Hidden Empire - Kevin J. Anderson [33]
As the worldforest began to learn from its human companions, the relationship blossomed into a beneficial symbiosis. Green priests explained mathematics and science, history and folklore. Once its appetite was whetted, the worldforest wanted to absorb all human knowledge, from the dullest facts to the most sweeping legends. The arboreal computer could assimilate and assess a thousand tangential pieces of information and make brilliant and accurate projections, almost like prophecies from a benevolent earth spirit.
Around her, other acolytes read dull-sounding data, reciting records of weather patterns on planets she'd never even heard of; Nira was quite happy to be ensconced in the boughs with Malory's epic chronicle. Priests played musical instruments or activated recordings of symphonies created by human composers; to the worldforest, music was as much a language as words.
Alone under the sky, Nira read for hours, not even shifting her position, completely focused on the story and on the listening trees. The trees could receive information in other ways, through direct telepathic link with functional green priests, but Nira did not have that option. Besides, she preferred to read aloud—it was the way stories were meant to be told, and the worldforest seemed to grasp that. Somehow, even without the symbiosis established, these magnificent plants understood that Nira would become part of their overall network soon. Very soon, she hoped.
As the afternoon waned toward twilight, Nira's voice grew scratchy and she realized that she hadn't taken a drink from her water flask in hours. She looked up to see older priests descending from their platforms, finished with the day's activities. She gulped from her flask, swallowing the stimulating clee-pure water mixed with ground seeds from the worldtrees. She felt awake, eager to read another hundred pages, but it was time to attend to her other duties.
As she climbed down to the juncture of the largest fronds, she met a tall middle-aged priest named Yarrod, the younger brother of Mother Alexa. The many tattoos on his green face bore witness to the different subjects he had studied and abilities he had acquired in the name of the worldforest. Though the green priests had a very loose and generous hierarchy, Yarrod was one of the senior members, though his position had little to do with his relation to the leader. "Nira Khali, I have come to escort you. Our council has met, and the trees have approved."
"Approved?" Nira's heart leaped. "Approved of what?" Possibilities ran through her mind, and she couldn't decide which she hoped for most.
Anchoring his feet against the branches, Yarrod removed a vial from the rope at his waist. "The priests offer you our congratulations." Smiling, he unstoppered the tiny vial and let a dark liquid drop onto his fingertip. "You have completed the training necessary to receive your second reader's mark."
He extended his fingertip, and Nira felt a rush, pleased to have achieved a new rank so quickly. She already bore the mark of an acolyte on her forehead, and two arcs at the corners of her mouth and eyes that showed she had observed the necessary subjects to become a first-rank reader.
Yarrod's fingertip paused, and then he laughed. "Nira, I cannot put the marks around your mouth if you are grinning so much."
She tried to form her face into a stoic, calm expression. He deftly smeared dark juice in a perfect curve along each side of her mouth, broader in radius than the first set of arcs. The juice stung as it soaked into her skin, where it would alter the chemistry of her tissues, leaving a permanent mark. It would burn for a day before she was allowed