14 – The Whole, Part 3

Despite the sun being pleasantly warm, when Jordan opened his eyes for the first time on Releeshahn, he was not dazzled – indeed, the light was the perfect balance between too bright and too dull. Jordan looked around as the others linked in as well.

They were standing in a smallish stone plaza that was about halfway up a massive mountain. From here, they had a perfect view of the rest of the age. It was a beautiful green landscape, and spread out below them was a city. A massive spire of polished rock rose from the centre of the city. Beyond the city, more snow-capped mountains rose. A river ran through the centre of the city.

"Here you are, my friends," said Atrus, sounding a little proud. "Welcome to Releeshahn, new home of the D'ni. What do you think?"

"It's beautiful, Atrus," said Rachel, awestruck.

"I'm glad you think so," replied Atrus enthusiastically. Let's go down to the city."

Atrus led the group into the city and was immediately greeted by a tall, middle-aged D'ni man. He spoke excitedly to Atrus in D'ni for about two minutes before Atrus managed to stop him.

"Tamon," Atrus said in D'ni, "hold on. I'm very glad you've got those locks for me, but I'm not sure they'll be needed any more."

"Oh?" replied Tamon. "Never mind, then. I have them if you decide you need them." At this point he saw Jordan, Rachel, Maddy and Brittany. "Ah, hello. You must be Atrus' friends that he has told us so much about. We were expecting you almost seven yahrtee ago."

Jordan, Rachel and Maddy turned to Brittany. "Yes, hello," she replied in her slightly faltering D'ni. "I'm Brittany... this is Jordan, Rachel and Maddy." She paused. "Atrus, you have to teach me to speak D'ni better."

Tamon laughed. "Don't worry," he said, still speaking D'ni, "you're not too bad."

"Tamon is a Stonemason," said Atrus, by way of an introduction. "Tamon, these are indeed the four friends I have told you and the others so much about."

"Charmed," said Tamon, bowing deeply. Brittany also bowed, gesturing for the others to do the same. After they had all straightened up, Tamon continued. "But, please – surely there is a good reason why you are so late without letting us know?"

"Well, yes," said Brittany. "I think that -"

"Excuse me," interrupted Maddy in English. "I rather feel like the three of us are being left out of this conversation because we can't speak D'ni."

"Oh, yes, of course," exclaimed Atrus. "Tamon, would you mind -"

"But of course," replied Tamon in fluent English, startling Jordan, Rachel, Maddy and Brittany. "Come inside."

Tamon led the five of them into a nearby house – his, they presumed – and they sat down. Over cups of what appeared to be the D'ni equivalent of coffee but which none of the surface-dwellers cared for all that much, they told Tamon about the events of the past week and a half – Saavedro, the fire, the lost and reclaimed Releeshahn descriptive book. Tamon listened intently and did not speak until they finished.

"This is a fascinating story," he said when they did finally finish. "Tell me, Atrus, is this why you wanted the padlocks?"

"Turns out, yes," replied Atrus. "It appears to have been Saavedro who was sneaking into Tomahna and reading my journals."

"And now that he has been reunited with his family, he will no longer do so," inferred Tamon expertly. "I see. Well," he turned to Jordan, Rachel, Maddy and Brittany now, "I am relieved and extraordinarily grateful that you were able to return the book to Atrus. Without you, we would have had to carry on the restoration without access to him or the ruined city in the D'ni cavern. I think some sort of celebration is in order. What say you, Atrus?"

"Ah, well -"

"Good, that's settled then. Let there be music, dancing and a great feast. I shall go to the Grand Master immediately." And with that, he was gone. Atrus turned to his bemused friends.

"They always do this," he said with a kind smile. "Their automatic response to all good things is word for word what he just said. Music, dancing and a great feast."

Five tahvotee later, the Great Hall was prepared for a magnificent feast. In the interim, Atrus had ushered Jordan, Rachel, Maddy and Brittany back to Tomahna and shown them his new (still unnamed) garden age.

"You're sort of expected to attend this feast," he said, "even just for a few hours. It'll give you a good look into our culture. Plus, when the D'ni feast, we make no bones about it. You won't have to eat all day tomorrow, I guarantee."

"One question," said Maddy.

"Yes?"

"What's to drink?"

Atrus smiled. "By 'drink', I assume you mean alcohol. Rest assured, the D'ni are great drinkers of alcohol. Never really taken to it myself, but there will be alcohol."

"I'm in," said Maddy immediately. "Britt?"

"Yeah, why not," replied Brittany. "Sounds like fun."

Jordan and Rachel also agreed to join. Catherine politely declined, saying that someone had to take care of Yeesha and Jane.

Back on Releeshahn, the feast was just getting started when the five of them arrived back. Tamon, who was seated at the long front table, stood up immediately on seeing them enter and loudly introduced them to the entire hall (typically mispronouncing their names by adding H sounds where they weren't needed) – which was very full – to great cheers and applause.

They took their seats alongside Tamon at the long table. Already piled along it was all manner of meats, vegetables, cakes and all manner of other things. Rachel was awestruck again.

"This looks like a magnificent meal," she said to Tamon, who was sitting next to her. Tamon glanced at her and laughed out loud.

"Ah, very amusing, Rah-chel! Yes... these are just the starters. There's still much more to come."

Rachel was struck dumb. Maddy smiled, took a sip of wine and gasped.

"Wow, that's strong!" She paused. "I think I like it here, Atrus."

Atrus smiled.

Half a gahrtahvo later, Rachel was too drunk to remember her initial apprehension about the course sizes. Brittany was too drunk to care about the course sizes versus her diet. Maddy was too drunk. Jordan, having given up alcohol when Rachel was pregnant, was completely sober. Atrus had had half a glass of wine and despite the strength, he didn't seem to be at all drunk.

"The D'ni have always drunk strong alcohol," he explained to Jordan over the sounds being made by their colleagues. "So we're sort of used to it. Hyposensitivity to alcohol runs in the D'ni blood."

Another two gahrtahvotee later, the celebration was in full swing and there was a lot of dancing and music going on. Brittany was dancing with a rather attractive young D'ni man. Maddy was also dancing with a D'ni man. Rachel was dancing by herself as even drunk, she knew better than to ask Jordan to dance with her. Atrus finished off his plate of food and turned to Jordan, whose plate was still half full.

"What is the surface time?" he asked over the noise.

Jordan, who wasn't wearing his watch, reached over the table and took Rachel by the wrist as she passed.

"What's the time at home, love?"

"Who cares?" replied Rachel, slurring her words slightly. "Here, it's party time!"

"It's only that tomorrow we have to -"

"Oh, shut up," said Rachel, and stuck her tongue down his throat for at least thirty seconds before vanishing off to continue dancing. Jordan turned back to Atrus.

"Nine thirty in the evening according to her watch." He swallowed. "I think her saliva is about two per cent alcohol right now."

"Wouldn't surprise me, my friend," replied Atrus. "Nine thirty? It's getting a tad late if you have to work tomorrow."

"Yeah, we should probably get home," sighed Jordan. "This was excellent, Atrus, though. Delicious food, and there was even some drinks with no alcohol content."

"Not all D'ni are drinkers, my friend. Just most. Mind you, the others shouldn't link home, come to think of it. It's quite dangerous to link when very drunk. A little drunk is okay, but very drunk is not. Tell you what – I have a house here on Releeshahn. Rachel, Maddy and Brittany can stay there – and I will too – tonight, and I'll get them sobered up tomorrow and send them home for you. They may need to take the day off work."

"Thanks, Atrus, I appreciate that," replied Jordan. "I'll let Catherine know that you're staying here to take care of them."

"Thank you, my friend," replied Atrus. "Drop in after you finish work tomorrow. Ask anyone where to find me – they'll all tell you."

Jordan got to his feet. Atrus accompanied him to the public library and directed him to the book linking to Tomahna before returning to the party. Jordan looked down at the panel – it was indeed dark on Tomahna. He laid a hand on the panel and stepped forward into the sunroom.

He found Catherine and Jane in the kitchen. Both greeted him with a smile.

"Hello, Jordan," said Catherine. "Would you like something to eat?"

"No, thank you," replied Jordan hastily. Catherine grinned mischeivously.

"I didn't think so. Where are the others?"

"Atrus is staying with the others on Releeshahn because the others are too drunk to link home. I have to go to work tomorrow morning, so I'm on my way home. I just dropped in to let you know that Atrus wouldn't be home tonight and to pick up Jane."

"If you have to go to work tomorrow," said Catherine, "and Rachel is going to spend probably most of the day on Releeshahn, why don't you leave Jane here? It'd be easier for you. I can look after her."

"Oh, would you? That would be so helpful. You're sure it's okay? You have got Yeesha as well."

"No, it's fine. Jane is no trouble at all. You and Rachel are very lucky parents."

"I know. Thanks, Catherine."

Rachel and Maddy sat slumped in front of very large cups of freshly-brewed D'ni coffee taking small sips every ten seconds or so. Atrus sat across the table with some toast (he had successfully avoided burning it) quietly observing his hung over friends. This went on for some time, and only ended when Maddy finished her coffee and sat back in her chair.

"Oh, my head," she groaned.

"Hmm," observed Atrus. "I sympathise with you but must point out that the wound is self-inflicted, my friend."

"Yeah... I don't know why I do it."

"Me neither," sighed Rachel, downing the last of her coffee. "What time is it, Atrus?"

Atrus pulled out his timepiece. "It is three twelve. Nearly midday. On Earth it is almost half past five in the afternoon."

"God, I feel like I just woke up."

Atrus smiled slightly. "You did just wake up. You slept right through to three ten."

"Oh." Rachel paused. "Where's Brittany?"

"She wasn't here last night. I believe she spent the night with that young gentleman she was dancing with."

Rachel frowned. "Nope, don't remember him. My memories stop at about the third glass of wine."

"Fifth," replied Maddy. "I remember Britt dancing with someone."

"Impressive you made it to the fifth," muttered Atrus under his breath. Rachel and Maddy failed to hear. At this point, Brittany knocked and came in.

"Morning, Britt."

"Afternoon," corrected Atrus. "How are you feeling?"

"Better than I was a little earlier," replied Brittany with a sigh. "What's the time?"

"Three twelve," replied Atrus. "Jordan should be along soon."

"Good night?" asked Rachel. Brittany rolled her eyes and sat down.

"Same old. What's a gahrtahvo?"

"A D'ni unit of time," replied Atrus. "Six hours, three minutes surface time."

"Explain?"

"Oh," said Atrus enthusiastically, "It's very simple. Our smallest unit of time is a prorahn. That's about one and a half seconds of your time. Twenty-five prorahntee in a gorahn. Twenty-five gorahntee in a tahvo. Twenty-five tahvotee in a gahrtahvo. Five gahrtahvotee in a yahr. Twenty-nine yahrtee in a vailee. Ten vaileetee in a hahr. Easy."

"I missed the part after 'twenty-five tahvotee'," said Brittany.

"I missed the part after 'it's very simple'," said Rachel.

"I missed it all," said Maddy, "because I'm very hung over."

There was silence for a while, and the three women all ended up falling asleep. Atrus shrugged and read a book for a while until they reappeared.

"Feeling a bit better?"

"Not yet," said Maddy. She casually walked to the toilet and threw up before returning. "Okay, good now."

Brittany stretched. "I think I may be recovered. What's the time now?"

"Four two," replied Atrus. "A little after seven p.m. surface time."

"So Brittany," said Maddy slyly, "when you say that last night was 'same old', what exactly do you mean?"

Brittany blushed. "Shut up."

Conveniently for Brittany, Jordan chose this moment to knock on the front door. The five of them left Releeshahn in a hurry for Tomahna.

Jordan and Rachel got into bed with a sigh.

"Nice party, wasn't it?"

"I don't know," replied Rachel, "I can only remember the first half hour."

Jordan chuckled. "Well, it was a nice thought for them to throw a party for us."

Rachel sighed. "Yeah, I suppose so. I wish I hadn't drunk as much as I did."

"So don't next time."

"Easy for you to say, you gave it up." Rachel paused. "What am I talking about, Jordan?"

"I don't know."

"You're an awesome husband, and I'm lying here implying that it's your fault I have a drinking problem. Which it isn't."

"Settle down, love. I know what you mean."

"If you say so." Rachel rolled over to face Jordan and smiled. "Now go to sleep. It's been a long fortnight."

There are many sophisticated descriptions of D'ni time available on the Internet. For the purposes of this and future stories, I think of D'ni time like so:

One yahr (a D'ni day) is divided into five gahrtahvotee. The beginning of the day is first gahrtahvo or "one zero", and that is the D'ni midnight. Dawn comes at approximately second gahrtahvo. Midday is about halfway through third gahrtahvo, and dusk is fifth gahrtahvo.

When Atrus says that the time is "three twelve", this means that it is twelve tahvotee past third gahrtahvo. There are twenty-five tahvotee in a gahrtahvo.

A quick disclaimer: The lengths and proportions of D'ni time units given in this chapter should be accurate, but the above is the author's best interpretation of how D'ni time is recorded and reported and not necessarily canonical.