Chapter 9
Oskar picked up the phone. It was one of two in this small Canadian town, and it seldom rang. Telepathy eliminated the need for most electronic devices.
The voice on the other end was calm but insistent. It was a voice Oskar had not heard in more than two hundred years, and one that he was not entirely pleased to hear.
“Ky Or-ta,” he said quietly. “You have returned.”
The silence on the other end of the line was the most poignant apology Oskar had ever received in his long life.
Oskar let the silence hang in the air for a moment. “Yes, of course I will come.”
As he listened to Ky, his frown deepened. “I will leave tonight.”
Oskar packed quickly, but before he managed to get out the door, a pale, old face appeared at the window, startling him for a moment. A bare hint of the northern lights played behind her on the horizon, making the face appear paler, ghostlier. In other parts of the hemisphere, it was early fall, but here the leaves were already gone from the trees. The first hint of ice creeped out into the water where the stream slowed down under the walking bridge. Still, she wore only a light dress. For Oskar’s people, the cold was refreshing. She walked around to the front of the house, came in without knocking. She sat down on a cushion by the fire and stretched out her bare feet. Despite her ancient face, there was little stiffness to her movements.
“How did you know, Gareeta?” Oskar asked.
“Accidental telepathy. You are agitated.”
“I was coming to see you.”
“I saved you the trip.”
“Ezik has asked for our help.”
“Then we will give it,” she said simply.
“Yes, we have sworn to give it.”
“But you have misgivings?”
“I wasn’t expecting to hear from Ky.”
“Old wounds still smart?”
“I had rather hoped they wouldn’t. I mean, I was my great-grandfather then. Shouldn’t that take the edge off?”
“I was my grandmother.”
“And you have forgiven.”
“Is there another reasonable choice?”
“I know what you lost with the code. You lost more than I. And yet for you, forgiveness comes easily.”
She smiled. “Not easily, Oskar, but the code would have come with or without Ky. It was the world that changed.”
“I know I am wrong.” Oskar looked down.
“We are too old for right and wrong.”
“I know. It is an honor to be called.”
“It might be both an honor and a terrible chore.”
“If it were anyone else. If it were Ezik…”
“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.”
“You were Ezik’s favorite.”
“I was. I like to think I still am.” She smiled mischievously.
“This isn’t a surprise to you, even my mission. You knew Ky was here, that he might need me?”
“I speak with Ezik. Also, Ky has Dennis Oster, and I speak with him. Ezik had me contact Dennis and arrange his cover. He’s in LA. Don’t feel too sorry for him; Dennis likes the weather. Dennis was a good choice because he was never in France. He was here in the Americas. He didn’t know Ky.”
“Why didn’t you tell me Ky was here?”
“If he needs your help, it’s better he ask for it himself. If I asked on his behalf, you might feel compelled to say yes.”
“I’m compelled regardless.”
“Still, it’s better that you heard it from him.”
“Ky and Dennis apparently have a television actress with them. And she knows about him and us.”
Gareeta looked surprised. “That’s a strange choice to make. But in a way it will be convenient for you. You won’t have to pretend anything.”
“A television actress,” he repeated, gritting his teeth slightly.
“It concerns you that her work is television?” asked Gareeta.
“It concerns me that we’re taking someone into battle who’s not even a telepath.”
“She could learn.”
“By Saturday? He said he trusts her. Does it seem like we’ve heard that before?” Oskar’s voice was on edge.
“Doomed to repetition, you think?”
“I certainly hope not!”
“This woman knows Hal?” asked Gareeta slowly.
“She was dating Hal.”
“Oh, my! Then be kind to her, Oskar. She’s already been through a lot,” said Gareeta.
“Of course I’ll be kind,” Oskar said. “But between Hal and Ky, will kindness be enough?”
“Ky was never the enemy, Oskar,” Gareeta admonished.
“No.”
“Ky was young. They can’t control how much power they are born with any more than we can.”
Oskar put down his pack and remembered his manners. “Tea, Gareeta?”
“I will, thank you,” she said.
He put the kettle over the fire.
“I helped design the codes. Are you not mad at me?” she asked.
“I don’t miss you. You are still here,” he said pointedly. “And I know the codes were necessary. Things are not always better with magic. Maybe it’s not Ky. It’s something about being of our people. You acquire the pain of many lifetimes of change, not just one. Still, it’s ironic that Ezik assigned Ky to enforce the codes on Earth.”
“I’m sure that irony was not lost on either of them. Where are you going?”
“New York.”
“Then it can’t have to do with the time shifts.”
“The what?”
“Time is being broken; not big breaks, but unmistakable.”
“Enough to pass through?”
“I don’t want to make assumptions yet.”
“How have I not noticed?”
“The shifts are coming from far away. They are regular, daily, like a machine. But they are not coming from New York. They would be louder.” She looked to the south.
“Shall I ask Ky when I see him?”
“Yes, although he hasn’t been spending much time in his human form. He may not have noticed. Other shapes aren’t as aware of time.”
Oskar poured the tea. The rich, grassy aroma filled the small room. She was beautiful. In his great-grandfather’s time, she had been taller. She had died young. He remembered the pain of the loss; she hadn’t yet passed down all her memories to her daughter. But her daughter’s daughter, this physical woman, systematically collected them. She was a powerful woman with a powerful mind. She was the only one of them who still spoke with the Or-ta regularly.
“It was strange to speak with Ky on the phone,” Oskar said.
“He probably thought uninvited telepathy would be rude, after all this time.”
“I meant that it was strange to speak with him at all. Yes, you’re right. To call on the phone was polite.”
“You loved him once.”
“Who doesn’t love a baby?”
“You’ll be happy to see him. I know you. You have forgiveness in you.”
“The mission is first.”
Something about his tone made her look at him keenly. “And it is dangerous?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“Very?”
“Yes.”
“Then may you succeed to see Ky Or-ta again.”
“May I succeed to see you again.”
“That as well.”
“May I succeed,” he said softly. “That will be enough.”
Gareeta sipped her tea and watched him walk out the door. Then she rearranged the cushion underneath her so that she could sit in proper meditation. She didn’t mind sitting at Oskar’s house. All houses were the same to her, especially here in her village, where she’d had a hand in the building of every one. Her braid ran in a smooth channel down her back. The heat from the fire brushed and warmed the sides of her face. The noises of the world became loud in her mind: the crackle of the fire, the sound of Oskar driving away, the
movement of wind through dry leaves. She opened a door in her mind and sat by it, steady but unexpectant. Ezik had not been at the door for months now, not since he had wanted her to arrange to send Dennis to California. Her breathing was long and slow. In her mind she opened the door again. There was nothing there. She was not disappointed. She had years, many watchful years behind her. And then, there he was, her favorite, her eternity.
“Gareeta.”
“Ezik.”
“Thank you for asking for me.”
“You look strained.”
“You look beautiful.”
“I see you haven’t forgotten the pleasantries of Earth.”
“I haven’t.” His voice was gentle, tender. In his Or-ta shape she could only see him as a faint outline, and that after hundreds of years of practice, but there was something about the way he held himself. He was tired. She took a moment to take him in, his presence, even when he was troubled, she found peace in him.
“Why have you sent us Ky?”
“You need his protection.”
“We need the protection of the council. Why Ky? People don’t trust him.”
“Not even you?”
“Don’t pretend it’s simple.”
“He only made one mistake.”
“But it was the greatest mistake. Am I wrong, or is this a two-part mission?”
“Three.”
“Stop Hal, redemption for Ky, and…?”
“Disperse our power. When we are all in the same place, we are vulnerable. Ky needs to be away from Or-ta. He will have a power that is greater than all of ours.”
“What’s that?”
“Even I don’t know everything.”
“But you see it.”
“I see it in him. He needs to grow up, face his past. Two hundred years is long enough to spend being sorry. He was so adept at learning his shapes. And of course, that was also his downfall. But now he has spent many years in exile. He’s ready to come back. We have all made mistakes, but what Ky knows is what it’s like to completely lose yourself. There’s a wisdom in that. It’s a wisdom we will need.” Ezik paused for a long time. They sat in the doorway together. To Gareeta there was nothing outside. Even the cozy fire had disappeared. They were mind to mind. Ezik sighed and then continued, “Meanwhile, you’re in danger.”
“What kind of danger?”
“I can only glimpse it, but I think it’s why Hal is there. There’s an opportunity now for another Great Forgetting. Hal thinks he can get in at the front, that he can redefine the past and the future with his own cunning, for his own gain. If that happens, I don’t know what will happen to Earth or to Or-ta.”
“I believe Ky will come through for us.”
“The danger is not just from Hal. Hal is only the beginning, and I don’t think he’s even working alone now. He may just be a pawn. Hal, as you know, is vulnerable to the power of power. Whether Ky succeeds or not, I need you to make a plan.”
“A plan for what?”
“A plan to live. You, your daughter, and your granddaughter. You need to save your memories, true memories.”
She measured this thought out carefully. “I will make a plan,” she said. “What’s happening to time, Ezik?”
“I hadn’t noticed time changing on Earth. I am far away.”
“I know.”
“The way you ask makes me worried. Do you want me to guess?”
“You never guess.”
“Unfortunately, no. And if I tell you what I fear, then I am only bringing you fear, not information.”
“I can wait for the truth.”
“It won’t be a long wait.”
“I will make a plan.”