Seeing Bina as she rises, the acolytes stop almost as one and offer her a bow and intoned greeting, which she answers with a quiet bow. Then the youths fall into line near the kitchen and begin assembling their trays. Their talk is more muted now, and many a wary glance is thrown at the party. It's not hard to notice that a lot of their attention is focused on Pru and her Night Guard outfit. Pru replies by fixing a level glare on them as she stands.
The rest of the party all quickly finish whatever remains of their meals and stand to follow Bina out. They don't get very far when Pru's wrister chimes.
"Sod it," she whispers as she raises the device to her face. "I knew it had to come sometime." She makes a hushing gesture to the party, puts on a pleasant face, pushes the receive button, and says, "Trenna! Pu'Laru here."
"Pu'Laru!" barks a steely-sounding, masculine voice. "What are you doing? Where in the moss are you?"
Pru chuckles. "Would you believe I'm somewhere on the witch mountain?"
"You're what? Your whole team is in the rack...in pieces...sans you...and you're where? Report!"
Pru licks her lips anxiously. "What have they told you?"
"'They?' You mean your team? One dead, one in a coma, and two in serious condition and barely lucid? Not much, I'd say! All I got was what the punks that brought 'em to the hospital said!"
Pru takes a deep breath. "We...got a call from a watcher. Said a bunch of Blues were taking in a Yangae couple down in the tunnel. We went down, saw the Blues. Drau and Gatch were really in a socket, 'cause they just started shooting at 'em. Don't know if they got anyone, but they scattered, and we went down. Found the main group. Yangae couple and some friends with the Blues. Said there was no problem. The Blues were escorting them. Drau didn't buy it, sodding ass baked one with no call. First blood on us. No call. They fought back, we got planted. Probably deserved it, too. Our bad blood, our loss. End report."
There's a moment of silence, and then the voice in the wrister replies, "That's pretty much what they told us. But I still want to know what you're doing over there!"
Pru glances around at the party and replies, "Investigating. Something's up. Something big. I'm not leaving till I find out more. My blood's on it."
"Alright. I'll want to hear more. And soon!"
"You'll get it. Anything more?"
"Ah, just one more thing. Got any lead on that Luskar woman? High end's getting twitchy!"
"I'm on it, Riz. I'm on a lead! Like I said, something big!"
"You need backup?"
"No! Not yet! I need to work it out. I'm on it!"
"Where on the mountain are you right now?"
"Can't tell you that. Not now. I'll ping it when it's safe."
"You're not in the Temple, are you?"
Pru throws an unconscious glance in Bina's direction. "And why in peat would I be there, Riz?"
"Just pulling you, Pru. Just let us know as soon as you find something. Anything!"
"Got it, Riz! I'm on it! Off!"
Just before Pru pushes the close switch on her wrister, the acolytes break into a vibrant pre-meal prayer song.
16 comments:
Mon'Fargret looks surprised and gets close enough to talk to Pru as they prepare to leave. "You handled that rather well. The question is whether your friends will listen if things turn out in a way that should elicit cooperation from all. If what Mey has found is true, I hope to be able to count on our civilized friends. Do you think they caught the singing at the end? If so, it could change the calculus of things."
"I thank the lord for his understanding," says Pru. "You can bet they heard that noise. And they're probably thinking that I'm either a prisoner here or being mind-screwed." She looks at Bina. "I know I would!"
Nekshi's close enough to catch the exchange.
"Do you know if your friends were behind the attack on my apartment last night? I don't believe it myself, since only mercenaries were used. Perhaps you know something about a shadowy criminal enterprise in the city."
"That was your apartment?" asks Pru. "Why am I not surprised? I only know that it happened. My team went there to investigate, and that's why we were in the area when we were told the Blues had you down in the tunnel. You know, we thought they hit your place! Did you see them? The ones that attacked you, I mean."
"I know who it was," says Lirassa. "I don't know her real name, but she's the Big Guy's favorite attack donnar."
Pru's eyes widen to their limit. "Oh, boy..."
Zeton continues to soak in all the information around him; the cultural aspects of the temple, the nuggets of knowledge about Pru, Mey and the dream everyone had last night.
After Pru's call he wonders if there are any spies in the Temple keeping tabs on them. Zeton quickly catches himself, realizing his thoughts will most likely be picked up by those around him. He issues a silent apology for doubting the security of the Temple and quickly asks a question.
"Bina, are we meant to meet someone for a briefing?"
"Yes," she replies, a bit surprised at the acknowledgment. "I'm told they'll call us when they're ready. For now we're free."
Widjy waits until she is sure the group is leaving, tapping her nails in time to the singing as she finishes her fungus, gathers up the dirty crockery into neat stacks for the cafeteria crew, sweeps up all the crumbs and adds them to her fungus bucket and checks her bag to make sure she still has her knives with her. She will fall in behind when they leave the cafeteria.
Bina says, "So...do you want to go back to your rooms, or would you like me to show you around the temple complex? Or would you prefer to use one of the meeting rooms?"
"I would greatly appreciate a small tour of the Temple with the free time we have, but I'm not sure how the rest of the group may feel about that idea." Zeton looks at the rest of the group with an inquisitive eye.
"We might even catch up with Mey and see how she's doing."
Pru gives Zeton a blank look. "She might not want us to."
"She doesn't," replies Bina. "She's feeling very ashamed and confused right now."
"Now I'm really worried," says Lirassa under furrowed brows. "Let's go."
"Yes, I for one would welcome a tour, being not quite a tourist this time."
She nudges Zeton's arm, "This could make a good story in itself. I doubt many alien visitors are allowed 'behind the scenes'."
"To be honest Nekshi, I was thinking the same thing. I'm not sure if my editors would like it, but I won't worry about that just now."
Zeton smiles and turns toward Bina. Giving a slight bow in her direction Zeton says, "Lirassa is right, please lead on."
Bina's eyes light up. "Right, then! Follow me!" She turns and heads toward the dormitory's main entrance with an easy, carefree stride (apparently happy to be needed for a change).
Two acolytes appear as if from nowhere and immediately fall in behind her.
"I can't believe I'm doing this," says Pru under her breath when the party starts to move out.
"Oh, come on!" retorts Lirassa. "Admit it! You've always been curious about this place!"
Pru gives her a surprised look. "Well, yeah, but..." Then she chortles and smiles. "Well, yeah!"
Zeton follows Bina with the rest of the group as she leads the way. Switching from Yangae to Her-Galad Zeton asks Bina a question, "Bina, if you don't mind, could you please tell us a bit about yourself and how you came to be here, while you tell us about the Temple? I would be greatly interested in hearing about you and your story. I might even be able to include it with my piece, with your permission of course."
Bina looks at Zeton and smiles. "There's really not much to tell. I grew up in Gül'a. Pretty ordinary, really."
"Working class, eh?" observes Pru, raising her nose a bit.
"That's right," replies Bina evenly. "My father works in one of the factories. My mother is a shopkeeper. I never thought about my future at all till my school sent me to do acolyte service."
"And it just hit you?" asks Pru.
Bina gives her a wary smile. "Yeah, that's it. It just hit me. I knew I belonged here, so I asked my parents to let me serve again. I guess Mountain-Eye saw something. She took me on as one of her attendants, and then she offered to train me personally, so here I am!"
"You mean you never went to the Witch...er, the Main Temple?" asks Pru with surprise.
"No, I didn't. I was taught by Mountain-Eye herself as an apprentice. And I really wish you'd stop using that word. I don't curse people!"
"Sorry," says Pru. "I was brought up with that word. Old habits die hard."
"What about your friend?" asks Lirassa.
"Keil'i? Or should I say 'Glowing-Hill'? She's originally from the Hedeman refugee colony over in Fasion space, same as Mountain-Eye. Her family's actually pretty rich. Now they live in one of the core colonies, but she came to Lyranell because she wanted to follow Mountain-Eye's path. But she did it all proper, as she'll happily tell you."
"She trained at the Main Temple?" asks Pru.
"She trained at THE Main Temple. As in on Gotheia." Bina chuckles. "That's probably why she's so much better at this than I am."
"Jealous?" asks Pru with a smirk.
Bina smirks back. "She's good with spirits, Pru, but she's what you would call a 'seed on a rock' with people. Especially Yangae." She stops and leans close to Pru's face. "That's where I come in!"
Pru laughs and gives her a playful slap on the shoulder. "You've got class! I'll give you that!"
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