandem with nature didn’t always mean doing without; sometimes it made life infinitely more enjoyable. For instance, the volcano igloo toilet we used in Sil’s lab was designed by the Imini.

  Kal stood and raised a fuzzy brown caterpillar eyebrow at us.

  Cass smelled our armpit and wrinkled our nose. “We’re game.”

  Lil darted around the table and tugged on our elbow. “Come or our pool will get taken.”

  We almost knocked over our chair as we turned with Lil’s mad dash for the arch and the tunnel to freedom. In a slithering sandy shush of sound the exit diminished to the size of a pea, forcing us to stop.

  “Stay in the women’s pool,” Jaz warned.

  “Mother, I am not a child to be reminded.” Lil twitched from foot to foot in annoyance.

  “Behave,” Kal added in our direction.

  The pea became a portal once more and Lil pushed us out before our progress could be halted again.

  “What’s the rush?”

  The yellow orange of her headdress reminded us of Starburst candy and suddenly we were craving a sweet juicy treat we couldn’t have for the foreseeable future.

  Lil paused to bob her head, “I want the dirt, as you say, on today, Min Druta. Something is bothering you and I assume you do not wish to share with Kal as of yet. I am correct, yes? What has the Fid’s evil offspring done now?”

  Her face was long with concern and her words clipped as we hurried between meandering Imini. Min Druta, yet more words untranslated, meant ‘my dear friend’ or something of the sort. We patted her arm in reassurance, heartened she’d read us so well as we speed walked. The tunnel sloped upward almost imperceptibly until we were huffing at the sharp angle before we crested the rise to stare down at what I liked to call Second Heaven. What girl didn’t like a bath?

  Lil grabbed our elbow again and pulled us through the crowds. After dinner was a popular time to soak. Below us the pools were divided strategically by clusters of stalagmites pulling double duty as walls, and the air was redolent with steam. Glistening in calcified glory, they reflected waves of pulsing light and moving water across their melted candle surfaces. Everyone obeyed the rules out of respect and no boys peeked in on the unclothed girls and vice versa. That could have more to do with the matronly chaperones discreetly positioned in the young women’s sections than a lack of youthful curiosity on Lil’s male counterparts.

  Our friend pulled us to the lowest level. A general rule of the nearly all natural bathhouse was start low and end high. Attendants waited to collect our clothes and assign us a waterproof neck cord with a mark to claim them later. Lil’s ruby red hair rustled down to the top of her nicely toned caramel bottom as she dropped her unraveled headdress into the upheld basket. She took a minute to scratch her scalp in relief.

  Generally we didn’t like anyone to see us in the buff but everyone was naked and no one stared—even at our weird pale hairy flesh. Imini and Aniy alike didn’t suffer from hirsutism. The fine dark hair on our legs and arms had brought a few curious glances from Lil but she’d gotten used to it months back. We glided into the warm caressing waters up to our neck, giving dual ah's of relaxation. Currently the kidney shaped undulating mirror of shimmering liquid was only occupied by the two of us. A few women splashed playfully on the next level, their squeals delighted and soft.

  Lil ducked her head under the water and waved about blindly for the soap on the lip at the side.

  From a respectable distance I huffed in laughter.

  “To the left,” Cass offered.

  Our gloves and clothes were off and per Sil’s orders we weren’t to touch anyone else. No one was showing any signs of mutation but we’d figured better safe than sorry. So as much as it would have been helpful to Lil if we handed over the soap, we kept our distance. She finally lathered up her jewel-toned hair with the crisp scented bar and dunked her head again.

  The uneven lip on our side had a different olfactory delight. A shallow bowl held a creamy sandalwood smelling goop that we scooped into our palm. Cass squeezed our eyes closed and scrubbed it all over our face.

  For three girls that wanted to talk we were awfully quiet as we cleaned ourselves. Once done and squeaky clean we listened for the ladies above us to leave before relocating into the higher pool.

  Lil floated on her back, hair spread like a strawberry jam spill. “Tell me about today.”

  Feeling lazy Cass swam over to lean the back of our head on a rocky edge and let our legs drift in the still pitching liquid. The temperature was just right, not enough to make you sweat but warm enough to keep the chill away. Shadows hid geological secrets high above us.

  “While we were in Galactic Studies Mez decided to put our lounger in a wall niche in The Atrium…just under the sky light.” I could feel Cass getting angry again, even in our favorite place with one of our favorite people.

  Water splashed us as Lil waited for us to go on.

  Cass continued. “Obviously we survived. We almost plunged to our death when we woke up though. There’s only so much Silver can heal and over a hundred feet is a long drop.”

  Lil didn’t say anything for so long we popped our head up to see if she was asleep. Abruptly she stood, water running off her skin and hair plastered to her shoulders like seaweed. She had a ‘eureka’ expression on her face.

 
“The last trick was stealing your food…the trick before that was sabotaging your robes. Now this trick has to do with where you rest while you are in the Web. Are you certain he does not like you?” Her tone was disbelieving as she said it.

  I sputtered and almost went under as my twin and I let go of the ledge and forgot to swim. “What? You’re shitting me! That’s insane, Lil. Why would you say something like that?”

  “Has he been keeping his friends away from you?”

  Our much taller companion’s obsidian eyes were sparkling with curiosity.

  I wanted to say no but Cass and I thought about the last month or so…hard. Mez hadn’t been hanging out with the usual group of troublemakers as much. In fact he’d been lingering in the background like a stalker. We’d just figured he was planning his next attack and kept a weather eye out.

  Cass muttered bitterly in our head, “A fat lot of good that did us today.”

  At the look on our face Lil laughed out loud, her bell-like peal of merriment echoing all around us then fading away into nothing. Her face got suddenly serious. “My question is—which one of you does Mez like?”

  “If Fid Tal finds out…whoa! More trouble from Her Highness is the last thing we need.” I groaned as Cass laid us out to float.

  A tiny flicker of pleasure fluttered at the back of my thoughts that I might be the object of someone’s affection. I stifled it before my sister could pick it out but it was there—waiting.

  Chapter Nine: Aniy Mating Rituals for Dummies

  The Atrium was filled with sunlight as we strode purposefully away from Flotsam and Jetsam. It had been a week since Lil’s little epiphany in the bathing caverns. Mez hadn’t pulled another stunt but he was still hovering in the background like a carrion crow. Cass was on edge all the time and it was hard to relax ourselves enough in class to join the Web discussions. I’d decided today was the day to confront him.