The Refugee (The Korvali Chronicles Book 1) (20 page)

“Eshel, you’re being rude.”
 

“Rude?”
 

“Yes. You keep telling me what I’m doing wrong.” She treaded water, slightly breathless from her efforts. “You sound like my father.”

“I don’t understand. If I am to teach you, I must correct you when you are wrong.”

She sighed. “Yes. But it’s how you do it. It’s better to say, ‘instead of this, try this,’ like I do when I train you. Be encouraging.”

“Are you learning?”

“Yes.”

“Then why does it matter how I teach you?”

“Because one way will anger me, and the other won’t.”

Eshel still didn’t understand Catherine’s protest. But he couldn’t argue with her reasoning, and did his best to avoid teaching her in what was, in his opinion, the most efficient way for her to learn.

Later that day, they went into town. Viorov had a small enclave of Derovian artists, so at Catherine’s suggestion they went to look at the art. There were many large, flat shells that had been painted with plant-based dyes in visually interesting ways. Catherine searched for something to hang in her remaining bulkhead space. There were several pieces she admired, but she couldn’t decide, and eventually gave up looking.
 

Afterward, they ate dinner at a café that contained numerous plants and several tall trees within it, as if they’d built the café around the vegetation. One could look up and see the evening sky through the foliage. During their meal, a Derovian male played a stringed instrument that Catherine called a “guitar.”
 

“I love the guitar,” she told Eshel. “I’ve always wanted to learn how to play.”

“Why don’t you?”

“No one to teach me.”

“Snow cannot?”

She shook her head. “Snow plays bass guitar. It’s totally different. And I don’t have a guitar.”
 

“Can you not purchase one?”
 

“I might, when we get to Suna. The Sunai will have many to choose from.”

“But will you be able to decide on one?” he asked, hoping she would understand his meaning.

Catherine smiled in surprise. “Did you just make a joke at my expense?”

“I believe it is a valid question,” he replied, pleased that his attempt at humor had succeeded.
 

Catherine giggled. “Tom would’ve loved that one. He still gives me a hard time about how long it takes me to decide what to eat.”

Eshel said nothing.

“What?” she asked him, seeing his expression.

“I have noticed that, as well.”

“Unlike you guys, who eat the same thing all the time, I like variety and it’s hard to choose!” she cried, laughing.
 

“That is fair,” he replied, still quite pleased with himself.
 

Later, they went back to the beach and sat down on the sand, up against the cool rocks. Recognizing that Catherine was getting cold, Eshel brought himself close to her to warm her. He brought his cheek to hers, and began to stroke her hair.
 

Afterward, Catherine rested against Eshel. But after a while, she disengaged herself from him, her skin glistening with perspiration. “I’m hot,” she said, resuming her place sitting next to him.
 

“And very soon you will be cold again.”
 

She laughed. She reached for her dress, shook out the rosy sand, and put it back on.
 

Eshel sat down on the porch and poured two glasses of rallnofia. Catherine wrapped herself in a blanket and joined him.
 

“The rite,” Eshel began. “It is called the sher mishtar, or the rite of secrets.”

He explained that the sher mishtar was one of many Korvali rites. Its purpose was to enter into a bond of secrecy, never to be broken, with a trusted person. To break secrecy would cause a permanent rift in the relationship, a rift that could never be repaired, and could result in being ousted from one’s clan, or worse. He explained that the sher mishtar was, in some ways, a lifetime obligation. “I brought you here because I want to perform the sher mishtar with you.”
 

Catherine shifted in her seat. “Eshel, this sounds… serious. What if… what happens when the mission is over? We may not be able to remain… tied.”

“No. With the sher mishtar, you are not bound to the person; you are bound to the secrets you share. I have performed the rite with others.” She nodded in understanding. “If you choose to do the rite, you cannot share what I tell you with anyone. You also cannot tell anyone that we performed the rite.”
 

“Is there something I must do, other than listen?”

“No.”

“Am I allowed to talk, or ask questions?”

“Yes.”

She tucked her hair behind her ear, pondering what Eshel had proposed. She sat for some time, her expression unreadable. “Okay,” she finally said.
 

“We will go tomorrow.”

Sunday morning, Eshel got up early and swam, returning sooner than usual. They gathered their things, left their hut, and began walking along the coastline. Heavy clouds blocked the mild sun, muting the blue of the calm sea and darkening the inland hills. Eshel walked briskly as Catherine made an effort to keep up with him. Once having walked for the better part of an hour, Eshel found a location he liked.
 

It was a small tide pool deep enough to cover them up to their middles, surrounded by rocks and sheltered from the break. Although there were hidden tide pools, Eshel chose one that was exposed, where he could see all that was around him. He set down their things on the smooth pink rocks, and turned toward Catherine, who stood at the edge of the pool, as if afraid to go in the water.
 

“You appear nervous,” Eshel said to her.
 

“I am.”
 

“There is nothing to fear. The sher mishtar is always performed in water. And in complete privacy.” She stepped into the tide pool and faced him. “Catherine, what is said until we emerge from the sea today must never be repeated to anyone. You must promise.”

“I promise.”
 

“You know it is against Korvali Doctrine to leave Korvalis without permission, to live among outsiders. The Korvali have not retaliated against what I have done, but they will not tolerate it. Just as Ashan offered secret information before he vanished, I must do the same.”

Catherine’s expression turned to one of horror. “You’re leaving us?”

“No. I am only preparing for the occasion in which I am killed. I am, as Tom would say, a target.”
 

Catherine’s face paled as she looked away.
 

“It is a precaution, Catherine. I am protected by your people, and I have developed my own methods of defense. But if I am killed, it is important that I contribute to the betterment of the Korvali, just as Ashan did.” He paused. “When the Sunai attacked me the second time, after the Calyyt-Calloq Fights, my form of defense was not as I told others.”

Catherine looked at Eshel again. “You didn’t go for the eyeshades?”

“I did, but it was not enough to create opportunity for escape.”

She raised her eyebrows. “What did you do?”

“I deployed a weapon.”

“What kind of weapon?”

“A biological weapon.”

“Did it harm them?” she asked.

“No. It temporarily subdued them.”

“Which allowed you to get away.”

“Yes,” Eshel said. “The weapon worked even more effectively than I had envisioned.”

“How did you design it? Did you use the same casing as the one we made for Tom?”

“It is better that you don’t know how the weapon works.” Catherine scowled a little as she looked away again. “You are offended.”

“Not that you won’t tell me. That you lied, about the attack.”

“It was a necessary deception, Catherine. Using such a weapon is illegal. It is also… it is my technology and I am not prepared to share it at this time. When I developed it, I didn’t yet know I could trust you.”

She nodded in understanding. “They’ll anticipate that maneuver next time.”

“I have other options,” he replied.
 

Catherine, appearing satisfied with Eshel’s responses, said no more.
 

Eshel went on. “The first secret is my developing weapons to defend myself. The second… is the reason I left Korvalis. I was carefully watched on Korvalis because I am the son of my father.” He paused for a moment. “My father, who you know as Othniel, was not Shereb by birth. He gained inclusion to our clan through joining with my mother. My father, along with others, openly opposed many of the kunsheld’s policies, especially those pertaining to going offworld and interacting with outsiders. Despite his remarkable scientific achievements and proper behavior while offworld, Elisan revoked one of my father’s requests to leave Korvalis and attend a scientific summit on Suna. When my father made his next request, Elisan rejected that one as well, as he did any future requests. Soon after, funding for my father’s research began to diminish.

“One evening, my father, along with several other scientists, was invited to dine with the malkaris and her family at Fallal Hall. We had dined with them before, although such invitations had become very infrequent.” Eshel looked down. “Later that night, my father was found dead in the gardens at Fallal Hall, killed by a bioweapon.” Eshel remained still for several moments. “Despite my father’s significant achievements, the kunsheld, the kunsheld’s aides, and the malkaris’s family did not attend the sher memeshar… the rite of death. Only Elan attended. Elan had learned from my father, had respected him.”
 

Eshel briefly scanned the area around them before continuing. “My father’s murder was the fourth in a series of similar murders. The dead… they each offered opposing opinions to Elisan’s policies, and each had become Shereb through joining with a Shereb mate. I began a detailed investigation of my father’s murder in secret. Only my mother knew. Weeks into my investigation, a messenger, an Osecal merchant who sold us some of our research equipment, visited me at my lab and told me of an opportunity to leave Korvalis. They would leave in three days.”

Catherine nodded. “So you had to abandon the investigation to take the opportunity to escape.”

“It was what my father would have wanted.” He paused again. “The loss of a family member is… difficult. You know this. But murder… on Korvalis it is extremely rare. It is not our way.”
 

Eshel noticed that the bumps had resurfaced on Catherine’s skin, so he walked to her and warmed her. “Finally,” Eshel said after releasing her, “the last secret. You know I am sanctioned from sharing my scientific knowledge. However, my father is dead, other scientists are dead, and if something happens to me, knowledge will vanish. Such knowledge is irreplaceable and cannot be lost. To do so would dishonor my father, my mother, and my people.” He stared at her. “You are the proper candidate to receive some of this knowledge. I will not provide you with answers; but I will, and believe it my duty to, offer you tools with which to find the answers yourself.”

Catherine’s face lit up. However, the look of pleasure on her face faded, to be replaced by a more troubled expression.
 

“What bothers you?” he asked her.
 

“I have a secret too, and I’m not sure you’ll like it.”

Eshel’s eyebrows went up. “You want to divulge a secret to me?”
 

“Is that allowed?”

“Yes.”

Catherine hesitated for several moments. “I’ve been studying your epigenome,” she finally said. She told him about the files she’d discovered, about the work she’d done.
 

Eshel showed no reaction. “Commander Steele does not know?”

“I don’t think so. He hasn’t said anything, which he would have because he’d assume I’d lied to him. But I’m surprised he didn’t have someone scan my network, and—”

“Did you remove the files from your network and the VirNet?”

Catherine, taken aback by Eshel’s uncharacteristic interruption, said, “Of course.”
 

“Where are they stored?”

“On one of my portables.”

“Is it well-hidden?”

“Yes.” She looked a little ashamed. “Are you angry?”

“No. Continue studying them, without getting caught. Commander Steele must never see those files, Catherine.”

She nodded. “I know.”

Eshel paused, his expression softening. “Have you examined the files carefully?”

She smiled a little. “I have.”

“What have you discovered?”
 

“Lots of alteration to the methylation patterns. And some of the proteins have been altered.”

“And what conclusions have you come to?”
 

“Well… that I couldn’t come to any useful conclusions without viewing a new sample of your epigenome.”

“Why do you need a new sample?”

Catherine was reminded of her dissertation defense, where her committee asked her questions not because they didn’t know the answers, but to ensure she knew them. “I need to compare the two samples.”

“Why compare them?”

Catherine wrapped her arms around herself, as if chilled again. “Well… to see which of the changes were engineered and which were a result of having taken the drug to initiate the stasis…”

Eshel’s expression changed. It was, perhaps, the most pleased he’d ever looked. His intense gaze remained on Catherine, and then he finally spoke. “Perhaps it is fortunate that I am forbidden to work as a geneticist.”

“Why is that?”

“I would want you to work with me, but you could not.”

“Why not?”

“I am very… rude, as you say, when I work. You do not like that, and I would not like angering you.”
 

Catherine grinned and, unable to contain herself, gave Eshel a big kiss on the lips.

Eshel, while surprised at first, smiled his small smile. “The rite is complete. We have revealed our secrets. Now, we seal it.” He looked at her closely. “Are you ready?”

Catherine’s grin subsided and she appeared serious again. She nodded.