A Division of Souls - A Novel of the Mendaihu Universe (24 page)

“That doesn't explain...” Caren started,
then changed course. “Last I knew, elemental castings do the same
amount of damage, psychologically, as an incendiary device with the
same reaction.”

“Yes,” Ashan said. “But because of the
preparation that goes into the ritual, it also gives sensitives a
heads-up well enough in advance. That would explain the high number
of witnesses sensing edha Usarai well before the blast. They knew
to get out of harm's way before it happened.”

“Still...” Caren frowned. “Under ten?”

Farraway took Kai’s folder and slid it in
her direction. “Would you like to see the report?”

She looked at him icily and pushed it back.
“No thanks. I'll take your word for it. So what about today?”

Farraway started to speak, but Ashan cut him
off. “To confirm your thoughts, Alec, yes, it is a
hrrah-sehdhyn…the Shenaihu have considered edha Usarai’s ritual a
major threat and have responded five-fold. This was their own
protective response, whether we want to dismiss this or not. There
has not been any word from any Shenaihu spokespersons, but it seems
for now they are not going to move further unless edha Usarai makes
one himself.”

Alec nodded but remained silent, frowning
deeply. Kai shivered, still feeling the strange energy from him,
though she did not recoil. She felt the severe focus he held on the
subject and the energies of those around him, though he seemed
unaware of his own action. His eyes never completely fell on
anyone, only moving from one person to the other.

“About this five-point response...” he said.
“According to my studies, the hrrah-sehdhyn is used most commonly
as a defensive move, keeping the enemy stuck in one place. Am I to
assume that the Shenaihu think of the Awakening ritual as an
offensive on the Mendaihu's part, even if the prevailing theory is
that edha Usarai himself acted defensively? It's enough to say that
the response was symbolic enough to put the Tower into some sort of
warding or defensive barrier, but unless we have proof that the
Shenaihu acted first, I'd say this whole debacle puts the Mendaihu
in an extremely bad light.”

“I agree,” Kai said. “That is why we need to
bring Nehalé Usarai into custody. It certainly looks as though he
holds knowledge of a Shenaihu offensive. If that is so, then the
ritual was his way of leveling the odds. Unfortunately, that would
put us in a delicate situation. The Mendaihu do not want to enter
into a...” she stumbled, hiding some words and searching for
others. “...a religious war with the Shenaihu.”

“That's it, though, isn't
it?” Poe said coldly. “That's what this is turning into. The
Shenaihu and the Mendaihu have
always
been in this little argument,
haven't they? Dominance over whatever it is they fight against, be
it holy land, the next messiah, or the One of All
Sacred.”

Kai paled. “I...”

“See it from our
perspective, Agent Poe,” Ashan interjected, his eyes piercing.
“As
Gharné
, you
only see our wars as spectators. See it as Mendaihu or as Shenaihu,
the choice is yours. But until you do, you cannot
understand--”

Poe slammed a fist on the
table and cursed at him. “Why the hell do you think we're asking
you what to do here, Ashan? I don't have the slightest frigging
clue what you guys go through! I could talk spirit reading until
I'm blue in the face, but that doesn't bring me nearer to
enlightenment, does it? I have to
be
Mendaihu or Shenaihu in order to
understand it, like you said. But we're not. We haven’t been
awakened — at least I know
I
haven’t.”

Kai felt a cold sting from Caren make its
direction towards Poe.

Caren...?
Kai stared at her, suddenly understanding her
distance and discomfort. The soul within, though dormant, screamed
in its confinement. She could indeed be Mendaihu, if she would only
permit herself to awaken. Why had she not...? She started to speak,
when Caren interjected.

“He has a point,” she
said. Kai felt the forced calm in Caren's voice, a delicate timbre
meant to soothe its listeners while putting a point across to them
— a distinctively Mendaihu trait. “But let me clear it up. As
special agents for the Alien Relations Unit of the BMPD, it's our
task to keep things like the church attack from happening, and if
it happens, we're there to investigate it. We're glorified
detectives, Ashan, I'll admit to that. But once you bring
spirituality
into it, it
becomes a Mendaihu issue. And not all of us have that gift. And
those who might, don’t exactly know how to use it.” Pausing, she
let out a breath that sounded nearly like a laugh. Kai noticed the
change — the intensely guarded aura around her began to relax and
slowly resurface. A second passed and it faded slightly. She had
let down that wall, at least for the time being, and much to Kai’s
relief.

“What we’re trying to say is that we need
spiritual guidance if we're to catch Nehalé Usarai. If what we've
found so far is legitimate, the only way we'll find him is for the
two of you to sense him out.”

Kai let out a quick laugh. “You make us out
to be bloodhounds,” she said. Caren smiled warmly at her in
response. There it was — Caren was willing to open up to her,
however briefly. Kai seized the opportunity and sent out a thread
of energy. It landed on Caren’s skin, a whisper of a breeze, but
just enough for them to connect. In the space of that moment she
could completely sense her, and she understood the agent's
anxiety...

She is hanging by a blade
of grass,
she thought towards
Ashan.
A burdened soul.

“Thank you for the clarification,” Ashan
said to Caren, then turned to Alec. “Nyhnd’aladh, Agent Poe. I
apologize for my assumptions.”

Kai glanced at Alec and felt that odd, cold
closeness again. She shuddered and backed her senses away, masking
her discomfort with an apologetic smile.

“I do apologize myself,” Poe said, and let
out a long breath, two of them. “I'm afraid I haven't worked this
closely with Mendaihu adepts for some time now, so I'm a bit out of
practice.”

“I've got a rhetorical question,” Nick said,
and leaned forward, hands clasped together and steepled index
fingers pressed up against his lips. His eyes focused hard on the
table in front of him. He had not said a thing during the entire
meeting, though Kai could sense his thought processes moving at
breakneck speed. There was something to his aura, an intense focus
— similar, but different than Alec’s in its intent — wrapped within
that chaotic energy. Something familiar…

“Say we get Nehalé on our side of the
investigation,” he said. “Obviously, that makes us part of
this...this war, for lack of a better term. What are our chances
when it comes time to face the nuhm’ndah? Judging from what I saw
today...” he grimaced, intertwined waves of disgust and horror
seeping out of his aura, and looked at Kai. “...I'd say we're in
deep shit where we stand now. I know what I saw, emha. They didn't
think twice about who they were aiming for, there at the church.
Nehalé might have been the intended target, but they weren’t too
worried about collateral damage.”

Sheila had moved closer to her partner, and
now stood above him, leaning on the back of his chair. “If they
were after Nehalé, they would have gotten to him directly, and
spared all the others, even if there was a shield keeping him
safe,” she said. “The Shenaihu may be polar opposites of the
Mendaihu, but they’re not ruthless killers, either. It doesn’t make
sense.”

“No, it doesn't,” he said, looking over his
shoulder, up at her. “That's what bothers me. Even more so that
this hrrah-sehdhyn seems to be aiming for the Tower. Was the church
just conveniently one of the focus points, or was it planned? All
five are in public places, even in Fraserville. Realistically,
these points could have been anywhere. Residential neighborhoods,
business districts, the Wilderlands, even in the river.”

“Why the Tower, anyway?” Poe asked. “It
couldn't be political. Although I'm sure Governor Rieflin's going
to push it that way eventually.”

Kai paused nervously. There was no easy
answer to that, at least not one that would reveal what she and her
brother had witnessed up on the Crest. They doubted any of these
agents would understand.

Nick, thankfully, jumped
back into the conversation. “Well, that wasn't exactly my
question,” he said. “What I
meant
to ask...and neither of you are required to
answer if you don't think it prudent...” He stumbled again, afraid
of his own words. “What...would happen if this was a war between
the nuhm'ndah and the
human
race
, never mind Meraladians, or even the
Mendaihu? What if it's an attack against
us
? Like last time?”

“Against...” Kai shivered and stopped short.
She turned to Ashan.

What do we tell them?

Ashan lifted his head and
hummed as he thought.
The truth, Kai. We
tell them the truth.
He faced her without
emotion, but with the eyes of an older spirit who had suffered
much.
It is theirs, they deserve as
much.

She understood, and faced the people in the
room. “Then...” she paused, hugging herself from the sudden chill
in the room. “Then the Awakening truly begins, on a terrestrial
scale.”

Nick visibly paled. He opened his mouth to
say something, but nothing came out. His aura sparked and shivered
around him, his nervous energy barely contained. He glanced to his
side, at Alec and Caren, then to Farraway. Kai looked at them as
well; they were all equally terrified of such a possibility, yet
chose not to show it. Only Nick seemed to be totally open with his
emotions. He cleared his throat and relaxed his shoulders, and the
most amazing thing happened: the electricity around him faded to a
mere pulse, seconds after his panic attack. Kai was amazed by the
speed of his return to relaxation point. She had never seen an
unawakened Gharné so in control of his spirit! He continued as the
color returned to his face, as if nothing had happened.

“An awakening of that magnitude…that would
be a last line of defense, wouldn't it?” he continued. “And in the
grander social scheme of things, that can't happen without a severe
backlash, can it? Politics and Federation policies aside, this
could spiral completely out of control.”

“You're getting a bit paranoid, Nick,” Alec
said, leaning towards him. “We can't rule out the possibility, but
we can't make it the only one either.”

“Agreed,” Farraway said.
“A global awakening is a
last
option, and I’m sure Nehalé Usarai understands
that as well. We have a bead on him now, and there’s a high
possibility he’ll show up again. More than likely at Moulding
Warehouse, and we have eyes everywhere around that place. So until
then, I want all of you to forget about Nehalé Usarai for the time
being — we have enough agents on the lookout for him now. Instead,
I need all of you to do some recon work. Kai, Ashan, I need the two
of you to begin listening to the city. Concentrate on the
Waterfront District, but be aware of anything else that might
surface elsewhere.”

“Consider it done, sir,” Ashan said.

“Sheila, you and Nick did exceptional work
at the church. I can only apologize for having put you through
that, and the debriefing sessions afterwards. I suggest the both of
you go home and get some rest…you've both seen enough for one day.
Alec, Caren, I'd like you to continue with your research on the
man. Call Kindeiya at KJS again if you must, though I'm sure we've
got enough out of him already. The more contacts you find on him,
the easier it is for us to find any connections between Nehalé and
the growing number of Devotees of the One already at Moulding.”

“Of course, sir,” Caren said.

He nodded. “Thank you.
Now…I want to tell you, this global awakening is something
real
. There is a chance
that the nuhm'ndah are also pushing to awaken the One of All
Sacred, just as edha Usarai is. Alec, Caren, I remember we talked
about this…and it hasn’t left my mind. I have to keep all options
open. It’s a possibility. All I ask is that we try to keep it from
being an
inevitability
.”

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Poe – Caren – Denni

Poe leaned against the back of the one chair
in his kitchen that didn't have paperwork or books covering the
seat, and lit up a cigarette to celebrate the end of a long and
stressful day. A warm breeze lifted up from the street through the
row of open windows and filled the room with the familiar scents of
Ormand Street life. The dusty-sweet aroma of fresh bread from the
bakery down the street where he’d get free loaves every time he
stopped in. The tangy spice of fried noodles and vegetables from
Ataru's Ichiban just around the corner. The ozone of the city
itself. The smells of the neighborhood that he’d known since he was
a kid. The sounds were the same, evoking memories of his childhood
growing up in this apartment. The chatter of multiple conversations
on the street below. The constant dreamlike flow of traffic. The
rumble of a Nullport shuttle takeoff and flyover. The soft shudder
of the BMPD helicopters sweeping the area every so often.

Long day,
he mused, and took a drag from his cigarette. It
was days like these, the particularly arduous work shifts that had
no end or uplift in sight, where he curiously managed to feel the
most relaxed as he reached the finish line. He brought his job home
with him, there was no way around that. He would solve cases in his
sleep if he could. Once he came through the front door and went
through his ritual of the post-dinner cigarette in his oversized
kitchen, the thoughts stayed with him, but the nervous energy and
bad karma that came with the job tended to disappear.