E’lo shuddered in discomfort as a loud clanging rang out below him.

It was always harder to pass time in an oasis. He tried to focus on his breathing but it was nebulous compared to the rhythm of walking.

The oasis’s greeter, Tauw, popped in to check on him every now and again which didn’t help his meditation. E’lo did not mention it to the man. He was clearly concerned about the process. A visit from a healthy caravan would be a great boon to the oasis.

E’lo sipped on his sustenance tube every hour or so. He would not be able to tell if the Jeem was going bad but a change in taste would let him know the process was starting. He would need to inform Tauw when it did.

In all E’lo years, he had only had a colony go bad twice. Both times had been a tense fraught process as his Jeem ate him from the inside and he bled. Both times he survived to walk away from the oasis.

People said he possessed the luck of a lelahi. But E’lo was not sure if he would survive a third.

E’lo was growing tired when he tasted a change. The loamy bit he had gotten used to after weeks of walking shifted. There was a sharpness to the mineral hint now. The evolution had begun.

He sighed and opened his eyes. There would be no more meditation or rest for him. He would need to sample every half hour now and inform Tauw when he next came.

One sample later Tauw opened the door. E’lo turned his head to face the man.

“The evolution has begun.” E’lo intoned calmly. The first words he had spoken to the man since he had begun the trial.

“Hmm?” Tauw blinked in surprise at E’lo. “The evolution has begun?”

E’lo nodded at Tauw.

“The Evolution!” Tauw jerked upright. “Right. I better get the lapuna.”

E’lo nodded again. Tauw made an about turn and scurried away.

Tauw arrived back with company soon after. The oasis’s lapuna had the same pallid skin as Tauw but theirs was craggy and lined. It was not solely habit that formed the lapuna’s hunch. They grumbled as they entered the repository room and poked Tauw to direct him to drop a box behind E’lo.

“All that work training a replacement and yet I still need to carry my bones to the upper levels.”

“Welcome lapuna.” E’lo greeted the elder.

The elder snorted back and E’lo could hear the creak of hinges as the box behind him opened up.

“‘Welcome’ he says. Another few weeks and it would be Puhua dragging herself up here.”

“Naauk!” Tauw hissed. “He is mid trial.”

Naauk made a puffing sound and placed a hand on E’lo for balance as they walked around to his front.

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“This one is no stranger to a trial.” Naauk said and ran a finger down one of the pock scars on E’lo’s face. E’lo clicked and tilted his head back. He was beginning to dislike this elder.

“No. This one is well on the way to joining in on my complaints about bones. Open your mouth.”

E’lo clicked again at the elder but complied. Naauk pushed his tongue down with a metallic stick and their other hand rose to point a cylinder at E’lo.

E’lo flinched and jerked back as the cylinder flashed and his eyes were blinded. His body reacted to the threat. He fell to the side and sheltered his colony.

“Kuka!” Naauk swore as the stick was pulled out of their hands.

E’lo blinked as he tried to regain some sense of the room amongst the noise and fuzzy pain in his eyes. He made shapes out first and he could see Tauw had moved in between Naauk and himself.

“Move you naelae!” Naauk said grumpily and slapped Tauw’s back. Tauw stared at E’lo for a second before following the order. Naauk sighed before tilting forward dangerously.

“Amends seeker. I forgot to consider your sensitivity.” Naauk said from this new position. Tauw crept forward towards the precarious tilted elder, hands out.

As the last of the fuzziness left and the pain faded to a dull ache E’lo pushed himself up and back into the kneeling position. He took the metal stick out of his mouth.

“Peace, elder. My burdens are enough to have no strength for more.” E’lo said.

He did not believe the oasis would turn him away even if he carried a grudge but this was an elder of the oasis. And a lapuna. His burdens would spread to his people.

Naauk straightened up with a shudder and stepped forward again. E’lo passed the elder the metal stick and Naauk put it right back in his mouth.

“Close your eyes.” Naauk instructed him this time.

After the checkup Naauk sent Tauw off to get him a seat. The elder would be performing further checkups every now and again. Naauk and E’lo settled into a comfortable silence.

“I’m not sure why Hukipa chose him.” Naauk broke the silence and walked over to the entrance. “Tauw likes people but he does not have the heart for this. It will not tolerate the stresses.”

E’lo remained silent.

Tauw returned with the chair but Naauk found more tasks to send the greeter on.

The hours began to blur as E’lo sipped, waited and was inspected. When the evolution began it had been a day and a half since he had rested and the prolonged day was taking a toil.

E’lo had started to wobble in place when Naauk stood.

“That makes it 12 hours since the evolution began. No negative symptoms. I Naauk of the Julon close this trial. Hope spreads anew.“

“May it spring eternal.” E’lo croaked out the response.

Tauw pushed off the wall at the announcement and echoed E’lo.

“Well?” Naauk asked Tauw and pointed to E’lo. “Help him up.”

E’lo reattached the colony to his back and Tauw pulled him up to shaking legs. He had been kneeling for far too long.

“Where is your beacon?” E’lo asked the greeter as he steadied himself. Naauk snorted at the question.

“This way.”

E’lo leaned on Tauw as he led him through more passageways heading upwards. The sections where he had to let go of the greeter and stoop were slow and pained. E’lo was not so tired as to bang his colony off the rough hewn walls or patchwork roof but it was straining work.

They stopped in front of a door which was seamlessly moulded to the walls around it. Tauw stepped away from E’lo leaving him to sag. Tauw knocked on the door in a particular pattern.

Two new faces greeted E’lo as it slid open and they were ushered inside. E’lo paid them no mind as he approached the beacon. A low hiss rang out behind him but ended as he stopped.

E’lo began to unwrap his chest layers. When he had unsealed the layer he reached for one of the chips that lay over his heart. With all eyes on him he placed the chip into a slot on the beacon.

The ever present warbling stuttered and changed. It settled into a new pattern and E’lo sagged.

His work was done.

He allowed himself to be led away and back down the passageways until they entered another room. E’lo slid the colony off his back and lay down around it on a cot.

And so E’lo slept.