D. MacHale - Black Water

Kasha turned away, annoyed. She didn’t like being stood up to by a gar.

I asked Boon, “Why didn’t you tell me Seegen was missing?”

“I didn’t know,” Boon said defensively. “Last I saw him he was leaving Leeandra with Yorn.”

“Yorn? Who’s Yorn?”

“Seegen’s acolyte. Do you think they’re okay?”

“How should I know? I’m new here, remember?”

“Right,” Boon corrected himself. “Sorry.”

Before leaving the flume I grabbed another pair of raggy shoes off the clothing pile. I took my sweet time tying them on, making Kasha and Boon wait. Kasha didn’t look happy about it and that was okay by me. Hey, maybe I was being petty, but it was the only chance I had to have a little bit of control. Pathetic, I know, but I was floundering. When we got outside I saw that the zenzen horse was long gone, so we climbed up through the tree and walked the sky bridges back to Leeandra.

“When was the last time you saw your father?” I asked Kasha as we walked.

“Three days ago,” she answered coldly.

“What makes you think he’s missing?”

“Because we were supposed to meet this morning, after I got back from the forage,” she said. “He never showed up. That’s not like him.”

Kasha’s answers were clipped. I got the feeling she didn’t like being questioned but hey, tough. This was important.

“What’s a forage?” I asked her.

“It’s what I do.”

“Me too,” Boon added with a little more enthusiasm. “We travel in packs on the jungle floor to hunt or gather fruit or chop trees for building materials or anything else that’s needed in Leeandra. It’s a dangerous job, and very important.”

I asked Kasha, “How much do you know about the Travelers?”

It was one question too many. Kasha stopped short and turned to me, growling. I could see the anger in her eyes. “I’ll tell you what I know, gar.” She spat out the word “gar” like it was a bad taste in her mouth. “My father was a visionary who helped build cities. Now he’s become a silly old klee spinning fantasy stories of time-traveling animals battling an evil gar. He says it’s all very dangerous. You want to see danger? Come on a forage. I’d like to see you stand up to a rampaging tang. Then you can tell me you’re more afraid of a gar named Saint Dane.”

She growled at me, her anger barely contained. I figured it would be a bad idea to argue, seeing as she’d probably bite my head off. Literally. I kept my voice totally calm and said, “If it’s all a fantasy, how do you explain me?”

This threw her. She turned away, saying, “You’re a freak. When we find my father, I’ll prove it to him.”

She continued walking. Boon shrugged and followed. We were getting off to a bad start. I didn’t know what to make of Kasha. If something tragic happened to Seegen, she’d be the Traveler from Eelong. I didn’t look forward to that. On top of that, she’d hold me responsible. I looked evenlessforward to that. All I could hope was that Seegen would turn up okay, and Kasha would only be a minor pain.

I really, really hoped that we’d find Seegen back in Leeandra.

Bythe time we reached the portal into Leeandra, the sunbelt had dropped below the horizon. Night had settled on Eelong. I looked up through the thicktree canopy and saw stars. Fireflies were everywhere, just like on Second Earth. The small flying bugs would light up for a few seconds, then go dark. But unlike the boring old fireflies on Second Earth, these lit up with every color you could imagine. There were reds and greens and purples and blues, and yes, even some yellows like at home. It was stunning. As I gazed out to admire the light show, Boon stepped in front of me and gave me a sheepish look. I knew where this was going. I put my hands together and held them out.

“Thanks, Pendragon,” he said gratefully as he slipped another restraining leash around my wrists. As horrible as this was, I knew I was safer this way. Kasha barely stopped long enough for me to be hooked up. As we followed her into the city, she made a point of staying in front of us. There was no way she was going to be seen walking with a gar. We followed her across several sky bridges and took a few elevators until we reached our destination…Kasha’s home.

She lived inside a huge hollow tree, but unlike the others I had been in, this home had partitions that separated the space into rooms. We first stepped into the largest room that had a table and chairs for meals, low wooden benches for furniture, and even sculptures hanging on the walls that were made from twisted branches. Unbelievable. This cat had artwork! An archway led out onto a balcony where there was a large stone oven for cooking. Kasha didn’t give me a tour of the rest. I think she hated the fact that I was there at all. Maybe she was afraid I’d pee on the furniture or something.

“Gars sleep in the pen out back,” she said coldly.

“He’s not an ordinary gar,” Boon complained. “You can’t make him-“

“Yes, I can!” Kasha snapped. “Unless he wants to sleep on the jungle floor with the tangs, he’ll sleep in the gar pen.”

“No!” Boon insisted. Kasha shot him an angry look, as if she weren’t used to being disagreed with. Boon backed down, but not by much. “I’m sorry, Kasha,” he continued sheepishly. “You may not agree with your father, but Pendragon is a Traveler. He should be treated with respect. It’s what Seegen would want.”

Kasha stood staring at me. She really hated to be civilized to an uncivilized gar.

“Fine,” she finally said. “Prepare a meal, Boon. I’m going to clean up.” She left for another room, leaving Boon and me alone.

“C’mon,” Boon said. “I’ll make something.”

He took off my restraints and led me into the kitchen, where he made dinner. I’d never eaten cat food before, though I didn’t think he’d be cracking open a can of Friskies. On the other hand, I was so hungry I was pretty sure I’d eat anything, no matter how gross it was. He reached into a square container on the floor that was some kind of refrigerator. He pulled out three birds that looked pretty much like chickens, all cleaned and dressed as if they came right from the grocery store.

“You eat meat, right?” he asked.

“Depends,” I answered.

“On what?”

“On if you’re going to cook it or not.” I’m happy to report that Boon laughed at that.

“Of course I’m going to cook it!” he said. “We’re not animals.”

Yeah. Right.

Boon proceeded to cook the chickens, or whatever they were called there, on a rotisserie like at Garden Poultry on the Ave. There was a bed of hot coals beneath that cooked the birds slowly, all the way around. When the smell of the cooking birds hit my nose, my mouth started to water. Man, bar-bequed chicken. I couldn’t wait. Too bad I couldn’t have some fries to go with it. While the birds cooked, I took the chance to grill Boon about Kasha…no pun intended.

“Why is she so angry?” I asked.

“She loves her father,” Boon explained. “He’s a hero. He helped build Leeandra from nothing, fighting off the tangs every inch of the way. Everything she learned, she learned from Seegen. So when he started talking about Travelers and intelligent gars and fluming to different territories, her whole image of him fell apart. In her eyes he had lost his mind. Then he told her that when he died, she would take his place. Well, that really set her off. She won’t even talk to him about it. The thing is, Kasha is great. She’s brave and caring and would do anything to help a friend. But she’s also pretty stubborn. If something doesn’t fit her idea of the way things should be, it’s hard to change her mind.”