The Crucible of Empire (18 page)

They exited through the Application Chamber, which was now silent and clean, ready for the next day's business. She opened the huge doors and stood on the threshold to get her bearings. Chill night air rushed against her face. She could hear water rushing over stone in the stream just beyond the road.

To her surprise, the space outside the residence was filled with unassigned. They stood in rows, clad only in the brief gray shifts of unskilled workers, their black eyes reflecting the starlight, waiting clearly for—something.

She was afraid. This was so out of order. Unassigned did not wander the city by night. They went back to the
dochaya
which was their proper place. "Why are you here?" she said as Kajin emerged to stand beside her in the Ekhatlore doorway.

One stepped forward, a male so small, he must have been released from the Children's Court only a Festival or two ago. "We heard there was to be a new
elian
."

His aureole was skimpy, his bone structure unpleasing, his eyes large and utterly round. There had been any number of such homely children in her year. None of them had found
elian
. "Yes," she said. "It will be called Jaolore. We are amassing information concerning an ancient enemy who may well have returned to plague us again."

"Mistress, you are only one," the youth said. He glanced back at his fellows. "You will need many more hands and eyes. Choose from among us. We will work hard to make the new
elian
a success."

"No!" Kajin burst out. "These are drudges, fit for nothing but the most menial of tasks! You might select one or two for house servants, once we are more organized, but not to serve in the
elian
itself!"

Jihan gazed out over the unpromising group. The enormity of the task ahead daunted her. So much to do and so very little time in which to accomplish it. She had barely started, and yet any moment, the Jao might sweep back through the nebula to finish the task they had left uncompleted so long ago.

Kajin seethed beside her, his aureole stiff with rage, but Jihan found herself intrigued. She could go to other
elian
and request the release of more adults to work with her, but they would all be as insulted and reluctant as Kajin, having long ago made their choices of occupation.

These unassigned workers, though, they wished with all their might to be accepted—anywhere, even by an
elian
with no resources, headed by a shortest like herself.

"How are you called?" she asked the slight youth.

He cast himself to the frosty ground, making his body even smaller. Starlight gleamed on his gray skin. "I am Pyr."

"Then, Pyr, come with us," she said.

The rest cried out and surged forward. Jihan waved them back with both fists. "I will not select anyone else tonight," she said, "but I will evaluate our needs and then perhaps come to the
dochaya
."

"You cannot mean that!" Forgetting himself, Kajin seized her arm in the manner of a thoughtless child who understood nothing of propriety, then dropped it as soon as he realized what he had done. "They are less than the sand beneath your feet! They are nothing!"

She remembered being a dazed child, sent away from the only home she'd ever known to wander the colony during Festival with no surety that she would ever achieve a place. Those accepted by an
elian
looked back upon that moment with great nostalgia, but what of the ones never selected?

"They are no different than you and me," she said firmly. "They wish to live a good life, to follow propriety in all things, and to offer their abilities to a good
elian
. They only have to be allowed the opportunity."

Pyr scrambled to his feet, his body pitifully thin. "You are wise, mistress!"

"The honorific used by accepteds is Eldest," Kajin said sourly.

"But you are surely senior to me," Jihan said, eying the difference in their heights.

"Pah!" Kajin stalked away into the chill night and the formerly unassigned Pyr hastily cleared his path. "Now and for always, I waive my
sensho
rights in this
elian
. I have no wish to lead a pack of fools!"

Pyr followed the new Eldest to the house of the Starsifters. He was unfamiliar with that
elian
. It was small, maintaining a modest but nicely kept establishment, and evidently did not often come to the
dochaya
seeking temporary laborers. Apparently, he had either not wandered past here during Festival or had not noted it.

Jihan, so tall and silver, so elegant, even in her unadorned robe, led the two of them through the silent house, past room after room, until she reached a small space containing only a sleeping platform and a small table and stool.

"I am youngest in this house," she said, "so I sleep here."

Youngests rarely had sleeping partners. That honor was reserved for the higher ranked. Even Pyr knew that. He dropped to the floor and stretched out, weary from a day's labors for the Childtenders in the Children's Court. The very young were so—energetic. He would not be sorry to leave such duties behind.

The room was small and cold without a window or electric brazier to make things more cozy. Tattered charts of elements and compounds covered the wall space, overlapping one another, and a crate of electronic modules had been shoved into the corner. Pyr turned on his back and gazed about the chamber. So this was what life outside the
dochaya
looked like. He'd never thought to see such wonders for himself.

"Surely you are not going to allow
that
—" The elder she had referred to as "Kajin" kicked Pyr in the side. "—to sleep here with real adults?"

Air whooshed out of Pyr's lungs. Black spots shivered in his vision. He curled around the shock and pain as though he could contain them.

"Desist!" The elegant Jihan darted between them, looming marvelously tall. "If you cannot behave properly, I will return you to Ekhatlore! I would rather recruit only from unassigned than deal with such crudeness!"

Kajin stared at her, his aureole stiff with outrage. "But Alln released me! If you send me back, Ekhatlore will not readmit me."

"You can always go to the
dochaya
," she said grimly.

Silence prevailed then. Pyr heard the ragged breathing of both as he pressed against the bottom of the sleeping platform. Misery overwhelmed him—to be the cause of so much strife between such notable adults! The shame was worse than the throb in his chest.

Jihan crawled onto the sleeping platform and turned away. Kajin paced the small room for some time before finally slipping up beside her.

Pyr huddled on the floor, aching, but wildly happy. He would suffer a thousand beatings if they led to this moment.
I have an
elian
!
he thought over and over, far too excited to surrender to sleep.
An
elian
has selected
me
! I have a place! I am no longer nothing!

Jihan was wakened by Kash entering her quarters the next morning. She rolled over and saw the elder standing in her doorway, hands thrust beneath her robe. "You must find your own house today," Kash said. "It is not proper that you dwell here any longer."

For a moment, Jihan could not think why Kash wanted her to go, then it all came rushing back to her, the Hall of Decision, her very different results from the space debris analysis, the new
elian
—
her
new
elian
.

"Yes," she said humbly. "The Starsifters have been more than generous in allowing me to stay this long."

Kash turned away, already not-seeing. Three bowls of steaming sourgrain stood on the table. Gratitude filled Jihan. These elders had taken her in, taught her their craft and nurtured her development, expecting that she would do so for future Starsifters in turn. Now, all that time and careful teaching was lost to them. They would have to wait for Festival and choose again.

But she did not know what she could have done otherwise. She was right. It had been the Jao out there in that battle, along with the Ekhat. Not-seeing them would not make it any less true. They had to be ready, had to be as prepared as they could make themselves with the limited resources available.

On the floor, young Pyr stared up at the hot food. "Eat," she said, gesturing. "We have much to do today."

Seen in the daylight, Pyr's aureole was definitely more gray than silver and his skin dusky, a shade that was almost pewter. No wonder he had not been selected by any of the
elian
. Compared to Kajin's beauty, he was like a lump of granite beside a silver nugget.

But such things were no longer important, she told herself firmly. All that mattered now was that she organize her new
elian
and learn all she could about the Jao before they came back.

After they had eaten, she carried the bowls back through the just-stirring house to the communal kitchen. Early morning sunlight slanted in through the row of tiny windows below the rafters. Sayr was there, conferring with several other elders. All fell silent as she entered the homey room where she had spent so much time. She dropped to the polished wooden floor at his feet, wondering if he would acknowledge her. He was the one she had most offended against before the Han.

"You are leaving," he said.

She looked up. He was so very tall and wise. Immanent loss overwhelmed her. "Yes."

"This is a good thing," he said. "New
elian
bring the colony additional services."

"I did not chose this," she said, trying not to tremble.

"Your intellect chose," he said, "and your training. Never turn away from knowledge, no matter how unwelcome it might appear to be. Truth is always to be preferred to delusion." He rocked back on his heels, gazing down at her with those handsome narrow eyes she knew so very well. "You may be correct in your conclusions, but be aware that you went about this thing badly. Achievements are always judged by the methods used to accomplish them. Poor form makes it harder to gain others' understanding, even though, at the center of things you may be right. Now, go and solve the conundrum of these Jao."

She rose, head still bowed, unable to speak.

"Walk with grace, Eldest," he said, then turned away.

She led Kajin and Pyr out of the house, knowing she would never return. There was nothing for her here now and so very much to do.

Outside, the day was quite chill, with leaden clouds blowing in from the mountains to the west. A scavenging flock of tiny blue hoppers with their dished faces scattered through the kitchen garden as the three of them exited the Starsifters' house. Jihan did not look back. Regret would not solve any of her many problems now.

They wandered the colony, taking note of abandoned houses. There were more than Jihan had realized. Most were very large, belonging to defunct
elian
such as the Shipbuilders, who had long ago known how to construct spacefaring vessels, the Watercrafters, who had once constructed fountains and ornamental waterfalls, and the Skyflyers, who had maintained a small fleet of personal aeronautical machines for the colony's use. The majority of the deserted structures were in bad repair with gaping holes in the walls, missing windows and doors, crumbled stonework, or collapsed roofs. Such would require large amounts of time to be made habitable. Even though her new
elian
was authorized to draw workers from the
dochaya
, that would take too long. They needed a space in which to live and work now with a minimum amount of restoration.

The Shipservicers were frantically busy over on the vast landing field beyond the edge of the colony to the east where the land flattened out into a vast plain. They were repairing the ships damaged in the recent battle, refitting others long unused so that they might carry away at least a tiny portion of the Lleix to relative safety.

So that this would not be the long forecast Last-of-Days.

But even if a hundredth of their numbers survived by fleeing, the Ekhat and/or the Jao would just hunt them down and kill them somewhere else. It was a neverending cycle and the end would surely come sometime, if not now.

And it would certainly be Last-of-Days for those stranded behind here on Valeron.

Finally, she sat down to think on a bench before the Waterdirectors' sprawling house. One of the largest in the entire colony, they were an industrious
elian
, responsible for the colony's clean water supply, as well as sewage and flood control. Long ago, those functions might have belonged to three separate
elian
, she thought wearily. Now they were combined.

Kajin settled beside her, but only on the bench's edge as though avoiding closer contact. His moody silence bore the flavor of recrimination. If she had not broken
sensho
up on the mountain, neither of them would be in this predicament. What if they never found the right house, she asked herself. What if they just wandered the colony day after day until the Ekhat and Jao came back to slaughter them all? Her aureole clung to her head in misery.