Ashes in her wake | C30
“<Now, I was only recently reminded of this alternative line of communication from my human cousin, so this means I will be expanding your listening exercises…” Alma said as she paced, wax tablet in one hand, the freshly made clicker made of wood and bone in the other. On each of her student’s tablets, she had drawn on the Morse code alphabet beside the English Alphabet.
“<How long has this method of click talk been in use?>” Mìlay was the first to ask, reviewing the dots and strikes carefully.
“<Approximately Three hundred and thirty years, give or take a year, when it was invented by a man called Samuel Morse and later refined ten years later by another man for the purpose of entertainment radio or long distant talking, which did lead to the advancement of the sky people devices that allowed long-distant conversations, but that history is less relevant now. Every sky person in the RDA warrior groups are taught or made to relearn Morse code. Military standard. Radio signals are sometimes not strong enough for vocal transmissions but the use of stop-starts can be used to transfer information in small bursts. Smaller and easier to travel. “<When we next go down to the caves, I’ll demonstrate how an expert Morse code sounds but for now, this clicker is the best option for audio understanding.>” Alma held it up, giving it a few clicks which echoed in her classroom.
“<Should I be expected to make more of these?>” Hamarun had come to her lesson after completing her request of this device, curious for its purpose.
Imon stood in the back of her class, watching with a stern eye.
“<Only for those wanting to learn more in depth. I will certainly need a companion for mine for teaching.>” Alma said with a soft nod but turned her focus back to the rest of the students. “<Not only is Morse code used on the ears, but they can use light in the same patterns as the sound for visual patterns. Short bursts of light or a long pause of light can signal characters similar to that of click length. Where radio cannot work, but they have access to their light sticks, they can use that to communicate to other ships that have their eyes on them.>”
“<Wait, I’ve seen that before.>” one of her students straightened up. “<We were scouting weeks back. Two groups of sky people were opposite the ravine. They had those light sticks and they kept turning them on and off often. I noticed they were patterned but did not realise the purpose.>”
“<They either have had either no radio signal or were bored enough.>” Alma allowed, pleased to see that this was functional knowledge and good to know the RDA were in fact using Morse code out here.
-
By the end of her lesson, Alma was glad to see five of her Kame’tire students opt up for extended lessons on Morse code, even Imon. The rest opted to learn from her students while they focused on other areas of work or duties.
Alma though opted to linger to clean up once she dismissed the class, clicking hew new clicker idly as she collected up the wax tablets and set them on the shelves since she didn’t need to reset these ones, after which, she padded out.
“‘Six feet under’. <It… possibly translates to a known depth under the soil, so that is the clue.>” Nasyì said, frustrated as her voice echoed in the main hall. “<It is an expression for this, I just… do not remember it,>”
“<Six feet. Human measurements of length.>” Tseke’s voice echoed, not one of her students but they were learning from her other students. “<Or is that a measurement of depth?>”
“<What is the letter length?>” Another voice asked, Hayngwìk.
“<Four.>”
“Bury? B U R Y?” Tseke offered.
Alma watched as Nasyì look down to check, looking a little hopeful but then shake her head. “<It ends with the letter D.>”
It was fascinating, watching the four of them mull on this quandary for a few minutes.
“<What use is the use of describing a depth for it to be commonly known to sky people?>” Hayngwìk asked, his brow pulling in.
“<A threat, perhaps?>” Tseke offered. “<They are a dangerous people, it’s not unknown to that they get into squabbles with each other.>”
Hayngwìk hummed loudly, his hand coming to lay flat about his waist. “<How tall are humans?>”
“<Ul’ma mentions, on average about five foot, nine. Which on us would be about where your hand is. Ul’ma had La’ak create a long ‘ruler’ that donates to sky people measurements>” Tseke offered, “<She has that in her classroom.>”
“<They’ve been like that for ten minutes debating sky people words in that game your sky person relative created.>”
Alma spared a glance to Tsu’lo who was also watching. “<It’s good that they’re discussing it. Helps flex their memories and be more creative.>”
“<You know the answer?>”
“<Yes. I’m curious to see how they get there. They’re on the right track. I mentioned this idiom last week when covering an array of verbal short language.>”
“<Give them five more minutes, but they do need to return to their duties here soon.>” Tsu’lo chuckled, but went on his way to talk to Nentuk.
“<I do not think that’s right, Tseke. It’s an act of burying.>” Hayngwìk argued lightly. “<I see no other explanation.>”
Alma moved from her observation to join them and to speed it along. “<Having fun?>”
Nasyì, Tseke and Hayngwìk all looked to her, Tseke looked a little more bashful.
“<Have you considered the outcome of burying?>” she offered, as a clue. “<Why bury anything?>”
“<To dispose of it?>” Tseke offered.
“<Returning something to Eywa?>” Nasyì offered.
“<To hide something.>” Hayngwìk suggested.
“<Tseke is right that the phrase is often used as a threat. Typically from human to human given their shared height. Why is that a threat?>” Alma pressed, hoping to push them to think.
“<To… bury them?>” Tseke suggested, “<A threat to kill?>”
“<Yes, but in reference this the clue, it’s not the threat that’s the answer.>”
“<You want us to think of the outcome. Death?>” Hayngwìk looked to Nasyì
“Dead. D E A D.” Tseke translated into English.
Nasyì looked down, a grin coming to cross her face as she wrote that in and flipped the tablet, revealing a full wax tablet of text. It had been their last word on the crossword.
“<It’s done!>” Nasyì looked genteelly pleased it. “<Now I can concentrate.>” She handed the tablet straight back to Alma. “<I hope Tabitha will make a new one. I enjoyed it so much.>”
“<I’ll ask her.>” Alma promised. The Meitayo warrior nodded briskly then swooped out with Hayngwìk with mention of sparring.
Tseke stared after them for a moment then turned their attention back. “<How have your lessons been in claiming a bonded, Ul’ma?>”
“<Held back,>” Alma patted her braced leg. “<I can’t continue my lessons until La’ak’s perfected a durable brace for me.>”
Tseke nodded once. “<I suppose that will make things difficult. In the meantime, I was hoping to ask if you’d want to come out gathering with me. We’ll need supplies for your Ikran harness and amour. With the sky people still here, no Ikran is without protection. It will take weeks to build and weave, which I do wish for you to be a part of.>”
“<Don’t the Ikran’s need to be fitted afterwards?>”
“<Most Ikrans have an average build and size, but we’ll leave them almost complete, so when you have your bonded, we can size the harness appropriately.>”
“<Okay, but I do need to be back before evening. I have an outing planned.>” Alma couldn’t help it, her fingers coming to touch the beads in her hair.
Tseke nodded. “<The amount we’ll need will take time to collect with the sky people around that disrupts our gathering grounds. Since you cannot collect some of the items, like the hide and sinews without a bow, I can do that independently but you’ll need to be more involved after that.>”
“<What will we need?>”
“<For the head piece, the main supplies are pekavol bone, sap from the Sunrise Lantern and raindrop opal. The harness, Narluk hide, the sap and Raindrop opal and for the tail streamers, Mimikyun hide, sap and opal.>”
“<I can talk to Mäzan so we can fish for pekavol.>”
Tseke’s eyes lit up a little. “<For the best quality of pekavol, I’d recommend you going to The Lonely Lake, south west of sheltering falls. If you fish until either dusk or night, I’d recommend you have him help you collect the Sunrise lantern Sap upon your return as it’s only a slight retoured flight. At night, the sap filled pod loosened up without the warmth of the sun and the quality of the sap is greatly improved. You’ll need to collect three pods in total. Mäzan may need to shoot the top leaves to bring them with you freely, do not worry if the sap hardens, it can be melted for when we need them, the both of us can collect the Raindrop opal today, there’s a cave system that houses the best quality opal that will much protection and strength for the gear.>”
Alma nodded. “<I’ll get us baskets.>”
They departed swiftly, Alma returned to her room, grabbing her pouches that housed her smoke bombs, her knife and spear, because going into a wild cave unarmed seemed like a bad idea. She picked up a basket from the gatherers, which she set on her shoulders, almost like a bagpack, allowing her arms to be free. She made sure Fayfa, who she passed, know where she was going.
Tseke helped her onto the back of their Ikran outside before they took off.
Alma watched the beautiful sights around her, though her attention turned more to her right, seeing the developing RDA sites past the Torn Threaded River. Three large sited the clan had yet to take down. Well-fortified, but she no doubt knew Imon had her plans in development of taking it down.
“<Oh no.>”
Alma turned, peeking over Tseke’s shoulder to see why. A small group of RDA were stationed in front of the cave. Four people. Three SecOps, one SciOps. No AMP Suits.
Alma could just about see the group were running scans of the cave. A few tablets on a desk, large crates of supplies.
“<Land. I think we can take them.>”
Tseke’s breathe paused, offering her a panicked look. “<I can’t. I’m… not trained.>”
Alma stared, the nodded downwards. “<I can try.>”
Tseke moved, landing their Ikran before Alma slid off, shrugging off the basket and carefully made her way through the bushes, trying to step softly.
“Look, the cave is almost entirely scanned. Once the hub is established, we can get up automated survey sites. Every time a blue hits the site, we’ll just bring it right back.” The SecOps lead guy said, looking pleased. “They’ll get the hint.”
Alma’s eyes wash about, noting the bored look the humans had, looking about not really paying attention. The three had rifles, but their grips were slack.
She had an element of surprise.
Quietly, she pulled out three bombs from her pouch. Smoke, and acrid. She slipped from the treeline, staying low though that put more weight against her brace, reminding her about her inability to run. Her hand gripped her spear.
Now or never, time to tempt fate.
Alma tossed the first and second smoke bomb into quick succession, adrenaline kicking into action at the sounds of surprise the group made. Her spear went straight into the first guy’s back, but she yanked the blunt end straight into the mask of the second guy, shattering before tossing the third smoke bomb to the third and fourth as they span around, disorientated. Her size alone accounted easily the space to grab one of the second soldier and used him first as a shield, intercepting the few flurry of bullets from the weapons before tossing the corpse into the lead guy that had him crumpling from the sudden weight, before ramming the end of her spear into the third guy’s mask until it shattered and sunk deep. The lead guy took only a few more seconds to dispatch with her knife, quicker to pull that out than her spear.
Alma panted fast, a little surprised at herself before she straightened up.
“<Are you okay?>” Tseke appeared from the treeline, wide-eyed and taking in this view.
“<… not sure yet.>” Alma said, because honestly she wasn’t expecting this to work so well. Were humans always this weak? Her eyes lingered on her hands. The blood. Her stomach churning before she grabbed one of the water canisters, ripping off the top before hurriedly pouring it into her palms, scrubbing the red away quickly, tossing more to cleans that had spurted onto her body. Most of it easily washed away. Her now-clean knife, she slipped away again.
Alma let out a shaky breath, then shook her head, gathering the datapads and memory drives, she shoved them into the bottom of the gathering basket that Tseke was holding, for when they were back. “<Let’s just gather some opals, Tseke.>”
The cave was relatively untouched, aside from the scanning drone and senor arrays, Tseke helped her destroy them, and she stole the memory cards from inside to be sure the data wasn’t going to end up in RDA hands once they discover their dead folk. They found their way into the deeper caves before they noticed the first one.
“<Since it’s still daytime, they’ll be a little sticker to pull from the heart of the opal, so not nearly as good as they could be.>” Tseke said, moving to pull one at an angle which released the opal.
Alma nodded, her fingers brushing the first one, feeling the cool surface of the crystal and carefully began to prize it up from the rest, curling her wrist as she has seen Tseke do and it came apart smoother. Tseke tossed hers into the basket and carried on.
Together, they harvested about seven each, Tseke wanting more for a few different projects. Alma also took the opportunity to gather some of the mushrooms and Tseke added in one of the growing roots hanging down from the ceiling for wanted. By the time they left, there was a good weight on her back. But nothing was said as they returned back, detouring to drop off the stolen data at the cave.
Alma let Tseke take it all, since they’d set her stuff aside for later once they had the rest of the goods, and so she wandered back to her room and set her spear aside, knife away and sank straight into her hammock, pulling off her brace and found herself staring at the ceiling, trying not to think too much.
-
“<Ul’ma?>”
“<In here.>” Her voice sounded dull to her own ears, not rolling her head as Mäzan entered their living space.
His expression and energy was light and excited, but she could see in the corner of her eye how his expression changed, dimming down in alarm.
“<Is everything okay?>” He was by her side, kneeling down to not be so imposing above her.
Alma rolled her head to face him, shrugging a little. “<I… don’t know. Went got some supplies with Tseke, killed some sky people in our way and… that’s made me feel off ever since.>” She admitted, because… she felt he could understand she wasn’t sure what to feel.
She didn’t feel guilty about it, they were exploiting a new location for their unwanted business but… it felt weird.
Mäzan reached forwards slowly, touching her forearm in a warm, comforting touch. “<Ever taken a life before?>”
“<Do the Sarentu count?>” Her tone dried up a little.
Mäzan gave her a soft look. “<I do not mean that. Have you ever personally killed, by blade or weapon?>”
Alma nodded. “<Yes. I killed two sky people soldiers… I distantly remember that if I didn’t, they’d kill the Sarentu kids.>” It was hazy. She remembered the dread and panic, the relief and touch of metal of finding a weapon. “<Then… no doubt skirmishes the last year.>”
Mäzan nodded slowly. “<Do you want to talk about it? Deeply?>”
“<If I don’t, I’ll be mulling on it for a while.>” It felt better to talk about it. She could trust Mäzan to help, if he was so willing.
Mäzan offered a hand. “<Let me take you out to the river. We still have our time planned together, even if we don’t get around to fishing, I do think it’ll be best to feel Eywa’s breeze and fill our lungs with her breath.>”
Alma chuckled softly. Colourful phrasing. “<The lonely Lake?>”
“<If that’s where you want to go.>”
Alma accepted the hand out, bracing herself and let Mäzan lead the way, taking his bow and her spear.
They didn’t speak much but she appreciated his silence on the travel, resting her forehead on his back, enjoying the afternoon warmth on the burned side of her face.
“You smell nice.”
Mäzan chuckled softly, the sound rumbling though his chest.
The Meitayo warrior slowed them to a stop, helping her down, handing her the weapons while he took a folded pack off and mat off the harness and lead her towards the water’s edge. The pack was mostly contained a blanket, but there were tools for a fire and small tools for processing the fish and leafs for post-butchering for the meat. Even seasoning in little pouches. He wanted to do a lot before they returned back, it seemed.
Yet, he stabbed the spear tip into the softer soil and set the mat down.
“<Let’s talk first, then maybe I’ll fish if you’re not up for it. Sometimes there’s enjoyment in simply observation. We’re still together, after all.>”
Alma seated herself down slowly, her tail swishing to settle between them as he joined her, their knees close enough to touch. For a moment, the silence stretched, yet it wasn’t awkward like an Elephant in the room, then Mäzan broke it.
“<In Meitayo culture, we are decided of a clan that suffered loss in great quantity. Our people learned that even in war that death has its weight, held in a circle. The people of the reef are connected to the Tulkuns, who have their Tulkun Way that forbids them fighting as they believe death brings more death, even in self-defence.>” Mäzan started, “<We accepted many people from the reef that came in the following years that sympathised with our clan. They were the foundations that helpd renew the people and fresh blood and in turn, we learned much from them in turn to try and heal as a clan.”
Alma didn’t interrupt, but watched him as he stared out across the water, the aquafers that burst up through the lake every so often.
“<Our clan weren’t war seekers, but after the murder of our scouts, the attack on our Heartlands camp, which at the time was believed to be unprovoked, they became vengeful. It became a… circle of attack and vengeance for that attack.>” Mäzan’s ears pinned a little. “<The war could have stopped sooner, if one side or the other had chosen to not act vengeful. I will admit that a few Zakru were killed in the crossover in the war. That, we believe caused the Zeswa to launch the last and brutal attack that crippled our Ikran rookery.>”
Alma swallowed thickly. “<Why are you telling me that?>”
Mäzan sighed out deeply. “<Because our people know the weight and cost of death. We are taught to honour life, and if life must be taken, there has to be a good reason for it.>” He tilted his frame towards her. “<You are feeling a burden of taking the lives of those sky people.>”
Alma shrugged, “<I think so? I don’t… feel guilty about it.>”
“<Killing them had purpose, Ul’ma. It is not senseless.>”
“<But I didn’t have to. Tseke wanted to go, they probably knew other locations of raindrop Opal but… the best ones were in that cave. I chose to kill them, and not just because they were going to exploit the cave but because… they were in my way.>” It felt odd to say it out loud.
Mäzan watched her with a soft expression. “<And that confuses you?>”
Alma nodded. “<Yes. But, it’s the first time in months that I’ve taken life so bluntly. Blood… still make me feel iffy, maybe that’s some of it.>”
“<As my father said, death bears its weight. Not always in the most obvious ways. Killing must have purpose, otherwise you get hollowed out. You’re not guilty because there is reason for it. You killed them, not just to get to where you needed to go, but these sky people would find recourses to extract and harm Eywa. The Ke’awa have gatherers that could have been killed by these small groups of sky people. Needless death, because the gatherers wandered where they were entitled to go that had these people.>”
Alma’s head tilted. She hadn’t considered that. She could have had Tseke fly them away and some poor man or woman could have been killed if they didn’t sort it out or tell Imon in time. RDA did target local wildlife if they got too close or too bored; a stray bullet could go far. She exhled deeply, closing her eyes as she did so but his words seemed to lift the weirdness in her gut.
“<I suppose you’re right.>” She offered him a smile, leaning her head against his shoulder. “<In all honesty, I was surprised I even killed them all so quickly.>”
“<Do you want to tell me?>”
Alma shook her head, “<No, but do you think it’s wrong to use one of their own people as a meat shield? I knew they had amour on and I wasn’t able to run so…>”
Mäzan stared but there was a quiver of his lip before he actually chuckled, clearly trying to visualise it. “<I didn’t consider that as an option, but I wouldn’t frown upon it. You improvised means of defence.>” He gave another laugh. “<I’d love for you to suggest that to Imon, if Tseke hasn’t already told her. I am glad that you did if it meant you did not get hurt or killed.>”
His arm slipped around her waist, a touch she was very aware of but she remained relaxed, her tail curling a little. “<Thank you>”
Mäzan smiled softly and for a moment, there was little to add. “<Why this lake?>”
“<Tseke said there were good quality pekavol here. I need their bones.>”
“<Well then, Lets go get some.>” He shifted a little, so she leant away and accepted the help up once he was on his feet. “<Let’s swim to one of the lake mounds. Pekavol prefer deeper waters.>”
“<You’ll need to take the weapons, I can’t swim fast.>” Her leg brace would float, but kicking her leg would be harder. Not to mention, she hadn’t tried swimming since the lightening strike, so Eywa only really knew how good she was.
Mäzan slipped his bow around one shoulder and retrieved her spear.
His form was fluid when he swam off, his paddled tail moving also really swayed his hips that Alma found herself starting a little. Despite holding a spear, that barely held him back as his hands cut through the water.
Alma tried to follow suit with the same dignity, but while she was right that the brace floated, it made it significantly harder to kick through the water as she reached the deeper part of the swim so she paused, holding her breath to watch under the surface to remove the brace from her leg. But she had to raise her head to catch her breath quickly. Long fingers touched over her own, looking down to see Mäzan under the surface, his eyes looking at the brace as he gently removed it before he looked up, and winked.
“<You’re teasing me.>” And very well. Must have learned that from Tab.
Mäzan rose up, treading water with ease as he took the brace from her fingers. “<I can teach you how to hold your breath, if you want?>”
Alma’s leg flailed a bit, but she tried to push her leg to try to keep the repetitive notion before leaning forwards to keep on swimming. She could see where Mäzan had left the weapons so it was a straight forwards path.
Mäzan swam beside her, watching her form. Her weak arm did struggle a little, but she could still cut through the water. He clambered out first, offering her a hand up to the mossy bounder and handed her back the brace to slip on.
“<Thank you.>” Alma flexed her leg, letting it settled.
“<Do you want to learn?>”
Alma sighed deeply. She was still in the process of learning the Meitayo sign language. With the lessons and training for an Ikran… “<I do think it’s wise to learn. It’s part of your people’s way that I should learn. But… I’m not sure there’s a lot of free time.>”
Mäzan hummed, helping her up onto her feet. “<It’s something we can practise before bed. Meditational breathing can happen on land that are the foundations of our abilities. We channel our minds to control our bodies. Heartrate and breath.>”
“<I’ve got a lot to learn about your people’s ways.>” Alma plucked her spear up, surveying the water’s surface. She could see the small fish higher up, small sliver bodies darting away from her shadow.
“<Would you like to try my bow first?>”
“<My arm isn’t the strongest….>”
Mäzan offered it out anyway. “<Let’s see.>” he swapped her spear with his bow, her fingers wrapping around the handle, eyeing the arrows before pulling it from the stack and notched it. It was pleasantly familiar as she pulled back the string, but she could feel the tremor in her arm start. Mäzan’s hands was gentle, shifting her elbow straighter and a touch to her belly, reminding her to tighten her core. She released it slowly, not to fire the arrow but to restart and let her wrist still before drawing back again.
The arrow aimed, waiting for the dark swimming shadow of a fish to swim in her pathway. But the arrow didn’t remain still, her weak arm shook as she tried to keep it steady.
“<Can I?>”
“<Sure?>” She almost released the arrow again to let him take the bow but his long arm instead came to grip the bow under hers, relieving the strain and shake. His body pressed more behind her, his breath tickling her neck as he lined hi to her aim. He shifted the direction a fraction to the right. Her fingers wavered on the string… but the fish swam into their path, so she let go.
The arrow broke the surface of the water, but the pekavol darted just before it struck but it still shot through its tail. Mäzan dove straight in after it.
After a minute, he resurfaces. Holding up in his hand the arrow, the fish flopping about at the end, attempting to free itself.
“<Victory!>”
Alma reached forwards as he clambered up, grinning at him as she caught his face, pulling him into a soft kiss.
Masterlist
