The sun on their backs, Taryn and Jal knelt in the black soil. “This is what I was born to do,” Jal thought to itself. “Look at this, Trryn,” it said to her. “This plant has only two small buds on it. By the time autumn is over, it will have taken over a two-meter square patch of garden. It needs to have bricks placed around it, or it will take over the world.”

She giggled. “What kind of plant is it and where did you get it from?”

“This is Kenaf Dwarf Aphenite, from Zebran. It likes the cool climate, so it will do well here. I took a clipping from the plant in the garden at the Peace Foundation, since it was trying to take over the growing space there. What will we do about bricks?”

“I have no idea. This is your part of the garden. I’m sure you’ll figure out something.”

Jal scratched its head. “Do you have a cart that we can use?” She pointed to a shed. “Digging tools?” She pointed again at the shed.

As they studied the plants in the garden, there was a loud bird call. “Do you hear that?” Jal smiled. “It’s a merkylan!” There was a flash of green and white, and the bird landed in the grass only a few meters from them. “Look at that!” Jal whispered.

“They’re said to bring good fortune,” Taryn murmured.

“They should be incubating eggs about now. I wonder where its nest is.” The animal flew high into the trees.

“There it goes, I’ll bet the nest is over there.”

The merkylan was back shortly. Jal and Taryn watched as it flew back and forth from the grass in front of them to the trees in the small grove. “It’s almost as if it wants us to know where the nest is,” Jal remarked. “Let’s follow it.”

“I should go start meal preparations.”

“Come with me, Taryn.” She went through the garden to the tower. Jal ran toward the tree that the bird called from. As Jal ran, the merkylan swooped downward. It called repeatedly as Jal followed it, then stopped. As Jal stood looking skyward for the nest in the branches, the bird flew to the ground. It walked back and forth, pecking at the ground. Finally, it stopped. It bobbed its head up and down and called out.

“What is it, merkylan?” Jal carefully stepped forward and looked down. The bird stood still, then pecked the ground.

“Oh, no!” Jal spoke gently. “Your nest. It came down in the storm last night. What should I do?”

The merkylan flew up into the trees and called out.

“You want me to put your nest back?” Jal looked at the well-formed weaving of twigs and grasses. It had four small dark green eggs in it. “How am I going to do that?” Hesitantly, Jal carefully picked the nest up and carried it to the back door of the tower. As Jal went inside, the merkylan walked back and forth in the grass by the nest.

“Tarryn," Jal called into the kitchen. “Do you have some string or cording and some scissors?”

She brought them to Jal. “What are you doing?”

Jal cut lengths of cord and talked to her as it wove the cords in and out into a mesh-like square. When Jal picked it up, the strings fell apart. Jal tried over and over. When Taryn came to tell Jal that the meal was ready, Jal looked at the bird. "Can you sit on your eggs down here?". The bird continued strutting back and forth in the grass only yards away.

"Tarryn, can I eat later? I don't want anything to happen to the eggs."

"No. Come and eat. That bird knows enough to sit on its eggs."

Jal gobbled down the meal and went back to the strings. The merkylan was sitting on the nest. A second one called from a tree. Instead of merely weaving strings, Jal began to tie rows of knots.

“Now, where should I put this mesh?” The bird flew into the trees at the edge of the grove. It called from a spot at the top of one of them. “I guess I’m going up there.” Jal went to talk to Taryn. “Would you please help me?”

“No.” She sighed deeply. “Well, I suppose I shouldn’t just let you climb that tall of a tree without supervision. Jan would be mad at me if you broke your neck. Call to me when you figure you’re ready to climb up.” Jal carefully put the nest into a bucket, tied a rope to the bucket and called to Taryn. After she joined Jal, it jumped into the tree. It climbed several more feet up, then tied the rope around a branch. It stretched the hammock like netting between two branches and tested it. Jal braced itself in the tree and slowly pulled the bucket up. At the top, it took the nest from the bucket, and dropped the bucket to Taryn. It carefully put the nest into the netting and tested it.

Jal stepped down the branches and jumped to the ground. “There you go, merkylans.”

The birds called from a nearby tree. Jal watched as they jumped from branch to branch. “Thanks, Tarryn.” Jal took the bucket and put it away. When it came back, a merkylan was pecking at the scissors Jal had used. It flew into the trees. Jal reached down to pick up the string and scissors. Four dark green eggs lay in the grass.

“Oh, no!” Jal picked them up carefully and ran toward the tree with the nest. It jumped then climbed, with one hand carefully holding the eggs, up to the nest. “What?” Jal said, looking into the nest. “If those are there, then why did you lay these in the grass?”

Balanced solidly on a branch, Jal carefully laid the four eggs in the nest and climbed down.

Jal sat down in the grass to take off its boots before it went inside. As Jal brushed the dirt off its clothes, the bird returned. It landed on Jal’s boot. As Jal watched, something dropped from the bird into its boot.

“You crazy bird! Did you just poop in my boot?”

Jal didn’t see any stains, but when it tipped the boot, four small eggs rolled into its hand. “What?”

Jal went into the kitchen with the eggs in its hand. It told Tarryn what had happened. She picked one of the eggs from Jal’s hand and held it up to the light. “Jal, these are charms! That bird gave you charms. Can you tell me what they are without doing an identify spell?”

Jal sat at the table thinking as Taryn prepared food for the next meal. “You know this, Jal. I’m sure you do.”

“What does Jal know?” Jan joined them at the table.

“Don’t help him, Jan. Come on, Jal. You know what green charms do.”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

“They heal.”

“So, what does a dark green charm do?”

“It heals very bad internal wounds?”

“It does.”

Jal sat stunned as Ta?ryun related to Jan what had happened. “It was a thank you gift for saving those eggs.”

“Jal, what’s your schedule for the rest of the day? We’re not going into Nik today; things changed.”

Jal looked at its timepiece. “I’ll work outside for a few hours. This will be my crafting time for the day.”

“What are you going to do?” Jan asked.

“I’ll dig up clay to make bricks for the garden.”

“We could simply purchase them, you know,” Sage Elvan pointed out.

“We could, but where would be the fun in that?” Jal smiled. “I’m being careful to make sure that the layer of clay isn’t completely taken away, and I’m amending the soil, so it will be richer and more productive.”

Tarryn suggested, “We can find patches of clay along the creek.”

“Yes, we could. But as I take it from the garden, I’m filling the depressions with compost. Taking too much from along the creek might not be good for the present ecosystem.”

There was silence as they chewed. “Jan, would you go camping and fishing with me?”

“No, thanks. I’m not much of an outdoorsman.”

“We could go hiking,” Jal suggested.

“I’m very satisfied with my calisthenics and strength-training.”

“May I have permission to take a few days off to go?”

“Camping?”

“Yes, camping. And fishing.”

Jan scowled. “Where would you go?”

“There’s a lake on the other side of Ebenbell. There are some low mountains that I could climb.”

“I don’t know...” Jan’s voice trailed off. “Let me think about it.”

A few days later, Jan stopped Jal on the landing outside Jan’s door. “Which way are you going? Up or down?”

“Up to do schoolwork.”

“Let’s talk for a minute,” Jan led the way into its sleeping room. “I’ve thought hard about letting you go camping. I’ve decided to let you go on the condition that you keep your communicators on. That way I can track where you are, and you can get emergency help if you need it.”

“Thank you.”

“You’ve been working intensely at everything, Jal. You’re so serious and determined. Taking time off is a good thing. I’m going to take some time off, too. I’ll be taking care of some personal things around here.” It looked around the room. “Sometime after you get back, would you do something with the walls in here?”

“Is there something special you like? A view in a city, or overlooking a lake or mountain?”

“I like the night lights in Nik. The bridge over the river. I love to look at the mountains of Zibran, but I wouldn’t want to hike them. Surprise me.”

“Which wall sections?” Jan indicated two big areas. “All right. I’ll come up with something. If you don’t like it, you can simply erase it.”

“If you tell the Tower that you want to save a design, it will do that.”

Jal looked at Jan. Jal’s eyebrows twitched and it tried not to smile.

“You already knew that, didn’t you?”

“Ridali Tower, import design J-14 onto the walls of Jan’s room.” A view of the Megace Mountains beyond the river appeared.

“Jal! When did you create this? Are you not sleeping?”

“I am. I made this the night before the trial. It helped me relax so that I could sleep.” Jan thought it was pretty good, considering the color selections that the tower had available. Jal considered the moment they were in. It had been looking for the right time to bring this up. “Jan, I think we should look over the computer system in Ridali Tower.”

“Computer system?”

“You know Ridali is run on a computer system.”

Jan sat down hard on the bed. “What?”

“How did you think Ridali keeps track of everything?”

“It’s a living being.”

“Yes, it’s a sentient computer.” Jan didn’t know what to say. “Did you not know?”

“No.”

Jal sat down next to Jan. “I’m sorry. I thought you knew. Ridali told me months ago that it performs a nightly scan to be sure that everything remains operational. I’m sorry, Jan.”

Jan took a long breath. “I’ve always thought of the Tower as being a living person. Now you’re talking about messing with its brain.”

“Yes. If we looked at the files, I’m sure we could see what's changed and decide which ones need to be kept in an archive file. I'm guessing it does an auto-save regularly.”

“Jal, I can’t do this.” Jal could hear the sorrow in Jan’s voice.

“I’m sorry, Jan. This must be devastating.”

“I’ve never really thought about it this way. It’s always taken care of me. I’ve simply taken it for granted that it would always be here. Now you’re saying it might not?”

“I never said that. Do you remember the day that I had my first haircut?” Jan nodded. “You took me to the doctor that day. I got two immunizations. It was a routine checkup, to make sure I was healthy and that I didn’t have any problems developing. If we look over the Tower’s memory banks on a regular basis, we can prevent problems from developing. We would know if it needed a new memory chip, if the programming wasn’t working properly, or if the wiring to any of the rooms needs to be replaced. We wouldn’t change its voice or its availability. What a checkup might effect is the response time it takes for the Tower to carry out a command. The doors might open faster, or the heating units in the floors might warm faster.”

“How would we do this? Are you learning about it in your schoolwork?”

“Yes, some of it. I’ve studied some books from the library, and I’ve looked at a few of the access panels in the various rooms.”

“When I was gone.”

“Yes.”

“Why?” Jan demanded.

“Because,” Jal said quietly. “I put some papers in a secure drawer, and it couldn’t open the drawer.”

“What is a secure drawer?”

Jal saw the hurt on Jan’s face. “You know. A secret hiding place that no one else knows about.” Jal tried to be gentle. “I don’t want you to not be able to get to your personal things. I’m guessing that you have things put away.”

Now Jan was mad. “Why would you think that?”

Jal shrugged. “Because I do.”

“Show me what a secure drawer is.”

“Okay.” Jan followed Jal up the stairs.

“Ridali, open secure drawer.”

“By opening the drawer with someone present, you will lower the security level of the drawer. State your password.”

“Pegmatite.”

The drawer slid open. Jal took out its ID, loosing papers, and the bank and currency cards. “Close security drawer.”

Jan was astonished. It had never seen such a thing before. “Let’s go back down to my room, Jal.” They jumped down a level. “Tower, show locations of secure drawers.”

“I am unable to comply with your request. Please state the number of a drawer and the password.”

“I don’t know what the drawers or passwords would be, Jal.”

“Okay, let’s figure this out. How long ago was the tower built?”

“It was built in 6339.”

“Do you know who the builder was who created it?”

“Piter Ridali was the designer and builder.”

Jal calculated the number of generations. “I would guess that five drawers were created. One for each of your grandparents. “Ridali Tower, access secure drawer five.”

“State the password.”

“Say your parent’s name, Jan.”

“Actually, my name is Jan Elvan Ridali. My father was Elvan Timoche Ridali.” A drawer slid open. Jan went to take the contents of it. “Just a minute, Jan. Ridali Tower, access secure drawer four.”

“State the password.”

“Your grandparent’s name, Jan.”

“Timoche Goldan Ridali.” A second drawer slid open.

“Ridali Tower, access secure drawer three.”

“State the Password.” Jan looked at Jal. “I didn’t know my great-grandparent.”

“Is the picture in the sitting room?”

“Yes.” Jan had to think.

“State the password for secure drawer three," Ridali Tower said.

Jan shook its head. “I don’t know.”

"Ridali Tower, pause program. Jan, there’s a name pattern here. Jan Elvan Ridali, Elvan Timoche Ridali, Timoche something Ridali...”

“Oh, I know.”

“Ridali Tower, continue the program to unsecure drawer three.”

“State the password.”

“Timoche Goldan Ridali.”

A third drawer opened. “Jal, are you saying that there are two more secure drawers?”

“Yes. I would guess that the next person on your family tree is Goldan Pitir Ridali, and the last one is Pitir something Ridali.”

“Skel. Pitir Skel Ridali.” Jan looked at Jal for a long moment.

“What?”

“Do you want to use the Ridalii name? You can if you want to. I don’t use it except for on legal documents. You don’t have to.”

“Jal noticed how hopeful Jan’s eyes were. “I’d be proud to take the Ridali name. Thank you for the honor.” Jal turned back to the drawers, “Have fun going through the contents. Maybe you’ll find something interesting in one of them. I wouldn’t put them back into those drawers if that’s where you want to keep whatever’s in them.”

“What should I do with them?”

“Create a new drawer.” Jal looked around. “Ridali Tower, please indicate number of secure drawers that are unopened in the tower.”

There was a long pause. “Please state access code, then personal code.”

“Ireki jar duera er regis tro a. Personal code: Zeta-One-Four-Two-Six-Six-Four-Two.”

“There are four closed secure drawers in the tower.”

“I have two, Jan. That means there are two more in here.”

Jan sat down on the bed, flabbergasted. It began to leaf through documents when Jal when up to its room.