THREE HUNDRED SIX

Jump Aboard

An unusual tableau greeted Lind-otta that afternoon when she entered the room. Stu-art’h, with his mouth clamped shut and a tattoo kit still in hand, was purple as a frightened lacefin. Alden stood between him and Esh as if he sought to wall them off from each other with nothing but his body and some fast talking.

And Esh was amused and intrigued, thrilled and overeager. A little too likely to break down the wall and smack the lacefin with an oar.

Getting to the parts of the story the boys were trying to be stingy with wouldn’t be worth the loss of their trust afterward, Lind knew.

Slower, Esh. Gentler.

It was what she thought. And it was how she walked over to sit beside him. And it was her who was him, leading their dance for a single step so that when the young human said, “Stu figured out some of the contract’s contents on his own, then he put Ro-den in a place where lying wasn’t an option. Everything just went well from there,” Esh didn’t insist on knowing more for what would have been the third or fourth time.

“Fine,” Esh said, falling back into a lounging position on the sofa. “If you two want to be secretive about what you did to persuade him, I’ll assume the obvious. Stu-art’h must have beaten proper behavior into him with a tree branch while Alden threw the imported fruit.”

He made an effort for them. Lind felt an urge to pry into them herself when both Stu-art’h and Alden tensed at the remark about the branch and fruit. What exactly had they done?

“I’m relieved to know you’re free of obligations to him,” Esh said. “Was there anything under that contract you had with him that needs to be re-contracted with a more trustworthy person?”

Alden slowly relaxed. “Oh… ” He looked toward his friend.

“We can take care of something like that together if we need to,” Stu-art’h said after a moment.

“I think we’re fine,” Alden agreed. “Thank you, Esh-erdi.”

“You can call me Esh,” he said. “We have matching tattoos now, after all.”

The human brightened. “Esh!”

“Let me see your arm, Alden,” said Lind. “I’m curious.”

He came over to show her the mark. She looked with more than her eyes. The tattoo was well done. Alden’s self was wholly quiescent in response to her brief observation. Not unexpected for an Avowed, merely a noticeable contrast to his eagerness to use Esh’s name and explain to her how the waves on the tattoo would remind him of her.

She imagined he’d give her a charming greeting if he knew how to.

******

“They left in a rush,” Esh grumbled as they stood at the door, watching the boys stride down to the dock.

“They’ve been here since just after sunrise,” Lind said.

“Sleeping for most of that time! And then waking up to tease me with hints about what they did to Worli Ro-den. What about the contract do you think Stu-art’h figured out on his own? And how does one put a wizard like that in a place where lying isn’t an option? Aren’t you curious?”

“Terribly. But you’d be sad instead of satisfied if you’d made them tell you more than they wanted to.”

A flyer was landing to pick up Stu-art’h and Alden.

“They look out for each other,” said Esh.

“That chat you had with Stu-art’h before Alden woke eased your mind.”

“Some. He has a long way to go down his own path.” Esh placed his hand on the crack in the wall by the door. “I doubt there’s anything to ease his father’s mind these days. My sympathy to the demons waiting beyond the seal. Jeneth might not leave any of them for the rest of us.”

******

******

“I can’t believe they let us get away.” Alden had melted onto the flyer bench. The vehicle was on its way to the summonarium where he and Esh-erdi had arrived yesterday. From there, Stuart would go back to Artona III and school. “You told him you threatened Ro-den.”

“I told him Ro-den was unharmed,” Stuart protested.

“You have to know that implies harm could’ve happened. It sounded so suspicious. And then you turned the purplest while I was trying to reassure him that everything was taken care of and should stay our private business. How did you trick Ro-den at all with a face like that?”

“Nothing that happened with Ro-den was embarrassing,” Stuart said. “Not for me. He was the one whose shameful behavior and deceptions made my efforts against him necessary. Watching you struggle to hide secrets from Esh-erdi, knowing those secrets were only at risk because I spoke a few words too many, was much worse.”

He still wasn’t back to his usual color.

“That’s great of you in a way,” Alden said after a moment. “Ro-den’s expression would be something to see if we told him that a few awkward words in front of Esh were much more trouble for you than the blood-spilling, house-building, ancient ritual trap you came up with for him.”

“I didn’t blush at all when Esh-erdi asked me about your skill earlier. I wish you had heard me then. I kept your secrets well.”

Alden’s hands gripped the cushioned edge of the seat. “When did that happen?”

“Before you woke,” said Stuart. “He gave me an opportunity to ask him questions, as a declared to a knight. Afterward, he wanted to know some things about your skill. What my opinion of it was, and whether or not it was satisfactory to you for now. He also asked if my family and I intended to advise you about your options for future bindings.”

“What did you say?”

“That you and I have spoken much about your skill and that you have my help. He wanted to be sure I would use his name on your behalf if it would make anything simpler for you. He considers the possibility of you wanting uncommon talents or work placements in coming years, and he said if he and Lind-otta were away, their votaries and others close to them would know you had their support.”

“I’m lucky those two wanted to take a look around Earth for their esvulgivnas.”

Stuart nodded.

“I hope they don’t regret any of this when they find out what I actually need their support for, though. It’s going to be a little bit more than just helping the Ryeh-b’t get a decent skill and a good job.”

******

When they landed at the summonarium, they saw a group of knights who Alden thought were around Stuart’s age teleporting away together. They were all in uniform, and he caught a glimpse of supplies; but they were gone too quickly for him to notice more than that.

“Do you think those were some of the new knights who’ve been camping out around here?” he asked.

“No. I recognized a few. They’ve been knights for a couple of years, so they don’t need camping practice. They’re probably here for the training fields.”

Several seconds later, the summonarium around them sounded with a series of chimes, and half the pavilion’s floor was suddenly outlined with double bands of orange light. Alden’s interface warned him not to cross them.

“Something large is about to pass through,” Stuart said, stopping to watch the outlined space.

Even though the large object arrived five meters away from them, and it wasn’t covered by anything that looked like packaging, Alden wasn’t sure what he was seeing.

It was big, most of it was reflective, and it was folded or stacked in layers. Like a shiny lasagna larger than Esh-erdi’s house.

“A world keeper.” Stuart sounded mildly interested.

Alden’s own interest was more than mild once he’d heard the lasagna’s impressive name.

“Do you see world keepers every other day? And how do they keep worlds? I feel like that thing might deserve more respect than you’re giving it if that’s its function.”

A light, bubbling laugh burst out of Stuart, and he smiled up at the top of the world keeper. “How much respect?”

“A world’s worth I guess.”

“Then how much should I give you?” The world keeper teleported on to wherever its next destination was, and rust-colored eyes turned to Alden. “What that object does, your skill can do. And it doesn’t have a measure-worthy fraction of your potential.”

Alden blinked. He didn’t see how the thing could bear burdens, and with a name like world keeper…

“It preserves something. An area?”

“You saw how the chaos spread on Thegund. A world keeper can be placed ahead of expanding corruption to preserve a small part of a region that’s on the verge of being overtaken. Then the area contained within the world keeper can be used as a starting place for restoring the surrounding environment. It’s easer that way. Many magics rely on some part of nature being as it should. World keepers can also be used as storehouses when there isn’t a patch of uncorrupted planet nearby. That which hasn’t yielded to the chaos yet can be gathered in the keeper until someone with the ability to make use of it is available.”

Alden looked at the spot where the world keeper had just been. “How big of an area does it preserve?”

“That one would probably expand to encompass four of these summonariums, but they’re only used to protect the maximum area if the chaos isn’t too bad. The worse it gets, the less they keep safe. And they’re not usually taken to places where they’re expected to break down rapidly. It would be a rare situation to use one to protect a very small spot for a single day.”

So that’s one way my skill might be used in the future. If I can learn to preserve a chunk of world somehow.

Alden filed that away for later consideration.

“Jozz’s skill,” he said. “It protects an area, too.”

“Whisperer of Refuge can be used in a similar way to a world keeper,” Stuart replied. “The refuge isn’t preserved as your skill preserves things, but he can keep the environment healthy. The refuge also hides him from demons. Others can use it as a base or as the kind of starting place for restoration I just mentioned. Jozz, Sina, and the sameface twins would have been a very effective team.”

I think it’s all right to mention this time. “You’ve never told me her skill.”

Stuart blinked. “Sina’s? I must have.”

“Not yet. I’ve wondered.”

“Returning Guardblade. She was more powerful against enemies and obstacles that stood between her and what she was going to protect. So Jozz would have used the illusions he’s been learning to slip through dangerous territory and establish his refuge, and Sina would have cut a path through to him. She told me I’d be one of the people she most wanted to guard, so I could be sure she’d always make it back home to me no matter how far she traveled…and she did come back home.”

A good skill. It sounds like they’d have been a great team. I can see how wanting to cut toward something runs in the family. Alden ran through a few possible comments, but they all sounded off in his head.

“Thanks for telling me.”

“Of course. What are you going to do for the rest of your weekend?”

“I’m going to go play with the Yatanger triangle as soon as you teleport to LeafSong.”

Stuart sighed.

“Leave your messages on during class,” said Alden, giving him an existential fist bump. “I’ll send you pictures with no explanations. I hope Eeaner-ket hasn’t done anything too bad to your room when you get back.”

“If he’s done anything at all to my room it’s too bad.”

“Be strong. Sounds like I’ll see you Friday. And don’t worry about me. I  might just go to the pitcherhouse again so that they start to think of me as more than a one-time visitor. Then when most of the Rapport goes to sleep…I’m probably going to ask Esh to help me sort of not commit a crime on Earth.”

“Sort of not commit a crime. On Earth.” Stuart repeated the words slowly. “What does that mean?”

“My friends in Chicago don’t have school today either. And if an Avowed appears in the basement of an Artonan consulate, has he really trespassed on American soil? I don’t think so. I should talk to Boe about a few things, and our long distance communication hasn’t been easy lately. This will be good.”

******

As soon as Stuart was gone, Alden took a seat at the edge of the pavilion’s floor, facing the river. He was looking forward to an in-person visit with Boe and Jeremy, even if it was only for a few hours in a windowless room below a building.

He’d meet up with Boe first, since Boe needed to get shit off his chest. Alden would tell him what he’d learned from Esh-erdi about Uniques, and they’d both laugh about the Earth System’s attempts to make them form a contract about it. Alden could hear him out about whatever he wanted.

That outburst he had about being left behind and being someone whose best is  wrong…

He won’t want to rehash that, but there are other things.

Him being an empath doesn’t suck during serious conversations. When it comes to some of what he’s pissed off or worried about, he can read me, and he’ll know I care. And he’ll see for himself that I’m a million times better than I was the last time we were in the same room. He’ll realize he can dump some of his problems on me now if he needs to.

He knows what I’m going for in life. I know how he ended up a U-type and why he couldn’t tell me all about it.

We can just stop being weird to each other.

And then they’d eat diner food. Or Mexican food. Or both.

Jeremy would love to bring both as long as he’s not busy with Kimberly.

“Call Boe,” he said, watching a barge pass right in front of him without paying much attention to it. “And send him a text message, too. ‘For one day only, coming to a consulate near you! Don’t miss out. Pick up your phone even though it’s not a phone call, frog lover.’”

He waited.

The call wasn’t answered quite as fast as he’d expected, and Boe didn’t turn on video when he did.

“Hey. When are you coming?” He was short of breath.

“Hey! I was thinking this afternoon. A few hours from now. But anytime today is fine. I’m currently on Artona I, and my host for the weekend can send me to Earth without even snapping his fingers. What if I stay out of sight in the consulate? Downstairs in that room I left from when I got summoned the first time? You and I could visit, and then let Jeremy know to swing by.”

“Does it have to be today?”

“No…but I was going to tell you I found out…no. It’s fine to do it another day if you’re busy. Are you busy?”

“I am. Kind of. Yes”

“Okay. I should’ve known you might be.”

Should I have known he might be busy, though? Jeremy might be busy. I thought of that. He does things on the weekends. Boe…would usually be at home watching anime right now.

“What are you doing?” He’s out of breath. “Why are you breathing hard? You don’t exercise. Are you on a mission? You’re doing a mission! You didn’t call me.”

“I’m not doing a mission. This is unrelated to our agreement and your savior antics.”

“Did you get a part-time job moving heavy boxes? Are you being chased by Sharon? Why don’t you have video on?”

The pause was long. Alden started to wonder if he really was being chased.

“Boe? You good?”

“I’m about to make you eat your words, asshole.” A video window opened. “What does this look like to you?”

Boe was somewhere flat and seemingly rural. He spun to give Alden a view of the area around him. A couple of inches of snow covered the ground. Boe’s footprints seemed to have come from a distant tree line. He was dressed for cold weather in a gray and black runner’s set so new it looked like it should still have the tags on it. His knitted hat and scarf weren’t present.

“Are you still in Illinois?” asked Alden.

“I am. But it’s a long way back to the consulate by car. And it’ll take me even longer to get back to where I left the car on foot. I came out here for a run, which you may understand is a form of…?”

“Exercise?” Alden said.

“That’s right. I, too, can exercise. I also wanted to test myself physically. If I punch a log in the middle of nowhere, I don’t have to worry about people screaming, ‘Look! A supervillain!’. And it’s relaxing. Someone’s been encouraging me to think about my future. That’s easier while I move my legs.”

He’s in nature. He’s giving himself some peace and quiet away from the emotional noise. He’s thinking about what I said.

This is…fantastic.

“Sounds like an awesome weekend!” Alden grinned at him. “We can meet up when it’s better for you. Take your time. Move legs. Think thoughts. Call me if you get lonely out there. Otherwise, I’ll leave you to it.”

“Yeah,” said Boe. “Sorry I’m out of town when you finally got a chance to be in town.”

“It’s fine. I’m on the Triplanets often enough that more opportunities to sneak into Gorgon’s basement will come my way.”

Learning about U-types had made him want to talk to Boe as soon as possible, but the knowledge wouldn’t go stale if it waited a little longer. Boe taking care of himself and pondering what came next instead of calling himself a scumbag and freaking out about Alden’s life was exactly what should be happening.

Boe ended the call.

Maybe when I see him in a week or two the weird will just be over. We’ll say a couple of things that have to be said and get straight to the part where we hang out.

What to do today, though?

He liked watching river traffic enough to stay where he was for a while, and being in a summonarium had its own appeal. None of the shipments that came through were as large as the world keeper, but trying to guess what everything was before it was gone again was a good way to pass time.

No other people appeared, though, and he did intend to do everything he could to carve his way into Rapport III a little more before he left. Sitting by the river wasn’t good enough. Maybe he’d go show off his skill somehow. The gardeners keeping his birth tree alive might have a use for him if he went there and offered to help with their chores.

I can at least check.

He stood up, preparing to call a flyer, but then a confusing sight coming down the river caught his eye. It seemed to be riding on the surface of the water, but it was made of a substance he’d never seen before. From this distance, it looked like a boat formed from small moving particles.

Alden waited so he could observe the new magic; he ended up seeing something he was already familiar with instead.

The moving particles he’d thought were a fascinating enchanted material turned out to be vathas. Thousands. Mostly brown and white and faded pink, they covered what would have been a very sleek-looking vessel without them. Alden caught glimpses of a glittery silver hull, a sharply pointed bow, and a back deck where even the furniture was hidden by the animals.

The ones that weren’t resting quietly on the boat were crawling all over it or fluttering around it in a cloud.

Moth ship. I don’t know if I like it, or if it’s disturbing. Why are they all on one boat? In the daytime?

An answer hit him as the boat was passing under the section of the summonarium’s roof that stretched over the water.

“Bithe!” he shouted. “Hello! Is that you?”

He wondered if that had been the right move. Before he could decide to regret it, an oval window near the top of the boat opened and a hand stuck out. It swiped at a vatha, and the whole flock of them suddenly fluttered away from the ship. But drunkenly, like they didn’t know how to use their wings.

An unfamiliar Artonan face popped out of the window. Pale pinkish brown hair was held on top of the person’s head by a metallic red net. “He’s here! Who’s calling him?”

“Alden Thorn,” said Alden, running along the edge of the summonarium to keep up. “I just saw the vathas, and I thought he might—”

“The human!” exclaimed the person he didn’t know. “Bithe, it’s the human you met!”

“Don’t kick us!” someone else who didn’t sound like Bithe shouted from inside the boat.

“Jump aboard now, if you can! I wanted to meet you!”

“Seth, we’re supposed to be planning.”

“You wanted to meet him, too! I’ll open the door for you, Alden Thorn! I’ll get rid of these so that you don’t step on them.”

The hand swiped at another passing vatha, and they all burst away from the boat again. The way they were flying wasn’t natural at all. The edge of the cloud had reached Alden this time, and the vathas seemed to be flapping and floating simultaneously. One bumped into his chest and then drifted off to his right.

The head disappeared from the window, and then the whole person attached to it was dashing onto the deck to beckon him eagerly with both arms. “Come on! Can you make it? Hurry!”

Alden had had so much jumping practice. He knew he could make it from the edge of the summonarium into the moving boat, but only if he leaped in the next few seconds. And only if he used his trait.

A few seconds wasn’t a lot of time to figure out what he was getting himself into. There were a thousand moths whirling around him and a very welcoming person telling him to hurry.

“Say you entrust me with my bag!” he called, targeting the Artonan.

“Why? Sure! I entrust you with your bag.”

Alden jumped. Just right. He soared over the water, through the swirling vathas, and landed exactly where he’d meant to in front of the person who’d invited him over.

“Hn’tyon Seth-wereft,” she said.

Alden bowed.

A knight. She was female. Almost the entire back of the burgundy robe she wore was open as she turned to the door of the cabin again, so it wasn’t hard to tell. Subtle stripes and wide hips.

“Come in and get away from Bithe’s followers,” she said. “Bithe, you were trying so hard to be attractive that you almost sank us under vathas! I’ve never seen so many in one place!”

Bithe was being attractive? Alden flicked his eyes over Seth-wereft’s back again. Her outfit wasn’t that different from what a few people had been wearing at the pitcherhouse last night, but the possibility that multiple aliens were in the boat trying to be attractive for each other made him stop shy of the door.

“What are you all doing out here on the river today, Hn’tyon Seth-wereft?” he asked.

“We ran into trouble on our training quest this morning, so we’ve taken a break to rest and come up with a new plan. Did any of you see Alden Thorn jump? It was quite good! If you’d jumped like that earlier, you wouldn’t have been injured, Tilliver.”

Seth was the name of one of Emban’s squadmates, wasn’t it?

Alden followed Seth-wereft in and looked around. Another young knight in uniform was sitting at a green oval table, studying a three-dimensional map of a rocky hillside.

“How many times do I have to apologize for that jump?” he asked.

“At least a few more once Emban gets back,” said Seth-wereft. “She told you to wait for her to help.”

A narrow door on the other side of the table folded aside like a fan to reveal a bedroom. Bithe was behind it, and a second person was following him, trying to sort out a brown braid that had come undone.

“What if we ask for equipment this time?” said the one working on their braid, heading toward a chair with a pink knight’s coat draped over the back. “Going unequipped might have been too risky for this one.”

“Hello, Alden,” Bithe said. “It’s such a happiness to have you here. How is Konstantin Roberts? I should think of you both more than I do. Have you brought Stu-art’h? Oh, is Emban with you?”

He looked hopefully toward the door with one eye and focused on Alden with the other as he pulled out a chair at the table.

Mystery solved, thought Alden as he let Bithe motion him into the chair. The knight who’d blown up at him beside the o’odee pasture patted him on both shoulders as he sat and spent thirty seconds encouraging everyone else to notice Alden’s new tattoo. Then he hurried over to the door to search for Emban, even though Alden and Seth-wereft both said she wasn’t there. He’s mellow.

Artonan guys got bondy and placid after sex. Way more so than humans. It could be a powerful social tool. And a risky one.

The women of their species could achieve a similar bondy state, but most of them had to do more to get to that point naturally. These days, they could take drugs to kick it off if they wanted it, or they could just enjoy the heightened energy that came before mellowing instead.

“Do you know about training quests, Alden Thorn?” asked Seth-wereft. “No? Probably not. I’ll fill you in, and then you can tell us all about what you and Emban’s cousin did after our squadmates left their Here-to-There, and then you can help us with our plan!”

“Why would this Ryeh-b’t who was going about his own day suddenly want to be involved in planning how we get up a hill infested with <<mock>> demons?” asked Tilliver, rotating the map by waving a finger. “You need to be careful not to pressure people while you’re hyper, Seth.”

Seth-wereft frowned. “That’s true.”

Alden sat up straighter as he sensed a threat to this chance that had fallen into his lap. Emban wasn’t here yet. These guys were nice. And they were knights actively training at this very moment for Goldbush.

“Emban says he’s interested in lab work,” said Tilliver. “He might have been on his way to—”

“I don’t care about labs,” Alden said, leaning toward the map. “I apologize for interrupting, Hn’tyon Tilliver. I’m just so excited about hearing what you’ve planned. I’m very interested in how knights fight chaos.” He touched his commendation. Look at it. See. Alis-art’h approves of me. “I have nothing else to do today, and I’d be fascinated to hear how you train. I won’t add much to your conversation, but I’ll be careful not to get in the way.”

“Of course you won’t get in the way,” Bithe said. “Alden saved us from such a horrible situation on the Here-to-There.”

“See, Tilliver?” said Seth.

Tilliver shrugged. “I don’t care if you stay. If the vathas carry us into the sky, grab onto Seth. She’ll save you.”