Canticle Blue

21. New Help

Music - Scarborough Fair by Ted Yoder

Ten days later Shei Pendel and Grahmen Ravi arrived on Per'sa Island. Neither of them had been told what to expect. They only knew that all of the Estes' group were reported to be in good spirits and had already accomplished a great deal.

The team waiting for them on the caldera beach heard the approach of the Onekotan long before they saw it drop out of the clouds and turn into the wind above the island. Shortly afterward, they saw the Lo'an descending.

As they watched, Havilan told the group, "Be forewarned: Grahmen is going to hug you. It's inevitable. He may tell you that he's 'imparting a blessing,' but really, he just loves people."

Elyse laughed. "I hope we look our best then."

He replied, "It won't matter what you look like; I promise. But I bet they'll be puzzled by our appearance. We don't even have tans."

Shei Pendel had never had time for a working sabbatical, except that piloting an airship might fit that description for her. Shortly after she graduated from the Bryn Institute, she had taken a part-time job on the Onekotan. In order to maintain a redundancy of skills, every crew member was required to have a certain amount of training at each on-board task. When her turn came for piloting, she was found to be a such a quick study that she was soon offered a full-time piloting job on the Lo'an.

The crew of the Onekotan allowed Shei to pilot the Lo'an in its descent to the beach. She was certainly going to miss the small ship. If anyone were to have asked her why she was trading her job for a chance to camp on a cold island, she couldn't have found a convincing answer. But the last time she had seen the Estes' group, their adventurous spirit and boundless curiosity had been contagious. To join them now seemed like a unique opportunity. She also knew these people well, had even grown up with some, and greatly looked forward to spending time with them again. But she wondered why they needed more help and what they had found. She also wondered why there was no expedition equipment on the beach.

Grahmen Ravi was anxious to see Syl and Geddes again. He knew they were aware of his original interest in the expedition. But now they had made a special request for him, and he tried to imagine what their needs might be. He knew of one of them. Elyse Gan and Havilan Meid wanted to get married, and he had brought the appropriate texts and legal paperwork for that. He also brought letters of encouragement from their parents.

He remembered Havilan, first as a fellow Bryn Institute applicant with zealous, if unrefined, arguments for the existence of god, and later as one of his own students with well-honed reasoning in the same area. As a person, he remembered Havilan as one who was exceptionally unburdened with pride or vanity, yet still brimming with a sense of purpose. If he were not a youth himself, Grahmen might have called him a "good kid." But, more than that, in Grahmen's view, he was someone who, in the Per'sa tradition, was "living like heaven."

It was well past time for Grahmen to still be wondering if he was prepared to rough it on the island. At this point, doubts would serve no purpose. But, even to the extent that he struggled with them, they were always overridden by the thought that, no matter what, he would be in the best of company.

As the Lo'an prepared to leave the caldera beach, Shei couldn't help feeling that the separation would be permanent. She patted the side of the piloting compartment and whispered, "I wish you well, my friend. I know they will be kind to you."

The procession coming out to meet the newcomers through loose stone was slow, but determined. Grahmen was surprised, and somehow encouraged, by their appearance. They all looked clean and fit. As he waited with Shei, he also realized there were no tents on the beach. When the team finally reached them, after hugs and introductions all around, they directed the newcomers to the cave entrance and were able to move all the new supplies in one trip.