[Veltzeh]: 39.The Heritage of Humankind.Tales from Kyerrion.34

Climbing up next to the waterfall, Tegafel was quite annoyed but did eventually come to believe that maybe eir escorts had known about the waterfall after all. There were some stairs and ropes around and Tegafel could utilize them.

One morning, when ey had just started moving and assessed that ey would not have a long way to go anymore, ey saw a garandal. Tegafel knew how garandals looked, but had not before this actually seen one. Neither had the garandal seen a femehan wacod. Ey was wearing a tight shirt, shorts, hat and some wrappings around eir arms, legs and feet.

After sixteen seconds of staring, the garandal let out a snicker and said, in common Gomanian: "Hi."

Tegafel smiled and replied: "Hello." Ey paused but continued: "You are a garandal, right? I've never seen one of your kind before."

"Oh, yeah. Lucky you then, it's an honor being the first garandal you've seen!" the little creature sounded light-heartedly but good-willingly sarcastic. "I've seen femehans before, but not anyone like you, I think. I never really bothered with your sexes."

Tegafel chuckled a bit. "Yeah, I don't think I would either. Um, what's your name?"

"Tarkki-Xrotori. You?"

"Tegafel... Darrelter."

"Nice to meet you, Tegafel Darrelter. Say, what are you doing climbing around in here? Not that you couldn't, it's a free cliff, but I'm curious."

"Oh, I... um... eh, it's actually very complicated... an' I'd rather not explain it. But um, I'm just trying to get from Gaoranola to Kattormala. They're femehan nations an' this mountain range is separating them."

"Yeah. You need to be careful not to get stuck anywhere, mountains are really hideous places in winter if you're not used to it. And it's hideous even if one was used to them, yes I have experience." Tarkki-Xrotori smiled a bit and then looked contemplative. Tegafel was just about to ask what it was when ey continued: "Um, say, could you come over to my home for an hour or so? Because, you know... I and my friends are really small and there's this pile of trees that fell on top of our house... you know, it's rather embarrassing, really. An' we can get them moved but it'll take so long..." Ey sounded a bit rambling and anxious.

Tegafel grinned with half a mouth and thought for a short moment. "Well, uh... I'm not very strong either, but I could come see at least. Sure."

"Alright! Please follow me. I'm sure we can give you something in exchange. It's not very far from here, probably less than thirty minutes. Anyway, thanks a lot. Um, now I'm just making conversation an' all... but — an' you don't mind me asking right? What sex are you?"

Tegafel grinned at the garandal and felt rather amused. "Sure... um, I'm a wacod. I can, you know, get impregnated and impregnate other people."

"Oh? So your sex is like the base for all femehan sexes?"

"What?" Tegafel seemed rather astonished.

"Well, I mean... us races who have accods, we're like you, or your sex. All of us can impregnate others or be impregnated. That's all. Why do you femehans need fourteen sexes? You would do just fine if all of you were the same sex as you are." Tarkki-Xrotori grinned a bit. "Though I'm of course not saying that you femehans should be like that. You can just as well have fourteen sexes! Or twenty!"

Tegafel was quiet for a moment. Ey had not thought of the sex issue in a way like that before. "I, uh. I'd rather like it every femehan was the same sex as me, actually. Maybe then I'd be appreciated just as a person." The garandal looked at em curiously. Tegafel figured that ey could not know anything about sex stereotypes without having studied femehan or homehan culture. "The... the others expect certain things of me because of my sex. An' I don't like it."

"Why do they expect stuff because of that?"

"...I don't really know. I mean, I can understand that gewacods are expected to be strategists in the army because they're smart like that or that nicods are expected to do stuff like heavy lifting because they're big an' strong, but I can't understand why I'm expected to just have a million kids an' nothing else an' be ecstatic about it."

Tarkki-Xrotori frowned and raised eir eyebrow. "Weird. Well, having kids is pretty awesome and respected as far as I know but if you don't want any... I mean, it just sucks to be made to do something you really don't wanna."

"Yeah..."

"I haven't had any kids yet. But I will, but probably not for a year or four. We need to build our homes better first."

"How old are you?"

"Twenty. You?"

"I'm fourteen."

Tarkki-Xrotori smiled a bit. "Ah, you're just barely adult, right? We at least become 'adults' when we turn fourteen."

"Yeah."

The two reached the garandal's home soon. Three other garandals were there, positioned in strange places and doing some questionable work. However, Tegafel eventually saw the pattern; they were trying to construct some sort of way to lift off the trees that had fallen on their house. Three trees had crushed the wooden building and two more lay dead and fallen on the ground closeby. Tegafel knew quite well why the trees had fallen: lightning had struck them.

After shouting a greeting to eir mates, Tarkki-Xrotori turned to Tegafel again. "Well, you can see our issues..."

"Yeah. Huh, those are some big trees. I'm not sure if I'll be able to move them either... But why did you build your house so near those trees?"

"Well, we should've been more careful. We just, um, thought that even if they fell, they'd fall to the other direction. We forgot that there'd be wind. Dang, forget it, we were just a bit inconsiderate, you know, young and foolish an' all that," ey said self-mockingly.

"Yeah um, I haven't exactly done very considerate things either so I'm not going to preach or anything. But uh, let's see if we could get those trees off?"



Tegafel spent three days with the garandals, coming up with a way to move the huge trunks. Primarily with Tegafel's help, they eventually managed to pull the trees off and then held a small party to celebrate it. The moved trunks now formed a protective barrier around the house, so the garandals decided to rebuild the house just as it had been. They gave Tegafel some information, climbing equipment and food in repayment for eir services.

Tegafel continued on eir way. Ey made it to the top of the waterfall, where the river continued as normal. It was more like a rapid river now and the terrain kept rising higher. The river still flowed in a valley. Four days later, the first snow of the winter came down. It was very early for snow and Tegafel had been frightened for a moment but reasoned to emself that ey would get to the forests before snow really started coming down.

Indeed, the snow was gone two days later. Tegafel had not seen any garandals or even nacrans. Garandals liked to live in cliffs and nacrans were often underground.

However, what Tegafel saw next both amazed and disappointed em thoroughly. Ey saw the strangest contraption floating just off the ground and ey glared at it in such an embezzlement that it took em minutes to notice the small figure traveling next to it.

At seeing Availon, ey shouted out in frustration. "YOU! What are YOU doing in here!?" Availon stopped in eir tracks. "Give me one reason why I shouldn't kill you!" Of course ey thought about a sufficient reason right away: Availon was pregnant. Tegafel stared at the immobile galanfetzcan for a minute or so before finally shouting: "Go away!" With that, ey turned, walked on swiftly and did not look back.

When night came, ey stopped and looked back. Availon was not there, but Tegafel was not happy. Ey might still be there, following. However, Tegafel did not see em in the morning or during the next day. Ey came to yet another waterfall, but this time the cliff seemed much easier to climb. Ey set emself to it. Ey spent the night there and climbed again the next day.

Toward the evening, ey saw Availon's little balloon in the distance, at the river, some way from the waterfall. Ey stared at the balloon angrily and continued climbing. Tegafel had climbed quite fast due to eir anger-fueled strength. Now, as Availon reached the foot of the cliff, and Tegafel had nearly made it to the top, ey shouted: "You gzoozzing prosht! Stop following me!" Availon just looked up, and Tegafel realized that Availon would need to come a long way to catch em now—even though ey was a galanfetzcan and thus a fast climber, ey was now pregnant and weak and it would take em a very long time to come up the cliff. "Hah! By the time you get up here, I'll be long gone!" With that, Tegafel turned and started climbing the few meters ey still had left. From the corner of eir eye, ey saw Availon move a bit, but did not care about it and did not look at em again.

The last meters turned out to be toilsome. It took Tegafel a rather long time to reach the final edge, but ey was ecstatically happy to finally achieve it. Ey caught eir breath for a moment and then moved closer to the edge to see where Availon was going.

As Tegafel saw the balloon rise from behind the edge just before eir eyes, ey shouted out in shock, frustration, fear and anger. Ey jerked backward and lay on the ground on eir backside. "You gzoozzing cheater!" ey shouted in anger and grief. Availon's balloon landed and the galanfetzcan climbed out. Tegafel felt weary, tired and betrayed. Availon had never done anything supernatural before, and now that ey did, Tegafel only wished that ey would not have.

Availon finished fixing the balloon and then looked sadly at Tegafel, standing about eight meters away from em. "Tegafel?"

"You gzoozzing hork."

"...I'm so sorry about... about everything. I would like to expl—"

"Kill yourself! You don't have anything to explain! You used me in a disgusting way!"

"It's not true! We talked about it together and you agreed with me!"

"You gzoozzing LIAR!"

Availon took a few steps toward Tegafel. "Please, if you'd let me expl—"

"Sharkeli! STOP!" Availon paralyzed instantly. Tegafel got up. "Do NOT come closer! Why would I allow you to explain anything?!"

"Because... because I know what really happened..."

"DO YOU? You gzoozzed my mind! You modified it! I can't know what's real and what's not an' I have no gzoozzing reason to trust you in the least!"

"Before... before the trip on the seaship... We didn't fight, I didn't do anything. I only modified your mind when we were in the meadowlands because that'd spare you from punishment if we got caught. And it did! You agreed to it!" A few tears fell from Availon's eyes.

"I don't remember anything like that!"

Availon took a step closer. "It's behind blocks in your mind. If you'd just let me —"

Tegafel got dangerously furious. "You horrible gzoozzing gasted idiot! I'm not letting you NEAR me! If you come any closer, I will KILL you! Pregnant or not! Or if I sense anything resembling your mind trying to contact me!"

The words hit Availon so bad that ey actually fell down as ey tried to back down. Ey was terribly scared since ey could not sense any deception in Tegafel's intent and Tegafel was now more than capable of killing em before ey could breach the personal barriers set against em. Ey started crying. Tegafel continued walking. Not too long after that, Availon forced emself to get up—at least Tegafel had not threatened to kill em if ey just followed.



Days went by. Availon kept on following Tegafel, staying only marginally behind. Ey was slower than Tegafel, but as Tegafel was slowed by vertical obstacles, Availon could get over them in a matter of minutes or hours. Tegafel mostly kept on mocking Availon and otherwise calling em names. A few times ey resorted to throwing rocks at em and even managed to knock em out for a short time. After that, Tegafel stopped throwing rocks.

The tactic that finally worked was forced travel—Tegafel could function with little sleep, Availon could not. Still, Availon kept up with the help of eir balloon.

One night Tegafel got up, sneaked around and took Availon's balloon away. Availon woke up in the process because ey slept in the balloon, but Tegafel merely threw the galanfetzcan in the snow and ran away. Ey packed up eir tent as well and left. Ey heard Availon crying behind em.

Tegafel could not and did not dare to actually operate the balloon, so ey just carried it and the weight of the whole thing slowed eir pace. However, Availon had become a little slower as well. Tegafel traveled the whole day and when ey settled to sleep in a rocky plain amongst the cliffs, Availon was nowhere in sight.

In the morning ey still did not see Availon, but the galanfetzcan could easily be behind one of the rocks. Ey did not see when Availon appeared again, but at one point ey realized the galanfetzcan was there again. Ey stared at the small figure for a moment. Availon was struggling to even walk and how ey had managed to keep up with Tegafel was a mystery. Ey seemed shifty and started pleading Tegafel to give back eir balloon and to listen to em again. Tegafel ignored em.

They walked across the rocky plain until they came to a cliff. It was not very high and seemed easy enough for Tegafel to climb, so ey got to it. Tegafel had just gotten to the top when Availon reached the bottom of the cliff. Availon looked quite distressed, and after making sure that Tegafel was up at the cliff's edge, ey started climbing as well. Tegafel saw that ey was weak, and after a few failed climbing attempts, ey started weeping. Ey cried at Tegafel and begged em to give the balloon back and listen. Tegafel mocked em for not being able to climb without eir silly contraption and threw a few stones at em, even though ey felt bad for doing it. The last one that Tegafel threw hit em in the head and knocked em out again. Tegafel looked down at the little immobile body that carried new life inside it and felt averse grief. Ey left.

Tegafel walked for an hour, starting to feel sicker and sicker. Ey had just condemned a pregnant galanfetzcan to death. No matter how much ey hated Availon as a person and babies in general, ey could not make emself feel any better. Availon was a galanfetzcan, a beautiful, wise and intelligent creature. Children, no matter how much Tegafel disliked them, were the living legacy of any person.

After ey had started crying, ey turned around.

Tegafel hurried back in less than an hour. Availon was still lying where ey had fallen, the little body collapsed around the rocks. Tegafel shouted to em, but ey would not wake up, and Tegafel got very worried; what if the stone had killed em? Tegafel set up a rope so that ey could just climb back up using it, and went back down.

Availon was alive and not even wounded, but would not wake up even after Tegafel shook eir body. Tegafel used another rope to tie Availon to emself and then climbed back up with the galanfetzcan on eir back. Ey looked for a sheltered place and then set up a tiny camp. Ey gathered whatever flammable materials ey could find, made a fire and wrapped Availon up in the warm blankets. Ey also made an open shelter of the tent, since it would be better to let the fire warm Availon at least for now.

Tegafel waited for a long time. Ey had a meal some hours after midday. Availon did not wake up. The day turned to night.

Availon finally woke up. It was dark, but the first thing ey could see was the fire beaming at eir face. Ey did not open eir eyes. Ey felt that ey was relatively comfortable in a warm and soft place, lying down. Ey moved eir body parts a little. They were all functional, though many of eir muscles, especially in eir legs, were quite sore. Tegafel's spirit was clearly nearby, and Availon almost flinched away from it. Ey shivered and enjoyed how comfortable ey was feeling. Tegafel had saved em nevertheless.

Availon lay there, nearly immobile, for a fairly long time. In the meantime, Tegafel moved about, and judging from the sounds, Availon thought that ey was making food. Indeed, eventually Tegafel walked beside Availon and stood there. Availon opened eir eyes and looked at Tegafel's lower body, since ey could not really see higher without turning eir head. Tegafel put down a plateful of food and a water container and then walked to eir own spot again. Availon got up slowly and ate.

The night moved on, but soon Tegafel got up and crudely told Availon to get out of the way. After Availon had moved, Tegafel took the tent and set it up. Ey then commanded the galanfetzcan to go in and followed soon after. As it had been before, the tent was quite small for the both of them, and they had to lie inconveniently close to each other. Tegafel felt very annoyed and Availon could only barely hide that ey was on the verge of bursting into tears. Ey did not want to annoy Tegafel any more. They managed to fall asleep.



When Tegafel woke up, ey spent a moment not remembering much anything, and when ey did, ey felt grumpy. Ey turned carefully and watched the little sleeping body of Availon. Ey still looked vaguely cute, but the sorrow and crying had made em look older and depressed. Eir eyes were watery. Tegafel nearly felt sorry for em and then spent a short moment agonizing over the mental conflict of hating em and feeling so sorry and protective.

Availon spent a longer time waking up, but when ey was fully conscious, Tegafel asked: "Can you walk?"

A long moment went by while Availon tried to answer. Ey eventually whispered: "I-I think I c-can."

Tegafel went out to make food. The routine was familiar to both of them, so they did not need to talk, even though Availon was not able to do eir part now. Later they ate and Tegafel packed up the tent.

"Will you make that thing of yours float again?"

"I can, but we should not use it unless we absolutely have to. This valley hasn't been very windy, but any wind could easily make us lose control of it."

Tegafel looked annoyed. "Fine. We wouldn't have been able to go faster anyway." Ey looked somewhat accusingly at Availon, and Availon turned eir face away helplessly.



They traveled for a few days, though Availon was in bad shape and hindered them considerably. Availon could not sense any communities nearby. Neither of them could see any either. Availon was depressed and tearful and Tegafel tried to just ignore it. Ey was simultaneously happy and sad that Availon was feeling so bad.

One night Availon was feeling even more tearful than usual. They had to stop traveling earlier and Availon could barely eat. In the tent, Tegafel felt very inconvenienced by Availon's sobbing and sniffing and finally just snapped:

"What is wrong with you today?"

Again, Availon took eir time to answer. Ey could barely speak due to sobbing and congested airways. "It's... the pregnancy... I-I got too em-emotional an-n' I'm... I'm... missing... I want to... feel... feel..."

"Feel what?" Availon started bawling. Tegafel tolerated it for a moment, but eventually started yelling as well: "Feel what!? Tell me so I can do it! I can't stand you crying anymore!" After a while, Availon tried to say something, but failed and instead cried more. Tegafel grabbed eir shoulder and turned em on eir back. Availon just cried, but soon enough ey reached for Tegafel's chest with eir hands and then pulled on the femehan's clothes as if wanting em closer. Tegafel obliged and went down. Availon wrapped eir arms around Tegafel's body and squeezed tightly.

It took em a short moment, but Availon eventually whispered very forcedly: "Closeness! Hold me; walone me!"

Tegafel thought how useless and impossible that would be, but ey wanted to make Availon stop crying and some part of em also wanted to make the galanfetzcan feel better and appreciated again. Ey held Availon for a moment and then settled into a more comfortable position. Ey actually tried to think some positive thoughts, though ey just could not keep emself from reminding emself about what Availon had done to em.

To Tegafel's surprise, Availon did calm down. Ey squirmed a bit and dug deeper into Tegafel's chest. Tegafel felt vaguely inconvenienced, but then again it was nice to really cuddle with someone again. Availon might not have been eir first choice for a cuddling companion, but the galanfetzcan was small, non-threatening, dependable on Tegafel and, above all else, there.

Tegafel looked at Availon's scars closely for the first time. They were not just simple cuts, for mere scars could be faked by everyone. They had some intricate patterns in them and at least some seemed to have been burned on an open wound. Tegafel felt revolted.

They slept, though uneasily.



Days went by and the two got used to each other's company again. Tegafel started to not care about eir anger toward Availon, but also did not want to even accidentally treat em like a friend. Availon was depressed, though the pregnancy made eir mind sway from one direction to another—ey had never known why it happened. Other galanfetzcans had not been this moody when pregnant, and even Availon was more emotional than ey should be. Ey was inconvenienced.

Some snow came down occasionally, but it did not really stay. The grounds turned wet and cold and traveling was difficult in the terrain nevertheless. When they thought they would only have a few days of traveling in the Flowing Passages left, they were faced by a nearly vertical, hundreds of meters high cliff that continued as far to their sides as they could see. Availon cried and Tegafel felt hopeless.

They continued traveling, to south now, looking for any way past the huge obstacle or a garandal or nacran community.