Seated beside me, Sash helps me with the map by pointing out where important landmarks should go. Although Sash hugged me before I went to the Pool earlier in the morrow, I haven’t seen any other signs of forgiveness from her. She’s polite in her communication with me, but I wouldn’t describe her as warm. As much as I want to reach out and hold her, give her a hug and a kiss and tell her that I love her, I decide I should wait for a cue from Sash.
By the time we’re ready to go to sleep, about a third of the paint that Aven started with is splattered all over her face and body. After showering Aven in the fall, we all climb on the bed. Stretched out between Sash and me, Aven soon drifts into a peaceful sleep. I roll on my side and look over Aven at Sash.
“I saw something else when I was at the Pool,” I say in a hushed voice. “It didn’t make sense to me.”
“What was it?” she asks.
“You and me the first time I came to Krymzyn. But it was different than what actually happened. We were standing at the bottom of the Empty Hill instead of the top, and Tork never came. When Darkness fell, you and I hugged like we were both really sad. Then a shaft of light shot down on us from the clouds.”
While Sash spends a few moments thinking about what I saw, I listen to Aven’s soft, steady breathing. “I don’t know what that means,” Sash says. “It could be an answer to a question you haven’t asked yet.”
“Why would the Pool show it to me now?”
“Maybe when you need the answer, you won’t be able to go to the Pool. Always remember what you saw.”
“I will,” I say. “It’s not the kind of thing I’d ever forget.”
Early the next morrow, Sash and I take Aven to Home and exchange her for Maya. After meeting Larn at the gate, we all slip boots on our feet and drape canisters over our shoulders. Once Maya is secure in a traveling harness on my back, we depart the Delta. Using the bridge north of the Delta, we cross to the western Barrens.
As we glide over the wasteland, the weight of Maya’s thin frame is almost unnoticeable. Sash zips back and forth in front of me while Larn stays a few miles behind us to protect our rear. Due to the enormous distance, we spend well over half the morrow just getting to the area where we plan on searching. We stop on a hill overlooking the Bridge of Harmony that crosses the Eternal Canyon.
“I want to talk to the Schorachnia,” Sash says. “Maybe they saw something. Then we’ll decide where to go.”
“Do you think Tela would have come this close to a Gateway?” I ask.
Sash shakes her head. “I doubt it, but sometimes the Guardians will go thousands of miles from their Gateways along the edge of the Expanse. They all have incredible speed. They check on their domains in either direction, just like the Serquatine swim the length of the river.”
“Why do they do that?” I ask.
“To catch Murkovin if they can. The sap in their blood does the same thing for the Guardians as the sap in ours.”
“They’re such friendly creatures,” I sarcastically comment.
I’m surprised that Sash smiles at my remark. “They serve a purpose,” she says. “That’s what matters.”
Sash runs down the hill towards the Canyon. After I release Maya from the harness, she plops down on the ground by my feet. Her eyes are captivated by the fluctuating colors of the barrier over the western sky. The symphonic serenade of the Canyon spills across the red dirt and flows into our ears. I sit down on the ground beside Maya while Larn stands behind us to keep watch on the Barrens.
“This is incredible!” Maya gasps.
“Is this your first time near the Infinite Expanse?” I ask.
“It is. I’ve never seen or heard anything like this.”
Soon after Sash stops at the Stone of Passage, one of the enormous, scorpion-like Schorachnia climbs over the side of the Canyon and shuffles to her. With his two tails coiled behind him and the pinchers on his two front arms clicking and clacking, the rusty-colored creature has a conversation with Sash. When Maya lowers her eyes from the sky and spots the Schorachnia, she uncontrollably shivers.
“That’s the scariest looking thing I’ve ever seen,” she says.
“And to make matters worse, they’re not very friendly,” I reply.
“Have you met them?”
“I came to this Gateway for my journey to the Expanse,” I answer.
She turns her head to me and scrunches her face. “You rode that thing across the Bridge of Harmony?”
“I sure did,” I say. “It was an amazing experience.”
“Now that I’ve seen them, I don’t think I’ll choose this Gateway when I go.”
I quietly chuckle. “You’ve seen the sky and heard the music. That’s the best part.”
Once Sash finishes speaking with the Guardian, she races back to us. Maya and I stand from the ground and Larn joins us at Maya’s side.
“What did he say?” I ask Sash.
“He hasn’t seen any Murkovin near his domain in a long while,” she answers, “but that doesn’t mean Tela isn’t near the Canyon. I thought it was worth asking if they’d seen anyone who resembles her.”
“What’s the plan now?”
Sash’s eyes roam the Barrens for a few moments before she answers. “Maya’s range is roughly four hundred miles in any direction. The barrier can be seen from about two thousand miles away. If we make a stop straight out from the Expanse at four hundred miles, then
