A Decision for the Brightest

Sari did her best to avoid Trick for the next few days. The fact that he didn’t seem to be looking for her either gave her very, very mixed feelings. After a couple of days Gemma reported that he had been spending most of his time either sparring with Chestin at the training grounds or in the hall of records, learning to read. As things to do they both made sense. Chestin was the best trainer in the lensmen and Trick had mentioned wanting training. Likewise, reading was handy when you didn’t have a recorder to take down your speech or read it back to you.

It was good that Trick was spending time accomplishing the things he wanted to do.

The problem was, after their meeting on the walls during zenith watch, Sari wasn’t sure exactly what it was she wanted him to do anymore. Complicating matters further was the fact that everyone seemed to know what had happened. Mother constrained herself to asking oblique questions about what she’d been up to on zenith watch and father largely ignored the topic. Gemma asked her about it incessantly.

But the worst part was the way everyone else in Harbek, hundreds and hundreds of people who usually made it a point to ignore her, suddenly felt like they had their eyes on her at all times. She’d always been ambivalent about the way people ignored her. Now she definitely wished they’d go back to doing just that.

Fortunately the lumi was still high in the wells and harvesters continued to make frequent trips to the fields around Harbek to bring it in. The recent starsight attack had drained the town’s reserves of crimson lumi badly. So Sari spent a lot of time in hot, humid canyons, swapping out reservoir crystals and hauling harvests back to town. It wasn’t much different than life before zenith, except Gemma was more annoying.

Things remained much the same for the next quarter of an arc. In fact, Sari had no idea things were about to make a drastic change until she returned from her harvesting trip at the end of the eighth watch after zenith. She came into her parent’s home to find her father sitting with a guest. For a brief second, as she caught sight of a man seated with his back to her in one of the front room’s chairs, she felt a rush of excitement.

Then she realized his hair was a dark brown and he was dressed in the long jacket and double sleeves of a lensman. He turned to look at her and she recognized Chestin. Her father motioned for her to come in and take a seat on the padded bench next to him. As she did she studied the pair of men in an attempt to discern what they’d been talking about before she arrived.

Although, according to Bertran, it was probably just her father speaking. Chestin wasn’t in the habit.

“Are Gemma and Bertran well?” Cethrik asked.

“As well as ever.” She straightened the pleats in her skirt as she got comfortable then suddenly got conscious of the way her long fingers stood out against her black dress. She slipped her hands under the edges of her skirt to hide them from view. “Welcome, Lensman Chestin. What brings you here, today? I believe this is the first time we’ve had the pleasure of your company.”

“I am planning to brave the Steel Perilous.” Chestin pulled out a sturdy piece of canvas and unrolled it on the table between them. Within it was a carefully drawn map full of notes on distances and times that seemed to depict a massive settlement in an unusually deep valley. If no one had told her it was the Steel Perilous she would have thought it was a map of Caspar City. “In order to survive the journey I will require companions. I believe the brightest in Harbek would be of particular use to the expedition, if you are willing to come, so I’ve come to ask. Do you wish to go?”

“Me?” She looked up from the map, confused. “I’ve been to the Steel Perilous once and you already know how that went. Do you really think I have something unique to offer on another trip?”

Bertran looked away from her, suddenly looking very uncomfortable, and her father took up the thread of the conversation. “I’ve mentioned that Trick has been visiting the hall of records the past few watches, haven’t I?” When Sari nodded he went on. “He has spent part of his time there recording his memories of the tenth sphere and he has mentioned a craft called ‘genetics’ which he believes causes the traits of the brightest to run in families.”

“We’ve known that for centuries, father.” Sari tugged absently at her braid, saying, “You told me yourself this hair and skin goes back further than your great grandfather.”

“That’s true. What we didn’t know is that the craft of genetics allows these features to be detected by a structure.” Cethvik held up his channeling glove and touched the guiding ring. “We know that the Steel Perilous has many, many doors that are locked to certain guide rings, for whatever reason. There are also places down there which I now believe may require the correct genetics to use. Genetics like yours.”

“That’s quite a leap to make, father.”

Chestin pulled a cloth wrapped bundle out of a bag on the floor, set it on the table and unwrapped it. Within was a piece of cloth about as wide as his forearm was long. On it was a painting of two women and one man surrounding a crystal reservoir almost as large as the smaller of the two women. Their hands stretched towards each other but didn’t touch. She realized that the three people were arranged around the crystal with the same proportions as a channeling glove’s rings around the palm of a hand. “I found this years ago, with Vara, my brother and Franz.”

Sari carefully picked it up and turned it over in her hands, watching for the jagged edges where it had been half cut, half torn free from the walls of the Steel Perilous. As she looked at it a strange sense of foreboding came over her. “Did this come from the same place mother lost her ear?”

“Yes,” Chestin said. “Franz told us he’d been there once before, with Tasha and the others.”

She delicately set it back on the table and sat back, working through it all in her mind. “What are you trying to do, going back there, Chestin?”

“I want to know, Sari.” Chestin folded his hands on his stomach and leaned back in his chair, his eyes staring away into nothing. “Three people died there. Franz disappeared there. Was there a reason for it, or was it all bad luck? I want to know.”

Father rested his hand on hers, making Sari realize she was squeezing them together until the knuckles turned white. “Talk to your mother,” Cethvik said. “She can help you make up your mind. And talk to Trick. He’ll probably have to go along, too, although he has a good reason to do it so that’s probably not a concern. Just remember, it’s ultimately your decision. Whatever you want to do, I’ll make sure you get the chance to do it.”

“All right, father. I’ll think about it.”

As she drifted to sleep later that watch visions of mechanical monsters, bright haired children and her mother and Franz chased each other through her dreams. When she woke up she had no idea what she intended to do.