Under Two Moons - Chapter 28
Chapter 28.
We'd been eating dinner for a short while when Carys came rushing in and joined us.
“I finally convinced the dessert cook to make Meecham cookies!” she said. “She said if people liked them, she'd make more for the party on the weekend.”
“Wait until you taste them,” Morna told our new friends. “They're the best.”
Carys left again, but just to get a plate of food. Then she sat down next to Blane. I had to find a way to let them know that we would be meeting with Madoc in the lounge after dinner. Meanwhile, I listened to the conversations around me.
I heard Holt ask Rani to go to the party with him, and that made me smile. I'd had a feeling she liked him.
Donal and Helga were talking about an invention he'd been working on. Try as he might, he couldn't determine what possible use it could have. It didn't do anything besides spin some blades around in a circle within a metal frame.
“Is it anything like a windmill?,” she asked.
He considered that and replied, “The blades of a windmill are much larger and wooden. They're moved by the wind, but you might have a point. Only this works the other way, instead of wind moving the blades, the smaller and rounder metal blades move the air!”
“And considering that there isn't even a breeze in this cavern, that might be very useful here,” she said.
Katya and Talia hadn't joined us that evening. Instead they were eating with Niko and a woman who looked like Talia, that is, rather pretty with huge dark eyes and long wavy black hair, but she chattered away, using her hands, just as Katya often did. Talia used her hands when she spoke, too, come to think of it. I decided she must be their mother.
Carys rose at one point and said, “They've brought out the cookies. I'll go get some for all of us.”
“I'll help you,” I promptly said. As we walked to the food tables, I told her “Madoc wants to meet with you, Blane and me after dinner. In the lounge.”
She nodded. “Blane told me that he told him something about that when they saw each other during the afternoon. Do you know what it's about?”
“Yes,” I replied, looking around to see if anyone was listening to us. I saw several pairs of eyes on us. “I can't tell you more right now, but it's important.”
We each filled plates with enough of the cookies for everyone eating with us and brought them back to our table. Our friends fell on them as if they hadn't just eaten a huge dinner. I watched their faces carefully. After we'd been raving about the cookies for days, I hoped the actuality met their expectations.
But one by one, they broke out in grins and murmurs of appreciation. “You're right!” “These are delicious!” and similar comments were heard around our table and all of the others. I knew that would make Carys happy.
“I think we'll be seeing these at the party,” I said with my own grin.
“Speaking of which,” Morna said, her mouth full of cookie. She wiped her lips with her napkin and went on. “What are we going to wear?”
“I was wondering about that earlier, but Rani says people wear all sorts of clothes, even their coveralls,” I told her.
“I'd rather not,” Carys said, frowning.
“Me, neither,” Morna agreed, as I knew she would. “Can't you make us something?” she asked me. “Like the dresses we wore to Glynis' wedding.” There was a pleading tone to her voice that I hadn't heard from her in a long time.
“There isn't any fabric I can use,” I argued. “And you know how long it took for us to make those dresses! I might be able to dress up one of your blouses or something, but that's all. Anyway, you haven't tried on the coverall I fixed for you,” I added to distract her. So, of course, after dinner, she insisted on going back to the dorm with me to try it on.
As she changed into it, I wondered how I'd get away to meet Madoc. I finally decided I could just say that's what I was doing, knowing that she'd send me on my way with a teasing smile, thinking, as we wanted every to, that it was a lovers' tryst.
“Oh, Nissa, how do I look?” she asked, twirling around before me.
It was still just a coverall, still the awful green color, but it did fit her a lot better. She actually looked sweet in it. “That's much more attractive!” I told her.
“Thank you!” she exclaimed and engulfed me in a big hug.
“Anything for my little sister,” I said. “You know that. But right now, I have to leave. I'm meeting Madoc.”
“In the lounge?” she asked, with the cheeky grin I expected.
I nodded.
“Go have fun,” she said. “And tell him he has my permission to kiss you.”
“Morna!” I admonished her, but I was laughing when I left.
I hurried along the corridors to the lounge, hoping I wouldn't meet anyone on the way. When I arrived, I saw Blane and Carys sitting very close together on the couch that Madoc and I had shared before. He was talking quietly with Niko near the entryway, but he turned and smiled when I entered.
“Sorry I'm late,” I told him with what I thought was a seductive smile.
He motioned for me to follow him between the pieces of furniture in the center of the room, away from prying eyes. The room had walls that met at odd angles, and was filled with groupings of couches and low tables. We found an alcove, hidden from casual sight. It wasn't long before Blane and Carys joined us.
We spoke in whispers. Madoc and I explained what we knew and how we believed that we wouldn't be allowed to leave the Stronghold even when we accomplished what we wanted to, and what the people here wanted of us.
“It was the way Rani said 'no one leaves the Stronghold' that sent shivers up my spine,” I said.
“But Col takes trips all the time. And that couple we met in Osterbruk, they are allowed to leave,” Blane argued.
“They're trusted members of the community and they're expected to return,” Madoc pointed out.
“So what are we going to do?” Carys asked.
“We need to plan a way out, then look for an opportunity to put it into action,” Madoc said.
“But we're all working in different areas on different projects,” Blane said.
“That was done purposely, wasn't it?” I asked, and they all seemed to agree.
“Blane, you're starting something new tomorrow,” Madoc said.
“Do you think it has anything to do with...” I stopped myself before I said 'Dulno Lake'. Neither Blane nor Carys knew about that expedition.
“It's alright,” Madoc said. “I think they should know about that too,” he told me.
So we explained all we knew about what was being planned.
“And the yellow coveralls I'll start working on tomorrow are also probably for the expedition,” I said.
“Do you think we can use the expedition in some way to escape?” Carys asked. “I mean, I like it here. I'm learning a great deal from the cooks, but I don't want to stay here forever.”
“That's the way we all feel,” I told her. “But Madoc and I aren't certain there is a way to use the expedition to enable us to leave. And I've been wondering if we could find our way back to the factory without Col.”
“I think I remember the way,” Blane said.
“But Col knows more than the route we should take,” Madoc pointed out. “Nissa's right. It will be even more difficult going back without him.”
“Madoc, should we also tell them about Toren?” I asked.
He sighed and nodded. “It seems that he hasn't lost all of his powers as he claims.”
“I think he uses that as an excuse so that Oskar will look the other way when Toren goes after the young women here.”
“Aye, that's quite possible,” Madoc said. “In any event, he can use his mind the way we can, and he can sense when we do.”
“Oh!” Carys said, putting her hand to her mouth.
“But we've been refraining from doing that,” Blane said.
“And we should continue to,” Madoc told him. “I know there'll be times when you're tempted, but we can't do it. Please let Donal and Morna know.”
“How much should we tell them?” Carys asked.
“I think you can tell them everything. They can both be discrete if they have to,” Madoc told her.
He and I left the alcove first, walking one way around a corner and a couple of unoccupied couches toward the doorway of the lounge. We held hands and tried to give each other longing looks. We even stopped near the entryway and kissed.
Blane and Carys took a different route from our meeting spot, emerging quite a distance from where we were. They pretended to not even notice us and left the lounge before we did. In any event, there weren't many people in the lounge that night. We didn't see Mena or any of her friends.
Madoc walked me back to my dorm. On the way, I asked him what he knew about the colors of the walls in the corridors. “Surely they mean something, but for the life of me, I can't imagine what that is.”
“I had noticed that many of them are a light blue, and then there's an odd red or green one. I think you're right and there's some significance,” he mused. “Perhaps I'll ask Niko tomorrow.”
“He seems very nice, and I like his daughters,” I said.
“They're a wonderful family. His wife is one of the engineers but she's also interested in books on the stars.”
“Like the one you have?”
Madoc nodded. “She's certain that's how the stars look from lands far to the north and east of here, practically halfway around the world.”
“But she doesn't know the language?”
He shook his head. “The best guess anyone has made is that it's Fartekana, an ancient language used in one of the countries in those lands.”
“Have you talked to Sobel? Does he have any other books in that language?” I asked further.
“I planned to ask him tomorrow. It seems minor compared to everything else,” he said.
“But it's one of the reasons we came here,” I said.
He nodded. “I'll see what I can find out tomorrow. Right now, get some sleep. We'll need all of our wits about us over the next few days.”
I nodded, then kissed him good-night and entered the dorm. At first I thought that Morna was asleep, but once I'd washed and changed into my nightgown, she asked, “Did he kiss you?”
“You're such a romantic!” I told her. “And, yes, he did. It wasn't the first time, either, you know.”
“Oh!”
“Morna, we're becoming closer, Madoc and I, so why shouldn't we kiss?” I asked.
“No reason,” she said.
Carys came in at that point and I wondered if my sister would interrogate her about Blane, but I suppose I'd satisfied her sense of romance for the night. She murmured, “Good-night,” and that was the last we heard from her.
“I'll find an opportunity to talk to her in the morning,” I told Carys, and she went to get ready for bed. I slid under my sheets and tried to get some sleep as Madoc had advised, but it wasn't easy. It seemed that each night I had more to worry about.
I remembered our travels and how I'd kept watch with Madoc almost every night. That always helped me deal with the worries I had then. I wouldn't say that the dangers to us were any greater now, but I was at least as worried about the future as I had been then.
Eventually, I fell asleep. When I woke, my worries were still with me but they didn't seem as unsurmountable. Working together, we would find a way to get home.
It was one of those mornings where I woke Morna. “Get up sleepyhead,” I told her. “There's a delicious breakfast waiting for you in the refectory, and I know you want to show off your coverall.”
That got her up. “Oh, yes!” she said. “I can't wait until Gita sees me in it!”
There was no one else in the bathing room when the two of us washed and dressed. I decided it might be the only time I'd be able to talk to my sister in private. “Morna, I found out yesterday that they expect us to stay here,” I told her.
“What? Never go home?” She was astonished and rather upset.
“We're going to find a way to leave, but not for a few days,” I told her. “Meanwhile, it's very important that no one, and I mean no one, learns about how we can use our minds.”
“I know.”
“No, you really don't. I also found out yesterday that Toren can sense it if we do,” I told her and watched her face as the importance of that sank in.
“Oh!” She stopped what she was doing, trying to absorb everything I'd told her. “Oh!” she said again.
We'd been eating dinner for a short while when Carys came rushing in and joined us.
“I finally convinced the dessert cook to make Meecham cookies!” she said. “She said if people liked them, she'd make more for the party on the weekend.”
“Wait until you taste them,” Morna told our new friends. “They're the best.”
Carys left again, but just to get a plate of food. Then she sat down next to Blane. I had to find a way to let them know that we would be meeting with Madoc in the lounge after dinner. Meanwhile, I listened to the conversations around me.
I heard Holt ask Rani to go to the party with him, and that made me smile. I'd had a feeling she liked him.
Donal and Helga were talking about an invention he'd been working on. Try as he might, he couldn't determine what possible use it could have. It didn't do anything besides spin some blades around in a circle within a metal frame.
“Is it anything like a windmill?,” she asked.
He considered that and replied, “The blades of a windmill are much larger and wooden. They're moved by the wind, but you might have a point. Only this works the other way, instead of wind moving the blades, the smaller and rounder metal blades move the air!”
“And considering that there isn't even a breeze in this cavern, that might be very useful here,” she said.
Katya and Talia hadn't joined us that evening. Instead they were eating with Niko and a woman who looked like Talia, that is, rather pretty with huge dark eyes and long wavy black hair, but she chattered away, using her hands, just as Katya often did. Talia used her hands when she spoke, too, come to think of it. I decided she must be their mother.
Carys rose at one point and said, “They've brought out the cookies. I'll go get some for all of us.”
“I'll help you,” I promptly said. As we walked to the food tables, I told her “Madoc wants to meet with you, Blane and me after dinner. In the lounge.”
She nodded. “Blane told me that he told him something about that when they saw each other during the afternoon. Do you know what it's about?”
“Yes,” I replied, looking around to see if anyone was listening to us. I saw several pairs of eyes on us. “I can't tell you more right now, but it's important.”
We each filled plates with enough of the cookies for everyone eating with us and brought them back to our table. Our friends fell on them as if they hadn't just eaten a huge dinner. I watched their faces carefully. After we'd been raving about the cookies for days, I hoped the actuality met their expectations.
But one by one, they broke out in grins and murmurs of appreciation. “You're right!” “These are delicious!” and similar comments were heard around our table and all of the others. I knew that would make Carys happy.
“I think we'll be seeing these at the party,” I said with my own grin.
“Speaking of which,” Morna said, her mouth full of cookie. She wiped her lips with her napkin and went on. “What are we going to wear?”
“I was wondering about that earlier, but Rani says people wear all sorts of clothes, even their coveralls,” I told her.
“I'd rather not,” Carys said, frowning.
“Me, neither,” Morna agreed, as I knew she would. “Can't you make us something?” she asked me. “Like the dresses we wore to Glynis' wedding.” There was a pleading tone to her voice that I hadn't heard from her in a long time.
“There isn't any fabric I can use,” I argued. “And you know how long it took for us to make those dresses! I might be able to dress up one of your blouses or something, but that's all. Anyway, you haven't tried on the coverall I fixed for you,” I added to distract her. So, of course, after dinner, she insisted on going back to the dorm with me to try it on.
As she changed into it, I wondered how I'd get away to meet Madoc. I finally decided I could just say that's what I was doing, knowing that she'd send me on my way with a teasing smile, thinking, as we wanted every to, that it was a lovers' tryst.
“Oh, Nissa, how do I look?” she asked, twirling around before me.
It was still just a coverall, still the awful green color, but it did fit her a lot better. She actually looked sweet in it. “That's much more attractive!” I told her.
“Thank you!” she exclaimed and engulfed me in a big hug.
“Anything for my little sister,” I said. “You know that. But right now, I have to leave. I'm meeting Madoc.”
“In the lounge?” she asked, with the cheeky grin I expected.
I nodded.
“Go have fun,” she said. “And tell him he has my permission to kiss you.”
“Morna!” I admonished her, but I was laughing when I left.
I hurried along the corridors to the lounge, hoping I wouldn't meet anyone on the way. When I arrived, I saw Blane and Carys sitting very close together on the couch that Madoc and I had shared before. He was talking quietly with Niko near the entryway, but he turned and smiled when I entered.
“Sorry I'm late,” I told him with what I thought was a seductive smile.
He motioned for me to follow him between the pieces of furniture in the center of the room, away from prying eyes. The room had walls that met at odd angles, and was filled with groupings of couches and low tables. We found an alcove, hidden from casual sight. It wasn't long before Blane and Carys joined us.
We spoke in whispers. Madoc and I explained what we knew and how we believed that we wouldn't be allowed to leave the Stronghold even when we accomplished what we wanted to, and what the people here wanted of us.
“It was the way Rani said 'no one leaves the Stronghold' that sent shivers up my spine,” I said.
“But Col takes trips all the time. And that couple we met in Osterbruk, they are allowed to leave,” Blane argued.
“They're trusted members of the community and they're expected to return,” Madoc pointed out.
“So what are we going to do?” Carys asked.
“We need to plan a way out, then look for an opportunity to put it into action,” Madoc said.
“But we're all working in different areas on different projects,” Blane said.
“That was done purposely, wasn't it?” I asked, and they all seemed to agree.
“Blane, you're starting something new tomorrow,” Madoc said.
“Do you think it has anything to do with...” I stopped myself before I said 'Dulno Lake'. Neither Blane nor Carys knew about that expedition.
“It's alright,” Madoc said. “I think they should know about that too,” he told me.
So we explained all we knew about what was being planned.
“And the yellow coveralls I'll start working on tomorrow are also probably for the expedition,” I said.
“Do you think we can use the expedition in some way to escape?” Carys asked. “I mean, I like it here. I'm learning a great deal from the cooks, but I don't want to stay here forever.”
“That's the way we all feel,” I told her. “But Madoc and I aren't certain there is a way to use the expedition to enable us to leave. And I've been wondering if we could find our way back to the factory without Col.”
“I think I remember the way,” Blane said.
“But Col knows more than the route we should take,” Madoc pointed out. “Nissa's right. It will be even more difficult going back without him.”
“Madoc, should we also tell them about Toren?” I asked.
He sighed and nodded. “It seems that he hasn't lost all of his powers as he claims.”
“I think he uses that as an excuse so that Oskar will look the other way when Toren goes after the young women here.”
“Aye, that's quite possible,” Madoc said. “In any event, he can use his mind the way we can, and he can sense when we do.”
“Oh!” Carys said, putting her hand to her mouth.
“But we've been refraining from doing that,” Blane said.
“And we should continue to,” Madoc told him. “I know there'll be times when you're tempted, but we can't do it. Please let Donal and Morna know.”
“How much should we tell them?” Carys asked.
“I think you can tell them everything. They can both be discrete if they have to,” Madoc told her.
He and I left the alcove first, walking one way around a corner and a couple of unoccupied couches toward the doorway of the lounge. We held hands and tried to give each other longing looks. We even stopped near the entryway and kissed.
Blane and Carys took a different route from our meeting spot, emerging quite a distance from where we were. They pretended to not even notice us and left the lounge before we did. In any event, there weren't many people in the lounge that night. We didn't see Mena or any of her friends.
Madoc walked me back to my dorm. On the way, I asked him what he knew about the colors of the walls in the corridors. “Surely they mean something, but for the life of me, I can't imagine what that is.”
“I had noticed that many of them are a light blue, and then there's an odd red or green one. I think you're right and there's some significance,” he mused. “Perhaps I'll ask Niko tomorrow.”
“He seems very nice, and I like his daughters,” I said.
“They're a wonderful family. His wife is one of the engineers but she's also interested in books on the stars.”
“Like the one you have?”
Madoc nodded. “She's certain that's how the stars look from lands far to the north and east of here, practically halfway around the world.”
“But she doesn't know the language?”
He shook his head. “The best guess anyone has made is that it's Fartekana, an ancient language used in one of the countries in those lands.”
“Have you talked to Sobel? Does he have any other books in that language?” I asked further.
“I planned to ask him tomorrow. It seems minor compared to everything else,” he said.
“But it's one of the reasons we came here,” I said.
He nodded. “I'll see what I can find out tomorrow. Right now, get some sleep. We'll need all of our wits about us over the next few days.”
I nodded, then kissed him good-night and entered the dorm. At first I thought that Morna was asleep, but once I'd washed and changed into my nightgown, she asked, “Did he kiss you?”
“You're such a romantic!” I told her. “And, yes, he did. It wasn't the first time, either, you know.”
“Oh!”
“Morna, we're becoming closer, Madoc and I, so why shouldn't we kiss?” I asked.
“No reason,” she said.
Carys came in at that point and I wondered if my sister would interrogate her about Blane, but I suppose I'd satisfied her sense of romance for the night. She murmured, “Good-night,” and that was the last we heard from her.
“I'll find an opportunity to talk to her in the morning,” I told Carys, and she went to get ready for bed. I slid under my sheets and tried to get some sleep as Madoc had advised, but it wasn't easy. It seemed that each night I had more to worry about.
I remembered our travels and how I'd kept watch with Madoc almost every night. That always helped me deal with the worries I had then. I wouldn't say that the dangers to us were any greater now, but I was at least as worried about the future as I had been then.
Eventually, I fell asleep. When I woke, my worries were still with me but they didn't seem as unsurmountable. Working together, we would find a way to get home.
It was one of those mornings where I woke Morna. “Get up sleepyhead,” I told her. “There's a delicious breakfast waiting for you in the refectory, and I know you want to show off your coverall.”
That got her up. “Oh, yes!” she said. “I can't wait until Gita sees me in it!”
There was no one else in the bathing room when the two of us washed and dressed. I decided it might be the only time I'd be able to talk to my sister in private. “Morna, I found out yesterday that they expect us to stay here,” I told her.
“What? Never go home?” She was astonished and rather upset.
“We're going to find a way to leave, but not for a few days,” I told her. “Meanwhile, it's very important that no one, and I mean no one, learns about how we can use our minds.”
“I know.”
“No, you really don't. I also found out yesterday that Toren can sense it if we do,” I told her and watched her face as the importance of that sank in.
“Oh!” She stopped what she was doing, trying to absorb everything I'd told her. “Oh!” she said again.