Avishraa Reloaded

After a number of vigils of travel, the books on Avishraa had finally been carried far enough away from Hyd'natt's former tribemates that they were unlikely to follow further. Hyd'natt had taken the opportunity to adjourn from her role as guide, but for a time, Evrith, who reported that Ynudh was still following, continued to return to Avishraa to maintain her own watch.

When they reached the bottom of the valley that peaked at the pass at Barith's Gate, however, Hyd'natt - who, possibly still uncomfortable being around takmar, seemed to take comfort in asserting herself around them - had, rather unexpectedly, commanded her as a healer to take a break. The pace of travel had clearly been wearing on Evrith, and so, in what was still very broken Imperial, Hyd'natt had said, “Way up easy to see! You eat! You sleep!” Evidently this had been forceful enough to convince Evrith to comply.

But it was felt that the overall pace of things on Avishraa should be kept moving, so others began traveling with the books again. And so it was that, while Evrith lay sprawled on the high rock ledge in the sun, extremely asleep, Tikke came looking for An-uxhwi to take a turn on Avishraa with him.

“Evrith will get rest here,” he said reasonably, carrying some furs that had been crudely adapted into garments. “And you can stretch legs for a time. Maybe not wings, because air is too cold. But it good to get out, to see things.”

An-uxhwi rose, making a motion of acknowledgement. “Where are we now?” he asked, knowing that he would get his bearing eventually once he returned to the books, but that it was remarkably hard to know which way to go if you'd skipped half of the journey intermittently, and their situation compelled them not to make a mistake like that. A few words of guidance would go a long way to prevent it.

Tikke handed him the furs. “It a long valley,” he replied. “High mountains on both sides, a river at bottom. Many giants live in villages along the water, so we must travel higher up along it; slow going. But it hard to get lost; lots of ways one cannot go.”

When they had made the disconcerting journey between the worlds and reemerged on Avishraa, it was easy to see what Tikke had meant. The valley was not narrow, but its walls - one towering immediately above them, the other looming in the distance across the valley floor - were obvious, and the floor itself sloped gently upward, disappearing into a blue mist in the distance, where the mountains towered ever higher.

The Burning Eye must have opened at some point while he'd been on the other world; it must have still been behind the mountains to the left as they looked upstream, for the sky was brighter there, but despite the valley being in shadow, the sky was the sky of morning, though a deeper, almost violet, blue than he had ever seen. And it was cold - he was familiar with the cold of the desert night, raw and arid, but this was different; a more humid chill, and one unrelieved by the heat stored by the desert sands.

Tikke huddled into his furs, and rummaged around in the hollow of a nearby tree, where the pack containing the book had been stashed. “Father always say that the lands of the giants are hot with steam,” he muttered, “but they must still be far away - it damn cold here.” As he spoke, his breath hung visible in the air, something An-uxhwi had never seen before; the desert drank up the moisture from breath, day or night.

An-uxhwi bunched the furs around himself once back in Avishraa, grimacing at how the cold was biting at all edges of his body. His antennae curled down to protect themselves, giving him a distressed, fearful-looking scowl that didn't reflect his mood. He drew a fold of the fur over his head like a hood, hoping it would stay at that. “What awful weather,” he commented the obvious to get it out of his system. “But it is only fair I suffer it, too, it hardly looks like it will be different soon.” Said, he glanced toward the bluish haze in the distance. Then his attention returned to Tikke. “Shall I carry them this round?” It was intoned as a friendly offer, but his facial expression turned it into an oddly submissive one.

Tikke had covered his antennae as well. He shrugged and handed the pack to An-uxhwi. “If you like.”

He gazed down, with a certain amount of longing, at the valley below them. The river sparkled amidst dense trees, and clusters of homes could be seen. It certainly looked warmer than it was up here. “At least we get a good view,” he felt moved to say, as if it made things any better, and then started moving with An-uxhwi along the craggy slopes.

Even with the makeshift hood mashing down his antennae, it was clear that he had something on his mind, and that he was struggling with how to introduce it; given that Tikke rarely felt compelled to choose his words with care, this was a highly unusual circumstance. At last, he cleared his throat and ventured, “It seem that you and Evrith quite close, this past while.” His tone was the deliberately mild one people tended to use when bringing up a topic they suspected would be sensitive.

An-uxhwi would have smiled mildly if the weather had allowed. “I do owe her my life,” he reminded, his tone pleasant as he took the bundle of books and slipped the strap that held them around his shoulders.

“This true,” Tikke replied, a bit more relaxed but still carefully, “but life-debts do not often call for cuddling.”

Someone had been bound to notice at some point. Since their feelings had been brought out into the open between them, Evrith certainly had more prone to remain in physical contact when they were both present. However much she worried she might be about how the others might view an interspecies romance, this had evidently not translated into any urge to hide it.

“Don't worry, it's not contagious,” An-uxhwi said in friendly humour, beginning to trudge along the route, loosely cradling the books with his arms in addition to them hanging from his shoulders, mostly to keep them from swaying and occasionally bumping against his body as he moved.

Tikke's expression, such as was visible, betrayed something between amusement and frustration. Encouraged by An-uxhwi's mood, he decided to be a bit more direct. “I do not object to love,” he said, “and it not rare for mens to like their womens tall; but not often giant-tall, even if small-giant-tall. One see a rare circumstance such as this, and it hard not to wonder why.”

“And I am not offended that you find Evrith disconcertingly unattractive,” An-uxhwi rounded off Tikke's comment. “And I can assure you, no one will try to make you cuddle her. As I said, it's not contagious.”

“I not worried about contagiousness,” Tikke declared. “I just curious, as one is curious of any thing seen for first time. One never hear of a man of the People loving a woman-giant. …Or, too, a woman of the People loving a man-giant.”

“Ah,” An-uxhwi said with the voice of a smile. “I don't think I can explain,” he said, but proceeded to try something much like it regardless. “I wouldn't be here at all without her doing. And she is very alone, and as I have been walking this path with her, I have been alone for a longer time, too, before we met you, before we met Shyriath. More, I have seen some of her thoughts and she has seen some of mine and we are not displeased with each other for having seen them. Indeed, I admire her goals and the nobility with which she pursues them, though I wish she were less punishing to herself. But I don't think any of that answers your confusion, my friend, and I don't think anything I could say truly could resolve it. It is the nature of love to make itself mysterious to all but the one who feels it.”

Tikke considered this, and felt he had to concede the point. “I suppose so. It is so with many other loves I have seen; to expect different here would expect too much. Unitti love Hyd'natt. I have known Hyd'natt long, and I understand the admiration Unitti have, but not the…” He paused, searching for the right word, and settled for, “the attachment.”

He paused, then shrugged and added, “But then, Hyd'natt once say to me that I would make good lover but bad husband.” Beneath the furs, his antennae took on one of the most crooked grins An-uxhwi had ever seen. “A smart lady, her.”

An-uxhwi nodded, sharing in the amusement. “I wonder what anyone would have to say about me in that regard. I probably make a bad husband and a bad lover,” he mused with sarcastic pride.

“Hah!” Tikke barked. “I not speculate on the lover. But you like Unitti - you seem responsible, you seem faithful, you probably do good at husband-things.”

As they had been walking, clouds had been blowing in, high above, like glittering mists. Both xtauh began to feel the occasional cold pinpricks on the tips of their muzzles, where they protruded out from under their hoods; like very tiny droplets of very cold rain, perhaps. There was no sign of it in the air, but perhaps a shower was coming.

“You know, of course,” Tikke said seriously, squinting up into the sky, “that there may be trouble. Others will not like to see you together. The tiny giant,” he added, using the nickname he reserved for Shyriath when the latter was irritating him, “I think he too know. He seem… no anger, no disgust, but upset.”