Ilesh and Moon

Don't mind my sister- she's got rather a strong personality

This is an installment in a serialized novel. To start at the beginning, go here or navigate from the Table of Contents.

Arb had left Rahn near the beginning of a narrow wooden walkway that spiraled gradually down around the sinkhole, with supports sunk here and there into the rock. Rahn stepped cautiously onto it. The wood creaked, but held. She looked down and was surprised to feel a slight flip in her stomach. She was accustomed to heights, but the drops in the mountains were usually not quite so vertical, and she trusted solid rock to bear her weight more than these bits of wood.

She couldn’t figure out what she was supposed to do with the leash that Arb had given her. There were metal rings protruding at intervals from the rock, but if she clipped herself to one and walked forward, there would be no way to unclip herself from the previous ring. So she simply wound the rope around her waist and trusted her mountain girl balance.

As she walked, she passed caves dug into the rock. Some opened above her head, with ladders leading to balconies where people sat eating dinner. Others opened straight onto the walkway, curtains flung open to admit the sunlight. The interiors were comfortable, the cave walls and floors covered with cloth and carpets. Rahn raised a hand in greeting as she passed inhabitants of this strange beehive going about their lives. They waved back with mild curiosity, and she noticed that most of the eyes were green.

So there were Veyta living here– but not Veyta as Rahn knew them. The style of dress was different, with more colored cloth and less leather. The women braided their hair differently, too, and wore metal rings not only in their ears but in their noses as well.

As Rahn walked along, she heard a clattering behind her. She looked back to see a Veyta boy, a little younger than her, running at top speed down the walkway. The sight reminded her of Huki and would have made her smile, except that the boy was coming straight toward her and the walkway was only wide enough for one.

“Hey!” She shouted in alarm, beginning to pick up her own pace. But the boy did not stop, careening toward her. Rahn plastered herself to the wall, gripping the rock, but her pack still stuck out behind her across the path. Just as the boy reached her, she braced for impact.

At that moment, the boy leapt, grasping a thick rope that hung from a beam overhead. He kicked off the rock wall, swinging out over the abyss in a clean arc and coming to land ahead of Rahn on the walkway. He kept on running without missing a step. Rahn watched as he reached another rope ahead and took hold of it with goatskin-gloved hands. This time he simply stepped off the walkway and slid rapidly down the rope to the level below. Rahn watched as the boy then swung himself out, arced gracefully back to the rock, and vanished directly into one of the caves.

Rahn grinned and shook her head. She looked at the rope hanging near her and considered for an instant. The boy’s mode of descent had looked rather fun, but she had only one leather gauntlet and wasn’t keen to strip the skin off her other hand. Besides, taking the long spiral down would give her a chance to see more of the strange city.

And so Rahn continued down the gently sloping walkway, now and then passing a rope or ladder, a copper pipe bolted to the rock, and once a dubious-looking rope bridge that spanned the sinkhole.

After a time she saw two other figures ahead on the walkway, this time progressing more slowly than herself. As she approached, she saw that they were women. One wore the traditional robes and headscarf of an Enedram matron, while the other wore pants in the style of Veyta traveling garb, her hair uncovered and braided, and a copper hoop in one nostril.

This woman was struggling. At the moment, she was bent over, reaching valiantly for the nearest natural handhold along the rock wall. The pants, which were a bit ill-fitting, had slipped down to reveal a certain amount of her behind. Rahn entered uncomfortably upon this scene, who were engaged in an animated discussion about the situation, did not notice her at first.

“Put your hand there– no, not there! Move your foot this way,” the robed woman was saying.

“If I move my foot,” the bent-over woman replied, “I’m gonna put it somewhere you won’t like.”

“There’s no need to be vulgar, Ilesh–I’m trying to help. It’s not my fault you’re afraid of heights.”

“Yes, but it was your idea to come to this hell hole,” said Ilesh, adding a few more colorful words.

“No swearing– and I don’t know why you’re blaming me. What would you rather have done–walked for half a year to avoid this route, or died in the desert?”

“Probably died in the desert,” muttered Ilesh.

The other woman groaned in frustration. “Just focus,” she said. “Give me your hand!”

At this point Rahn observed that a handkerchief, which had been fluttering precariously from one of Ilesh’s drooping pockets, finally came loose and began to float off, until Rahn stepped forward and caught it.

“Um, excuse me,” she said, “this fell out of your pocket.”

Ilesh turned back toward her, taking in Rahn and the handkerchief all at once. Rahn was surprised to see that the woman’s eyes were brown, in spite her Veyta style of dress.

“Do you want me to… put it back in your pocket?” asked Rahn, observing that Ilesh’s hands were occupied clinging to the rock.

“No,” said Ilesh, “Keep it! It’s fallen out three times today. I’m done with it!”

With this, Ilesh resumed considering her own situation, and Rahn was left holding the handkerchief. She also considered her options. They were some distance from any of the dangling ropes, and it would be impossible to squeeze past the women on the walkway. And they did not seem to be making any progress.

“Excuse me,” said Rahn again, “I wonder if this would help?” She tucked the handkerchief into one of her own pockets and unwound Arb’s leash from around her waist.

Both the women looked at her. Ilesh pursed her lips. “I’m open to ideas, girl, but if you think I’m gonna try swinging like a monkey like the looneys who live in this place, you are mistaken.”

“It’s not for swinging,” Rahn said, “just for backup.” And the method for using the rope, which had eluded her while alone, now seemed simple enough with two. So with a reluctant nod of permission from Ilesh, Rahn tied the end of the rope around the woman’s waist. Then she clipped the other end to a nearby bolt.

“See?” she said. “Now if you fall, you won’t fall far. When you get to the next bolt, you can hold onto it while I unclip this end and bring it up to you.”

Ilesh voiced some doubts about Rahn’s definition of not falling far and muttered a few things under her breath that Rahn didn’t catch. But nonetheless, the harness seemed to reduce Ilesh’s panic to a level such that she could progress slowly along the walkway, though still clinging to the wall.

As they made their way down the spiral in this odd, halting procession, they passed a line where the rock changed from dark basalt to pale limestone. The cave-dwellings changed too, growing closer together. More people passed them going either way now, swinging around them using the ropes. Rahn noticed a greater mix of brown and green eyes here, though some of the Enedram were dressed, as Ilesh was, in Veyta fashion. Rahn sniffed– there was a smell to this place that had been growing stronger the further down they got– an almost spicy aroma.

From time to time they passed a cave with a broader entrance that seemed to be associated with shops or inns. Some had a collection of seats hanging from the wall on which people dangled, talking, eating, and drinking. Others had a large balcony, anchored to the cliff wall above with ropes, like a hanging shelf. On one of these, the two women stopped. Ilesh, at long last, pulled up her sagging trousers and collapsed into a chair. Rahn was about to bid them good day and carry on, but Ilesh stopped her. “Sit, sit! What, are you going to pretend you didn’t just save my sorry arse? No, sit and have a cup of tea with us. I won’t be having people save my arse without at least buying them a cup of tea.”

“No swearing,” said the other woman, “but do sit, dear.”

Rahn sat. It did feel good to rest, and the bowl of tea that a man brought was pleasantly warm in her hands.

“What’s your name, dear, and where are you coming from?” said the robed woman.

“Don’t pry, Moon, let the girl drink her tea in peace.”

“I’m not prying, I’m being polite. Don’t mind my sister, dear–she’s got rather a strong personality.”

“That’s right I do,” said Ilesh, “and I know you think that’s why my husband keeled over, he couldn’t take one more minute of my strong personality and decided to stop breathing.”

Moon groaned in frustration. Rahn sat quietly drinking her tea while the women bickered. Eventually, they exhausted the moment’s argument.

“That’s a beautiful ring,” Rahn said to Ilesh, trying to change the subject.

“You like it?” said Ilesh.

“Yes…”

“You really like it?”

“Yes, it’s very…”

“It’s yours!” said Ilesh, taking the piece out of her nose and putting it on the table in front of Rahn.

“What?” said Rahn. “No, I didn’t mean to…”

“It’s yours, and that’s done,” said Ilesh with a tone of finality.

Rahn hesitated.

“Well, put it on, put it on,” said Ilesh, “don’t be rude.”

And so Rahn picked up the hoop–it was gold rather than the usual copper. She cleaned it on her sleeve, and put it, somewhat painfully, into her nostril–it had been a while since she had bothered with jewelry.

“Ah, that looks good, doesn’t it, Moon?” said Ilesh.

Moon agreed. “You look beautiful, dear.”

“Well, it’s a start at least,” said Ilesh, “look at that hair!”

“Ilesh!” Moon glared at her sister, then turned back to Rahn warmly. “Where did you say you were from, dear–and your name?”

Rahn gave them her name and replied that she was from the mountains.

“Mm,” said Ilesh, “That explains the hair, and a few other things.”

Rahn looked down at her garb. She had always thought of ‘mountain folk’ as uncivilized barbarians. But that seemed to be how people here thought of her.

Moon was talking, something about the trend of young Enedram women dressing in Veyta style.

“Of course you wear it very convincingly, dear, if a bit rustic,” she said, “unlike when old women go parading about that way.” She cast a chastising glance at Ilesh.

“I’m younger than you!” said Ilesh. “And besides, I’m an unmarried woman now, and I’ve got to make myself alluring.”

“You look ridiculous,” said Moon.

On they went for some time, until the tea was drunk and the proprietor had started giving them pointed glances.

“We’d better be making our arrangements,” said Moon, glancing at the late afternoon sky.

And so Moon and Ilesh rose and bid Rahn farewell. The walkway was much wider and sturdy-looking from this point, and the drop to the lake below less harrowing. Still, Ilesh kept close to the rock wall, moving slowly and forcing all other pedestrians to go around her with no small annoyance. Rahn lingered, grinning as she watched them go.