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Tala Lokni

Unknown Location, Earth

It seemed like forever that Tala was sitting with Aina, the other healer drifting in and out of consciousness, never fully returning to awareness, not with the drug that he'd given her still in her system. It would stay with her for at least a couple hours, so he didn't have any fear that she would wake in pain, though he was concerned that if something came their way that he'd be burdened with the gear and with her, but it was better this way. Besides, the longer he sat with her just off the trail, the more he convinced himself that they were nowhere near where they'd started. He couldn't find a way to explain it to himself or anyone else, but with Big Sister missing from the sky and the bright moon creeping higher in the sky than anything but the stars had a right to, he was fairly certain that they weren't even on the same world.

And if they were on a different world, who was to say what normal was here. There might not even be humans, and even if there were, there might not be scouts, and there might not be patrols. They were far enough out in the wilderness when they started the journey that few patrols ever made it that far, so it was unlikely that they would ever have stumbled upon one anyway. Even the air here smelled and even felt different, though. There was more of a feeling of freshness to it, without the scent of the super cities that spewed their smoke into the air and their filth into the streams.

Tala pulled his pack closer to him, the thought about the streams bringing to mind their water supply. If Arden was gone for much longer, he was going to have to go find a place to fill the water. He at least knew that he could filter the water with the mechanism he had in his pack. It was a smaller version of something he'd designed for the abbey that used a foot pump rather than an electric pump, but still filtered the water just as well. All he had to do was find a place with water and he'd be fine. But that would mean leaving Aina alone, and that was something he didn't want to do. At the very least, they had enough water to see them through until she was conscious and aware. After that, they could decide together what to do.

From the direction of the cave, crunching footstep drifted through the air, followed by a quiet call.

"Tala!" Arden's voice called, as quietly as he could manage without being unheard.

Tala stood and hustled through the brush, appearing at the side of the path as Arden and Helena came around the corner, carrying Eva between the two of them. She was awake, but a quick glance told Tala that her leg was in bad shape. They'd managed a quick splint for it, but the cloth was already darkening with blood and her foot hung at an unnatural angle.

"This way," he said, guiding them through the brush back to where Aina was laying, sleeping soundly. "Lay her down there."

He turned back to his case while they laid her down next to Aina and returned with the same vial he'd given the other healer.

"No, Tala," Eva said, her voice firm. "No drugs. Do what you have to do, but I'm not going to let you put me under when there's only one guardian. Arden told me what happened to Edward."

"This will not be pleasant," Tala said, holding out the vial once again.

"I know, and no matter what, I forgive you, but do what you have to do and do it fast. I'll live."

Tala regarded her a moment and then shrugged and slid the vial back into its place, realizing after a moment the respect Eva had earned in his eyes. It wasn't many who would willingly face what was happening without at least a drop or two of the narcotic. But she was firm, and so he returned and started stripping the bandages and the splint off her leg. His initial assessment was correct, the leg was badly broken, though it appeared that she'd escaped most of the worst damage that could have been done when it happened. He had only to set the bone and sew her back together, and she would heal well enough.

"Hold her," he said simply to Arden and Helena.

Eva braced herself and watched him move down to her ankle, hands snaking around Arden's as she steadied herself and made herself ready.

"I am sorry, Eva," he said. He didn't give her time to say anything in response, simply took hold of her ankle, pulled and twisted, trying to ignore the shriek of pain that he elicited from her. After only a second, though, it was done, and it left her sweaty and shivering on the ground.

"She will need a blanket," he said to Arden, watching him move towards the packs as he pulled his equipment from his pack. He'd carried with him a great deal of stuff, but he never thought that he'd be using it on his other team members. Still, it was lucky that he had it, and one of the things he always carried was a kit for a splint. Two rods that folded to slide into the pack that when extended were as stiff and immobile as steel, and a bandage that was designed to hug the skin and keep everything compressed and still, while the coating on the bandage kept any infection at bay.

While he set the rods on either side of Eva's leg, he had to marvel at the difference even in their own equipment. To look at Arden and Eva's packs would tell you a great deal of their history, each of them growing up outside the city on a small family farm. There was little technology to speak of within their ruck sacks, whereas Tala's contained some of the more advanced technology that he knew to use that was provided to the healers. Edward's on the other hand, held almost nothing but technology, most of which Tala had seen before and at least knew how to operate, but never in his life thought that he'd be able to even hold it in his hands. It brought to stark clarity the difference in the people of the world they'd left.

"Where do you think we are?" Eva asked, her words tight and quiet with pain. Tala watched her face, knowing that she was asking and speaking in order to distract herself from the pain.

"Somewhere on the other side of the crater, I assume," Arden answered.

"No," Tala said simply as he wrapped the bandage around Eva's thigh. He wanted to get the splint set so that when he was done with his sewing, he could close it up and be done. "No, this is not Litla Deirfiúr. I believe this is Jord."

"That's a fairy tale, Tala. There's no such place," Arden answered. He wasn't scoffing, though, and Tala took that as a good sign. There was room to convince his friend.

"I want to believe that is true, Arden," Tala said, "but I look in the sky and there is no Big Sister. The air smells different here, different even from my journey to the abbey. The fuel the machines in the underground burn, it smells different than what is here."

Arden paused and looked up at the sky, leaving Tala to stitch Eva's leg in peace for a moment or two. He looked up from time to time, watching his friend contemplating the sky. It was something he'd done already waiting as he did with Aina.

"I'm not going to say you're right, Tala, but in any case we need to figure out what to do next."

"It's pretty obvious, isn't it?" Helena said, looking between the two of them. "We need to get back to the abbey. We've already lost one guardian, we can't just keep going."

"Other missionaries have lost team members," Eva said, her voice tight with pain. "It didn't stop their mission, and this shouldn't stop ours. People need us, and we can't just give up and turn tail back home. We can't let them think they've won."

"We've done more than simply lose Edward, Eva," Arden said in his most calming voice. "You and Aina are both injured, and we don't even know where we are. None of this looks familiar."

"I suggest we go forward for now," Tala said, looking down the trail. "We need water. Much of it was lost in the cave, and we will not make it back to the abbey without at least finding that."

"Tala's right," Helena said, regarding him with more respect in her eyes. "I want to say we need to go back right now, but he's the practical one. We need to figure out how to replace our supplies so that we'll make it."

"Fair enough," Arden said, standing and turning towards the path. His large frame caught the moonlight and for a moment, Tala had to smile at the silhouette he presented. Tall and noble, but he knew his friend well. Arden was just as perturbed and confused as he was, and neither of them were willing to show it.

"Downhill," Tala offered, "it's easier to carry the injured when walking downhill, and if this is anywhere near our mountains, then there will be water as we move down the mountains."

"The path was made by humans, or something similar, Arden," Eva said as Tala finished the last of his stitching and tied off the loose thread. She reached down to help him wind the bandage around the rest of her leg, sealing the wound from the outside air. Embedded into the bandage was a mild anesthetic that dulled the pain of at least the laceration. The broken bone was going to be much more difficult to endure. "No animal would make something so obvious."

"You're right, Eva," Arden admitted. "And that means that eventually, we'll find where those humans were going to or where they came from. One way or another, there's got to be something along the path that we can use."

"I have done all I can," Tala said, looking between Arden, Helena and Eva. "There is nothing more to be done here. The sooner we get to where we can establish camp, the sooner they can rest."

"Helena, you and I will help Eva. Tala, if you can, you take Aina. You're bigger than most of us, and we can split your pack between all of us."

Tala nodded and stood up, packing his supplies away neatly in their carriers so that he could spread them between the packs. They would all be carrying heavier than they were used to, but none were overloaded, and even Eva took at least her own pack. Tala strapped his lightened pack to his back, then took Edward's and strapped it on his front. Arden took Aina's pack on his front and he and Helena hoisted Eva up between them, supporting her as much as she would let them. When all were ready to go, Tala reached down and picked Aina up in his arms and began the walk to the path.

It was slow going, with all of them laden as they were, and it took much more time than Tala anticipated to make their way down from the ridge on which they had found themselves. Every so often, they stopped to rest and Tala took his rest by laying Aina across his lap and cradling her head in his arm. The remaining water was drained quickly as well, and every hour of walking made the path seem endless. Finally, though, they made their way out from the thickest of the trees and Tala looked out over the valley. For a great distance, there was nothing but hills, but nestled in one of the valleys shone lights brighter than most of them were used to. They were artificial and far too bright to be the lights of farms or other homesteads, and they were packed too closely to be a settlement.

"Is that a city?" Arden asked.

Tala shook his head. "It is not tall enough. Cities stretch to the clouds, that is flat."

"Then what in the name of the ancestors is it?" Helena asked.

"I do not know. But if it is not a city, perhaps someone may be willing to help us."

"You think that people with that tech aren't associated with a city?" Eva asked, her voice harsh and tight with anger and hatred. Among the guardians at the Abbey, she had always been one of the most vociferous about the need for aggressive action against the city dwellers.

"I do not know, but there is no underground, and there is nowhere for upper dwellers. I have never seen anything like it before."

"Look down there," Arden said, pointing to a darker shape snaking its way through the valley. "That's a river, and if you look right there, something's feeding into it. I bet we can find a place to stay near that creek. It'll be close enough to give us a way to get to the city and still be away from it."

"It will be another hour at least to get down there," Helena said, "we'd better start moving."

Tala nodded and stood, cradling Aina again in his arms, his strength renewed by the sight of the goal. He knew where they were headed and that this part of the journey was nearly over, so the trek was much more bearable. Some inner reserve of strength took over and let him walk without stooping. He would see Aina safe to camp, even if he had to crawl.