Under a Starless Sky

Chapter 52

Shen sat on the floor next to the hearth. He was given a huge plate of food, more than he could eat,

and it was clear he was meant to eat first, before Arne and his family. He wanted to protest and give it

back, but that could have been seen as an insult. Arne had food on his plate. He would learn in time,

there was an order of service- guest first, children, elderly, those who had contributed to the meal or

process, slaves, then the host. Guest would have a meal delivered first, and friend of the guest would

also be served. As soon as guest ate the first bite and approved, food would be distributed accordingly.

This meal was slightly different, due to being off schedule. The children were given dried fruit for

snacks. They used stools for tables while sitting on the floor. Arne’s wife sat next to him, nursing. There

were other women in the house. Other men. Children, too. There were lots of questions put forth. There

was a Tarmorian present. She had served the food to Arne and Shen.

Torny sat near, holding a child for a friend who needed a break. “Is Loxy a true ghost, or a projection of

someone living remotely?”

“She is Bilocated?” Yaffa asked.

“I don’t think this is what we’re experiencing,” Jerica said. She was a light master, and Torny’s triad-

friend, maker of the rune a fifth above hers- and she had the gift of Bilocation. Her hair was read. She

was slender. Her hair was flame red. There was splattering of freckles as if someone had sloshed

excess paint from a brush straight into her face. Shen felt as if he had known in another life, but didn’t

place her in time, space, or dream. One eye was green the other blue. It was explained by her that

when she pushed a doppelganger, her eyes were both blue, and her origin form held both green- the

only distinction between them.

“We have heard grandmother speak of tree spirits for ages, but never seen anything like that tonight,”

Arne said. “Will your friends return?”

“Loxy is always with me,” Shen said.

“Even now?” Torny asked. “Is she hiding?”

TL came out of the shadows. All eyes were wide. She bowed to Aslog. “May I come into the light, and

sit near my husband?”

“Of course,” Aslog said.

‘Someone asked, can someone be married to a ghost?’ ‘Can you be married to an idea?’ was the reply.

TL sat next to Shen.

“Do you want food or drink?” this came from the servant girl. Her name was Bao.

“No, thank you,” TL said. “I do hope, Arne, that we have not caused too much trouble. It was right of

Shen to share this secret. It has been a burden to him. Ghost is really not the appropriate term for who

and what I am, but it’s close enough for now.”

“You must tell us your story on how you came to be together,” Aslog said.

“I am more interested in knowing your relationship with him. You called him husband?” Jerica asked.

“Does it matter? You are free to flirt with him, are you not?” TL said.

“He prefers ghosts, and old people who will be ghost soon enough,” Jerica said. “He may not see me.”

Shen choked. TL hit his back and freed it. “Thanks,” he managed.

“He sees you,” TL assured her. “He sees everyone.”

“He is your husband, or your slave?” Jerica asked.

“You make a distinction?” TL said.

“Slaves are property, and are protected, coveted. A person with sovereignty has more options in

bedding partners,” Jerica said.

“What does your husband say?” TL asked.

“Do you think when he is at sea I must be chaste? Do you think he doesn’t have relations with

foreigners abroad?” Jerica asked.

“You’re okay with that?” Shen asked.

“Men will do what men do. Women will do what women do. I love my husband, I want him happy. He is

always welcomed home,” Jerica said.

“May they always return,” the women said, in chorus.

“Husband and wife means relationship,” Jerica said. “A partnership, sharing wealth. Women govern the

property. Children belong to the community. Every milk breast feeds every child.”

“And every adult,” Tane said, toasting air.

“Hell’a better than goat milk, that’s for sure,’ Erico agreed.

“It takes every person, man and woman, to ensure the security of the child,” Arne said. “All people are

children. All people deserve to be held, hugged, and accepted with touch, affection. All people,

regardless of age, gender, or position, at any time can asked to be held. A person may decline, but only

if there is another willing to meet that need. Being intimate with grandmother has raised your esteem

with almost everyone here. I bet by morning, the whole island will want to know more.”

“And a lot of old, lonely ladies, will come knocking,” Erico said, getting laughter.

“I will expect you to help me out, brother,” Shen said to Erico. There was laughter as he coughed on his

milk. “Are there people that are not open to being generous?”

“Yes. Of course. Most people who have a limited ability to love or to fight, they align themselves with

someone they can tolerate,” Arne said. “They usually align themselves with people who would not

aggressively pursue affection. Slaves are granted protection from all advances, protected from battling

as a form of conflict resolution. Some stewards are better than others, just as some people are nicer

than others. Slaves don’t lose their voice. They are welcomed in the light and in the circle.”

“Boa,” Aslog said. “Tell the truth, have you been mistreated?”

“I have not,” Boa said. “I chose this.”

“Why?” Shen asked.

“I do not want to have sex with monsters,” Boa said. “These are the ugliest people I have ever met.

They are kind, I perform my duties, but that is it.”

“She came to us a free person,” Arne said. “It was to be an exchange. We would teach her about ship

making, she was to teach us to see in the dark.”

“Has she?” Shen asked.

“They are too stupid to learn,” Boa said.

“I learned,” Shen said.

Boa’s eyes narrowed. “You lie,” she said.

“Boa, he is our guest,” Aslog said.

“I will not suffer lies and ignorance…” Boa protested.

“I will teach…” Shen started.

“No!” Boa said. She flipped her script. “They are not on the path. They deviate, allowing men to know

script and stones and light magic.”

“You can see in the dark?” Arne asked.

“It is not vision, but an ability of the mind to adapt to acoustical feedback in such a way a map is

rendered in the brain,” Shen said.

“You’re a clicker,” Boa said. “That is not True sight.”

“There is also the ability to see with one’s heart,” Shen said. “It is really difficult to learn. It’s difficult to

teach. I may not be able to teach that, but it is not an impossible task. Just, difficult.” Shen tried to

explain. There are fish that can see electromagnetic radiation. They can find their prey even in the

dark. The heartbeat of prey can be discerned like a candle in the night. Just swimming at a speed can

create enough of an electromagnetic signal that the sense can be used to detect them. Humans have

an electromagnetic sense that is latent, but it is there, just as all animals have it. An adaptation to fight

predators who are strong in EM sight is the ability to ‘freeze.’ When prey senses danger their heart

stops, they go still, they go dark and silent and the predator passes in the dark. The heart kicks back on

and they go quickly about their business. Humans also can experience freeze when threatened. You

can’t have this ability to freeze if you don’t also have the sense discernment of EM predation. Human’s

sense of smell has decline due to the dominance of sight and hearing. EM sense has also declined due

to the dominance of sight and hearing, but also because we are the top of the food chain. In the wild,

people have sense when something is sneaking up on them. People have sense when someone is

staring at them. People who live in the dark are going to develop Second Sight. The heart is a light that

paints everything in its sphere of influence. The echo of that beat paints a map in the brain. To see this,

you have to not ‘see’ with your visual center of the brain, and not ‘hear’ with the hearing part of your

brain. Even though both these brain regions contribute to Second Sight, either can also turn it off when

threshold of signal is met. “Every living cell respond to that heart light all the time. Every living thing

receives, reflects, and transmit heart light. There are no dead things. All is light. The heart light is the

observer that collapses the field.”

They clearly did not understand everything, but some of it was taken and woven into their paradigm,

and some were already trying to push the threshold of their ability to perceive.

“Who taught you?” Boa said.

“L’ma, Holder of Easterly’s light,” Shen said.

“I have never heard of Easterly,” Boa said. “And I doubt seriously my people would teach your kind the

path.”

“I am your people,” Shen told her.

“Being born in the land doesn’t make you people,” Boa argued.

“I was borne of a woman as dark as you. As short and arrogant as you,” Shen said, clearly angry.

“That doesn’t make any sense. She must have found you in a basket and told you she gave birth,” Boa

said. “Regardless, she would not teach you this sight…”

“She didn’t! They didn’t,” Shen said. “I learned on my own, vicariously, watching. L’Ma, Lanore, Master

of Light, born in East Midelay, apprenticed in West Midelay, and raised to Master in Sinter. She is my

mother.”

“You cannot be one of us,” Boa said.

“I am not one of you. But I tell you the truth, Lanore gave birth to me, along with a daughter, who

resembles you,” Shen said. “I failed to become a part of their system. I lived in the forest more than half

of my life now.”

“No one can live in the forest,” Boa said.

“Unless you are friend to the forest,” Arne said.

“Friends with ghosts,” Jerica said.

“I have lived in the forest. I have tamed Irks. I have handled fire snakes. I am immune to the Sleeper

Tree spell,” Shen said.

Boa looked to Arne. “You have yet to teach me that trick,” she said.

“It’s not something I can teach,” Arne said.

“If you teach them sight, you must teach me immunity,” Boa said.

“I don’t have to do anything,” Shen said. “I am sovereign. I am definitely not beholden to your people.”

“If you were banned by the counsel, never to return again, would you gift this knowledge to my

husband?” Aslog asked.

“The council’s decision will have no bearing on my friendship with your husband,” Shen assured her.

“We are friends until otherwise specified.”

Arne sighed and gave the saddest look. “I am afraid, Shen, otherwise specified is now. We are no

longer friends.”

“What?” Shen asked, clearly concerned. TL took his hand in hers to comfort him. This did not go

unnoticed.

“You are technically my step grandfather,” Arne said.

Everyone laughed. Erico spit milk through his nose.

TL kissed Shen; amused, she privately asked ‘you seriously didn’t see that coming.’ He relaxed and

she withdrew to talk more privately with Torny. Yaffa and Jerica remained close. Shen would look to TL

to see how she was doing and catch Jerica looking at him. TL was aware of it, but gave it no energy.

She was too busy talking, and holding a baby. Privately with Shen she shared, ‘I told you.’ “You did.

You okay I slept with Ili?” ‘Are you kidding? My esteem for you has risen tremendously. Everyone

deserves intimacy. People assume the elderly are dead walking, but they are also deserving. That was

a kindness.’ “Well, my position was not kindness. I was horny as fuck.” ‘That’s hot. I love you more.’ “I

love you more.”

Shen found a moment to ask Arne if it was permissible to go outside.

“You need the latrine?” Arne asked.

“I just want some fresh air,” Shen said.

“Come on,” Arne said.

They went out, past the guard, out a tunnel, out into the night with a torch. They walked till the torched

entrance way seemed small, but was still visible.

“You should see this in the day, from out at sea,” Arne said. “It is the most beautiful land, so majestic,

like a ship itself. A living ship.”

“I can imagine,” Shen said.

“Can you really see at night?” Arne said.

“Yes,” Shen said. “And, I am really immune to the sleeper spell. As you.” He tapped his wrist.

“You know about this?” Arne said.

“I do. It’s called tech,” Shen said.

“No. It’s magic,” Arne said. “Given to us by the Gods.”

“So was mine,” Shen said.

“You have met the Sea Gods?” Arne said.

“What’s your impression of them?” Shen asked.

“I am not afraid of many things, but they scare me,” Arne said.

“Yeah,” Shen said.

Snow began to fall.

“It is said, some of those who drown become one with the Sea Gods, never to walk the land again.

They serve the underworld and the sea,” Arne said. “They only take those who have not earned a place

at Valhalla.”

Shen accepted the myth, but wanted to impress upon it some form of reality. He could not and let it go.

He did not share his experience with Oa.

“Tomorrow, I must return to my expedition,” Arne said. “How would you like to come with me?”

“Through the gate?” Shen asked.

“Through the gate, off to share in adventures, on my ship the Aslog,” Arne said.

“So, your wife travels with you, does she?”

“Always,” Arne said.

“I thought I had to go home and wait for word,” Shen said.

“They requested you leave here,” Arne said. “They cannot tell a grown ass man where he can go.”

“Just not here,” Shen said.

“That will change,” Arne said. “Do not let that grieve you. Do you have children?”

“Not on this world,” Shen said.

Arne nodded as if he understood that. “Jerica wants children. Everyone can see she is interested in

you.”

“She has a husband,” Shen said. “And I have Loxy.”

“Her husband likes men,” Arne said. “And your wife is a ghost. This seems like a good side match. It

would likely improve Jerica’s general disposition, and decrease the gossip about her husband.”

“Someone else here could better help her with that,” Shen said.

“You don’t understand the politics involved,” Arne said. “Her husband is a very successful warrior and

provider. There are those who would like to see him fail. Aligning herself with someone local would

result in discord. You’re an outsider, not involved in politics. Trust me, it’s complicated,” Arne said.

“Sounds like it,” Shen said.

“I am okay with whatever you decide in that regard. Just don’t be surprised if she comes at you

tonight,” Arne said.

“She’d have to get past Loxy,” Shen said.

“You don’t think a Master can get past a ghost?” Arne said. “Would Loxy be upset?”

“No, she’d likely help her,” Shen said, sighing. “She wants me to be with people.”

“People should be with people,” Arne said. “Ghosts with ghosts. Have you had enough air? Shall we

return?”

Shen nodded. They walked in a cold breeze.

“Arne?” Shen said.

“Yes, brother,” Arne said.

“Thank you,” Shen said.

Arne hit Shen in the arm.