Read The Crystals of Tlalli: Awakened Affinities Page 14

though.” Rica said.

  “It’s an acquired taste. I’ll drink it.” Nottia smiled.

  Zosimo and Melnone fed and watered the Yemis and the rako’s in the cages then they mounted back up and they were on the road again. Rica fed Jim some of her sandwich. He only seemed to like the bread and leaf parts.

  The road was empty of other traffic until they turned onto a main road. They crested the hill overlooking a valley with a huge lake. Rica could see sailboats out on the water and some other boats as well. Then a glitter of light caught her eye. Jamara was a large city on the north end of the lake and the sunlight shown on the buildings setting them to sparkling. Rica strained to see the city. She could make out four large square buildings that towered over all the rest, placed one in each quadrant. Then a rainbow of color glinted from the center of the city. A huge walled complex was in the center with ten tall towers surrounding a central building. The towers shown as though they were made of glass of every different color. As Rica looked at the rest of the city she saw many buildings had glittering crystal forms on the tops, in fantastic shapes of leafs, flowers, birds, and geometric shapes. Most of the buildings were round, domed buildings. As they got closer she could see the buildings were mostly domed with crystals in cage like things on the tops. The otherness of the city struck her, there was no smog, and everything was so clean and orderly. There was so much green and so much crystal everywhere. Rica sat silently looking at everything.

  A sudden jerk from the treb sent her forward in the seat. The Yemis Zos road was shying away from the traffic. Zos quickly got it under control again and back on the way. There were no other Yemis pulling trebs here. As Rica thought back she had seen no other Yemis anywhere pulling a treb. All the trebs and trevals on the road were speeding along on their own, self-propelled. The Yemis was still fighting Zos to get away from the speeding traffic. Melnone seemed to be having the same trouble with his Yemis as well.

  “Let’s take the river way Zos.” Zafira call out.

  “Was planning on it.” Zos called back. He turned down the next road and soon they were paralleling a river that led into the city. Instead of heading toward the city like Rica thought he would go he guided the yemis away from it. The way they were on had little traffic and the Yemis settled down. Rica looked up ahead and could see they were coming to a quite little village now. There were people walking on the sidewalks and going about their everyday lives. There garb was colorful and reminded Rica of old pictures of Eastern dress from India. Rica looked at the domed buildings they passed and could see up close the fantastic crystal shapes on most of the roofs. It was beautiful. There were green growing things everywhere she looked. Trees, grass, it was incorporated into everything.

  The sound of a waterfall could be heard. Looking all around, Rica could not see any waterfall. Zos turned down another street and crossed a bridge the rushing sound was louder now. He turned a corner and there it was. The waterfall was cascading down a cliff about ten feet high into a pool of water surrounded by a park. Setting on top of the cliff was a three-story high dome house painted in light green with a series of green crystal leafs across its roof. Zos pulled to a stop at the bottom of the cliff near what looked like a three dome house with a large orange crystal triangle across its roofs. Each dome of the building was two stories high. Melnone got off his Yemis and tied it to the back of the treb. Then he pulled his gear out.

  “It was nice to meet you Rica.” He said and then turned to walk to the house and went inside not waiting for her to answer. Rica didn’t know how to react to that considering his attitude toward her on the trip. Zos noticed her look.

  “Don’t worry about Mel, he has always been shy. He doesn’t talk much but he is a good person.” Zos said.

  “My brother can be rude sometimes but I don’t think it’s intentional. He just gets focused on what he is doing and doesn’t notice he is being rude.” Nottia said. Her ears were back and she looked uncomfortable. Maybe Nottia was embarrassed by Melnone’s reactions to her. Rica thought they were all making excuses for his bad behavior. Unhappiness circled like a dark river waiting to drown the unwary. Rica shook the thought away.

  “It’s ok.” Rica murmured.

  Rica looked around, anywhere but at Nottia and Zosimo since they seemed to be uncomfortable with the way Melnone had abruptly left the treb. Zos clicked to his Yemis and headed up the hill to the big green house on the cliff. Zosimo guided the treb into the driveway. They stopped in the yard and Zosimo jumped off his Yemis. He took the lizards to what looked like a big round barn. Nottia got out and transferred her stuff into a modern looking treb.

  “It was nice to meet you Rica. I hope you find your way back home.” Nottia said. Rica could feel the sincerity of her words and impulsively hugged her. Nottia was surprised but returned the hug.

  “It was nice to meet you too Nottia. Thank you for all your help.”

  “Bye Zaf, See you later Rica.” Zos said to Rica as he climbed into the driver’s seat of the treb. Nottia got in the passenger side and they headed out of the driveway.

  The first part of the afternoon was spent unpacking the equipment and getting Rica settled into a guest bedroom. Rica took a shower and changed into the clean cloths Zafira loaned her. Zosimo left to take Nottia home and said he would be back later.

  The rest of the after noon they spent on the back patio with some kind of sweet red drinks Zafira poured into chilled glasses. Zafira talked about her mother and father and what they did for a living. Zafira’s family was prominent in the community. Her mother was a Shaman (the closest the translation rune could come up with for what she did) and her father was a surgeon. They had a practice together in the town. Zafira’s father did not have an affinity to any crystal so his skill was purely technical. More like the doctors of Earth Rica surmised.

  It was starting to get dark when they heard the door open and a woman’s voice call.

  “Zafira are you home?”

  Zafira stood to walk into the house. Rica followed. Zafira’s mother was a slender charismatic person. She had tawny colored hair cut short around her face and emerald green eyes, Rica noticed her skin was lightly stripped in tan and gold markings giving her an even more cat like appearance than Zafira or Zosimo. Rica thought she was graceful and strikingly beautiful. Though the beauty was not just on the surface it radiated from her sprit. A feeling of trust and security wrapped around Rica when she drew near to Zafira’s mother making her smile.

  “Mother, we have a guest. Zosimo and I found her in the wastes near the affinity caves. We brought her here. Rica this is my mother Chaura Leanista. Mother this is Ulrica Simpson she says she is from Earth.” Even though Chaura spoke calmly, Rica could feel alarm and intense interest coming from her.

  “A pleasure to meet you Ulrica, from Earth you say?”

  “Yes, I fell into some kind of light thingy and ended up in the desert here.” Rica didn’t know how else to describe her fall into this world. She was distracted by the emotions swirling around her. It was hard to concentrate.

  “Well it is a wonder you found Zafira. The wastes are deadly to all. I don’t think I have ever heard of Earth.” As Chaura spoke the words an alarm seemed to ring within Rica. Something was not as it seemed. Rica mentally shrugged, everyone was entitled to there own secrets. “Can you tell me a little more about it? Come lets go sit and talk.” With that she led Rica into a room that was lined with shelves holding crystal cubes and books. Rica told Chaura about Earth and about the hillside fight between the two men. When she told about the bracelet and not being able to get it off Chaura wanted to see it. Rica showed the bracelet to her. There was no seam, no way to get it off.

  “This is a family crest around the jewel here.” Chaura pointed to the delicate designs around the jewel. “You say your parents gave it too you just before you fell though the portal?”

  “My father did yes. But they are not my birth parents they are my adoptive parents. I don’t know if that mak
es a difference or not.”

  “Oh I think it does. These engravings are the writings of the Eastern and Southern Kingdoms. This bracelet is from this world.” The truth of what this cat woman said emanated from her. Rica could feel she was telling her the truth, but she didn’t want it to be true. She wanted to go home.

  “No, that can’t be right. I got it from my father on Earth.” Rica was sure it was some kind of mistake.

  “Well I’m sure we will find out soon enough. I’ll check the old histories and registers of crests from families in those areas. Lets not worry about it now. Lets go help Zafira make dinner. You go on ahead of me I need to speak with someone on the Shalat.” Rica left the room to join Zafira in the kitchen. After a minute or two Chaura came into the room and started helping Zafira cut vegetables and cook dinner. Rica felt like she was in the way. The two women spoke about the camping trip and about Melnone’s abrupt departure. Chaura laughed.

  “Melnone is a little shurick at times.” She said. The translation rune had not translated the word and Rica frowned. Chaura noticed and tried to explain.

  “He is not like other Kahshian’s he is intelligent but doesn’t want to take the time to complete his studies to be acknowledged. Most Kahshian’s