Page 88 of The Enduring Universe
Chaiyya looked disturbed, her gaze moving between the two. “If we agree to this, there would have to be rules,” she said. “Only volunteers, only adults. We cannot ask every single person, especially children—”
“No,” Ahilya replied sharply. “It has to be everyone. The tree is coded to all the citizens, architects, non-architects, Ecstatics, adults, children, every single one of us alike. And we need to desire a single thing from it, survival, the same way we would when desiring a safe landing in the jungle in days past.” Chaiyya opened her mouth to object, but Ahilya shook her head. “We cannot afford anything else,” she said, finality in her voice. “If we are going to do this, then weallhave to do this. No negotiation, no exceptions. Anything else would be too much of a risk. We have no idea how the core tree will respond if we sever ourselves before we even start.”
Perhaps Chaiyya was thinking of her infant daughters—and for an instant, a deep misgiving entered Ahilya. What was she thinking, asking for such a massive change? What if the children got hurt doing this? Shock and terror gibbered in her, but she tamped them down. There was no other way forward. They were all facingextinction.This was the only way to protect the children.
Finally, one by one, they all nodded. Basav looked horrified but resigned. Chaiyya simply appeared tired, her face a scowl. Airav looked pleased, and the non-architects upset. None of them really liked this solution, but they didn’t have to. They were discussing the end of their species as they knew it. How could any of them come to it willingly? Still, they had agreed—and it was enough.
Ahilya slumped in her chair, suddenly tired. “It will happen soon,” she said quietly. “I can feel the vriksh in my mind, calling to me. I can barely hold this Cohesion back as it is. With overwriting occurring so quickly, Cohesion will occur soon too, and I have to prepare on how to guide it. So go to your loved ones. Stay with them, and tell them what is occurring. Comfort them if you can. We will all reckon with ourselves soon enough.”
The others arose, leaving hastily. Tariya stared at Ahilya, as if about to say something, but she simply shrugged a shoulder and left with the others. Soon the chamber was empty, save for Naila, Eskayra, and Dhruv. Ahilya did not ask Eskayra to leave—she knew it would be futile. Sure enough, Esk came and sat down next to her, and took her hand.
“Did he hurt you?” Eskayra asked quietly.
“Yes,” Ahilya replied.
“And was it worth it?”
The other woman’s gaze was soft, free of judgement. Ahilya looked at her, at the bow-shaped lips, and the short hair, and the strength within her. For a small instant, she allowed herself todetach her mind from Iravan’s. It was like shrugging off a particularly heavy, all-consuming, cloak. She felt naked, like she did not know herself. Not even with the Virohi—her identity churned and spit out—had she felt such an alienation, simultaneously strange, and terrible, and lonely, and exhilarating.
Ahilya leaned forward and pressed her lips to Eskayra’s.
Eskayra’s mouth opened under hers, willing and eager, and for the first time in a long time, Ahilya felt a stirring of desire. Esk’s arms circled her closer, her lips brushing over Ahilya’s neck on the soft bruises Iravan had left, fluttering over her face to hum over the tear tracks, then back to the mouth where she willed Ahilya to heal herself. She tasted of earth and hope and resignation, and it was too complex an emotion lurking within the softness of the kiss. Ahilya knew there were others around perhaps watching them, but she couldn’t care. She was so desperately lonely, and it had been so long. With Cohesion occurring, what was the point of privacy? Everything was ending, then why deny herself? At least with Esk’s touch, she remembered that she was still alive, if only for a few more hours.
Eskayra broke the kiss, pulling away with a sigh. “I have waited,” she said. “And I’ll wait longer. We have to work our way toward this.”
Despite herself, Ahilya blushed. “I didn’t think the kiss was that bad.”
Esk gave her a slight grin. “Not the kiss.Us.You have so much to sort, don’t you?”
From another person, Ahilya would have felt rejection—but Esk’s hand was still intertwined with hers, and she leaned forward to kiss her forehead. Ahilya understood.Later, Esk was saying. If there was a later.
Ahilya turned away to study Naila, who had remained seated. Neither she nor Dhruv had looked up to her and Esk, both of them lost in their thoughts. Naila was studying the same beads she’d hadbefore, twining them around her hands. What did she see in them? What significance did they hold for her? Ahilya felt a passing curiosity but brushed it away.
“Are you all right?” she asked. “Iravan subsumed all the yakshas. Yours included. I don’t know how the Ecstatics are still walking.”
“They fainted, as did I,” Naila said, shrugging. “But you saw Pranav revived. None of us feel any different to what we have before.”
“And those who were in the infirmary? The rogue Ecstatics?”
“Revived as well, and released. To be with their families and loved ones when the migration began.”
“Is there an explanation for their revival?” Ahilya asked.
“None that we know,” the Maze Architect replied, her mind clearly preoccupied.
Iravan had said that subsuming the other yakshas would be like completion to the architects. Is that what these people felt? Or perhaps the effects were not visible yet. The shock had presented itself, but not the whole consequence. What did it matter now, anyway? The yakshas were gone, but the architects were still here. Human, and soon to become part of Cohesion.
“Naila,” Ahilya said softly. “You should go. To your friends, your lovers…”
“I am here, Ahilya-ve,” Naila replied, her voice quiet. She gave Ahilya a swift, roguish wink, but the expression was pained, as if she couldn’t quite hide her fear.
Ahilya did not press her. Such fleeting choices were all that was left to them. Naila would leave if she told her to, but whatever her reasons, Ahilya was grateful for her company.
She turned to Dhruv instead, who had begun dismantling the solarchamber. The stone courtyard appeared beyond it, grass and tree roots writhing, so that soon they sat around a round table undera sky wreathed by the vriksh’s canopy. One by one the bio-nodes came down, all except a single one. Dhruv pulled up a chair and sat in front of it. Though the images of the approaching planetrage were clear, his eyes were unseeing, staring as if into his mind.
“Dhruv?” Ahilya asked gently.
“I am where I belong,” he said, a soft scowl on his face. He turned back to the bio-node, swiping at a few images. Ahilya did not know what to make of it, but he was allowed his secrets and thoughts too, for as long as he could call them his own. She tipped her head back, staring at the strange swirling shield above the city. She felt the vriksh in her mind, preparing itself. Slowly, second by second, Ahilya watched the leaves rain down in the Etherium. When the last leaf fell, Cohesion would begin, but if she were to guide it, she’d have to be purposeful about taking control.
