—Addendum to The Book of the Origin by High Priestess Arabel (Bella) Aurelius Nobilis.
* * * *
“I wish you could stay with us,” said An Ming, “but I understand your reasons for leaving.” She was standing at the pier, dressed in full royal regalia—long white robe, golden necklace glittering in the early morning sun—holding Lina’s fingertips in her outstretched hands. The pier was packed three rows deep with on-lookers and well-wishers.
“I must go to my people,” Lina said, projecting enough for the crowd to hear. “If my vision is true, then they need someone to guide them, now more than ever.”
Arabel was busy being mobbed by a cluster of children, off to the side, all saying their goodbyes and scenting happiness and joy. She had a kind word for every one of them as they each hugged her in turn.
Queen An Ming stepped aside to let I and the medicine woman’s apprentice, whose name was Yasmin, come forth to take Lina’s hands, I on one side, Yasmin on the other. Lina addressed them both. “You will do great things together, for Them and for others. I’ve seen it,” Lina said.
Yasmin presented Lina with a pouch of herbs for tea. “Just in case,” she said. She and I wrapped Lina in a hug, and scented familial love.
“Thank you,” Lina said. “And thank you for your gift of sun in the night, I. It will speed our journey home.”
As Arabel approached to bid her goodbyes, Lina dropped to her knees to receive a hug and a scent from each of the children. She reminded them to always listen to their mentors, who were wise whether they believed it or not.
After a final round of embracing by all, Queen An Ming presented Lina and Arabel with one last gift, a sapling from the colony’s Great Tree. “May its branches shelter you on this journey and always,” she said.
Lina and Arabel boarded their cloud skimmer, filled to overflowing with gifts of lychee fruit, warm blankets, peat briquettes to fire their craft’s furnace, and now a baby Great Tree. The bladders had already been inflated by volunteers from An Ming’s colony, and a festive chain of multicolored flowers was laid across the prow to decorate the tiny craft.
An Ming bowed to Arabel and then to Lina. “Goodbye Bella Aurelius, noble friend. Goodbye Lina, Wise Queen of the West. May you have fair winds and following skies.”
“Thank you, Wise Queen.” Lina bowed in return and gave a great shove on the push pole to get their craft into the clouds.
* * * *
“Another lychee?” Arabel asked.
Lina looked up from where she sat, tending to the main sails. “Actually, after this, I hope I never see another lychee for a while.” She looked at Arabel and patted the empty deck next to her. “What I really miss are the greens from your little apartment garden. Oh, what I wouldn’t give for one of your salads right now.”
“Do you think they’re alright?” Arabel looked into Lina’s eyes.
“Your plants?” Lina smirked.
Arabel pressed her head against Lina’s shoulder and wrapped her hands around Lina’s arm. “The people. The people you saw in your vision. The people of our colony.”
Lina sighed and draped her arm over Arabel’s shoulders. “Those are just possibilities. Forks on the path. We don’t know—”
“Have you seen any other possibilities?”
“No. But…”
Neither woman said anything else, and for a long time Lina was content just to hold Arabel close, finding solace in her warmth and the slow rise and fall of her chest.
“Sun’s going down, honey,” Arabel said. “You should probably fire the furnace.”
“In a minute.” Lina pulled Arabel in tight. “I missed this. Just you and me. Together in the clouds.” She kissed Arabel on the cheek.
Arabel responded by handing Lina a peat briquette. “Fire up the furnace so we don’t sink and die. Then you can show me how much you missed me.”
Lina smiled and scented love before turning to the furnace that I had given them, and sparking the flint. Arabel, meanwhile, was laying out some blankets on the deck and stripping off her robe. The golden artwork on her back glowed as it caught the last rays of the setting sun.
“Thank the Tree for I’s furnace. It takes the chill out of the night,” she said, while arching her back, pinching her nipples, and casting a little mating pheromone into the air. “Do you want to be on the bottom, so you can still see the navigation star, or shall we put our faith in the Tree and just drift?”
Lina flared her nostrils, inhaled deeply of Arabel’s scent, and extended a finger to motion her over.
“I’ve been waiting to get my hands on these big queenly gifts you’ve got here.” Arabel proceeded to slide Lina’s robe from her shoulders. The two of them fell to the deck as one.
“They’re so…big!” Arabel grinned and buried her face between Lina’s breasts. Lina hugged Arabel and giggled, happy to have her mind on something other than worrying over the fate of their colony.
“Want some tree flower, honey?” Arabel said, popping her head up and tilting it toward the space where the sapling was safely tucked away.
“I’d rather get where we’re going instead of floating around aimlessly until the furnace fuel runs out.”
“At least we’d die happy, but point taken.” Arabel lowered her head again to slowly resume her explorations.
“I never thanked you for taking care of me,” Lina said. “When I was sick. I’m lucky to have you.”
Arabel extended her tongue and circled Lina’s left nipple until it was standing straight up and glistening in the moonlight. She then proceeded to blow on it, grinning
