13 – The Whole, Part 2
"And now," said Maddy, helping herself to more tea, "I think you owe us an explanation as well, Atrus."
"Yes..." sighed Atrus. "I suppose I do..."
Over twenty-five years ago, my sons were anxious to learn how to write ages. They had seen the worlds that I had written. The ones that you saw – Mechanical, Stoneship, Channelwood – and others, even more beautiful. They had – as far as I knew – good relationships with the inhabitants of those ages. They were only interested in the inhabited ages. Selenitic and other ages like it were of no interest to them whatsoever. But I digress.
I did not want to teach my sons exactly how to write ages. I could tell that they would not take it in properly. Instead, I resolved to teach them the age-building mantras that Grandmother had taught me, the ones that you had to use to get into Narayan. To do so, I wrote J'nanin, Narayan and the other three lesson ages. I crafted the puzzles in all five of them especially to teach my sons about these four mantras. Amateria, Edanna, Voltaic and Narayan, all connected by J'nanin.
Narayan, of course, was the only inhabited age of the five. I had visited Narayan a few months before and met Saavedro. I stayed with him for a while and learnt about the ways of his people. How the civilization had sprung up. I had written Narayan in a very deliberate way, to show how a civilization could emerge and adapt in response to imbalances in the world.
After Saavedro and his people had taught Sirrus and Achenar, I brought them back to Myst, and that was the end of that. That was the purpose behind writing J'nanin and the other ages.
"I don't think," finished Atrus with a sigh, "that I can tell any more of the story. You probably know more about it than I do."
"I believe so," said Maddy. "Jordan?"
Jordan poured himself more tea. "Several years after this, presumably during their plunder of your ages, Sirrus and Achenar returned to Narayan. They told the people about the books, and about how you had written Narayan with deliberate flaws. They said that they could repair Narayan's flaws, so that they – the Narani – would no longer have to toil at the tree.
"This pretty much divided east from west. Two cults, for want of a better word, now formed in Narayan – the younger, more open-minded people who believed what Sirrus and Achenar said, and the elders who wished to continue with tradition. In between the two sides, trying to resolve the conflict, was Saavedro. Eventually, though, the conflict escalated and became a civil war which practically destroyed Narayan. Sirrus and Achenar left for J'nanin, and Saavedro followed them.
"On J'nanin, Sirrus and Achenar ambushed Saavedro. When he told them what they'd done, they laughed at him and said they had no intention of fixing Narayan, but had rather looted it of everything worth saving. They linked out to Myst, burning their books behind them, and left Saavedro for dead on J'nanin.
"Eventually he managed to open the machine on J'nanin and return to the Narayan entry chamber. Through the shield, he believed that the age was destroyed, the tree and the people dead. And he sincerely believed that, for twenty years, right up until today, when we arrived and opened the shield."
There was silence over Tomahna, as the six of them quietly considered all this. Finally, Rachel spoke.
"That's it, Atrus. That's the whole story."
"Hmm..." sighed Atrus. "I am glad it has come to a good resolution after so long. If only I had known."
Maddy woke with a start and sat up, blinking furiously. She reached for her glasses and almost poked her eye out twice before successfully putting them on.
It was disconcerting being home. She was half expecting to see the tower on J'nanin when she sat up, rather than her own bedroom. Additionally, she hadn't slept on anything other than the floor for the last week and a half. She pulled herself out of bed and made for the shower.
This house wasn't large – she didn't earn much money – but it was fit for her purpose. Since she lived alone and didn't entertain very often (the exception being her twenty-first birthday several years ago) she had no need for the extra space. Shedding her nightclothes, she made for the shower.
One hour, fifteen minutes and two cups of coffee later, Maddy was buzzing with her usual excitement as her central nervous system basked in the glow of caffeine once again. This gave her enough motivation to scoop up her car keys and umbrella and dart out through the rain to her car. Once she had reached its safety and warmth, she had to go back and lock the front door.
Brittany woke slowly and eventually got out of bed at a quarter past seven. It was nice to sleep in her own bed again. It just wouldn't have been practical in the last week and a half to come home every night – not only would she have had to drive out to the volcano fairly frequently, but she would have to get back somehow. Before Atrus wrote a link to the volcano, she mused as she practically fell into the shower, it was very difficult to get from Tomahna to the volcano. The walk was not easy – as she knew – and it was impossible to drive.
She stumbled out of the shower and put enough clothes on to satisfy the neighbours before pouring herself a cup of coffee. Coffee, Brittany was firmly of the belief, is a drink that works wonders. It can be consumed in any setting – at one's desk, in the staff room at work, in a cafe with friends, or even sitting at one's own kitchen table wearing only underwear and shorts.
A car pulled up outside. Footsteps clicked up the path and there was a knock on the door.
"Who is it?"
"Maddy," replied Maddy.
"Come in, it's open," called back Brittany. Maddy pushed the door open and came in, water dripping from her hat and umbrella. She closed the umbrella and the door before turning to Brittany and hesitating.
"You appear to be half undressed," said Maddy, stating the obvious in her trademark fashion. "I can wait outside if you'd prefer."
"Don't bother," replied Brittany, still tired despite having half finished her coffee, "we're both girls. Plus, I'm not so much half undressed as half dressed."
"Depends on your philosophical bent," replied Maddy. "Sorry for coming so early, but I figured you'd want to get going."
"Yeah..." sighed Brittany, downing the last of her coffee. "Let me put the rest of my clothes on and put the rest of my coffee into a Thermos."
Jordan and Rachel got out of their own bed for the first time in a week and a half, smiling but not talking, even when Jordan tripped over the bedsheets lying on the floor. They went into Jane's room, where she sat up and put her head on one side.
There was a knock on the fornt door and Maddy stuck her head in. "Hello?"
"In here," called back Jordan. Maddy entered the room, with Brittany following close behind. As soon as Jane saw Brittany, she babbled excitedly for about ten seconds before falling silent and smiling. Brittany laughed.
"I think she likes me."
Rachel smiled as well. "To her, you're family now. Auntie Britt."
Brittany looked at Jane, who winked. Brittany winked back, and Jane giggled.
"Of course. Incidentally, I'm pretty good at working out what people say from their facial expressions, and I think that what she said was something to do with the noise you two were making last night."
Rachel and Jordan looked sideways at each other and grinned.
"Yeah, I suppose it was a bit wild," said Rachel cheekily.
"But with no neighbours out here, we're sort of allowed," said Jordan, winking at Rachel.
"I'm jealous," said Maddy. She raised the Myst linking book that she had picked up on their way in. "Come on, let's go before we get given the details."
"Have you four eaten?"
Catherine stood by the stove looking sternly at Jordan, Rachel, Maddy and Brittany. "No," they all said in unison.
After Catherine had forced a selection of breakfast foods onto the four of them, Atrus finally appeared looking well rested and refreshed.
"Ah, my friends. Nice to see you here bright and early. Enjoyed being at home again, I suppose, last night?"
At this, Rachel could no longer contain herself and dissolved in a fit of giggles. Jordan, containing himself, smiled.
"Of course," he said. Rachel laughed even harder. Atrus smiled, bemused.
"What's up with her?"
"Oh, probably just last night catching up with her," replied Brittany.
"What on earth happened?"
"Ah, you know. The usual." This made Rachel laugh even harder. Atrus frowned and appealed silently to Maddy for an explanation.
"Noisy sex," said Maddy matter-of-factly. Rachel fell off her chair.
"Ah, of course," said Atrus, smiling slightly. "But we must press on. There's much for me to show you today, after all. What day of your week is it?"
Jordan, Rachel and Maddy, who had no real cause to remember such things whilst on J'nanin, looked to Brittany.
"Sunday," said Brittany.
"Ah, that means tomorrow is Monday, correct? You'll all be expected back at work. All the more reason for us to get moving."
He led the four of them up to his observatory, where the handful of books which had survived the fire in his study sat, including the Releeshahn book. Atrus pulled a small silver key from his pocket and unlocked the book, opening it to the last page.
"After you, I think, my friends. After all, you spent the last week and a half chasing Saavedro for this."
Jordan shrugged in agreement, stepping forward, laying his hand on the panel and letting the book swallow him.