Child of Releeshahn
Chapter Two
The Council chamber was situated in the centre of the city that had sprung up on the spot in which the first long houses had been erected. The wooden structures were gone now, and in their place was a collection of sturdy yet attractive stone buildings. That was the thing with the D'ni. They had lived amongst stone for so long, they learned to mould it and shape it like an expert potter would clay in record time.
Anna ascended the wide marble steps to the main doors and let herself in. The guards and Council members were so used to seeing her there alone that they stopped questioning her business long ago. She passed through the gilded stone doors and walked down a long corridor, the walls of which were painted with murals. On one side was the story of D'ni from its earliest beginnings to its demise. On the other was a similar tale of Terahnee…only this one ended with the first celebration on Releeshahn just before Anna had been born. She didn't look at those today, however. She was too excited about going to Tomahna.
She sauntered up to a door that was easily six times her height--which wasn't much to begin with--and let herself in. There was a discussion going on, but it didn't seem at all important because, even though she had made enough noise opening and closing the massive door to wake the dead, the men went on talking and laughing like she wasn't there at all.
Anna walked over to where Guildmaster Oma was sitting and gently placed the papers before him. He turned and nodded his thanks and said, "Do you know when Atrus is coming?" in a low whisper.
She shook her head. "I've no idea, though I am going to visit Tomahna fairly soon."
Oma smiled. "Then perhaps you could do a favour for me." He reached into his guild cloak and pulled out a small book. It was too small to be a linking or descriptive book, and Anna soon found herself very curious. "I've been doing a little research in the library with all the books we brought from D'ni, and I've happened upon a rather interesting discovery." He handed her the book. "Would you mind giving that to him for me?"
The girl nodded. "Could I read it, too?"
The man laughed. "Of course, Anna, of course. You might find it as interesting as I…though, it is rather puzzling."
"How is that?"
Oma looked at the men seated about the large round table and turned in his high backed chair to face Anna who had knelt on the floor. "It's an Age…well, for the most part, anyway."
Anna blinked. "But, it's not big enough." She looked down at the book she held in her hands. No, there was definitely not enough substance page-wise. The thickness of her book was slightly less than the width of her thumb--and it was a Descriptive Book!
"That's what's so puzzling about it. You see," he turned to the page with the linking panel, "there is the basic formation of the Age, a forest and various water systems, wild life and no people mentioned, but look." He pointed to a portion of the background as the view swung around again and again. "There's a village."
"So," Anna said slowly, "someone must have visited and built that."
"Yes, but the creatures living there are not suitable for food and no farms are evident. How would they expect to live? Yet, somehow, they managed."
"How do you know?"
"Look."
The girl looked at the picture again. Sure enough, there were people moving about. "I don't understand. This doesn't even make any sense."
"Which is why Atrus must see it."
"Oma," a voice said from the other side of the table, "whyever do you speak to the floor?" It was Master Tamon.
Anna peeked her head over the rim of the stone tabletop and waved to him cheekily. "I'm fairly certain, Nava, that I am no collection of tiles and flagstones."
Tamon laughed as did some other Council members. "Indeed, child, I am sorry. I had no idea you were here."
"Makes me feel loved," Anna said sarcastically with a grin as she stood. "I'd best be going anyway. I still have to pack up before I link to Tomahna."
"You're going to visit Atrus?" Tamon asked.
She nodded.
"I see that Guildmaster Oma has given you the odd linking book."
"Yes, he has." She said simply, holding it up as proof.
"Good. The sooner we can make sense of that, the better it will be. It doesn't follow any D'ni procedure that I have ever known. No people, yet there is civilization."
Anna glanced through the book at that, her brows furrowing together in thought. The D'ni script was written with an untrained hand. Either that, or it wasn't really D'ni at all. Nowadays, that was always a possibility. Since the Guild of Writers had started up again, people from all the Ages were allowed to learn to Write, their various scripts blending and sometimes marring the elegant D'ni. But Anna didn't think that was the case here.
"Is it possible that this was written by another kind of people?" she asked slowly, making her way around the table, her nose still in the book. "Perhaps even more advanced than the D'ni that they could write such an Age with so little?"
"We've yet to meet anyone more advanced than the D'ni."
"On the home world, maybe, but remember Terahnee? I wasn't there, but from the stories I heard, all their Ages were…simply divine."
"That's because their Descriptive Books restated the same things over and over getting more detailed as they went making them twice as thick and ten times more stable. No. This Age cannot be more advanced than any other."
Master Tergahn spoke up then. "Master Tamon, I honestly think Anna knows what she's saying--just like her namesake. What if the person who wrote this mysterious Age figured out how to make it detailed and stable without all the excess? Oma, have you translated it?"
Oma nodded. "I have, sir. There is nothing out of the ordinary save for the script, but it could just be the handwriting of the person."
Anna peered at the writing more closely. "It is partially D'ni…partially Terahnee…partially something else." A realization hit her. "Do you think there was another civilization to branch off from the one that the D'ni and Terahnee descended from? That would explain why they would have the knowledge of Writing Ages."
"And why the script is so similar and rather easy to comprehend," Oma added.
Tamon slapped his hand down on the table in slight victory. "That settles it." He turned to Anna. "I don't care what your father says, I think you need to link to Tomahna and give that book to Atrus as soon as you are able for further examination. All members in favor?" He turned back to those seated around the table. Everyone raised their hands. "There we have it. The Council has decided."
"And I'm sure Father will agree," Anna put in. "I'll get ready to go at once." She curtsied slightly, pulling her pale blue dress to the side, went out and headed for home. I'll try to talk Atrus into letting us go to D'ni for answers. For some reason, I'm sure he won't object this time.
~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~
Marrim continued to Write. She had promised herself that she would have this Age done in time for Atrus' and Catherine's anniversary, which was only a month away, and she was still busy designing a breathtaking waterfall. It was coming along well if only a bit on the slow side. And when Anna burst into her workroom, she had to do her best not to splatter ink all over the pages.
"Mother, Mother!" she was shouting. "I need to go to Tomahna right away!"
"Hold it!" Marrim said, grabbing her daughter firmly around the waist with her arm. "What's all this? Why now?"
"Because the Council said I had to! I need to give this book to Atrus. It's very important!"
"Let me see." The woman took the book from her daughter and skimmed through a few of the pages. "This…can't be right…" she muttered.
"Which is why I'm to take it to Atrus now," Anna explained excitedly. She told her mother everything that had transpired at the Council chamber, not leaving out the slightest detail.
"I see," Marrim said once her daughter was finished. "And they trust you with this?"
"Is there a reason why they shouldn't?"
The woman smiled, the fine lines forming around her eyes deepening with the action. "No." She kissed Anna on the cheek. "You'd best tell your father where you're off to and why."
"I already told him. I'm heading for the linking book now." She motioned to the pack on her back. The squee poked its tiny head out of a pocket. Marrim leaped back in surprise before she started laughing.
"Are you allowed to take that along?"
"Father said Atrus shouldn't mind. If he does, I can just send it back here."
"And what are you planning to do once you're there? Besides show him the book, I mean."
Anna shrugged. "I don't know. Wander around with Yeesha, I suppose."
Marrim cocked her head and gave her daughter an 'I know you're up to something' look. "Just keep out of Atrus' Ages. I'm sure he wouldn't appreciate you poking around in them--especially D'ni."
"Why can't I go there?" Anna whined. "You know I wouldn't do anything wrong!"
"I know that--everyone does. It's just that…the disease could still be there."
"I thought you cleaned it up."
"The bacteria is tiny, Anna, you know that. It's what destroyed D'ni and Terahnee soon after. Atrus doesn't want to risk you getting hurt. After all, you do have Terahnee blood in you. More than that of my homeland."
Anna sighed. "I won't go to D'ni, then, Mother, and I'll be careful."
Marrim smiled and stood from her chair. "I'll trust you, but I don't want to hear any bad reports."
The girl flashed her mother a toothy grin before rushing off to the family library. Once there, she ran over to a pedestal and opened the Tomahna linking book and placed her hand on the moving panel. Within moments, she felt herself being drawn into the page.
~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~
Messulah shoved open another door and shone his torch around inside. It was another study. There were several just like it that he had encountered here, but none had any books at all in them. This room he'd had trouble getting into. It took him most of the morning to clear away the rubble from in front of it, and it proved to be rewarding. This room had books. Lots of them, too. From one wall to another were shelves all covered with dusty tomes full of the knowledge of creating these Ages--so he hoped.
He looked around for a sconce to place his torch in, but found none. However, as he headed over for the massive stone writing desk, he bumped what appeared to be a lamp. All of a sudden, the room was flooded with light from a marble inside the contraption. Messulah extinguished his torch and took a closer look at the glowing sphere. It looked to be on fire. He looked at it from all angles, wondering how such a thing was accomplished. He reached out and touched it, its smooth surface still cool.
Blinking in surprise, the trader looked around for more. He found several in a chest on a shelf near the floor and began to disturb them one at a time. Soon, he had fire marbles of all colours dancing about in the air as he juggled them. Oh, what a performance that would be if he desired to do so back on the surface! Children would adore him. Kings would desire his company at celebrations. But, why bother if he was soon to be a king himself?
He tried everything he could to put out the light of the marbles before finally deciding to douse them with water from his canteen. Their light vanished as suddenly as it had appeared. Worried that they might never work again, he took one and shook it. Its blue light shone forth. With a nod, he poured some water on it and gently placed it back in the chest with the others.
Brushing his hands off on his dark desert robes, he wandered to the bookshelves. Pulling out a book, he flipped through it hoping to be able to understand something. He couldn't. He returned his attentions back to the woman's journal. "The D'ni had many books that were used to teach the language," it said. "The most important being the Rehevkor."
Messulah rubbed at his bearded chin when he noticed there was some more of that calligraphy-like writing next to the word Rehevkor. On a whim, he searched around on the shelf until he found the desired title. It was a large tome full of the methods of D'ni writing. This was what he'd been searching for. With the aid of the journal and some paper, pen and ink well, he began to teach himself how to Write.