When we lower down from the sky into the Tovari camp, there is
music playing of a style I've never heard before. Or at least, I don't recall hearing it. It's not coming from a single place either; rather, various people in the camp are playing instruments in harmony together while still slightly spread out, giving the music a slightly ethereal quality as it changes every time I turn my head. The yurts and temporary placements are spread out across the rolling hillside, framed by a half-circle of trees that stretches from horizon to horizon to warm the feet of the mountain ridges that border Tovalon and Skal apart. As the weather has warmed in the last two months since my arrival, the summer has been kind, here. The meadow grass itself is nearly a foot tall, providing a soft bed under each yurt which doesn't have the benefit of the unfolding wooden platforms that some of them use to avoid the mud.
As the land slopes down away from the trees, the trees themselves thin out with a few determined stragglers dotting the hill all the way down to a large creek which follows the slope of the land, then veers sideways for a couple hundred meters before wiggling it's way further downward. It's this fold in the creek that is attracting the Tovari of the camp who are streaming back and forth in pairs or single to collect water for washing, purification and drinking, cooking, to make tea. A little further down river I can see almost a dozen of them naked in the water, laughing and talking as they wash themselves and their clothes. Business as usual.
I raise my hand to one of the water-collectors while Elise deposits Kuri and Emil next to me, then heads back into the sky to recon the area. She's been restless since I got back, almost eager to disappear for periods of time. I haven't wanted to press her on it, see if she comes around first. I don't know how genkit psychology and human psychology differ and for all I know she's just letting it all out in private or going off to see somebody. Some people handle stress in unpredictable ways.
"Greetings, travelers!" The Tovari in question is a young girl with hair I can only describe as a mane. It's like somebody shocked her with an electrical charge designed to make her hair curly. It's
everywhere. I can't even see her ears because of it, though she has a tail that puts me in mind of a raccoon, or perhaps a red panda. A very deep orange-brown aaaand now she's giving me a look because I've been staring.
"Uh, sorry. I've never seen a Tovari like you before. I'm Ainsley the Blue, this is Kurishalia - did I say that right?" A nod from Kuri.
"I'm General Emil of House Tychorus."
The girl blinks. "
Oh. Yes, I've heard of you. I thought you'd be taller." She tilts her head at me. "You're human, aren't you?"
I nod. "Yep."
"Poor boy. Humans really got the short end of the stick here." She makes a gesture with her hands, moving her fingers in some kind of warding sign or superstition.
It is a blessing for luck. She is wishing you well.
Ah. "Could you lead us to where Saxali is? I understand that Noah is out and about but I really need to speak to somebody in charge."
"Sure, buuuuut I have
one condition."
Emil smiles, looking amused. "What's that?"
"
I wanna come with you!"
I nod at that, forming a small construct platform for us to step on. Kuri hops up lightly, then curls her tail under her own butt and sits on it. Cheater.
"Sure, if Saxali doesn't mind you sitting in. What's your name?"
"
Tiala! Um, no, that's not what I meant though." She climbs up on the platform, looking a little unsure at first, then hopping up and down in place a couple times once she's on. Damn, that's distracting.
Tovari don't believe in bras, apparently.
I clear my throat when Emil pats me on the back, trying to hide his amusement as he does it. "Ah, what did you mean, then?"
"
I want to come with you. As in, away from the camp. I don't have a lotta stuff, I can just pack up and go. Take maybe an hour to get it all ready."
"If you're so eager to leave, why not go before now?" Emil tilts his head at her.
"Nothing really interesting to draw me. You wander around awhile, everything starts kinda looking the same. I wanna see something new, but traveling alone is pretty dangerous. Especially now."
I nod. "Especially now. Have the disturbances been bad in Tovalon?"
"Kinda. Yes and no. The elements
really take exception to anything industrial and we've had two towns like that show up. One of them didn't have any weapons and only wanted to play nice when we showed up but the other tried to fight us off, fight everyone off. They started a fire... It didn't end well for them." She sounds sad about it.
Kuri hugs her from behind and she smiles faintly, clearly glad for the contact. "Nothing endangering this camp?"
"No, not yet." We're getting pointed at and calls are going out as we pass overhead, but I'm not going particularly fast either. Tiala has probably never flown before and first-timers don't seem to take well to it.
"You're lucky, then. Or maybe just better at keeping the peace in your territory, I'm not sure."
"Saxali will know more than I do." She pffts. "I'm just a herders daughter, nobody tells
me anything cool."
"You'd have noticed this." Emil rumbles, sounding grim. "The patches destroy everything around them. They build up, the air gets... wavy." He moves his hand side to side. "The light moves oddly. If you see that?
Run. Run fast, don't stop until you can't run anymore. Don't grab your things, just get out."
"
It's really that bad?"
"We had a huge automated factory show up near our town and nearly overrun it just trying to 'salvage' our stuff. They didn't seem to mind that we were still using it. In another spot, part of a molten world got dropped in. It's changed weather patterns across that whole region, which only adds to what's going on. Lucky something like that hasn't happened to us, actually." He grimaces.
"While you're packing your things up, spread the word for us. About the distortions, how little time there is to escape. One of them dropped a ninety-eight foot deep patch of ocean nearly a thousand square feet wide in a slash across a chunk of desert and washed out part of a whole ecosystem. Things are
really a mess right now and we're trying, but we can only be in so many places at once."
Tiala is looking distinctly unsettled, but nods. "
Okay. I will."
"You still sure you want to come with us?"
"
Yes."
Emil chuckles. "Heh, I like this kid." He ruffles Tiala's hair, making her knock his hand away with a smile. "You got balls, kid."
"That's a weird name for my boobs, but... thanks?"