Chenda and the Airship Brofman (34 page)

“As you wish,” Ahy-Me said as she placed her hands on the sides of Pranav Erato's face. He blessed her in return. She turned to Chenda and did the same.

Chenda released the young woman at the end of her blessing, and, for the first time, really felt that it meant something. “Please be careful, Ahy-Me,” Chenda said as the girl trotted away to the north.

The remaining members of Chenda's group quickly found a sheltered outcropping amongst the rocks and crawled into the cool shade. They settled in amongst the rocks to rest.

Candice pulled off her slippers and rubbed her own feet. “Life is too short for walking in the wrong shoes,” she complained. Chenda sat down next to her. She put a hand on Candice's knee.

I am thinking that I need to shunt off some more power, and I think I can help you at the same time. Let's see...

Chenda leaned over and put her hands on the rock near Candice's feet. She thought hard about the stone under her hands and looked for cracks within it. She selected several fissures that roughly made a bowl shape. Chenda released some of her energy and squeezed all the molecules within those fissure borders. With a loud pop, the rock crumbled to sand. Chenda scooped the loose bits of stone out and then concentrated on the air in their cool shelter. She thought about water, and she could feel every droplet in the air around them. She drew the moisture together over the newly created basin and, as the drops pushed together to form bigger drops, a fog appeared, and then splashed down like rain into the basin, slopping out over the sides.

“Soak those feet, Candice,” Chenda said with a smile.

“Well, well.” Candice said touching the water with one toe, then submerging them all. “Aren't you handy to have around?”

Verdu leaned over Chenda and stared at the foot bath. He spoke in mock piety, “And so it came to pass, that the Pramuc went out into the desert and issued forth the power from her hand. And, lo, the miracle of the pedicure was poured out onto the people.” He sighed. “Where's the dignity?” Verdu walked off to sit next to Fenimore on the far side of the stone overhang, grumbling as he went.

“You just leave her be when she’s helping her fellow man, or in my case woman,” Candice called after him, patting Chenda on the back. “She just needed to release some more power, and I for one am pleased at the progress she is making.” She turned to Chenda again, “Very nice control, dear. How does it feel for you now?”

“It's okay. I feel so much better when I
use
the power, rather than just hold it in. It builds up inside me over time. It didn't take too long for me to build up enough energy to make this little bowl and fill it. But if I tried to do it again right now, I think I would fail. I don't feel like I've... charged my batteries enough, especially after that 'air boiling' thing. Does that make sense?”

“You say it and I believe you,” Candice said splashing her feet. “Thanks, by the way, this is very nice.”

“You are most welcome,” Chenda said, biting her lip. “It was sort of a bribe. I had a few ideas that I want to pick your brain about. I think there's a lot you can teach me about using my gift.”

“I'm a geologist, not a theologian. What on earth can I do to help you with about a gift from the gods?”

“Well,” Chenda started out slowly, “the prophecies about the Pramuc spoke of the companions, right? You and Fenimore and Verdu, you were all foretold as part of my story. Fenimore is the soldier, and all he sees in my power are potential weapons. Verdu may not seem like a saint, but he talks as if my power is best used when I spread the faith, the message from the gods. I don't think that either of them is right.”

She took Candice by the hand. “But you, you are the scholar, and together, I think we can really do some good. With a little practice and a little know-how, I'm going to be able to make the earth dance and the wind blow, and make sparks write messages in the sky. But only if I know which elements I need. The only reason I could make the air boil is because someone taught me about Fire Steel. You know all about the earth, about chemistry, about how stuff works on the most basic level. I can see the elements around me; you can tell me with ones will help us do what we want.”

“So,” Candice said shaking her head, “you want me to teach you chemistry?” She laughed. “You best be careful, girl, because once I get teaching, getting me to shut up is the trick!”

They both laughed, and Candice added. “I think you might have a plan already started. What are you thinking?”

“At this point, my plan is all about what I don't want to do. I think we, and the gods, too, for that matter, aren't going to be well served by using my power to cut down vast swaths of people. That's foremost in my mind: not killing people.

“The other thought I have is that Verdu, to some extent, is right. We need to help these people. The Tugrulians have no faith in themselves or their land to sustain them. They need to see signs of hope. They need to learn a new way. I almost don't care about who's right, the Emperor and his One God rule, or the pantheon of gods who have their own messages. None of that is useful to the people who are starving. It's better to be useful than right, don't you think?”

“I think you are on to something with that,” Candice replied. “So, let me see if I understand your priorities: You want us to get out of here, but don't want to mow a bloody hole through the Tugrulians as you go, right?”

“Correct.”

Candice continued.”And you also want to help the oppressed people on this continent to be free of the lie that their soil is a poisoned wasteland.”

“It's the least I can do,” Chenda said, “and it can be showy, you know, something that would really make the people remember the truth. That they can do for themselves. It would be good that way, too. Right?”

“Yes,” Candice said, rubbing one finger on her temple. “A tall order, but at least we have a goal we can all work toward. I have a few ideas, but I think we will need to talk it through with Pranav Erato and the mimic twins. We are going to need more information to plan this right. Let me have a think while I soak, and then we'll weed through the ideas. You look like you could use some rest, by the way.”

Chenda yawned, “You may be right about that.” She stood up and walked over to where Verdu and Fenimore were leaning shoulder to shoulder, resting.

“I have something to share. I can see people at a distance now, even if they are hiding,” she told them. “People are mostly giant water bags with bones. Very distinctive. If you want me to, I can scan the immediate area, up to a few miles, anytime.”

The men gave her matching smiles of pleasant surprise. “Useful,” Fenimore said. “So, anybody close?”

Chenda concentrated for a moment. “Yes,” she said, “Ahy-Me is heading due north, or at least I think it's her. And there is another person due west of here. About three miles away. Not moving at all.”

Fenimore looked at Verdu. “Perhaps a lookout?”

“Could be.” Verdu thought for a moment. “I'll keep watch for a few hours and you all get some sleep.”

Verdu put a hand out to Chenda and he pulled her down as he pulled himself up. He walked to the edge of the shade made by the overhang and focused his attention outward, scanning the horizon.

Fenimore slapped his side, inviting Chenda to lean back into him, which she did. “Well, Pramuc, what do you think?”

“As if you ever considered me the Pramuc,” Chenda replied.

“Nope, you are just plain old Martha to me,” Fenimore replied. “I mean Chenda!” he corrected quickly as she elbowed him in the ribs, and they both laughed.

“Who knows, I may just decide to be a Martha soon, because being Chenda isn't what it used to be. I'm somewhere between overwhelmed and estranged. There's just way too much and we're collectively alone in it, if that makes any sense.”

“Not really, no. But I am a simple creature. I know that what I am here to do right now is help and protect you as best I can, until you don't need me anymore. I'm hoping, in the end, I get back to my ship. So, that's what I will do.”

“Oh, good. That is pretty simple.” Chenda yawned again.

“Sleep now,” Fenimore said, “and we'll just keep tackling what comes.”

Chenda fell asleep under the protective arm of Fenimore. As she slept, she could feel the power trickling into her, storing itself in the deep recesses of her body. When she awoke several hours later, she felt like she was vibrating under the pressure of it. She pushed on the heavy arm around her shoulder.

Fenimore, get off, I'm gonna spark or something. Scoot!

“Fen's not here, actually,” Verdu said as he listlessly raised his arm, freeing her.

Honestly, how do you two keep switching places on me?

Verdu chuckled and went back to sleep, muttering “I'll never tell.”

Chenda had an idea to expend a good bit of her accumulated power. She made her way over to Candice's now abandoned foot bath, and ran her toes through the sand beside the water. She concentrated on the water for a moment, and began it swirling. It swirled faster and faster until Chenda drew it into a thin tendril. Chenda concentrated a minute more, then plunged the finger of water through the sand and shot it toward the smooth rock wall on one side of the enclosure. She started to draw. The picture was infantile at first, barely identifiable as the outline of a hand grasping a knife. As she persisted, the picture became clearer, more defined. After a few minutes, she had discharged most of her accumulated power, and looked over her sand blasted creation.

“Nice.” Fenimore said, “Your hand holding the sparking knife. Why carve that in the rock?”

“It just came to me,” she said. “I guess I wanted to mark our passing here. That, and it burned off a lot of my power relatively quickly. But controlling it slowly, in a stream rather than a burst, that's difficult, and not very satisfying.”

“Well, it's not very quiet, either,” Verdu added, looking disturbed at having been drawn away from his slumber.

“Sorry,” Chenda said. “I'll keep looking for another discharge method.”

“I say whatever keeps you from exploding is okay with me,” Fenimore said. “Can you see any people around?”

Chenda turned her thoughts toward water and the surrounding miles of stone. “Yes, she said. About a dozen people are coming from the north. It could be Ahy-Me and the others from the Resistance. They are coming back along the same route she took.”

Fenimore made a quick double hiss at Verdu, who was up and at his side in an instant. “A dozen coming from the north,” Fenimore whispered. “Can you scout them out? Come at them from the east?” Verdu nodded and left the outcrop at a loping run. “Our lone person to the west?” Fenimore asked Chenda.

“Gone,” she said. “Nowhere around.”

“Hmm,” Fenimore considered it for a minute and then shrugged. “Well, if it is Ahy-Me, I guess we should be ready to meet our guests. If it's not, then it's a fight. Candice! Pranav Erato! People are coming this way!”

“It's just Ahy-Me,” Pranav Erato said. “I can hear her thoughts coming from miles off.”

Chenda turned to the willowy man, “I've been meaning to ask you about that. Why is it that you can talk to her over a great distance, but the rest of us need to touch you to hear your thoughts?”

Pranav danced happily. “I don't know,” he said. “I just know I can, so I do.”

“You are a very accepting creature,” Fenimore noted. “Well, how do we want to do this?”

“I say we just accept what comes,” Pranav Erato said. “They will have questions. We will answer them. OK, mostly Chenda will answer their most pertinent concerns. Then, we will see what information they have for us. Simple.” Pranav Erato took Chenda by the arm and moved her to a low rock in front of Chenda's stone carving. “Nice work, dear,” he said gesturing to the wall as he pushed her down onto a rock. He settled next to her, collecting up his various bouncing, gangly limbs. “I would ask the companions to join us, but I know they will just position themselves defensively with their guard up. So predictable.”

“They just care about me,” Chenda said. “You can't fault them for their loyalty.”

Pranav Erato turned his sparkling eyes to her and placed a finger on her hand.
No, dear. Not loyalty.
They love you, and that's a whole different matter.

Chenda turned that thought around in her head, trying to understand what he meant by it, when she heard Ahy-Me arrive. One look proved that it had been a long hard day for her. She wobbled toward Pranav Erato and proceeded with the usual holy greeting. Then she slumped at his side.

“I bring ten. Six are leaders from Hoe-Lend. De six know de others.” The men warily assembled themselves in the shade, eying Chenda and the other Kiters with distrust. All were quiet.

“Wonderful, darling,” Pranav Erato said, “You must be exhausted. Here, drink from my canteen,” he said gesturing to the small flask on the rock beside him. She picked it up, and shook it.

“Empty,” she said, her voice aching with disappointment. She turned her sweaty face to Chenda. Dust had collected in the crevices around her eyes and neck, making her look older than she was.

“Oh, no,” Chenda said. She was sure she had built up just enough power to fill the canteen with water from the air. She picked up the empty vessel and concentrated, squeezing the air. A cloud formed, and then a trickle flowed into the flask in Chenda's hand. “There, drink up.” Chenda handed the water to Ahy-Me, who drank deeply.