Of Fire and Night - Kevin J. Anderson [179]
A jewel-winged creature sped past her eyes, swirled, and then shot off in a different direction. Fleshy comptor lilies bloomed, shedding a perfumed sweetness as thick as mist. Enjoying the verdant beauty around her, Nira touched Jora'h's hand with her rough fingers and wondered what it would be like if their two separate minds could touch through telink or thism.
"I know you long to reconnect with the worldforest. But though I control this Empire, I cannot help you." Nira could feel sadness emanating from him. "All the treelings were destroyed. Every one of them. That is the truth, and I am ashamed. Long ago, my father killed the ones you and Ambassador Otema brought with you." He looked away. "Recently, though, Queen Estarra from Earth brought me another treeling. I kept it in my own quarters. I used to stare at it and think of you."
Nira sensed his uneasiness. "What happened to it? Where is it now?"
"I destroyed it." He let the confession hang in the air. "There is another green priest in the Prism Palace, part of the Hansa skymining crew from Qronha 3. He lost his own tree during the hydrogue attack, but he sensed the treeling in my private contemplation chamber. He tried to break in. He wanted to send out a telink message, which would have been disastrous at that time. To remove the temptation, and the risk, I destroyed the treeling. I am sorry, Nira, but I could not allow him to reveal our plans. There was too much at stake."
"More likely he just wanted to touch the worldforest mind," she said, her voice cool. This was what he had been afraid to tell her. He had killed a treeling, and now she remained cut off, just like that other green priest. "So all the treelings on Ildira are truly dead."
"Yes. But let me show you what I have left."
He led her to where the terraced dirt was strewn with large fragments of wood, like a rock garden made from chunks of demolished trees. Some of the lumps had been crudely shaped and carved, others merely sanded to excise external charring. Immediately recognizing the grain, color, and sheen, Nira hurried forward, her face full of longing. "This is worldtree wood!"
"A Roamer trader brought them to me. His clan members assisted your world after the hydrogue attack and were given this wood as thanks."
Nira's shoulders sagged. She had come to Ildira as a young acolyte, but she had been gone for many years and was unaware of so many incredible events. Until recently, she had not even known about the devastation of the worldforest.
Jora'h held a piece of the polished wood up to the light. "I asked the trader to give me every scrap he had. Because the wood reminded me of you." He handed it to her. "I did not know what to do with it, so I kept it here, where I would see it often."
Wistfully, she knelt, resting the worldtree wood on her knee. The smooth chunk, though dead and silent, felt comfortable in her hands. She touched the strangely familiar wood and traced the feathery grain, followed the contours of splinters and flat surfaces, searching for a warmth inside. Nira let her thoughts flow, longing for any kind of connection. Hoping for something.
Though this wood was dead, the worldforest mind itself was still intact, still dispersed across the forest. There must be some way she could touch the rest of the vast network. During her long isolation, she'd feared that she might be deaf to telink. She had yearned for the touch of the worldforest as much as she yearned for Jora'h to come to her.
Now, though she heard the background noises of small birds and butterflies, rustling leaves, rushing water from fountains and irrigation misters, she heard nothing inside her head. Nothing.
Beside her, Jora'h