Book One -- A Gathering of Dreams

Chapter Ten:  Making Ends Meet

             Singh and Karambi shifted through several shadows, fast as Karambi does.  They arrived at a place where Singh could smell the wood fire burning.  There the native folk are more primitive and taken back by their arrival.  They give them wide berth and great respect.

            Karambi gives instructions and takes Singh into a longhouse where she can rest and be treated.  Karambi stands watch.  They are both exhausted.  Karambi tells Singh that Gol is under attack from the Serpent, as are many parts of reality, especially the Golden Circle -- the Serpent can attack many places at once.

            Saphir, eventually follows them, and fortunately Karambi left a kind of breadcrumb blazing trail for him.  It takes about 4-5 hours.  Saphir finally steps into a shadow at twilight, there are skin kayaks, fires burning, a longhouse, some totem poles and lots and lots of warriors and people lingering, gathered and talking.

            Saphir approaches the longhouse after sensing for them.  The warriors and the crowd give him wide berth.  At the doorway, a woman comes out and in very respectful and scared manner says that they can not be disturbed.  After Saphir says he is with them, she relays the message and he is let in.

            He finds Karambi and Singh were resting, but Karambi rises to greet him.  Singh comes around to join in the chat.  After Saphir debriefs on his talk with Nero and what he learned they decide that Saphir and Karambi will return to discuss with Nero about putting away the jewel and travelling together.  They realized in their talks that it isn't just being in proximity of the jewel, and so they will have to decide what is necessary to make it safe.

            Saphir and Karambi decide it is safe enough to leave Singh there and they will both go back to see Nero.  They also seemed to have warmed up to each other (in their own way) and found a level of mutual respect.
 


            Back at the beach...Toeval, Nero and Ekin all chat very briefly.  Toeval does most of the talking and Nero says little as does Ekin.  They talk of Dworkin and possible plans and the jewel. They all decide to sleep.

            Toeval folds up into Lodik's pouch.  Nero grabs some meat and heads back to his boat/yacht, with Ekin following right behind him.  At shore, Nero turns and says 'You can't be on my boat.'  Nero departs.

            Frustrated by the lack of 4-star accommodations, Ekin takes advantage of one of the guards retrieving meat, knocks him out and takes the boat and meat back to the ship.  The guards call him out as he moves towards the yacht and order him to desist, abandon his dingy-their dingy and leave.   Meanwhile Nero has been informed of the goings on.

            Ekin tries to confuse and manipulate his way in but they aren't buying, especially with the prospect of a punishing Nero.  They aim bows at him.  Ekin jumps out of boat, at Nero's and his guards demands, but jumps towards the boat and the guards open fire!

            Ekin proceeds to swim yachtward, and Nero assaults him mentally.   Ekin is stunned and reels, but recovers, to Nero's surprise and surfaces away from the boat.  He speaks out a power word and stuns Nero, who loses his mental fix on Ekin, but takes another mental swipe at him as he swims shoreward.

            Meanwhile, back on shore, Toeval has been awaken by all the commotion and takes to the air, with Lodik, to observe.  He offers a hand to Ekin and pulls him up and takes him back towards shore.  As he does he asks what transpired and Ekin says it was just some fun.
 

 
            Saphir returns amidst the commotion and he and Karambi are quite confused by it all.  Saphir senses that the air is charged!  Saphir yells out for Nero.  Nero reaches out for Saphir's mind, and Saphir shields up and closes down at the sight of some alien approach -- not knowing who or what it was. So Saphir keeps yelling to no response.

            So Saphir swims out towards the Pas De Diche and Nero comes out and says he must sleep and that they should talk in the am.  And he warns Saphir to watch out for Ekin.

            Saphir returns to shore and asks what happened.  To which Ekin says, "Just having a little fun."

            Saphir says, "Are you going to be able to deal with him in a civil manner on an ongoing basis?"

            Ekin challenges, "Do you mean am I going to take his shit??"

            To which Saphir responds, "No.  But if he doesn't want you on his boat, you may have to respect that."

            Ekin grudgingly says that is fine, but he does say that he doesn't trust him at all.

            Which leads to a bigger conversation between the 3 of them (maybe 4 if Karambi was listening) about how powerful Nero is.  Ekin says that he thinks Nero is following his own motivations and that he may well or could fuck us all over at any time.

            Saphir responds that he doesn't doubt that Nero is selfish in his motives, but believes that right now their motives are aligned and doesn't think Nero will fuck them over unless he really has to.  And that we all obviously have to be prepared for anyone to do that but he just doesn't think that is in Nero's plans right now or high on his motivation list per se.
 
             Ekin says he worries that Nero is unstoppable as the top psyche power amongst us.  Saphir responds that he thinks Nero is definitely the top psyche but that he and Ekin present formidable 2nd and 3rds.  Enough so that Nero would have trouble taking them all out -- and especially with variables like Singh and Karambi around.

            So Saphir says we definitely have to be careful but that he doesn't see Nero as a deliberate threat to them.  Especially after the incident with Singh fainting.  Nero in a trance and me -- Saphir -- ready to kill him.  He played the scenario too much as someone who didn't want to try and take us out.  He also manipulated the situation as someone who knew they had a certain amount to fear -- by telling Toeval that he while in the trance, if disturbed, it could endanger all.  He did this because he knew I was seriously considering killing him -- and I was! So since that juncture, Saphir basically has a certain level of wary trust for him.

            Toeval told Saphir and Karambi that Nero wouldn't part with the Jewel at all.  The group decided to retire.  Saphir went into one of the dragons to sleep.  Ekin hung out nearby and Toeval went to Lodik to sleep and Karambi did her settle-in thing.  They agreed to take shifts watching.

            The next morning they all talked about whether Karambi could travel while keeping the shadows separate and if the moons being present would help -- as astutely pointed out by Toeval.  And they decided that they would risk bringing Singh back in order to determine how closely the group could travel together.

            They decided that we should shift to shadow location with Moon so as to buffer Singh once we reembark.  Karambi left to fetch Singh.  Later Saphir went out to greet them.

            They returned, Singh looked well.

            Nero came off the boat and approached.  Singh kept her eyes closed and stayed in tune with moon and her self. They came in close proximity and she seemed to be ok.

            Line of sight seemed to be a factor. So we departed.  Saphir went aboard the Pas De Diche at Nero's invitation, and they departed to super-low-tech shadow with full moons.  Nero had to concentrate to keep the yacht together.

            As we jouneyed, Karambi spoke of Gol being under attack and the Golden Circle and Rebma!!  Saphir quietly freaked!

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