Chapter 7 Tamira
TAMIRA
"Idon't understand how this small device can do so much," Tamira muttered, tapping the screen of her new phone and accidentally opening a calculator.
"Do I just touch the numbers?" She tried to make a simple calculation to try it out, but she kept missing the numbers because they were too small.
"I'll never learn to operate this thing. How do I get rid of the calculator?"
She glanced at the other patrons of the outdoor café, who were holding similar devices in their hands and staring at the screens as if they were sacred objects worthy of worship.
It wasn't healthy. Even those who were sitting with other people were glued to their phones instead of conversing with each other. Would she grow as attached to this piece of technology once she learned how to use it properly?
Eluheed leaned over her shoulder. "Press the arrow at the bottom to go back."
"What arrow?"
He pointed to a small icon.
She tapped it. The calculator disappeared, replaced by the grid of colorful squares she'd started with.
"This is maddening." Tamira set the phone down on the table. "This thing has a thousand different functions, and I don't know what any of them do."
"They are called applications." Eluheed picked up the phone and studied it. "I had a cell phone before I was sold to Navuh, but it wasn't nearly as fancy or complicated to use. Perhaps we can go back to William's lab and ask his assistant to teach us."
"He's much too busy." Tamira glanced around at the other villagers enjoying the pleasant weather.
Several had taken advantage of the self-service vending machines that dispensed surprisingly good coffee, sandwiches, and pastries on weekends when the café wasn't staffed, and most of them were doing things on their phones.
"They make it look so effortless," she said. "And since they are immortals of varying ages, I know that they didn't grow up with phones glued to their hands."
"They've had them since they were first introduced, and they've learned and adapted as the devices got more and more complicated." Eluheed handed the phone back to her. "What do you want to do with it?"
"I want to send a message to Kalugal." Tamira took a deep breath. "I need to talk to him about Darien. He knew him, fought with him, he could tell me about my son."
For so long, Tamira hadn't allowed herself to think about Darien, to wonder what had become of the baby who had been taken from her arms over a century ago. It had been easier to pretend he didn't exist than to live with the constant ache of missing him and not knowing his fate.
It was cowardly, she was well aware of that, but that had been the only way she could deal with his loss and continue living.
If she'd allowed herself to dwell on what had been taken away from her, she would have thrown herself off that cliff decades ago.
But now she was free, and she no longer needed to pretend.
She was no longer helpless. Now she had at least some agency, and she was going to do all she could to find her son.
"A text message," Eluheed said. "I used to have an old-style flip phone that could send messages, but it took forever to type them. I guess it's much easier on these new devices."
They huddled together over the small screen, and after several wrong turns, including accidentally taking a photograph of their faces, they finally found the messaging app.
"Now we need to find Kalugal's contact information," Eluheed said. "William's assistant showed us where to find it, but I forgot what it looked like. Do you remember?"
"I think it's here." She pointed to an icon with a silhouette of two heads. "This is the icon for contacts.”
"Seems like the right one," Eluheed agreed.
She tapped it, and a list of names appeared.
William's assistant had set up the phone, preloading it with the contact information for every resident of the village.
There was a way to make a list of favorites, so she wouldn't have to scroll through all the contacts when looking for someone specific, but she didn't remember his instructions and didn't want to bother with it now.
Besides, she didn't know if Kalugal would become one of her favorites.
He was Areana's son, and he'd been Darien's commander and the one who had helped Darien escape the Brotherhood, so he had a lot stacked in his favor, but he was also Navuh's son, which was why she preferred to reserve judgment until she got to know him better.
Thankfully, the contacts were listed alphabetically based on the first name because she had no idea what last name Kalugal or any of the others were using.
"There." She found him and tapped on his name. When his information appeared, she turned to Eluheed. "Now what?"
"I think you need to tap the little envelope icon to send a message."
She shook her head. "It says mail under it. The little bubble says message." There was also one for calling, and another one for video.
She clicked the bubble, and a blinking cursor appeared.
"Now I type." Tamira stared at the tiny keyboard on the screen. "How am I supposed to hit these letters with my fingers? They're so small."
"Use just the tip of your finger."
Tamira painstakingly tapped one letter at a time. H-e-l-l-o. The word appeared on the screen.
"I did it!" A small surge of triumph warmed her chest. "Now what do I say?"
"Tell him you'd like to meet with him to talk about Darien."
"Easier said than done," she murmured as she began the laborious process of typing out her message. It took forever to compose two sentences: Hello, Kalugal. I would like to meet with you to talk about Darien if you can spare the time.
"Should I add anything else?" she asked.
"Perhaps thank him in advance?"
She was about to do that when it occurred to her that she shouldn't assume he would agree and thanking him in advance did exactly that. She needed to be more specific.
I would be grateful for any information you can provide about my son.
Thank you,
Tamira
She read the message again and then showed it to Eluheed. "What do you think? Not too presumptuous?"
"Looks good to me. Now press the arrow to send it."
Tamira found the send button and hesitated for a moment, then tapped it. Her heartbeat accelerated as the message whooshed away. A split second later, it appeared in a little bubble on the screen.
"It worked." She let out a breath. "Now, let's hope that Kalugal is more like his mother than his father and is willing to help."
"Indeed." Eluheed leaned back in his chair and took a sip from his coffee. "I'm curious to meet him and see what kind of person a union between an angel and a demon produces."
Tamira chuckled. "Areana is not entirely an angel, and Navuh is not entirely a demon. She has a little bit of darkness in her, and he has a tiny bit of goodness in him. Otherwise, their union wouldn't have worked."
"I suppose." He put his cup down. "The thing is that he doesn't consider himself evil, only pragmatic and unapologetic about his goals. I guess no one thinks of themselves as all bad. Even the worst offenders find convoluted ways to justify the atrocities they commit."
Thinking about what Eluheed had just said, Tamira wondered if it was true for all the monsters. Surely some knew that they were evil and reveled in their evil deeds.
When her phone buzzed, she nearly dropped it.
"What was that?"
"I think you've gotten a reply." Eluheed pointed to the screen. "Look, there's a notification."
Tamira tapped on it, and Kalugal's response appeared: Of course. My wife and I are home, and we would love for you to come over. Drinks and appetizers will be served.
"He wants us to come to his house." She looked at Eluheed. "He even offers drinks and appetizers."
"Great." Eluheed pushed to his feet. "Let's go."
"Wait." She motioned for him to sit down. "I need to reply to his invitation first."
She also needed to tell Kalugal that she was with Elias and he was coming with her.
Typing her reply was faster now that she was getting the hang of it. Thank you for your prompt response and generous invitation, but I'm not alone. Elias is with me. Is it okay if he accompanies me?
Now that they were safe in the village, she really saw no need for Eluheed to call himself Elias.
In the few days she'd been here, she'd met plenty of immortals and Kra-ell with strange-sounding names, and she'd never asked anyone about their meaning or origins.
Besides, it was time for Eluheed to admit who and what he was and ask for the clan's help to retrieve his treasures from Mount Ararat.
The response came almost immediately. Naturally, you're both welcome.
"Now we can go." She pushed to her feet.
Eluheed stood and picked up their coffee cups. "Do you know where he lives?"
"No, but..." She studied her phone, trying to remember what William's assistant had shown her. "There is a map somewhere in here with everyone's home marked. He said we could find anyone by typing in their name."
After a few more moments of fumbling, they managed to pull up Kalugal's address and get directions. The map showed a route through the village, past the main residential area to a section they hadn't explored yet.
"It looks like a twenty-minute walk, more or less," Eluheed said as he offered her his arm. "It's a beautiful day, so we are sure to enjoy it."
It was gorgeous. The green areas of the village were not as vivid as the ones on the island, but it wasn't humid, the air was cool, and the sun was pleasantly warm instead of scorching.
Mostly, though, she enjoyed the freedom even though she and Eluheed couldn't leave the village yet. They didn't have cars, and she didn't know how to drive.
In fact, just the idea of driving was panic-inducing.
After five thousand years of living a certain way, change was difficult. It was frightening. It was nearly paralyzing.