SKENE: CHAPTER EIGHT

This is draft one of my sci-fi novel Skene. To read earlier chapters, go to LABELS in the right-hand column on this page, scroll down to the Skene tags and click on the one you want to read. Skene is set on a human-habitable planet in the Alhena star system at least 500 years in the future. There's a considerable amount of appendix material and diagrams also available here as needed:
NEW: Skene Map: Beras
Skene Glossary (Skenish to English)
Skene Cast of Characters
Skene Culture, Calendar, Clothing, and Islands
Map of All Skene
Map of Riesig (the main island)
Map of The Manage on Riesig
Map of The Lofthall on Riesig

CHAPTER EIGHT

Dinner was Yerush's hearty cabbage soup with salt pork and potatoes in it, with sides of roasted beets and steamed kale. Halling finished her bowl first and went to get a second helping from the pot on the stove. As she sat back down, Bux said with a grin "We'll need to keep the bedroom door open tonight", nodding her head at Halling's soup. "For ventilation."

"Hey" protested Halling.

"Let's just hope it's her alone in her sinner tomorrow" added Yoj.

Halling was beginning to turn red, but Veida leaned toward her and said sotto voce "Don't feel bad, Qen has the same reaction. Sometimes I wake up thinking it's hailing, and then I smell it -- "

"That's enough said Yerush. "We're at the table, and besides, that's my soup you're maligning."

"Not maligning, emma" said Bux, giggling. "It's too good to resist."

Halling pointed her spoon at Bux and began "Yeah well at least I never cut loose during -- "

"Enough!" said Yerush. They all resumed eating in a subdued manner until Qen lifted herself up on one cheek and a loud fluttering was heard. The three younger women shrieked with laughter, and even Yerush smiled, putting her hand over Qen's and saying "You're incorrigible."

Qen lifted Yerush's hand to kiss it and stood to get seconds.


Among the items Bux, Halling and Yoj carried home from the monthly allotment dispersal was a five pound bag of flour made from the new grain at the ejida called red wheat. It had been set aside for their Manage by orders of the botaniste herself; the first main harvest would not be in for months.

As her partners dried off from the downpour outside and put things away in the larder, Yoj opened the bag and sifted two cups of the unusual flour into her massive Ng-made bread bowl. All the emmas gathered round to watch, wetting their forefingers to take a taste. Yoj pulled out canisters of rice flour, potato starch, nut meal and vis, and frowned in concentration, trying to decide on a mix that might lead to a successful dough with the new, untried product.

Qen took a pinch and mixed it with a few drops of water in a tablespoon, showing the resultant stickiness to Yoj. "Look at that gluten" marveled Yoj. "I think it might rise a lot more than what we're used to."

"It'll need less sugars for the yeast" predicted Qen.

"Okay" said Yoj suddenly. She began adding other items to her bowl of red wheat flour. "I mean, we're going to eat whatever comes out, right?"

Veida grinned at her. "Unless it's toxic."

Halling said "I can't imagine Yoj making a bread that's toxic."

"Where did you learn how to bake?" asked Yerush. "I don't think that's something Rosz taught you."

Yoj gave her an unreadable glance and answered "No, she was not a student of the culinary arts. The summer after I graduated, before I went to U, I lived in a Manage on Chloddia. My lover and both her emmas were spectacular cooks."

Halling said casually "Amba, wasn't it?", sitting down at the table with a cup of tea.

A reminiscent smile crept over Yoj's face. "Amba the golden" she said fondly.

Bux, standing nearby, went very still. Yoj had turned to get butter from the larder and noticed her face. Yoj looked at her with a steady gaze for half a minute, then stepped in front of Bux and said softly "I was sixteen."

"I'm well aware of how old you were" said Bux. "I was thirteen, and I was not going to see you every day, I thought ever again, since you'd left school. And I knew you were off Riesig with some heartthrob, although it took me a while to find out who."

Yoj put her arms around Bux's waist and said "I am yours for the rest of our days."

"I know that" said Bux. "But I didn't know it then. And that was the year I put you at the top of my list. I had seven more years to wait." The leftover pain in her voice affected everyone in the kitchen.

Yoj pulled Bux to her, and Bux wrapped her arms around Yoj's neck tightly, her eyes closed tight. Then she opened her eyes and looked at Halling. "And you -- you were second on my list but by then you were already Xaya's."

Halling said "I was, indeed." After a pause, she said "But I, too, am now yours for the rest of our days."

Bux laughed, with a catch in her throat. She pulled back so she could see both Halling and Yoj's faces. "I'm being silly, acting like that lovesick schoolchild."

Yoj whispered something in Bux's ear, and Bux looked at her, her eyes glowing, then leaned in for the sort of kiss that they seldom shared in front of the emmas, a kiss of heat and surrender and extreme familiarity. The emmas looked away, while Halling just grinned.

When the kiss finally trailed to an end, Yoj caught her breath and moved on to the larder for butter and yeast. Bux went to sit on Halling's lap. Everyone watched intently as Yoj made her sponge, leaving out spices or nuts this time so she could be sure of the basic chemical interactions. Before she put a damp towel over the bowl, everyone took a small pinch of dough to eat. Qen's ginger eyebrows shot up almost to her hairline as she swallowed. "It's -- like I've been waiting all my life for this particular flavor" she said.

Yoj put the bowl by the aga, looked at the clock, and said "I guess it's laundry for me now."

"Not just yet" said Bux shyly, standing up and pulling Halling to her feet. She walked to their bedroom door and turned for a moment, saying "Coming?" with flushed cheeks.

Halling burst out laughing. Yoj made sure she avoided the faces of the emmas as she and Halling went to join Bux.

Inside their bedroom, Bux pulled off her shati and gilet together in a single motion. Yoj, having to take a slower route, said "How do you do that? I have to untie the bow on my gilet."

Grinning as she unbuckled her pants, Bux said "I keep my laces loose all the time now, and I never tie the bow at the bottom any more. Ever since you first kissed me."

"But what about that first day, when we came here -- you yanked your clothes off, whoosh, then too" persisted Yoj.

"I was loosening my laces all the way home that day" laughed Bux. Halling was laughing so hard, she'd stopped stripping. Once Yoj was naked, Bux pushed her backwards on the bed and straddled her, looking down at her for a minute.

"Tell me it's better with me than Amba" she said softly.

"Oh for oceans' sake, Bux -- it doesn't even compare" said Yoj, trying to pull Bux down to kiss her. But Bux locked her elbows and stayed where she could watch Yoj's face.

"Did you love her?" she asked Yoj. Halling, finally unclad, slid in bed beside them.

"Of course I loved her" said Yoj. "I wouldn't have gone to bed with her if I didn't love her, I'm not that sort."

"But not as much as you love me, right?" persisted Bux.

Yoj blew out her lips in exasperation. "Do you want me to tell you or show you?" she answered.

Bux finally relented and lowered herself down full on Yoj's body. As Yoj began kissing her, she rolled Bux onto her side, toward Halling who was waiting.

When Yoj emerged from the bedroom some time later, she washed her hands at the sink and was glad of the music coming from the radio to cover her embarrassment. Turning her sponge out onto the bread board, she said "Is that the Kinusanders?" This was a band from Seda, made up mostly of silk farmers.

"Yes" said Qen, coming to stand beside her and inspect this sponge like no other.

"However did they get all those heavy drums up Sigrist Poke?" marveled Yoj. "In this rain?"

"A few fadians have run a wire from a room at the University music hall up to the Sigrist transmitter" said Yerush. "The performers are at the U, and their signal is going up to Sigrist who broadcasts it. They say they're going to have concerts every night, if people want it."

"I sure do" said Yoj, very distracted by the rich sounds coming from the radio. Finally she tore her attention away, back to the dough between her fingers. She worked it with curiosity, noting the changes as the gluten was broken down and redistributed, the lovely sheen it took on. When she thought it was ready, she looked at the clock again, recovered the bowl and set it back to rise again.

Bux and Halling shuffled into the kitchen. From the look of them, Halling had had one last turn. Yoj was sorry to have missed it. She went into the bath room and began a load of laundry. Bux sat down next to Qen, at her sewing machine, and began helping with the garment she was making. Halling looked in the larder and Yerush joined her, planning dinner. Veida was patiently combing the long, damp fur of shaggy katts. Everyone seemed to be moving to the rhythm of the music. The windows were steamy and it was an early dark outside because of the rain.

After Yoj had run the rinsed laundry through the press three times, she came out with a basket of things to hang on racks by the hearth in the living room. Veida helped her. When they were done, Yoj began a second load, then, as it was soaking, punched down her bread and took a big sniff of the lentil and vegetable stew Halling was now stirring. "We thought, with fresh bread, something to dunk it in would be best" said Halling. Yoj kissed her shoulder and said "Can't wait."

Veida claimed half the kitchen table to lay out new sheets and pillowcases from wide lengths of linen from this year's allotment. Her sewing skills were not up to Qen's, but she liked stitching items with long straight seams. Yerush set papers to grade on the sideboard and sat in a chair next to the table, reading and making marks with her pen.

Yoj said "The grey water indicator is almost at the top."

Halling offered "I'll go flush the privy, then drain the rest into the municipal pipes. I'll feed the chickens and shut them up for the night, too." She pulled on her burzaka and went out the back door. Yerush commented on the coldness of the draft that blew in.

Yoj finished her second load of laundry and hung it up as well. All the rack space near the hearth was now occupied, and with the damp air, she couldn't guess how long it would take the clothes to dry, especially the quilted and woolen items. She put a couple of small floor fans to blow on the racks. Veida had two sets of sheets and pillowcases done. Looking at Yoj, she said "Okay if I use the washtub to dye these?"

"Yep. But I don't where they'll dry" warned Yoj.

"I can set the rack up by the cupboards in there, these are thin enough to dry away from the hearth" said Veida.

"What colors are you going to dye them?" asked Bux, looking up.

Veida had three small pots of clay-based dyes, one a pale green, one ochre and one rose. Halling came back in, blowing steam, with a basket brimming with eggs, saying "They've been inside all afternoon, nothing to do but lay, I guess." She consulted with her partners on their sheets, and they settled on the rose color. Yerush and Qen voted on the green for theirs. Veida gathered up the linens for dying as Yoj cut her dough into loaves and fit it into three greased pans. She had enough left over to make a dozen rolls. "These will come out sooner, so we don't have to wait quite as long for the taste test" she said.

Halling baked several apples for dessert, as long as the oven was on full. The 5:00 forecast was for rain and fog, which made Yoj and Bux grin gladly at Halling. The music went off after the forecast, and everyone's energy flagged a little. Halling declared that after dinner, she was getting down on her hands and knees to scrub the muddy kitchen floor. Yoj went to help Veida with the dyeing. When they emerged half an hour later to drape the linens over racks, Veida's hands were greenish and Yoj's were pink.

Yoj pulled out the rolls and dumped them into a basket. She set them on the table with butter and jam. Everyone dropped what they were doing to grab a roll, passing it back and forth between their hands quickly until they cooled enough to be split and buttered. Qen was the first to take a bite. She sprayed out crumbs as she cried "Oh, fabulous!"

Even Yoj had to admit, it was the best bread she'd ever tasted. The rolls were gone in five minutes. Halling stood up and said "Time to set the table."

Dinner was punctuated with unending praise of the bread. Veida said to Qen "You need to let the botaniste know, this grain is a keeper."

Veida asked "Any idea how much they'll be able to plant, and how much flour will come to us in allotments?"

"Not yet" said Qen. "This first year, it'll be scanty, though, it always is with new crops."

Bux said to Yoj "You should put your recipe up at a kiosk, so others will know how to make the best use of this flour."

"Now, now, don't give away what's going to become our most popular barter item" warned Yerush. Halling answered "The recipe is not the same thing as how Yoj makes it, her loaves will still be snapped up, as much as we can spare."

"I understand the leveling of terraces on Argile is almost done. Is there any other ejida land going to be turned over to this?" Veida wanted to know what Qen knew because of her friendship with the botaniste.

Qen glanced at Yoj before answering "There are two Flings currently uninhabited, both of them for reasons of transportation. With additional landshaping, both of them could be turned into decent-sized fields, much more productive than they are now."

"Ah, but the transfer of Manage habitat to crop land, that's not up to the botaniste" said Yerush. "And the loss of two Flings would mean a reduction of perhaps 10 in the replacement population, which the Genist will have something to say about -- that's a 1% loss, which could be critical at some point. We walk a thin edge as it is."

"What do you mean?" asked Halling.

Yoj knew the answer, she'd had this class with Yerush. But Yerush was happy to instruct. "We have a balanced ecosystem at the moment, highly interlocking and efficient. It depends not only on the exchange between variables, but also on enough human power to do the work. A 1% loss in our raw work power has to come from somewhere -- fewer people to grow and harvest rice, for example, would mean less rice. And once a spiral starts downward, further losses could occur. If we were to have an epidemic, for instance, at a certain point the diminishment of population would mean the loss of key aspects of what we take for granted. Like sewage, or building materials, or ferry service." A somber silence fell over the table.

"What about flying?" said Halling.

"Pilots feed the world" said Veida, the Lofthall mantra.

"Yes, the protein from sinning plus all the raw products that kelp gives us -- linen, plastics, dyes, thickeners, the list is long -- we can't do without it. For over a century, Skene survived on little else but fish, rice, and whatever you could grow in your own tillages" said Yerush.

"The Troubles" murmured Bux.

"Then, but also after the Troubles" said Yerush. "It took a few generations, even after the cultural changes at the end of the Troubles, to achieve equilibrium enough to cautiously expand. But the truth is, lighting and sinning are phenomenally expensive -- the minerals needed for craft and nets, the upkeep of Sigrist Manage which would not be essential if we had no pilots, the high salaries for everyone connected to the Lofthall."

"Not to mention the horrific loss of young life" said Yoj angrily. "Just as an aside."

"I was getting to that" said Yerush sharply. "Piloting attracts the best of our young people, our smartest and bravest and natural leaders. If we could fish normally, some of that talent would be diverted elsewhere, and those people would live decades of contribution."

Yoj was still mad at how calmly Yerush reduced it to economics. Bux asked "What do you mean, fish normally?"

Yerush looked irritated at the ignorance of her own child. Bux's refusal to attend University was still an unhealed wound between them. "I mean from boats. That's how they did it on the planet our ancestors came from: Big boats on the ocean."

Veida, trying to soothe Yerush, said "It's almost impossible for me to imagine safe oceans, without leviathans in them."

In the silence that followed, Halling got up to take baked apples from the aga. Bringing them back to the table, she set down cinnamon next to the butter and honey already near the bread. Everyone began splitting open an apple in their empty soup bowls. After taking one big bite and sighing in happiness, Halling said "Did those first colonists bring any of the sealife with them? I mean, is everything in the oceans native to Skene?"

"I'm not sure" answered Yerush. "Some of our crabs and shellfish may be introduced -- anything that can live in more protected waters. You have to remember, in the beginning there wasn't even Bohaira Lagoon, and no morrie vaseos. People lived here on Riesig and on Chloddia, a mining encampment, that was all. Next was Beras, to grow rice. Even a hundred years ago, Argile and Bosca had only one Manage each."

"So hnisas were already here" mused Halling.

"Yes, but that name comes from the home planet where it meant a different kind of fish, only vaguely like our hnisas. Same as robins -- their robins weren't blue, apparently." Yerush was in full professorial mode, now. She was in fact a charming instructor. Bux could see why University students gushed about her aggie, even as they feared her.

But Veida had had decades of Yerush the professor. She focused on Halling instead, nudging with "What about hnisas?"

"Well..." Halling took another bite and licked her spoon before figuring out how to express what was in her mind. "Mayim, the sinner who retired not long after I switched to sinning -- her habibi had also been a sinner. And she said there used to be a lot more hnisas in our catches than there are now. We net a hnisa only every five or six times, and then it's almost always a young one."

"Which is too bad" said Qen, "Because I love grilled hnisa. And you're right, even when I was a child there seemed to be more of them coming through at the Market."

"But the numbers haven't diminished in the oceans themselves" said Halling. "They're out there, just as many as ever, if not more. There are huge schools of them. They've just figured out how to avoid the nets. I mean, I can't think of another explanation, can you?"

Everyone looked blank. Veida said "So...as we've become part of the Skene natural environment, they've learned how to sidestep us, that's what you mean?"

"Um...yes, but more than that." Halling took another bite, to give herself time to think. "I mean -- how is it that hnisas aren't just hunted to death by leviathans? They're large, they're tasty, they're in big schools. And leviathans mostly hunt schooling fish, that's why they come hurtling our way when they see us, because they know we spot schools. Well, that's one of the reasons" Halling added with bitterness.

"You know" said Veida slowly, "You're right. I've never seen leviathans, even a great nasty mob of them, go after a nearby school of hnisas."

"I'm just wondering -- what do hnisas know about dealing with levs that we don't know?" finished Halling.

Bux felt indescribably proud of Halling. You didn't have to go to University to be brilliant or inquisitive about Skene.

Yoj was fascinated. "Do you think they have a means of communicating among themselves? Hnisas, I mean."

"I've never heard sound from them" said Halling, looking to Veida for confirmation, who said "Me neither." Halling went on "But they have those big bumps at the front of their heads, which turn out to be mostly bone that morphs into cartilage and then spongy tissue at the bottom. Nobody knows what those are for."

Yerush was interested in spite of herself, and also longing to regain her role. She said "It's generally accepted in science that the features of every organism in nature have a functional purpose. Either now or in their past. Nature doesn't favor the development of useless attributes."

This stopped Halling's spoon in mid lift to her mouth. "Huh" she said.

"I can ask the natural scientist at the U if there's any theories about the head plates of hnisas" offered Yerush. "Maybe there is some capacity for sound projection within them."

Halling was a little distracted, Yoj could tell. "Uh -- okay, that'd be great, Yerush." Yoj poked Halling and said "What?"

Halling focused on her and said "Those blue spots. What are those blue spots for, then?"

"On hnisas?" said Qen.

But Veida followed Halling's train of thought. "No, on leviathans. Near the tail, on one side, they have these big blue spots, no two the same. And it really stands out against their pink skin."

Yoj grinned at Halling and risked "You mean they have blue spots on their ass like you?"

Halling laughed, but Bux was startled. "What blue spot? On Halling?"

Halling was embarrassed, but answered "Yeah, on my low back just above my -- I was born with it, and it's almost gone now."

"Used to be a lot more visible" said Yoj fondly.

"About one baby in five on Skene is born with those" said Veida. "They are very vivid at birth. I had one, too."

But Bux was focused on Halling. "How come I've never seen it? I mean, I can't have missed it."

Now others were embarrassed for Halling, too. Yoj interjected "She said it's mostly gone now."

"But you know about it. And you never bothered to tell me, either one of you?" Bux's voice had become high with upset.

"It wasn't a secret" said Halling. "I just figured you'd seen it; I mean, Yoj often traces it with her fingers." The minute it was out of her mouth, she was mortified.

Veida and Yerush stood up to begin clearing the table. Yoj was not meeting Bux's eyes. She realized she had thought of it as something just she and Halling shared.

"I want to see it!" demanded Bux.

"Not at the dinner table" said Qen, standing up also. "You're making Halling uncomfortable, Bux."

Bux retreated against her will. She glared at Yoj, and Yoj knew she'd get chewed out later. She wished she hadn't made the comment, not only because of the ruckus it caused, but more because Halling's point about the leviathans had been lost.

The next morning, Yoj discovered the fans had, in fact, dried her laundry. She put it all away, helped Veida fold the new linens, and was stashing the racks when a knock came at the front door. Before she could turn to answer it, the door opened and two women stepped in, laden with luggage and parcels.

Veida cried "Paha! And Tlochin!" She rushed to hug them.

Yoj stayed out of the way as Yerush, Qen and Bux crowded around them, taking their burdens from them. Halling came to stand next to Yoj. Paha pulled loose from her family and came to hug both of them, saying "My new sibs-in-law! This is my own darling, Tlochin!"

Paha was a darker brown than either Bux or Yerush, but she had the same sturdy, ass-generous build. Her brown hair and eyes were gleaming, and her hands were thickly calloused from work in the rice fields. Tlochin was short and golden brown, with black eyes and long frizzy hair in a braid. She was from Bux's sui, and Yoj did not remember her well from school.

"We brought a fat goose, an even fatter duck, and two bottles of rice wine!" said Paha, turning back to her emmas. "We didn't know we'd have a day off that would coincide with favorable ferry runs until yesterday, too late to write you, so we just took our chances with dropping in on you, I hope that's all right."

"It's perfect!" said Veida, who couldn't seem to keep her hands off Paha.

Qen said "We'll roast the birds for dinner. And Bux, go make up your bed for these two."

"With the new linens" added Veida.

Yoj trailed after Bux to help. "Where will we sleep?" Yoj asked.

"We can put pallets down in the living room loft, I slept up there all my life until my sibs left, it's toasty" said Bux, stripping the bed. Halling had joined them and was piling pillows on a clothes chest.

"Up by the rafters?" said Yoj doubtfully.

"It's okay" said Halling quietly. "You can have the middle."

Yoj looked at her gratefully and carried the old sheets to the laundry bin. Then she helped Halling haul small rolled mattresses, blankets, and a change of clothes up to the loft, which was tucked against the far corner of the living room, above cupboards and part of the hearth, against the wall which separated the living room from the kitchen. She looked warily into the dim rafters above them and shivered involuntarily. Bux scrambled up the ladder after them, saying "Isn't it cozy up here?"

"No" said Yoj almost inaudibly. "Where are the air exchange vents?"

Bux looked at her in bewilderment. "Are you having trouble breathing?"

"No" mumbled Yoj again. Halling pointed to a vent next to the rafter in the nearby corner. Yoj lay down in the middle of the loft and considered the rafter that ran directly over it. Then she sat up and said to Halling "It's all exposed. Maybe I should sleep on the cot by the hearth tonight."

"Whatever is wrong with you, Yoj?" said Bux, sitting down beside her. Halling put her finger to her lips, indicating Bux should lower her voice, and whispered "Isola Fling had shu all through the rafters. They came in through the vents a lot. And the kids were -- in direct line from the rafters to downstairs."

"Oh" said Bux, in a tone of voice that sounded dreadfully to Yoj like pity. "Well, Yoj, I've lived here all my life, and for 20 years, I've seen a shu in the house exactly once. And that was one a katt brought in to eat."

Yoj couldn't help shuddering at the idea. Bux put her arm over Yoj's shoulder and said "We have six big tough katts. The fact is, I hardly ever see shu even outside. Baker and Yarrow, our most determined hunters, have to go three Manages over to the cliffs beside Bohaira to satisfy their bloodlust. And -- Siggy, the eldest? I gave her that name because she sleeps up here in the rafters, right over there by that vent -- I said she was like the Sigrist, preferring to look down on everything. There's nothing that would ever get by Siggy."

Yoj felt ashamed that she needed reassurance, and it did not penetrate completely as a result. "Okay, fine" she said, shrugging herself out from under Bux's arm. She went down the ladder into the kitchen. Bux looked at Halling, who said "Let's make the beds and leave her alone."

Paha and Tlochin were being given a tour of the current garden by Veida. Yerush had the larder door open and was talking menus with Qen. Yerush turned to Yoj as she came in and said "I know this is rude to ask, but could you possibly make more of that wheat bread today? We could use some of the day-old for stuffing the fowl. And maybe some more biscuits? Just to wow our rice-farming visitors."

"I'd be honored" said Yoj, meaning it.

"All right then" said Qen. "That means your eggplant casserole for lunch, topped with cheese, plus coldframe lettuces and cucumbers in the salad. For dinner, the birds, baby carrots and broccoli, stewed greens, and -- what for dessert? We can ask Veida."

"We might have enough wheat flour left over for a cake, if she feels like experimenting" offered Yoj. Qen and Yerush looked at each other in excitement.

"Can you imagine what a cake with that flour must taste like?" said Qen. She was taking the items Yerush handed her and setting them on the counter. Yoj washed her hands and began a new bread dough in her bowl. "I think maybe I can afford to add pepper flakes to half of this" she mused, and Qen said "Go for it."

Bux and Halling joined them, relieved to see Yoj now completely distracted by bread-making. They jumped in to help with lunch preparation. By the time the gardeners returned indoors, a first sponge was rising and the casserole had just been set to bake.

Still daubed with flour, sitting at the table with an array of ingredients, Yoj said to Veida "What do you think about trying a cake with this new flour?"

Paha picked up the canister and took a deep sniff. She and Tlochin both took tastes of the raw flour.

"I hope this doesn't put rice out of business" grinned Tlochin.

"No chance of that" said Qen. "It takes too much precious land to grow in bulk."

Veida was conferring with Yoj, and Halling was eavedropping hopefully. Finally Veida plunged into the larder and came back with a large orange, a large lemon, a small bag of almonds, and a bag of brown sugar.

"Oceans!" said Halling. "All that in one cake!"

"Your orange cake" exclaimed Paha. "I haven't had that since I left home."

Bux said to Halling "It's the richest thing I've ever put in my mouth." Halling waggled her eyebrows at Bux and managed to completely mortify her, sending them both into laughter. Paha grinned affectionately, guessing at the joke. She went to the aga and with easy familiarity made them all tea, saying "All right, Halling, we'll start with you. Sit down there and I get to ask you all the questions I've had my entire life about the adventures of pilots."

Bux was thrilled at her siba's earnest attention to her new life. She, in turn, pulled stories from Paha about their daily routine on Beras. Yoj and Veida half-listened as they sifted flour, chopped almonds into meal, zested and squeezed citrus, and then concocted a batter so moist it looked almost too liquid to set. Veida used the juices, half the sugar, star anise, cloves and cinnamon to make a syrup that simmered on the aga as the cake baked. When the cake was done, she turned it upside-down on a lipped platter and left it to cool. Just before lunch was ready, Veida perforated the cake in a fine pointillage with a thin skewer and poured her warm syrup over it to soak, putting it in the larder to settle before dinner. She gave the batter bowl to Paha and Tlochin, the syrup pan to Halling, and they licked them both clean.

Yerush's eggplants, Qen's out of season cucumbers and Yoj's bread from last night were the hit of lunch. Tlochin remarked "Paha complains at every meal that she never eats as well anywhere as she did growing up here, and now I know what she means."

"Maybe we should move back in" Paha teased.

Bux didn't quite laugh as heartily as every one else. Paha said "Not to worry, sibu, I love Tlochin's emmas too much to leave them."

"Which one of you is going to aggie?" asked Qen.

Paha paused, then said in a serious voice "Neither, emma. We don't want children. Tlochin's three sibs are all nearby and they all have little ones, so we're going to focus on helping raise them."

Qen's disappointment was not something she could conceal. Veida said "That's a good choice, Paha, and they'll be glad to have you as their sibemma."

"So will my children" Bux couldn't help adding.

"Yes? For sure?" said Paha, genuinely glad for her. "And who's to aggie?"

"Me" said Bux, followed by a little squeal of delight that Paha joined her in. Lunch lingered long, and eventually Yoj had to get up and punch down her sponge for a last time, then form loaves and set them to baking. Halling insisted on clearing the table and doing dishes, leaving the family to continue talking and drinking tea.

"She's a keeper" Halling murmured to Yoj by the sink.

"They both are" Yoj whispered back. Bux, with her preternatural ability to hear them, turned and flashed a smile their way.

Finally, Paha declared her intention to see what might be changed in Riesig and asked for a tour of Qen's current classroom, as well as a chance to read the kiosks and maybe check out a shop or two. Everyone except Yoj put on rain attire to accompany her; Yoj regretfully begged off because she had to wait on the bread to be done.

"I'll make the stuffing while I'm waiting" she told Yerush. "And if you're not back by 4:00, I'll start the roasts, so don't feel the need to rush."

When they were gone, she realized it might be the first time she'd ever been alone in the Manage. After a ten-minute wait for safety, she climbed the ladder to the emma's loft and gazed at their wide bed, their row of clothes chests, the dazzling quilt no doubt made by Bux. She felt suddenly like a snoop and went back down the ladder quickly. She started her self-appointed tasks, already feeling a little lonely. When Sigrist radio came on with another live music performance a few minutes later, she was overjoyed and began dancing a stuffing-making dance. The katts, drawn by the smell of goose and duck set on the counter, watched her dubiously and avoided her feet.

She went all out on the salad, pulling one of everything from the garden and finding a beautiful way to present it in spirals around their huge salad platter. She set a massive pot of collard greens to simmer with a thick slice of salty bacon in the water. She stuffed the goose and duck, created a different spice rub for each of them and put them in the roaster. She pulled out her bread to cool and mixed whipped butter with honey in a clear red bowl to spread on it. She peeled the broccoli stems, then sliced them to cook with the carrots first before adding the florets at the last minute.

When her music ended abruptly at five and the forecast came on -- high chance of storms -- she was shocked at how quickly the time had passed. She had just gone to begin setting the table when her laughing family tumbled in the front door.

"Oh, Yoj, I wish you'd been with us!" cried Bux, rushing to her and trying to lift her in a hug.

"I missed you, too, Bux, ever so" Yoj answered, kissing her with emphasis.

"Wow, does it smell good in here" said Halling, coming to kiss her as well.

"Dinner is ready" declared Yoj with pride. "Wash up and find a chair."

Yerush and Qen insisted that Yoj sit down and let them serve, since she had worked all afternoon. Veida pulled the two bottles of rice wine out and uncorked them, beginning to fill small stemmed glasses on the sideboard.

"None for me" reminded Halling. "Nor me" added Yoj.

Paha stared, but Tlochin said "Lofthall, right?"

"That's right" said Halling, pleased at her knowledge.

Bux looked uncertain. "Will it bother you if I --?" she began.

"Not in the least, join the merriment" assured Yoj. Qen brought blue glasses of tea for her and Halling, saying "You can share our toasts with this."

Paha and Tlochin carved the roast birds with practiced skill. All of them ate ravenously and regaled Yoj with stories of their silliness out and about Riesig. She, in turn, told them about her stuffing dance. By the end of the meal, all three emmas were definitely tipsy. Halling got up to help Veida with the cake, probably worried about it ending up on the floor. After her first bite of the syrup-soaked confection, her eyes seemed to roll back into her head. Paha said "Wheat is now my favorite food of all time. Sorry, my rice-farming love."

Bux poured herself a third glass of wine, none too steadily, and draping an arm around Paha's shoulders next to her, said in what she probably imagined was a low tone of voice, "Tell me, siba, how do you manage with just one lover? I mean, my two are just plain full of vigor and even then I often feel an ache you know where that I can hardly wait to attend to. What do you and Tlochin do, sneak away in the afternoons to the rice barn and -- "

Paha put her hand gently over Bux's mouth, while the rest of the table sat in disbelief. She whispered something in Bux's ear, and Bux looked around the table in mortification. "Oh, lev, I am so levving sorry!" she swore.

Halling burst into red-faced laughter, and a second later everyone joined her. Bux kept her face buried on Paha's shoulder, Paha patting her back as she chortled with everyone else, and Yoj found herself very moved by the sibaste between them. When the noise died down, she turned to Tlochin and said "I guess maybe you and I should go outside and compare notes, eh?" which sent them all off again and drew the focus away from Bux, allowing her to show her face again.

By the time they finally got up from the table, the wine bottles were empty, the goose and duck were picked clean (but carcasses saved for stock nonetheless, much to the chagrin of katts), and Halling and Tlochin shooed everyone in the living room, declaring them a menace to dishes. Yoj cleared the table and fed the katts, mixing a little of the dripping from the duck pan with milk and pouring it over their fisk as appeasement. She fed the chickens and used the privy while she was out there, feeling virtuous about her courage in doing it alone. By the time she joined the others in the living room, Bux was almost asleep, sitting on the floor leaned back against the legs of Paha in a chair. Paha was gently combing Bux's silky brown hair.

Yoj sat down on the floor near Bux, accepting a cushion from Yerush, then cadging a second to put in her lap so Bux could lie her head down. She and Halling listened to delicious family stories about Bux and her sibs, full of goose and cake and feeling a part of this Manage, truly. When at last it was time for bed, Halling helped Bux to the privy and Yoj brushed her teeth, unwilling to go into the loft without them ahead of her. She got a chamberpot out of the cupboard in case Bux's wine came back up during the night.

Halling led the way up the ladder, in a now darkened and quiet living room, and whacked all the bedding thoroughly as Yoj climbed protectively behind a still sloppy Bux. They put Bux at the edge, next to the chamber pot, and she didn't even kiss them goodnight, dropping off instantly. Shivering a little, Yoj put on her schmatta and crawled in between them, more glad than usual of Halling's big arms held out to her.

"Our little Bux got well and truly hammered tonight" whispered Halling with a giggle.

"Oh my yes" agreed Yoj. "They all sucked those bottles dry, I had no idea Yerush could pour it down like that."

"But a happy bunch, aren't they?" said Halling with satisfaction.

"Our bunch" said Yoj. "And -- do you think we aren't doing enough to keep Bux satisfied?"

Halling turned to bury her laughter into her pillow. Yoj rolled over to face her and said "I mean, should I touch her more often here, do you think?"

Halling's laughter slid into a soft moan.

"Or maybe I'm not going far enough, like to here?" continued Yoj. Halling closed her mouth over Yoj's and pulled Yoj on top of her. Yoj whispered "What if she wakes up?"

"She won't" said Halling, then, urgently "Or if she does, she can satisfy my ache you know where."

"Allow me" said Yoj, catching Halling's urgency.



Copyright 2007 Maggie Jochild.

Read More...

Summary only...

SKENE: CHAPTER SEVEN

This is draft one of my sci-fi novel Skene. To read earlier chapters, go to LABELS in the right-hand column on this page, scroll down to the Skene tags and click on the one you want to read. Skene is set on a human-habitable planet in the Alhena star system at least 500 years in the future. There's a considerable amount of appendix material and diagrams also available here as needed:
NEW: Skene Map: Yanja
Skene Glossary (Skenish to English)
Skene Cast of Characters
Skene Culture, Calendar, Clothing, and Islands
Map of All Skene
Map of Riesig (the main island)
Map of The Manage on Riesig
Map of The Lofthall on Riesig

CHAPTER SEVEN

The following San, Yoj walked to the jichang to meet Halling alone. Bux had work all afternoon at her Sheng Zhang's office. As Halling was hosing down her sinner and telling Yoj about that day's run, a local-haul sinner in training landed and came over to Yoj with an envelope. "A woman on Yanja asked me to give this to you directly" the sinner said. "Didn't want it to take a day through the mails."

"Okay, thanks" said Yoj. The envelope was addressed to her in her emma Nilma's handwriting. Why the rush?

She opened it and read the first two lines, then sat down abruptly on the tarmac. Halling dropped her hose and rushed to Yoj, saying "Are you all right? What happened, did you fall?"

Yoj looked up at her with an expression Halling had never seen. "My aggie" Yoj said hoarsely. "She's dead. She died -- I don't know, today?"


"What?" said Halling, squatting beside her. "How could that have happened? Was she at the hospital?"

"No" said Yoj. "She died at home. Alone. Nilma found her. They've taken her body to Yanja, to the coroner there." The letter dropped from her hand. Halling grabbed it and began reading it.

A couple of other pilots had come over to see what was wrong. When Halling was done with the letter, she folded it again and put it in her guibba. She told the pilots "It's her aggie. She's died."

They both exclaimed in sympathy and offered to help Yoj to her feet. Halling insisted on doing that herself, however. Yoj seemed to be in some kind of shock. They walked her to the Lofthall, where Halling sat Yoj in the radio room and told Qala what had happened. One of the pilots brought a cup of tea laced with milk and honey to Yoj and Halling held it to her lips to drink.

Halling said to Qala "What on Yanja can you raise by radio?"

"The shipping office and the small clinic there" said Qala.

"We need to get a message to her emma. Preferably, talk to her directly, but I'm not sure where she is" said Halling.

"Where does she work?" asked Qala, turning on her dial.

"She's a qigong, so somewhere at the steamworks" said Halling. "And she has a room there in the dorm, but she might also be at the coroner's office."

"I'll find her" said Qala, putting headphones over her ears. Halling asked the pilot who had brought Yoj tea if she would run to the Shenz Zhang of Rahat's office and find Bux. "Be sure to tell her what's happened, and that we're both okay, don't leave her in suspense" Halling reminded her. The pilot took off at a literal run.

Halling pulled out the letter and read it again. "Pneumonia? How could she have pneumonia and nobody know it? Why didn't she get brought to the hospital?"

Yoj answered slowly, haltingly. "She never went to a curandera. Hated 'em. And Nilma sometimes didn't come home for days at a time. And Owera decided she didn't want to be a weaver, after all. She's working on Yanja, too. Boarding there somewhere."

After ten minutes, Qala turned around in her chair and said "I've got her. She was at the coroner's, which is near the clinic." She held out the headset and mic to Yoj. Halling said "Put it on speaker, okay?"

"Emma?" said Yoj. "Can you hear me?"

"Yes" came Nilma's voice, wooden.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm holding up. Sorry I had to write you a letter, but I didn't think I should broadcast this on Sigrist radio. Is anybody else going to hear what we're saying now?"

"Just pilots. Emma -- how long ago -- how long was she -- "

"I think she died yesterday. I've been caught up in a refitting, I just couldn't get out there since last Iki" said Nilma, sounding defensive.

Yoj didn't seem to know what else to say. Halling spoke up: "Nilma, this is Halling. When is the funeral, do you know yet?"

"Tomorrow at noon. Owera's here -- well, not here in this office, but at the coroner's. And I wanted to sent a letter to Myrd, too, but I couldn't find someone to take it."

"We'll get word to her within the hour" said Halling "We'll be there in the morning for the funeral. Where will you be?"

"I don't know." Nilma sounded bewildered. "I guess come to the coroner's, I'll go there after breakfast."

"Do you need us to bring you anything?" said Halling.

There was a long silence, and just when Halling was going to say "Nilma?" again, her voice answered "I just realized, I don't have clothes for the funeral. They're on Isola."

Qala whispered to Halling "I'll send a lighter to pick up whoever, Nilma or Owera, and take them to Isola, then return them, if you want."

Halling nodded and repeated this offer to Nilma.

"All right" said Nilma. "I'll send Olwera. Is Yoj still there?"

Yoj roused herself from her torpor and said "I'm here, emma. Do you need me to come there tonight? I could get a ride on the lighter."

Halling was shaking her head No, but Nilma answered "I don't think so. People are being very helpful. And I don't know where you'd sleep. I'll just plan to see you tomorrow."

"All right, then" said Halling. "A pilot will be there within half an hour, can you ask Olwera to meet her at the field?"

"Yes" said Nilma. "Okay, I'll go then."

"I love you, emma" said Yoj, her voice sounding very small.

"Oh. I love you too, Yoj" said Nilma.

Qala put back on her headset and changed the frequency, calling in two lighters for the runs. Halling took a piece of paper and wrote a note to Myrd, then had Yoj sign it. She wrote instructions on the outside saying where to find Myrd. As she was finishing, Bux burst in the door. She rushed directly to Yoj and gathered her to her chest, saying "Oh, my darling, I'm so sorry, I'm so terribly sorry."

Yoj suddenly burst into tears, a choking kind of crying that got louder with each breath. Qala turned up her volume but looked very glad to finally see Yoj cry. Halling kissed Bux's cheek, whispered she'd be back in a minute, and left to go deliver her note to the pilot who would carry it to Myrd on Exploit.

When Halling got back, Yoj was blowing her nose on Qala's handkerchief and another pilot had brought her more tea. Halling wiped her cheek tenderly and said "Do you feel up to walking home?"

Yoj nodded, then said "I don't have this week's song finished."

"This is when we use the emergency song" said Halling. She turned to Qala and said "Will you get it from the file and post it on the board?"

"Will do" said Qala. "And I'll tell Igoz you'll be off tomorrow. What time do you want a ride to Yanja?"

"I'd thought we'd take ferries" began Halling.

"Nonsense" said Qala, "That will take you all morning. After one of the school sinners comes in, by 8, it can take you and your whole Manage to Yanja. Say, 8:30? And I'll ask for a volunteer to pick you up tomorrow after our shifts here are over. You can call me from the shipping office there at the airfield."

"Bless you, Qala" said Halling. "That will be much easier on her."

Qala stood up to hug Yoj goodbye and kissed her cheek, saying "We all love you here. We are your family, too."

When they got to their Manage, nobody else was home yet. Halling ran a hot bath for her and Yoj while Bux made more tea for Yoj and a quick meal for Halling. She joined them in the bath room and fed Halling bites of a sandwich while Halling held Yoj in front of her. Then they both tenderly washed Yoj, letting her cry again, and dried her off. Halling pulled Yoj into bed with her, spooning her. Bux said "I guess I should start dinner."

"No!" said Yoj. "Please come get on the other side of me."

Bux pulled off her dubikun and joined them. Within a few minutes, Yoj was asleep. Bux whispered to Halling, "What on earth went on out there? And to tell her by letter..."

"You'd never guess from Yoj how cold and strange they are" answered Halling. She was starting to drop off, too.

"Now I'll never meet her aggie" said Bux sadly. Halling didn't answer. A few minutes later, Bux went to sleep, also.

Qen woke them all up a couple of hours later, gently shaking Bux and saying "Dinner's almost ready."

Bux sat up, then remembered and looked down at Yoj. She started to speak, but Qen said "We know. Yerush heard and told us. Is she all right?"

"She's a little wonky" said Bux. "But we're making sure she's okay. The funeral is tomorrow, can you go?"

"We can all go" said Qen. Yoj was stirring. Qen leaned over Bux and kissed Yoj's forehead, saying "Sweet Yoj, I'm so sorry for your heartbreak."

Yoj's eyes opened wide, and she began crying again. Bux pulled her into her lap and rocked her as Halling got up and dressed, then helped Yoj get dressed when she was done crying. They all came into the kitchen together, where Yerush and Veida were setting food on the table. They both gave Yoj long hugs and whispered endearments. Yoj was cried out for the moment.

"We made your favorite, cheese and egg pie with leeks" said Yerush. "With some greenhouse tomatoes in big red slices on top."

Yoj surprised herself by being able to eat. Veida pulled a rice pudding from the oven and drizzled mulberry syrup on it for dessert. They talked over the plans for the next day, and Bux got up to hang funeral clothes for the six of them to air out. When she returned to the table, everyone encouraged Yoj to tell stories of her aggie and her childhood. Bux had her chair next to Yoj's so she could keep both arms around Yoj. Halling kept bringing her more tea, until finally Yoj said, with the first grin they'd seen from her, "My bladder is stretched tight as a bulb kelp, I have to go relieve myself."

"I'll go with you" said Halling, grabbing a flash as they went out the back door.

While they were gone, Bux told them what she knew of the disturbing circumstances of Rosz's death.

"We'll need to get a memorial plaque made for the Shatters" said Veida.

"I wonder what will happen to their Manage" said Yerush. "If Nilma isn't really living there, technically it will go to Yoj."

The others looked at her in surprise. Bux said "She's not moving back out there!"

"Of course she's not" said Qen. "Her home is here. We'll figure it out with her later, after the funeral has been gotten through."

When Yoj came back in, she said "I know it's early, but all I want to do is go back to sleep."

"A good choice" said Veida. "Wait just a minute, I have a tincture to give you for peace of heart." She got a small bottle from her shelf in the larder and put a dropperful into Yoj's mouth, then gave a dose to Halling and Bux for good measure. Yoj was sent off to bed with many kisses and hugs. She snuggled in between Bux and Halling, and again dropped off almost instantly.

"She may have nightmares tonight" Halling said to Bux.

"Not with what Veida just gave her" answered Bux.

"We're all her aggies now" said Halling.

"Yes" agreed Bux.


Two days later, the funeral behind them, Bux came home for lunch and found Yerush there for the same purpose. Veida was gone on a birth, Qen and Halling were working, and Yoj had insisted on going to her cubicle.

After getting a bowl of rice with steamed vegetables and tofu, Bux sat down next to Yerush instead of at the other end of the table. As Bux was pouring piquant sauce on her meal, Yerush asked "How is she?"

"I'm not sure. I mean, emma, I'm confused by it all. I didn't see Nilma cry once. And the way she hugged her children was -- colorless. How did Yoj come from that? I mean, you met her aggie, was she that distant, too?"

Yerush hesitated, then said "Yes and no. Physically, seems like no one touched those children. Qen said they each arrived at school unaware of laps or simple affection, but after a week or so, went into a frenzy of need that all the teachers did their best to meet. I used to wonder if that was part of the explanation for Yoj's -- long string of lovers."

Bux's cheeks turned pink but she didn't stop listening.

"Emotionally, Rosz came and went. She did talk to Yoj, they had moments of extraordinary intimacy. Then she'd disappear, into her work, I guess. And Yoj, being the oldest, was leaned on far too heavily in terms of helping around the house, including raising her sibus."

"Is that why Myrd was so -- aloof, with Yoj?" asked Bux. "I mean, at times I thought she was making jibes at her, but when I'd look at her, she's just unpolished and cold. But not hateful."

"I think Myrd felt left behind when Yoj grabbed at the help that was offered her. And Myrd didn't have Yoj's brains or charm. Neither did Owera. It must have been very painful to have the same kind of hardship Yoj did but no chance of escape through learning or music" said Yerush.

"Neither of her sibs looked in the least like her" said Bux. "Nor did Nilma. It's as if they were no kin at all."

"Yoj looks -- looked like Rosz. Almost a dead ringer, in fact." Yerush caught herself in dismay, then she and Bux both started laughing. "You know what I meant."

Bux put her hand over Yerush's for a moment. They didn't have private conversations like this very often.

"Rosz was also very, very smart. She's enough younger than us that she was in Qen's class the first year Qen began teaching. And she was beautiful."

"Of course" said Bux, "If Yoj resembles her."

Yerush smiled and continued. "She could have partnered with almost anybody on Skene, and gone into any number of occupations, or to the University. Instead, she retreated back to Isola and eventually wound up with Nilma, who was nearby on Yanja. Another solitary sort. Women who work in the steam tunnels are often -- odd."

"And now Owera is doing the same thing. And Myrd is a miner, yet another career that isn't public-oriented" mused Bux.

"Well, Yoj was the catch of Skene in her day, only she's made the most of it" said Yerush.

Bux looked at her sharply. "I hope you don't mean that in a nasty way" she said.

Yerush tried not to be offended. "No, I was sincere. I think you're just as lucky to have her as she is to have you. And Halling. My word, the three of you are a cabal, if you only worked at it."

"I don't care about that, emma, I just want to make them happy" said Bux.

"They're out of their minds over you" said Yerush drily. "As you well know, stop fishing for it."

Bux giggled and said "Doesn't hurt to hear it from your aggie."

"No" said Yerush softly, "It doesn't. You are the culmination of generations of our line, the best of us all. It isn't just your partners who are out of their minds over you."

Tears came to Bux's eyes, and she gave Yerush a kiss on her cheek. "I'm getting a bit more, you want some?" she said, standing up with her bowl in hand.

"No, I'm done. I have to get back to the U and try to teach some depressingly non-Yoj students about economics in the 200s."


Copyright 2007 Maggie Jochild.

Read More...

Summary only...

SKENE: CHAPTER SIX

This is draft one of my sci-fi novel Skene. To read earlier chapters, go to LABELS in the right-hand column on this page, scroll down to the Skene tags and click on the one you want to read. Skene is set on a human-habitable planet in the Alhena star system at least 500 years in the future. There's a considerable amount of appendix material and diagrams also available here as needed:
NEW: Skene Map: Argile
Skene Map: Seda with Motu and Krk Flings
Skene Glossary (Skenish to English)
Skene Cast of Characters
Skene Culture, Calendar, Clothing, and Islands
Map of All Skene
Map of Riesig (the main island)
Map of The Manage on Riesig
Map of The Lofthall on Riesig

CHAPTER SIX

The following Ot, Halling once again did not have to work because of weather, so she went with Yoj to the school and taught lighter songs to all the classes. In Qen's grade, they made sure to tell the children there how Qen had placed them on the exalted paths they now followed, and to listen to her carefully, she'd do the same for them.

The next day, everyone except Veida went to Market together, with a variety of extras from their allotment and a hunger for citrus fruits. They found a bushel of limes, which they stored in the larder packed in straw. Yoj used half a dozen of them to make a lime custard pie which caused Halling's eyes to bulge after the first bite. Veida was off at a birth, and Halling insisted on saving the last piece of pie for her return.

At dinner, Halling said "I wrote to my emma Ng and told her I'd visit this weekend. I'm going to stop by the dispersal center in the morning for whatever I can collect of back allotment, then catch the ferries out to Motu Fling. The schedule's not in my favor -- I won't be back until Shmonah, and I'm counting on the bad weather continuing. I told the Sheng Zhang if it clears, to replace me for a day."

"Do you want us to go with you?" said Yoj.

"Not yet. I want a chance to talk with her alone" said Halling.

Yoj said to Bux "When we do visit, you and Ng are going to completely hit it off. She's blunt but not in a mean way. And she's an incredible keramiker."

"I remember her well from school, I liked her in particular" said Qen. "And I remember your aggie, Mwezi, too but not as well. She was very quiet."

"Yeah, in public" said Halling. "At home, though, she was nonstop jokes and singing." A look of deep sadness settled on her face.

"Well, tell Ng I want to see her soon" said Yoj. "Will your sibs be there?"

"I doubt it, they all have jobs elsewhere now" answered Halling.

"Tell her hello from me, too" said Bux a little shyly. "And I'll miss you like sunlight."

"Tomorrow" said Yerush, "We are going to wash the clerestory windows inside, and mop every inch of this muddy floor."

"And I've got more clothes cut out" said Qen.

"All right" said Yoj obediently.


Halling was carrying an extra hundred pounds the next morning by the time she got on the ferry. It swung around the bulge of Riesig to the north ferry landing, then crossed morrie vaseo to Argile, where she had to disembark and walk across the lower end to a second ferry which would transport her to Seda. Two of her sibs lived and worked on Seda as kinusans in the silkworm farm there. She didn't have time to visit, though. She again walked ten minutes overland and waited for a third ferry, the one that Ng ran as faryaste to Motu and on to other Flings.

However, when the ferry came into view, Halling was startled to see the driver was not her emma. It was a woman she knew vaguely from Ikrus Fling. When she got on board, she introduced herself and asked where Ng was.

"Home" the faryaste answered. "She's been sick since the Vote. If it keeps up, I'm going to request this job permanently. Here, I've a bundle of mail for her that she's not come down to the dock to pick up, you can take it to her."

Halling saw among the stack her letter to Ng written days earlier. She was now worried. Ng had always had rheumatism, but otherwise had been extremely healthy and never slowed down.

She walked from their home pier up the steep trail to the Manage she'd grown up in as swiftly as she could, given the muddy trail and her burden. As she reached the steps, a throng of katts ran toward her from all directions, crying piteously and rubbing her ankles. She couldn't bend to pet them. At the door, she knocked once, then went on in, calling "Emma?"

The kitchen had a stack of dirty dishes in the sink and more dirty dishes on the table. The sight shocked Halling -- never once had she seen either of her emmas leave dirty dishes. There was a faint pong from the old food, or maybe something else. She heard a weak "Hello" from above her.

Setting down her burderns, she went to the ladder of the kitchen loft and started up it. She heard sounds of someone moving in the bed. When she got to the top of the ladder, a stronger smell hit her, of an unemptied chamber pot. Ng was sitting up in bed, trying to get a pair of metal crutches onto her forearms. Her schmatta was stained, and a few dirty cups were beside the bed.

"Are you all right?" said Halling in a rush of concern. "How sick are you?" She sidestepped the cups and the chamber pot, and sat down next to Ng, putting arms around her.

Ng was ashamed of her condition, but still dropped the crutches to embrace Halling, clutching at her gratefully.

"I've hit a really bad spell" she said, then began crying despite trying hard to hold back the tears. Halling had never hard her emma cry like this, with such raw desperation. She wanted to hush her, but managed to instead hold her tight and let it all wash over her.

When Ng could finally talk again, Halling pulled out a handkerchief to wipe her emma's face, then gave it to her so she could blow her nose. "Is it the rheumatism?" she asked gently.

"Yes, but much worse than it's ever been. I mean, every single joint. I hurt all over, and I just can't walk or stand for more than a minute" said Ng, fear thickening her voice.

"How long have been you been up here?" said Halling.

"It's been four days since I could get down. I had a bottle of water and some bread I'd pulled up on a rope, but that ran out yesterday" said Ng with a hard swallow.

"Okay. I'm making you something to eat and bringing you tea, first thing" said Halling, standing up.

"Hall -- I need to -- empty myself" said Ng with extreme shame.

"Oh, right" said Halling. She was sure the chamberpot was full, from the smell of it. "Is there another chamberpot in the house?"

"No" said Ng.

"Wait here, then" said Halling, grabbing the dirty cups and water bottle as she went back down the ladder one-handed. She found an old stock pot with a lid in the kitchen, filled a new water bottle and scrambled back up the ladder with them, setting them beside Ng and saying "Can you manage the pot, or do I need to help you?"

"I can still do that much" said Ng, an edge to her voice.

Halling pulled out the box of fisk she'd brought and crumbled a big mound onto two wide plates. Opening the back door, a chorus of katt wails reached her. She set the plates on a flat spot and backed away quickly as spats broke out. She said to them "Thanks for hanging on. This won't happen again", and went back inside.

She didn't think she could carry the full, reeking chamberpot down a ladder by herself. She went back to the kitchen, then the living room, and finally found a small metal box with handles used to carry in produce from the tillage. She made tea and toast, cut three thick wedges of cheese from a round she'd just brought, added an apple, and carried it back up the ladder in the crate. Ng was leaned against the headboard, watching her with ravenous hope.

"You eat that, and we'll see about getting you whatever else you want" said Halling with forced cheerfulness. She put both chamberpots into the crate and lowered it carefully to the floor below. She kept them in the crate to carry down the hill to the privy, then scrubbed them both outside before setting them on the step to air.

After washing her hands, she climbed to the loft over the living room and rooted through storage in the rafters until she found the folding bed she remembered from when she lived here. She brought this downstairs to the living room and set it up, putting on fresh sheets and a blanket. The pile of laundry in the bath room was immense, and she began a load while she was in there. She also started a bath.

Returned to Ng's loft, she found two of the slices of cheese uneaten but everything else was gone. "I'm stuffed" said Ng, "I couldn't finish it."

"Been empty too long" commented Halling. "Listen, I'm going to get you downstairs for a bath. If you can make it to the top of the ladder, I'll go down in front of you and you can lean your entire body against mine on each step. I can hold your weight, and once we're on the ground floor, I can carry you."

Ng wanted to protest, but did not. She struggled to her feet on the crutches, with deep cries of pain, and hobbled precariously to where Halling was already one step down on the ladder. Halling pulled Ng toward her with one hand, the other arm linked at the elbow around the railing. The descent was slow and obviously very hard on Ng, but safe, Halling made sure of that.

At the bottom, she lifted Ng easily in her arms -- Ng had lost an alarming amount of weight -- and took her to the bath room, lowering her into the bath schmatta and all. She pulled the schmatta off Ng and added it to the laundry, then did the load while Ng washed her hair and cleaned her body, giving endless sighs of release.

Halling had rinsed the first load, run it through the presser and hung it to dry by the hearth by the time Ng was done. She filled the washer with more boiling water and soap, and sorted out another load of laundry to soak, before she helped Ng from the tub and dried her, trying to hide her embarrassment. She had found no clean schmattas but her own in her pack was fresh, so she gave that to Ng to wear. She carried her to the cot in the living room, retrieved a chamberpot to put beside it, and asked if Ng wanted something more to eat.

"No, but I'd appreciate some water and my toothbrush" said Ng. Halling helped her brush her teeth, then combed her long grey frizzy hair until it dried and put it back into waves at the side. Ng looked exhausted, and her eyes closed as soon as she lay back on the bed.

Halling stood up, looked around herself, and made a mental list. First she began soaking beans and put the chicken she had brought into a pot to simmer gently. Suddenly she grabbed her pack, pulled out paper and wrote quick letters to all three of her sibs, sliding them into envelopes and running down the trail to the ferry landing. A ferry was just approaching, and Halling flagged it down. "Will you see these go out in today's mail?" she asked the faryaste, who said "Sure", then asked "Is she all right?"

"Not really" said Halling. "But I'm here now."

Back at the house, she alternated between laundry, cleaning, and cooking until the early afternoon, when Ng woke back up and ate lunch with her. Halling had placed Ng's bed against a wall so Ng could sit up by leaning sideways against the wall. She brought her fresh tea and the mail, then went outside to spend a couple of hours in the tillage while the rain was just a mist. Coming in with a huge harvest and muddy clothes, she washed up, did more laundry, and stripped the loft bed. There were no more clean sheets, so she left the blanket up there -- she'd have to sleep with just that for tonight.

She wrote another, longer letter to her partners and took it back down to the ferry landing, putting on the light that indicated mail to go out and leaving it in the box. Then she made dinner, ate with Ng, folded what dry laundry there was, and began another load. Ng was watching her, not sleeping. After hanging the last load, Halling pulled up a chair and said "You feel like talking?"

Ng sighed, and said "All right."

"Is there something the curanderas can do for you? Have you not been following their instructions?" began Halling.

"I've done everything they prescribed, and a few more things friends suggested" said Ng. "But -- they said the disease might progress to this point. And it's been so cold and wet this winter. I just -- couldn't bounce back."

"Well, then, emma, you have to have someone living with you" said Halling. "At least until it gets warm again and you improve."

Ng closed her eyes, an indefinable expression on her face.

Halling said "I wrote Moasi, Tu and Lawa, asking one or all of them to come tomorrow. Tu is single, she could move out here. Or maybe Lawa, she could commute back and forth between here and Byli."

"They're young and just now on their own" said Ng, "They don't want to be burdened with looking after a sick emma. They'll never have a chance to date or go in fresh directions."

"We'll leave that up to them" said Halling. "I'll be staying here with you until it all gets sorted out. You're not going to be left alone again. I mean, not unless you want privacy, of course."

Ng managed a laugh. "I levvin' hate this, Halling" she whispered.

"I know you must. But remember how you took care of aggie, those two years? She'd do this for you if she were here. I'm just living up to her example" said Halling.

Ng began crying again. "I still miss her terribly" she said.

"I do, too" said Halling. She moved over to sit beside Ng, who choked back her tears and said "All right. I want to hear everything about this new love of yours, and your new home. And Yoj, of course. And the Lofthall."

They talked until Ng fell unwillingly asleep. Halling tucked her in, made sure she had water at hand, and turned off the light. She did the dishes, went to the privy, and climbed the loft to curl up in her sokken, shati, and the sour-smelling blanket. She was so drained, she dropped off instantly.

The next day at 10:00, Moasi and her partner Ktiva arrived. "We didn't get your letter until today" she said, hugging Halling in the kitchen where Ng had managed to come sit at the table as Halling continued her cleaning and cooking. Moasi rushed over to Ng and gave her a long hug, saying "Oh, emma, why didn't you tell me you were having such a hard time?"

"I couldn't" said Ng. "Couldn't get down to the ferry landing."

"And we didn't notice your silence" said Ktiva, stricken, kissing Ng's cheek and sitting down on the other side of her.

"Well, that will never happen again" said Moasi fervently. Halling handed them tea and sat at the table, too.

"I haven't heard from Tu or Lawa yet, but sounds like the mail is a day delayed" she commented. She launched into the story of what condition she'd found Ng and the Manage in, stark details that brought color to Ng's cheeks -- to everyone's cheeks, actually -- but it had to be said. When she was done, Ng added slowly "Halling says I cannot live here alone any more."

"She's right" said Moasi. "I mean, you agree?"

After a long pause, Ng said "I do. But I don't feel ready to give up this Manage. It's -- it's the link I have to your aggie. And I'm hoping that spring will enable me to go back to work."

"Well, then" said Moasi. "We talked it over on the way here. Ktiva's emmas are about to move in with us, on Seda. They can keep our Manage for us, and we can move out here. For as long as it takes. We can commute to work from here, it's just one ferry ride and if the schedules are against us on a particular day, we can stay overnight at our Manage on Seda that night. But otherwise, we can keep you fed and happy."

Halling saw the relief on Ng's face, and felt a tidal wave of emotion herself. If Ng was okay with Moasi and Ktiva moving in, then it was a good solution. She hadn't been sure -- Moasi was always closer to Mwezi than Ng. The special bond had always been between Halling and Ng. But -- this would work.

Moasi stood up and began looking in the larder, saying "I can begin lunch for us -- wow, look at this cheese and bacon! Where did this come from?"

"Me" said Halling briefly, as she slid over into Moasi's just vacated chair and took Ng's hand.

"Emma?" she asked earnestly. "Is this really okay with you? Because if it's not, we can come up with something else. I'll do whatever you want."

Ng's face looked more relaxed than it had since Halling arrived. "Oh, sweetie -- you're such a good child. I am delighted to have Moasi and Ktiva here, they are extremely fine company. But I do want to meet your new partner. So you all come visit here soon, how's that for a request?"

"You got it" said Halling.

"Honey with comb in it!" exclaimed Moasi. "And -- pecans? Okay, I'm making cake this afternoon."

Ng's face lit up completely, as did Halling's. Their sweet tooth was shared.

"Would you like help in the kitchen or shall I go back to the tillage? Still a lot to do out there" offered Halling.

"You go garden" said Moasi. "And Ktiva, you join her -- that'll give me some time alone with emma."

Ktiva and Halling walked outside, where sunlight had broken through the clouds. A group of katts, still anxious about human presence and the promise of dinner, accompanied them to the shed as they got tools.

"Thank goodness she stopped having chickens last year" Halling commented. "They'd have died over the last week."

"We can bring eggs from the Manage in town" said Ktiva. "Don't worry about her. I can't believe we let this happen, we've just been caught up with my own emmas this month."

"S'okay" said Halling, although it wasn't, really. But she blamed herself as much as anyone else. "Here's the thing -- I don't care what's going on, keep me informed and ask me for help. Ask even if you're not sure about it."

Ktiva looked at her levelly, then said "Okay." They began hoeing around the cabbages.

After lunch, Halling made up the loft bed with clean linen and finished the last of the laundry, hanging it to dry on the line outside. When she came back in, Moasi said "Listen, sibu, we're planning to stay the night. I need to go back in tomorrow morning, but Ktiva can stay here and, over the next few days, we'll get moved out here and Ktiva's emmas installed at our Manage. So you can go back home when the ferry starts running again around dinner time, if you want."

Halling said "I don't want to, but I need to. My partners will be worried, and I have to work tomorrow. Are you sure?"

"I'm sure" said Moasi. Halling went in to talk with Ng, who was back in her bed but sitting up. Ng sent her on her way as well. Halling finished all the work she could do outside, including flushing the privy, and brought in the dry laundry before she left.

"What about your schmatta?" said Ng, trying to scoot to the edge of the bed.

Halling laughed. "Bux is on a clothes-making frenzy for me and Yoj, she'll be glad of the excuse to make me a new one. You keep this one, as a reminder of me."

Ng pulled her into a hug, whispering "I never need reminders. You're with me always."

Halling felt desolate, walking onto the ferry and waving goodbye to Moasi and the Manage. She was lost in her memories and worries as she walked to the next ferry and rode to Argile. Trudging across Argile, she didn't see Yoj until Yoj was right on her, grabbing her exuberantly and saying "Hey!"

Halling kissed her over and over, saying "Were you coming to get me?"

"I was coming to help" said Yoj. "We got your letter this afternoon, and Bux went through conniptions because she couldn't figure out a way to get off work tomorrow, but finally she let me go without her."

They sat down on a nearby bench and Halling told the whole story, leaning heavily against Yoj and feeling solid ground under her feet again for the first time in a couple of days. Finally Yoj said "Okay. That's good for the time being. But we're going back out there as soon as we can. In the meantime -- have you had dinner?"

"No" said Halling. Yoj looked at her watch and said "The ferry's good for another couple of hours. Let's go to the cafe here on Argile, see what they have to offer. We'll still give Bux a thrill when we come back home together."

"Maybe they'll have pie" said Halling, standing up. Then she paused for a second and said, "Yoj? I'll want to tell Bux everything, of course, but please -- don't mention to the others about emma's -- the chamberpot, and all that."

Yoj said "Of course".

Two weeks later, after dinner Bux pulled her partners into their bedroom and closed the door. "I have gifts for you. Well, for us all."

She handed them each small velvet drawstring bags, keeping one in her own hands. Yoj was the first to get hers open: It was a ring, a braid of gold, silver and platinum. The gold middle band was carved with a relief of suns, and was inset with a small octagonal sapphire. Halling's ring had a relief of shooting stars, and her stone was an emerald. Bux's ring was engraved with crescent moons, mounted by a ruby.

Halling looked at her with awe. "Because I'm a green 56, right?" she said, referring to her sui.

"And I'm a blue 56, and you're our red 57 -- oh, Bux, these are spectacular!" said Yoj, trying to slide the ring on her finger and hug Bux at the same time.

"Wherever did you get these?" asked Halling, kissing Bux on her cheeks over and over.

"A jeweler on Verzin makes them to order. I couldn't stand to wait until our partnering ceremony, I wanted us to be linked already. I mean, in a public way" said Bux. "Is it all right that I chose the design for us?"

"Who better?" said Yoj. "And it's a perfect fit, how did you figure that out?"

Bux went a deep red. "I -- improvised from other -- situations" she said.

Halling burst out laughing. "Well aren't you the clever one!" she said.

"Let's go show them to the emmas" suggested Yoj. She kept fingering the backside of her ring with her thumb, a habit that would become lifelong, especially when she was trying to write.


Halling always ate her breakfast at the Lofthall rapidly because when she was done, she had to spend several minutes in the dispatch room with Qala and the Sheng Zhang going over that morning's ocean current and weather maps. These came in after midnight from Astronomer Poke on Verzin, a special circuit that printed them out in the dispatch room.

The observatory on Astronomer's Poke had one of the few computers on Skene, and was linked to a computer in the Geography Room at the University. No one understood any longer how all the software worked, although a fadian and a chemist between them were able, eventually, to repair any computer that stopped working. Skene technology was not now able to build a new computer or create software. Halling left it to others to worry about that.

Her job, with Qala and the Sheng Zhang, was to read the latest map to guess where today's best fishing might be located. Usually this meant looking at the northeast quadrant. The head of the kelp sinning crew was also present for these sessions, although her maps did not change much from day to day -- she was almost always going to a southern quadrant, just a short distance away from where her crew had harvested the day before. She, too, had to contend with leviathan risk, but to a far lesser degree than Halling's sinners. She had only two teams of lighters instead of four, and usually her runs were so matter of fact that they could do two kelp harvests on a clear day. Kelp sinners dumped on a Verzin dock near the factories that turned kelp into edible meal, paper, plastics, linen, and a multitude of other products.

Halling, on the other hand, with Qala's real help and the Sheng Zhang's pretend knowledge, had to gauge proximity to morrie strati and the likely numbers of leviathan assault as well as types of fish to be schooling that time of year, in what numbers, at what depths, and how long the weather might hold. She had eight lighters, four sinners, and a back-up sinner in case of mechanical failure of the sort that didn't lead to instant death.

After making her first four choices for that day's run and marking them on the map, she rolled it up and walked out to her sinner. The rest of her crew would already have warmed their engines and be ready for take-off.

In addition to the map, Halling's sinner had underwater radar equipment. Since it was her job to run this demanding scan, the actual mechanics of sinning was left to her second in command, Schla, known as a wrangler. Halling ran oversaw process and made decisions about location, but Schla carried the metal nets and managed the timing of sinning. With a good relationship between head sinner and wrangler, the sinning could go swiftly and flawlessly. An important attribute with leviathans on the scene.

But Halling found Schla sometimes quietly contentious and always humorless. Halling assumed it was because she had been made crew head instead of Schla, who technically had more seniority. She tried to ignore Schla's stiffness, for the good of her crew.

On this particular morning, the weather window was tight, the best schools were likely to be close to morrie strati, and consequently the harvest might be light. Still, Halling's job was to feed Skene. The cluster of craft flew northeast, past Juh, Abfall and Exploit, and started with the least likely location first just because it was farthest from leviathan territory.

When that did not pan out after half an hour, Halling directed them on. Eventually, two hours later, they wound up at the fourth location, the most likely, where almost the entire horizon was red from morrie strati. Halling dropped to the 30 meter level and began flying survey with the radar on. She found a decent school, centered over it, and radioed her crew to join her.

Already there were leviathans, drawn by her survey passes, probably. All the sinners remained above reach, but as Schla sent out nets and the three other sinners formed the points of a compass, using grapples to join themselves to each other and the net, Halling's adrenaline began pumping. When the nets dropped down to ocean level and below, a leviathan who charged it would leave the sinners no choice but to disengage or be pulled down into the water. Wranglers were the last to disengage, hoping to save the net, and it was a judgment call from wrangler to wrangler as to timing. Halling noticed that the two times it had become necessary to sacrifice a net, Schla made that decision at least a full minute earlier than Halling herself would have.

It was the work of lighters to draw leviathans away from the net, away from the bulk of the schooling fish, creating a glittery diversion long enough for the sinners to haul their catch back up to the 30 meter level, when they could stop hovering and commence a tightly-coordinated formation on their return to Skene. Each team of lighters took a different quadrant, using one sinner as ground zero.

Today, as usual, the lighters worked miracles, their song filling the radio and making Halling think about how much she loved Yoj, an antidote to the fear and worry jangling her bloodstream. Halling's radio could cut through everyone else's in case of emergency, but she preferred to listen to the song without comment if all was going smoothly.

The net was deployed, scooped in a tolerable harvest, and ratcheted back up with a heavy drag to the level of 30 meters. Halling used her radio then, saying "All clear" and immediately lighters zoomed to the safe zone, crowing victory. "Take that, you bastards" Halling thought, as she did every day when they started for home.

But five minutes later, Schla said "Oh, lev -- look in the net, Halling." This could only mean one thing. Still, Halling craned down for a view and, after a few seconds, spotted it -- a baby lev had gotten its stupid self into their catch, and was now thrashing around on top of the mass of dying fish.

Halling began swearing steadily. She issued graduated speed reductions, so all the sinners slowed to hover at precisely the same rate. Then she paused. She looked behind her, at the horizon, and saw clouds approaching. They would not have time for a second run today. The water below them had at least a dozen leviathans following them, making futile leaps at them, but that happened whether they'd netted one of their young or not. Halling radioed everyone, saying "Look, we've already got the harvest. We could just go on home and let the fish docks push the lev off the cliff. It'll be dead by the time we get there."

Schla's shocked voice replied "That's against policy. We're not to engage in antagonistic behavior toward the levs."

Lmape, another sinner, replied sarcastically "Yeah, wouldn't want to make them mad or anything, they might hurt us."

"That's not the point" retorted Schla. Then, when Halling didn't answer, Schla repeated "Policy is clear."

"I just wanted to hear what everybody else thought" said Halling calmly. The two other sinners, one at the net and their back-up, waited a few seconds, then said "I don't see why we can't give it a try" and "No skin off my nose".

Schla's voice was now strident: "We don't have the right to create policy, or make decisions that might affect the well-being of Skene!"

Halling was getting rankled. "The well-being of Skene depends on being fed, and dropping this harvest certainly is a decision I'm expected to make on my own. We've got a storm moving in -- we drop this, we have to go straight home with nothing today."

"Look at 'em jump" said Clun. "I saw if we do dump, we fly it back directly over a morrie strati and drop it on their stinking heads, see if we can kill one of 'em with the baby's carcass."

The other lighters laughed, and Halling admitted to herself it was a lovely image. Except it meant four sinners would be squarely over the deadliest portion of the ocean, and that was not something she'd ever ask them to do.

Schla said "Unless you give the order now, I'm going to file a protest with the Sheng Zhang. This is reckless in the extreme, and I can't believe you, of all people, is willing to play with our lives this way."

Halling's mind congealed with anger. Schla was referring to Xaya, who had died as a lighter trying to keep leviathans from grabbing the snagged net of a sinner. Not the same at all, and even if it was, that woman had no right to even think of Xaya, much less invoke her name.

Everything Halling could think of to reply would make Schla hate her forever. Finally, she set it all aside and radioed "Prepare for dump." Schla released the bottom of the net and all the sinners rocked as weight suddenly dropped away. In reverse order, they released their grapples and Schla pulled in her net.

Halling signaled "Head for home, no need for formation" and accelerated heavily, determined to be the first to land. Not to talk to the Sheng Zhang -- the Sheng Zhang could go lev herself -- but because if she had to face Schla without a crowd around her right now, she'd probably bloody her nose. Yoj would be at the jichang; Yoj could help her calm down.

And Bux. Now she had Bux, too.

When she got within radio range of Skene, she hailed Qala and announced the dump. She couldn't help adding that they could have brought it back with no risk to any pilot, and now today was a total loss. Qala answered "I hear that." Which meant the Sheng Zhang was not in the office. Then "Your sweethearts were just in here. You aren't ever empty-handed when they're around."

Halling laughed and said "Thanks, Qala. Looks like I'll be first back today."

She was gladder than usual to hug her partners. Their faces were so vivid, she thought there must never have been women as beautiful. When Yoj asked "How was the run?", Halling said "Crappy. Had to dump because of a baby lev. And -- other stuff. I'll tell you later." She could see Schla angling in to land. She washed down her sinner, then the three of them went to the canteen and sat in the far corner. Several others joined them, but no one talked about the tension around the dump because Schla was only two tables over, eating with the kelp sinners.

After eating, Halling said "I have to fill out a report before heading home". Bux said "I need to get back to my Sheng Zhang, I'll see you for dinner", kissed them both and left. In the dispatch room, Halling picked up the log book and began writing in today's harvest location, conditions, and outcome. Qala motioned for Yoj to close the door, and when she did, Qala pulled one earphone away from her head and said "You look steamed. What happened out there?"

Halling told her the story. Yoj became furious at the remark about Xaya, which actually helped Halling get over some of her anger. She said to Qala, "What is it with her? It is just sour grapes that I got crew head instead of her?"

"I dunno" said Qala. "She never had a shot at it, except with the Sheng Zhang who looks only at numbers, not personal dynamics. I told the Sheng Zhang if she didn't put you in as head, she'd have nonstop bickering and complaints to deal with."

"You did, huh" grinned Halling. "And we all know how much she loves dealing with complaints."

"Well, Schla hasn't been in here or indicated any interest in talking to the Sheng Zhang today, so I think she's being smart enough to let it go" said Qala.

"Yeah, she'd rather just be pissy on the sly" said Halling. "Well, thanks as usual, Qala. See you bright and early."

"Sleep tight" said Qala, returning to her radio.

After a nap, Halling forgot about it and spent time after dinner helping Veida replant two of the coldframes. As she was getting undressed for bed, however, Yoj said "She seems to prefer the kelp sinners -- is there any way you could get her transferred over to their crew? Do they need a wrangler?"

"Who?" said Bux.

"Schla" answered Halling. She gave Bux a two-sentence version of what had happened, adding "She's been a real pain in my ass for a month or two now."

Bux looked disturbed and, after a silence, said "A month or two? Like, since you became partners with me?"

Halling stared at her. "What would that have to do with anything?" she asked.

Bux's face was turning red. "She and I were lovers. The last lover I had. We broke up at least a year ago, but we'd been together a year and -- maybe she's upset about that. Although I'm sure not, I wouldn't care who she was with."

Halling's stare was now incredulous. "That was you? You were the one everyone was gossiping about, the townie mystery babe who spent every Sju night with her?" Yoj's face also showed recognition.

Bux was now upset as well. "What, gossip -- why would anybody care? Who was talking about it?"

"All the pilots" said Halling angrily. "Schla always had some piece of ass on the side, and usually bragged about it, just another reason I never much cared for her. But this one she wouldn't talk about. Oh, lev me, I can't believe you would go to bed with her!" She was shouting, and Bux pulled back from her as if Halling had hit her.

"Hold on, Hall" said Yoj.

"No, I mean it, why the lev didn't you tell me, Bux?" Halling continued to shout. "I have to work with her every day, didn't you think maybe I deserved to have that information? Are there any other pilots in your box of secrets, am I just one of a string at the Lofthall?" She began pacing up and down the narrow space beside the bed, waving her hands in the air. Bux was hunkered next to the headboard, and Yoj sat down beside her protectively.

"And Yoj told me you'd never come before us, so of course it was Schla the tight-ass who never bothered to give you complete pleasure. But you spent a year with her all the same, what in the world was the attraction? Oh, lev, I don't know if I can face her tomorrow, I really don't!" Halling was beside herself.

A knock came at the bedroom. All three of them stared at the metal door without moving, and after a moment, it opened to show Veida standing in her schmatta.

"What's going on in here?" she asked with a challenge in her voice. She looked at Halling, wearing only her knickers and rage still on her face, and said "Some of us in this house are trying to sleep."

When no one answered, Veida said "Cool it off" and shut the door.

After a minute, Halling hissed "I'm going to your cubicle for the night, Yoj, where's your key?"

"You most certainly are not" whispered Yoj. "Sit down here and talk with me, with us. You're blowing this out of proportion."

Halling glared at her, then sat down on a clothes chest and folded her arms over her chest.

Bux whispered, "I do regret her as a choice, but some things you have to learn the hard way. I had a one-month affair with someone the year before her, and I was simply not going to wait around for you or Yoj to finally take notice of me. I wanted some experience, and I thought she cared for me. You're right, we were a terrible match. And I only spent Sju nights with her because, well, I wanted to go slow. And -- the sex was just not very good, but I thought it must be me, because of my inexperience. When I finally figured it out, I broke up with her. She didn't take it very well, either. We've not spoken since, and -- I didn't tell you because I was ashamed, Halling. I didn't want you to think less of me. As clearly you do." Bux began crying. Yoj pulled her into her arms and said "It's all right, darling, all of us have mistakes in our past, it's nothing to be ashamed of."

"I don't" said Halling.

"You don't what?" asked Yoj.

"Have mistakes in my past. The first woman I ever slept with was Xaya, and the second and third are in this room with me right now" said Halling.

"Well, if you intend to claim superiority because of that -- " began Yoj, but Halling interrupted "No, I'm not trying to make you feel bad. I'm sorry, Bux, that I blew up. But the truth is, I don't understand how you can sleep with someone who isn't your heart's desire, because I've never done it. And -- I guess I'm jealous she got you before I did. Plus, the -- nastiness of having to work with someone who's -- been with you."

"Oh, Halling" wept Bux, "She was never once with me the way you are. She never had me. And I'm so glad to hear you still call me your heart's desire." Halling stood up and joined them, then, pulling Bux's face onto her shoulder and repeating how sorry she was. They made up, and Bux lay down between the two of them. Just before they drifted off, Yoj giggled and said "Veida was ready to kick your ass, Halling."

Halling laughed and said "She could do it, too."

The next morning, Veida handed Halling her tea and waited until she'd had a sip, then asked quietly "What was all the ruckus about?"

Halling sighed, and told her. Veida said "I never did like that Schla. She made no effort to converse with any of us. Not much of a pilot, not by my books."

Halling grinned. "I'm glad to hear it."

"You're going to want to say something to her today, and I really advise you don't" continued Veida. "It won't land well. The fact is, she failed utterly with Bux while you have clearly made Bux ecstatic. Let that be enough. Let her stew in it."

"That's what I'd already decided" said Halling. "But thanks for confirming it."


Copyright 2007 Maggie Jochild.

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