So what do I propose and why do I bring an outsider into our midst?
I want to learn. I want to know what they, those outside, are looking for. Perhaps if they find it, they may leave. If it is not to be found, perhaps we can find a way to divert them elsewhere or show them that their search is doomed to failure.
My guest, this man Angstrom, can tell us what he knows and can help us.
I already know some of the answers to my questions. I know they are looking for wealth that they can only find under the ground, in the rocks of the hillsides and the canyons. His vocation is in the extraction of metals and the like from the ground. He directs their efforts and can tell when a search is likely to yield what they seek.
It will not be enough to have one man tell them to close down their town and look elsewhere. They will not heed his words. Some will suspect he has found something he doesn’t want to share and would have them all leave, the better to claim it for himself.
And where would they go? Many of them have come here because it is not within the purview of the city-states. They would resist any effort to make them go back.
And the fact that a breach has been used in plain sight complicates matters. Our friend can either leave us soon, too soon to be of any use, before he has been missing long enough to raise questions. But there will be some questions. There are some deeply suspicious men in that town. They will not rest if they think something is being hidden from them. On the other hand, were he to stay longer with us, his absence will have to be explained. And what reasons can we devise for a lengthy absence in this country?
You all have your doubts and suspicions. Our choices are few and our time possibly limited. With the help of Therian and some of the resources he has, I think I have made a sound decision. I take the welfare and safety of this realm as my sole charge. When I took the sacraments of safeguard before any of you were born, I understood the risks and had faith that I would enjoy the same support and faith as my forebears. If I do not enjoy that, we will fail.
I have done. The circle is dissolved, if there is no other business.
Anatha shifted her weight, as the effort of relaying Erst’s speech was telling.
I was sure there was some mumbling and bickering in response but could hear nothing but some rustling and shifting. Then I could see them slowly rising and filing out.
After the members of the circle had left, we sat, Erst, Reckter, Anatha and I, in silence. I had been privy to something important but could only hear half of it. I could infer some of the other, but this was too important to rely on a potentially faulty inference.
“What do we do now?” I looked around at the other three, dimly limned in the glow of the torches. Erst stood, tall and unbowed, though less commanding than he had seemed earlier. Reckter sat as before, but was bent from the waist, looking down at the ground, elbows on his knees, hands loosely hanging. Anatha was leaning back, facing the sky, her eyes closed. I could tell this had been an ordeal, both physically and emotionally, to hear so much information and not be able to respond or even analyze it as it came to her.
“Erst, I appreciate your efforts on my behalf. I understand that my presence here is not welcome by all of your people. I suspect that some of them would be willing to return me to my side of your barrier, regardless of the risks it poses to you all. Or worse, they might be willing to take whatever steps they needed to for me never to return.”
“Angstrom, we have not always been remote from your people. There were times when we went freely among you. I remember those days though almost no others of us still do. While I do not understand them now, I bear them no ill will. And I know can bear none toward us if they do not know we exist.
“My fear is that they will. What will that mean for us? What will they think of our world?”
I knew what he meant and I am certain he could hear my thoughts as I listened. I knew that there were some — many — who would see these green fields and pasture lands, the stands of timber, only as things to be sold or fought over.
As I walked the path from the barrier, I had caught glimpses through the trees of green fields, wild and open to all. More than once I had seen what looked like a ridge of snow-covered mountains. And there was a stream running beside the path for some of the way. If the townspeople, used as they were to jagged rocks, dry gulches, scrubby trees that gave no shade, fruit, or fiber were to see these massive trees, muscular vines, and lush grasses, I don’t wonder that the trees would be logged, the grasslands turned to pasture, and the streams diverted to all manner of schemes.
I heard someone shudder. Evidently I had been thinking out loud again.
“I think they will not see your world, your realm as you call it, for what it is. To my eyes, it is a second chance. All the world must have looked like this, but it became more valuable to some as parts rather than as a whole. I have heard of some work being done in the universities in the cities on how this. Some are saying that the trees and the grasses are connected, one cannot thrive without the other somehow. We have always understood that we could have one or the other, but is that true or just what supported our commerce? If you need pastureland, you remove trees. If you farm trees, you plow under the grass. But here you have not done that.”
Reckter spoke for the first time. “Master, I felt much anger in the air tonight. There are some whose fear may overcome their reason and respect for the way we have always done things. Indeed, fear may already have taken control of some. Here in the circle, they could do nothing rash, but on their own or in a smaller group, we cannot know what some are capable of. They — ”
“Reckter, do not fear the unknown. That way lies the same danger you warn us of. If we make our fellow in an enemy and impute to him every malicious intention, we become that enemy, we harbor those same intentions. If we abstain from acting on those intentions, we are lucky but do we absolve our fellow of those same intentions?
“No, we cannot assume the worst unless we truly wish for it. I am not prepared to see us devolve into animals who would attack one another over an imagined insult or perceived slight.”
I looked around at the group again. By now Anatha had fallen asleep on the bench. Her slow steady breathing was the only sound. I was suddenly aware how tired I was.
“Come, let us retire from here. Angstrom, I must ask if you can carry the child:
I fear it would not be safe for Reckter and I to attempt it. I am sure she is exhausted beyond measure.”
She was light as a feather and as relaxed as a baby. We left the clearing, and the lamps extinguished behind us, while others ahead lighted our way back to the dwellings. We walked in silence, both in speech and thought. I took a moment to look up at the stars and recognized the constellations I was used to, so perhaps this was not a strange a place as I imagined. Different though it may be, it wasn’t far from what I called home.
The others led me silently to a house and opened the doorway for me. I took the girl inside, and a woman pointed out her pallet, all the while looking at me as if I had two heads. I laid the girl down as gently as I could and backed out of the room, the intense stare following me out the door.
I rejoined the others and they showed me to the place they had set aside for me. I looked them at the both, as much as we could make eye contact in the dark, and clasped the hand of Erst then Reckter. My mind was full of concern, anger, and some confusion. I was tired and had seen and heard much, perhaps too much for one day. Was it just this morning that I had taken what I took to be a horse for a brief ride into the hills? It seemed so long ago I had looked over that map and seen what looked like a trail into a gulch or canyon I had not yet explored.