A few days later, Haaji paused on the outskirts of another human settlement. He had been traveling in a relatively straight line, away from the mage camp, following the same routine as he had the first day of their freedom. He didn't fly unless it was necessary, and gathered food as he traveled, stopping infrequently to rest.      Now, as he watched the comings and goings of the settlement, he watched for any suspicious activities. So far, they seemed fairly normal. In fact, they almost seemed like sira in strange forms, for all their activities and habits. Maybe they were just a group of humans, as they seemed to be.      Steeling himself for the worst (and readying himself for flight if the situation called for it), Haaji reached his senses out to brush against the surface thoughts of those closest to him. Nothing sinister. Nothing relating to sira. Nothing that would implicate them at all in the recent mage activity all over the surface of the planet. Good. Relaxing a bit, Haaji stepped into their clearing, making his way cautiously toward the nearest group of humans. Several young faces turned in his direction, and a handful of adults stood to move between their children and the outsider. But at least they didn't seem aggressive.      "Mai'tsanau," he greeted them formally, hoping they'd recognize the salutation.      Most of them looked confused, but one smiled broadly, bobbing his head. Apparently this one had had dealings with sira before. "I'm sorry," he said, still baring his teeth in the way humans did to show pleasure, "I don't know your language, but you are welcome here, and you are welcome to speak mind-to-mind, if you wish."      Relieved, Haaji bobbed his own head in response. That was as well as any sira would treat an outsider, and much more than he had expected from a human.      Suddenly, out of nowhere, a small brown object came flying in an arc, heading for Haaji's head. He ducked in time, but was suddenly on the defensive, wings flared and ears laid back, looking for where the thing had come from.      One of the kit-sitters growled, baring her teeth in a very unamused way, and turned back towards the younglings. "Mim, Sharona!" she barked. "What have I told you about throwing things?"      A pair of little girls giggled, their heads together as though in the deepest of conferences. When the woman called out, both girls looked up, eyes wide, faces still full of mirth. One of them clutched a small brown shoe in her fist, the other was barefoot.      Oh.      As the woman stormed off to berate the children, Haaji reached to pick up the other shoe, which had missed him by a foot or more and landed nearby.      The man he had been speaking with offered another one of those human smiles and accepted the shoe. "Sorry about that, they meant no harm. You know how kids are," he said, and Haaji caught the swift glance directed at his egg-filled pouch.      Great, another human without basic siran knowledge. This time, however, Haaji found he wasn't quite as offended as he had been before. He only smiled back and brushed against the man's mind. ~I did have a pair of twin nieces, and yes, they were a force unto themselves,~ he said.      The man blinked, suddenly presented with a very masculine mental signature in the face of his previous assumption. Thankfully he recovered quickly and moved on. Soon enough, they had invited Haaji into their midst for the evening, provided he regale them with a few siran stories. The children were all eyes and ears for him, once he began, speaking in a broad mental voice, so that everyone in the one-room tent could hear him. His stories were old, passed on from generation to generation, and mostly about his people's deities and old legends. His stories were also somewhat better than mere verbal tradition, as the feeling and complete mental images of events could be transmitted along with the words.      Soon enough, it was time for the younglings to sleep, so Haaji's job was done. He was given a small tent to himself, the single occupant having gone to trade with a nearby settlement the previous day and wouldn't be expected back for at least another.      It was Haaji's first night with these humans, but it built a friendship that neither would soon forget. When he left, the children chased after him and offered hugs and hastily made flower wreaths, both of which Haaji accepted gracefully. Then it was back to traveling.      He didn't know what it was they were looking for, but both he and the egg seemed on a mission.      A week passed. Each day Haaji would travel, each night he would curl up in a secluded hollow, take the egg out and talk. In their 'conversations,' or rather, when Haaji was feeling talkative, his focus shifted gradually from his own personal experiences to theological conjecture. Hey, if the egg could learn at this age, why not start actually teaching it things? It wouldn't know what the outside world was like yet, but if it could think, it could probably      Then again, even if the egg couldn't hear or understand him yet, talking things out tended to help figure them out. So one way or the other, someone benefited. Besides, this was something Haaji still hadn't quite figured out yet. He still hadn't quite regained his unquestioning belief in his peoples' deities, but having grown up with this system left it's mark on his subconscious.      The egg never responded, no matter the question Haaji put to it, but he still felt it could understand him. So he continued to offer it new concepts, and told it the stories of his childhood. Until one night when they had found a lightning-struck, hollow tree to sleep in. Haaji had continued on a thread from the previous night's conversation.      ~Really, there could be two very different possibilities. First, nothing happens for a reason. Coincidences are just that, and the only guiding force in your life is your own. It's a pretty bleak outlook, but it's a definite possibility. It's the simple answer. The most likely. I found you because someone lost you. The mages found us because I was careless. This tree was hit by lightning because it was the tallest one in the area. All of that worked to bring the two of us into this tree tonight, but nothing is connected.~      Here he paused. Hearing it like that put a pretty bleak spin on everything. Everything. Including his recent loss. Which he still refused to think about.      ~Then again, there's the opposite theory. Everything is connected. Everything happens for a reason, coincidences are just landmarks in a larger plan. I found you because I was meant to be there at that time to find you. You were there because someone needed the two of us to be together. The mages found us because...~ He had no good reason for that happening to them, unless it was meant to build character. ~Perhaps it needed to happen for someone else. Maybe those magehunters needed to find us in there. This tree was hit by lightning because we would need a safe place to sleep around here and now.~      That was strangely both more comforting, and more frustrating. He growled a little, his tail twitching agitatedly.      ~If only there were a way to know beyond jumping off a cliff with my wings tied to see what the afterlife held,~ he sighed finally.      *What if there was?*      Haaji blinked. What? Who? Where? His head whipped around, senses straining to find the sentient close enough to reach into his mind.      Nothing. The only things even awake in the area, beyond insects singing in the cool spring night. Then who--      The egg exuded a sense of amusement. Wait. The egg?      Tentatively, Haaji put his ear to the smooth surface and listened. ~Was that you?~      *Yes,* came the soft answer. The voice was similar to those that had saved them in the mage camp. More youthful, and very definitely male where the others had all been female, but vaguely comparable. *What if there was a way to know?* the egg repeated.      Haaji blinked again. ~Like what?~      *Why don' you ask?*      A pause. ~Ask whom, exactly?~      Another pause. *I dunno. What about one of those deity things you were talking about before?*      Haaji thought this egg sounded awfully intelligent. But then again, he had just been teaching it and talking philosophy at it for the last week and a half. And it had a point. He. He had a point.      Well then. How would he go about that? 'Dear Niaryalii, I don't know if I believe you even exist, so if you do, send me a vision or something?'      *Could work?* the egg suggested with a mental shrug.      This was strange. On several levels. Younglings weren't supposed to be able to touch minds before they were fledged. They also shouldn't offer such sound advice. And that advice should not have anything to do with contacting the deities that his people have literally religiously kept at a distance.      Haaji supposed there was really nothing left but to try it.      *Call the nice one. Not the one that lights stuff on fire and makes things die and disappear.*      Yes, Niaryalii would be the one to call. She was much less likely to laugh and lead them into even more hardships for sheer amusement, or malevolent purpose.      Concentrating, and feeling a little silly for even trying when he really believe in them at all any more, Haaji sent out what amounted to a specific thought, a prayer to the Light, his people would call it. And they would condemn him for it.      At first, nothing happened. The egg was a little disappointed, the sira was also disappointed, but more than that, he was even more frustrated. In not getting an answer, they hadn't even gotten conclusive proof that one possibility was more likely; it just meant Niaryalii wasn't answering the phone at the moment.      Then, Haaji noticed a growing light outside. It wasn't firelight, and dawn was still several hours off.      He swallowed hard.      The light grew.      *What is it? What's happening?*      ~I... I think it worked.~ Back | Next