Page 49 of The Enduring Universe
She stumbled to her feet.
Kamala was opening her mouth, but Ahilya forestalled whatever concern the nurse would have. “Get inside,” she said hoarsely to her. “Tell those people to get inside too, and stay there.”
She waved a hand toward the repair crew, but there was no time to go warn them.
“Ahilya-ve—what—”
“Just go!”
Ahilya pushed a hesitating Kamala toward the repair crew, begged the vriksh to keep her sister safe, then turned and ran the way she’d come, back to the assembly chambers, nearly tripping and falling down the hill in her haste. Her feet pounded the broken stone pavement of the plaza, as leaves cascaded down from the vriksh, waving in the gentle breeze. She could hear the hysteria in her voice as she called out to startled citizens to get inside, as they stared at her in alarm. Ahilya rushed into the council chambers, slamming the door open to see Airav, Chaiyya, Kiana, and Basav look up at her, disconcerted. They had all been poring over another map, and Eskayra was among them, this time dressed in her expedition attire, sungineering devices strapped to her belt, evidently just about to leave for the new city.
“What happened?” Esk demanded, coming toward Ahilya immediately.
Ahilya opened her mouth to speak, but her visiontilted, and this time she saw the distortion blitzing through them too. She swayed on her feet, falling to the ground on all fours. Awareness burst through her in red-hot agony. Voices came to her through liquid sludge,in the battery / rages unbound / your own brilliance
She felt herself go underwater.
Ahilya kicked her legs, a vague memory of diving into a rock pool within Nakshar with Tariya when they were children. They had learned to swim together, splashing. How odd that she should remember this now.
Something was calling her.
No, she was callinghim, a crooning sound.
Theywere calling him too, except they did it through her throat.
Ahilya grew winded. Root-like tentacles spread into her chest again. All of them were staring at each other, and then at her.
She staggered. Surfaced.
The architects responded first.
—The Ecstatics, Chaiyya asked, not a thought but a vague fear.
—No, the Virohi, Airav began—but saw himself thinking-not-thinking, speaking-not-speaking. His face drained of blood.
***
He approached the battery, and sat on the healbranch chair, knowing he was being watched by Ahilya and Dhruv. He did not say goodbye to Raghav. His husband would understand. Their love was stronger than this. He had barely formed the thought when pain—unlike any other shot through him. Blackness followed, one that he was infinitely aware of as though entering the Moment for the first time. His heart beat in terror as Ahilya asked, “How does this make me any better than Iravan?”It doesn’t, he thought bitterly,you two have destroyed us.Chaiyya sobbed on his shoulders, and she—
***
She was pregnant, with twins, the healers said. What would become of Nakshar now? How would she ever manage newborns and the responsibility of being the lead councilor, during the time of the Conclave no less? Airav—but a hand clutched her heart as she thought of Airav and what he had been made to do for Nakshar’s survival. She could not let that be for nothing. “Do you accept?” she asked, and the archeologist breathed out her anger, her acquiescence to her destruction in the acceptance of councillorship, and she/I
***
said,You two deserve each other.I watched her face fall, a punishment she deserved—but she is here, she is here, behind my eyes, rages, how, get out,get OUT
***
Ahilya pulled away. They were all staring at her. Dhruv’s eyes were wide. Airav’s mouth hung open. Kiana clutched at Chaiyya, eyes bugging out. Had they all seen these thoughts, these memories? Was this her thought at all?
Dhruv’s voice was a whisper. “What is this?”
Ahilya swallowed. Her chest seized in the pain of being crushed by roots.
“A-Ahilya-ve,” Airav stuttered. “D-Do you know?”
You two have destroyed us.
