Ashes of Candesce: Book Five of Virga

'Ah, then maybe you'll understand my ... distress ... at the current situation.'

'Your being stranded here? I guess you've got people waiting for you back home,' he said, a little enviously. 'A family?'

Loll shook his head. 'A city--actually, a whole country whose fate may rest on my ability to reach them in time with a warning.'

'Is that why you were out here?'

Loll looked uncomfortable. 'Yes, though--it pains me to say this--we've been told not to talk about the details to any outsiders. By that creature Professor Maspeth calls the 'emissary.''

'The morphont?' Keir's scry was trying to read Loll by the man's stance, blood perfusion, eye movements, and so on. It wasn't having any success--no extra emoticons were floating around Loll that weren't already obvious from the tone of his voice and expression. Either he had fabulous self-control, or he was telling the truth. 'It looked like a servant,' said Keir. 'When I saw it on the mountainside, it was just helping you stay on your feet.'

'It wouldn't show its other side to you, naturally.' Loll looked grieved. 'It's a creature we know very little about. You've seen that little rider it has perched on Maspeth's shoulder? It's impossible to talk to her without it listening. Impossible for her to say what she really means without it hearing, as well. It's using her as its mouthpiece and it wants to get that mouthpiece into Virga to deliver an ultimatum to my people.' He glanced around. 'We can only tell you this now because, for the moment, it's elsewhere.'

Keir hid his surprise and sudden curiosity behind a noncommittal 'Hmm.

'It's a morphont, though,' he added, 'so it could hide any sort of mind in its bodies. You can't judge them by how they look, so I guess I can't tell you what to expect, either. If you're asking us to help you in any way regarding it, I'm not sure what we can do.'

Loll gestured impatiently at the half-grown aircraft. 'You have power! It seems to me that the people of this world can do anything you want.' He rubbed his forehead. 'Sorry. It's just the strain of this march we've been forced to undertake. --Make no mistake, we all want to get home, and as quickly as possible. We don't even mind the emissary delivering its message. But our people need to be warned in advance. They need to be prepared. And all this time, as we've walked and walked in its company, it seemed impossible that we could send anyone on ahead. Until now.'

Keir glanced at a scry summary. 'The airship will be ready in a couple of days--'

'And when it is, it'll carry all of us,' insisted Loll. 'All of us--including the, the morphont. We need someone to go ahead of it.'

Keir finally realized what the man was asking. 'You want to take my ornithopter!'

Loll looked chagrined. 'If there were any way to return it ... And maybe there will be. We have many friends and allies in Abyss--in my nation. If you could see it in your heart to lend it to us--this is our chance to break away from the emissary's watchful eye...'

First Maerta impounded it, and now this outsider wanted to borrow it! And Keir himself was never going to get to use the thing. 'No, you can't,' he said quickly--and a little loudly. 'I made it, I should get to use it!'

'I understand,' said Loll in a soothing tone. 'But ... will they let you?'

What had he heard? Maerta must have told others about Keir's plans to leave. Suddenly she didn't seem so wise, or nearly as caring as she pretended. Keir pictured her laughing with her friends while she told them about Keir's folly.

He decided. 'I get to use it first. But once I'm done, I can send it back here. It's smart enough to find its way.'

The Virgan minister nodded. 'And where are you going with it, if I may ask?'

Keir shrugged. 'It's a ... private matter. But I do intend to start as soon as I can.' He thought about the timetable for completing the new airship, and suddenly realized what he was agreeing to. 'Maybe even tonight...'

Loll nodded.

Suddenly not at all sure about this, Keir stepped away, looking around at who might be in earshot or scry distance. 'You know,' he mumbled, 'once I go, the others will, um, kick up something of a fuss. About my being gone. It's important that you stay out of their way and say nothing. I can't guarantee that they won't catch and confiscate the 'thopter when it returns, so you'll have to set a watch for it and be ready to jump in the moment it lands.'

'I understand,' said Loll. 'It's the best we can do under the circumstances. Thank you very much for indulging me in this, Keir Chen. If there were any way we could pay you back...'

He shook his head. 'Just keep this secret.'

Loll laughed. 'Since you've told me nothing about your destination, that should be easy.'

After the Virgan walked away Keir stood for a long time staring at the ornithopter. It seemed uncomfortable under his gaze, finally shuffling around to face the other way as it stretched out its wings and landing gear. Keir barely noticed.

He was thinking about the black air beyond the city, and about what it would really mean to launch himself into it. It should have helped that he knew now of two destinations up there: the exit to the arena, at the far end of Aethyr, and, much closer by, the corresponding door to Virga. Before he'd known about that second door, the arena had been his only hope. Now he could picture himself flying to Virga instead, and yet, from what Loll had said, that door was guarded, too. When he landed there, they would ask where he came from. They would investigate, and probably send him back here.

He clenched his fists and glared at the pavement. 'But you're getting shorter,' he whispered.

The ornithopter angled its sensors as though pondering how to reply, and Keir turned and began walking away--only realizing, midstep, that he was doing it because of subtle hints from his scry.