Off-Grid
The Tree House
The ambient swirled, bright and joyous, at the center of the great room, subsiding nearly at once, leaving behind Padi yos’Galan, wearing a sweater that very nearly matched the lavender of her eyes, with a pair of tough brown pants and boots. She was cradling a bottle of wine against her breast.
Tekelia smiled.
“You are bold, to bring wine through the ether.”
Padi frowned slightly. “I thought I ought to at least contribute something to the festivities,” she said. “Has it gone off, do you think?”
“No, I think we’ll find it very good,” Tekelia said. “Only be aware that the ambient occasionally excites wine. Bottles have exploded upon arrival.”
Her eyebrows lifted, and she looked down.
“Well,” she said. “I see that I was lucky. How very unlike me.”
This, Tekelia had learned, was a joke. Clan Korval as a kin group had, as Padi previously explained, an . . . interesting relationship with random event. It was not quite a Talent, but potent nonetheless.
“Now that you are safely arrived, we may begin your exploration of leisure.” Tekelia waved at the basket sitting on the desk. “Only put your contribution into the basket—”
Padi frowned again.
“But—we risk an explosion. To be lucky twice—may happen, but truly, it is not at all wise to depend upon fortunate outcomes.”
“Very true,” Tekelia agreed. “However, the chances of the bottle exploding are significantly reduced, if we walk to the river.”
She glanced over her shoulder, through the wide windows that gave onto the deck.
“Walk?”
Tekelia stepped forward to take the bottle from her hands, and turned to tuck it into the basket.
“Yes, walk. Do you mind? It’s an easy trail, and pleasant, I promise you.”
“Well, then,” Padi said, taking Tekelia’s hand. “Let us by all means walk to the river.”
* * *
The path meandered beneath the arcing branches of the trees, sometimes wide and sometimes thinner, depending on the importunities of low-growing shrubs.
In fact, it reminded Padi of the path to the Tree Court at Jelaza Kazone, and she smiled as Tekelia took the lead through a particularly overgrown section.
When the path widened again and they were walking side by side, Tekelia slanted a look at her.
“At the risk of sounding as if I wish you to work, I wonder if you know how norbears are accounted, out beyond Colemeno?”
Padi frowned slightly. “Accounted?”
“Perhaps the better question is, ‘Are norbears considered sentient? Is their word good, and their evidence weighed equally with the evidence given by other sentient persons?’”
“Oh.” Padi sighed. “Norbears . . . are difficult,” she said. “Some worlds ban them altogether. Others welcome them. They are occasionally—I suppose you would say employed—as by some offices of the Pilots Guild. Lady Selph and her cuddle are part of the pet library on the Passage, where their function is to divert, amuse, and, to an extent, Heal. I was myself sent to Lady Selph to be Sorted. However—”
She took a deep breath, and let it out in a hard puff.
“However, those are all to do with norbears being empaths. Sentience”—she shook her head, and met Tekelia’s eyes, one brown and the other grey—“I don’t know. Perhaps, somewhere, norbears are considered sentient and their testimony allowed to weigh. Shall I build you a search?”
“Now, that does sound as if I’ve given you more work,” Tekelia said.
She moved her shoulders.
“Building the search should take no more than five minutes. Sorting the results when they return might be a lengthy process . . . ” She grinned, and stopped in the center of the path, swinging around to face Tekelia.
“I have a proposition.”
“Tell me,” Tekelia said, matching her grin.
“I will construct the search and set it to work. When the results return, you will be the one to sort them. Have we a bargain?”
“We do! It’s only just that I sort the data, since the question is mine.”
“Then I will build the search—tomorrow.”
“Thank you.”
“It’s no trouble at all,” Padi said.
The path ahead was narrow again, and Tekelia stepped forward to lead the way.
When they came together again, Padi had a question.
“I wonder why you are interested in norbears.” She smiled. “Aside from being on Lady Selph’s string.”
“Who could not admire so staunch and upright a lady?” Tekelia said gaily, then lifted a hand.
“As it happens, the children who recently came to us have lived all their lives with a norbear—one Eet. We wish to make sure that his rights are properly observed.”
“I see. Perhaps he should meet Lady Selph, to pick up pointers,” Padi said. She meant it as a joke, but Tekelia answered her seriously.
“I hope that can be arranged. Eet isn’t a cub, but his scope has been limited.”
Padi blinked, then shrugged.
“Well, why not, after all?”
Tekelia smiled.
“Exactly.”