Gama and Hest: An Ahsenthe Cycle companion novella (The Ahsenthe Cycle) (8 page)

But that was wrong. Home had refused her entrance just as it had Hest. Except, when she thought about it, everyone else who’d been turned away was male. Maybe it was just Hest Home didn’t want inside. Maybe she could go back and live there.

She sent Home the question — her thought-grains moving through the darkened room like tiny dull lights.

Yes
, it sent back.
You
may
return
.
It’s
Hest
who
is
no
longer
welcome
.

Gama pulled the coverlet tight over her chest, as if that would slow her suddenly speeding heartbeats. She could go back, stay again where she was happiest, most comfortable.

But without Hest.

Why
not
Hest
? she sent.

Have
you
not
noticed
? Home sent back.
When
bad
things
happen
,
a
male
is
always
there
.
No
bad
thing
has
happened
with
only
females
around
.
Males
bring
the
bad
things
to
us
.
I
cannot
be
safe
with
a
male
within
my
walls
.

Gama sucked air across her teeth. Home had been thinking along the same lines she had.

I
was
there
,
too
, Gama cautiously sent. She didn’t want Home to change its mind about letting her in.
I
was
there
when
the
beasts
disappeared
,
and
when
Frarm
vanished
.

She thought again that probably she and Hest should have built their own dwelling rather than moving into an existing one. A dwelling they’d built together, with their blood and sweat mixed into its mortar, would never have turned either of them away. Kis had made the same mistake they had — moving into an already built structure.

Will
you
be
coming
back
? Home sent.

She felt her neck warm with the bright-greenish-blue of wanting. To sleep in her own cot. To have her own things around her, placed where she wanted them. To not feel forced to walk stealthily, trying to stay out of Reln’s and Prill’s way.

Without Hest.

Without. Hest.

She ran her hand over her scalp.
I’ll
stay
here
a
while
longer
.

Home breathed a long, windy sigh.
Best
be
careful
then
.
Two
males
under
one
roof
with
you
and
Prill
—
anything
could
happen
.
And
tell
Reln
,
the
soumyo
need
to
make
things
right
for
all
of
Reev
.
It’s
his
responsibility
.
He
must
do
something
quickly
.

-=o=-

“What do the structures expect us to do?” Reln swirled the drink in the tumbler he held. The communiteria was nearly full but strangely quiet. Reln kept his voice down. “They must know that if there was some way to stop this upheaval, we would.”

Gama rubbed her hands on her thighs. “I told Home I’d tell you what it said, and I have.”

Reln shook his head. “Your dwelling isn’t the only one. Community Hall, Wall, my dwelling, others — they’re all demanding we stop whatever is happening from happening anymore.”

“How are the soumyo supposed to do that?” Hest said.

She knew Communiteria was listening to their conversation and would spread it to all the structures of Reev. Once the structures knew, the corenta-kin would know as well. Reln needed to offer some kind of plan — something to help them all feel safe.

Prill looked down at her hands, resting on the table. “Yesterday five of our sisters stopped me on my way back from the storage sheds. They wanted to know how full or empty they were. I told them nearly empty.”

Reln nodded. “That’s true. We’re going to have to send a foraging group out soon.”

The blue-red of anxiety was bright on Prill’s neck. She didn’t look up. “They said our troubles were the males’ fault. That male energy brought these difficulties to us.”

Hest’s eyes widened, but he kept silent. Reln didn’t say anything either.

“How could that be possible?” Even as Gama spoke, she remembered thinking the same way in the night, remembered their dwelling saying it wouldn’t let Hest back in. Maybe these sisters knew something. She shifted her gaze to Hest. He was staring hard at Prill.

Prill kept her eyes focused on the tabletop.

“Maybe you should send an all-female foraging group out.” Gama thought for a moment. “I’ll go. I’ll take the lead, if you want — or follow whomever you choose.”

Reln looked happy at the suggestion — or the gesture of support, she didn’t know which — but said, “It won’t make any difference. All female, all male, or mixed, the danger is the same.” He set his tumbler down. “I’m Reev’s guide. I’ll go, but I will take only males with me.”

She felt Hest staring at the back of her neck.

I
have
to
tell
you
something
, he sent.
Last
night
I
had
the
strangest
thought
—
so
strong
,
I
heard
it
in
my
mind
like
spoken
words
.
I
thought
that
the
females
had
brought
this
grief
to
our
lives
.
That
we
males
would
be
safe
if
we
could
get
the
females
to
leave
Reev
.
But
then
I
thought
,
if
the
females
left
,
you
would
leave
,
too
.
I
wouldn’t
want
that
.

A cold shiver ran through her. She glanced up and took in the room. Almost all the soumyo of Reev were here, as they were every day for morning meal, but now males mostly sat with males, females with females. Their table was one of the few that was mixed.

-=o=-

Five sisters were in the receiving area when Gama walked out in the morning. Everyone turned their heads to look as she entered the room — the five, plus Reln, Prill, and Hest, all sitting stiffly on the floor pillows. On a few necks, Prill’s among them, the red-pink of certainty lit, as if they already knew where Gama stood. She didn’t know what had brought them to this room.

Hest sent,
You
might
want
to
stay
out
of
this
.
Spare
yourself
some
grief.

Seems
to
be
too
late
for
that
, she sent back.

Reln gestured toward an empty pillow lying between him and Prill. “Join us, Gama. I’d like to hear your opinion. These sisters,” he spread his hands to acknowledge the visitors, “have some thoughts on the cause of the strange happenings.”

Gama settled onto the large red pillow between Reln and Prill and glanced among the visiting females, trying to guess who would take the lead.

Reln nodded to Mahn. Gama wasn’t surprised. Mahn — a stocky, reddish-brown female with watery yellow eyes — had a need to be seen as involved in everything.

Mahn didn’t speak immediately. She held off, forcing everyone in the room to give her their full attention.

“Tethyod,” she said, and let the word hang in the air.

Reln’s lips tightened, but if he was offended or appalled, he gave no other sign. Hest showed nothing on his neck or face either. Gama listened for thought-talk, but evidently Hest had nothing he wanted to say to her.

Tethyod was the word for male energy, the counterbalance to yononsa — female energy. Gama’s neck warmed at the implication.

“How do you reason that?”

Mahn drew herself up tall. “Males have been present at each occurrence. I’ve spent a good deal of time thinking and feeling on the question. I’ve seen the truth of it: the males
brought
the occurrences.”

Gama remembered the odd thought she’d had in the night, the same thought Mahn was putting forth now — that the males
were
at fault here. And Hest had thought it was the females who’d brought these troubles to Reev. A small chill ran across her shoulders.

“I was there a few times, too,” she said. “Why not blame the females equally? Why is any of this anyone’s fault? It could be something natural. You might as well blame the males for snow that falls unexpectedly during First Warmth.”

Mahn’s sister Du leaned forward. “Do you think this is a natural occurrence, Gama?”

Gama drew in a breath. Mahn was the voice but Du the brain of these two. It was clear who’d concocted this theory.

“Not natural, no,” she said. “But not the fault of anyone we know either.”

Mahn smiled thinly. “Not intentionally. I didn’t say the males had brought these troubles on purpose. But there is something in their tethyod, in their maleness and essential makeup, that is drawing the troubles to Reev — and to Trontin and Kelroosh.”

Reln and Hest sat still and quiet.

Why
aren’t
you
speaking
up
,
Hest
?

Gama
, he sent, and then sent nothing more.

Tell
me
what
you’re
thinking
, she sent.

I
think
she
is
part
right
.
Maybe
males
and
females
living
together
makes
no
more
sense
than
two
corentas
joining
together
.
The
more
I
think
about
it
,
the
more
I
see
there’s
something
wrong
about
it
.

She felt her mouth drop open and two spots flare dark-yellow-green in surprise. The others would have seen that — seen the thought-grains moving. They might guess Hest and she were think-talking, or they might decide her surprise came from realizing Mahn and Du were right. Gama cared only about Hest.

That
makes
no
sense
.
We’ve
always
lived
together
.
These
new
things
that
are
happening
—
they
come
from
the
outside
.