Planet Walkers

Chapter 6

Chapter Four

The Tent

Andel shivered in the breeze. Although they must have been exhausted after the difficult entry, the navigator and his spinners stopped only long enough quick meal before departing again for the Realm. They were long gone now and would not return for three years. A short time afterwards, Huldar and the Overlord disappeared on a mission of their own.

She looked around the barren plateau and tried not to despair. All around her, tents were going up quickly and without fuss, sprouting like a ring of pointed mushrooms; but right now hers looked more like a sack of entrails than something she could sleep in. She poked the pile of rope and leather with her foot.

I’ve been camping before, she said to herself. With my family … many times.

She started on one edge and began to pull the tent into shape. The leather felt slick in her hands.

So how did I do this then?

Every so often, her uncle, the navigator, had whisked them away to a surprise destination, often to planets where few had been before. But when she thought about it, if they’d camped, there had always been someone else who knew how to erect a tent, and later on, as a diviner on assignment, the facilities had been set up for her, but within Huldar’s team here there were no such distinctions.

Well, if they could do it, so can I!

The charm to sing the rigging taut was a simple one, but of course it had to be performed with precision or it wouldn’t work. She rehearsed the sequence of notes in her head as she dragged the sides into place. With great effort she tugged the center to where she thought it should be, but it was heavy and awkward and took several attempts.

Just a little more … she puffed. There! Now for the ropes. They … should … look … like … spokes.

With the guy-ropes in place she pushed the central pole under the panels, then, after a quick glance to make sure no one was looking, clambered beneath to position it in its central notch.

She gripped the pole with her mind and hoisted it vertical, then took it in her hands and paused to catch her breath. The flaccid tent hung like a translucent flower bud, filling her nostrils with the smell of leather. Then came the tricky bit … the charm to set the guy-ropes. With the tent pole gripped firmly, she took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and sang.

Ropes rustled, joining, she hoped, with the ground beneath them and tightening until the tent was fixed in place, but when she looked again the leather still hung like a shroud. She heard quiet laughter and it seemed to be directed at her.

She tried once more. This time she kept her eyes open and saw the ropes dance as if each had a different idea of what the charm meant.

She rubbed the Mark on her forehead. Surely a gifted Tsemkarun could manage this small chore!

Muffled footsteps drew nearer and she sensed Sari outside.

“Let me help,” Sari offered, but Casco arrived right behind her. “Haven’t you done that yet?” He spoke as if her ineptitude had scored him a point.

“I … I’m trying!” Andel said. She felt more than a little ridiculous beneath her leather caul. “I’ve never used this style of tent before, or the charm that tightens the rope … things.”

“It’s no trouble,” Sari said. “Here, let me –”

“The Tsemkarun needs help to put up a tent?” said Casco.

“I can do it myself,” Andel found herself replying. “Thanks all the same.”

“Of course you can,” Casco sniggered. “It’s a three-year assignment. Take all the time you need.”

Andel tried again, but although she sang the charm as precisely as she could, the ropes twisted like a nest of snakes and only stopped after they had knotted themselves into a macramé mess.

Casco laughed aloud and she could feel the rest of the team homing in on her dilemma. Her eyes burned as she fended off tears. It wasn’t fair.

Outside there was heavy silence as the Uri’madu waited to see what would happen.

She keenly remembered her first meeting, when she’d assured Huldar and Casco that she had trained for every contingency. With a conscious effort, she groomed her veil to show nothing of her feelings. They would not get the pleasure of seeing her snap. What should she do? What would she advise someone else to do?

Be still and think it through, of course.

She had quite enough mastery of her Tsemkar powers to hold the tent pole up and lift the leathers into place at the same time: she just needed to focus.

Once she was calm, she pushed upward with her mind, keeping her influence light, just enough so the tent was hovering nicely above. Then she turned her mind to the ropes. This time, she noticed a faint aura around them and an almost imperceptible hum. Someone had charmed them! She almost laughed aloud. Although she was no charm-singer, this one seemed simple enough. She analyzed flow of the song until she had identified the loop, then with a single note sung at the right pitch the charm dissipated, taking its aura with it.

The next time she tried, the stays secured themselves as they should, and with a sigh she realized she’d been singing the charm correctly all along! When she released her mental grip the leathers they stayed up – a triumphant brown roof held taut by obedient guy-ropes.

“Yes!” she congratulated herself, but who had played the trick in the first place?

When Casco’s reluctant approval came through, she understood. The whole thing had been a set-up. A joke. And she had played right into it! How silly she must have looked; the great Tsemkarun, the diviner, unable to erect a simple tent.

With a quiet laugh she straightened her hair and smoothed her jacket, then emerged from her shelter with as much aplomb as the Empress Ishiquel herself.

Her team-mates cheered.

She inclined her head in a regal manner. “Your accolades are acceptable.”

Casco bowed. “Tsemkarun Andel, congratulations. The last newcomer took all day to solve that puzzle. You did well!”

“You did well,” Sari echoed. “I wanted to help, I did, but it’s a tradition!”

“An initiation prank?”

“Exactly,” Casco said. “Shows us what you are made of.”

“Here, have a drink!” Tam, the cook, thrust a brimming mug into her hand. “You’re one of us now. Uri’madu!”

“Uri’madu!” they toasted, shouting it to the skies. A sense of belonging swept Andel’s heart and she tossed her drink down like a champion, only to cough and nearly choke as the ferocious alcohol gripped her throat.

“Come on,” Casco laughed, “we’ll tackle the marquee next. Thank goodness it’s not too windy.”

Andel walked beside him as the group arranged themselves around another, even more intimidating pile of leather panels and poles.

“My uncle was a navigator,” she ventured.

“Oh, yes?” Casco replied.

“Umm, Shamkarun Roshu of Trianog?” She visualized the sturdy planes of her uncle’s face.

“Can’t say I’ve heard of him,” said Casco.

This was understandable, she thought, since there were few Trianogi navigators, and her uncle had rarely taken work from other Great Houses.

“Well, most Trianogi enjoy the unexpected,” she continued, “so long as it isn’t too far from home – but sometimes my uncle would take us somewhere truly remote. I suspect he enjoyed the surprise. Once, we even ended up on Manziat. Have you been there?”

Casco looked to the skies. “A world of endless muck and steamy swamps.”

“True,” Andel said, “but the sky-veils.” She paused, remembering. “The most beautiful sight I have ever seen! All day, wild colors rippling across the sky like silken fabric hung out in the wind … shawls of liquid opal.” She hesitated as a new thought came to her. It seemed so right! She hurried a little to catch up. “Like the veils of life and the veils of the mind, don’t you think?”

“Hmm … I’m not sure.” Casco scratched the side of his neck.

“It’s the way they move,” Andel said earnestly. She crossed her hands back and forth before her face. “Revealing then obscuring each moment with yet more life, do you see? Like the layering of psychic screens … interpretation and propriety.”

Casco nodded uncertainly. They continued walking.

“But we didn’t camp on Manziat – too dangerous,” she said.

Casco nodded again. “Yes, it can be.” They stopped near the pile of awnings, watching as the first of the poles went up.

“Will Huldar will be back soon?” Andel asked.

“And he’ll be worn out,” Casco answered. “Always is after contact with a fresh planet. He’ll want all in order and dinner waiting!”

“And Duvät Gok is with him?”

“Yes.” Casco shook his head. “Hopefully Huldar will’ve managed to lose him in wild Qalān, but failing that, I guess we’ll have to feed him too.”