Siqxhe sewed up another wound, making sure it was clean and hoping beyond hope that it wouldn’t get infected. Iri worked beside him, deft hands quickly performing more through medicine than he’d ever hoped, looking deep within the patience with those burning eyes… there'd been fifty wounded and three dead in the confrontation with the Sakaxhy fleet. All because of him, and they all knew it.
They’d hated him at first, but slowly most of them had warmed up to him. Even the ones who didn’t he still treated them, making sure they had a good chance of recovery… They were in a building on the top of the hill, part of the fort which looked over the waves beyond Port Conquest, seeing- sails.
The whole port was in an uproar. Merchant vessels fled to Nolabo knowing full well war would spread beyond the bounds of just Paqaboōf, while the fleets assembled here under the red pennant and the royal green flags of Nolabo. Waiting to see the counterstrike from the Sakaxhy. They were powerful in this region, but not so powerful to face the third Nola fleet at the fullness of its strength.
So many ships, big sails, cannons, looking out over the sparkling waves and the threat of so much death, so many wounds and… “Iri, can you help me over here?” The particular person he was working on at the moment had had his leg sliced by a sliver of wood from a cannonball, a wound that had the chance to be deadly if not treated quickly and thoroughly. He’d managed to get out most of the scraps and clean it, but it was deep…
He thought about death, about darkness and went back to stiching men together. “You’re doing it wrong… these go together, like this, and you need to very carefully move them, there…” Iri was more knowledgeable about the human body than she’d originally let on, making sure to stitch the man together with the utmost care- between their ministries, it was likely he’d keep the leg.
“What about this?” They talked softly for a few minutes as they worked, Iri passing the knowledge of… somewhere down to him, telling him all about the body and its many functions. Things he hadn’t even known about before, strange realities. The knowledge of a sibilant…. “Did we cause this?”
“We saved ourselves. For better or worse- we need to find Polarity Light.”
“Do we- do we really?” He kept going despite Iri’s shocked gaze, overriding her. “Polarity Light has brought nothing but pain… can it not wait for a bit? There’s so many wounded, so many things that will be going on over the next few years. All because of Polarity Light.
“Polarity Light didn't cause a war. I did.” You did, the unspoken part of that sentence. Just by being in the wrong place at the wrong time, twice, they’d caused a war. First Laytaihishu and now this, provocations that the Sakaxhy couldn’t just ignore… Siqxhe looked out over the endless seas of sails, masts like trees and canopies of white cloth. Red pennants, the fruit of their labor…
The flags of war.
The banners of the death-bringers, the Nola fleet and their guns that spoke of death and their deft crews, their power. So much power… he looked out over the immensity of the harbor, looking out over the possibility of that which was… “Is it ethical to continue? What is one life, for so many…” He stitched up another person’s arm- this one was only a minor wound, so it was easy. “We’ve done so much harm, and so little good.”
“It is the way of Polarity Light- the way of the sibilant to find and fight and make sure that the world is safe. The Lord of Cold Places would have god leave- banish it beyond the stars, doom the entire world to conflict unstoppable. More…” Iri was silent for a bit, her eyes looking out over the ocean and its glittering blue, the sky and its deepness. Forever beyond the clouds, hidden by the daylight, the stars and what lay beyond them, things he couldn’t fathom but she could- “War. A worse war, the sort of war that bears no thought. The first blow’s already been struck.”
“By who?”
“The Lord of Cold Places, or at least his faction. They bombed Tasadir from orbit.” Siqxhe blinked in surprise at that- why bomb Tasadir of all places? It didn’t make much sense, but then again the sibilant had their own idiosyncrasies. They were a… unique people.
In their grasp, though, was the entirety of the world and the safety of everyone that lived on it, that drop of blue, all the sails. Everyone who went to war here was beneath the gaze of the sibilant. “They’re gearing for war.”
Iri nodded in agreement. “That they are… if it happens, it wouldn’t be a conflict like you remember it. It would be conflict that scours the earth and leaves it barren, conflict that destroys everything. If Polarity Light doesn't make its way back to god in the utmost secrecy, more than just war will happen.” Death, the truest form of it, where nothing but the memory of its evil survived. Written into the very bones of the world-
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He thought of a shattered moon, the remnants of Brother- and shuddered. Polarity Light had waited a long time… it could wait more, but perhaps the sibilant couldn’t. Something had been set in motion, something that was motion and carried with it the will of warfare- “Then we need to look for Polarity Light.”
………
They crept out of the graveyard in the silence of night, letting the rain wash over them, the tail edge of a thunderstorm that poured over so long, drumming quietly into the streets and the roofs, a sound that was not of war. They were the tears of sky, a deluge at regular intervals.
It was awful… Siqxhe rubbed cold arms, shivering violently against the chill. It was far too cold for Paqaboōf. The winds of Xhyolok blew fiercely from the north. Siqxhe hoped that wasn’t an omen… still, they were miserable. This had been the third graveyard they’d checked, and it was the third one without any hint of Polarity Light.
Even Iri was starting to think that it wasn’t in the city. “The… I don’t think it’s in that one.” She motioned towards the graveyard on the next hill over, the one they’d been going to check… “I’ve been thinking about it, and I’m no longer as sure it isn’t in Nolabo or Xhyolok… I can remember for sure that it was on land somewhere, but… you humans are significantly less developed than in the past. There're so many places, little secret areas that Polarity Light could have gone. So many places…” Iri shook her head, and they moved onto the next graveyard. It was disheartening, having their clues slip from their fingers like that.
Polarity Light could be anywhere between the top of the ground and bedrock, across all of the continents of the world. That wasn’t just a daunting area to search- it was an impossible area to search. Iri had figured out where it was before, but that was before- now they were here, miserable in the rains of Paqaboōf and facing the task of searching every piece of land in the whole of the world.
It wouldn’t happen- never. They’d never manage to do it…
Another graveyard. Another hour spent picking through bones- carefully this time, making sure not to disturb the dead too much. He thought of the dark places beneath the earth and god, the three men who’d died for him against the Sakaxy, all the men who would die in the fire of war. He thought of bones, skulls with shadowed sockets staring up at him, daring him…
Hours passed. The deluge crept away, leaving bright, starry skies, misty streets and immensity… they found themselves back at the gun batteries, looking out over the immense skies and endless waves. Black barreled weapons facing the sea, ready to rain death on anyone who came within their range.
Port Conquest was a fortress as much as it was a city, a bastion of Nolabo on a faraway land. Siqxhe was to its history, a gnat… but he brought a disease. He was a tick filled with poison, ready to kill the city just by his presence. He hated it… “Iri…”
“It’s beautiful… the expanse of starlit water… it reminds me of the Eternity Falling, back when we were making our way to a new home.”
He frowned. “There was an old home?”
“Of course! This wasn’t even the place we were going… we crashed here, and made it into our home.” Iri’s eyes dripped burning sadness as they looked out over the city, over the forests and the oceans and all of everything… “This was an accident. The Lord of Cold Places understands that. He internalizes that- I can relate to him, and I think deep within him he can relate to me. He just wants to go home.”
“And he’s willing to destroy Tasadir in order to do that…'' He frowned… “You can’t remember where Polarity Light is though, right? We’re in the same place he’s in… we don’t know. We can’t know… what we can do, though, is protect the people who need protecting in the moment.”
Iri nodded slowly. “Yeah… you want to help the people in Port Conquest…”
“No. Yes. Port Conquest and everywhere- wherever I can help the most people injured in the coming war…” Siqxhe looked out over the waves and felt as if he could see forever, off into the sky and the glittering waves. Looking, so long… “Forget it. Just… we’re not making any progress on finding Polarity Light… let's just leave it. Maybe you’ll remember something while we work.”
He could almost feel Iri’s doubt, but it was a testament to how much she was willing to see that she didn’t flat out refuse. This had been her war for so long, her conflict… but it was never about her. “I just want… I’ve always wanted to make sure you get the right care. God could do so much for you, with Polarity Light… so much more than just leaving.”
“We’re not going to find Polarity Light soon. So, for now… just heal, and be content with that.” Miraculously, Iri nodded acquiescence. She understood that with the information they had now they’d never be able to find Polarity Light…
Looking out over a sea of glittering stars and the red pennants of war, a sibilant gave up the quest for the first time in longer than the history of civilization…