jaw set in anger. Her face turned red.
“I am not Vot. This is not my home. Yet I play an important role in the future of my nation, together with Yeel, we plan to turn away the horde—”
“Yeel belongs here with me,” Vot said.
“He is pledged to my cause,” Jymoor fired back.
“He cannot change the migrational patterns of your entire planet. What is happening to your world is an expected process of friction between indigenous cultures that need to evolve in conflict so that the natural order can work itself out.”
“I should be able to help you both,” Yeel said.
An awkward silence grew at the table. Finally, Jymoor tried a different tack.
“Legrach has offered to train me to be a warrior although the fenlar, the weapon he uses, is not a knightly weapon on my world.”
“Ah. It is good to learn these skills anyway,” Yeel said. “There’s some carry over between various athletic pursuits. However, I think given the state of warfare on your own world, and your leadership position there, I’d best find you a sword master as well. I’m sure one of our travel companions from the garden will teach you the sword!”
“But they believe me to be…they don’t know about Avorn.”
“Ah. Yes. Don’t worry. I’ll find someone upon whose discretion we can rely. Remember, it’s the armor that is constant, the user changes every decade or so.”
Jymoor finished eating what she could, then remained quiet. Vot and her warriors talked a bit, though Jymoor couldn’t catch the meaning of their words.
After the meal Legrach took her back to the room she’d seen earlier. He showed her how to operate the water net, as simple as a touch, then left her alone in the room to sleep.
“I guess I won’t be Yeel’s guest tonight,” she said to herself.
Jymoor started to take the moon armor off.
She knew some of the strength given by the smooth pearly plates of armor would leave her once she took it off, but she needed to rest well. Even though her skin had started to callous from the support straps, she couldn’t leave the armor on every minute of every day.
But separating herself from the moon armor had an even greater effect on her mood. As soon as the breastplate fell off her chest, she felt another weight, a weight of despair, settle onto her. What chance did she have with Yeel, she a lowly scout, sent to him almost as a sacrifice, when Yeel interacted with peers such as Vot? And what chance did she have to learn to take the place of the Crescent Knight, to lead her people to victory against the barbarians?
The dark emotions became overwhelming. Jymoor curled up in the dark room, surrounded by strange sounds and scents, and cried herself to sleep.
Chapter 10: New Studies
When Legrach arrived at her room, Jymoor was dressed in her armor and ready to go. She felt better on the new day and nodded to Legrach with confidence.
“I’d like to see more of the fortress.”
Legrach nodded. “Of course. Come with me. Then, I can teach you about being a warrior.”
“Excellent.”
Legrach led her out of her water curtain into the stone hallway. He opened another water net and showed her a room down the corridor.
The room held dozens of rubbery sacks. Each one was the size of a large backpack.
“We keep our food here for emergencies, such as siege,” Legrach said.
“Sensible. We do the same in our castles on my world. I assume you have cisterns for water?”
Legrach looked puzzled.
“The lower level of the stronghold has a few places where the ocean water is accessible from within the walls,” he said.
“What about fresh water storage?”
“I’ll show you,” Legrach said. They walked back out to the corridor and took a winding stair deeper into the fortress. They passed a whole level and kept walking downward. Finally the stair ended. A glowing sphere lit the way down a dark passage that opened into a wide chamber. A stone stair descended right down into greenish water that filled the lower part of the chamber, flowing from left to right.
“There’s our water, all we need,” Legrach said.
“It’s not salty like on my world?”
“It’s fine to drink. Drink all you want,” Legrach said.
Jymoor looked at Legrach as if expecting a joke. But when Legrach met her gaze calmly, she realized it wasn’t a joke. Legrach hadn’t made the slightest joke since she met him.
She took several steps down the stair to the water’s edge. She knelt and waved her