Portals (17 page)

“So, who is this lovely lady? Where did you meet her? Come on, fill me in here.”

Stuart’s eyes lit up and he told me about meeting her at the grocery store, of all places. Not the most romantic of spots, but apparently they met over avocados.

He seemed much happier when I left him. After I’d assured him that the lady probably understood “family emergency” and once he called her when we got home, all would probably be well. He did say she was gracious about his canceling the date.

I was more than ready to bathe and told Thulu we needed to find someone who could direct us to where we could.

Aurelia and Belus and most of the fairies had gone off to join the other elves, but Sloane and Reo were in camp. I told them I wanted to find a stream or lake to swim in, since that seemed to be my only water option. Sloane said he’d find out and went off into the trees. He returned about ten minutes later and said someone would show us.

When the others heard where we were going they decided to join us. Thulu and I grabbed our backpacks. All of us waited like school kids getting a special outing for the day, even the little goblins.

Aurelia appeared and led us to a deep, fast moving stream about twenty minutes into the forest. She again cautioned Reo, Thulu and me about the water and said to be careful not to ingest it.

“It would be best to just not let it near your mouth, nose, eyes,” she cautioned. “But it won’t harm your skin.”

Wanting privacy as much as possible, we all spread up and down the banks and spent a pleasant hour or so. I shampooed my hair, being careful to dunk my head backwards.  Thulu steadied me and cupped water over my hair to get the soap out. It felt so much better than that dry shampoo stuff I’d been using. I returned the favor, gently moving the suds away from his face. The water had a strange feel to it, almost like mineral baths I’d been to. It also had a strange odor that was sharp and tangy, although not unpleasant. Being clean was worth a bit of strange.

By the time we got back to camp, it was still early afternoon. My hair had dried quickly in the heat, and I felt springy once more. After stowing our gear in our tent, we headed over to the stove. Stuart had set the stew aside while we’d all gone to the stream and he returned it to the heat once more. Since it had defrosted while we were gone, it didn’t take too long to heat up. The stew was rich with beef and vegetables and the sauce was to die for. Nothing less than what I’d expected from Raoul.

After cleaning up the dishes, we wandered over to the goblin tent. We sat on camp chairs and asked them how they’d be spending their time.

Romeo said he’d be cataloguing plant and animal life in the forest.

Since Juliet understood the Light One language, she would be chronicling as much of their history and way of life as she could get. She would be conducting interviews and held up a small recorder.

“This is what I shall use. Jones got it for me. Isn’t it wonderful? Your people really have done wonders for being so handicapped.” Her big eyes grew even bigger. “Oh, I’m so sorry, La Fi. I didn’t mean to say it quite that way.”

“Handicapped?” I was trying to think who had invented the recorder and if they were handicapped.

“Well, you have all done so very well for yourselves. Lacking magic and all.”

I was surprised. I hadn’t realized we were considered handicapped as a people and said so.

“Well, dear, not all of you. Obviously, you, Thulu, Reo and I’m sure there are others who have gifts, but you are a technological and scientific society. Clearly a result of not having magic to draw upon. Look how you keep your gifts hidden for fear that you will be ostracized or worse by your own people.” She patted my hand. “This is not a bad thing you know. Look at all the wonderful devices your people have invented.”

I felt a little defensive on the part of the human race. “Well, maybe that is our brand of magic. To be able to create cool stuff to make up for the lack of real magic.”

She pursed her little green mouth in thought. “You know, that is an interesting theory. I shall have to give that some thought.” She beamed at me. “La Fi, if you have nothing else planned, would you care to help me with interviews? You understand the Light One language, correct?”

I nodded.

“It would be wonderful for you to also chronicle. You could be gathering information for your own people for the future. The two of us could share our findings and cover twice as much ground. What do you think?”

“I think it’s an awesome idea! My tablet can record, but it’s not the best.” Plus that would give me something to do to pass the time. I rather liked the idea of myself as a chronicler, too. Thulu came up about that time and I filled him in on Juliet’s idea. I decided he could come along as well and help, too. I went looking for Jones to see if he had another recorder. Which he did. I happily claimed the small device for my own, and he handed it over.

Going through my backpack, I dug out my tablet, thankful I’d be able to use a car charger to keep the battery charged. I decided I’d use both the tablet and the recorder. Redundancy can be a good thing when dealing with technology, especially on a strange planet.

By the time I went back to Juliet, she had already tracked Michael down and gotten permission for Thulu and me to join the chronicler team.

She gave us a crash course in interviewing angels. There weren’t too many taboos we had to worry about, but she did caution me against bringing up Gabriel.

We were particularly interested in just how they procreated. Yeah, I guess in the end, it always comes down to sex, right? Or rather the lack of it. Either way, I had to admit I was curious.

Did they extrude a part of themselves and form a kid like an amoeba? Did they lay an egg? I gave a mental shrug. Speculating was a pointless exercise.

Basically, I didn’t know enough about biology even on Earth to guess at the different ways that could create new life. It made me wish I’d paid a bit more attention in biology classes in school. I shook my head. You just never knew when something was going to come in handy later on.

My instinct to surf the net and find out more wouldn’t be of help either. I rather doubted they had the internet on Neva.

I figured my best bet was to wait and see what Juliet might find out. She promised to tell me if she got an answer to that question. I wasn’t sure I had the guts to even ask it, though. Probably best to leave that to the professionals.

We decided our first interviews should be with Light Ones we already knew. Since Thulu and I already had relationships with Mihren and Barterian and, to a lesser degree, with Sahrok, Juliet said we should talk to them and gave me a list of questions.

Mihren was to be our first interview. Since we’d saved his child, we figured he’d be the easiest to approach. Setting out to find him, we wandered through the forest to the large area the Light Ones used for their gatherings.

As gigantic as it was, there was no way it could hold three million people. It was large enough to accommodate hundreds of thousands, though. Especially when you considered the tall blue trees that ringed the area had large platforms. Flight abilities certainly gave an added dimension. Having no need of stairs, the angels had simply used their environment to their advantage.

We hadn’t yet ventured among the Light One population. I remembered what Parker had said about angels not being very friendly. They seemed to have little or no interest in us at all, though. I found the lack of curiosity a bit unnerving and my stomach clenched as we approached the central area.

The air had a pleasant scent from the trees, an unidentifiable something. The center of the clearing held a large raised platform that their leadership probably stood on.

We approached a Light One, who looked like he might answer questions since he didn’t immediately look away from us. I asked how to find Mihren. He stared at us a moment and then said that Mihren would meet us shortly. Thulu and I thanked him and we moved a short distance away.

I made a note on my tablet to ask if they were telepathic.

When Mihren showed up, Barterian and Sahrok were both with him. Watching angels take off and land was even better than watching airplanes. I doubted I’d ever get tired of it. Landings were very cool because they tended to glide in, with only a few lazy wing flaps for control and touched down gracefully. The lack of effort seemed illogical for such large beings, but my knowledge of flight was about on par with my knowledge of biology. 

Watching the three Light Ones land together in what looked almost like a choreographed movement was impressive as hell.

We told Mihren what we wanted. He listened thoughtfully while we explained that we were helping the goblin chroniclers and that we had permission from Michael.

His head tilted to one side in a very human gesture as he stared down at us. Looking at the other two and back at us, he said, “This is actually a very good idea. Perhaps if others understand us, assuming the elves cure us, we might even be welcomed on the other worlds. Michael is very wise to allow this.”

There was silence for a few moments while the three seemed to communicate. I made a metal note that strengthened my conviction they were telepathic. They soon agreed and said we could interview them.

Even though the valley was cooler than the unrelenting heat of the desert, it was still hot. Rather than chat under the sun of the open area, we were invited to go to Mihren’s perch. Barterian and Sahrok took off, leaving Mihren to lead us.

“It isn’t far,” he said.

Now, if someone with wings, who is over eight feet tall, tells you something isn’t far, don’t believe it. Not for one minute. Their concept of far is nowhere close to a human’s who has to walk it.

After an hour, during which I’d tripped and fallen five or six times, I gave up and stayed down. Courtesy of the last fall, I had a scrape on my knee that stung and oozed blood. Thulu hunkered down beside me, judiciously not saying anything. Mihren had gone ahead and when he realized we weren’t behind him, returned.

“For creatures who use legs for travel, yours don’t seem to work very well,” he commented.

Thulu coughed, but I knew he was hiding a laugh. I glared at him briefly before turning to Mihren, with a heavy sigh.

“My legs work just fine. I just don’t do a lot of walking in woods or forests. I do quite well on sidewalks.”

“We have no sidewalks.”

“Yeah, Mihren, I kinda noticed that. You don’t even have paths. At this point, even a game trail would be nice.”

Game trails was a new phrase for him, so I explained.

“Oh, we have those here. Would you prefer to travel using those?”

I smiled sweetly, “Why, yes, Mihren. I think it would be preferable to tripping over every root in your forest. Or we could stay right here and chat. There don’t seem to be a lot of people around.”

Mihren frowned, “But this is not comfortable. My perch is not far.”

Thulu took pity on me. “Perhaps not for you, my friend, but we have already come quite far for us. Would you say it’s the same distance from here?”

The light bulb finally went off for Mihren, “Ah, I see. No, my perch is only a small amount of the time we have come. I would like to share my hospitality to repay you both in some small way.” He looked at me. “Should I carry you, La Fi? Is your knee capable of bearing your weight?”

“Yes, thank you, Mihren. I can walk,” I said, mustering the shreds of dignity I had left. It really was rather sweet of him to offer, though. I dabbed at the blood, wishing I’d worn jeans instead of shorts.

Mihren turned once more and headed off. Thulu and I dutifully followed. We hit a game trail pretty quickly and that made our progress go much faster. Another fifteen minutes saw us at a small clearing. There was a fire pit, complete with an embedded spit, and lined with ashes from previous fires. Mihren flew up and we saw a platform high above us.

Thulu and I exchanged a look. I sure hoped he didn’t think we could climb the tree, but he soon appeared carrying several backless chairs. They were very simple and utilitarian, nothing like the elaborate artwork we’d seen on Phaete.

Mihren flew back up and returned with a bag. He pulled out two small goblets, three much larger ones and two flasks. Thulu and I hesitated, remembering Jones had said we couldn’t eat anything here.

“I got this one from the elves. They said it will be fine for you to drink it.”

I smiled at the thoughtfulness. He pulled a cloth from the bag and handed that to me, motioning toward my knee. “Thanks, Mihren. I appreciate it.”