(Continued from chapter 106; Lisaykos at the Crystal Shrine)

Aylem had already started searching, starting at the Great Crystal and walking in a tight spiral. She slowed down on the third circling in front of the Throne of Judgment and then kept walking. She slowed down again on the fourth circling which was behind the throne.

Aylem stopped and sat down on the Throne of Judgment. She closed her eyes and quietly breathed. Then her eyes popped open, “Surd save us! There must be 30 big crystals down there and an entire lithophone.”

“How do we get in?” Emily on Asgotl wandered over. “Can you see anything that looks like a door or hatch?”

Aylem entered a deep trance and stayed that way for quite a while. Then she came back up, “I can’t find anything.”

“Ah,” Usruldes walked up and bowed. “I don’t know if I can do better than you, Great One, but getting in and out of places is a professional conceit of mine.”

“It's all yours, Lord Usruldes," she smiled at him, got up, and vacated the throne. It struck me that two years ago, they might have mauled each other instead. The world had indeed grown strange.

Usruldes walked up to the throne, picked it up, and moved it. He then sat cross-legged on the stone tiles that made up the geometric mosaics of the floor. I could feel his consciousness shift as he entered into that interesting deep open-eyed trance he learned from Ud.

“Ah, yes, I see the way in," the focus came back into his eyes. "The way I usually approach this problem is not to look at what is there. That takes too much time. I look for what is not there, like the space used by a crack or the lack of connection between a door and its frame. I build a map in my head of where the empty broken spaces are inside a solid until I can see the shape of the door or passage that will let me in. I hope everyone understood that?”

I understood and so did Aylem. I don’t know if anyone else did.

“Can you open it, Lord Usruldes?” Aylem asked.

“I can try," Usruldes stood up and walked a few paces. Then he turned around and dropped back into the deep waking trance. A circular area where the throne was usually placed began to rotate. The salt-and-pepper plug of rock that rose was tapered. It looked at least 25 hands long and about 10 hands in diameter at its base. He walked the floating plug halfway between the Great Crystal and the wall of the chamber. Then he slowly lowered it to the floor. When he was done, he staggered a little. "I will need to rest before I try that again."

“So, who’s going to take the first look?” Aylem asked.

“You should air it out first,” Emily interjected. “If it’s been sealed for four or five thousand years, the air might be bad down there. Lisaykos, can you tell if there is enough oxygen down there or are you too far away?”

“I’ve never tried to tell the difference with such a large space,” I answered. “Just learning how to evaluate the dissolved oxygen and other gases in blood is hard enough.”

“If that's how things stand," Aylem peered into the dark space below, "let's just completely ventilate the space on the assumption that the air is bad." She frowned in concentration for a moment and then I felt the breeze. I could see bits of grass and leaves and silt spiral into the hole in the floor as dust blasted out. Aylem kept the flow of the air going until the pieces of grass and other plant material were both entering and exiting. "That should have completely replaced the old air."

“So, who goes first?” Aylem asked.

“Foyuna,” Emily replied. “It’s her shrine.”

“I agree,” I added. I had to wonder if Emily decided on the basis that the local shrine always takes precedence or if she just wanted to dodge having the highest precedence in terms of absolute rank.

“But first," Usruldes took some charm gems from one of his several belt pouches, stepped to the edge of the hole, lit up the gems with light, and floated them down into the space below. "Your new storage chamber awaits, Holy One," he made a flowery bow to Foyuna.

“Well, then." she smiled, stepped into the hole, and floated down. "Oh my!" her voice echoed up a moment later.

“Opa,” Aylem smiled and held out her hand to her daughter. “Just like we’ve done before, hold my hands.”

“Mom, we won’t fit,” Opa’s expression accused her mother. “The hole is too small.”

“Oh, dear,” Aylem studied the offending hole, “You are correct so I guess you go first.”

“Mom!” the surprised Opa accused as she floated down the hole with no warning.

“If you’ll excuse me,” Aylem, the triumphant mother, grinned as she entered the space under the floor. Lyappis followed. I stepped over to where Emily was sitting on Asgotl and arrived at her side just as my son did.

I sighed, “I see.”

My son grimaced behind his mask.

“I wish I could take the two of you," Emily startled both of us, "shackle you together with a chain, and lock you in a cabin in the woods for a rotation so you could work out whatever it is you need to finish saying to each other and get it over with. Your mutual avoidance of whatever issue hasn't been aired yet is beginning to get under my skin."

I was speechless. So was my son.

“Blubber brain, let’s go fishing,” Emily leaned over and spoke at Asgotl’s right ear.

“You have the cloak still?” Asgotl asked.

“I just finished wrapping it around me,” Emily’s smile was grim and full of impatience aimed at me and my son.

"Fish time!" Asgotl pronounced, ran a few steps, and took flight.

“Dang!” my son said, watching Emily and Asgotl make their escape. Then he looked at me with concern, “those two will be fine, trust me on this.”

“My head tells me the same thing and yet, my stomach is screaming with worry for her, despite her overwhelming competence.” I shook my head. “Are we really that bad together?”

“I do not know, Great One. What I do know are my observations of the strained and worried expressions from those who listen to us talk,” he frowned.

“Mmmm.”

“Great One, I don't think you need to worry about this too, unless, of course, Emily shows up in your bedroom with shackles and a chain."

“We can hear everything you’re saying up there,” Foyuna commented with a hint of amusement.

“Great One, you should enter first,” he gave me the same bow that he gave to Foyuna.

It’s one thing to know there are more crystals. It's another to see them stacked against the walls. I counted 34 crystals. Most were clear hexagonal crystals like those in most of the shrines. The uncommon ones were one purple crystal, one that graded from pink to green, two sherry-colored crystals, and three pale-green crystals. My count didn't include the 24 grey slabs for the lithophone.

Opa placed her hand on the green crystals and every one of them sang for her. I had only seen the singing crystal phenomenon once before when Senlyosart was elevated to her current position as High Priestess for Sassoo. Hearing crystals sing for the second time in my life was a wonderful treat.

We took one of the green crystals and the lithophone and laid them out in the great chamber under the dome. Aylem arranged the lithophone stones using the benches that served as seating in the domed crystal chamber. I don’t understand why, but Aylem staggered the placement of the stones as she set them up: from left to right, in the first group of five, the second and fourth were pushed back, and in the next set of seven, the second, fourth and sixth were pushed back. Then she repeated the pattern for the next twelve stones.

Once she made her arrangement, she played some arpeggios and chords, striking the stones with her hands. We stood in awe as she did this. Even though my son had told me that Emily coaxed Aylem into singing with her, I had never seen any indication that Aylem knew anything about music. Even Opa was surprised.

“Where did you learn how to do that, mom?” Opa asked, watching her mother with wide eyes.

“I’ve always known how to do this,” Aylem smiled with a hint of sadness. “I used to sing to you when you were younger. Don’t you remember?” Opa’s face was stricken. It was obvious she did not remember.

“Can you make a green crystal sing?” Opa asked.

“I don’t know,” Aylem let the last ringing note from the lithophone die out. “I’ve never tried.” She walked over to the green crystal from the cache under the floor, knelt next to it, and placed her hand on it. A yellow light burst from its interior along with a loud chord of many notes. Even Aylem was startled by the reaction.

“I believe that answer to your question is yes, Opa,” Usruldes remarked drily. I could tell he was amused. “If you catch Emily in the right mood, I believe you could convince Emily and your mother to sing together. They are quite good.”

“Really?” Opa looked interested. “What’s a good time?”

“Emily is usually her most relaxed right after a meal,” Usruldes advised.

“That’s good to know, thank you, Lord Usruldes,” Opa nodded.

I looked at Foyuna, “we should convene the Convocation. Our sisters should see this before we replace that huge stone plug in the floor.”

“When?” Foyuna nodded. “It should be soon. We can’t leave this open. It’s an accident waiting to happen.”

Tomorrow morning, at the third bell," I suggested. "That's not so fast that the northern shrines will be late and it also gives me time to get Senlyosart here. I can also have my bigger kitchen operation make up sandwich boxes for a midday repast. I know you don't have all your cooks back from Black Falls yet and your stores are low."

“That would be a relief, to be honest, if you would do that," Foyuna looked worried. "We missed buying our sugar, spices, and rice in Uldlip this year. We’re already short and this winter will be a challenge for us.

“Imstay has sent a courier out to Tuleen to see what trade we might yet be able to do with Inkalim,” Aylem added, “given that the trade fair at Uldlip was disrupted by a third party. We still have some of the Sea Coyn in Black Falls, the ones who were hurt the worst. Some of them will be here over the cold season because they need a longer recovery time. Those will be moving up to the chapel shrine for Coyn in Aybhas if they aren't there already."

Foyuna was astounded, “Sea Coyn from Inkalim spending the cold season in Foskos? What about the treaty?”

“Imstay decided that since both our nations were victims of Impotu’s act of war, he will consider the treaty suspended until the state of hostilities was over,” Aylem remarked. “Both our merchants and the Sea Coyn took serious losses since the Impotuans plundered the trade fair. We were not able to find everything they stole. Imstay believes they have established a base camp or fortress somewhere to the east of Truvos. If we can find it, we may be able to recover some of what the Impotuans took.”

“It’s getting late,” I pointed out.

“You could eat midday repast here," Foyuna invited us, "and then I would be able to take Grandmother Lyappis shopping. Any of you are welcome to go shopping with us. The rebuilt craft market is worth a visit."

“Midday repast sounds wonderful," Aylem smiled. "What I want to know is where are Emily and Asgotl? Ever since she started wearing the magic shirt Ud gave her, I have had trouble finding her."

“They can’t have gone too far,” Usruldes remarked. “We haven’t been here that long.”

“Just use the Great Crystal, Great One,” Foyuna smiled.

Aylem nodded and walked up to the crystal on its pedestal. She placed a hand on it and dropped into that open-eyed waking trance that Ud’s students prefer. Then she suddenly stepped back with a frown. “Those two,” she scowled, “look like they are heading to Is’syal. Now, in Is’syal, Kamagishi has opened the north doors into the Fated Shrine, and all the clergy, Imstay, Imstay’s staff, the craftmasters, and the citymasters – they are either at the shrine already or are heading there. Yes, Emily and Asgotl have snuck out on us and I will bet that they are going to the Fated Shrine.”

I groaned, “she mentioned that last night.”

“What?” Aylem and Foyuna were almost in unison.

“She said Galt told her about the cache of crystals and she said Galt would give her a revelation today or tomorrow. It’s looks like it’s today.”