Episode #1 - "Torn": Star Chasers (Volume 1) (3 page)

Ty
strolled back and forth along the short avenue, waiting patiently for Shilastar to conclude her morning routine. He didn’t know what all the fuss was about, but he waited outside as instructed. The air was heavy with new-day odors, especially the light scent of the fresh, moist dew and green grasses. Ty took deep breaths, dissolving his irritation at the delay. Several days of rest and relaxation would suit him just fine. Afterward he could go back to the concerns of things beyond Paliy, and only then.

    
When Shilastar finally did join him, she was wearing a red sun dress that more closely resembled a table napkin than lady’s wear and tight calf-high black boots. Why would she wear such clothes? He had told her they were going hiking this morning. They had a brief argument over what was and wasn’t prudent. But Ty didn’t want to begin the day with a fight, so he shrugged his shoulders and started off. At least the morning was clear.

    
Apparently, he wasn’t walking fast enough for her liking, because she moved in front of him, continuing at a faster step. “What, what?” he asked, but she didn’t seem to notice.

    
“Come on,” she yelled as he lagged behind, “father wants us home early this evening. He has a surprise for us.”

    
“Early? How are we going to make it back early?” complained Ty.

    
“Walk faster.”

    
“Shilastar...” Ty shouted after her. The walk to the next village was at least three hours one way, and they were already getting a late start. He didn’t know how they could possibly be back early. But he followed all the same, aggravated with Shilastar’s seemingly boundless energy.

    
After about an hour, Shilastar abruptly halted, allowing Ty to catch his breath. She stretched as watched him sit down gasping. Her heart rate had scarcely changed. When he looked at the heavens, he saw that a moon of Paliy had risen in the eastern sky, the direction in which they travelled. It was waxing but still about three-quarters full.

    
Shilastar purposefully bent low to put her face at his level. When she realized he wasn’t paying attention to her, she set out again, moving at a more spirited pace. He watched Paliy as they roamed through tall tufts of grassland, thick about his thighs, and in some places they reached past his knees. A path ran between the two villages, but Shilastar had not taken it. She preferred the pleasant smell of the land surrounding her.

    
“Hurry up!” Shilastar shouted, passing over a ridge and out of sight.

    
From the summit, Ty could see outlying buildings shimmering in the distance, but as he stopped, Shilastar was already racing away at a full gallop. Her lanky legs stretched out in long strides, carrying her away from him quickly until soon he saw the reflection of light upon her skin as she neared the village. He took up the pursuit as best he could, running so hard he thought his sides would burst. He only caught up to her because she stood waiting for him, and he doubled over with painful breaths. Ty leaned back and slumped to the hard ground that seemed soft in his exhaustion. He cleansed the sweat from his brow with his shirt, raising his slumped head sluggishly, staring back at the barrier. He had always wondered why it had been placed so far away.

    
“Hurry up! I know where we can find a purifier. Once you’re sweat free you’ll feel better. Come on!” Shilastar urged, helping him up to his feet. “You really should take better care of yourself.”

    
Shilastar lead the way through several rows of buildings spread out seemingly without purpose. It had been quite some time since Ty had been to Ttuirre, but the paths were not altogether unfamiliar. Usually, he had a good eye for remembering places he had been. Shilastar delivered him away to one of the residences, telling him to announce his arrival.

    
“I don’t even know who lives here,” pleaded Ty to no avail. Ty swallowed a large lump in his throat as a man outfitted in nothing save a set of long pantaloons answered his summons. Although by no means small in stature, Ty had to raise his head slowly as the other came to stand before him so he could look at the other’s face.

    
Shilastar chuckled softly with amusement as she observed Ty’s discomfort and ran to the other, giving him a big hug and a small peck on the cheek as he picked her up and spun her around. Then the other abruptly set her back down. His face and eyes were stern. “I expected you days ago. Where were you?”

    
“Oh, Erant!” Shilastar exclaimed as she kissed him on the cheek again, almost having to jump up to reach it. “Father has invited you to supper with us this evening. He is preparing his specialty even now. Will you come?” Her eyes twinkled as she looked to Ty. “See? Isn’t this a great surprise?”

    
Ty twisted his face up into a partial grimace, “Just spectacular,” he muttered.

    
“Now, we can’t delay long,” Shilastar reminded them both. “But I think you want to clean up do you not, Ty? Come on, hurry up Erant! Where is Ttuirre?”

    
Erant hadn’t heard her, he had already retreated to a back room, presumably to change. “Well, what do you think? Isn’t he great? I knew you’d like him. Hurry up! The purifier is just around the corner... there,” she told him, pointing the way out to him.

    
“What is the point? We are just going to get sweaty again.”

    
Shilastar looked determined, so he followed her direction.

    
Afterward, he did feel much better. When he returned Shilastar, had set up a pitcher of drinks for refreshment. Erant joined them almost immediately, and after the three had finished off the pitcher, they departed.

    
Purposefully, Shilastar took Erant’s hand, prodding Ty to hurry up again. Ty had wanted to see some more of the village before they returned and sulked when it appeared he wouldn’t have the chance. Throughout the return journey, Shilastar walked between the two, attempting to spark a conversation, but she had little luck. Ty’s moping set to pouting, as he watched her laugh. He looked back and forth from Erant to Shilastar. He didn’t begrudge Erant, but he wondered how long he would stay.

    
Phaylio’s eyes seemed lit with the same spark of magic, as he greeted Erant. Such an affair Ty had neither seen nor received. Ty had pictured a simple meal, such as he normally found—bowls of gruel and drink and a few side dishes—but he found a table abounding from end to end with food, fresh and baked. It was stocked with breads, even biscuits to Phaylio’s own special loaf, and the main course was meat, a rarity. There were seven side dishes, one of which was gruel.

    
Ty ate, but his appetite suddenly waned. He glumly watched Shilastar fluttering around the table, as if she had wings, bringing wave after wave of food to rest before Erant. Ty tried to carry on a conversation with Phaylio, but that failed. Feeling out of place, he excused himself from the table and went for a short walk in fresh air. Soon he was seated on a stool eyeing a slender, but not excessively curvaceous, woman still of early middle years.

    
Ty grinned broadly as he wiped a set of lip prints from his cheek. Triist still looked good to him, very good. For a time, he was the only patron, but soon another arrived. Ty had seen the man twice before, although he couldn’t add a name to the face. He knew by the resemblance that he was a resident of Phaylio, but nothing else. The man was of middle-height, rotund, yet not over weight. Several days of scruff, blond mixed with dark accents, suggested his clean head had once been a sandy color.

    
As Ty thought about it, he recalled the last time he had seen the man, it had been in this very place. Ty pictured the man seated at a table across from a companion, whom he could not recall. After closing his eyes, the picture became clearer. He remembered Friith, the cook, carrying a plate of steaming food to him. Friith had greeted him. “The name, the name...” he repeated to himself. “Aehrone!”

    
“Yes?” asked the man seated next to him.

    
“Nothing, sorry...” mumbled Ty, quickly sipping at his drink. He cringed as the tangy liquid touched his tongue. He liked sour tastes, but this was a bit too much for him.

    
“Too sour?” inquired Aehrone.

    
Ty hesitated, “Yes, a little...”

    
“You have to ask Triist to add a touch a sweet to that before she gives it to you, then it will taste better,” said Aehrone with a wink.

    
“Thanks, I’ll remember that,” replied Ty, and he planned to.

    
As the night dragged on, the inn began to fill with its normal patronage. The talking, laughing, and singing washed Ty’s thoughts away. It was extremely late before he started to make his exit, but Triist asked him to stay.

    
“It is only two more hours till closing,” she begged.

    
His mind was swimming turbulently, so he did.

    
Ty woke the next morning, unsettled. This was a vaguely familiar place, but it was not where he expected to be. He found a note beside him.

    
“Food is already prepared, help yourself. Had to go early.”

    
Ty sat up, his first mistake. The room started spinning, so he decided to remain in bed a little while longer. Food, the new day, and everything else could wait.

    
Hours later he cleansed and the color returned to his face. Almost immediately afterward, he regained his bearings, smacking himself on the head for being an idiot. Returning to Phaylio’s house was difficult and slow going, and the place was empty when he arrived. He hunted for Phaylio to ask where Shilastar had gone. For the moment it didn’t occur to him as strange that he cared.

    
Phaylio was in council when Ty found him and rather perturbed by his interruption. Luckily, Ty stumbled through a coherent apology, which Phaylio accepted. “She has gone to Ttuirre with Erant.”

    
Ty excused himself and then vaulted out of the room. He was running up the path out of the village when he almost ran into Shilastar. He stopped and turned around, staring at her all the while with a hint of contempt in his eyes.

    
“Where are you going?” she asked.

    
“Just going to take a walk, that’s all,” returned Ty. “Care to come?”

    
“Did you have a good time last night?”

    
“Last night? When? What do you mean?” Ty asked, feigning innocence.

    
Shilastar smiled and said, “Me, too,” as she walked away. Ty had to catch himself before he asked what she meant, but he pretended not to care and continued on his walk up the hill.

    
“Ty?” yelled Shilastar back to him as he topped the small rise.

    
“Yes?” he asked, his voice wavering as he tried to stifle his elation.

    
“Will you be coming to supper this evening?”

    
“Yes,” Ty sighed. He sat down, turning to watch her disappear around a corner. His belly was suddenly gurgling, telling him he was hungry, but because he didn’t really want to talk to Shilastar or impose on her, he went elsewhere. Friith’s food was always tasty.

    
Triist was cleaning up after last night as he entered, brushing close by her on his way to a table. He was seated and all prepared to order when he checked his finances, only to discover he was flat broke. Triist already knew this, because he had bought rounds several times the night before and come up empty handed on the last one. Today she directed him to a pile of messy dishes and pans in the kitchen, giving him a sponge, a rag, and a pad of soap.

    
“Have fun,” she said smacking him on the rump.

    
Ty rolled his eyes. “You could buy a purifier you know, and then you wouldn’t have to do these dishes anymore,” shouted Ty louder than he should have. A purifier was one of the few pieces of technology that he relished and they were so common that even here on Paliy they abounded, which is why he couldn’t understand the inn’s lack of one. Friith began explaining, “You see, it is like this...”

    
Ty tuned out the rest of what Friith said, busying himself with scrubbing dishes. It was precisely two hours later that he found himself seated next to a steaming plate of food, utterly exhausted but with only traces of a headache. He told himself he would never drink again but knew his conviction would ebb at the first sight of a cool, pale glass of bubbling liquid, especially if it was sour.

    
Shilastar found him just as he was putting the first spoonful to his mouth. She looked angry and cast a sidelong glance at the barkeep. She put her hands on her hips before she spoke. “I thought you were coming to dinner? Father is waiting! Today is the eighth day of the cycle, we eat early. Come, if you are coming.”

    
Behind her back, Triist mocked her as she spoke, imitating the way she shifted about. Ty looked to her and then to his food, twisting his lip up with his hand unsure what to do. He finally decided to join Shilastar, to keep his word he told himself. The two silently walked back together, neither noticing the sky was clear above and the stars were out in full.