Gama and Hest: An Ahsenthe Cycle companion novella (The Ahsenthe Cycle) by Alexes Razevich

was thinking. Thoughts unspoken had a way of festering. Her voice dropped low. “Afraid you might disappear like Frarm if you’re with me?”
    “No.” Vonti’s long fingers pricked at the roving around his wrist, trying to loosen it. “It is strange though that you seem to be there so often when things happen.”
    “And Hest,” she said. “Are you blaming us?”
    “Your dwelling does.”
    “Do you?”
    The spindle between Vonti’s knees slipped and fell over. He picked it up and threw it across the room. “I don’t know what I think.” He pulled himself to his feet and stomped out of the room.
    Iya sniffed and rubbed her nose.
    Gama stared at the door Vonti had slammed behind him. “He shouldn’t have left. We should have talked it out. Reln was right — if we don’t stick together, fear will destroy us.”
     
    -=o=-
     
    Prill pushed the chest that held her personal goods toward the center of the room. She could have simply asked the dwelling to draw the metal screens over the sky-window each night — or chances were the dwelling, knowing her preference for dark, would have done it itself — but Prill liked the physical act, she’d said — climbing onto the chest, the way the screen felt in her hands, the sounds of the chest sliding across the wood floor and the moving screen made.
    Gama watched her, a bubble of anxiety forming behind her breastbone. “Prill. Leave it tonight. Please.”
    Prill stopped pushing the chest and looked up.
    Gama felt her neck warm. “It’s silly, but tonight, I’d like the moon and starlight. The dark — ”
    “Of course,” Prill said, and began dragging the chest back into the corner.
     
    -=o=-
     
    Prill’s breathing was deep and even — fast asleep. Star and moonlight dimly lit the sleeping quarters. It wasn’t much light, but Gama was glad for it. She could barely make out the shape that was Hest, but knew he was awake by the soft creak of his cot as he turned restlessly.
    Kis’ dwelling turned him out today , she sent to him.
    Why are you still awake ? he sent back.
    Same reason you are .
    The structures , he sent. We have few friends among them these days .
    Community Hall took Kis in . It hasn’t turned against us , but I sense Wall getting prickly . She rolled her shoulders, wondering if she should say what bothered her — the worrisome thought scratching at the back of her mind, then sent, What if Reev decides it’s better off without us ? You and me . Some of the others .
    Hest’s cot creaked. In the thin light, Gama saw he was in his thinking position — his body still, his eyes wide, staring at nothing. He didn’t answer.
    She drew a breath and let it out. Reev can’t decide that though , can it ? It would be like deciding you didn’t want a part of yourself any more . Even with some of the structures acting strangely , it’s not like all of Reev is siding with a few scared dwellings . I’m certain Home and Kis’ dwelling will come to their senses . Probably be embarrassed about how they acted . Reev wouldn’t suddenly decide it didn’t want us any more than the corenta - kin would suddenly abandon the structures and live outside its walls . It’s as unthinkable as you and me splitting apart .
    Gama waited, but Hest didn’t respond. Still thinking, she supposed, and not ready to share. Hest could be secretive that way. She was used to it, but that didn’t stop his silence from being annoying — and hurtful.
    An odd thought jumped into her head, a thought like words sounding in her mind — Hest was being difficult for no reason. The males were different, with their one soft little hand and one hard digger claw. They had brought the troubles to Reev. They were cagey and plotted to get things their own way, not thinking of the good of the whole. Wasn’t that what Hest was doing now? Lying there so quietly, thinking about himself? Vonti had stomped off, leaving her and Iya to finish his work. The males should be driven out.
    But that