Impossible Dreamers

Chapter 1 (ir): Seren-ila, the best place

'The stars. How many are there?'

Herago looked over at Liana. Her bright blue eyes were staring hard at the sky. Was it a serious question? Sometimes you couldn't tell with Liana.

'Too many to count like that,' Herago said.

'How would you count them, then, Numbers-Boy?'

'Hmmm.' Herago looked up at the sky. 'I would imagine the sky divided into squares. Mek squares by ... mek,' Herago's finger drew imaginary squares in the sky, and Liana thought she could see the squares. She counted them.

'So that's... sag squares,' said Liana.

'Yes, sag. Then I'd take one of the sag squares, and divide that the same way into sag...'

'Right,' Liana said.

'Then I'd count the stars in that little square, and multiply the number I counted by – sag times sag...'

'Which is... naytwi-sag?' Liana said.

'Yes. Naytwi-sag. But even then, I couldn't do it. Even in that little square there are twillorinios of stars. You could never count them all.'

Herago knew about numbers. He could add, subtract, multiply and do all sorts of complicated calculations in Seren numbers, without even using a scribing stick. He loved playing games with Seren numbers. He could draw a grid of que squares by que, then ask you to say a number, and he could put a number in each square so that every row, every column, every diagonal, and even the numbers in each corner added up to the number you said. He said it was easy, but Liana didn't know anyone else who could do that.

Herago had also got very excited when Piacho had told them about other number systems. Like the system based on the number dak, the number of fingers and thumbs on your hands. That was a strange way of counting. The Seren way was more straightforward. You count the months in a year, then start again. Everything was based on that number, twil. Twil months in a year. Twil, twilfti, twillo, twillorio, twillorinio. Liana loved the sounds of the numbers. She would say them to herself when she was going to sleep. Sometimes it calmed her if she was feeling upset.

'Are you going to do something about numbers for your showing?' Liana asked.

'Maybe. But I have another idea. Something new.' Liana expected Herago to say more about this new idea, but he changed the subject. 'What are you going to do? Will you tell stories?'

Liana's father had been a story teller. Is a storyteller, Liana told herself. That was why Herago asked. But Liana didn't want to tell stories for her showing. It reminded her too much about what had happened to her father. She didn't want to think about that.

'No. Not stories.'

'You could make them funny stories. You're good at making people laugh,' Herago said.

'No, not stories. What's your idea for what you'll do?'

Herago hesitated. 'All right. Remember when Piacho was teaching us about how our eyes can think something is there when it's not, or something has happened when it really didn't, and we always have to be aware of that? How your eyes can be fooled by what your mind thinks, even if it isn't true?'

'Yes. But that's not something you can do for a showing. A showing is supposed to... to show. To show that you've learned something – you show a skill, or something you made. Music or poems or a painting. It's no good talking about how people can sometimes make mistakes.'

'I'm not planning to talk about it,' Herago said, hesitantly.

'What then?'

'I'm not sure. I'm going to try some things out. Anyway, enough about me. You have to do something too. What's it going to be?'

Liana sighed. 'I don't know. Maybe I can't do anything.'

'Of course you can. You've got to do something.'

'Maybe I could do something about what the world is like outside Seren-ila.'

'But that's something nobody knows,' said Herago.

It was true; nobody knew. People could only guess what had happened to the rest of the world in the twillos of years since the Great Heat. Liana really, really wanted to know. But how could she? Nobody from Seren-ila had ever crossed the mountains, the volcanoes that surrounded them, and reached the other side. Or if they had, nobody had ever come back to tell them about it.

It was getting dark.

'Look, look!' Herago pointed to the sky. Somebody flying, making intricate patterns. Somebody who really, reallyknew how to use wrist-flyers. Liana followed the dancing flyer with her eyes and smiled. It was Trentaya flying towards the largest of the mountains, Greblara. If only she could cross it, Liana thought. But everyone knew that the smoke and dust made that impossible.

'If I could cross Greblara with wrist-flyers, that would make a great showing,' Liana said.

'Impossible, for quite a few reasons,' Herago answered.

'What reasons? I already know how to use wrist-flyers. Trentaya told me how you have to make your body feel. How you let the energy flow. I've even flown myself.'

'You've flown? You've actually used wrist-flyers? How? ' Herago said, with surprise.

'Well... not on my own. I flew on Trentaya's back a couple of times.'

'When?'

'Oh, it was... a long time ago,' Liana replied, now not sounding so certain. 'When I was little. Actually I only just remember it. But... I think I remember how it felt. The energy from the flyers flowed from my mother's body to mine. I could feel it. But I was strapped on, so I couldn't actually control the flight.'

They followed Trentaya's graceful movements with their eyes.

'That's not really flying, though; being strapped on someone's back,' Herago said. 'You're not supposed to fly before you have your Seren-ship. Definitely not before your showing. A child of twil years would certainly be told not to fly.'

'I'm twil-ir!' Liana protested. 'You forget I'm older than you. And cleverer.'

'Maybe.'

'Definitely. Cleverer, funnier, better at numbers...'

Herago laughed. So did Liana.

'All right, you are twil-ir, not twil. But another year doesn't make any difference. You still shouldn't fly until at least mek years after your showing. The Wise Ones would be annoyed.'

'They couldn't stop me.'

'They could stop you getting your Serenship. And I don't think Trentaya would be very pleased.

It was true, Liana realised. But one day she would fly. She would fly across the mountains, and see the world on the other side.

'Nothing to stop me dreaming about flying,' Liana said.

'A dream is not a showing,' Herago said.

'If I could just show people my dreams, I could make a really good showing.'

'Impossible, I'm afraid,' Herago said.

Yes, impossible.

They both fell silent, and watched Trentaya.

There was another shape in the sky now. A dark, flapping bird. As it moved in front of the moon, Liana saw that it wasn't a bird, but a bat.

Trentaya was gone now. She was probably on her way home.

Liana's eyes followed the bat. It moved towards the mountain – the magnificent peak of Greblara – and disappeared into the smoke and dust.

Very soon, she supposed, it would be on the other side of that mountain. It had left Seren-ila, the best place. Where was it going?

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