The Shell and the Star - Part 27

Welcome back to Part 27 of The Shell and the Star. Thanks again to those who've been reading along each week. 

For anyone who might be new to this "aquatic SFR," you can catch up on all the parts posted to date at this link:

The Shell and the Star

This segment is going to be a bit longer than the usual episode. A lot happens in this segment, and I felt it needed to all be revealed at once.

Jinn has found Trey again -- alive and well -- when she really didn't expect to find him at all. Though they are reunited, it doesn't mean they can be together.

Things have gotten complicated.

CHAPTER TEN

 

Numb from a dreamless sleep, Jinn opened her eyes on the unfamiliar place. Dim light now shone into the space from beyond. She rose, slowly, to sit, surveying her surroundings. Rock walls encompassed her in the cool twilight. An above-water cave?

She slid to perch on the edge of the cushion and lowered her feet to the ground. Her bed was resting on a low framework that elevated it several hand-widths above the floor of the cave. Below her feet, the surface was level and covered in mats that looked like woven sea grass.

A bandage wrapped one of her knees—the same knee she remembered crusted with blood, sand and grit. Had Trey cleaned and dressed her wound while she slept?

She looked toward the light that diffused into the space from her right. What lay beyond? Spying a large, well-weathered fishing net draped between pegs set into the wall. Jinn drew a tremulous breath and summoned her strength, as well as her courage.

She thrust her fingers into the knots of the net and hauled her body up. Bent at the waist, she raised her head toward the light. Jinn took a faltering step toward it. And then another. Using the net to steady herself and leverage her movements.

Outside the mouth of the cave, she found a series of connected rooms, fashioned of what looked like crude flow-coat squares. But these weren’t tinted. They were the color of mud. Overhead, a framework of poles held a weaving of thick grasses and live vines that formed a ceiling of sorts.

Who had built this place? Trey? Alone? With his own hands? A secret sanctuary he had carved out above the waves and below the sky?

Why? What was his purpose?

A breeze rustled flaps made of the woven seagrass and Jinn saw they covered oval openings in the solid walls. She reached out, tottering slightly at the shift of balance, and lifted a flap to peer beyond.

Her mouth went lax and her eyes widened.

Jinn dropped the flap and scuttled along the wall to the narrow opening at the end of the shelter and stared outside, transfixed.

Beyond, things grew! Big solid trunks—a whole collection of them!—lined up in rows, stretching great stalks up to the sky that were covered in dense clusters of green. They looked organic, and not unlike the dwarf fruit trees in the arbor on Talstar, but larger. Much larger. Colossal!

A giant orchard? Here? On land?

How was this possible?

Nearer the shelter, Jinn spied several large staked spans of dirt that were filled with small plants pushing up through the soil in orderly rows. What was this meant to be? Was Trey trying to grow crops in this dirt, like they did in the hydroponic beds on Talstar? How was it even possible? Where did these growing things get the nutrients they needed to survive?

Not far from the garden, a small rivulet of water ran through a rock-filled hollow, tumbling and sliding over stones that seemed intentionally placed in its path. Several depressions led from the stream to the squares of ground with the growing things. The depressions were dry, but the soil looked dark, as if water had run through the channels not long before.

And to the right, there were many ponds of water, also fed by the stream. And… living things in the water. The surface broke and Jinn saw a flash of one of the creatures before it disappeared back into the pond. A fish! Many fish! The ponds were teaming!

Jinn straightened, released the net, stepping through the opening of the shelter.

Did you build this place, Trey? Why?

“Jinn!” She looked to the voice to find Trey standing by an outcropping of rocks, staring, his feet on a narrow sand path that led over the ledge and down the slope behind him.

Grasping for words, she motioned to the collection of flora and fauna laid out before her. “This place…you built it?”

He twisted his shoulder to lower the bundle he carried to the ground before he answered. “Yes, I built it. Over many years.”

“Why?”

“It’s...an experiment.”

“You’re trying to grow food here?”

“I am growing food here. Successfully.”

“How? Where did you…” Jinn shook her head. The trees. The plants. The fish. How had he managed such a thing? And where did he get the knowledge to create this place?

“Most of the crops are from Talstar. From the air-farms your people manage there.”

“Hydroponic farms,” Jinn corrected.

“A few are water plants that were growing wild in the stream.”

“Growing…all by themselves? Without being germinated?”

“Nature takes care of the germination. I only needed to find and harvest them.”

“How can this be?”

“I think the planet is finally starting to recover. I’m just helping it along a bit.”

“Do the Perling know what you are doing here?”

“No one knows.” Trey’s blue gaze settled on her face. “Only the two of us now.”

“How did you know to…?” She made a handsweep toward the garden.

“Books. Very ancient books in our archives. I learned what I needed to know about historic methods of farming and cultivation. I’ve been acquiring specimens--air plants from Talstar shipments, tree seedlings, freshwater fish. For study, I said. I just didn’t tell anyone how or where I chose to study them.”

“And the shelter?”

“The cave was a natural formation. The rest of the structure I built. That knowledge is all in the books, too.”

“This is…truly wondrous,” Jinn said.

His lips tugged into an almost-smile, but the sadness in his eyes didn’t echo it. “It’s of no use to the people of the Shell or the Star. Neither are suited to live on the land. Only we are, Jinn, and any who may be like us.”

Jinn turned her head slowly to meet his eyes. “This is what you told me you wanted to show me before the Razortooth came. This place.”

“This place,” he echoed. “This future. But it’s lost to us now.”

She sagged against the shelter wall. Heart heavy and words failing her, she peered up at him.

Trey stood tall, feet spread and hands still.

Silence filled the space between them. Silence that hardened to a solid thing that separated them—pushed them farther apart.

Jinn knew she’d caused the destruction of this dream—through unintentional ignorance and misunderstanding, yes—but she was responsible. For all of it. A loveless bond for Trey. A lonely exile for herself. She’d brought this misery on both of them.

And she was the only one who could right this oh-so-terribly-wrong.

“When you return to your father’s estate, I’m going with you.”

“It’s not safe for you there,” Trey snapped, but then his voice came lower, calmer. “My father’s word is final. He banished you and if you defy him, it’s possible you could forfeit your life.” He drew in a breath between clenched teeth. “I can’t let you risk that.”

“My father’s--Commander Arc’s--word is also final. I can’t return to Talstar.”

Trey threw his head back and closed his eyes. The sun showered his face with soft morning light. In time he said, “Stay here, Jinn. Live here. There’s air, food, water, and I’ll see to it you have everything else you need.”

“But not you?” Not a life with you.”

“No, Jinn. I can’t be with you. And I don’t wish to. I couldn’t bear it.”

His words pierced her heart, left her broken and bleeding. “Then I have no life left to forfeit.”

“Jinn. Don’t do this.”

She shook her head and met his tortured gaze. “All my life I’ve let others define who and what I am. No more. No declaration will keep me from your side. No threat will warn me away. I did this…and now I’ll undo it. Because I’ll never accept any future that I can’t spend with you. ”

His eyes went hard and his jaw muscles tightened, but he had no rebuttal for her vow.

***

Trey left the shelter and ascended the steep, twisting path to the water. Jinn followed. She used the rocks to steady her when she faltered, but she needed much less assistance now. She could do this. Already her muscles were growing stronger. Adapting.

At the tiny rock-lined lagoon, Trey slipped into the sea and Jinn climbed into her bubble, checked the waning charge and closed the cover to power it up.

She found Trey waiting at the inlet to his sea garden. He marked time until she reached him and after fixing her with a long, stoic look, they set off together for the Imperator’s estate.

____________________________________

Trey is bound by the laws of his society, but maybe, just maybe, Jinn has convinced him that their love is worth fighting for. At the very least, he has recognized the sacrifices she made to return to him, and her admission of love might have made all the difference.

Find out next Monday in Part 28. Only SEVEN more parts to go!

Have a great week!