The Crucible of Empire (61 page)

Jihan turned to glare at Caitlin. "I weary of honor—on both sides!" she said. "Honor will not bake our bluebread, plant our fields, or raise our children! It will not mend our ships or fabricate new parts! It will not fight off the Ehkat!"

Grijo sat, slowly, as though his legs simply would not hold him for another breath. Caitlin gazed at the silvery Lleix faces, oriented as one upon Jihan like flowers tracking the sun. What were they thinking?

Then, in one of the foremost rows, a sturdy male topped by a dark pewter corona rose. "Weaponsmakers will go to Terra also," he said stolidly. "I am not certain how I feel about the unassigned claiming themselves to be a new
elian.
But I agree with the Eldest of Jaolore on all the rest. She is right, little as she may be. She is right now, as she has been right all along."

Weaponsmakers, Caitlin thought. That didn't bode well for the rest who would have to fight future battles on their own. Murmurs rippled through the crowd as the Lleix officials processed the information.

Grijo started to speak, but then from the middle rows, an aged female Eldest rose. Her robe was decorated with vivid scenes of Lleix youth, seemingly at play. She gathered her garment's folds before she spoke so that the fabric draped perfectly. Her corona stilled. "Childtenders will also go to Terra," she said.

Mouth agape, Grijo visibly wilted in his great seat. "Mahnt, you cannot mean that," he said. "If Childtenders go, then—"

"We take the Children's Court with us," she said, her posture very straight.

And the children were the colony's future, Caitlin thought. Jihan had done it. She'd put the ultimate squeeze on the other
elian
. They couldn't go off on their own without their children. What would be the point? Within a generation, their precious
elian
—so many of which had been lost already, over the long centuries of exile—would all start to die off.

Except the ones on Terra. The new ones, being raised and created by the unassigned with whatever help they could get from the Childtenders and the Weaponsmakers.

And then another stone came down from the wall. And this, perhaps the biggest stone of all. Grijo bowed his massive head. Outside, the wind gusted, blowing snow in through the open windows so that it sifted against their faces. "Dwellingconstructors will go, too, then," he said after a long pause. "We cannot leave our youth without shelter."

After that, a cascade of Eldests rose to make the same commitment, most reluctantly, though Caitlin thought that at least some of them were secretly relieved not to have to face the Ekhat without allies.

In the end, they didn't achieve complete participation. Some of the most hidebound
elian
remained firm in their refusal, including two called Stonesculptors and Distributionists. Why those particular
elian
were holding out, Caitlin hadn't the faintest idea, but their crafts didn't sound essential. Most likely, the new Lleix colony could do without them. She was pretty sure some of the
dochaya
unassigned had some idea how to fill in the missing services, anyway. They'd spent their lives working as servants in all those snobbish
elian
-houses. They'd certainly know far more about the crafts and services than any of their so-called "betters" suspected.

"What about the hold-outs?" Caitlin asked Ed as the Eldests headed for the transports parked down the mountain a ways. She and her husband were standing with Tully, Miller and Lim not far from the hall. Mallu and Kaln were with them also. "Do we force them to come with us anyway?"

"Ronz will have to make that decision. Hold on a sec, hon." Ed brought up his communicator and spoke into it briefly. Then, waited while Ronz was summoned. Eldest after Eldest passed the little group, none looking at them. Their bare feet shuffled through the drifting snow as though they were too upset to pick them up and walk properly.

When the Preceptor was listening on the command ship, Kralik gave a quick summary of the situation.

"Do not use force," Ronz said. "Most of the Lleix have now agreed to come to Terra. If we use force against those still recalcitrant, it will most likely cause the others to change their minds again."

"Yes, sir. That's my opinion also."

"We will provide coordinates to Terra," the Preceptor said, "then allow them to take as many of the functioning Lleix ships as they require and go off on their own, if that is what they wish. Perhaps they will reconsider before it is too late. Their numbers will be too few to maintain genetic viability even if they do locate a suitable planet before their ships give out." After a brief pause, he added: "And to be realistic, it will probably make our task easier if we leave behind those who are most strongly opposed to us."

"They're dooming themselves for their stupid pride," Caitlin said, as she watched the Lleix exodus. "I guess there's nothing we can do."

"Pride is important to Lleix," Jihan said, coming up beside Caitlin. "It means one is always correct and does things properly, that she can hold herself tall in her own
elian
, before her elders as well as the Han."

"You mean it's important to the
elian
," Tully said. He rubbed his ears which were going numb in the frigid wind rushing in through the doors. "I can't see as how anyone has ever allowed the unassigned anything in which they could take pride."

"We will take pride," Lim said, "when we go to Terra. We will learn
sensho
and conduct ourselves as properly as anyone else."

Grijo and another Eldest stopped before Jihan, gazing at her in what Tully interpreted as a reproachful air. "I thought better of you, littlest," Grijo said, then headed out into the driving wind. The sun shone outside, but clouds were coming in.

The other Eldest only turned his silver face away and followed.

The humans, Jao, Jihan and Lim followed them down the icy path. Jihan was silent. Finally, the Lleix turned to Tully and Caitlin. "I have behaved badly again this day," she said, as they reached the turn led to the transport staging area.

"You saved your people by making them see what they had to do," Caitlin said. Her cheeks were red from the bitter wind. "You were very brave to stand up to them like that."

Jihan stared mutely out into the vast drop-off of the mountain side, her eyes gone very narrow. Brown flying creatures no bigger than a silver dollar wheeled overhead in the wind. "You do not understand," she said. "Lleix value
sensho
more than being accepted into an
elian
, more than graceful service, more even than breathing, but somehow I always have no choice but to break it." Her corona drooped. "I may have saved them, but they will never forgive my crude behavior. Perhaps I have more in common with the
dochaya
than I thought."

"Don't sell yourself short," Tully said. "From what I've seen, there's a lot of raw energy and untapped talent in the
dochaya
. I think those folks are going to do some amazing things once they get to Terra."

"But I am short," Jihan said. "Can you not see that for yourself?" She rippled her fingers at him, a gesture which probably had significance, though he had no idea what. It would take years to truly know these people, he thought, and some corners of their minds would most likely always be inaccessible to human understanding. Probably Jihan was right. They would never forgive her, though her words had saved them.

The colony spent the next three days in frantic preparations to abandon Valeron. Jihan had relatively little to do since her
elian
had existed for only a short time and they possessed nothing to pack beyond two viewers and a few crates of records. So Ronz, who seemed to be the equivalent of a Jao Eldest, appointed her his representative. Her job was to go to each of the
elian
and see what they needed, if anything, from the Humans and Jao, to be ready to go, and then to make a schedule, assigning them a departure time.

Many of the Eldests refused to receive her, when she called at their
elian
-houses, but the youngers in residence cooperated and things got done in an orderly enough fashion.

Records, both written and recorded, would be taken, of course, and enough food for the journey to Terra, which would not be terribly long, according to Tully. They would need a few viewers for the records, though more could be constructed later. Seeds of their favorite foodstuffs, patterns for machinery, layouts for building houses—the list went on and on. Just when Jihan thought she had covered everything necessary to start their new lives, someone would point out an essential she had missed.

The unassigned evacuated to the Jao ships first. They had nothing to transport other than themselves. The
dochaya
housed little else. She toured the empty buildings afterward to be certain nothing was left behind. They were dreadful, dark and empty, barren and graceless. And Pyr had spent years here, she thought. That was what
sensho
had required, but how could it have been right?

Then she orchestrated the
elian
, transporting them in the same order of seniority which ordered their seating in the Han. By that standard, Jaolore would be last which was proper.

The remaining holdouts, eleven
elian
in all, remained indoors as they prepared, steadfastly
not-seeing
this thing which mightily displeased them. She gave them the pick of what was left in the city after those going to Terra were ready, stores and foodstuffs, garments and tools. She'd had historical records copied for them and left the flats outside their doors when they would not accept them from her hand.

Tully predicted the hold-outs would not survive more than a few generations with such reduced numbers, but she hoped he was wrong. He was Human. He did not know the strength of her kind. Many times, the Lleix had faced Last-of-Days and then found afterwards that they had lived through the crisis yet again. They were tougher than even they knew themselves. This splinter group might just surprise them all.

On the final morning, she made one last sweep through the abandoned city, making certain no one was left behind and revisiting one last time the elegantly sculpted trees, ornamental bridges, artfully placed light-posts, wandering streams, and mute Boh faces peering down from the rafters of every
elian
-house. For all the generations they had sheltered on Valeron, the Boh had never been with them. Would their gods finally look upon the Lleix again when they reached Terra, or would they always remain something wonderful left behind long ago on another of their headlong flights from the terrible Ekhat?

The reticent
elian
, the Stonecrafters, Distributionists, and all the rest, had taken the old Lleix ships and taken off two days ago in search of a new colony world. She had gone down to the landing field and watched, aching for the dangerous journey they were undertaking with no aid and little chance of success.

Now, pale-blue snow sifted down from a leaden sky and the wind swirled it against the vacant houses. She inhaled the sweet cold scent. The Lleix had known many homes down through the generations, but she had only lived here. Was there snow on Terra? She had forgotten to ask.

Pyr and Kajin waited for her as she crossed the final bridge to the landing field. Both were dusted with snowflakes and stood outside the small ship, ignoring one another as always. She had sent them ahead to load Jaolore's records along with their precious viewers.

All the other Terra-bound
elian
, as well as the
dochaya
, had already boarded the fleet of ships in orbit around Valeron. They were the most junior and last.

"Eldest!" Pyr rushed forward to greet her, his usually dull gray skin positively glowing. He looked almost presentable. "Tully says it is time to go! The other ships have already made the jump to Terra. Only the huge one,
Lex-in-tun
, is still in the system."

It was time, past time, most likely. They were just fortunate the Ekhat hadn't already come back. "Yes," she said. "I have finished checking. The city is indeed empty now."

Together, the three walked up the ramp into what the Humans called an "assault craft." Swathed in heavy clothes against the chill, Caitlin stood just inside with a male of her species. His name was Edkraalek and he seemed oddly possessive of her, always touching Caitlin's hand or shoulder, never more than an arm's length away. "Welcome aboard, Jaolore," the little Human said.

"I have been thinking about that," Jihan said, ducking through the undersized door into the crew's preparatory bustle, "and I believe we should not call ourselves Jaolore any longer."

Kajin's elegant eyes narrowed with angry suspicion. "Are we going to cast away even our name then and lose ourselves in the
dochaya
?"

"No," she said as a Jao crewman squeezed past to take a seat and strap in. "There will be no more
dochaya
once we reach Terra. The unassigned plan to form their own
elian
." She gazed around at the busy cabin, the Humans and the Jao readying the ship for launch, working together without apparent concern for their many obvious differences.