“But you what?” He leaned forward, crisscrossing his arms and placing his chin on his fins, looking at her with overlarge eyes.
“I would like my race to have more than that. I would like to be more than that.”
Understanding seemed to dawn in the Markene’s eyes. “I can appreciate that, believe it or not.”
“What do you mean?”
“My people, the Markene…were little more than servants to the Merk. Drug addled servants. Pawns to be used…in pathetic and pointless games of power.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
“It is all right. We…attended to it.”
She drew her knees up and wrapped her arms around them. “Really. How did you attend to it?”
“We staged a revolution and brought a gigantic wave of water crashing through Venets, annihilating it.”
“Oh. Well…that would do it.”
“Yes.” His voice sounded vacant. “It would. It did.”
“And then…” Jepp was confused. It was becoming a familiar feeling for her. “You…came out here? Why are you here? I mean, the Vastly Waters are…” She tried to come up with a better word and none sprang readily to mind. “…vast. And you just happened to show up here?”
“Not exactly.”
“Then what exactly?”
“I saw you. Ruark and I, we saw the ship taking you away. I had never seen a human before, much less one who was in the company of Travelers. And I was just going to watch you sail away. But I—”
“But you what?”
For a long moment he said nothing. Jepp didn’t press him; he spoke in a manner that was slow and methodical, and she had a feeling that it matched the way he thought as well. There was no reason to rush him. It wasn’t as if she was going anywhere.
iii.
{“She is a human,” says a voice from next to him.}
{Gorkon glances over to see Ruark Sydonis floating next to him. Floating is about all Ruark Sydonis can do these days, with his arms and legs having been shattered. Gorkon has fashioned a floation device for him and Ruark seems convinced that his limbs will eventually heal. Gorkon is dubious, but he defers to Ruark’s wisdom on these matters.}
{“A human,” says Gorkon. “I have never seen one.”}
{“You haven’t missed much,” replies Ruark.}
{Gorkon considers the situation. “Do you think,” he says slowly, “that the Travelers will notice that much of Venets is destroyed?”}
{“As they pass it? Perhaps.”}
{“Will they care?”}
{“I very much doubt it,” says Ruark. “Travelers only care about things that you and I cannot begin to understand.”}
{“Such as humans? Why would they care about humans?”}
{Ruark Sydonis considers it for a time, and then says helpfully, “I hear they make excellent pets.”}
{“And is that to be her fate? To be a pet?”}
{“I do not know her fate, Gorkon. Fates are not for such as I to perceive. Only to determine.”}
{“I heard them say something about the Spires. They whispered to each other of the Spires.”}
{“You heard them?”}
{“Yes. They sound like the sighing of currents. It is almost beautiful to listen to. It is also a bit frightening. I am not sure why.”}
{“It could be that the fact that you do not know why is what makes it a bit frightening. Do you know of the Spires?”}
{“Not much of them, no.”}
{“A vast city, far greater than Venets ever was or could hope to be, situated upon a far off island. Buildings so tall you cannot see the top of them. It is said to be where the Overseer dwells.”}
{“The Overseer.” He feels a chill in his spine. “If that is their destination, then I fear it will not go well for the female.”}
{Ruark studies him for a moment. “Of what consequence is it to you what happens to her?”}
{“It is just that…she seems out of place. And distantly sad.”}
{“You have never seen a human being before. You have no idea how one of them appears when they are sad.”}
{“Ruark…do you remember what I was doing when we first met?”}
{“Of course. You were trying to kill yourself. Beach yourself so that eventually you would not be able to breathe. And you were doing so because you felt so disconnected from your own people, so lonely, that you could not see any reason for continuing to live.”}
{“Yes. That is right.”}
{“And your point is?”}
{“My point, Ruark, is that I know sadness when I see it. The race matters not. It is the emotion with which I am the most familiar, because I have lived with it for so long. I lived with it until I could live with it no more, and the only thing that stopped me from destroying myself was you.”}
{“And you believe she is going to try to destroy herself?”}
{“I do not know.”}
{“And once that vessel sails from sight, you will never know.”}
{“That is true.”}
{He continues to watch the vessel as it recedes. Ruark allows more time to pass before he finally says, “That disturbs you. The not knowing. Ever.”}
{“Slightly.”}
{“Perhaps more than slightly. Tell me, Gorkon…how do your people regard you these days. As their liberator? After all, they are no longer dependant upon Klaa. They are no longer under the domination of my kind.”}
{“They are…appreciative.”}
{“Are they?”
{Gorkon looks down. He is unable to look Ruark in the eyes and lie to him. “No. They hate me. They despise me. Now that the initial fury of the revolt is over…”}
{“They need somewhere to put their hate.”}
{“Yes.”}
{“Because they are growing nostalgic for the time not long ago at all where they were able to float in a blissful haze of stupefaction.”}
{“Yes. And…”}
{“And…?”}
{“My mother finally noticed that my father is gone. She asked me what happened to him. I told her he was dead. And now she and my entire family hate me.”}
{“Why would they hate you?”}
{“Because I told them it was my fault.”}
{“Ah. Well…that would do it.”}
{“It certainly did in this case.”}
{“And so now they hate you?”}
{“Well,” Gorkon says, “perhaps ‘hate’ is too mild a word.”}
{“Really? What word would you think better summarizes it?’}
{“They have made it clear that they intend to kill me at some point soon.”}
{Ruark looks at him sadly. “Oh, my dear Gorkon. The situation that I have placed you in…I am so sorry. Perhaps I should never have interfered. Perhaps I should have allowed you to perish at the time and place of your choosing. Look what I have done to you.”}
{But Gorkon shakes his head firmly. “What I have done, Ruark, I have done to myself. There was a great wrong, and thanks to you, I have righted it. Whether my people realize that or not at the moment, eventually they will. Even if I am not alive to see it. And besides…it was a grand adventure.”}
{“And now the only adventure left for you is to be murdered? It hardly seems fair.”}
{“I have learned that very little in life involves fairness, no matter where you look.”}
{“That is true,” Ruark agrees. “But what if where you look leads you to more adventure?”}
{“I do not know what…” Then he realizes what Ruark is saying. “The human. The girl.”}
{“She interests you. She calls to you.”}
{“I would not say that she does. She is, overall, a rather ugly thing.”}
{“True. Rather say that her fate does.”}
{“I suppose it does. But what am I to do about it?”}
{“You could follow her. See where her fate brings her. See if you are a part of it, or at the very least can influence it. She may well be someone in need of help, just as your own people were.”}
br />
{“But she is not one of my people.”}
{“Yes. However, are you still one of your people?”}
{Gorkon gave a soft grunt. “That is a valid point. But then there is the matter of you.”}
{“Me?”}
{“I owe you my life, Ruark. And now you are…broken. I cannot simply abandon you to this…condition.”}
{“You owe me nothing, Gorkon. All I did was point out possibilities. You are not eternally beholden to me for that. You are still young. You have much to accomplish, and I will not be a burden to the possibilities that remain to you. Besides, you said yourself that your life is threatened by your own people. Of what use will you be to me, or to anyone, if you are dead?”}
{“Still…I am not sure…”}
{“You do not have to be sure. That is the advantage of your position right now. If you allow the ship to depart from view, then you will never be sure. You will always wonder, ‘What if I had followed the vessel?’ But if you follow it, and you decide that the aim is misbegotten, or a waste of your time, then you can always turn away and come back here.”}
{Gorkon looks out at the receding ship, seeming so lonely upon the waters. “I could just return here.”}
{“Yes, you could. You would be committed to nothing.”}
{“Still…I have never done anything like this. Gone any true distance from home. Been alone…”}
{“You will not be alone. You understand that, do you not? You are not alone. For good or ill, you never will be again. And you know why.”}
{And Gorkon does. He understands precisely to what Ruark is referring. He does not like to think about it, because the connection that he had now has with…the Other…is daunting, intimidating. He has learned to live with it, even though he is certain that the Other will bring about his destruction one day.}
{“Very well. That is what I will do. Just for a little while. Just to satisfy myself that the endeavor is pointless. Then I will return to you.”}
{“Of course you will,” says Ruark.}
{And so Gorkon turns away from Ruark and swims away without even looking back.}
{He catches up quickly with the ship, but keeps a safe distance. He does so because he does not want to draw attention to himself. He is as daunted by the Travelers as anyone else. He has had no direct interaction with the Travelers, but he knows the stories. He knows what they are capable of doing. That is why no one dares to stand up to them. Had Ruark’s demented queen had her way, the Markene would have gone up against the Travelers and unquestionably been destroyed en masse as a result. }
{From his vantage point he continues to listen to the discussions aboard the ship, to eavesdrop on their daily interaction. Every day that he pursues them, he tells himself that this is the day that he is going to have sated his curiosity about the girl. This is the day that he is going to turn back. Yet he does not do so. Because every day he finds the human girl more and more intriguing. He is not romantically interested her in the least. They are, in every way imaginable, from two different worlds. He simply finds her personality interesting, and maybe even kindred to his own, because in the way she comports herself, she challenges many old assumptions. He has never had a kindred spirit before. Ruark was something of a mentor to him, but also had his own agenda. Gorkon is not a fool. He knows that to some degree Ruark was using him to his own ends from the very beginning. He initially bristled at the idea, but he has since come to accept the reality that everyone uses everyone else. Sometimes for good, sometimes for ill, but in the end, no one engages anyone else unless there is something of value in it for they themselves, and Ruark is no different.}
{But of what value can this human girl be to him? None that he can think of. Certainly none that is readily apparent. He is certain that his future lies back in Venets, even if it is only to die at the hands of his own people in order to sate their need for vengeance. By any reasonable measure, there is no reason at all for him to have any interest in this Mort.}
{Yet he continues to follow her. Several times he actually endeavors to turn and swim off in the other direction, but each time he finds himself continuing his pursuit of her.}
{As night begins to approach, he becomes concerned over the prospect of losing the ship because fatigue is overtaking him. He dives, looking for something that can be of benefit. It takes repeated excursions, but he finally finds a length of cable in a vessel already sunken to the floor of the Vastly Waters. Taking his newly discovered treasure, he overtakes the vessel once more and, as the sun sets, uses it to secure himself to the hull. Thus is he able to sleep while the ship pulls him along.}
{And while he sleeps…he dreams of a better world. One in which the Twelve Races do not live in a perpetual state of strife. One in which his own people celebrate him as a hero instead of loathe him as the one who upended their life of bliss. One in which he has a place. Yes. A better world.}
{He just wonders if it can ever be this one.}
iv.
“I saw you. Ruark and I, we saw the ship taking you away. I had never seen a human before, much less one who was in the company of Travelers. And I was just going to watch you sail away. But I—”
“But you what?”
For a long moment he said nothing. Jepp didn’t press him; he spoke in a manner that was slow and methodical, and she had a feeling that it matched the way he thought as well. There was no reason to rush him. It wasn’t as if she was going anywhere.
“I changed my mind,” he said finally.
Jepp felt slightly let down by that. “That’s it?”
“Is more required?”
“I suppose not. Except…why did you change your mind?”
“You interested me.”
“Really?” She cocked her head. “How so?”
“The way you speak to the Travelers. The way you stand up to them. No one else does that that I know of. No one else would dare. Everyone fears the Travelers.”
“People fear what they don’t understand. They don’t understand the Travelers, that’s all.”
“And you do?”
“No,” she admitted. Then she brightened. “But I know that there’s something there worth understanding. And that’s enough of a start, I suppose.”
“Why were they taking you to the Spires?”
The question surprised her and she made no effort to hide it. Then again, Jepp wasn’t particularly skilled at hiding any response she ever had to anything. “They were taking me to the Spires?”
“Yes.”
She did not bother to ask how he knew. It wasn’t her way. He seemed fairly positive about it and that was sufficient for her. “I do not know. The Spires is the residence of the Overseer, yes?”
“That is correct.”
“Then I suppose that the Overseer has some interest in me. I have no idea what possible interest one such as he could have in one such as me. And I suppose now I will never find out.”
“I suppose not.” He continued to study her for a time longer. “So…what do you wish to do now? Where would you like to go?”
“It is odd,” she said thoughtfully. “Ever since the Travelers took me, all I wished to do was return to Karsen.”
“Who is Karsen?”
She told him all about Karsen then. All about the circumstances that had brought them together and resulted in her being with a group of Bottom Feeders for a time and entering into an intense relationship with Karsen Foux of the Laocoon, until being kidnapped by the Travelers. “And all during the time I was with the Travelers, I kept insisting that they should return me to him.”
“Where is he?”
“I don’t know,” she admitted. “That is the problem. Because the Travelers are—well—who they are, I had assumed they had the ability to bring me straight back to Karsen with little effort. They could find him, if anyone could. Now, though, they are gone, and my chance of being reunited with Karsen may well have gone with them.”
“I could return you to the land you left behind
if you wish. That way you at least have an opportunity to try and track him down.”
“That is a possibility. Unfortunately, far more likely is that I will be captured by someone—a Mandraque, something like that—and forced back into a life of slavery. I am a Mort, after all,” she said, allowing traces of bitterness to creep into her voice. “My kind are nothing but slaves. I have a one in a million chance of locating Karsen once more. And even if I do…then what? His mother will have nothing to do with me, so we will have to be on our own. I mean, honestly…what sort of existence is he then supposed to lead? An aimless life of wandering around with nothing but me for company?”
“You should not think so little of yourself.”
“I don’t,” she said firmly. “I used to, but I don’t. That’s not the point, though.”
“Then what is?”
“The point is that I think Karsen can have a better life if I’m not a part of it. Not a…a burden to him. He would be able to have congress with his family and with his own kind. As long as I am with him, our feelings for each other are going to be...” She sighed. “Inconvenient.”
“Then what do you wish?”
“I wish…”
She stopped. For reasons she still could not quite fathom, those two words seemed extremely loaded to her, as if they were not to be uttered lightly, nor without some acknowledgment of their power and potential.
“I wish things could be different.”
“What things?”
“That my people could be free, to begin with. Presuming,” she added ruefully, “there are any of my people left. That is something else I would like to see different. More of my people. Many more. I…” Her mind wandered. “I had a dream of that. I dreamt of a city with tall buildings, buildings so tall they seemed to touch clouds. And there were so many of my people there. Tens of hundreds, thousands. They were just…they were everywhere. And a Mandraque…a female. I’m not sure how she fit into it all. And I could not for the life of me tell if I was seeing something that was long in the past, or in the future, or would never be anything other than in my imaginings.”
“Buildings that touched the clouds? You may well be speaking of the Spires.”
“Really?”
Gorkon nodded. “Ruark described them as such. You may well be dreaming of your destination.”