“I appreciate that,” I told him. “Our goal isn’t a minor one. To free the Ish-Nul, then free the entire planet from the Sitar. But we’ll need to raise an army. We’ll need to show the people they can fight. We’ll need to show them how to defend themselves, and empower them to do so. We need them to believe they can win.”
“I believe we can win,” Timo-Ran said, looking at me intently with his dark-blue eyes. “I know we can win, and I’m willing to die to prove it.”
I nodded slowly. “Then, I’ll make sure you get your opportunity—not to die for your cause, but to make our enemies die for theirs.”
He laughed and slapped me on the back before he turned back to the nearest ballista. “I look forward to it, my captain. When do we leave?”
“Just as soon as I get a chance to visit the Void Temple,” I said. “I have questions I can only get answered there.”
Timo-Ran grunted.
“Tell me of the priestess,” I said. “She’s nice enough, but what do you know of her? Was she always a member of the Ish-Nul?”
He grunted again and scratched at his beard. “She’s not a member of the Ish-Nul. We have given her a place of honor, but not membership. If she asked for it, she would have it, but she doesn’t ask for anything.
“She first came to us five big cycles ago. It was in winter, I remember, because although she had some furs, they were of poor quality. There was a storm, and the snow was almost up to my shoulders. She was cold and starving, probably lost. The men were interested, of course, but she was in no condition to talk, so the village brought her into the home you’re staying in now. It used to belong to another, but she had already rejoined the Void.
“We fed the poor woman and warmed her cold bones. When she’d regained some of her strength, she began to speak, and didn’t stop for hours.”
“Yeah,” I laughed, “she does like to talk.”
Timo-Ran grunted again. “It was not so much the number of words, though that was odd. It was what she was telling us. She said she’d spoken to the Void Gods. She said they told her things, and that she’d annoyed them. I can’t imagine how.”
I wasn’t sure if I should laugh or not, so I kept a straight face.
“What did they tell her?” I asked.
He shrugged and glanced around. “It doesn’t matter,” he whispered. “The Void Gods listen. They don’t speak. Personally… I think the priestess is mad. The others think maybe the Void Gods speak only to her, which is why they call her the priestess. That, and the things she does.”
“Like?”
He looked around again before answering. “She has things, like your sword, but different. She uses them to cure illness and heal injuries. She has repaired broken tools and weapons. She has never harmed us, but these things are… unnatural. I don’t understand them.”
And so, he fears them, I thought to myself. If he was going to help me defeat the Xeno, he, and everyone who thought like him, would have to get over their superstitions and fears. They’d have to learn to embrace change and technology, even the things we ourselves couldn't fully explain. We needed every advantage we could get, and we needed to embrace every tool at our disposal. I made a mental note to discuss this with him when the time was right.
I returned to my hut, and when I opened the door, was welcomed by the wonderful smell of cooking food. Reaver, Yaltu, and Enra were already eating. They waved at me and smiled. Nyna and Yaltu were sitting by the small fire, turning vegetables and chunks of meat they’d skewered on sticks and arranged close to the flames.
“Good morning,” Yaltu said as she leaned around Nyna and smiled.
Nyna didn’t turn to look at me, but she did smile, and I thought I saw the hint of a blush rising on her cheeks. I didn’t blame her; she’d probably surprised even herself the night before. I was certain that, had I not been Void-touched, I would have been too sore to walk for at least a day.
I sat down next to Nyna and accepted two skewers she passed to me, along with a wooden bowl and a spoon. I pushed the meat and vegetables off the skewer into the bowl and ate a few chunks while the women talked about the defenses, the food, and what they knew or had heard about the city of Thaz’red.
“Nyna,” I said when I’d finished my food, “I need to visit the temple. I have questions that I believe can only be answered there. I need to find my people, and I think they’re in Thaz’red, but if not, I need to know where they are.”
She stared at me as she chewed thoughtfully. “What makes you think you can get those kinds of answers there?”
“It’s a Void Temple, right? So it’s full of Void-tech?”
Nyna looked down. “No one has wanted to visit the temple in a long time. The Ish-Nul say it’s a place of danger. They’re not wrong—but they aren’t right, either. Everything can be dangerous until you understand how to use it, you know?”
“I absolutely do,” I said. “Will you take me there?”
I had to fight the urge to repeat the question when she didn’t react for a moment. It was obvious to me that the Void Temple was a part of her life she had kept private, one that she wouldn’t share easily. I wanted it to be on her terms.
“If we leave now,” she finally whispered, “before I change my mind.”
