Infall Ch. 09 - END

Kythe got that strange look on his face like he was swallowing something that wanted to burst out of him and then he leaned in and kissed her.

She winced away, her hand going to her lip. "Don't, Kythe. It hurts. He really hit me hard."

"I'm so sorry, alea," Kythe said, cupping her face, still holding things back, looking like he wanted to laugh or yell or something, releasing his breath. "I don't know what to do with what I feel for you sometimes. We both get a little crazy with you. We will take you wherever you want to go in this world."

The tears came to her eyes again. "I wanted to see the ocean, Kythe. I wanted to see where they are, my people, my family, to feel near them again for a little time."

"Of course you did," Kythe said. "Forgive us, alea."

She sniffed, nodding, wiping her nose with her hand, and sniffed again, Zen getting her a handkerchief, on her other side now. "Thank you," she said, using it, nasal. "It's okay. I feel badly now. I think I overreacted, maybe. The substances in my blood from pregnancy sometimes make me a little emotional. " Indya looked up, sniffing again. Her eyes shifted between them. "What?"

"You don't want to go with us on the ship?" Kythe said.

She made a face at him. "Don't be stupid, of course I am going with you on the ship. I thought we settled that. I can't stay in Averdine, Kythe. Who did you marry? But I should have given you some time to figure that out and not reacted so quickly."

"How did Alons find you, nina?" Zen said. "Where is Saba?"

She stared at them, her mouth open a little, realizing. "You think I got Saba and left you? You think I'm incapable of learning? No, that disgusting man who was driving the carriage grabbed me and carried me from the stables. I was right there under his arm and I thought I was going to pass out from the smell. Poor Alen, Kythe. He is lying in the grass. Maybe he's dead and it's my fault because I was picking grass for Saba--"

"Listen to me, alea," Kythe said. "Murder doesn't have a chain. All the weight belongs to the person who does it. Picking grass for your horse didn't put a knife in someone's body. This person was waiting for you. It wasn't your fault."

She shuddered. "Then I was in the carriage with Alons, who was crazy and sweating and looking at me and breathing fast and his hands were shaking, although I'm sorry he died that way." She swallowed. "And he ripped my dress off and said those things and the carriage stopped and Zen was there. I'm sorry I couldn't say anything. I was really scared." She nodded, sniffing again. "Thank you, Zen, Kythe, for coming and finding me. You saved my life."

"We thought you had run from us again, nina," Zen said. "You left Zozo. We were ready to go to accompany the representative from Chusa, our horses saddled in front of the alzar, and Kythe said he had a bad feeling, and we returned to speak with you, but you'd left Zozo behind and disappeared. We went straight down the stairs and got on our horses without saying anything to our father and were halfway across the city before we realized we hadn't checked to see if Saba was even gone, but we were afraid you'd get too far ahead of us and we wouldn't find you. You said you were going to the ocean, so we went on the west road."

"Zen kept going when I stopped to talk to some people who were walking on the road," Kythe said, "to ask if they'd seen you, seen a woman riding a bay horse, but they'd only seen a carriage come through, and then I caught up to Zen and he had you."

"Zozo's got a hurt foot," she said. "I went to the stables to go for a ride on Saba because I was upset and that's when I was attacked terribly, in that brutal way."

Zen and Kythe glanced at one another, something passing between them.

"You can't pass out from the smell of an armpit, nina," Zen said, turning to her again.

"You can't, maybe," she said. "I almost went unconscious."

Kythe's mouth twitched and Zen grinned.

"I want to kiss you again, alea," Kythe said.

She winced, touching it. "You can't right now," she said. "My mouth is so sore and painful."

"I don't care," Zen said, leaning in.

She leaned back. "You will care," she said, "because kissing isn't the only thing I'll be too sore to do with my mouth for a time," she said, dabbing at it, feeling the flesh all mangled and opened and it hurt, stinging.

"You did not just say that to me," Zen said.

"Yes, I did. Is there something wrong with your hearing?"

They were both laughing for no reason when the villagers came to the door, a small knock. Zen went to the door, still laughing, opening it, taking the cold water. He stopped, seeing the shock on the faces of the villagers. "We just learned the lí is all right," Zen said. "There's no need for the healer. Thank you."

The man, Tom, at the door, deflated, nodding. "That's so good to hear, Rí."

"Will you arrange to have someone send a rider to our father telling him she's well, that she was retrieved safely from the man who took her and suffered no injury?"

"How can you say that to your father, lying?" Indya cried. "Have you seen what that man did to my face?"

"I'm sorry, nina. Tom," Zen revised. "Please tell our father that the Lí says she was struck in the face in a brutal way and is injured with a swollen lip and bruising around her mouth, but otherwise, she is well."

"I will do so, Ri," Tom the sheriff said, nodding.

"I think my mouth is cut on the inside," Indya added, swallowing, turning to Kythe, feeling herself sway. "I think I tasted blood, a little. I don't feel so good, Kythe."

"Don't think about it, alea. Come here," he said, tilting her chin, Indya feeling teary again, his voice full of sympathy. "Let me look at it. There. Yes, I see an abrasion that caused some bleeding and there is swelling and discoloration."

"I understand," Indya said, speaking in a small voice. "Do you think I will be scarred for life?"

Zen looked away sharply.

She met his eyes and Kythe looked back at her with a strange and flat expression. "No, alea," he said, his voice oddly even, his breathing deep. "It will heal."

Her eyes searched his face. He was hiding something. "Are you sure?"

Kythe nodded, still with that same strange serene expression, Zen going and facing the wall, doing something with something at the table, his shoulders high and tense.

"Are you all right, Zen? I'm okay," she said.

"Yes, nina," he said, turning in profile and nodding. "I'm fine."

"Congratulations, Rí," Tom the sheriff said from the doorway, the man smiling and nodding at Kythe then at Zen, who turned, breathing. "If I may say so, on the coming child."

"I didn't tell you that," Zen said, walking to the door.

"Not directly, Rí," Tom said, "but most things don't get said directly around here anyway. Even predictions of weather are a rumor."

Zen leaned against the doorway, crossing his arms. "The whole village knows the lí is with child now, don't they?"

Tom nodded. "Probably, Rí, but if there's anyone left who don't, they will soon. Once it reaches a certain number of people, you know it'll be to Averdine by the morning and burn through the city in about an hour. Karl tried, but the walls have ears in this place."

"Well. At least we don't have to announce it," Zen said, sour.

"There's that, Rí," Tom agreed, smiling and nodding. "I always say it's smart to look on the good side of a thing. And the Lí is safe. There's that to be grateful for."

"Thank you so much, Tom," Indya said. "I was scared. You've been kind, and this is your home."

"Of course you were scared, Lí," Tom said, not looking at her and smiling in her general direction, his face turning red and then his ears so red they went purple, but he gave no sign of it, that same smile. "A terrible thing."

Indya stared at Tom, wondering about seizures. His eyes wandered aimlessly.

"I'm sorry," Indya leaned to Kythe to say under her breath. "Is he blind?"

"No, Indya," Kythe leaned in to whisper. "You're in bed."

She looked at Kythe, her eyes roaming his face. "What don't I understand?" she said.

"I'll tell you in a few minutes," Kythe said.

"All right."

"Well. I was able to find this and we--I'm just going to put it here, Rí," Tom said, coming into the room and walking while staring at a spot in the corner of the room, trying to navigate with a dress in his hand. He put it on the table and retreated to the door in the same bizarre manner.

"Thank you, Tom," Indya said.

He smiled at a lamp. "Of course, Lí," he said, leaving, closing the door behind himself.

She turned to Kythe. "I don't understand. What happened?"

"You're nude in his bed, Indya," Zen answered. "It's his way of showing respect in an awkward situation, not to look at you."

"I still don't understand. This makes no sense to me. At least try to explain it to me."

"In the bed is where people have sex," Zen said like it was so obvious.

"No, it's where people sleep," Indya said, losing patience. "I don't sleep against the wall. I don't sleep in the kitchens. I don't sleep on the rug. I don't sleep outside. I don't sleep in the bathroom or in the tub. But I have had sex with you in all of those places in the last week and still, I only sleep in my bed. Are there any circumstances that would be acceptable, where this man could say," Indya said, altering her voice, making it deeper, "'There's no chance of anyone having sex in this particular place, so it's safe and here I can look her in the face when I speak to her'?"

Kythe snorted laughter, Zen joining, both of them looking away, their shoulders shaking.

"This is how it sounds to me," Indya said, feeling cross, raising her voice to be heard over their laughter. "You tell me where I'm wrong, Kythe. Why is that funny?"

"You had sex with her in the kitchens?" Zen said to Kythe. "You didn't tell me this."

Kythe shrugged one shoulder. "It was spontaneous. There was a closet and she needed a spanking. Here, alea," Kythe said. "Lie back so I can put a cold cloth on your mouth. It won't hurt so much."

"All right," she said, lying back. She winced as he touched it and then it did feel better. "Thank you both for finding me." She felt tears threaten again, a little. "Poor Alen."

"I know, alea," Kythe said. "Maybe they just hit him over the head. We'll find out as soon as we get home."

Zen came and took her hand.

"Indya," Kythe said delicately. "Zen and I would like to talk to you a little about your overreaction."

"We can talk about mine if we can talk about yours," Indya said. "I get abducted and attacked and taken from my home and you think I've run away from you to have sex with other men?"

"She's got us there," Zen said, looking away.

* * *

Indya put the hefty child on her hip, the boy's feet in thick white woolen socks and his thick white woolen hat and his fat, ruddy cheeks and solemn expression, both of them coming out of their cabin. "Kythe!" she said, waving, the baby's remarkable green eyes, deep as the sea, blinking in the crisp sunlight coming off the water, the wind blowing.

Kythe saw them and walked over, grinning. "Hello, beautiful boy," he said, grabbing the child from her and tossing him carelessly into the air, the child laughing.

"He's not a bag for potatoes," Indya cried.

"Sack, alea," Kythe said, laughing as the child did.

Indya grabbed her son back, the child still shrieking with laughter, small fists finding her hair, pulling it in every direction like the tentacles of a deep-sea octopus creature. "Ow! You violent child. I think this one is Zen's."

"They are twins, Indya."

"I told you. You and Zen were one seed and one egg splits and makes two babies the same. Moshe and Anso are two eggs and two seeds separate."

"It doesn't matter, alea," Kythe said, smiling at his son. "She's just mad because she did what I told her to for once."

She sent him a glance. "I still think Moshe is yours because he bites me and you like to bite me," Indya said, smelling at the baby and making a face. "You were just clean. I think you did that when your father throws you in the air and scares it from you."

"I don't bite you," Kythe said, smiling a slow smile, his eyes going to her body. "I could bite you."

"You do bite me. Whenever we play the chase-and-catch game for sex, you like to bite my inner thighs and butt," Indya said, Kythe's gaze getting interested. "And my breasts and belly. You don't bite me hard. I like it. I like how Zen plays it, too."

Kythe's eyes narrowed. "Zen plays chase-and-catch with you?"

"All the time, if you're not there," Indya said. "It's his favorite."

Kythe came closer to her, leaning in. "How does he play it, alea?"

"Where is my son?" Zen demanded, crossing the deck and grabbing the baby from her and tossing him carelessly into the air.

"Be careful, Zen," Indya cried, the child laughing. "He's not a sack."

"Don't worry, I won't throw him overboard for fishing bait again, nina," Zen said, laughing and pulling the baby close.

"I wouldn't do that," Indya said.

Zen's sniffed and his head drew away sharply, holding the child dangling at arm's length, the boy beaming at him.

Indya and Kythe both stepped back a little.

"I could smell that even in a strong wind," Zen said. "It's a good thing we don't have to hunt with them. Where is the other son who smells better?"

"Moshe is with Anila because all night he's making his farts and he's foul as thunderclouds," Indya said.

Anso agreed, his knees coming up, blatting, the sound wet.

"Indya says she thinks that one is your seed that grew in an egg and now I agree," Kythe said.

Zen pulled the child close again, who grabbed Zen's braid, tugging, violent. "You are a warrior, young Anso, and you smell like one," Zen told him. "I'll take you to the nurse and get the other one."

"I want the other one," Kythe said, following him.

"You can have this one after he's changed," Zen said.

"I get whichever is first."

"All right."

Indya went to the rail, her hair in a braid but escaping with the wind, looking at the great ruins in the distance. Behind their boat, staggered, were three boats full of Matisi soldiers. They went on a turn in the river and Indya leaned and waved at the boats, the men sending up a chorus of hails. When the wind died, she would go to the stern and sing them rowing songs in Edion, Zen teaching her more when Kythe wasn't paying attention.

Danela was on the ship, the young woman coming to Indya in her straightforward way and asking if she could. Indya had been delighted, and Danela had her own room and was filling it with sketches of things she saw in their travels. For the first time, Kythe and Zen had been treated to her quiet and dry wit, Danela relaxing with their family, the cabin filled with laughter when she came to supper.

Olavine had cried on Indya's shoulder a little, but brightened when Indya promised to bring her things from her travels, her friend coming up with a list of requests.

Mavia had been more difficult. Indya had hugged her, and then hugged her again, Josef very proper not far, Indya crying a little. Mavia was continuing her backward aging, and looked even younger than she had a year ago. Indya knew it was because Mavia was happy.

"Why are you crying? I'm not that old, child," Mavia had said a little irritably. "You don't have to worry about coming back and finding me in my grave."

Indya had laughed, wiping at her tears. "I didn't think that. You will live over a hundred years, Mavia."

"I don't want to live that long," Mavia said, making a face at her.

"I will miss you so much, that's all. I know Josef is patient with me, taking you away from him all the time. He will take good care of you while I'm gone."

"I'm sure he will," Mavia said, glancing at him, who glanced back at her, a ghost of a smile.

"He likes you very much, I think," Indya leaned in to say. "You give him a kiss for me."

Josef had smiled a little more behind her to hear Mavia's laughter.

"The things you say, child."

#

After a time, Indya felt a warm, large body behind her, and she didn't need to feel his knuckles on her cheek to know it was Kythe.

"I am so excited to see the ruins, Kythe," she said.

"I'm glad we're together, alea," he said. "We worry, but this is how it should be, our family together."

"I am happy to be here with you."

"Are you going to tell me what they were?" Kythe said, pointing at the huge city. "The transparent tunnels that go everywhere into the air and all around the cities? Do you know? Are they for wind?"

"No, although it was a good guess. They were for travel, Kythe. It was the same in Atlantis. Long carriages without horses, powered by the sun, would take people as fast as thought to places inside the city, and even from one city to another."

Kythe laughed. "Truly? No horses?"

"Like a carriage with no horses, yes," Indya said. "Seats for passengers."

Zen came, Kythe moving over and his hand coming around her waist from one side, Kythe's her other side. "No horses where?" Zen said.

"I asked Indya what the tunnels were for and she says it was for carriages with no horses," Kythe said. "I would miss the horses."

Indya's eyes roamed all around the ruins. "I don't think I could repair the...lightning chains," she mused, no way to really describe electrical grids.

"Lightning chains," Kythe echoed.

Her eyes lit. "But I might be able to bring power to devices on sun..." she said, her eyes going up, "storage." Indya said. Solar batteries were another difficult thing to explain.

"Power. Sun storage," Zen said.

"Yes. Maybe I can find a simple library with...moving pictures and we would know more." Holograms were going to startle them, but she could make them work, she thought.

"Moving pictures," Kythe said.

She turned her head, seeing it, the door opening and the boys there, one for each nurse, Ashka coming out first. Ashka began to make his way straight for Zen with single-minded purpose, a sane, sedate pace, halfway across the deck when Zozo emerged from the cabin last, careening, brushing by one nurse and then another, lurching, his paws crossing each other.

"Zozo, you crazy dog!" Indya cried.

Arriving, Zozo attempted to reverse and then crashed into Ashka, who gave a growling yip and snapped at him, Ashka, in turn, crashing into Kythe.

Kythe staggered and put his hand on her arm to steady her, his other on the rail, looking behind himself. "Zen, control the fatada dogs!"

END

Thanks for reading, everyone.

Characters/Pronunciation Key:

Ashka OSH-kuh Zen's dog

Danela Dan-ELL-uh Indya's friend

Disemond DIS-eh-mund engineer for the kah-rí

Etien EH-tee-en a man from Jassa

Indya IN-dee-ah Woman from Atlantis

Jae Jay Indya's brother

Kythe KYT-uh A rí of Matise

Mavia MAH-vee-uh Indya's friend

Olavine OLE-ah-veen Indya's friend

Pavel PAH-vel Indya's would-be lover on Atlantis

Saba SA-buh Indya's horse

Zen Zen a rí of Matise

Zozo ZO-zo Indya's dog

Alcon al-KONE language spoken on Atlantis

Chusa CHOOS-uh Eastern people, Chusans

Echtha EK-thuh large coastal realm on southern coast, allies to Matise

kah-rí kah-Ray King of Matise

lí LAY the wife of the prince of Matise

Matise MUH-tees A realm on the coast, the largest in the region

Metas MAY-tus the planet's name before the flare

nah-lí nah-LAY the intended of the prince of Matise

Odien O-dee-en language spoken in Matise

Revestin REV-es-tin travelers, wandering people

ri RAY prince

salvoronella SAL-vor-uh-nell-uh The rí's concubine in Matise

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