Compendium Page 13

  17 The Grove

  Lumin Cycle 10152

  Mia Jayne stared up in awe at the massive trees, the largest she’d ever seen. They fit snugly into the even grander cavern that soared upward to an open volcano crater. It was just as Compendium had described it. After her run-in with SainClair in the tunnels, she had become even more adamant about finding her way here, partly because she missed the sight, smell, and feel of trees and partly because she had to see for herself what was needed to power this place.

  The first time she entered the Crater Grove and gazed upon the elders within, she wasn’t disappointed. The trees stretched so high that their tops were out of her view. The roots were enormous and gnarled, snaking out from under the trunks in every direction, popping up like giant worms wriggling in the dirt.

  She always came here in the middle of the night, when no one would be about. She hoped to be able to see the night lights through the branches of the trees, but they were so thickly clumped that they formed their own closed roof over the immense crater. The room was so spectacularly huge that she almost couldn’t fathom that it was inside at all.

  The hum was loud and vibrant. It drew her toward the trees, and she so wanted to reach out and touch the closest elder’s trunk, but thus far she had resisted. Before she saw them for herself, she labored under the delusion that perhaps she could climb up one of the elders and be gone, disappearing like a mouse in the night.

  Clearly that was a silly idea. She instead contented herself to stare up at them and breathe their fresh air and pretend she was in her forest. Tonight she took her usual spot on the root-disrupted soil, with its springy mosslike grasses, and lay back on the ground, staring up. She inhaled deeply and let the energetic hum sink into her bones until she reached an almost meditative state. She knew it was insanity to lie out here in the open like this, but she needed these trees the way she needed water. They cleared her mind and filled it with calm—comforting, protecting, nourishing her, providing her with a small piece of home in foreign surroundings.

  It was an impossible feeling to describe to others, so she’d never bothered to try. She also knew it was far from normal. It had been this way for her since she was a child, and she still didn’t understand it. I’ll have to ask Compendium about that.

  Compendium. She had grown to rely on it to the point where she carried it everywhere, even though she couldn’t use it in front of others. It was tucked into her sash even now. She patted it at random intervals to reassure herself of its presence. Its weight and warmth had sunk into her body and become a part of her.

  Mia was deeply entranced in her meditative state when a muffled crunch snapped behind her. She froze. Whoever or whatever it was must see her, as she lay prone on the ground of the Crater Grove.

  “Who is it?” she asked softly, still frozen.

  “It’s just me” came the whisper of a familiar male voice.

  A sheepish-looking Cedar emerged from behind her to stare down at her sprawled figure. He looked as if he had caught her engaged in an embarrassing or perhaps supremely private act.

  “Oh,” she said, relaxing, her voice also a whisper. “What are you doing here?”

  “Um, mind if I sit down?” he asked.

  “Suit yourself,” she said, and shrugged her shoulders against the grass. “My permission is pretty pointless. Neither of us is allowed in here.”

  He sat down near her and crossed his legs. “I suppose that’s true.” His dark, fathomless eyes stared up at the branches in wonder. He eventually uncrossed his legs and lay down next to her, so their heads were near each other, and whispered, “I see why you position yourself like this. It’s amazing.”

  “I’ve never seen elders this large,” she murmured.

  “I read that before the Great Fall the Central Counsel used to meet at a grove of ancient elders that were so large that they started deep in the ground and reached so far into the sky that no individual ever climbed them to the top.” His voice sounded soft and dreamy.

  “You’re beginning to sound like Taryn,” Mia said, poking him in the rib with an index finger.

  He grabbed the offending hand and covered it with his, resting it on his lean chest. His heart beat slowly and rhythmically beneath his breastbone. Her mind wasn’t sure how to process this touch. She rather liked the gentle warmth of his hand and the steady beat of his heart, but she was unsure of the meaning. Her social education in this area was sadly lacking. She just left it be and enjoyed the sensation of having her hand held.

  “I should very much like to see this grove someday,” she said quietly.

  “Me too,” he whispered.

  “You never answered my question. What are you doing here?”

  “I followed you,” he said, turning his head to look directly at her.

  His features were lit with a bronze glow in the dim light, like a browned butter and sugar combination. Mia marveled at the beauty of the light on his face.

  “I’ve recently noticed you leaving the barracks in the dead of night,” he continued, “and then sneaking back some time later. I got so curious that I couldn’t get a good night’s sleep, because I wondered if you were going to sneak out, then wondered where you went.”

  His hand was warm, his voice smooth. Mia closed her eyes and let them sink into and melt and mix with the rest of her senses.

  “So one night last week, I followed you out of the barracks and into a moss-covered corridor,” Cedar continued. “But when I looked around the turn, you were gone. It was the oddest thing. So I waited for you. Finally, after a long while, the moss of the wall began to move, like something was going to punch its way through. I panicked and was going to run, but then a pale, thin arm popped through.”

  “I never saw you,” Mia said quietly.

  “Well, I ran off before you could,” he said. “Tonight, when you disappeared in the corridor, I followed you through the moss, and here we are.”

  “So you followed me because you were curious?” she asked, opening her eyes again. Cedar’s hand still pressed hers against his chest.

  “Essentially. I thought you might have been up to no good,” he said with a crooked grin. “I know how nefarious you are.”

  “Aye, indeed.” Mia cracked a smile. “I’m terribly untrustworthy.”

  “I half expected to find you rerouting power to the library to give Brother Cornelius his own hearth.”

  “Oh, that’s an excellent idea. He would love that. Although he’s rather sensitive to humidity and temperature in the library. He even invented a special gourd that absorbs water from the air.”

  “You don’t say?” said Cedar. “That sounds incredibly useful.”

  “I know. Right?” she exclaimed slightly louder than she’d intended. She lowered her voice again. “You can take one with you when you travel to absorb water from the air and crack it open when you need a drink.”

  “He should invent one with a hole,” Cedar said. “Then it could be emptied and reused.”

  “I suppose we could just drill a hole, as long as it doesn’t damage the gourd. I can’t recall how long they’re good for.”

  They mused for a bit on Brother Cornelius’s unending ingenuity.

  “So you just come here and lie under the trees?” he asked, turning the topic back to Mia’s presence in the Crater Grove.

  “Thus far,” she said. “I do have an interest in the systems, but when I get here, the warmth and the hum of the trees cajoles me into a relaxed state, almost like a trance, I guess.” She looked over at Cedar to gauge his reaction.

  She’d never mentioned the humming to others, except for Brother Cornelius, who didn’t seem to notice, but she felt warm and comfortable, and Cedar’s steady heartbeat under her hand reassured her. He looked over at her, his dark, luminous eyes searching hers for something.

  “I hear them too,” he said. “I thought I was imagining it, but I hear it.” He frowned slightly. “They’re always like this?”

  “All trees and roo
ts hum and vibrate,” she said. “Some louder than others. I’ve heard them since I was a small child.”

  Cedar looked surprised but not disbelieving. It probably helped her case that he heard them too, at least here, in a room where the trees practically screamed with joy.

  “Does it drive you mad?” he asked.

  “Not at all. I find it incredibly comforting. It’s as if I’m never alone. The trees are always whispering to me.”

  “That seems kind of creepy,” Cedar said softly.

  “I suppose it would to someone unused to constant noise. To me, though, the deep quiet of the stone walls of this cavernous Compound seems creepy.”

  They lapsed into a comfortable silence. Mia succumbed to the sounds of the trees once again, and when she glanced over at Cedar, his eyes were round and absent, as if they were out of focus.

  Finally he said softly, “Did your Father make it?”

  Mia’s body tensed a little at the question. “I don’t know,” she replied, and bit her lip.

  Cedar squeezed her hand reassuringly.

  “They haven’t told me anything,” she continued, her voice trembling like her hand.

  “Is he your only family?”

  “Yes. For as long as I can remember, it’s just been Father and me.”

  “What about your mother?”

  “I never knew her. She died when I was an infant. I have no drawings of her, and Father never described her except to say she was very beautiful. I must resemble her, because I look nothing like him.”

  “Does he not talk about her?” Cedar asked.

  “He avoids talking about her to the extent that over time I conditioned myself to stop asking. Instead I make up fantasies about her in my head. Silly, I know.” Her cheeks grew warm from the embarrassment of the admission. “All I have of her are my fur bag and her locket.”

  “You have a locket?” he asked, perking up. “Is there anything inside?”

  “I don’t know,” she replied, disengaging her hand from his to tug at the long, intricate chain around her neck. She retrieved the chain from deep inside her robes and slowly pulled up the shiny metal egg at the bottom. “I’ve never been able to get it open, and I don’t want to damage it, so I’m hesitant to force it. I like to think it’ll open when it’s ready.”

  Cedar took the small golden locket from her hand and ran his thumb over the latch. “It almost looks as if someone jammed it intentionally,” he said softly, peering closely at it in the dim light. “It would require some fine tools to work it open. The quality is exceptional, though. How old is it? The details look too fine to be accomplished by just any old country jeweler.”

  “I really don’t know,” Mia said, feeling useless. What did she know? Apparently nothing. She admired the way the locket glinted in his long brown fingers as he handled it.

  “Well, you’re quite a mystery,” he whispered solemnly then gently placed the locket in her hands.

  Mia gave it one last glance before she propped herself up on her elbow and dropped it down the front of her robes.

  “Are you hiding anything else in there?” he asked with a mischievous grin.

  “Wouldn’t you like to know?” she blurted out, flustered.

  “Aye, I would,” he said, matter-of-factly, looking over at her carefully.

  Mia quickly flattened herself against the grass once more, baffled as to what to say next. A part of her craved the intimacy that Cedar’s eyes offered within their shiny depths, but another part said it was madness. Words tumbled through her mind, but nothing witty emerged.

  “Oh, don’t be daft,” she said, again louder than intended. Her voice echoed up among the trees, and she thumped her hand lightly on his chest.

  In an instant, he tugged her hand and pulled her over to him. Before she could speak or even think, his soft lips were on hers, and his right hand was caressing her cheek. When she gasped in surprise, he deepened the kiss. Her body relaxed against his, and when Cedar finally released her mouth, she was trembling.

  “If you look like your mother, she really was beautiful.” With that simple statement, he sprung to his feet gracefully and held out a hand to pull her up.

  She let him pull her to her feet, standing much closer to him than she was accustomed. His lanky frame towered over her. She took a small step back, still rather dumfounded by the entire exchange. Her heart pounded in her chest. She reached up to Cedar’s chest, but his heart was beating strong and steady and slowly under her palm. Wordlessly he took her hand and led her out of the crater and back toward the barracks.

  They walked in silence so as not to draw attention and proceeded into the acolytes’ chamber. Before he released her hand, he brought it to his lips and gently kissed her palm. Then he smiled softly and slipped off to his bunk.

  That night, Mia lay in her bed a long time before finally falling into a restless sleep. The meditative relaxation of the Crater Grove had been replaced by heart-racing thoughts and fears, some to do with Cedar and others to do with her mother.

  18 The Fight

  Lumin Cycle 10152

  “I rather thought Cedar was above thinking with his anatomy,” Taryn said, shaking her head at Mia’s revelation.

  A few days had passed since Cedar kissed her in the Crater Grove, but Mia hadn’t had a chance to be alone with Taryn to discuss it. They weren’t really alone now, truth be told, but the din of the dining hall and the others speaking animatedly at their respective tables made it unlikely anyone was listening in.

  It seemed as if the spell woven between Mia and Cedar by the great elders of the Crater Grove had dissipated after that night, and what was left was a series of awkward interactions. It would have been simpler to pretend nothing had happened and to continue on in their friendship, but Cedar had thrown down the gauntlet, so to speak, when he had made his feelings unequivocally known that night in the dim light of the Crater Grove.

  Mia laughed at Taryn’s characterization, but it really wasn’t as simple as lust. “Well, I didn’t get the sense that he was interested in a fling, as it were. I think it runs deeper than anatomy. It wasn’t the sort of coarse groping in some hidden backwater that’s just for play, if you get my drift. I think he’s serious about me.”

  At least she wanted to think he was serious. But could it really be anything else? He had been determined but gentle, and his touch had been firm yet soft.

  “If it was base seduction, I think he would have been more persistent, and I also think there’s more tension now than there would be in that case.” Mia was rambling, but her own feelings on the matter were hardly settled.

  Until that moment in the Crater Grove, she hadn’t let herself think of Cedar that way. But once he had touched her and kissed her, she couldn’t think about him any other way. It was distracting to say the least.

  “It’s about time there was a bit of juicy gossip around here,” Taryn said, grinning. “I think there hasn’t been anything to grab the acolytes’ attention in this way since Flora ran off with a boy two Gatherings ago.”

  Mia raised an eyebrow at the story, which clearly had happened before her time. “Yes, well, eloping together probably isn’t on the agenda.”

  “Not yet.” Taryn winked.

  “Ha, don’t tempt me.”

  “I don’t think I’m the one tempting you at all,” Taryn said, keeping the jokes flowing. “Well, what brought on the sudden tidal wave of passion?” she asked, waving her knife in her typical dramatic fashion before spearing a piece of meat and popping it into her mouth.

  “We were talking about the trees and my family and my mother’s locket, and he reached over and grabbed me.”

  “A locket is an odd thing to get worked up about. You’ve never mentioned it before. Didn’t you lose your mother when you were young? Maybe it holds some clue about your past.”

  “Yeah,” Mia said. “I actually tend to forget I have it. It’s so much a part of my attire that I often don’t think of it or notice it. Plus, I wear it under
my robes usually, for practical reasons.” She pulled it out and over her head and handed it to Taryn to examine.

  “Wow, this is fine work,” Taryn said appreciatively. “Very detailed.” She examined both sides carefully and added, “This design reminds me of some of the scrollwork found in the ancient texts. I wonder if it predates the Great Fall.”

  “I don’t know.” Mia bit her lip. “Cedar made similar mention that it must be a very old piece.”

  “Well, it’s brilliant,” Taryn said, handing it back to her.

  Mia pulled the chain over her neck and was about to stuff the locket back down into her robes when a calloused hand clenched her wrist painfully.

  “Have we added stealing to snooping?” came a gravelly voice from behind her.

  A lump formed in her throat as Taryn’s eyes grew wide. Brother SainClair was standing at their table with his fist clamped around Mia’s wrist.

  “I will have a look at that,” he demanded. “Remove it.”

  “It’s mine. I brought with me when I arrived. It belonged to my mother, and I’ll not remove it.”

  “You will,” he said, not letting go of her wrist.

  She tried to wrench it free but failed.

  “I will not,” she replied, iron in her voice.

  “If you don’t submit to examination, I’ll have you flogged,” Brother SainClair said through gritted teeth.

  “Go ahead,” Mia said softly, menace in her voice. “But you’ll have to kill me if you want this locket.” She transferred it to the hand he wasn’t gripping and dropped the gold orb back into her robes. “And I rather doubt Dominus Nikola would be overly pleased,” she warned.

  It was a bluff but the only one she had. All eyes in the dining hall had fallen on them, but she was beyond caring at that point. She was sick of the constant glares, ill treatment, and odious insults she received from Brother SainClair, and she wasn’t going to bear it silently any longer.