Authors: Gillian Andrews
“I know.” Six smiled
“I don’t feel much like the girl who fights now. I feel strange, isolated.”
Six made himself smile at her. “I am here for you, I promise. You are never really alone.”
“Thank you, no-name. It isn’t like you at all to say such nice things!”
“I love you. I will always love you.”
“And I love you too. I’m sorry it took me so long to tell you, sorry I wasted so much time.”
His face lit up. “But we had fun, didn’t we?”
She flashed with light. “I wouldn’t change anything.”
Six ignored a sudden lump in his throat, turned his attention to the wall, and began to climb.
It was a long, slow climb. With every step he felt his feet drag more. He was leaving most of himself down in the ortholiquid cave.
Chapter 17
GRACE RAN UP as soon as she spotted Six appear on Xiantha; she had been waiting for him to come back from Pictoria. She grabbed him round the neck and bombarded him with questions about Diva.
“Is she all right? Can she remember us? Is she coming here? Does she remember what happened? Did you see her?”
Six disentangled himself. “Here, Grace, stop clutching at me like that. Save it for Ledin. He’ll be back for the weekend, won’t he?” He nodded to Tallen, and then sat down and told Grace all about his visit to the cavern on Pictoria.
Grace was looking more and more worried as he spoke. Eventually she could bear it no more.
“But … when will she be coming here?”
“As soon as she can.”
“… Not … not straight away?”
“She can’t live here yet. The effort would be too much for her.”
“I … I see.” Grace tried to understand what that would mean for Diva and Six. “That … that is going to make things a bit … a bit …”
“Strange?”
She nodded. “I suppose I had thought that she would stroll in here, just as always, and things would go back to the way they were before. I hadn’t really thought about it.”
“Neither had I.” For a moment, Six seemed gloomy. Then his face lightened. “Though now I can talk to her. I still miss her, but at least I know that I will be able to see her again soon.”
Grace nodded. She looked around, wondering where Temar was; at a year old he tended to put on spurts of speed and was capable of getting out of sight and into trouble very quickly. When she heard the familiar cry from the direction of the canths’ pastures, she hurried away.
Six looked after her, his face carefully neutral. Then he smiled to himself. It was true; having children did change you. He went to look for Raven, who was rapidly showing signs of the independent young woman she had every intention of becoming.
He was thwarted in this by the appearance of Arcan, who hovered uneasily in front of him. “Did you find her?”
Six nodded.
“And? Is she a trimorph?”
“She said she could feel parts of you in her too, so we aren’t sure. How could that happen?”
Arcan shimmered. “As far as I can make out, these transformations are highly endothermic. Every time one has taken place, there has been an explosion or a huge amount of energy liberated close by. I was with her when the charges went off, so perhaps part of the trapped orthogel was fused into the new morphic entity. It is possible.”
“So she would be more than a trimorph?”
“I suppose she would. She would have parts of the lost animas, the canths, Diva herself and orthogel, together with the ortholiquid container, of course. The trimorphs only have lost animas, canths, orthogel and the ortholiquid container. That means she has an extra element. Surprisingly, that Diva element seems to be dominant.”
Six gave a grin. “Like that should come as a surprise to anybody!” He considered for a moment. “Of course, she always was one of a kind. I suppose we will just have to call this class of morphic … something new.” He shrugged. “We can leave that to the girls. They never pass over a chance to name things.”
DIVA HAD MANAGED to transport herself to the surface of Pictoria. It was a few days later; she was floating effortlessly above Hanna’s ridge and could see the grave of Ledin’s young sister down below her.
Over to the right, there were three avifauna gliding out into the morning sunlight, having spent the night in one of the buttes. They couldn’t see her, and she knew that they would take little notice of her, even if they could. She belonged here now, just like they did.
She let herself roll over and over, basking in the warm sunlight. It was nice to get out of the dark cavern, although she was becoming used to its shadows. And the Pictoris sun … that was something else! It made the morning warm. It almost felt like Xiantha.
She thought of the cosy house by the Emerald Lake, and nostalgia filled her small body. She could almost smell the mellowbells around the water’s edge, could see the house, could see Six and Raven playing beneath the huge trees, could see them splashing in the water.
And, as she pictured them, she felt a strangeness take over her body. She had the sensation of being spread out through a huge area of space, searching for one particular place. It made her feel dizzy.
As if she were a free spirit, sailing above everything else, she seemed for a second to experience the whole visible universe before she found the exact spot she was looking for. Then it was easy; she simply thought herself down to it, and concentrated all her attention on that one spot. The waveform which was Diva decohered at that exact point. It felt rather like being dragged down a funnel. For a tiny moment she had been everywhere; now all her being was concentrated on that particular spot.
She glittered and checked her shape. She was all there, but where? Then her heart gave a jerk, followed by a huge leap. She was here, on Xiantha! She had transported herself from Pictoria 30,000 light years across the galaxy! She felt dizzy, but gave a spin of delight. She could do it!
Diva gave a mental shout.
“Six! SIX!”
Then she waited, looking around at the familiar landscape with fondness. She had missed it so much.
A pounding was coming in her direction. She spun to face it. Six was running towards her, as fast as his legs could carry him. She flashed with happiness.
“Six, Six! I have managed it! I know how to come here!”
He reached her side and grabbed ahold of her, burning himself when she automatically spun slightly, and taking no notice at all of the heat searing his flesh. She could feel his emotion washing over her, welcoming her home. She blazed with light, and he let her go, hastily.
“About time you decided to make an appearance,” he told her, with a broad grin on his face. “Raven and I had just about given you up.”
Diva looked around. “Is she here?”
Six pointed behind him, and tried to catch his breath. “I left her by the water, with Tallen. I just came running as soon as I heard your voice.”
“Then let’s go see them.”
“You know the way.”
So they made their way back to the water’s edge, Diva taking in every single thing and storing it up to think about later. The tall trees, with the iron stakes set into them at regular intervals, the fish jumping far out in the lake, the small huts set into the tree tops, the luxurious growth all around them, the lazy summer sun overhead in the sky. She felt it all differently now; it was as if she were particularly conscious of this shining moment of space-time, as if she were seeing it with clearer eyes. Everything looked brighter, felt warmer, blinded her. It made her breathless. Then she laughed inside herself, because, of course, it couldn’t make her breathless; she didn’t need to breathe any longer. Yet that was the feeling it gave her; just as if she were still in a fully corporeal body, still bound to the ground and moving jerkily on legs.
By the time they reached the shore, Tallen and Raven were not the only ones waiting for them. Grace had appeared, with Temar beside her, already able to walk, Diva saw, although he still wobbled precariously in the soft sand and was prone to falling. Bennel was nearby with his family; Diva recognized them from Coriolis.
Then her eyes went to Raven. The little girl came running up to them, her legs pumping, throwing up sand, her eyes full of excitement.
“Is it you?” she asked, her sharp eyes scanning the small sphere hovering in front of her. “Are you my mother?”
Diva edged closer to her daughter’s face, until just the outer edges of her new body were touching the soft skin, like a kiss.
“Yes. I am.”
“Can you fly? Can you transport people, like Arcan? Are you going to stay? Will you watch me swim?”
Diva sparkled. “Yes. No. Yes. Yes.”
The girl squirmed with delight. “You
are
going to stay!” She ran down to the sand. “Watch me, Mummy – I can swim underwater!”
Six smiled as Raven threw herself into the lake, determined to show her mother how much she had progressed. The little girl seemed not at all phased to see that her mother now had a different shape. Like all children, she had simply accepted the change and moved on. He wished he could do the same thing; his own feelings were far more complicated.
Grace was approaching the sphere. “Diva? Is that you?”
Diva spun and then flashed around Grace’s head three times.
“How do you like my new body, Gracie?”
The Sellite girl laughed and stretched out her hands. “You look very impressive. I have missed you.”
“I know. It is all … a bit … strange, isn’t it?”
“You’re not kidding!” Grace stared at the morphic shape. “I can hardly believe it is you. Do you have all your memories? Do you still think the same?”
Diva twinkled in and out of existence. “I can remember every single thing, and I feel just like the same person. I don’t even notice I am a morphic. I feel just as if I were still in the same body as before.”
“What is it like?”
Diva coloured. “It was a bit frightening at first, but decohering felt great. It was as if I could see the whole of the universe, could choose exactly where I wanted to come down. It gives you a lot of options. There are so many things to see out there; it is a bit overwhelming. It makes you feel very small. I sort of came here by mistake, though. I was thinking about you all, and something came over me. I think I almost ended up her by sheer chance. I am going to have to practice, because it
is
scary. The visitor says it is much easier for us to travel through the ortholiquid. I should have started with that, really.”
Tallen was staring up at the new morphic, his expression unreadable. “
Valhai
Diva,” he said, inclining his head formally. “I am happy to see you again.”
“Even if I
am
a meritocrat?” she asked.
He smiled, and it illuminated his face, changing him completely. “You know I stopped thinking of you as a meritocrat a while ago. You could almost be a Namuri.”
“Thank you.” She knew what a compliment that was meant to be, but it amused her to think what her reaction might have been to that comment when she was the age Tallen was now. She spun, shining in the sunlight of the beach, and then turned to Bennel, who was waiting silently. He bowed his head so steeply that she could see the taut muscles along the back of his shoulder. “
Valhai.”
Grace stepped forwards. “Sorry, Diva. Have you met Bennel’s family?”
Diva moved instantly to face Lannie. “Yes, on Coriolis. How are you? Six told me how much you have done to help Raven. Thank you very much.”
Lannie looked somewhere between delighted and horrified to be talking mentally to a floating spherical being. She dropped a small curtsey and mumbled something about being welcome, very grateful for the chance, then got caught up trying to explain that she didn’t mean to suggest … that under the circumstances … that she was very sorry. She went pink.
Grace stepped in to save her. “Lannie takes care of all the children when we are all away. She does a great job.”
Diva spun again. “Poor Lannie. Does she never get to go anywhere?”
Grace laughed. “Try to tear her away from here, if you will!”
Lannie bobbed another curtsey. “Begging your pardon,
V-Valhai
Diva, but I just want to stay here beside the Emerald Lake. It is like living in paradise for me; you can go gallivanting all over the galaxy if you want, but I am better off here. You leave me out of it!”
Sanjai and Quenna bobbed low too, and looked so much in awe of this new apparition that Diva couldn’t help grinning.
“I hear you two have been kind to Raven too. Thank you.”
Sanjai smiled, remembering meeting Diva on Coriolis. She had caused an indelible effect on him. In fact, he had nurtured a secret crush on
Valhai
Six’s wife ever since, something he had been at some pains to hide. She had been the most magnificent being he had ever seen: fine, ferocious, loyal. But now … he found that it was impossible to have the same feelings for a morphic that he had for a Coriolan. He felt let-down, almost disappointed.
Six made a movement, as if to touch her, and Diva immediately went over to him.
“I told you I would come as soon as I could.”
“I have to get used to seeing you like this.”