"First I would show you the gift left for us by your Aari, for that was the name of the Companion in the scriptures, though it is too holy to speak of in the normal course of events."
She giggled. "I"m sorry. I think he would find it funny that his name is too holy to speak. Even after the Khleevi hurt him so badly, once he recovered a little he had a sense of humor-he was always dressing up in these weird outfits that concealed that he didn"t have a horn. They-the Khleevi-took it from him and... and..."
Her hand closed around the little disk at her throat and she found she couldn"t go on. The priest patted her shoulder and then walked behind the statue and knelt to show her something just below water level.
She in turn knelt and peered at it.
"Even when the evil men poisoned our lake, this water stayed pure because of this. If your friends had not been here to purify it, eventually the lake would have become pure again because of this. The Companion gave us this of himself so that we would never again face dying of thirst because all of our water was tainted."
He was indicating a small piece of what could only be horn, just a sliver. For Aari to do that to himself when the Khleevi had used it as a way to torture him-his horn only recently grown... Acorna shuddered. Although she herself had done something similar on Rushima, her own horn had never been threatened as Aari"s had. She reached out but it was too far. So she lay on her stomach and stretched out over the water to touch it. Instantly she felt not just the horn, but his arms warm and strong around her, his lips on her face, his horn against her own. She saw him in all of his favorite postures, doing all of the things she remembered so well, his face set in those beloved, wry expressions as if he were standing before her.
She didn"t want to move, ever again. She just wanted to stay
there where she could feel him and touch him. To stand up would not be to rejoin the universe, but to lose contact again with the most precious person in it.
The old priest"s finger tapping her shoulder caused her to stare stubbornly at the horn, trying to hang on to the images of Aari the horn invoked.
But the old man was used to disturbing visionaries. His efforts were aided by RK, who yowled at Acorna and sank his claws into her hip.
Tears rolled down her face to join the artesian waters the horn purified in perpetuity. She turned back to them, pulling herself back across the watery chasm, breaking contact, losing Aari all over again.
The priest indicated something in the wall behind them, behind the statue, beyond the water. It was a huge chrysoberyl. But the priest spun it on its base and she saw that the back of it had been hollowed out. Within it lay a black box, the sort that recorded the last moments of crashed ships, the computer archives that left a record for those finding the wreckage. "He meant this for you," the old priest was saying, oblivious to her rebellious and angry mood. "It isn"t very pretty, but I thought it might be one of those gadgets you off-worlders like. Something that has a message?"
She clasped it to her. "Yes, a message. Yes, oh, yes." Now she couldn"t wait to leave this place, to return to the Condor or the Balakiire, wherever she could decode the message he"d left for her.
Fortunately, this time when she emerged from the depths of the Temple with the priest and RK, she saw a stream of people, mostly Linyaari, coming from the foliage where flitters could be docked.
"Mission accomplished, padre," Captain MacDonald told the priest. "We got every lake, river, stream, well, and mud puddle in the known world."
Neeva said, "The people who saw what we were doing asked that we thank you for thinking of their welfare. They seemed surprised that someone should do so."
Becker said, "I guess this kinda blows the Linyaari cover about the horns not doing the healing and unpolluting."
"No harm done," Nadhari told him. "My people are not a s.p.a.ce-traveling nation who can tell others what has occurred here."
"You say "we." I guess that means you"re staying to be the queen mother, like the high priest said, doesn"t it? Hafiz is going to be really p.i.s.sed."
"I know that, but I have to, Jonas. Comfort Hafiz by telling him that we will be happy to keep the Wats with us. We can always use good guards."
"That ought to make the old man almost happy enough to make up for losing you," Becker said, giving her a hug.
When good-byes had been said all around, the high priest made a gesture and a procession of priests bearing the largest and finest of the cat"s-eye chrysoberyls began handing them to the guests and conveying them to the flitters.
"But these are your sacred stones!" Acorna said.
"They are our gifts to you," the priest said.
"They"re worth a fortune. Hafiz would buy these from you for enough funds to do anything for the planet you wanted done."
The old priest smiled. "You and your friends have already done what I wanted for the planet. There is not enough money in existence to repay you, but if these may be used to help rebuild the homes of your people, then take them with our blessing. The Mulzarah is in agreement, as are her regents."
"Miw-Sher?" Acorna asked, and the girl nodded so gravely that Acorna set down the precious black box and the chrysoberyls and knelt to give her one last hug. Then Grimla needed a pat, and then the kittens had to be produced one at a time for cuddles.
By the time Acorna, the black box, all the chrysoberyls any of them could carry, Becker, Mac, and RK were back aboard the Condor, she was as happy to leave Makahomia as she was sorry to leave Nadhari and her new friends.
They promised that when the cat guardian population had been replenished, the Linyaari might come to them once more to claim kittens. In case the source of the elusive pahaantiyirs, which the aagroni averred were not precisely the same species as the Temple guardians, was never located, the Temple cats would be good subst.i.tutes.
Finally the Condor was heading back for MOO in a comfortable convoy with the Balakiire and the Arkansas Traveler. Captain MacDonald said he thought it likely Hafiz might be able to use a tractor or two, and joined them.
The bridge was quiet. RK was grooming Becker"s hand with his tongue while Becker groomed the cat"s coat with a brush. Mac was beating himself at five-dimensional computer chess.
Acorna showed Mac and Becker the box and said, "I wish to play the message."
Becker said, "No can do. Not on this ship. That"s rigged for some sort of antique pre-Linyaari jobbie and I"ve got all Federation stuff on board now."
This had not occurred to Acorna. She tried to keep the bitter disappointment from her voice as she said, "Oh."
Mac spoke up. "I can play it, however. I have modifications that allow me to interpret the messages from such boxes." Acorna handed it to him.
Becker said, "This is what the priest gave you from Aari, right?"
"Yes, Captain."
"Come on, cat. Let"s leave the young folks alone. If there"s anything in it you want to share, Acorna, let me know. But I think you should be private with it." "Thank you, Captain."
Mac already had the box open and inserted the modifications he had made to his right hand into the box. To Acorna"s amazement, when Mac spoke again, it was in Aari"s voice.
"Kh.o.r.n.ya," he said, "if you can hear this, then you have already come to Makahomia and fulfilled the mission you were destined for there. I know about this because I have been doing much time sliding with Grimalkin, who is one of the Friends. Unlike the others, Grimalkin is good, extremely empathetic, and uses his knowledge to help others. He began the cat race on Makahomia, and we go now to where the planet will need pahaantiyirs.
"I am sorry I cannot be with you right now. But in the course of all of this time sliding and traveling, Grimalkin says there will be a moment when I will be able to save Laarye from starving to death during the Khleevi invasion without damaging other lives or changing events that must occur. I have to do this if I can. I hope you understand that, and that I will return to you as soon as I can.
"I miss you very, very much, Kh.o.r.n.ya. I leave you this message so you will know that, and know that I love you and feel pain worse than the Khleevi gave me to be so far from you, to know you must be trying to find me. When I have saved Laarye, he and I will be coming home to your time and you and I can begin our life together again. Until then, my Kh.o.r.n.ya, my spirit lives with you and I will not be whole again until we are together once more."
That was the end of the message. Mac shut off and rewound it, then asked, "Do you want me to play it again?" in his own voice.
"Yes," she said, still hearing Aari"s voice and mulling over his words as she looked out the viewport into the vastness of s.p.a.ce and wondered where exactly pahaantiyirs came from, and how long it would take to get there in the Condor.
Glossary of Terms and Proper Names in the Acorna Universe
aagroni-Linyaari name for a vocation that is a combination of ecologist, agriculturalist, botanist, and biologist. Aagroni are responsible for terraforming new planets for settlement as well as maintaining the well-being of populated planets.
Aari-a Linyaari of the Nyaarya clan, captured by the Khleevi during the invasion of Vhiliinyar, tortured, and left for dead on the abandoned planet. He"s Maati"s older brother. Aari survived and was rescued and restored to his people by Jonas Becker and Roadkill. But Aari"s differences, the physical and psychological scars left behind by his adventures, make it difficult for him to fit in among the Linyaari.
Aarlii-a Linyaari survey team member, firstborn daughter of Captain Yaniriin.
Aarkiiyi-member of the Linyaari survey team on Vhiliinyar.
Acorna-a unicorn-like humanoid discovered as an infant by three human miners -Calum, Gill, and Rafik. She has the power to heal and purify with her horn. Her uniqueness has already shaken up the human galaxy, especially the planet Kezdet. She"s now fully grown and changing the lives of her own people as well. Among her own people, she is known as Kornya.