Chapter 16: Chapter Sixteen: The Tour
Aiden's head was so full of questions and answers he was relieved when Gunesh was called away. He needed some time to think, to put what he had been told in some kind of order. But when Ashala offered to guide him back to his room, he turned her down.
"I'd like a tour, if you don't mind," he said. Despite the ordeal he had been through, Aiden felt stronger for the food and water. Whatever treatment they administered, it was doing wonders for his recovery. His terrible waking state only a few hours before was already a distant memory.
"What did you people do to me? The treatment, I mean?"
She seemed to have gotten over some of her disappointment. "A natural mineral mixed with water from the well," she said. "The body is soaked in it during time of illness or when near death. If the soul is willing, the body survives."
"I guess I was willing, then."
"Very," she said. "May I ask, who is Antoinette?"
Aiden was startled. He hadn't mentioned his parent's names. "My mother."
"You called for her when you were unwell," she said. "I knew you would survive when you stopped speaking to her."
Aiden felt a flush of embarrassment, but also a wave of curiosity regarding what he may have said. He let it go. There were more important things to work out.
Ashala led him deeper into the cave system. She filled him in as they walked about her people's history since their descent below ground.
"We were fortunate to find these caves." She wound her way past three children who ran by, laughing, their dull footfalls and voices echoing down the long tunnel. "Those who survived had enough foresight to gather seeds and some animal stock to bring below. Not everything survived," she said as they neared a covered doorway, "but enough to sustain us." She pushed aside the heavy woven mat hiding the room. Light poured out, blinding him. Aiden stepped, blinking, into the massive cave she revealed and was overwhelmed by what he saw.
A natural fissure bisected the ceiling in this particular cavern, flooding the room with sunlight. It took him a moment for his eyes to adjust then for him to recognize the fissure wasn't empty so much as it was a natural formation, a giant, clear gemstone zigzagging all the way up through the deep rock to the desert floor.
The entire cavern was filled with plant life, the carpet green and lush. It smelled like summer. The air hummed with insect life, soft round bodies bobbing from plant to plant. A dozen or so men and women tended the garden with only narrow paths remaining between rows so they could get from one place to the next.
"This is amazing," Aiden said.
"Our main food supply," Ashala said. "There are a few other caverns like this, two more for plants and two for animals." She gestured for him to go back, dropping the flap over the opening and plunging them back into fire-rock glow.
Depression settled on him like a living thing. He didn't know how much he was used to the light, no matter most of his career was reliant on the dark. There was something elemental about being in sunlight he missed very badly.
"It's best not to dwell here," Ashala said. "The desire to stay is too strong."
"You too?" He assumed since she had been born underground she wouldn't crave it.
"I've spent enough time above to know what I am missing," she said.
They visited the vast kitchen next, giant pots hanging over fires, the aromas stirring his appetite again. Ashala grabbed some soft, cake-like sweets from under the watchful eye of the head cook and led him away before the cook could yell at them.
Aiden bored of the tour in short order. Aside from the garden caverns, each room was very much the same as the last. He was about to ask to return when Ashala led him into a small pocket and leaned against the wall so he could see.
The rock was painted with pictures, and not just any pictures, he soon realized. The entire room seemed dedicated to the history of the Rishi. Beautifully crafted, the artist's work appeared three dimensional on the rock. His eyes followed his memory from the mirror, the idyllic pasture scenes to the destruction of the world through a massive solar explosion. He felt sad all over again.
"My people are survivors," Ashala said as he stood there soaking it in. "We have made a home for ourselves, despite the disasters of our ancestors and the abandonment of the Guardians. But we need help now, Aiden." He turned to look at her. She stared at her tattooed toes, wiggling them so the markings seemed to breathe. "We can't survive if our part of the Edge is destroyed." She looked up at him and met his eyes at last. "If we are to continue as a people, we need the Guardians to help us. We need you to help us."
"I don't know how," he said. "If I did, I would, Ash. Honest. I don't even really understand any of this yet. How am I supposed to save you if I can't even save myself?"
"You have the Blood, no matter your upbringing," she said. "You have the ability to find the Guardians if you just try."
He shook his head, not wanting to hurt her any further, but it was impossible. He didn't even know where to start.
"You saved my life, and I want to repay you someday. But I don't know how to do what you want. I'm sorry." Aiden shifted his shoulders, feeling a sudden weight settle on him as though the imminent destruction of the Universe was his fault, somehow. His heart yearned for his parents while his logical mind tried to convince him he had to look out for himself, like he'd been taught.
Tears welled in her huge eyes. She ran from him without another word. He listened to her footfalls echo back and only once she was gone did he realized he wasn't sure where he was.
He relied on his instincts for observation, retreating back to the main hallway and closed his eyes. He ran through the tour in his head, photographic memory showing him where he had been. It didn't take long for him to remember the way.
Rather than return to his room, however, he felt compelled to continue on. He didn't want to meet up with anyone, just needing some time with his thoughts. He walked further down the corridor until he heard voices up ahead. He dodged into an unlit chamber and waited there for the two people to pass. He found he was tired after all. Aiden slid to the floor and cradled his head in his hands.
You already have everything you need, Antoinette told him. It's how you use the tools at your disposal that dictates the outcome.
If he was so prepared, why did he feel so lost?
Sometimes, Eric said, getting the job done means a leap of faith.
Faith. Right. Not an easy thing for someone trained in observation and logic. His mind spun and swam and fought him for control while he sagged further down the wall, eyes pressed closed against the reality around him.
Burying your head in the sand won't do you any good, Antoinette said.
One problem at a time, Eric said.
How he managed to doze off he had no idea, but when he caught his chin bobbing to his chest, Aiden decided to head back and find his bed. He rose, his parent's voices still in his head when light from the corridor flashed on something in the distant dark. Something compelled him to move toward it, feeling along the wall beside him, almost running into a low outcrop with his forehead. The vanishing object warned him the ledge was there. Aiden crouched and looked into a small crevasse in the wall. There the glint of the object teased him to bring it into the light.
Aiden struggled to retrieve what felt like a smooth chunk of stone. It was jammed into the crack and took several moments of prying and grunting before the thing popped loose. He had committed to the job by then and found himself on his backside in the dirt, the smooth rock in his lap.
He examined it in the low light coming in from the corridor before carrying it out with him for a better look. The stone was a deep blue-gray color, smooth and almost soapy to the touch. When he turned it over, he saw the pale yellow veins running through it. It was about the size of the prize, just a little longer, jagged on both ends, but looked as though it had been cut or fractured on the four sides. It bounced in his palm, weight almost nothing and he wondered at its fragility. He tapped one end against the wall to test its strength and was surprised when the wall itself chipped off without damaging the stone.
Cradling his find in his hands, not sure why but knowing it was important to him, Aiden made his way back to his room and, after swaddling it in one of his spare socks and hiding it in his backpack, he climbed into his bed and fell asleep.
***
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone