Touchstone 1 - Stray

another day or two of sleep, but willing to go along with whatever was asked of me so long as it didn’t require too much thought. I read Maze’s email, and Zee’s from early that morning about taking a tour of the ship. It really is a big ship, with all those little ‘pods’ used when travelling through the gate, enough to cover a sizeable greensuit and greysuit complement. There’s the infirmary and a kitchen and canteen and laboratories and assembly areas.
    The mission was pretty basic. All four squads would go ashore in my town, split into two groups and do an initial reconnoitre and check the drones. I would be with First and Third Squad, answering any questions it occurred to them to ask me, and their Sight talents would be paying a lot of attention to whether there was an unusual reaction from the places around me.
    They were very interested in the amphitheatre, but also wary of it since the aether had drained there, so it would be part two of the outing. We’d all meet up there and poke our nose cautiously underneath and see whether anything bit it off. In other words, the mission outline was “wander around looking for anything interesting, try not to get killed”.
    Four squads makes for a lot of people in the mission channel, along with two non-Setari people staying on the Litara , whose names were Kensan and Tehara. And me. Greensuits ferried us ashore using the hovering sled things before returning to the ship, and I wondered vaguely why they didn’t leave any for us to escape with as I followed Ketzaren off onto the rocky bank.
    It was the same spot I’d been picked up from – it seemed like an eternity ago – and since Sonn was standing right next to me I caught her eye and said: “Full circle,” but though I think she understood what I meant she was being all serious and didn’t respond.
    Ferus, though, was a different kettle of fish. “What was it you were cooking here?” he asked, nodding at the faint remains of my fires and the three massive flat bowls. “I’ve often wondered if you could possibly eat that much.”
    “Boiling wool,” I said, shrugging. “Clean it, make blanket.” Come to think of it, I don’t think I actually cooked anything the entire time I was on Muina. I never managed to catch any fish, or find any eggs. Survivor Cass was barely making a passing grade.
    It was colder than it had been when I’d been living there. Autumn-ish, with a sharp wind blowing over the lake which made me gladder than ever that I’d been rescued. If the town has a proper European-type Winter, I would not only have needed a whole lot more wool, I’d be facing some real food challenges.
    I’ve written all of this entry so far without mentioning Ruuel, mainly because I hadn’t seen much of him. But he was just a little way down the shore from me then, and said: “No sense of threat,” and sometimes I wonder if he goes around deliberately striking dramatic poses, because whenever I let myself look at him he seems to be being particularly photogenic. Though I guess gazing intently into the distance is part of his job description.
    “We’ll take the half to the left,” Maze said. “Be vocal.”
    I was glad the squads were divided the way they had been. Not so much for controlling my urge to gaze at Ruuel, since I’m more or less managing that, but because that shot Forel from Seventh Squad had taken at Zan was a good way to get me to distrust her totally. Other than looking even more cat-that-got-the-cream than usual, she was being very correct, but I was happy to be with First Squad and Third Squad.
    Particularly because Eeli was very fun to watch, so overjoyed at her first time on Muina that she practically vibrated. Occasionally a little comment would burble out, but mostly she was just eyes everywhere. Once, Taarel touched her shoulder and gave her a little smile and she settled down a bit. We walked about the town, not seeing anything other than small abandoned town. Sefen, Third’s strongest Place Sight talent, could see only a faint afterimage of aether, just a haziness.
    I spent the time reminiscing, working on a translation of “Do Not Go Gentle” for later, and wondering if Ruuel was annoyed with himself for not having seen anything significant about this town when they chased the Ddura here.
    Maze’s ‘be vocal’ apparently meant to communicate a lot as we explored, but I only heard Forel, Auron and Halla say anything from the other group. Eventually Maze told