Chapter 3
Inkiri
I’d only just sat down at the table in the apartment we’d been given when the door was flung open and Nokim rushed in.
“They’re calling it the Lagasar!” He looked at Vergis, who’d prepared a pot of the coffee he’d brought from Earth. He always offered to share it, and I was now more determined than ever to learn to love the flavor. “Can you feel it?”
“The annoyance of being interrupted because of some fabric experiment?”
Nokim shook his head. “No, it’s just what they’re calling it.
It was the veils between worlds. They tore.
That’s the magic you and the other koa felt.
The makers say it’s easier for the koa to get to Earth now, and there are some spots where you can just walk through.
” He looked at me. “Just like in the stories! Oh, and it’s not just here.
All the Raiken report the same, even the most remote ones. ”
“Well, fuck a duck,” Vergis said.
Nokim narrowed his eyes in concentration. “Why a duck? Isn’t that a winged animal?”
Vergis sighed. “It’s an expression of deep surprise. No one really would fuck a duck, although with some humans, you never know.”
Nokim nodded. “I see.”
Vergis rubbed his eyes and topped off his coffee. Lissir and Fellisse walked in from their room. Fellisse had not sought out Hove last night, assuming he’d be too busy.
Lissir stretched. “Why are we doing English lessons this early?”
Nokim shifted his weight back and forth. “We’re not. I’m telling everyone about the Lagasar, which is what we’re calling the tear in the veils between worlds, which happened yesterday and is what all the koa felt.”
Fellisse froze on his way to the small kitchen counter. “Magic tore through the veils? Vergis, are you sure the Koa Esher couldn’t have done that?”
Vergis opened his mouth, then closed it.
“Yeah. I mean…” He reached for the Earth device he had, the phone.
It was very small, but much like a thing of magic itself.
He could write on it, he could take near perfect photographs with it, and so much more.
“I’d have to call my dad and ask what he thinks, but it can’t have been the Koa Esher.
The veils are… They want to close themselves, you know?
You have to push through, and you’re always working against their inertia. ”
Nokim nodded. “All the makers who know koa say the koa don’t understand it, and no one thinks the Koa Esher did it. Oh! There’s something else.”
Lissir plopped down next to me and gestured to Fellisse. “Bring me a cup too, please? I want some vinné before I hear about this something else.”
I moved the plate Vergis had set out on the table closer to Lissir. “Tell us.”
Nokim grinned at me. “You already know what I think. It’s the mate calls. It’s not just you. There have been more of them reported, and many say their mate call comes from Earth. They’re going there now, and they can do so without a koa close, even.”
Fellisse sat as well and handed a cup to Lissir, then filled both with water. “Inki, have you decided?”
Nokim was still shifting his weight. He looked like a banner in the wind. “He’s going, of course. Anyone would go. For your real mate…what wouldn’t you do?”
Vergis said nothing, but I caught his glance. It was hard to read him sometimes, no matter how well I thought I knew him, no matter what new thing I learned about him.
I sat up straighter and put the water cup I’d been holding in a too-hard grip down on the table. “I will go. None of you have to come, although, Vergis, if you would lead me to Earth, you’d have my gratitude.”
He made the odd, human shoulder jerk motion again. “Sounds like you don’t really need me.”
Lissir clicked. “But he’s asking for your help regardless. I too would feel better if you led us.”
He gave Nokim and Fellisse a pointed look, and they both nodded in agreement.
I exhaled. “You’re all coming, then?”
Lissir clicked once more. “Of course we’re all coming. That’s a given truth you didn’t need to read in the shape of the clouds. Vergis?”
That human shoulder jerk again. “Sure, I can lead you.”
He sounded unconcerned, but there was a stiffness to his posture that told me he didn’t mean it.
he wouldn’t look at me for long, and that told me why.
He was young, younger than I was, though that didn’t matter when you were in love.
I only had the mate call, for now, and my mate would have all my affection even if he was ancient.
Nokim grinned and pulled something from his pocket. “We’ll have to file the forms, then. I happened to pick some up earlier.”
I inclined my head. “Thank you, Noki. And thank you to all of you. Vergis, it means a lot that you’ll be leading us.”
Everyone hummed while Nokim handed out the forms and went to find pens. Vergis nodded, then turned his cup in his hands, his mind elsewhere.
“I can give them to Hove later,” Fellisse said when Nokim had sat down as well.
I shook my head. “I’ll go and tell him and the dena in person. But maybe you want to visit him after? Share some time before we leave for Earth?”
Fellisse nodded. He and Hove were well matched, both competent and kind and good friends to have. I could see them wanting to spend a night together before we left. With luck, I’d find my mate quickly, and then…
Guilt stabbed the center of me. I didn’t know what would happen once I found my mate, whether he’d agree to return to Aer with me or if he had other needs.
All of it was an unknown, uncertain, and therefore frightening.
I was glad my sentenmen would be there with me, but I wouldn’t make them stay forever.
That was something we’d have to talk about once I knew my mate and he was able to give his opinion as well.
I sighed. Meeting him was a wish that grew in me like a plant with deep roots. It made me both anxious and excited to see that wish come to fruition.
I walked toward Hove’s office around midmorning, everyone’s paperwork in hand. The Raiken’s stone hallways were filled with the sounds of activity, with young Raikengana heading to their classes and older ones going about their chores.
But it wasn’t anything like other mornings.
People were talking in small groups, exchanging whispered theories about the Lagasar.
They spoke about the mate calls and about the veils thinning, clearly not sure whether they needed to be scared or excited.
Mate calls had always been a good thing, something to wish for and dream about, but to push the veils apart demanded powerful magic. It was confounding.
The door to Hove’s office was open, and I walked right in.
There were other protectors there, makers too, all holding papers.
Behind Hove and somewhat apart from the busyness, the dena stood, his cane in front of him, his cloudy eyes turned toward the large window next to him.
He had a sense of light and dark, but nothing more than that.
Hove spotted me when he looked up from what I assumed were all the Lagasar reports. “Inkiri. You are well rested?”
The dena turned toward the door and nodded. I returned the gesture even if he wouldn’t be able to see. “Yes. I thank you and the dena for our rooms. They’re very comfortable.” I raised the papers. “I’m filing these on behalf of myself and my sentenmen.”
The dena, often silent, smiled. “I can hear it in his voice, Hove. He’s been called.”
Hove snorted. “You’re guessing, Dena.” He narrowed his eyes. “But is he guessing right?”
“He is.”
The dena clicked. “It was no guess. You can hear it in the voice, but you have to pay close attention.”
Hove sighed. “The dena knows many things, and I’m grateful for every wisdom he shares with me. We wish you well.”
The Raikengana in the room echoed the words, but fell silent when the dena tapped his cane on the stone floor. “Is your mate on Earth, Inkiri?”
I clicked. “He is.”
“The Lagasar has caught you, then.”
Hove took the papers I held out to him. “We don’t know that. We don’t know that the Lagasar caused all the mate calls we’re hearing about. Most of them go to Earth, in case you haven’t heard. It could be two things that have nothing to do with each other.”
The dena chuckled. “Hove, you always keep the less likely option close at hand. Remember to ask yourself why that is.”
Hove signed each of our forms, making them official. “I know why that is. It’s so I don’t forget to think about all options, not just the one.”
The dena’s smile stretched. “If you say so.”
Hove piled the papers to be properly filed by one of his staff later. “The dena is very wise, and I never tire of his corrections. When will you be heading to Earth?”
“Tomorrow. Vergis will take us.”
“Of course he will. That puts you at a great advantage with your Earth mate. Most of the others who are following their mate calls aren’t as close to someone from Earth.”
I kept my expression neutral. Either Hove was ignorant of Vergis’s feelings, or he was trying to pretend he was.
“I know, but at the same time, Earth is a big place, and…” My thoughts got tangled.
In many ways, Earth was like Aer. They weren’t all one people.
They had different languages, different customs. Learning about Earth was fascinating, something scholars spent all their time on.
My knowledge was of only a small slice of it.
If it wasn’t the slice my mate fit in, then I wasn’t sure Vergis would be able to help me.
The dena clicked the way a hangu parent might.
“In the past, the koa always said that mate calls weren’t random, that they drew those who would be stronger together.
You needn’t worry.” He inclined his head.
“It will be good for the Raiken too to have protectors go to Earth. Maybe with them and their sentenmen and senfesmen, the Raiken itself can go there as well. Maybe then Hove can finally be a dena himself.”
Hove’s brow furrowed with annoyance. “I don’t wish to be a dena elsewhere, but the dena is right that you shouldn’t worry.
A mate call is a joyous event, and more of them are a good sign for the future.
” He leaned toward me. “Do you happen to know whether Fellisse will be able to stop by my apartment later? I would understand if you’re busy preparing, of course. ”
I nodded. “I’ll tell him.”
“Thank you. If that is everything, please enjoy your last day here. Once more, Esaka is grateful for the news you brought back from your mission.”
I left then, though not before everyone present congratulated me once more. A mate call was special, but at the time, I had no way of knowing just how very special mine truly was.