Avishraa Reloaded

Ta'skaaru had to sleep again, and find several more lizards to eat, before they came across any sign of civilization.

The passage she had chosen had gone narrower and more crooked, and at several points the Orb's permeability had actually been an asset, since it meant it could be maneuvered partly through a wall if there was no room to spare. (Ehiphem's mental block, by contrast, apparently required to carefully avoid any action that might scrape it off her back, resulting in some annoying contortions.)

It was immediately after negotiating one of these difficult spots that Ehiphem quietly announced, ~There appear to be people up ahead.~

It had been much more surprising to Ta'skaaru that they had encountered no people so far, the place barren in a way comparable at most to Dusk back home (which she'd always internalised as simply being her personal lair, which this place obviously was not) - so the abrupt announcement only yielded a flat ~What kind of people?~ subvocalisation from Ehiphem's host.

She didn't even have the good sense to slow down or speed up. She had expected this - just maybe a lot sooner.

Ehiphem scanned the minds ahead - still a bit distant yet, but there were enough of them to make out some details. ~They are moving along the same path, either one way or another. Many are bored, or tired, or conversing with each other. We must assume that this passage is making toward some kind of well-traveled path or road.~

~Not the sort I should be concerned about encountering?~ she asked, remembering his tale about the Vongassitil and other dangers. The notion of reaching anywhere well-travelled was welcome to her, though - perhaps she could finally eat something other than those tasteless lizards, if she was to be trapped here for several days, as the world had thus far insisted she do.

Ehiphem gave the mental equivalent of a shrug. ~We will see more as we get closer. We are under the impression, however, that they are mostly concerned with their own business. Newcomers to the Embrace are frequent enough that the appearance of an unfamiliar species is unlikely to cause comment; there are thousands of peoples of many kinds that live here, and no one knows them all.~

Ehiphem turned its regard on the Orb. ~That may get some attention; but as we currently have no way to obscure it from view, that is an unavoidable risk.~

Ta'skaaru glanced down at the Orb quite automatically, partly to be Ehiphem's eyes given from Ehiphem's point of view it was obscured by her body, partly out of her own natural reflex. ~Are people superstitious about these?~ she asked, more conversationally than sceptically or with concern.

Ehiphem seemed slightly amused. ~Of an object that, when it becomes active, might transport anyone nearby to another world? One could make an argument that they would be quite right to be superstitious. Our own people, it is told, began our existence in the Embrace; but for most of them, they or their ancestors were brought here by Orbs.

~Some will venerate them. Some will fear them. Some will probably covet them.~

That did make her pause in her stride, very mildly irritated at that anyone would deny her what she considered her right - clinging to what might be her only way back - but nonetheless willing to accommodate. ~How nearby should I understand 'nearby' to be? Is there a polite distance I could keep by default, to soothe the minds of those who might fear them?~

~We aren't really sure,~ Ehiphem replied. ~But there are legends, at least, of whole villages being transplanted by Orbs. We do not know whether they are true, but the ones who told the stories did not seem to think them unlikely. …you might be able to calm others, at least, by explaining that you were the only one moved. Was there anyone else that should have been brought with you, if the radius had been large?~

A fresh bout of frustration rippled through Ta'skaaru's emotional landscape, obvious to her passenger. ~…no, probably not,~ she sighed inwardly. ~Unless there was a pilgrim nearby at the time, which, while frequent enough, I couldn't swear. I am– I was, rather, the only permanent inhabitant of Dusk, which should soothe exactly no one.~

~Ah.~ Ehiphem considered this, as they began to hear the faint sounds of voices and wheels rolling on stone from up ahead. ~Perhaps just try to emphasize that you were brought alone. With luck, most might not question it.~

It considered, for the first time, what would happen if it were still attached to Ta'skaaru if and when the Orb when off again. It doubted it would get left behind.

~Out of curosity,~ it hazarded, ~Are there many deep pools of water in the world you came from? With many living things in them?~

Again she paused. ~…there–~ Flustered. ~No. No, nothing like that. We have plenty of water, but most of it is in Moon, which… it's more like slow underground rivers where it gets deep, a constant current. The… only deep surface lake is off-limits.~

Her emotions radiated mild but clear distress. Evidently there was something about the 'deep surface lake' that was at least as upsetting to her as the concept of Vongassitil warlocks was to Ehiphem.

~Ah.~ Ehiphem decided whether to ask about this, but decided that now was not the time. ~We were asking in the event that we were taken back to your world with you. A slow river would work just as well - so long as there were living or growing things in and around it.~

Unlike Ehiphem, Ta'skaaru had assumed that unless Ehiphem chose to part ways with her before she managed to activate the Orb, it would be drawn into her world with her and she would be stuck with it even back home. The surprise, then, was in that Ehiphem was expressing interest at settling down somewhere that was not Ta'skaaru's spine.

The vocalisation 'um' did not have any one particular mental correspondence, but her polite surprise was clear to her passenger regardless. ~…sure,~ she thought. ~I'm sure we could find a nice spot for you in Moon, if it came to that.~

Said, she thawed back out of her temporary paralysis and resumed hiking toward the sounds of civilisation.

~You should not be surprised,~ Ehiphem commented mildly. ~We hope to see much, in this world or in yours; but in either case, we have no intention of remaining permanently attached to you. That would be pushing the bounds of civility. We prefer to think of ourselves as a reasonable colony.~

The sound from up ahead grew louder, and then Ta'skaaru came across a very narrow crack in the passage; it would require some effort to wriggle through. But from the other side of it, there was brighter light, and more noise; much of it echoes, but still among it the unmistakable sound of people speaking in a strange tongue, and the sound of rolling carts.

There were some occasions when having wings was an inconvenience - now was one of them, making it tricky to navigate through the crack, especially while not losing the Orb to the perils of a poorly angled grip.

But it was the spoken tongue that gave Ta'skaaru the biggest pause. Ehiphem had no trouble at all communicating with her, but it was clear quite suddenly that this was simply owed to the psychic circumstances. Any conversation she hoped to hold with the natives would probably not go through her vocal chords for a while, but through gestures and body language.

…perhaps not even through body language, if the creatures she was about to encounter were from a wildly different culture or body plan.

Grimacing, she worked her way through the gap, paying special attention to her Orb in the process.

Ta'skaaru found herself in a small bay in the wall of a much larger tunnel than the ones she'd already been in; though the walls and ceiling were only roughly finished, they bore the marks of tools, of picks and chisels. Judging by the even narrower crack in the opposite wall, the path she'd been following had been neatly bisected by this one at some time in the past.

It had evidently been made specifically as a road; the floor had been far more carefully levelled. The pairs of ruts worn into the stone suggested that it had been a road for a very, very long time.The tunnel was lit by brightly-glowing crystals set in metal brackets, spaced along the walls.

One of the things it illuminated, only a few tens of meters away, was a cart, a sort of metal framework on wheels with its sides filled in by slats of something hard and organic-looking. It was hitched behind a large, multilegged creature like an enormous caterpillar, covered in patterns of green and gray; it had come to a stop upon Ta'skaaru's emergence, and curiously waggled a large selection of eyestalks at her.

Perched on a seat at the front of a cart was what was presumably the driver, since it held the reins and some kind of prod. It was covered in a cloak, but the thing had a head covered in thick gray feathers, a beak, and wide, bulging eyes; given the way it was staring at her, it might have merely been surprised, but it was hard to escape the impression that its eyes always bulged like that.

The driver clicked its beak at her, then glanced at her Orb, and blinked. It seemed to hesitate; but then the sound of an annoyed shout came from somewhere behind the cart, and the driver glanced over its shoulder and then spurred its steed into motion. The cart began rattling past, the driver casting anxious looks at the Orb all the while. Following it was a vehicle with a similar sort of construction and a similar mount, but a much less utilitarian appearance; while the other cart had clearly been hauling some kind of freight, this one seemed to be more friendly to passengers, a number of whom could be seen sitting or lying in the back. The driver of this one was rather smaller than Ta'skaaru herself, and resembled a cluster of jointed, chitinous legs; in its bowl-shaped seat, it looked like a serving dish of some alien cuisine.

The thing pulled its cart to a stop nearby and seemed to regard her; it then delicately hoisted itself up on its legs and turned its underside toward her, where there was an orifice surrounded by an unpleasant array of mandibles; evidently it was its mouth, since all the pieces began chittering and rubbing together to produce what were, quite definitely, words, something like “Chuwekk da inaw gai”.

Ehiphem commented, “Ve has asked if you require assistance.”