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Ginger Petal
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And so we're finally on the road! It only took [two hours] more after that and I have severe doubts we're getting anywhere before nightfall, but we're finally doing the thing I wanted to do today to prove to the lepi I'm more than a fluffy bag of empty promises.
The cart is moving along relatively slowly, with me taking the role of driver (navigator, really) and Li.ni.si making sure the things we brought all stay in the cart, as well as otherwise keeping watch. Lightgreen rides Softfoot next to us, who keeps glancing at the cart in disapproval. I'm watching Lightgreen ride this creature and I can't figure it out. Softfoot seems far too small to be carrying something the size of Lightgreen, and Lightgreen somehow is not tumbling back despite Softfoot's sloping back. And Softfoot is moving along like it's all nothing. It doesn't make a lot of sense to me, but that's why I'm in a cart and not on an animal.
Finally, Softfoot actually speaks, in monovoice as always. "Cart move by self."
"It does, yes, and it's been doing so for a while," I say, absent-mindedly. "I was going to ask you to pull it but I didn't think that would be fair on you."
"Star bird make cart move by self. Big insect people push cart, ask family push cart." Softfoot makes an annoyed buzz. "Star bird could make big insect people cart move by self."
"I don't think it's that simple," says Lightgreen. "Right, starb-- Vee?"
"Is Softfoot accusing me of not interfering more in the lives of the lepi? I mean, the entire reason I'm out here is to prove to the lepi I'm someone they can trust. If I started trying to make changes to their lives like that, they'll chase me out of the village, probably."
Softfoot keeps walking, head down, still clearly annoyed. "Old big insect people need learn take help."
"I could not agree with you more," I say, sighing.
"Sorry, can you explain what that means? Is she talking about old lepi?" Li.ni.si fidgets with a ball of substrate.
"Probably specifically the elder. She was the one most resistant to my attempts to help." She wasn't unreasonable about it, I guess. She probably had reasons to be distrustful. Thanks, Va.ne.tu. Or, well, I guess, thanks My.a, but, still.
"Old people foolish."
"I wouldn't say that," says Lightgreen.
"Soft foot say that."
"She's got some opinions, I see," says Li.ni.si, clearly amused. "Not afraid to speak truth to power. I like that."
"We're hardly power," I say.
"Whatever you say, lordling."
"Never ever call me that again."
"Sure. But it's not exactly a secret you're Vi.al's favourite. You have to be aware of this, right?"
"Even if I accept that, it doesn't exactly give me any form of authority or power." Well, some specific permissions when it comes to offworld Vi.al devices, but aside from that.
"Yet I bet if you wanted Vi.al's attention, you'd get it. I've spoken to Lord Lo.ka three times in my entire life. Once for my completion, again as part of a debriefing relating to... the event, and then the last time was to request a transfer to Lord Vi.al's domain. And I'm still luckier than most!"
Lightgreen looks ahead, but both of her antennae lean towards us so strongly I wonder if they might break or fall out. Very subtle eavesdropping. Very subtle.
"Wait. Your completion? As in your decanting?"
"No, that's what we call it when we finish our training and become eligible for roles and placements."
"So when you stop being a vatling?"
"Well, it usually lines up around the same time, but no, Lord Lo.ka doesn't just declare a construct good to go just because they're old enough. Sometimes you get vatlings that reach completion and end up in less challenging but related work, and sometimes you have adults that get stuck in training for [years]."
"That sounds miserable."
"Well, I don't know. It guarantees constructs are doing their jobs with the right training, doesn't it? What does Vi.al do?"
"Vi.al doesn't really make constructs at all, so I can only speak for myself, but I was considered mentally ready for work far before I was physically ready. So I did a lot of work just keeping the palatial gardens maintained for a couple of [years]. I was desperate to see another planet when my 16th decantday came up, and even then it was just nearby moons until I turned... what, 19?"
"Have you just been travelling to random desolate worlds since?"
"Not always desolate, but I'm either there to set up a new ecosystem or repair a damaged one. Usually pretty remote."
"Wow. I'd never be able to take that sort of isolation. I hate being alone," says Li.ni.si, thoughtfully. "I used to be alright with it, but, well, now I just... feel the absence more."
"Absence?" Does she mean life in the First City? Wow, it really feels like it was something special before it all went wrong. I'm starting to feel sad about it and I never even went there, but that's, I guess, just it, isn't it? I only ever heard of it, saw videos, heard recordings, and most of those got destroyed during the Big Whatever Happened. I mean, I think I probably would have hated it, to be honest, I'm not used to being in massive crowds. Still.
"Never mind," she says, quickly, folding her arms across her chest. "Forget I said anything." She looks faintly uncomfortable to have even mentioned it, and I'm not so much of a social disaster as to not pick up on the pretty clear cues not to pry further.
"Danger ahead," says Softfoot. She slows her pace but not stopping. Her... antennae? Tendrils? Her head thingies prick up and I feel my feathers puff up as the ambient charge of the environment shifts.
I look at her, and I switch my eyes into zoom mode, scanning the horizon.
"You're the one with the multi-functional eyes," says Li.ni.si, behind me. "What's Softfoot talking about?"
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