Daniel wasn’t entirely sure of the concept of ‘money’ either. In Colne they had traded goods directly with one another. The closest thing to money they had possessed was the record that Tom and Alice Hayes kept of what each person was owed by their store.
“What is money?” asked Daniel.
That set Byovar back for a moment, but he took up the challenge, “It was a medium of exchange used by the ancient humans. They used tokens to represent valuable items. Everything was assigned a value in tokens, and people would trade them to gain the items they needed. The idea was powerful enough that some preferred to possess mainly a large surplus of the tokens.”
“What were the tokens like?”
“Most were metal discs, but they also kept records on paper and in their machines. We were so fascinated by the concept, that we later developed the current system of shuthsi based upon it,” explained Byovar.
“So shuthsi is your name for money?”
“It is similar, but different. We do not trade tokens, nor do we keep a personal tally of shuthsi. Each grove has its own tally, and that is increased or decreased by the actions of those who belong to that grove,” answered the She’Har.
“Those who belong—you mean the children of the grove?”
“Like me, or Lyralliantha, yes, we belong to the Illeniel Grove. The baratti affect this also, for you belong to a child of the Illeniel Grove. When you killed Syllerond, you incurred a debt of shuthsi on our grove, but the blame for this does not fall on you. It falls upon Lyralliantha.”
Daniel felt as if he was starting to understand, but some things still didn’t make sense to him. “But she wasn’t even there. The blame should be mine.”
“You are baratt, an animal, property—you have no standing in our society. Your actions can only gain or lose shuthsi for the grove that owns you,” said Byovar.
“And Lyralliantha cannot possess shuthsi either? It belongs to her grove?” asked Daniel.
“Yes, she belongs to the Illeniel Grove. Children are property of their grove. Their purpose is only to grow the shuthsi of their grove. If they are successful and space permits, they someday grow to join the grove,” answered the She’Har translator.
So they don’t have a system of justice, or true ownership, except in regard to animals. And apparently their children are not much better than the baratti, other than their potential to someday become true She’Har adults.
“Does this mean that I have reduced Lyralliantha’s chance of becoming an adult?”
Byovar smiled, “You are beginning to understand. When she took you in, she lost standing within the Illeniel Grove. Our grove has refused to take baratti for pets. We do not participate in the games. Our shuthsi has dwindled, and our grove has remained small.”
“Why is the grove small? I’m confused,” said Daniel.
Byovar sighed, and then spoke directly to Lyralliantha. After a brief exchange he addressed Daniel again, “She says I should explain, but this is complicated. I do not know if you will understand. Please listen until I am finished.”
Daniel nodded and Byovar proceeded.
“When the She’Har lived in the world before this one, and the world before that one, we also used the arena, but there was no shuthsi. Merit was decided by survival, and the children of the She’Har fought for the right to exist. Those who were successful became adults. Those who were very successful became lore-wardens and helped to guide the children before becoming adults themselves.”
“Your world possessed its own sentient species, the ancient humans, and their battle to prevent us from claiming this world taught us much respect for them. We adopted their idea of money, creating the shuthsi system, and we adopted their forms for our children. In the beginning, we continued the old ways, letting the children fight in the arena, but later, some of the groves began using their pets as proxies, to fight for them.”
“Naturally, the baratti never prevailed against true children of the She’Har, but it gradually became apparent that by using them, we did not need to die to prove our worth. The groves used shuthsi to determine where their trees could grow, and the children used the baratti to determine their worthiness. The idea of using humans to fight in our places became very popular, until all of the groves stopped letting their children fight.”
“Our grove did not support this change. The Illeniel Grove felt that it was wrong to use animals to fight in our place. They were opposed to the suffering this created in the baratti. Since they refused to take pets and use them, the Illeniels have not earned much shuthsi since coming to this world. Our grove has remained small, while the others have grown to encompass most of this world.”
“When Lyralliantha took you as her pet, she brought shame on herself for disregarding our stand against the practice,” explained Byovar. “We do not keep livestock.”
Daniel raised a hand to interrupt, “I think I prefer the term ‘slave’ to ‘livestock’.” I can’t believe I just said that, he thought to himself.
Byovar acknowledged his suggestion, “Very well, slave then, we do not keep slaves.”
***
Daniel’s days settled into a new routine. Byovar would return each morning and spend a few hours instructing him and sometimes Lyralliantha, in their respective languages. The afternoons he spent alone, and in the evenings Lyralliantha would return with food, and they would eat together.
After the first day, she brought a larger variety of vegetables for him, including carrots and onions. She also found salt for him, which greatly improved the stews he made. She sampled some of it, but she could never get over her reluctance to eat animal flesh. Daniel later learned that the She’Har used the bodies of their children and other animals to help fertilize the ground near the great trees, but it was considered disgusting for one of the children to eat the flesh of another animal.
He was also gradually becoming aware that being a child of the She’Har was not much better than being a baratt. Lyralliantha owned nothing, other than Daniel. All other property belonged to the groves, and the groves decided the distribution of land and growth based on shuthsi. Since the Illeniels refused to participate in the new system, they had become the equivalent of paupers.
Their lives were not particularly valuable either. The She’Har children were merely potential ‘seeds’. Until they took root, they were just property. The groves could produce more children as needed, and they were born with all the knowledge they needed. Children were a plentiful and easily replaced asset.
He began to realize that this difference was largely behind the way the She’Har treated the human children in their special camps. She’Har children required no rearing, no love, or nourishment. They were born complete and ready, whether to compete with one another or to take root if the need was immediate. The idea of educating and protecting children was foreign to their race.
It was because of this that they failed to understand why their captive humans turned out to be so inferior to their parents. Without love and nurturing, they were violent and mentally stunted. They understood the basics of human learning, but their solution had been to simply lump the children together into pens so that they could share information.
Love itself had no meaning whatsoever.
A few months after his removal from Ellentrea, Daniel was able to ask Lyralliantha questions more directly. Both of them had improved their language skills, and they were beginning to be able to handle more complex conversations by switching back and forth between Erollith and Barion. When their words weren’t enough, they sometimes added mental images.
“Why did you give me clothes? Does this make me a warden?”
“Yes. It is a sign that you have been removed from arena combat,” she answered. “It also means that you may move freely within the Illeniel Grove.”
Having spent more than three months living on a single platform, Daniel felt rather stupid for never having asked before. After living in that tiny room for years, it never occurred to me that s
he would let me move about on my own.
“I am allowed to travel?” he asked.
Lyralliantha nodded, “So long as you remain within the borders of our grove. If you wish, I will show you tomorrow. If you are to go beyond that border, you must have my permission first.”
“Why do you no longer wish for me to fight in the arena?” asked Daniel. “Is it because of the Illeniel belief about baratti and suffering?”
“Yes,” she responded. “Thillmarius told me that it was in your nature. He has been caring for the Prathion baratti for a long time. I trusted his judgment, until I saw you with that woman.”
Amarah, corrected Daniel silently. “How did that change your mind?”
“He had told me that humans were naturally violent. That it would be a cruelty to keep you from the arena. When I saw you holding the dead woman, I remembered the vision you showed me of your family. I knew then that Thillmarius was wrong, and that you were suffering. I still do not understand your social interactions, but I could see the pain in you. Her death caused it, and you fought Syllerond because of it.”
Daniel hesitated before his next question, “Thillmarius said you wanted to put an end to me.”
“I thought it the best way to end your suffering,” she replied honestly. “Thillmarius convinced me to wait, but if you disagree, I will allow your death.”
Remembering the Prathion She’Har’s threat, Daniel kept silent for a moment. “I think I prefer to live now, but at the time I would have welcomed death.”
“What has changed your mind?” she asked, staring at him with pale eyes. Her face held little expression, as usual, but sometimes he could see hints of emotion in her aura or faint changes in the muscles around her eyes.
“Life here is not so bad. Humans live to learn and grow. Ellentrea was bad, but now I see that perhaps the future is not too dark to accept,” he answered.
“Play some more music for me,” said Lyralliantha, and Daniel thought he detected a hint of pleasure in her response.
Chapter 33
The next day Lyralliantha was true to her promise. As soon as the sun had arisen she took Daniel on a tour of the Illeniel Grove, or at least its boundaries.
It turned out that the border of what Daniel had thought of as the ‘deep woods’, where it approached the valley he called home, was the western most edge of her grove. From there it extended several miles to the north and two miles to the south. The eastern edge bordered the Prathion Grove and was only five miles from the western edge of the Illeniel Grove.
“Your grove is huge,” observed Daniel.
Lyralliantha looked down for a moment, “Only from your perspective, Tyrion. The other groves are much larger.”
Daniel remembered his flight with Thillmarius. The world had stretched out beneath them for hundreds of miles in every direction, and from what the She’Har had said, it went on for countless miles beyond the horizon. Compared to that the Illeniel Grove was small.
“How many groves are there?” he asked her suddenly.
“Five,” she replied.
“Do the Illeniel She’Har have more groves elsewhere?”
“This is all that is left of us. After we had claimed this world, and once we had finished with your people, the five groves spread and began to colonize the fertile regions. Things were balanced in the beginning, but once the shuthsi system replaced the old system we stopped growing. The other four groves gradually claimed everything.”
“Because you wouldn’t keep slaves?” he asked, to clarify.
“Yes,” agreed Lyralliantha. “Before that time, the Illeniels were the most prosperous, for our children had the greatest success in the arena, but once we were here things changed. The world was empty, and the elders felt it should be filled quickly. Allowing the children to fight would slow our expansion. Using baratti to fight in their place allowed them to expand more quickly. Naturally it was considered unfair for Illeniel children to fight against baratti, so we withdrew completely.”
So her grove willingly gave up their ability to expand simply because they felt that slavery was wrong.
“Did the Illeniels gain shuthsi when I was fighting in the arena?” he asked, suddenly curious.
She nodded, “Yes, for the first time since the system was started. But the elders were not pleased, for they felt that I brought shame upon our grove by participating in the cruelty.”
“How many elders are there?”
“I do not know,” she replied, furrowing her brow. After a minute she added, “The number is somewhere near twenty-five-thousand—for the Illeniel Grove.”
Daniel was astounded, for he had seen no more than a few hundred She’Har with Lyralliantha’s coloration. “How can there be so many?”
She gestured, extending her arm to point at the nearest tree and then sweeping it slowly around to indicate all of them. “Can you count them all?”
He knew that they considered the trees to be their adult form, but since they couldn’t talk, Daniel had assumed they were passive regarding the daily doings of the Illeniel Grove. “The trees? Those are your elders? But they can’t talk,” he stated, somewhat confused.
Her lips quirked into a half smile, “They talk to us, Tyrion, and they speak to each other. They decide all the important matters. Can’t you feel their presence?”
He had often felt as though the trees were watching him, but he had just assumed it was the paranoia produced from his years living in Ellentrea. “I feel something,” he told her, closing his eyes. The aythar the trees held was ponderous and massive, but it moved slowly. It gave the impression of awareness without the quick movement he associated with sentient minds. Beneath it all he could feel the rhythmic beat of a deeper existence. “I can feel the trees, but they move too slow to be awake—and there’s something else, like a heartbeat.”
“They move slowly, yes, but they are awake. Their conversations take a long time. The lore-wardens handle matters that require immediate action. I am not certain what this heartbeat you speak of is, however,” she answered.
“What is a lore-warden, exactly?” asked Daniel, putting aside the question of the heartbeat. He had heard Thillmarius refer to the title once before, but he didn’t really know what it meant.
“As you know, we are created with the knowledge we require already within us, but there is more. Each tree will produce a fruit we call the ‘loshti’. The loshti is a repository of knowledge. It contains all the memories and wisdom that the tree has gained, both during its childhood and during its adulthood. The child who eats the loshti is known as a lore-warden, and depending upon the tree who gave them the loshti, their knowledge may stretch back over many generations.”
“Do all of you become lore-wardens before becoming trees?”
“No,” Lyralliantha said, shaking her head. “When we came here there were fewer than twenty Illeniel lore-wardens, and the number of lore-wardens for the other groves was even smaller. After that the groves expanded rapidly, so most of the new adults were from new seeds, children who had never been given the loshti. Now our growth is limited to replacement when one of the great trees dies.”
“So most of the loshti now come from trees who don’t have a long history,” said Daniel.
“Exactly, and our elders live long lives. They do not die of age, and we are able to manage any disease that might occur,” she added.
“If all the usable land is occupied, and the elders don’t die, how do the young find a place to become an adult?” wondered Daniel.
“Since the land was filled, over five thousand years ago, there have been only thirty-three elder deaths. A few were from terrible windstorms, but most were caused by an upheaval of the earth. The children today will have to wait a long time.” Lyralliantha’s face never changed as she spoke, and even her aura was still. As usual her emotions were as placid as her exterior indicated.
“How long do you live before…,” Daniel stopped, thinking the question might be a touchy one.
Lyralliantha gazed calmly at him, “Before what?”
Her serene expression made up his mind for him. It would be more unusual if he found a topic that did upset her. He went on, “Before you die? If you don’t get a chance to become an adult, will you grow old?”
“The seed within helps to maintain our animal bodies,” she replied. “We do not age as a human would. Most of the children you have met are already hundreds of years in age.
His parents had taught him that it was a bad question to ask, but Daniel was struck by the strangeness of his situation. Could she be that old? She looks no older than me. His features twitched, but he kept his lips closed. He opened his mouth again but stopped, not knowing how to proceed.
“You wish to know my age?” she queried, granting him another half-smile.
He nodded.
“I am nine now.”
His brows knotted in consternation. That would make her around four when I first met her. What the hell?
“I was created to replace one lost in an accident. We regulate the number of our children as carefully as we do the number of our adults,” she said, misunderstanding his question.
“You certainly don’t look nine,” he finally said, unable to contain his amazement.
“I’ve told you before, we are born with all the knowledge and abilities we will require. That includes our bodies, we are full formed when the mother trees release us,” she explained. Then she added, “Before you ask, yes, I am the youngest at present. Among the Illeniels there are no children currently younger than at least a century. I am not sure about the other groves.”
I came to the forest to die, and instead I ran into the youngest member of an impossibly old race. She was probably the only one young enough to make the mistake of taking a wild human as a ‘pet’. Someone else might have thought themselves lucky, but to Daniel it seemed like the preamble to an unfortunate destiny. Instead he remembered the loneliness he had suffered, punctuated by Thillmarius’ terrible punishments. If I had known what lay before me, I would have forced her to kill me then.