Koteran II

“Naomi, bring some of that wood over here!”

“You got it!” I scooped a pile of rough-hewn planks into my arms and hurried over to Kit-na, who was halfway through making the flooring of a platform.

Eri-le called “Get Seu-li while you’re at it, I’ve got to check the size for her costume!”

Seu-li was over with Jayla and the other teenagers, behind the wagons. That fifteen-year-old blonde bounced up and down on the balls of her feet like she had springs in her legs, and then gathered that spring power into a high jump and turned a front flip.

Jayla clapped. “Nice!”

“Hey Jayla,” Iro-de said. “Watch this.” He leaned backwards and kicked up, flipping into a neat back handspring; and continued doing them, until Seu-li started calling out “Six! Seven! Eight! Nine! Te—”

“Seu-li, your aunt wants you.” I pointed over to where Eri-le was.

“Aww.”

Iro-de turned a few more flips, fell over, and said abruptly, “I’m gonna go get water.” He wandered off. The two other teenagers who’d been there stood a little off to the side and began a handspring contest with each other.

“You good?” I asked Jayla.

“I mean, I’m a little embarrassed,” Jayla said. “I don’t know how to do any flips.”

“You’re a minor actor in the Man play, right? Have you gone over your role?”

“I have, yeah. But I don’t know how I’ll do in front of a crowd. I’ve never done anything like that before, but…” She gave me a shy smile. “I’m kind of excited?”

“Naomi!”

I pulled myself up on the edge of the wagon to see who was calling me. “Yeah?”

“Can you write some posters?” May-ri asked.

I grinned. “Sure!”

I took the paper and brush she passed me and dashed out a title in the Ry’ke script. My handwriting was fast and neat; it had been in English too, and I was happy about it as someone who wrote for a living. It turned out, the Ry’ke didn’t use a logographic system (like Chinese) or a true alphabet, but rather an impure abjad (like Arabic) with symbols for consonants, of which they had about 30, and initial As and Es. So my main character’s name, Ky’sy’ana, was written something like K-S-AN. The Koteran had a different language where vowels were more key to meaning, so they made up their own vowels; but I was writing this in Ry’ke’si, the Ry’ke language (May-ri’d been kind enough to teach me both).

KOTERAN IN TOWN / SHOWCASE TODAY AT 10 HOUR IN THE WEST SQUARE / 3 PLAYS – “Lion and the Fawn” “The Farmhouse Robber” “The Moon Princess” / ACROBATICS, COMEDY, TRAGEDY, & GODLY MAJESTY / 2 COPPER OR EQUIVALENT WORTH ITEM ENTRY FEE

K-T-R-K Y L-Th / LL NhY 10S Y Th-CV.QPh / 3KE – ~SDh A JN~ ~eLT QV~ ~ER K-G~ / VPD A ThD A ARD A E-KK / 2Nh W YHY F-HY

I copied those same lines onto twelve more posters and doodled lions and farmhouses and moons around them while a commotion of people moved around me. When I finished I said “I’ll go around and put these up.”

Kit-na made an okay gesture, absorbed in rigging up one of the moving elements of the stage.

We were in another segregated town in Asania near the northeastern border. The west square was in between neighborhoods and allowed people of any nationality or species; though Kit-na had drawn a neat line down it in chalk and separated the audience areas, to Jayla’s unhappiness. He explained it as “we’ve got to make money and no one will want to come if they have to mingle with people they don’t like”. In any case, once he decided something, it wasn’t to be argued with.

I walked around that area, hammering posters into posts, and went into the south side for a few minutes to do the same, ignoring the skeptical gazes of the Asan residents. At the north side, I asked a Ry’ke soldier standing guard if she would put some up for me, since I didn’t have a travel pass.

“Sure!” she said. “I really like those plays. They’re some of the most impressive artwork I’ve seen. Hey, would your people ever consider setting up a permanent place where anyone can see a show anytime?”

Why do you think the Koteran need to make a living off of public display, anyway? “If we can get the land,” I said politely. They can’t.

“Or set up in a proper theater? There’s one in Ry’sau’th down that way.”

“Well, if the theater would let us, ma’am.”

“You should ask! Anyway, can I invite my whole company to this?”

“Like a battalion? Of course, we really appreciate your support.” I bowed slightly to her.

Ten hour wasn’t actually late; it was calculated based off of sunrise and was about four-thirty in the afternoon. For the rest of the morning, we set up; had lunch; got back to work; and then I took a nap in the shade and woke up to Jayla shaking me awake.

“Morning. Did you rest?”

She shrugged. “Not really.”

“You should rest.” I scrutinized her for eyebags but given that her skin was covered in a thin layer of fur, I couldn’t see any actual discoloration.

She swayed a little as she stood. “I don’t really…sleep well, lately. I’m fine.”

“Okay. Tonight, I’ll see what I can do to help you out.”

“Jayla, get backstage!” May-ri called. “Naomi, you want to watch?”

“Sure, that would be awesome!”

I jumped off the stage and went to one of the sections Kit-na had drawn out, which was starting to fill up with Genatyi, the Koteran who weren’t involved in the performance, and—hey—a tall Alteran. So that was what they looked like. The other sections were gradually beginning to fill as well, though the company of soldiers wasn’t here yet (if that guard had really come through). Eri-le, who’d gone to go collect change, flashed me a grin and shook a handful of coppers.

A rhythmic drumming started up behind a paper screen. Slow at first, it gradually increased in pace. The crowd quieted, waiting in excitement.

Then, the steady note of a flute.