Wherever Kaelon looked, he saw something that made no sense. If not for Old Ma’s patient explanations, he would have surely gone crazy.
“Old Ma, everything is so strange. You live in cones or cubicles with triangular prisms on top! You eat liquid—your sky has no roof!” Kaelon raised his hands to the sky, staring up at the clouds. “At least you have something similar to the fog of Sector 11.” Kaelon noted the entire sky was covered in a dense layer of clouds. He found it comforting.
Old Ma nodded and listened to him patiently. “Your home sounds wonderous.”
Kaelon lowered his arms. “It is, but it is also a terrible place.”
She patted his shoulder. “The gem cannot be polished without friction, nor man perfected without trials.”
Nodding, Kaelon let out a long low breath. “We just grow crystals however we want them.”
“Some things I cannot imagine,” she admitted. “Now, about where Beggar Wu and I found you . . .” She waved him over and Kaelon followed.
They passed several villagers who were making their way to shrine.
Kaelon looked at them, but they would not meet his gaze.
***
On the edge of the village, Kaelon’s spacesuit had crashed into a cliff that was half a li high. Apparently, it had caused quite a commotion, melting the rock into a dark glass-like substance. Kaelon noticed that a stone bench had been erected before it upon which random objects had been laid out.
He tapped the chest, and it opened up like the empty shell it was. “I hope I don’t get fined . . .” He didn’t have any contribution points to lose. Another gesture caused it to seal itself with an audible whoosh.
Old Ma stepped back in consternation, but when Kaelon looked back at her she gave him a sheepish smile. Such things were beyond her and best left alone.
Shrugging, Kaelon returned to Old Ma’s side. “Well, there’s no moving it and even if I could, I don’t know where I’d put it.”
“Treasuring a jade ring becomes a crime,” Old Ma intoned.
Kaelon blinked in confusion. There was so much he needed to learn to make sense of half the things the old woman said. Still, he was glad she had found him. Not everyone was a good person let alone willing to be a friend.
“So, have you decided where to go from here?” she asked.
For the first time, he was glad that he could no longer cry. He didn’t want her to see how he felt about his situation. Without looking at her, he shook his head. He didn’t want her to see what his eyes might betray. He had the eyes of a regulator. Whether that meant he was a monster or not, he had yet to decide.
“Well, I am going to Gu Town to see Doctor Dou. He has a medicine for me, and I need someone to escort me . . .”
Kaelon straightened and spun about to face her. “I could do that! There is so much I want to see of your world like that jade rabbit you talked about.”
Old Ma chuckled. “Well, the first thing to do is to stop talking about worlds. People will think you’re crazy or worse . . . that you’re not. It will invite trouble. Mark my words.”
Grinning, Kaelon nodded. “As you say. So?”
“I would love to have you join me.” Her expression was just as vacant as always, but this time her head swayed slightly in his direction like she didn’t know exactly where he was.
Kaelon shouted for joy. “Great!”
“Yes, maybe you can cook me this nutrient cube you talk about.”
Smiling weakly, Kaelon felt a heaviness in his heart when he recalled from what—no, from who—they were made. “You wouldn’t like it.”
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“You never know!”
“No, you really wouldn’t.”
Old Ma studied Kaelon’s face for a moment, pondering what he meant. At least in her own way she did. She didn’t get to ponder long though, a village girl rushed past them to bring an offering to the village’s new shrine. It seemed to have been growing in popularity. A star falling from the sky would do that.
Kaelon watched the girl kneel before the low stone bench, cup her hands and kowtow. Between each bow, she called out in a loud clear voice: “Great Protector, please keep my brother safe.”
The pair watched the girl place small shells from the nearby beach and a little chain of flowers she had woven among the other offerings with solemn care. Afterwards, she prostrated herself, maintain her final bow.
A tug of his sleeve by Old Ma stopped Kaelon from approaching the girl. She shook her head and nodded towards the village. Turning, they left the girl where she knelt.
Looking back as they walked away, Kaelon couldn’t fathom what would possess a girl let alone anyone to act like that. Bowing to a spacesuit was unheard of. It might be a work of genius, but it was just a tool and one of the shabbier ones at that. Turning away, Kaelon snorted as he recalled how Bartley had bested him and taken away the white spacesuit. He would have really liked to have tried it even if it was just once.
***
As Old Ma and Kaelon walked through the village, folk would scatter and hide or shut their doors and windows shutters to peer through the gaps. Kaelon felt frustrated by their behaviour. Maybe it was Old Ma’s constant tapping of her bamboo walking stick? Whatever it was it was annoying. He wanted to meet them, to talk to them, not drive them away.
“Do not mind them, they fear what they do not understand.”
“Am I really that scary?” Kaelon asked.
Old Ma laughed and tugged his sleeve. “They fear your clothes not you who wears them.”
“What do you mean?”
“You dress like an immortal. This grey. Ordinary people do not wear it. I do not see well, but even I can see that much.”
“Oh,” Kaelon responded. “What is an immortal?” He had to stop and turn around because the old woman now stood still in the street appearing lost in thought.
Looking up, she beamed. “An immortal? They are powerful beings. Come, we have a long journey. If you have questions about immortals, ask Doctor Dou. He knows more than I on this topic, but I warn you now. If you ask him, he won’t shut up.”
Nodding with a smirk, Kaelon hurried to her side and kept in step with her.
They left the village following a path worn by the passage of many feet over a many years. The unevenness of the ground was fascinating to him; the only unevenness in Sector 11 were stairs.
Old Ma stopped and turned to face the village, she bowed once cupping her hands before turning back towards the path.
“Why did you bow?”
With a small smile, Old Ma looked at Kaelon’s puzzled expression. “I pay my respects to the place that has nurtured me. I may not return, best not to have regrets.” She narrowed her eyes shrewdly. “You may not be of our people, but you must learn our ways. If you do not, I fear it will bring you bad luck and misfortune.”
“I would like to learn, will you teach me?”
“It would be my pleasure,” she said, cupping her hands in a slight bow towards him.
Kaelon returned the gesture earning a nod of approval.
“You learn quickly. Good, but do not be afraid of slow progress, just be afraid of standing still.”
As they resumed their journey, Kaelon mulled over her words.
For non-citizens, they think so deeply. Are they really just animals or are we mistaken?
As the elevation of the land changed, Kaelon found himself looking out across the sea upon which a long reflection of the moon was cast from horizon to shore. He had never seen anything like it. There was so much to see and even more to understand.
“Does the moon touch the water all the way to the shore?” Old Ma asked.
“Yes, it does.”
“It is the staircase to the moon . . . flower in the mirror, moon on the water . . . I speak of things that can be seen but not touched.”
Kaelon sighed. “My people touch the moon . . . but when we do, we destroy it.”
“Then sometimes it is better not to touch,” she said, patting his shoulder for comfort. “Come, we make camp. These old bones are too tired to keep walking.” She tapped her bamboo stick about seemingly at random.
“Why do you . . .?” he asked.
“To check for snakes.”
“Snakes? A-are there scavengers out here?” Kaelon asked in a small voice.
“What’s a—nevermind. I suppose you mean dangers?” She stopped tapping, and dumped two grass mat rolls in the middle of the path. They were still tied with a frayed rope.
Kaelon couldn’t help but think it wasn’t the best place for it. “Yes, dangers.”
“There is always danger. Here it is snakes and walking off a cliff.”
“I’m not sure what a snake is but hopefully it obeys curfew.”
“The words will make more sense with time. Come, we rest now. Walk more later.”
Under the stars, they laid out their grass mats and shared bread and cheese that Old Ma had prepared for the trip. The campfire was small, but warm. The old woman had shown him how to make fire from only dead Flamesprig leaves and flint. It took him twenty strikes to light his tinder—the feeling though! For Kaelon, it felt like for the first time in his life, someone cared for him. Someone alive. Looking at the old woman, he couldn’t help but feel that she had become his caretaker bot. He smiled at her cupping his hands and making a slight bow from where he sat opposite her, the fire between them.
Old Ma beamed and returned the gesture.