Chapter V – Of Empty Vessels

“If you cannot avoid misfortune, make best of it: learn where there is a lesson; grow where there is fertile soil; bend where there is pressure. Never underestimate the capacity of the mind to persevere.”

-Old Lanean teaching, originating from the Opal Isles in the third century before the War of the Living Flame. Specific author unknown, widely suspected to be one of the theocrat Jumoras.

—

When Exa finally woke up, immediately fighting back tears, Takhris was there to hold her and to calm her down. Whispering age-old words of comfort and solace, the girl’s crying soon subsided to sobbing and then to gentle breathing as she fell asleep to more restful dreams. A little over an hour later she opened her eyes again, now without seeming distraught like she had been.

“I had a nightmare,” she said quietly as she stared at the ceiling of the bed. “I was all alone and nothing seemed to be like it should have been and things just didn’t work.” She turned to look at Takhris who was still sitting next to her, not having moved as he guarded her slumber. “You were there, though, but I couldn’t find you. I’d never felt so lost. I hope I never will.” Stretching on the bed, she smiled. “Luckily it was nothing more than a dream.”

Smiling back and commenting nothing so as not having to lie to this precious candidate, Takhris instead decided to divert the topic. “I’m glad to see that you’re alright, you weren’t sleeping very well. Would you like some breakfast?” Without waiting for the positive response, he stood up and walked to the control panel with its plastic buttons. Pushing in a combination that would prepare a healthy and refreshing meal, he listened as Exa rolled off the bed onto her feet and, after a brief visit to her bag, approached him. “How did the last trial go?” he asked once she reached his side and was curiously looking over his shoulder.

“Oh, it was a breeze,” she replied and he noticed that she was brushing her long hair which had up until now been braided down her back. “Pretty much all I had to do was gardening and helping some small critters. It took me a while to understand what was going on but once I got it, there was no problem.”

“That’s good. If this goes on, maybe it won’t take as long as I feared to get you through these tests.” Nothing in his jovial expression gave away his shock nor the fact that he instantly connected himself to Errata receiving answers he did not like to questions he had feared he would have to ask. With a consoling mental pat from the deity, he returned his focus to the elevator where scantly a thousandth of a second had passed.

“Yes, well, I’ve been thinking about that,” Exa replied while looking a touch embarrassed. “I don’t know why, but I’ve been getting this feeling that maybe I’ll see where this goes.” Her foot traced a figure-eight on the floor. “After all, I won’t have a chance to change my mind later on, right? So I might as well go through it now that I’m here if you know what I mean.”

Takhris’ mind jumped back to Errata, this time with even more urgency in its flight if that was possible before answering with a simple, “Oh, that’s good. Wouldn’t want to have to drag you all the way through.” He felt slightly confused by these recent developments and was grateful for the time to think bought for him by the flashing light on the pedestal that announced that the cooking process had been finished and the personnel maintenance system was now on stand-by.

“Go sit in a chair, I’ll bring the food. You won’t have to do anything except enjoy yourself. Regardless of the tests, you are a guest here, after all,” he instructed the girl while opening the top that held the semi-opaque buttons and releasing a cloud of steam, he lifted the warm tray that held everything a person of Exa’s current physiology would require and then some. She nodded and walked to the nearest chair, flopping herself to lounge so as not to disturb her strokes.

Replacing the access part of the interface and pressing a corner button, Takhris carried the tray to the table that had emerged from the floor in front of the chair Exa had chosen. His thoughts clicked together as the platter connected with the surface. Quickly giving thanks, the girl picked up the simple utensils and started to dine, obviously enjoying the new and strange tastes that her mouth, while not accustomed to them, did appreciate nevertheless.

While Exa was eating, the door opened. She acknowledged it with a glance, but continued eating without a word. Takhris adjusted his mental map of events to include this reaction and understood how things would unfold. Turning around to create a dark blue jewel, he laid it in front of the girl after attaching a partially ethereal cord to it.

“What’s that?” she asked after swallowing some of the slightly bitter beige crescents.

“It’s a necklace, for you. I have a feeling you’ll be needing it, so put it on.”

Exa leaned forward and picked it up, examining it. “It’s beautiful. Thank you.” She slipped it over her head and it settled down on her chest above her cleavage, in the middle of the small pattern of curls that were testament to her progress here. As if noticing them for the first time, she stroked the four strands that extended from the diamond-shape that the gem now covered.

“Almost half-way there,” she mused with a smile and continued eating, only to pause again shortly. “Aren’t you going to eat?”

“I don’t have to, one of the benefits of working here,” Takhris replied with a grin.

“But the food’s delicious, you’re missing out on something great,” she said with a pout. “That won’t do, come closer and open your mouth.”

Before he could protest or in fact do anything else, she was already proffering a full spoonful with almost all parts of the meal. Chuckling and giving in, he crouched and let her feed him.

“Well, isn’t it worth eating?” she asked in the tone of one who is expecting a wholly positive answer.

Takhris chewed on his mouthful thoughtfully before plucking out a long strand of the brown meat that lay to the side of the other dishes and helping it join its companions. “Much better than I remembered,” he finally said after clearing his mouth with liquid from a silvery flask he pulled out of his tunic. “I’ll have to do that sometime again this century.”

“That reminds me,” Exa added while using the other piece of tableware to gather more of the ingredients to the spoon-like one. “How old are you?”

Takhris laughed out loud. “Isn’t that a bit rude? You wouldn’t ask that of your mother or father, would you?”

“No,” the girl answered matter-of-factly. “Because I already know that their ages. They’re a hundred and thirty-one and forty-three, respectively.”

Takhris laughed again, this time nodding acceptingly. “Well, that’s a good question. Let’s just say I’m older than both of them put together and then some.”

“Are you over three-hundred years old?”

“I suppose I might just be. Years become a bit less meaningful after two hundred, so I’m not certain how much over I am,” Takhris said and silently sighed from relief when the girl concentrated once more on eating. Her curiosity and his honesty would cause trouble sooner or later, but thankfully not today.

Gathering up the scraps left with a piece of the dark bread, Exa finished her drink as well before going through her pack to produce a red dress with flowers of white and gold on it. As she was pulling her shirt off, she stopped suddenly to look at Takhris who was now leaning against one of the bedposts.

“Are you a real person?” she asked, the emphasis clear. “I mean, you aren’t just made-up like the rest of this place?”

The guide raised an eyebrow and smiled crookedly. “My dear,” he started and stood up straighter. “This place, as well as I, is just as real as everything else in this world. There are no illusions or hallucinations here except the ones that you make. In fact, you might say that this place is in certain ways more real than most other places.”

She looked at him to see if he was telling the truth and deciding that he was, she replied, “Fair enough. In that case, turn around.” Waiting for him to do so, she continued her motion, discarding the garment unto her bag, quickly followed by her trousers. As swiftly as she had stripped, she was wearing the dress. “You can look now,” she said to Takhris. “What do you think?”

Takhris had to admit that even though the girl was not yet fully mature, at least for her race’s standards, she was very pretty. “Beautiful, my dear. But are you sure you wouldn’t be better suited with armour? After all, you don’t know what’s ahead.”

“From what I’ve seen, it wouldn’t do me any good. I doubt that if there’s danger ahead, it won’t come in the shape of arrows or swords.” She walked to him in a playful gait. “Besides, you wouldn’t send me to trouble, would you?”

With a grin, Takhris turned her around to face the door. “On you go, then, if you’re so sure of yourself.”

“I am,” she retorted confidently and marched out of the passageway into the dimly lit space on the other side. As the door closed behind her, it cut off the words Takhris whispered to no one in particular.

“I would.”

—

The smell was the first thing Exa noticed. It was strong, sharp and revolting and did nothing good to the light-headedness she had been feeling since morning. Her head felt like it was swimming in a sea of cotton with the rest of her still on the shore. Though she could think as clearly as before, she felt as if she had shed all of her worries and now was looking at life out of balance, but in a good way, or at least so she hoped.

The source of the acrid smell seemed to be the huge piles of what appeared to be filth and garbage that rose on all sides of her in small mountains. Though she couldn’t be completely certain, the tallest ones seemed to be over a mile high and even the tiniest mounds peaked at over a hundred feet. Under her feet, things she could not and some she did not want to identify squished and squeaked as she walked forward, looking for her next task. She felt a strange pull toward one of the heaps, odd because it wasn’t particularly big or small nor did it consist of anything interesting. Exa entertained the notion that its mundaneness and normality were the reasons she felt the urge to go to it. As she reached it, seemingly random objects seemed to stand out for her eyes and she thought that maybe there was a hidden part of her heart that knew what to do.

Picking up the items, she circled around the pile, gathering things here and there, sometimes climbing up the deformed hill to get something she barely saw from the corner of her eye. She stopped with eight objects, feeling no more the need to wander about to find more relics. Laying them on the ground at a spot that was clearer than its surroundings, she crouched by them, wondering what was next, even as her hands moved to their own accord, guided by some invisible puppeteer. She studied with interest how easily the pieces of junk managed to fit together to form a door handle.

Checking to see that it was intact and surprised to see that it was somehow no longer dirty, a thought appeared in her mind, “Waste not, want not.” Exa was quite certain that she did not think of it herself, but that it came from somewhere else. More fascinated than shocked or frightened, she took the handle and, still guided by the unseen source, walked to a steep rise in one of the hills. Sinking the handle some way into the assorted garbage, she pulled it back, accompanied by a door-shaped piece of the wall that swung open as if on hinges.

“Impressive,” she mumbled as she removed the handle. “I didn’t know I had it in me.” The newly-created portal revealed a small stone corridor and as she stepped through, she saw that it went far both ways, curving so that the ends disappeared behind the slope. As she pulled shut the door behind her, she realised suddenly that she felt two distinct pulls, one leading to each direction. Wondering which to follow, she did not notice the soft pulses that her necklace gave out, nor did she feel the three curls that grew on her skin as the trash-door disappeared.