"Sono" Part Three
Disclaimers in part one.

The trays had long since been cleared away, but the effervescent feeling of festival still hovered in the air, aided by the alcohol that had flowed as free as the goodwill.

Hoshi stifled another yawn behind a flat palm and closed her eyes, determined to open them again in a few seconds.

"Hoshi."

Her eyes flew open and she blinked, like an owl, thought Malcolm.

He said, "I don't think you should fall asleep just yet."

She glanced around. Another hush had fallen on the crowd. She whispered, "What?"

Malcolm opened his mouth, but the Regent's voice kept him from saying anything. They turned their attention to him.

"The snow falls," he said.

The crowd answered as one, "It hides the life beneath."

"Our sey-na is gone."

"Yet her voice remains."

Came the response, "We will wait."

Tolias began to sing, fluid notes in a husky baritone.

"Kuri-ay,

Kuri-ah,

Kuri an-men shuar,

Kuri mun-men hari

Mua sunar."

The notes were sung in a simple plainsong, but the melody was haunting, soft and searching. When Tolias finished, everyone was quiet. There were tears on Tolias' face.

Malcolm looked over at Hoshi and was startled to find her cheeks wet as well. She wiped at them and gave him a shaky smile.

Tolias said, "Time to rest."

The crowd murmured. Children were rounded up, families finding each other, and settling down to sleep under blankets woven in vibrant colors. One of the Epa-in who had brought out food now brought blankets to the Enterprise guests, laying them at their feet.

Malcolm nodded at her and noted that she avoided his gaze in the typical manner accorded to those in authority.

When she laid the blanket down at Archer's feet, he said, "Thank you."

She answered, "I am honored."

Malcolm glanced over at Hoshi, seeing that she had already pulled the blanket around her shoulders, and was now adjusting the cushion under her head. Archer and Tolias were conversing in low tones, having pulled their coverings around their shoulders and he could hear that others in the hogan were also whispering.

He heard Hoshi murmur, "Go to sleep, Malcolm."

"I'm not tired."

"Okay." She yawned, "Goo'nigh'."

She closed her eyes. Malcolm looked at her for a moment, a bemused expression on his face. He looked at the blanket at his feet and reached down, unfolding it.

It wasn't that cold. The alcohol he'd consumed was still warming his blood, even though it wasn't enough to dim his senses, and the fire pit in the middle of the hogan was giving off enough heat to keep him comfortable. Even so, he pulled the blanket around his shoulders and sat. His gaze caught that of the Regent's u-ardan and for a moment they just looked at each other--both in similar poses, the blankets around their shoulders, sitting with relaxed tenseness, ready to leap up at a moment's notice.

It was an instant of eye contact that reassured Malcolm-it was as though the man knew what Malcolm was thinking. Malcolm nodded to him. The u-ardan nodded back, his face impassive. This was the u-ardan's turf, his guardianship. Satisfied, Malcolm stretched out his legs and closed his eyes.

He didn't know when he fell asleep, only when he woke up again. Someone was snoring, a fact that he first found downright annoying, attributing his return to consciousness to that, and then somewhat amusing. Stood to reason someone in this large crowd would snore. Too bad Hoshi wasn't awake to share his amusement.

He looked over to where she had been lying. She wasn't there. The panic that shot through him ratcheted his heart into overdrive and he had to force himself to breathe. She had to be here, somewhere. He glanced around, seeing nothing but sleeping bundles until he ran across the wakeful eye of the u-ardan, who still sat in the same place he had been before.

Malcolm whispered, his voice rasping with the effort to keep his volume low, "Where is she?"

The man matched Malcolm's quiet intonation, "Outside." He stood up, keeping his covering close around his shoulders and started to move through the sleepers. Malcolm followed him, also keeping his blanket. The fire had died down and there was a distinct chill.

The u-ardan had reached the entrance and pushed aside the covering, stepping outside. As he did so, Malcolm caught a glimpse. It was white outside, the ground covered in snow.

Malcolm stepped out into the frigid air, the snow crunching underneath his boots. The u-ardan stood just outside the entrance and pointed into the garden. Malcolm followed the gesture and saw Hoshi sitting on one of the wooden benches that had been placed throughout the garden, underneath a tree that still hung with a few stubborn flowers.

The moonlight had turned her face pearlescent. Her hair hung loose and straight. Her eyes were closed, her face tipped up toward the moonlight. Under the clear sky her face had an eerie beauty, but this wasn't what caused that same unnamable ache to pierce through him again.

She had been crying. He could still see the glimmer of tears on her cheeks.

Next to him, the Regent's bearer moved, going back inside the hogan, but Malcolm didn't look away from Hoshi. He stood there for a long time, caught between leaving her alone or joining her. She hadn't noticed him yet. He should just go back inside...

She opened her eyes and looked straight at him. Her eyes were not the usual warm brown, not in this dim light, but a bottomless black. He felt as though he were standing at the edge of a cliff, vertigo creeping through him, pushing against him, inexorable and formidable.

She said, "I knew you'd come looking for me."