Despite Tami's best efforts to sabotage their progress, the villagers did eventually succeed in drafting up a plan of action against the Sakkari. No one was sure how a consensus had been reached, but sure enough it was decided that a representative would be sent forward with a message of their demands, as well as of consequences should the sage refuse to meet those demands.
After a short round of voting, as well as some delicately conducted electoral fraud, Tami came out as the surprise victor.
She was nothing if not good at pivoting, and she barreled straight past Nadia – who failed her attempt at playing guard – walking into Cas' hut with a business-like demeanor.
"I can't cover for you much longer," she said with a short scowl down at the blob of gelatin. "I managed to get selected as the representative, but things are quickly rushing out of my hands!" Tami spoke without her usual flourishes and gesticulations, gesturing towards herself in straight lines and awaiting the Sakkari's response with a disappointed expression.
Cas answered as if every word was a stone she had to drag out of a bog. "What is it now, Tami?"
Tami could hear the dejection in her voice, but cut to the point with a cold air. Now was not the time for sympathy. "The villagers want you to stop storing food beyond what your household needs. They're also demanding that you stop attending the Unari departure celebrations.."
"Ok," Cas answered, words curving down in a show of hopelessness.
"It's going to be hard to convince them-" Tami crashed her sentence to a halt. "Wait... did you just say ok?"
"Yes," Cas answered, with the tone of someone rubbing a headache from their temples. "I do have requirements of my own, however."
Tami leaned forward curiously. "I'm listening, though I can't guarantee the elders will accept it."
"They'll have to accept it if they want me to continue making the food," Cas answered dangerously.
Tami paused again, eyes rolling in consideration; her fox-ears curved over to the same direction in a curious display of thought. "I'll... let the elders know that in a more private setting,” she tip-toed over the words carefully. “What are your terms?"
"I want another chance to grow the Oasis. I'll also need another work crew, smaller than last time since the tents are already set up, we just have to move them."
"Is that all?" Tami asked.
"Also... I want ten percent of the surplus food generated by the growth of the Oasis?"
Tami's eyes widened at that, as if surprised at her own shock. "Are you saying you expect to grow the Oasis that much? I mean... you'd have to grow it enough to feed a hundred people if one tenth of it can feed all the Unari."
Cas replied drolly. "No... I expect to grow it enough to feed eighty people. Do you think the elders will accept the deal?" she moved the topic back impatiently.
Tami hesitated. "I... suspect I'll be able to get them to agree."
"Good!" Cas said, obviously forcing the cheer into her voice. "Have the work crew ready by tomorrow, please. I'm eager to forget about about this fiasco, and I'm sure the mob is eager to have the Oasis growing again."
Tami smiled. "You're that confident things will be fixed so quickly."
"I'm certain," Cas said, picking up on enough of Tami's good humor enough to briefly forget about Kari. "It's just a simple water equation, you fix the block, things start working again. I expect to lose a lot of enemies by tomorrow, at least."
Tami spoke with the heir of an expertise. "Oh, I can assure you, I think you’ll find losing enemies is a bit tricker than draining the Oasis. Relationships don't flow like water. They can come from nowhere, especially hatred.”
“What do you mean?” Cas asked.
Tami quibbled. “Well... that mysterious admirer of yours is spreading more bad rumors. They've taken recent events as proof that you're exactly the monster you seem to be.”
Cas exhaled. “Well, Tami, that’s only an issue until I fix the Oasis, isn’t it? And I will fix it.”
Tami riposted her own sigh. “Still... don't you think it'd be good to find out who the person is? They’re certainly persistent. I don’t expect they’ll quiet down no matter how clear your good works become.”
Cas paused, turning the rusty, abandoned tracks of her mind she’d once devoted to conspiring. "What do you think of Nemaris?" she asked, finally.
Tami seemed taken aback by the question. “What do I think? Well, what is there to think? I think he's a nice enough, man. The responsible sort, you know,” she waved her hand with dismissive praise, as if to flag what she thought of those sorts of people through the motion.
Cas t’sked disappointedly. “All that proves is that he’s good at getting people to like him. Frankly, if we’re going to suspect anyone, I’d start with him. You said the person starting the rumors was well connected to the elders, didn’t you? Well, he’s been a thorn ever since I fixed the Oasis, and Kari reported she heard him saying particularly nasty things about me to the other Elders.
Tami took in the information with an air of suspicion. “Forgive me for doubting, but I doubt a child would be invited to a meeting of the elders, much less an Unari, and those meetings are fairly well guarded against listeners-in.”
“If I can trust Kari to do anything, it’s to eavesdrop where she’s not wanted. I trust she heard what she said she did.”
Tami was quick to retort. "Oh, well, even so I wouldn’t blame him for harsh words against you. All of this is happening in his village after all. It'd be a bad look if he took a disinterested stance."
"Hmm…" was all Cas said, obviously losing interest in the conversation. “I think this is a matter for after I grow the Oasis.”
Tami obliged her. "Very well,” she said, smoothing her shawl as she stood. “I think it'd be wise if we started a more thorough investigation sometime, though. The person who's starting these rumors could be anyone in the five villages, not just people who's names we have on hand."
Cas gave a token response. In truth, the rusted tracks of her mind were once again being quickly abandoned because, though she wouldn’t admit it to herself, Cas was in a state of shock regarding the ‘disaster’
That was what she’d termed what that had happened with the tents. "Disaster". The steadily decreasing water level and the associated blame had been a humiliating venture with high stakes. Now that she had Kari and Nadia depending on her; and ever since that ‘disaster’, it felt as if she’d been disemboweled and was limping through life trying to keep her guts inside with a hand.
She just couldn’t muster the energy to think about anything or anyone other than that Oasis.
She should have been running after Kari and consoling the girl, but her body was stiff, trapped by strings that wouldn’t let her move until the weight of failure untangled its paralyzing tendrils from her mind.
Still, though the jumbled mess of thoughts, prompted by Tami’s conversation, circumstance did bring something once distant to the forefront of her mind.
"Korivenna," Cas came upon it suddenly. "Have you heard anything about her recently?"
Tami had just been getting ready to leave. "No... why?"
"It's just, you know Yessina? Kari's sister?"
"That Unari? All I know is that she's been Korina's assistant ever since her ceremony."
"Yes, well," Kari spoke in a low whisper. "We caught her stealing food," she spoke over Tami’s frightened gasp, hurrying to paste over any misunderstandings. "We didn't turn her in, it's just... the girl doesn't seem the rebellious type. Has anyone been able to keep an eye on her?"
Tami thought it over. “I shouldn’t think so. She’s always by Korivenna’s side and, honestly, I haven’t gone to see the apothecary since the Oasis was fixed, not that I visited her much before that – I only ever went to her for medicines."
That set of facts bothered Cas for some reason, though her mind was too full of consideration for the Oasis to pay the subject any more attention.
Although, despite this obvious disinterest, Tami still ventured to request something.
“By the way,” she said simply, stopping at the door.
“Yes?” Cas said.
“After the meeting with the elders. I expect the villagers will be going out to their fields for the harvest. I’d be greatly appreciative it if Nadia would be able to spend the night with me. Spending so long away from her… well, It’s harder than I ever imagined,” she said, with that characteristic smile.
Cas sobered up suddenly, remembering just how much Tami had done to be able to help her, and just how well she’d pretended to disown her own daughter for the sake of currying favor with the village… favor which she only ever used to help her. This lack of consideration bothered Cas.
“Of course,” Cas said, for once putting her whole heart into the agreement, and feeling a little ashamed at having to be asked in the first place.
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Korivenna was In a surprisingly accommodating mood when Kari and Tami finally arrived at her hut. It was unlike her to be so kind, and it was exceedingly rare that she ever invited anyone to her abode, much less to prepare them tea.
It was another strange show of politeness when Korivenna sat the girls down and handed them their cups, remaining silent in order to give Kari the first word.
Kari kept silent, and so Korivenna was forced to give the shocking news without preamble.
...
“What do you mean someone’s trying to kill Cas!?” The clatter of cups and the mess of brown tea-stains went ignored by all present, and Kari stood with a harried look and clenched fists, unable to believe the ever-calm face Korivenna went on with as she took a sip from her cup.
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“I mean exactly what I say.” Korivenna regained her usual annoyance with people as she answered.
As if in demonstration, she reached out a hand and stroked the bulbous top of her pet slime: a small, green blob of gelatin with a sparkling, star-like interior. Unlike Cas, it had no single eye, and it seemed to react simply to the touch, stars bursting brightly within it. “There are many ways to kill a Sakkari,” she continued, reaching out for another stroke of her pet, “a few simple poisons known to us apothecaries. They can be applied with a blade. The Sage even asked me about them during their last visit. Well, no matter that, I happen to know that one of the apothecaries from another village is planning to kill her. I believed you would be someone to tell.”
Kari – briefly shocked from her recent depression – defaulted to her usual attitude of suspicion whenever anyone claimed to be helping her. “Why warn me, though? You’ve never liked Cas.”
Korivenna answered shortly, seeming annoyed at having to explain herself. “I’m telling you precisely so that you can help her live. It would be… difficult for me if the sage was to be killed in a way that only an apothecary could manage. Despite everything, Cas is the town hero… one who’s abilities have become quite indispensable, if I understand,” she gestured to the green ration blocks bulging out Kari’s waist bag.
Kari was a hardened girl however, and not one to trust easily. “Cas isn’t a hero right now,” she retorted. “Everyone hates her.”
“For the moment,” Korivenna aquiesced. “But, like her or not, she makes food. Anyone who kills her is unlikely to find friends no matter the current opinion of the public.”
Kari squinted her eyes. “Why do you want to save her, then? You can just turn in the person who actually did it.”
“I don’t know the exact person, just that another apothecary is involved. I doubt the apothecary in question would admit to the crime, and – considering my well known opinions of that monster – I would be the only suspect. Everyone knows I haven't gotten along with that Sakkari.”
Kari looked suspicious.
“See?” Korivenna pointed to the suspicion as a point of evidence. “Even you suspect me as I help you. Whoever wants to kill her is planning to use this fact against me. She gets to kill the Sakkari, and I'll be there to take the blame. I'd like to prevent that if possible... or at least to have a witness that can speak on my behalf.”
Kari squinted her eyes yet further.
Korivenna sounded annoyed, now. "Oh, pfooey. Come now. If I was planning to kill the Sakkari, do you honestly believe I'd want to warn you about it beforehand? How could that in any way help me? I'm simply an old woman looking for a peaceful life. I don't like that Sakkari precisely because of the excitement she brings, and I'm far from eager to get myself involved with this mess.”
"How do you know about this?" Kari asked.
"They made the mistake of discussing it with Nemaris. I'm always going to his place to complain about his lousy leadership, and I happened to eavesdrop."
Kari, despite being on flat ground, had the face of a tightrope walker precariously balancing on the edge of belief. She stared at the ground as if to steady herself, opinion wavering both ways when a familiar voice chimed in.
“I heard it, too,” Yessina said. “They said that they were planning to kill her tonight, and they were going to kill Nadia, too!” The girl spoke nervously, as if clinging to the extra details for support.
“Why not me?” Kari asked.
Yessina looked confused for a moment, nervous.
Korivenna interrupted the girl sternly. "Well... in any case, I've said my piece. If what I’m saying is true, whoever is planning to kill your Seer is probably departing as we speak.” As she spoke, she gestured outside, and Kari realized with a horror how quickly dusk had fallen. “It might even be too late right now," the woman said with a jesting nature, “at least I’ll have you as an alibi.”
The words barely registered when Kari realized she was already sprinting past the tent flaps onto the shifting dirt outside, the words ‘too late’ ringing through her head as she ventured into the night.
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Moving outside of your own body was a strange feeling. Cas felt like a banana with a hundred pound peel.
As she exited herself, she could feel her body changing. The small figure emerging from the gelatinous mass became a furnace of alchemical reactions, vulture bones scaffolding long wings and stabilizers and rudders until the figure of a living glider gently peeled away from the surface of the now spherical mass.
image [https://i.imgur.com/JuGh7tj.png]
Her power of flight was due more to clever shape design and a little knowledge of physics than it was magic. This also meant her flight was bound by more physical limitations. For instance, the weight limit of ten pounds she had to comply with if she ever wanted to get off the ground.
This meant leaving behind one hundred and fifty pounds of herself whenever she wanted to take to the air. That store of material (she looked back at it from habit) sat as an insensate blob of material, kept from a perfectly spherical shape by the subtle influence of gravity. Otherwise, however, it was almost platonic in form, perfectly translucent and inert except for the star-expanse of glitter that filled its insides.
Cas left it in such a state every night and it had never been disturbed. Should it ever have been discovered, Kari and Nadia were under instructions to say that the great Sage was simply sleeping. Who would know enough to say otherwise, after all? It was a perfectly routine thing, however... she couldn't help feeling a bit ominous this night, as she abandoned most of her body and took to the air.
That ominous feeling was quickly forgotten. The magic of flight had a way of taking your attention.
The world looked quite different from the sky, and her imagination transformed it all the more.
Stiff, semi-fluid wings cut through the cold night air at pace. Without a need for sleep, and lacking any distractions in a quiet village, Cas had made it a nightly habit to fly to the cavern and continue her studies. Lately, she’d failed to maintain that habit. The Oasis’ recent failure had wounded her and she doubted she could have focused on her cavern studies.
An unexpected night gust pressed against her underbelly, and the ground grew a little bit more distant as gravity lost even more meaning. The full moon lit up the world like it was a silvery mid-day for her, stark shadows revealing all the night creatures as they sifted through the sands below.
The recent ambassadorial successes with the elders had buoyed her spirits enough to pick up her old hobbies. In a way, the hardships had helped her. They had forced her to think, and that had been what allowed her to discover the tents as an idea. That would be enough to lift this village out of survival mode, and that would afford her enough time to enact her grander plans.
She banked a little in the air, turning the world like it was a record disk until the village came into view.
A birds’ eye view was a wonderful thing.
From here she could see Oasis, yes, but the altitude also allowed her to notice the features of the land invisible to all those land-dwelling creatures below. She could see the stony plain that supported the villages like a great table-top. She could see it’s rifts and curves and dips and rises.
She could see the contours of the great lake they’d be able to create, spreading for miles out to the north where it would split off like a horseshoe as it dipped around the subtle ridge that cut through the Nemorian fields.
She saw the great city that grew around it like a hive of buildings, the harbors that would be necessary to get from one end of the civilization to the other…It was in the future, but that future was just as real! She knew it was possible. She just needed a little bit more time!
Kari especially liked night time flights for this reason.
Being a Sakkari, she was colorblind with excellent night vision, and flying at night was amazing for one who’s biology was suited to it. The lack of color was hardly missed, and the incredible tones of contrast as the silver moon struck across the barren landscape was unlike anything she could have ever imagined. Color? Who needs it!
Her senses allowed her to see all things great and terrible, including the ominous glint of light which was rushing towards her hut.
The light was a steady, static thing that Cas recognized as an object of her own creations and as an omen of bad things.
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Kari felt her ragged breaths trembling her hands. She held the gelatinous sphere in hand. A firm squeeze was all it took before the miniature slime swirled in upon itself and lit up with a soft, purple light, it’s glittering, star-like interior sparkling mysteriously.
The bulb had been given to her to light in emergencies. Cas had assured her she would be able to see it, but holding the dimly glowing bulb in hand as she was now, Kari couldn’t help feeling doubt creeping into her.
She pressed the bulb to the lip of her hood, where another two squeezes caused it to stick.
The border of Cas’s domain was ringed by an imposing series of tents. From the distance, they looked like massive, hooded figures that quickly fell upon her as her run took her to the base of the first tent, stumbling her way forward as dirt transitioned to sand and the maze of tent walls and darkness led her on a murky path towards Cas's hut.
It was empty.
The mass of her discarded body sat like a still globe of slowly swirling stars. Everything was still.
Cas probably just went flying. Kari tried assuring herself, looking dangerously over at the mass of Slime that sat stupidly there felt like an ill omen. Time passed too quickly. For the third time Kari found herself meticulously combing over every instrument and specimen displayed on the various desks, tracking every item for any hint of disturbance or struggle.
Nothing.
This was perhaps worse than her worse fears. If she’d come in the midst of an attack, if she’d found the murderer with knife raised in hand, Kari would have been scared, but there would have been a certain surety in that fear.
What she wallowed in now was uncertainty. that was a far less escapable terror. Still, Kari tried to escape it with a fourth overview of the room, looking through the dirt floor for tracks, checking the hanging rugs for hints of something, but there was only so much distraction one could derive from a one-room hut before disturbing thoughts returned themselves.
‘Nadia’ the name suddenly appeared in her mind. They were going to kill her, too!
Kari didn’t know why, but she felt suddenly more desperate and scared than ever as she sprinted out of the hut to her and Nadia’s room.
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PFRRRRRRRRRR!
Cas’s wings were stiff gelatin, a mockery of actual, solid form, and the sham revealed itself in a dive as the earth rushed up and pushed a torrent of air against her shaking and wavering wings.
Cas hit the breaks just when she thought her wings could explode, banking up into a straight-line soar that ate up the miles and reeled her city of tents closer and closer. All the while she could see the dim light in the window of her hut, wavering there for a long time before suddenly sprinting out and making way towards Nadia’s hut.
Cas performed a slight twist of her wings, changing destinations and crashing to a halt. Ballooning her wings out like air-breaks at the last moment, she gently soared down, alighting on the windowsill just in time.
The light provided by the bulb was dim, not too different from the glow-bug she’d synthesized it from. To her eyes, however, the world was awash with detail, as if a spotlight illuminated every stray insect and mark in the dust.
Long skid marks ran through the dirt up to Kari’s sandals. Stray whisps of dust in the air revealed the simultaneous entrance. Kari had a hand on the shoulder of the sleeping figure, waddled in blankets. Her face, soaked with sweat, suddenly lit up with joy as she turned her eyes to the windowsill.
“Cas!” The girl beamed, enthusiasm tempered by a polite need to whisper. “You’re alive!”
“What’s wrong?” Cas spoke shortly.
Kari blubbered, the sudden weight of the night’s anxiety shattering her thoughts into independent fragments. “I… I… they said they had a poison, and that it was tonight. I thought you’d died. They said they were going to kill Nadia, too, but not me, and they didn’t know why. I spent too long at your place and I came here to make sure Nadia was safe!”
Kari seemed to say this in a series of huffing breaths, gesturing to the still sleeping figure she knelt over, waddled in it’s blanket on the floor, and Cas took this all in with a stern silence that didn’t allow her to interrupt. Her body froze while her mind, with the energy of panic, picked through the torrent of information that – despite Kari’s frenzy – seemed to be coming too slowly.
Still, despite the frenzy of the moment, all the details were immaculately clear to Cas, so that it became immediately obvious which fact didn’t fit in with the others.
“Kari,” Cas said, rooting herself to the sill. She dissolved her wings to make a set of vocal chords to speak through, her sleek body ballooning out to make space for the lungs, “It doesn’t make sense.”
Kari lost some of her mirth. “What?”
Cas spoke quickly, a state of shock urging her, though the words seemed slow to form to her frenetic mind.
“Nadia went to spend the night with her mother. I saw her leave. She shouldn’t be here in the first place.”
The figure swaddled in the blankets shifted at this, moving like a bandit who’s sure motions were hindered only by the gleaming dagger in their left hand.