*
In the evening, Lan joined Cayce’s table at a large outdoor banquet, and basked in the balmy air. Such a mild evening… It’s something I’d almost forgotten.
Coloured lights and strips of bright material littered the forest clearing like a star-field. Children mingled with adults at a vast table shaped like a broken letter O, with people sitting both inside and out, mainly humans, but also a few rumels, and even one Ceph further down, who Cayce glanced to more than once. In the centre, a group of musicians played lute-like instruments, and drums and violins beat out loud melodies based on local folk songs. The forest vibrated with an energy that reminded her of the shows. There must have been a few hundred people there, each of them drinking and eating exotic foods — ones that could only really grow so far south, with such an altered climate. Succulent fruits and mellow-tasting mead, and thick stews and soft bread. The tables were overflowing.
And this was the first time she’d been amongst so many people, able to feel quite safe. Yes, she could think about herself now with great relief. There was no deep-rooted fear that she would be victimized. When people talked to her there still remained an echo of her former self-consciousness, and that would perhaps linger for some time, but for now she could cover it up with her interest in this other culture.
As incessant as midges, the locals attempted to quiz her about the outside world. Cayce kept suggesting that people leave her be, to allow her to recover in peace, and she softly smiled her apologies to them.
The discussion surrounding her was wide-ranging, though often concerning matters of organization: transportation, how many people would man the bridges the next week, assemblies to be held, union guilds, schooling, districts, skills. For the most part it seemed all these people did was plan what needed to be done, but there was a good deal of talk of spiritual practices and liberal arts. There was a lot of talk of the finer points of sorcery, too, but most went over her head. Conversations at some parts of the table flared into altercations and semi-rows, though elders stood up and softly waved for calm. They all seem a lively bunch on Ysla.
A name was suddenly whispered across the table, and the expressions on faces soured considerably and conversations quietened.
Lan leaned towards Cayce. ‘Who’s Shalev?’
As he struck alight a roll-up, Cayce observed the reactions of others along the table. Eventually, still looking their way, he answered Lan. ‘She is someone who was… of an unpleasant nature. She did bad things.’
‘A criminal?’ Lan asked.
‘We have no criminals here.’
‘What-?’
‘Keep your voice down,’ Cayce muttered calmly, and took a drag. ‘I said we have no criminals. We have no prisons. We do not punish in the same ways as the Empire.’
‘How do you stop people from stealing things?’
‘If no one owns anything, how can someone steal? If someone can have anything they want by asking, work, relic, or by doing it themselves, then there exists no need to steal. Most crimes are against property — and here, that is a non-existent term.’
‘Who decides these rules?’
‘We all do,’ Cayce replied. ‘We all have a democratic say in our own affairs, and this includes making the rules by which we live.’
‘I take it there’s no Inquisition here, so who the hell polices all of this?’
‘No, there’s no Inquisition. We have our own community body who see to it that everything is fair, and democratically assign a punishment according to the offence that is committed, and to ensure the victim is suitably compensated.’
‘What about murder?’
Something flickered behind Cayce’s eyes then.
Lan pressed him further. ‘Is that what this Shalev person did, kill someone?’
Cayce glanced at the others who were now listening in to the conversation. ‘No. Not just some one. Shalev was thought to have killed several people through her erratic practices. She was an unstable person, who did not fit in with our ways despite being brought up here, for the most part. Shalev is not an indigenous cultist. She came from a neighbouring island. She was difficult for many here to understand, and she was never popular because of that. Then her experiments became more reckless, and civilians were killed due to some of her relics. She failed to accept responsibility for her actions, and was exiled from all the communities across the island.’
‘Where do you think she’s gone now?’ Lan asked.
Cayce glanced down at the table. This was the first time she had seen him lose his cool demeanour. ‘Shalev always talked about hurting the Empire — in fact, this was a contributing factor to her being exiled. Shalev wanted to impose our own systems elsewhere — as there has been much talk amongst our own people over the centuries of doing the same. But Shalev wanted to use violence to achieve this, which contradicts our way of life. So, in answer to your question, I fear she has headed to Imperial soil.’
*
Cayce walked her back to a hab, both of them harmlessly giddy on the local alcohol. It was still humid despite being deep into the evening, and as they stepped across the firm decking, Lan quizzed Cayce relentlessly. ‘Why help me, Cayce? I want to know. I’m just a nobody, so why? Please, be honest.’
‘You are quite the solipsistic lady.’
‘No, it’s not that. I want to know who the person was who helped me. Who you really were, before I walk back to that cold island on the other side of the Archipelago possibly never to see you again.’
Cayce gazed at her for some time and gestured for her to enter the hab. Hesitantly she shuffled inside. The darkness abated as he lit a lantern, and the soft glow warmed his anxious face.
Everything inside looked carved from the forest, from the floors to the furniture. Pinned up against the walls were detailed diagrams of the human body, in one corner a stack of books leaned over precariously, whilst thick bundles of paper were scattered haphazardly across the floor. A window faced out across the dark forest crown.
He drew curtains across the window to block out the night, and bolted the door shut — suddenly Lan grew fearful.
‘Sit,’ he instructed, and she quickly collapsed into a wooden chair by the desk.
He stood before her, sliding off his white robe. Then he commenced unbuttoning his undershirt.
She froze, said nothing. Is he going to hurt me?
Very slowly he peeled back his shirt and dropped it to the floor in a pool of his clothes.
Lan’s jaw dropped.
Scar tissue blossomed around his deltoid muscles, and between there and his pectorals she could see severe blistering — no, the faint bubbles of suction cups, some even protruding, pushing up through human skin. He had been very grotesquely altered. The colour of his arms was noticeably lighter than around his abdomen — they did not look to be his own.
He watched her watching him and she began to apologize pathetically for her stunned reaction. From her of all people.
‘Now you have seen,’ Cayce whispered dolefully. ‘I… I was once a Ceph. I once swam underwater with them. I understand, to some extent, how you yourself feel. I longed to be human — deep within me I felt such a distance from the sea. I hated the cold depths. I craved light and knowledge, the land and human culture. I left my people, and am shunned by them now, for they do not appreciate the ways of this island. They are brutal and simple people. At a very young age I was made human by the cultists here, and given all the accoutrements of a human being. I became one of them, I learned their languages and their ways and practised until no one could tell me apart from any other. I grew to be who I am now, and it was not easy, but among this society I was welcomed, and that… that open-mindedness and generosity is something I wish to show others.’
He held out wide the arms that were once not his own. ‘So, Lan, I understand your desire for transformation. That is why I helped you.’
*
There was so much more Lan wanted to know, but it was time to leave Ysla.
Morning sunlight filtered into the hab and she listened as Cayce talked to her from the other side of his desk. He was informing Lan of the details of her transformation, how it would affect her, and she readily drank in his
