Of Fire and Night - Kevin J. Anderson [191]
Estarra could not argue with her sister. She found she could not walk any farther into the devastated conservatory. In a low voice, she said, "I'm never sure which side you're on, Sarein. I thought you loved the Chairman."
"I do--at least, I did. Or maybe I just thought I did. But you're my sister. That will never change."
111
KOLKER
To Kolker's astonishment, he learned there was another green priest inside the Prism Palace. She came to see him. "We have a common bond. My name is Nira."
He got to his feet quickly from the bench where he sat bathed in multicolored light from a prismatic window. Kolker looked at her smooth green skin and identified her as a storyteller and a traveler by the tattoos on her face. "How did you get here? Are you a prisoner as well?"
"Not a prisoner--not anymore. And neither are you."
"I'll be a prisoner until I can touch a worldtree again, until I can feel telink. It's been so long."
She reached out a callused hand. "Then come with me."
In recent days, though Sullivan and the Hansa skyminers had finished their frantic work for the Solar Navy, Kolker had been spending a surprising amount of time with Tery'l. He had come to enjoy the company of the old lens kithman, and now he was actually interested in learning about the thism, about their belief in the soul-threads that bound all Ildirans together. It intrigued him to think that every member of this race was linked in a way that no humans, not even green priests, could be. The realization made him somewhat sad.
What he longed for most was to taste the buzz and flurry of the worldforest again, to reconnect with his friend Yarrod, to talk with all the other green priests. He had felt so lonely. But he knew the only treeling here had been destroyed. He thought, however, that maybe Nira could fill some of his emptiness, perhaps ease the pain of his isolation. He wondered where she was taking him.
"I disappeared a long time ago, but I'm here with the Mage-Imperator of my own free will." Nira sketched out the basics of her story. Kolker already knew that Ildirans did many unbelievable things. When he heard what had happened to her, though, the shock was almost unbearable.
"Not all Ildirans are treacherous like that," she assured him. "Let me show you."
He followed her through winding bright corridors toward the glassed-in rooftops of the highest towers. She seemed to know exactly where she was going, and Kolker didn't ask questions. There was so much he didn't understand anymore.
Finally they emerged onto a rooftop where gardens had been planted. A maze of colorful shrubs and blooming flowers flourished in the bright sunlight. "I placed it up here, where it could spread its fronds under the open sky."
When Kolker saw the tiny worldtree growing out of a lump of burned wood, his pulse began to pound. His hands reached out as if he were a drowning man grasping a lifeline. "Where--where did this come from?"
Tenderly, Nira bent over the charred wood from which fronds extended like sprouts from a redwood burl. "I was able to find life within this shard. By connecting through telink, and using the Mage-Imperator's thism as a catalyst, I guided the forest mind back. The sap flowed, and the wood came alive again."
Kolker had been starving for this connection ever since his own treeling had tumbled from the cloud harvester on Qronha 3. He remembered clinging to the potted plant, trying to remain in contact, but he had tripped. Even now he winced at the memory. His fragile treeling had spilled into the clouds.
Reverently yet ravenously, Kolker touched the thin, supple frond, and with a mighty rush his thoughts connected like a completed electrical circuit. Ever since he'd been cut off, he had imagined this euphoric moment.
In a flood that took both forever and merely an instant,