The Children of Calm (19 page)

“Not necessarily,” Rylek said. “I just find the aroma to be particularly invigorating.” He paused. “And homey.”

“Yeah, I thought so. Here you go,” she said, and put some leaves into the dish. “Do you want anything else?”

“No, I think I’m alright.”

Lana gave him the dish. “Let’s get you in the water, then,” she said. He followed her further back into the room, where he now saw multiple stalls carved into the rock walls, each with a white linen curtain pulled aside at the opening. Inside each stall was a well-sized basin. They stepped into one. She took Rylek’s bundle of clothes from his hands and placed it, along with his towel, on a little wooden bench in the corner and walked to the far wall. There she pulled down on a lever, and hot steaming water began pouring from a low spout into the basin.

“See how this works?” she asked. “When you get the bath as full as you want, pull the lever back halfway. The water will stop coming out but will also not drain. When you’re done, pull the lever the rest of the way, and just like that the water drains out. Clever, isn’t it?”

Rylek had to admit he was intrigued. “Okay, I think I’ve got it. Go on now and let me soak away.”

She closed the curtain behind her, and Rylek was left to himself. He fingered through the bathing elements and picked up one of the dark blue salts. To his nose it gave off an unpleasant odor.

Really?
he thought.
I don’t want that in my bath.

He fished the rest of the salts out of the dish and left them on the bench, then dropped the remaining bathing elements into the water. Immediately a clean soothing aroma filled his nostrils. After the basin was full, he slipped inside the water, closed his eyes, and exhaled.
I could get used to this
, he thought to himself. He had not been this relaxed since before his birthday. Slowly the worries and anxieties that had been haunting him were washed away, and with every passing exhalation he believed he somehow became whole again.

***

It was around a half hour later that he finally emerged out of the bathing chamber. He was wearing the white tunic Kelsereid had given him, and carrying his own dirty clothes. Lana had not waited for him. He began to walk back to his left when he saw a group of people huddled together in the distance. As he approached he recognized Lana, Ryaskoreid, and another one of the winged people standing in a circle talking. The new person looked older than Ryaskoreid: his hair was lighter, his skin wrinkling. When Rylek was not far off, Lana saw him and said to the older man, “Oh, here he is now.”

The man turned to Rylek and smiled. “Yes, of course, you are Rylek,” he said, in a deep quiet voice. “Your sister described you perfectly.” He bowed his head. “My name is Andulibar, and it is my honor to meet you, as it is to also aid you and your own.”

Rylek, hoping it was correct to return the gesture, bowed his head. “Thank you, Andulibar. We’ve been utterly amazed at how your people have gone out of their way to help us, especially considering that we’re strangers.”

“In strange times, strange friendships may be forged,” Andulibar said with a light in his dark crimson eyes. “I see you are returning from the baths. I can only hope you find yourself refreshed, rested, and clear-minded.”

“I do, yes, thank you,” Rylek said. “They seem to have a way of erasing pain.”

Andulibar’s smile widened. “Of both the physical and mental variety. Some even say traumatic memories are at times washed away.”

“That would be nice if it were true.”

The light returned to Andulibar’s eye, and he spoke very softly. “Would it indeed?” He paused for a moment. “Curious; we have found that anguish cleanses us and keeps us from attempting to attain things that are beyond our reach.”

Rylek wondered where this conversation was going, but before he could dwell long on it, Andulibar straightened and spoke more cheerfully.

“However, the sun is shining, there is food enough for us, and we have four guests; it is a blessed day indeed. And I daresay although we do not yet know one another, we are bound together in ways you possibly do not yet comprehend. Your coming was not wholly unexpected.”

Rylek felt Lana’s sudden stare, but he had no answers. “Do you mean to say you were told we would be coming here?” he asked.

“In a way, yes,” Andulibar answered. “I did not know the timing, nor did I know your names. But I was told that four children of the Aenosh would be dwelling among us for a short while.”

“Do you mind if I ask who it was that told you?” Rylek asked.

Andulibar smiled. “I do not mind; no question should ever be forbidden. However, at the moment I do claim the right to be guarded with my answers. I will say this: come and dine with me tonight, and you will meet my source personally. Then it may be that you will find me more open and free in my speech.” He bowed his head low again. “Now if you will pardon me, I must attend to our gardens. I have much to prepare for tonight.” He turned and walked away.

Rylek looked at Ryaskoreid. “Do you know anything of this source?” he asked.

Ryaskoreid shook his head. “If Andulibar chooses to keep certain things to himself, he must believe there to be good reason. I will respect his wishes.”

“He referred to us as
children of the Aenosh
,” Lana said. “Do you have a separate name for your people?”

“Yes,” Ryaskoreid said slowly. “We are
Aesid
- those born of the sky, doomed to dwell beneath the earth.” He stopped and lowered his eyes. Then after a few moments he looked at Rylek and Lana and said, “But we are honored to be able to help you in any way possible. I encourage you now to explore if you so choose. We are very proud of our ancestors’ handiwork.”

“That sounds great, but what about Tresten? And Selenor?” Lana asked.

“You know Selenor’s not going to leave Tresten,” Rylek said.

“And I believe your friend will be resting for the duration of the afternoon,” Ryaskoreid said. “If you would rather not roam about Perdeisolen, you may join your friends and my lifemate in my dwelling place.”

“Would you be able to come with us if we had a look around?” Lana asked.

“I am afraid not,” Ryaskoreid said. “I know I had promised you last night I would escort you around Perdeisolen, but for now I must do my part in preparations for tonight. And no,” he continued, when he saw Lana about to interject, “we refuse to allow you to help us. You are our guests, and you have had several seemingly hard adventures. It is imperative for you to rest and allow us to serve you. I will leave you now to do as you will.”

They watched him walk off in the same direction Andulibar had gone. “I don’t want to sit around,” Rylek said. “There’s history here, and I want to see it.”

“Sounds good to me,” Lana said, “as long as we don’t venture off too far. I want to be near when Tresten wakes up.”

“Good idea,” he said. “Let’s tell Selenor what we’re doing.”

***

After they discussed their plans with Selenor, they spent the next couple of hours walking through the gardens, talking with several of the Aesid, and even examining the hallway that led them into Perdeisolen. Their conversation was light. Rylek had been afraid Lana was going to ask him about the night before, specifically about his conversation with Selenor. However, either she did not seem interested in discussing it or she had forgotten.

“This place is huge,” she said at one point. “We’ve been gone for awhile now and yet I feel like there’s so much left to see.”

“But that’s what’s a bit odd about it,” he said. “We’ve seen only a couple dozen or so Aesid. Why is there so much space needed for so few people?”

“I hadn’t thought of that,” she said. “Maybe they like a lot of space. Or the others are somewhere else.”

“And another thing that’s been bothering me,” he continued. “I haven’t seen one child anywhere. There hasn’t been any indication that there even are any.”

“Oh, you’re right!” she said as she stopped. “Do you think they’re unable to have children? And maybe they’re dying off? We have to help them, Rylek!”

“Clearly we have no idea what’s going on here, but I would like to know a little more,” he said. “Maybe I’ll ask Andulibar when we dine with him later. He did say he would welcome any questions.”

“They’ve been so kind to us,” she said softly with worry in her voice. “I would hate to know that there was nothing we could do. You will ask him, won’t you?”

“Sure, sis, I’ll ask him,” Rylek said, putting his arm around her. “You seem to have changed your tune about Ryaskoreid’s people. Last night you were very skeptical.”

“Circumstances allowed me that,” she said. “Now I’ve seen them go out of their way to help us, and the crazy anxiety that I’m most certainly not going to apologize for is gone now. They’re good people, and now I’m worried about them.”

“Well, if there’s anything we can do, we will be sure to do it.”

“
Mercy acts as grace allows
,” Lana said. Rylek looked at her. “It’s from a book I read,” she said.

“You were never much for books,” he said, smiling impishly. “What happened?”

“Well, you know, I try to slip one in now and then,” she said. “I’ve been told that
books are the sole nourishment for the hungry intellectual
.”

“Sounds awfully snobbish.”

“You mean it sounds like Tresten.”

Rylek laughed. “He certainly has a way at times. But what do you say?”

“About what?”

“Books.”

“Oh, I say books are like…a bland potato,” she said. “Obviously essential to knowing
about
life. But living life in an exciting, fresh way, full of experiences gives that potato all the flavor it needs to be enjoyed. Life’s not meant to be read about; it’s to be experienced, tasted, and savored.”

“So would you say it’s best to walk the road of life with a book in one hand and a staff in the other?” he asked.

“Maybe,” she said. “But you need a third hand to hold on to a loved one to experience it all with.” Then she grabbed Rylek’s hand and pulled him along down the hallway back towards Ryaskoreid’s dwelling.

***

When they arrived, they were pleasantly surprised to see Tresten sitting up and eating a little food. The four of them were alone in the room. “Well, not awful,” he said when Lana asked how he felt. “My head is swimming, and my body is oddly weak. I probably just need to eat.”

“I’m just glad you seem to be okay,” Rylek said. “We’ve been pretty scared for several hours.”

“Well, we were really worried about you first, and now you all were worried about me,” Tresten said. “Which one of you girls will we worry about next time?”

“Hopefully there won’t be a next time,” Selenor said. “I think we’ve had enough excitement to last the rest of our Finding. It’s so incredible to think that we could easily have lost you both within just a couple of hours!”

“You know, the odd thing is I don’t really remember what happened,” Tresten said in between mouthfuls of food. “All I can recall is the four of us trying to find a way out of the cave. What did I do?”

Rylek looked at the girls, who looked back at him with blank faces. He waited for one of them to say something, but there was only silence. It looked to him that they were searching their memories to put together the events of just the past handful of hours.

What’s going on?
he thought to himself.
Do they really not remember?

“It’s the craziest thing, but I can’t seem to remember either,” Lana said. “One minute we were in the first cave, then the next we were in the large dark cave with you lying unconscious. Why can’t I remember?”

“Go on and tell him, Rylek,” Selenor said. “My memory’s a little foggy right now. Maybe everything’s been so traumatic that I’m just blocking it out of my mind. Surely you remember, right?”

Rylek had to think fast. It seemed obvious to remind the other three about the orb, but he was mystified as to how and why they would forget. Had the orb affected their memories too? But Lana and Selenor had not even touched it. Why was his memory unaffected? A reflex in the back of his mind told him not to tell them about the orb.

“Well, the thing is,” he stammered, trying to buy some time, “um, that Tresten, you had stepped into the shallow pool of water on the far side of the cave. And you found some kind of switch in the water which opened up a door at the other end.”

“That’s right!” Lana said. “How could I have forgotten about that?”

“But how did he get hurt?” Selenor asked.

“That’s what we’re not sure of,” Rylek said, half-truthfully. “When you flipped the switch you collapsed into the water. I jumped in to get you out so you wouldn’t drown.”

“Is that what happened?” Tresten asked. “Somehow I think something is missing…” He began to rub his hands as though he could stoke a spark of a memory. That’s when Rylek noticed that Tresten’s hands no longer looked burned. There was no scar tissue, not even any red skin.

“Your hands…” Rylek said softly, and instantly the Oathbinder flashed in his mind again.