James felt Lilly lay next to him. He pulled her close and ran his fingers along the grooves. There was nothing in them. "Lilly, are you okay?""Yes James. Are you okay?"
"I don"t want to stay here."
"The storm still rages, so we cannot leave yet. We are safe here, so try to sleep okay?"
"Okay."
He lay still for a long time, waiting for her to fall asleep. When he thought her asleep he felt his way down the hall where they came in. Now he could hear the storm. It sounded horrible. Branches were snapping and the very door itself seemed to shudder. He started back down the hall, but then the wall fell away and he didn"t know where to go. Falling to his knees he hung his head in despair. A small, but gentle touch to his sleeved arm brought his head up. The grip tightened and pulled him to his feet. He followed the gentle pull until it stopped. His foot b.u.mped into Lilly"s.
Lying next to Lilly again, he put one arm around her. She moved closer to him, a small smile on her lips. James kissed her forehead and fell asleep. When he woke up, Lilly was already awake and collecting several jars.
"Morning, James. Sleep well?"
"Yes...Does...Ponderosa need help this morning?"
"She just needs a few things before we leave." Lilly picked up one more jar then headed for the dark corner.
"Lilly, wait!"
She turned. "What is it?"
"It"s just...the fire...and the...child?"
Lilly smiled slightly. "It"ll be all right. I"ll be right back." She disappeared into the darkness. James started to change clothes when she came back out. "Ponderosa wants you to keep those."
"But, I..."
"James, there is no use arguing with what Ponderosa says. Come, we should be going."
"Thank you, Ponderosa," James said.
There was no response and he looked at Lilly. She smiled sadly. "She says: "You"re welcome"."
"Why...?"
"We need to go now, James. We"ve imposed long enough."
Taking his hand and the torch, she led him out. The torch stick was left and she made sure the door closed tightly before concealing its presence. The air was colder and he was grateful for the warmer clothes. He noticed that Lilly still wore her regular clothes. Her pants had been reduced to knee length shorts and the long sleeve shirt was now sleeveless.
"Aren"t you cold?" James asked.
She shook her head and made sure the covering looked normal before taking his hand and walking away. James walked with her for a while, casting glances in her direction. Something was different and he didn"t know what. The sky was cloudy and cast everything in shadow. Lilly didn"t stop until mid-day. Again she opened the sc.r.a.p of fabric from her pants and handed him several berries and roots. He watched her eat one of the berries then held out her hand. Several small creatures took the rest. Her face lifted and she watched the clouds. James touched her arm to offer her more, but she refused.
"Lilly, what"s wrong?"
"There is much pain in the air." A drop of blood slid down the center groove on her face.
He shifted closer and wiped it away. It was warm and sticky. "We need to get you to a healing tree."
"No, I"m fine."
"Are you crazy? You"re bleeding!"
"Yes I am, but this is normal."
"What are you saying?"
"The blood is to mourn the pa.s.sing of life."
"Does it happen after each death?"
She shook her head. "Only after big storms, or war."
James let the critters come for the rest of the roots and berries in his hand and he wiped away the rest of the blood. "...Last night... in the cave,... you were bleeding much more then."
"Yes. Tears for the three races."
"Three races?"
"Human, Adremedian, and Gerrabella. Each race lost someone." She pulled one knee up and rested her forehead on it. Her eyes closed for a moment before a smile crossed her face. "Beneficia."
"What?"
"A new Adremedian was created today."
"Who"s child?"
Lilly gave him a questioning glance. "What do you mean?"
"Who are the parents?"
"Adremedians don"t have families like Humans do. We are a people of brothers and sisters. Parentage has no meaning to anyone, except me."
"What? Why?"
"My mother was Adremedian, my father Human. All others are pure Adremedian. When one is getting old they go to an Adremedian of the opposite s.e.x to create their replacement. From there they are taught and left to fill in. Parents have no meaning to this people, only the work."
"What about Sapientiis and Patientiam?"
"What about them? They were created to fill the vacancies of two of our own."
"Who created them?"
"Why?"
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"Why? They should be taken care of! They are too young to be on their own."
"Adremedians develop differently than humans do."
"How so?"
"How old did the twins seem to you?"
"Six or seven years."
"According to human time, they are not quite a month old."
"How is that possible?"
"It"s how we were designed. We need to be able to grow quickly and learn our duties well to keep up with demand."
"Then how do you count years?"
"As you humans do."
"Then why don"t you look as old as you are?"
"Younger looks are accepted more than old in regards to healers. The injured are less afraid when they see a younger face. That is also part of the design.… We should be going."
James stood with her and noticed that the small piece of cloth was gone, too. The walk back to the forest still felt uneasy to James. He felt that there was something Lilly wasn"t telling him.
"Who created them?"
"Why?"
"Why?..."
He realized she had evaded answering the question.
"Lilly who created Sapientiis and Patientiam?"
"You"ll take it wrong."
"No I won"t. Who created them?"
She never stopped to look at him, never changed her pace, as he waited for an answer.
"Lilly?"
"Why do you want to know, James?"
"Because, how can you create something and toss it out into the world so easily?"
"It is the Adremedian way."
"Who Lilly?"
"Briar and I."