Page 25 of The Enduring Universe (The Rages Trilogy #3)

AHILYA

They walked back to the infirmary in silence.

Ahilya had tried to make conversation, an observation here, a question there, but Kamala moved woodenly, speaking only in sparse words. The nurse had been from Nakshar, and though Ahilya only knew her from their association in Irshar, it was not hard to imagine what rumors Kamala had heard about her from her time in the airborne ashram. What did she make of the near-kiss she’d walked into, between Ahilya and Eskayra? The thought embarrassed Ahilya. How bizarre to think that once she and Iravan had tried to keep the problems of their marriage secret for the sanctity of material bonds. Now, their broken marriage was at the heart of the troubles for humanity, and any secret was meaningless. Kamala had caught Ahilya in a compromising position, and Ahilya felt intense dislike for her radiating from the nurse.

Each decision Ahilya made in her personal life now, whether to accept Eskayra’s proposal of marriage, whether to finally divorce Iravan, whether to let herself feel innocent attraction, all of it had consequences for the citizens of Irshar. Iravan might not care about their marriage anymore, but he would not take kindly to her rejection. He would make Irshar pay in some way, consider it an insubordination. What kind of rationales would he make, trying to justify further violence, because of her actions?

Ahilya had never thought him a vindictive man, nor was jealousy his weakness, but she could not trust what she’d once known about him. He had changed, and several lives dictated him, each once tied with a material bond. She had no business kissing Esk, throwing the thin bond of her marriage in his face. She dropped her attempts at conversation, and kept steady pace with her nurse, trying not to give into fatigue.

Irshar spread out under their feet as they climbed a small hill that led away from the council chambers. Three months ago, when Ahilya and Chaiyya had made the city together, Irshar had been centered around the vriksh, the core tree rising from the center of a stone-paved plaza, the office chambers to one side, and homes and schools and other structures radiating miles in every direction. The constant assault of the cosmic creatures had eventually turned the flower-filled valleys into dangerous rubble, and far-flung residences into unmanageable zones. The council had ushered most citizens closer to the plaza, letting the outskirts remain unoccupied for a time for easier management—yet despite these changes, and the Virohi’s interference, the ashram had remained largely the same.

Now, as Ahilya crested the hill, she saw how the vriksh’s dominance had changed the landscape of not just the ashram but the surrounding jungle. The core tree was easily the largest tree around, rising high into the clouds, its canopy a layered structure that sheltered all of Irshar and much of the hills under it. The vriksh ascended from the plaza as it once had, but Irshar had changed into a dense, packed city within a bowl-like depression of the earth.

Instead of the luxurious sprawl of only a few months ago, buildings clustered together now, held within jagged mountains that surrounded the city from all sides. Roots rambled from the core tree trapping buildings within them, and most buildings retained the strange, grotesque shapes of the Virohi escaping, an arm here, a frozen tentacle there, all evidence of the terrible battle. Though the ashram looked nothing like its airborne predecessors, Ahilya was reminded of all those times Nakshar had flown, a dense object too afraid of expanding.

There was the same fearful quality to the construction now, as though the ashram knew that its resources would be sorely depleted. As Ahilya walked, she had to wind her way past crowded roads and clustered citizens, past people pushing carts, wheeling barrows, and covering up holes in the road with shovels and spades. Repairs never stopped in the city, no matter the time of the day, night and day crews exchanging shifts. It was a restless way of survival, but the citizens had taken to it, finally in control of their lives to some degree. If Eskayra redesigned the new city to retain such control for them, perhaps she might convince them to move.

Ahilya slowed down as they passed a repair crew, chopping at the vriksh’s roots to clear the path. Several citizens clustered there, speaking to each other, and she recognized a couple of familiar faces. Vihanan and Reniya had been citizens of Nakshar once. They’d been trapped in a pit with Ahilya outside the Architects’ Academy when trajection had failed. Ahilya felt the urge to greet them, but then she glimpsed another person within the group.

Tariya’s face was intense as she argued something with Reniya. Ahilya’s embarrassment grew tenfold. Tariya was no part of the repair crews, unlike the other two, but she, Reniya, and Vihanan had always been friends, living a certain way of life in Nakshar as spouses of architects. It was amazing how some things remained the same no matter what else changed. Once Ahilya had felt unwelcome among them because of her inferior status as an archeologist. She felt no more welcome now, despite being a councilor of Irshar, perhaps because of it. Her marriage with Iravan had complicated things back then; it only exacerbated the ashram’s problems now.

She turned away, but Tariya’s gaze caught her and both the sisters froze. A thousand words crushed Ahilya’s throat, but she could not speak them. The gulf between the two of them was too wide.

When Irshar had settled into a semblance of normal life after the Conclave’s crash, the sisters had gone their separate ways. Ahilya continued to visit her nephews at the school and nursery every once in a while, but Tariya had become a stranger. At every turn, she’d opposed Ahilya, disdaining any attempt at reconciliation. She had been one of the most vociferous voices in the ashram, making her disapproval of the council clear, and even Ahilya’s parents—who had survived the crash—no longer had her sister’s consideration. It was as if in losing Bharavi, Tariya had finally understood the limits of what she loved. Ahilya had no place in her life anymore, except to be an object of disdain.

Tariya was not interested in leaving Irshar—and Ahilya suspected much of it had to do with her. In Tariya’s mind, undoubtedly a new city was tied to both Ahilya and Iravan, one as its archeologist and the other as its architect. Eskayra was not the only one to think Ahilya might escape her past there. In the new city, both Ahilya and Iravan had a chance to remake themselves, to be free to pretend the errors of the past had not occurred—and Tariya was not about to allow that. Irshar was where Tariya was finally gaining influence. Irshar was where Ahilya and Iravan remained imprisoned and condemned, paying for their actions. Tariya had never been one to forgive easily. Though she worked at the same infirmary where Ahilya now lived, Ahilya hardly saw her. No matter her state, her sister’s sympathies did not extend to her, and could she blame her?

Iravan had killed Bharavi, and Ahilya had witnessed the murder. What had she and her husband ever done except steal Tariya’s happiness? They deserved Tariya’s anger, and Tariya’s gaze grew belligerent as if thinking the same thoughts.

Ahilya dropped her eyes in shame. She moved in a blur, away from the repair crew.

She had hardly taken two steps when a tremor shook the earth. Ahilya staggered and put her arm out to balance herself. People gasped, stopped in their tracks as they exchanged nervous glances. Parents grabbed hold of their children’s hands, clutching them closer.

“It’s all right,”

Ahilya called out, straightening.

“It’s just the ashram settling. The earthrages won’t start again.”

The tremors had been becoming more and more commonplace over the last few days, and the council had already issued advisories to the city, but still the citizens gave her skeptical glances. Over by Tariya, Reniya and Vihanan said something, seeming to nudge her toward Ahilya as if to ask for an explanation, but Tariya shook her head.

Ahilya wanted to tell them what she knew—that it was simply the everdust of the ashram learning its new shape now that the Virohi were no longer a part of it—but the explanation would not help these people. They did not trust her. They knew her as the Virohi’s ally. In the past months, she had been to their homes to speak to the Virohi and settle them. Surely those from the expedition had told the others of her arguments to save the Virohi while Irshar trembled. Whether they once knew her personally or not, all of it became moot in light of her alliance with the cosmic creatures.

She could feel the stares piercing her skin. Every single one of the citizens knew of her relationship with Iravan. They knew of her status in the council. Did they know the bargain she made with the Garden too? Nothing was secret anymore. Strange to think that, when secrets had destroyed her marriage and opened chasms within their culture.

Another tremor shook the earth, and around her the path began to clear. Tariya, Vihanan and the rest turned their backs to Ahilya, while Reniya called out a command to pack up instruments and head back home. Ahilya walked away to where exposed green rock gave way to hard, cracked soil. The hole had been cordoned off, but she ducked under the rope, and knelt to the ground.

She removed the device Eskayra had given her from her pack, then plunged the glassy tube into the earth, pushing it as deep as it could go. The ashram around her was working on Ecstatic trajection, thanks to Iravan’s architects, so the sungineering device buzzed to life as she switched it on. Its dial began vibrating. Ahilya felt a tremor run through her, as though emanating from the bowels of the earth.

Kamala leaned next to her in curiosity.

“What are you doing?”

“The rages won’t start again,”

Ahilya explained.

“But not knowing when the next tremors will occur is disruptive. If this instrument can sense these tremors before they erupt, then perhaps the sungineers can enhance it to provide warnings. It’s what the architects did with a plant called magnaroot once, to sense earthrages and send signals to the Architects’ Disc to initiate flight protocol. A little warning could help the repairs.”

The dial on the seismograph trembled. As Ahilya and Kamala watched, the dial pitched to the highest degree then shook there, as if wanting to swing further but unable to do so.

Kamala eyed the seismograph.

“Why is it doing that?”

Ahilya frowned and turned the dial to adjust its frequency. Between her brows, she felt the vriksh calling to her in a wave of branches, though above her the canopy remained still. She could feel the Etherium yawning, pulling at her.

She paused in her attempts with the seismometer.

There was no point in denying the Etherium.

Ahilya closed her eyes and stepped into her third vision.

Immediately, the forest swallowed her. This time instead of the silence she had come to expect from the Etherium, a vibration rang through her. Shadows susurrated beyond the leaves, and stars spun above dizzyingly, a broken Moment blinking as though malfunctioning. The universe shone brightly, then burst apart in repeated flashes. Almost, she could hear voices, a dull roar like singing, like a raga, like herself. And through it, echoed the ever-present weeping of the Virohi, that grew louder, more deranged, more agitated. Ahilya felt the horror and pain of the cosmic creatures like a panic bubbling under her skin. Dark shapes buzzed in front of her, then disintegrated like bees. The Virohi were terrified of something.

Ahilya jerked away from the vision, breathing hard.

“Ahilya-ve?”

Kamala asked, looking at her expression.

The Etherium slammed into her again, overtaking her vision.

Ahilya staggered, falling, and felt an eruption coming from deep within the earth. She saw the vriksh tightening its roots like a hand clutching the soil, trying to hold it together. She heard the cosmic creatures cry out. The tree loomed in her mind, rearing on itself, screaming in protest, a high-pitched whine that lasted for an instant, a hundred muddled voices echoing its scream. Ahilya blinked, unnerved, as the world righted, the vision disappearing.

She stumbled to her feet.

Kamala was opening her mouth, but Ahilya forestalled whatever concern the nurse would have.

“Get inside,”

she said hoarsely to her.

“Tell those people to get inside too, and stay there.”

She waved a hand toward the repair crew, but there was no time to go warn them.

“Ahilya-ve—what—”

“Just go!”

Ahilya pushed a hesitating Kamala toward the repair crew, begged the vriksh to keep her sister safe, then turned and ran the way she’d come, back to the assembly chambers, nearly tripping and falling down the hill in her haste. Her feet pounded the broken stone pavement of the plaza, as leaves cascaded down from the vriksh, waving in the gentle breeze. She could hear the hysteria in her voice as she called out to startled citizens to get inside, as they stared at her in alarm. Ahilya rushed into the council chambers, slamming the door open to see Airav, Chaiyya, Kiana, and Basav look up at her, disconcerted. They had all been poring over another map, and Eskayra was among them, this time dressed in her expedition attire, sungineering devices strapped to her belt, evidently just about to leave for the new city.

“What happened?”

Esk demanded, coming toward Ahilya immediately.

Ahilya opened her mouth to speak, but her vision tilted, and this time she saw the distortion blitzing through them too. She swayed on her feet, falling to the ground on all fours. Awareness burst through her in red-hot agony. Voices came to her through liquid sludge, in the battery / rages unbound / your own brilliance

She felt herself go underwater.

Ahilya kicked her legs, a vague memory of diving into a rock pool within Nakshar with Tariya when they were children. They had learned to swim together, splashing. How odd that she should remember this now.

Something was calling her.

No, she was calling him, a crooning sound.

They were calling him too, except they did it through her throat.

Ahilya grew winded. Root-like tentacles spread into her chest again. All of them were staring at each other, and then at her.

She staggered. Surfaced.

The architects responded first.

—The Ecstatics, Chaiyya asked, not a thought but a vague fear.

—No, the Virohi, Airav began—but saw himself thinking-not-thinking, speaking-not-speaking. His face drained of blood.

* * *

He approached the battery, and sat on the healbranch chair, knowing he was being watched by Ahilya and Dhruv. He did not say goodbye to Raghav. His husband would understand. Their love was stronger than this. He had barely formed the thought when pain—unlike any other shot through him. Blackness followed, one that he was infinitely aware of as though entering the Moment for the first time. His heart beat in terror as Ahilya asked.

“How does this make me any better than Iravan?”

It doesn’t, he thought bitterly, you two have destroyed us. Chaiyya sobbed on his shoulders, and she—

* * *

She was pregnant, with twins, the healers said. What would become of Nakshar now? How would she ever manage newborns and the responsibility of being the lead councilor, during the time of the Conclave no less? Airav—but a hand clutched her heart as she thought of Airav and what he had been made to do for Nakshar’s survival. She could not let that be for nothing.

“Do you accept?”

she asked, and the archeologist breathed out her anger, her acquiescence to her destruction in the acceptance of councillorship, and she/I

* * *

said, You two deserve each other. I watched her face fall, a punishment she deserved—but she is here, she is here, behind my eyes, rages, how, get out, get OUT

* * *

Ahilya pulled away. They were all staring at her. Dhruv’s eyes were wide. Airav’s mouth hung open. Kiana clutched at Chaiyya, eyes bugging out. Had they all seen these thoughts, these memories? Was this her thought at all?

Dhruv’s voice was a whisper.

“What is this?”

Ahilya swallowed. Her chest seized in the pain of being crushed by roots.

“A-Ahilya-ve,”

Airav stuttered.

“D-Do you know?”

You two have destroyed us.

Eskayra turned to her, a question on her face. An image formed in Ahilya’s mind, rising from her heart and flowering into her brain like a plant. The vriksh pulled at her, calling, calling.

She fled, responding to its summons.