Infall Ch. 02

"Idi," she said, not finished yet. No. She was just finishing the last strokes on Etien's face when Kythe showed up naked, walking to her quickly, frowning at her like he was impatient or angry.

He slowed when he saw the paper and then picked it up. Glancing at her, he murmured something in Odien that she didn't understand.

He set it down, taking her hand and leading her back to where the tub was, gesturing. It was nice he was going to share his bath. She pulled off the dress and got in. It was wonderfully hot. Kythe got in behind her and sat before she could, so she turned around and sat on his lap, the water sloshing. She laughed, and then, after a long moment, he did, his body seeming to relax.

He leaned back, his arms around her, her toes coming out of the water and finding the edge of the tub. He was solid and strong, Indya touching his arms, squeezing them. He laughed again.

She felt him hold the earpiece to her ear. Her hair was floating all around them.

"I asked them to take you for a walk so you weren't trapped in the tent. I'm sorry Maga was rude to you. Etien says he's never seen anyone learn so quickly. He says he doesn't understand how you do it. What do you think of him? Answer me in Odien."

"He is good," she said.

"Is there anything you can't do?"

"Di," she replied, turning to look, switching to her language when he put the earpiece to his ear, facing forward. She'd been thinking how to ask him while she was by the river. "I don't understand something others here understand, and they know it and they think I'm stupid because I don't," she answered. "I don't understand why they treat me with contempt when they don't know me."

He sighed and put the earpiece to her ear. "Do your people aguinas?"

She turned and looked at him, shrugging.

"How do you know if a man and a woman are together?" He moved the earpiece to his own ear.

She shook her head, eyeing him. This was obvious. "We know they are together. We see them and speak to them and notice. How else, Kythe? Don't your people spend any time with each other?"

His mouth twitched, holding the earpiece to her ear. "What about children? How do you pass on your name?"

"What?" she said when he held it to his own.

He moved it to hers, thinking. "How do you give your name to your children?"

The earpiece went to his own ear. "How can I give another person my name when it only means me?" Indya said. This made no sense. "All of our names are different. I am Indya. My father is Ben. My mother is Tuole. My brother is Jae. You are Kythe. There is Maga over there with her crooked, sour face," she said, gesturing, Kythe laughing. "There is kind Etien."

Kythe brought the earpiece to her ear. "My name is Rí Kythe Vastil Norta-Vae. I am the son of Kah-Rí Ezil Aman Norta-Vae, and heir to Matise."

He drew the earpiece to his ear. She was quiet. It seemed like a lot to remember. "All right. Can I still call you Kythe?" she said.

He laughed under her. His sex was hard now. "Yes, alea. I would like that."

When he put the earpiece to his ear, she asked him. "Why don't they like me? How did I offend them?"

He sighed under her, shifting it. "They act like that because there's no anguinas between us. For them, it's shameful that we are having sex."

"Shameful?" she said when he put the earpiece near his own, her stomach dropping. "Shameful for me?"

He nodded.

"But not for you?"

He nodded.

"How do they know we're having sex?"

He gave another soft laugh, putting the earpiece near her ear. "There's not another reason for you to be here in my tent, alea." He put the earpiece near his ear.

She had turned to look at him, studying his face. "You knew this would happen?" she said.

He nodded.

"Then why did you have sex with me?"

He put the earpiece near her ear. "They don't matter. I wanted you, Indya," he said, nuzzling her.

She stood up, his arms falling away. He looked surprised, putting the earpiece in his ear.

Indya got out of the tub, turning to face him. "You shamed me in front of your people to indulge your desire?" she said. She was breathing fast. "I can't go home. My family is gone, everything I've ever known, my people. I have to live here among yours and you've made me into something contemptible to them so that you could have temporary pleasure?" She reached for her dress, putting it on. Her hands were shaking. "I won't stay in this tent with you to be a shamed person."

He was watching her. "Indya," he said, but he had the earpiece.

She looked at him, her eyes blurring. "I trusted you. I let you touch me. I don't care who is your father. I thought you were a good man," she flung at him. "You're a barbarian like the rest of them. My people could have come here. We went to live at the bottom of the sea because you were so primitive and violent. Now I know you're a cruel person. Keep my earpiece. You took it from me anyway, like it was yours, because you take things like everything belongs to only you. I don't want to understand what your terrible people are saying. You're the one who should be ashamed. I'm not a bad person."

"Indya," he said as she walked, and then went across the tent and to the door, pushing the flap open and running out. "Indya!" She began to run, her hair wet, in this awful garment and no shoes and this strange, muddy village. She was crying, people turning to look after her.

"S'edon se! S'edon!" a voice cried, Kythe's voice, and people's were running toward her, people's hands reaching for her. "Kel-a s'ada!"

Indya cried out, pushing them away, many hands all around her, holding her, and a man lifted her off her feet.

* * *

Indya was sitting on the ground inside a tiny room made of small thin trees. Her arms were around her knees, her hair everywhere, messy. Kythe came in. He brought her a blanket, setting it down. She didn't look at him.

He squatted in front of her, bringing the earpiece to her ear. "They think I should punish you for trying to escape," he said, bringing it to his own.

She turned and looked at him, her nose flaring. "Yes. I understand now, much better. I was always your prisoner. Of course these people want you to punish me. They're so insane that you could murder me in front of them and they would allow such a thing. Am I to be grateful for that, too? Are you going to first say, 'don't feel badly that I'm locking you in a wood box because I could punish you'? Then later you'll say, 'don't feel badly I'm punishing you because I could kill you'?"

He reached with the earpiece and she slapped it out of his hand. "Now I have been violent like a child and shamed myself," she said, turning back to the wall, knowing he wouldn't understand even if he knew the words she was saying.

* * *

All of them were working. She could see out of the tiny slits for air, hearing their voices. When they opened the door to give her food, she was ready, and she pushed past them and ran, ran as fast as she could, more mens' hands grabbing her, dragging her back.

* * *

In the morning, Kythe came in with another man, all the space filled with their bodies. She didn't look at either of them. Kythe offered her the earpiece. She ignored him. The man with Kythe came with rope and reached for her wrist. She cried out, snatching her wrist away. He grabbed it hard and she cried out again and then he tied the rope around it and then the other, bringing them together and looping, tying them tight. Indya looked down at them, her eyes getting bigger. She began to scream.

* * *

"Indya," Kythe was saying. "Indya."

She looked up at him, his face close, his hands on her arms. She looked down at her wrists. The rope was gone. Indya burst into tears, pulling away, turning her face to the wall.

* * *

She sang the asi, the clock hours, like the timetellers in Atlantis in the cool corridors of blue, although she didn't know the time anymore, running her hair through her hands.

* * *

"Hello, Indya," Etien said.

"Hello, Etien," she said, looking at him when he came in, sitting with her, their feet close.

"How are you?"

"I'm a prisoner, thank you," she said in her own language, looking away.

He pointed at the door. "Blest."

She closed her eyes, resting her head against the wall.

* * *

They brought food. She ignored it and they took it away. Her box moved. She bumped and rocked in the back of a flat wooden thing with wheels. They brought her more food. Later, they came and took it away.

Kythe opened the door. She blinked in the light. He came and squatted, holding out the earpiece.

She took it, putting it in her ear.

"I want you to come back to my tent," he said.

She took the earpiece out and dropped it on the ground, turning to the wall, closing her eyes.

They brought more food because Kythe told them to. When they brought her water, she spilled it. She lay down and slept.

* * *

They came to the new place these people wanted to live, working, making their home again. Nomads. She imagined they had put the women and children of their village somewhere else.

They brought food and took it away. They brought water and she spilled it. She slept and woke. Kythe opened the door. Her lips were dry, her tongue swollen. She blinked in the light.

He stepped back, holding it open, and then he gestured.

Indya got up, breathing fast. He was holding out the earpiece and a bag and his warm garment he'd given her when they met. She sidled past him without taking them or looking at him, her eyes darting, and ran, and nobody stopped her.

She ran until her breath was heaving, looking back sometimes. She found a river and got on her knees and drank and drank.

Indya walked in the woods. It got dark. She found a place, curled up and slept, cold.

When she woke, it was dawn. She wanted to sleep more, but she was thirsty. She went to the river and drank, and then she got up and walked.

In the afternoon, two men found her.

Indya tried to hide, but they saw her, following her. She ignored them, walking. One of them got in front of her. He was talking to her, but it wasn't in Edion, some other language, and she didn't have the earpiece. The men talked to each other, and then one of them reached to try to touch her arm and Kythe was there on his horse and they scattered like the first men, running.

She looked up at him, swaying. Then she turned, beginning to walk again.

He rode the horse beside her. "Indya," he said.

"You want me to go to your tent," she guessed, her voice dull. "You want me to stay with you and be shamed by your people in return for my safety, so I will hate both of us."

He pulled his horse in front of her, stopping her. "Idi," he said, holding out the earpiece.

She reached and took it, putting it in her ear.

"There is a tent for you in the camp," he said. "It's your own. Etien will come and teach you if you want to learn Odien. I will get clothing for you, pants and also uteles, the Matisi clothes for women. You will be safe, under my protection, but you don't have to have sex with me unless you want to. The earpiece is yours. I found it useful for people whose language I didn't know. I should have asked you before I took it."

She turned around, walking back the way she'd come.

He brought his horse next to her. "Ride with me, alea. It's too far to walk. And you love riding a horse."

She approached the horse and he got down, getting her in the saddle and getting on behind her. He pulled her against himself and she fell asleep.

Characters/Pronunciation Key:Characters/Pronunciation Key:

Ashka OSH-kuh

Danela Dan-ELL-uh

Disemond DIS-eh-mund

Etien EH-tee-en

Indya IN-dee-ah

Jae Jay

Kythe KYT-uh

Mavia MAH-vee-uh

Olavine OLE-ah-veen

Pavel PAH-vel

Saba SA-buh

Zozo ZO-zo

Alcon al-KONE

Chusa CHOOS-uh

Echtha EK-thuh

kah-rí kah-Ray

lí LAY

Matise MUH-tees

Metas MAY-tus

nah-lí nah-LAY

Odien O-dee-en

Revestin REV-es-tin

ri RAY

salvoronella SAL-vor-uh-nell-uh

Odien vocabulary in the novel, spoken by the Matisi

a for

actha cry

ackan this

aclan that

aclite ally, associate

ada hurt

aforna idiomatic. Literally: "It is buried," (you're welcome)

aguinas marriage

alti your

altzac famous, notorious

alzar residence of a ruler

amfal naked

aminehn mare, female horse

amuth dead

ana girl

andikstat rough sex, pain-pleasure

anespite spirit

anik sl. vulgar, a woman's sex

aonoi branches

apel stay

anik sl. a woman's sex, also a flower

arustin royalty

aurub/i breast/s

bertalis box

bihen bitch

blest door

canesh lively

cavril bed

corviti words

di yes

dovas that

dovas'na that is

duvat spy

edon stop

embraso scouting, looking around

ena is

enith come

eschdul flog, whip

esch whip

fa it

fata sl. vulgar. fuck

fater sl. vulgar. fucker

fatad sl. vulgar. fucked

fatada sl. vulgar. fucking

gatya table

hashta war

hask here

hucszak a million

i a, also plural

ictha have

idi no

illinis snow

inhain certain, sure

incinati pregnant

injeste dangerous

inth her

inust wrong

isilum alabaster

ishlino gossip

isjusi eyes

itha she

itsole rod for fishing

j'iven reflexive. Literally: My debt to you. (Thank you)

ivernestea superstitious

ja you

jeso play, a drama

kama care

kel do

kel-a don't

lanva/lanvi thigh/s

lelvjen risk, chance

lithindi betrothed

lokswela speak

luvre stringed instrument

maloren magic

modress a mixture, a mongrel

n'varin to me (reflexive)

ne me

nelta butt, ass

nepalak sl. piss-shit

nis my

nivenit/i nipple/s

noita witch

nuin here

nuvita woman

octal look

olakith intelligent

omish give

n'ondi sl. vulgar, reflexive. you are drawing me (making me want to come)

ondi draw out, evoke

osil chair

palik by surprise, unaware

poshte heavy

pula sl. cunt

reshu gelding

savoronella concubine

se her

shivist coffin

sikules skirmishes, small battles

slosting sl. masturbating

stook sl.vulgar, a man's sex

strivaka political body, senate

som what

somfata sl. what the fuck

sul good

sulika sulfer

tals sl. a woman's sex

tares hello

tola beauty

tolena beautiful

tos you

tunin what

ulta soft

ustadt whore

uteles dress from Matise

vesh at

wenins enchant, cast a spell upon