The Cloud Roost (Jekua Book 5), page 36
There was nothing else to do on this random stretch of barren trail, no real way to occupy a person’s time, so Alani wandered up and down the path while Niona did that. Niona told her she could officially keep watch, in case an ornery Yissoon or something crept up on them, and she was only half-joking.
Celeste was clambering about halfway up the rocky mountainside, conjuring a new flower beneath her, when Alani returned to their campsite. The Raptor loosened her grip, retracting her claws from the rock, and fell two or three feet down onto the huge, surprisingly stable petals. A faint, pleasant light emanated from the magical flower, almost invisible in the bright sun if not for how it illuminated the white stripes streaking Celeste’s lithe frame. There was one fake Celeste next to her, which looked identical save for the lack of light reflecting off her scales.
“How goes it?” Alani asked, strolling over to Niona’s side. She shielded her eyes from the sun as she gazed upward at the pair of Celestes.
“Fine,” said Niona flatly. She was getting better at maintaining both techniques, which also helped her conserve mana while performing them. It wasn’t the most satisfying of practice sessions, she had to admit. Blasting apart some rocks or something would’ve been more fulfilling. Maybe that was immature, but whatever. “Can you tell which one’s real?” she asked.
Alani peered at the two Raptors, squinting in the harsh sunlight. “Uhhhhh…” she groaned, eyes flitting back and forth between them. “No.”
“Perfect.” On cue, she diffused the illusory Celeste and made the real one hop from flower to flower all the way down. She scampered toward Alani, kicking up dust as she skidded to a halt and eliciting a tiny yelp from the girl. “Wanna give her a kiss?” Niona offered.
Celeste’s long, scaly face teetered forward and she flicked her tongue out. Alani laughed but politely declined.
“Oh well,” said Niona. Then, “How was your walk?”
“Fine,” Alani replied monotonously, stealing Niona’s answer. “Just kind of wandered a bit.”
“Did you see anyone?” Niona asked. Now that they were back on one of Royal Ascension’s main trails, she thought more hikers would’ve come across them by now. As it stood, only one guy in his thirties had passed by yesterday afternoon.
“I did not,” Alani answered.
“Not even down below?”
“Nope. No Summoners on their way up, sorry.”
“Drat. Sounds boring,” said Niona. Then, cheekily, “You didn’t spend the whole time textin’ Aeiko?”
A mortified expression fell across Alani’s face. “I did not,” she repeated. Niona almost laughed at how clear it was Alani regretted opening up about her feelings.
“Oh, come on. I know y’all must’ve talked a little bit already today, right?”
“Well, yes, of course.”
“Of course,” Niona echoed, chortling. She then dispelled all the Radiant flowers dotting the mountainside and started the process over again, this time aiming to reach even greater heights.
As she did so, Alani took a seat next to her bag and stared out at the Vettenestiq Forest sprawling below them. Wind howled, sending a shiver through them both in spite of the sunlight basking them in warmth.
Niona paused what she was doing, watching Alani for a moment, before speaking. “There really ain’t nothin’ to do, huh?”
“Nope,” said Alani.
“Didn’t bring any books or nothin’ on your pilgrimage, I take it?”
“I didn’t really expect to have much downtime, I guess,” Alani said. “Did you?”
That image made Niona laugh. “I didn’t really think I’d be with y’all for this long, truth be told,” she said. “And I ain’t really the readin’ type anyways.” When was the last time she read a chapter book? Mentally referring to it as a chapter book was probably a pretty damn good indicator of how foreign reading was to her.
“Yeah, I wouldn’t say I’m huge on it either,” Alani confessed.
“Not a lot of reading time at the Church?”
“Not during the day, no. They keep us pretty busy. I guess there’s some time in the evenings, but it’s not like I really made all that much money there. I wasn’t spending what I got on stuff like books. Even if I did, those shared rooms are small. Not much storage space for each person.”
“Ahh, that sucks,” said Niona.
Alani nodded. “One of the men I lived with—Elder Poul—he would regularly buy a book, then just sell it when he was done. Saved him some space and saved him a bit of money on the next book, since he put whatever he got back toward it.”
“Not a bad idea. But why didn’t he just use the library, or somethin’?”
“I don’t know,” said Alani. “That’s a good question.”
“Hell, why didn’t you use the library?”
“Another good question,” she sighed. “I don’t know. I’m kind of embarrassed to say this, but I guess I wasn’t all that big on hobbies. After a full day of Church duties, I always felt drained. I never really wanted to do anything. Balt was the only person who could ever really get me off the Church grounds and doing stuff. Otherwise, I would’ve just lazed about, waiting for the next day.”
Niona cocked an eyebrow, turning away from her Jekua to face Alani. “Sounds kinda maybe like you were depressed,” she said.
Alani blinked quizzically. “What? No,” she refuted immediately.
“I mean, I dunno,” Niona shrugged. “Sounds like you were definitely in a rut or somethin’, at the very least.”
Alani seemed to turn over the words in her head. Then she said, “Maybe you’re right. Maybe I was.” She huffed. “I guess I never really thought of it that way. In hindsight, sitting here, it sounds kind of stupid, but I always just figured that was how everyone felt after a day of work.”
“I know I’m not the authority on how a person feels after a day of work, considerin’ my resumé,” said Niona, “but I’m pretty sure that even if you don’t particularly like or care about your job—and honestly, maybe especially if you don’t—you’re supposed to wanna do shit you actually do enjoy after you’re done with it. Ain’t that what life’s all about?”
“You’re not wrong,” Alani said. It seemed as if she was about to say more, but then she perked up, something catching her eye over Niona’s shoulder.
Niona swiveled around and saw Balt with his platinum blonde hair traipsing down the path, waving his arms wildly. The two of them waved back, subsequently garnering waves from Wasaaru, Aeiko, and Brine.
“Aeiko’s gonna be glad as shit to see you,” Niona said, grinning. “Just watch.”
“Oh, stop it,” said Alani bashfully, her cheeks reddening ever so slightly.
“Just watch!” Niona said again. Then she added, “Yo, watch this too.”
Celeste had barely made it a quarter of the way up the wall, but now she made the Raptor jump off a flower and scurry to stand in front of her. She started building up Radiant magic in the Jekua’s tail, then swung it in Balt’s direction, unleashing beams of solar energy at him.
Way down the trail, everyone scattered. Aeiko and Brine ducked toward the mountain wall, while Wasaaru hurried toward the railing overlooking the trail below. Balt, meanwhile, loosed a yelp and jumped forward, laying flat and coming down hard on his elbows, letting the magic beam fly overhead.
Niona and Alani both burst out in shrill cackles. While Niona couldn’t hear him from this distance, she could see that Wasaaru was laughing too.
“Should I do it again?” she asked Alani, watching Balt slowly stand up and brush dirt off his clothes.
“Hmmmm…I don’t know, he’s gonna be pissed.”
“That’s fine.”
“Okay, maybe just one more time.”
She sent another roiling beam of energy his way. This time, instead of going prone, he hopped to his right, accidentally slamming his arm into the mountainside. Wasaaru laughed at him again as he clutched his arm, groaning.
“Okay, okay, I’ll leave him alone now,” Niona giggled.
It took another five minutes for the group to reach them, and when they did, Balt sported a sour expression.
“What was that?” he demanded.
“What was what?” Niona asked innocently.
“I should’ve fired back with Dipper,” he said.
“You wouldn’t dare.”
Alani stood behind Niona, and Aeiko rushed past to wrap her in a tight embrace. Niona shot her a conspiratorial smile, which Alani reciprocated after trying and failing to suppress it.
Following their lead, Balt stepped forward and hugged Niona. “I’m glad you’re both alright,” he said before separating and hugging Alani as well. It seemed like Aeiko was reluctant to let go of the girl, but they did.
“Thanks to my ingenuity,” Niona said proudly.
Everyone ignored her boast and Wasaaru asked, “What have y’all been doing down here while we toiled away?” He was covered in the telltale sheen of sweat and the faintest layer of dirt. It actually made him look a little more attractive, for some reason, but Niona would never tell him that. The most severe torture methods couldn’t pry that from her.
After hugging her tightly again, nearly to the point of asphyxiation, Aeiko set to work examining Alani’s soulstitcher. They concluded that everything did in fact seem perfectly fine, much to their relief.
Once everyone had calmed from their joyful reunion, Niona addressed Balt. “Okay,” she started, “you gotta do me a favor.”
“Do I?” he asked.
“You do. You owe me.”
“What for?”
“For letting me fall off the side of a mountain.”
“Okay, wait,” he said sternly. “I don’t think you can put that on me.”
“Can’t I?”
“Does that mean you owe me a favor too?” said Alani.
“I don’t owe anyone any favors!” Balt whined. “It was a freak occurrence! I specifically am not to blame for the actions of a wild Jekua!”
“Aren’t you?” Niona said.
“Why don’t Wasaaru or Aeiko owe you favors too? Or Brine, for that matter?”
Niona ignored his question and asked, “Are you gonna do me this favor or not? It’s a fun one, you’ll like it.”
Balt rolled his eyes. “What is it?”
“You just gotta train with me.”
“Oh.”
“See? Easy. You love that shit.” Then, to Wasaaru, “Can you teach me how you do that weird shadow thing that Balt hates so much?”
Balt’s face sagged. “Dammit,” he muttered.
38
Next Year, We’ll Meet Again
Four hours later, the group was well on their way back up the mountain, still possessing little to no idea what the best route was. Balt was already worn out from the training with Niona, wherein her Lightbloom Raptor left him and his Puffolin absolutely battered. Adding the confusion and frustration of ambling down dead ends and hiking uphill made it all the worse.
So, when they eventually settled in somewhere to eat dinner (which was also going to be lackluster and piss him off more), he was more than ready to call it a day. He was relieved to be reunited with Alani and Niona, but aside from that, it had not been the best of days.
He lay flat on the ground, resting his head on his lumpy backpack and listening to Wasaaru’s further attempts to explain his shadow technique to Niona. While he spoke, there came the pop and hiss of Niona opening a can of Thunderjolt, followed by a loud slurp. Every so often, she would ask Wasaaru for some elaboration on what he’d just said. Despite her best efforts earlier, she still hadn’t quite nailed the move. She’d inflicted plenty of pain on Dipper, but not in the precise way she’d intended.
Balt was generally interested in how the technique worked, but he was too tired to pay attention and quickly tuned them out. He slipped his linkpad out of his pocket and opened the radio app, throwing on Kou Tekkis’s pop station.
They were currently airing commercials. He let out a low groan of irritation.
He sighed deeply and closed his eyes, awaiting the music’s return and trying to envision the perfect path up the mountain. At the same time, he mentally recited the story his grandmother had told countless times about her own ascent. Surely there had to be some detail in there that would help, or some piece of information in the world that would point them in the right direction. What was it people said about moss? That it always grows on the north side of trees, or something? He didn’t know if that was right, but it sounded right. Maybe there was some natural hint like that, except for…what, exactly? Not going down dead ends? For going up? For the first time ever, Balt lamented not joining the Gontol Scouts in his youth. They would’ve taught him the proper survival skills he needed to reach the Vetteteo Mountains’ peaks. He considered searching online, but he didn’t even know what the search query would be.
Mana trickled into his body, and he relished that feeling as he readjusted on the ground. The back of his head was digging into something hard in his bag, but no matter how he moved, it was always hitting whatever it was. Oh well.
Finally, some music blared out from his linkpad, which heaved up and down on his chest with his breathing. It was the latest single from Big Whisk, who seemed to be getting endless airtime as of late. Balt liked the guy, but he thought the album this single came from wasn’t anything special. It had some catchy tunes and it was easy to listen to, but the guy was so derivative. Not that Balt needed his pop music to be super unique or groundbreaking or anything, but Big Whisk was truly just so bland.
Regardless, he had to admit the beat was kind of fun. He tapped his fingers on his chest along to the drums and tried to let his anxieties melt away. It almost worked.
Beyond the tunes, he noticed Wasaaru and Niona’s conversation die out before footsteps crunched through the dirt, headed his way. A few seconds later, they abruptly stopped. He peeked one eye open and was greeted by his cousin looming over him.
“Yo,” he said.
“Yo,” Wasaaru returned.
“What’s up?”
“Nothing,” said Wasaaru, taking a seat next to him. He sat cross-legged, facing the others, who were milling about their own business. Niona was standing in front of Brine, gyrating wildly, while Alani and Aeiko stared in amazement.
“What the hell are they doing?” Balt asked, not sitting up. His chin dug into his chest as he craned his neck to watch them.
Wasaaru grunted with amusement. “Niona wants to teach Brine some dance she saw online.”
Balt grinned. “I’m sure that’ll go great,” he said.
“Hey, he might pick up on that dance faster than she’s picking up on that technique.”
“That’s not goin’ well?” He leaned his head back down on the rigid object in his bag and shut his eyes.
“Not yet,” said Wasaaru. “It’s only been a couple hours, though. It took me a week or two to really get it down.”
“That still seems fast for something so strong.”
“What can I say? I’m a natural.” Balt’s eyes were closed, but he swore he could hear the smug smile on his cousin’s face. Wasaaru asked, “What are you doing over here? Sunbathing?”
“I’m already tan enough,” said Balt. “No, I’m just wallowing. Classic stuff.”
“It’s okay that you’ll never match me in summoning. You don’t need to beat yourself up over it.”
“Shut up. I’m just getting frustrated with this hike.”
“We knew it wouldn’t be easy.”
“Yeah, but I didn’t think it’d be this hard.”
“You—”
“Shut up, I know how dumb that sounds. Obviously I knew the hike would be tough, and we’d probably be facing obstacles on the way up, but I didn’t think that simply finding the path would be a challenge in itself.”
He heard Wasaaru shift his body slightly. Then he said, “We just have to keep pushing. That’s all there is to it.”
Balt almost snapped at the obvious remark, but refrained. “It just sucks how little progress we’d made before, and now we’re starting over.” They hadn’t had to travel all the way back to the mountain’s base to find Niona and Alani, but it wasn’t particularly far off. “I’m also worried that we’re gonna run out of supplies, now. I know we bought more than we thought we needed, but…” His voice died off. There was nothing else to say.
It took a moment for Wasaaru to respond. In that brief period of silence, Balt assumed his cousin was concocting the perfect thing to say—the ideal choice and sequence of words that would dissuade his fears and insecurities about this whole venture.
But what Wasaaru said was, “Yeah, it really sucks.”
“Very helpful and insightful, thanks.”
“What do you want me to say?”
“I dunno,” Balt grumbled. Then, softly, he said, “I wish Grandma was here to help us.”
Wasaaru chuckled at that. “Would sorta defeat the purpose of us being here if she was, though, huh?”
“Guess so,” Balt conceded. “I still can’t believe we’re on the same path that she was so many years ago. You think she camped at this same spot?”
“Who the hell knows? It is pretty wild that we’re here, though.”
Balt grinned. “Did you ever think you’d be trying to imprint Sawarestao?” he asked.
“I didn’t think you’d ever be trying to,” Wasaaru said, garnering a light shove from Balt. He continued. “I thought maybe I would someday, I don’t know. But definitely not this soon. And definitely not under these circumstances.”
“Yeah, I feel you there,” said Balt.
As another song ended, the radio host came on the air to announce that it was time for Oldies Hour, during which they’d be playing “classic pop songs of yore.” First up was a song that truly was a classic: Like Fire by Cassandra.
A smile stretched across Balt’s face as he bobbed his head along to the song. “This was one of Grandma’s favorites,” he said.
