Eve of Battle

Lein made tonight’s dinner, a traditional Janikan meal of black sticky rice and fried drake, from Krev’s preserved drake meat, and of course hot peppers--delicious. Lein should cook more often, Elliv forgets how talented he is.

These were some rare ingredients not easily found out here, but Krev had some stored away for a special occasion. This is a special night, he said, because tomorrow is a special day. Lein didn’t have much to say on the matter, but he did cook an excellent meal.

Sitting next to Elliv on the long log by the fire, Lein and Ketha are getting up to another musical collaboration. Lein has his Janikan instrument he’s brought with him wherever they’ve gone together--three strings stretching down a narrow neck to a wide triangular body. It makes low tones that nicely supplement the smaller instrument on Ketha’s lap. Theirs also has three strings, two close together and one apart, but its body runs the length of the fretboard, unlike Lein’s with a defined neck and body. Its sound is warm and calming, and seems to fit perfectly in the cool mountain air. A mountain dulcimer, Elliv hadn’t heard such a thing since his childhood.

Having no musical aptitude of his own, how Elliv has attracted so many musicians in his life he can’t explain. There was Relna, from his youth, with her beautiful voice. Then there was Lein of course, once quite a singer also, but now much more skilled on stringed instruments. Then there was a short time with that girl Ersa who played with the Averis symphony. Maris was the exception, he has no artistic talent, maybe that’s why they were no good as lovers. And now there’s Ketha, a boy talented at every art they touch.

Ketha slowly plays the notes of a somber chord. “I ain’t from Zintaia. But you know, I’ve decided it’s the best damn place in the world. I learned this song in a village many Distance from here, but I think it’s just as relevant down there in Korben, or up here in Helbender.”

They start to play a dissonant melody. Lein follows along with them, filling in the low end, and soon Elliv finds himself mesmerized by the harmony of strings and Ketha’s voice:

”The dawnflower blooms once a year
When winter wind is blowin’ away from here
I know I’ll see it soon
Sure as the rising of the moons
That dawnflower blooms every year

The winter wind can freeze us to our bones
Can’t think of nothin’ but that burnin’ cold
Ain’t no fire hot enough
Ain’t no shelter dry enough
That winter wind will freeze us to our bones

The mountain rain is pouring down tonight
It’s freezing over everything in sight
Ain’t no morning light
Just a world of endless ice
That mountain rain is pouring hard tonight

Our food ain’t gonna last us ‘til the spring
Company failed to spare us anything
We worked those hours late
It weren’t enough to fill our plate
This food ain’t gonna last us ‘til the spring

The mines are darker than a winter night    
It ain’t no place a worker can survive
There ain’t no one so cold
As a miner down the hole
Those mines are darker than the darkest night

I can’t feel my hands from time to time
They said if I can hold a pick I’m fine
Ain’t no mercy from the state
For a man can’t pull his weight
Now I can’t feel my hands most all the time

Today I’m gonna lay the hammer down
Met some helpful strangers in my town
Said they’re from the K.R.A.
’Round their necks is black and grey
My rifle’s gonna drop that hammer down

The dawnflower blooms once a year
That winter wind is blowin’ away from here  
We know we’ll see it soon
Sure as the rising of the moons
That ol’ dawnflower blooms every year”

Elliv watches them play, mesmerized. Those boys mean everything to him and here he is lucky enough to hear their song. Once it ends, there is only the endless song of the cicadas and the call of the owls. He stares as Ketha, idly strumming notes on their dulcimer.

“How depressing,” Nadia says.

“What are you talking about, that’s inspiring!” Ketha says.

Elliv next to them stands up and pats them on the head. “I think it’s great.”

“Thank you, love,” they say, looking up at him.

Elliv leans down and kisses them. “Time for my shift, though. Let’s go, Lein, Annia and Kalen must be hungry,” he says, taking his rifle in hand.

Lein throws the strap of his instrument over his shoulder and picks up his rifle. Ketha waves goodbye. “Come to bed after your shift, even if you’re not gonna sleep! I’ll be cold.”

“Love you Keth,” Elliv says.

“I love you El!” Ketha says.

Lein and Elliv walk up the gravel path, past the old stone wall, and through the thicket of woods bordering the outer gate. At night these woods become a corridor of glowing bugs and mushrooms, a tunnel of sound where the cicadas’ and the crickets’ songs collide.

They emerge into the faint starlight and approach the old wooden fence and its black iron gates. On the other side are two figures in black, one with a crossbow and a backpack, with skin even paler than Lein’s, and silver-white hair that almost glows in the starlight, and one such a dark shadow she couldn’t be spotted if not for the glint of light on her bayonet.

Suddenly, blinding light in his eyes--he covers them. “Fuck, Annia! It’s just us.”

Annia lowers its pointlessly bright electric light.

“Finally,” Kalen says. “I’m not used to being the last one to eat.”

“You’ll love the dinner Lein put together,” Elliv says. “It’s nice and spicy.”

“At this point I would eat a K.D.F. field ration,” Kalen says.

“Hey, don’t disrespect the humble field ration,” Elliv says.

Kalen reaches through the gate and sticks the key in the padlock. She pulls the chain through and opens the latch, letting them swing open, and hands Lein the key. He nods to her. “Good night,” she says.

“Good night, boys,” Annia signs with one hand as it returns its crossbow to its back.

“Good night, comrade,” Elliv signs. “Good night Kalen,” he says.

She and Annia return through the shadows, leaving Lein and Elliv alone. Once they’re outside the fence, Elliv pulls the gate closed, latches it, and wraps the chain around it.

“You have that key, Lein?” Elliv says.

He holds the key up in front of him.

“Good, it’d be a pitiful sight for us to get locked out and have to sneak in.” He fastens the padlock and lets it drop against the metal of the gate with a loud clang.

He takes his position at the left gate post and Lein takes up at the right, keeping his rifle ready.

“Like old times, on night shift guard duty in the desert,” Elliv says.

Lein turns his way and smiles, looking up to the left like when he’s remembering something.

“Just as cold at night up here, too.” Elliv wishes his field jacket were heavier. He’s from the south, from the lowlands, no matter how many nights he spends in the mountains, he never fully acclimates. But he knows he should appreciate this cool spring while it lasts, because the mountain summer will be as brutal as the winter, even at night there will be no reprieve from his clothes sticking to him by sweat on one side and humidity on the other. The shortage of clean water here will probably become a serious issue if the strike goes on that long, and he hopes it does go on for a very long time.

That’s a long way from now. He tries to remember to enjoy the last somewhat peaceful night before the chaos truly begins for this collective. Hopefully it will end better than all of his previous ones.

“Guess we’re getting into another fuckin’ protracted struggle for our lives tomorrow. Oh well, there’s nobody I’d rather have at my side through it all.”

Lein looks into his eyes, giving him that serious look he can never resist. His dark blue eyes are always so easy to lose yourself in, Elliv thinks. They’re the color of the deep ocean from flying above it on a clear day. That was an observation he awkwardly made the day they met, on a transport airship headed across the Strait of Suisho toward Sabaku. They have so many treasured memories together there, even if they never should’ve been there in the first place.

“Really, I’m real glad you’re with me. You mean the whole fucking world to me, you know. I love you.”

Lein walks across the path toward him, leaning his gun against his shoulder pointing to the sky.

“I do, even if we weren’t exactly material for a couple, or whatever. Hell, we were too close for that. You get me better than anyone. We’re like brothers. Like--”

Elliv is silenced when Lein pulls his head toward him and kisses him. He does this when he’s talking too much and doesn’t know how to stop. Lein knows it disrupts his train of thought. What was he thinking about anyway? This is nice.

Lein lets go of him, but Elliv grasps him by the coat-sleeve as he tries to pull away. He stands by Elliv and puts his left arm over his shoulders, securing his weapon with his right hand. Held tight in Lein’s grasp, he’s not so cold anymore.

Not many boys are taller than Elliv. Not many could make him feel protected like this. But it wasn’t something he wanted all the time, he thought. He ended up being the one who wanted to do the protecting, and someone like Ketha is a more ideal partner. But still, sometimes a moment like this is all he wants in the world.