The road ended at the village of broken walls. Parking the car wasn't a challenge. The twins jumped out faster than the engine could come to a stop. Jerry and I joined them in the darkness of the night, and there was a long silence which felt like us paying respect. And it seemed like the village accepted us, for the night brightened and we could see much more. Or, it might just be our eyes adjusting to the night. I knew what Dia would choose.
Dia took the lead, wordlessly, and we followed, silently. The village wasn't big. Took us less than a half hour to walk a long lap around the outside. There wasn't much to see either. The difference in the extent of the brokenness made the walls seem even less different from each other. There was an air of ancientness about the place, making the cold night feel less chilly, almost as if the breath of the Nashi was warming the night for us.
At the end of the lap, Dia walked into the village. In unhesitant steps. I saw the knowing in the eyes of Jerry and Pratt, and I knew where we were going.
"We'll stay the night here," she said, in front of a house indistinguishable from the rest. "It's Ryirawra's."
I wasn't surprised. Jerry smiled at me appreciatively.
"You're smart," Pratt praised tonelessly.
Dia glared at him. Pratt voiced the words in her head before she could.
"I dare you to be disrespectful one more time."
He sounded like her too. Like an annoyed Dia.
She pursed her lips, shooting daggers at his careless smile, and turned away.
"I'm going to be ignored tonight," Pratt moaned.
Jerry sighed. Dia walked in. Pratt followed. I was the last to enter. And I was dazed.
I was standing between four broken walls, no roof over my head, nothing differentiating the outside from the inside. But I felt like I was actually inside a home. The warmth felt very real. The quiet ringing in my ears didn't feel anything like an illusion. I could almost smell the scent of life, the scent of home. And I was sure, if I closed my eyes, I could see it too. The home with Ryirawra breathing and smiling as she looked out the window.
The twins were standing by Ryirawra's window, holding hands, looking out, seeing the lightning trees that were so easily visible. Jerry was resting in a corner, readying for sleep.
"You'll be fine, won't you?" Jerry asked me.
The twins looked over before I could answer.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Dia asked back.
"Exactly what it means," Jerry answered. "Oh, I get it. It's not for you two. You'll be fine. I'm asking Dean. Will you be able to sleep on the hard ground?"
The twins' eyes flashed. I knew what they were going to ask.
"I'll be fine," I said to Jerry. "I think I will be."
"We can make a bed for you," Jerry said. "We've got the things to make it a night of camping."
I wasn't sure. I had never gone camping. I had certainly never slept on hard ground.
"Know what, let's just lay down for now. If it becomes too difficult, we can always walk over to the car. It's not far," Pratt said.
I was happy with him making the decision.
The room was enough for the four of us. Jerry was on the right. I was beside him. Dia was next to me. Pratt was on the left. We were on our backs, looking up at the sky that was dazzling with stars like the sky over the academy didn't.
"It's the latter half of the year. The Spyral galaxy is too far to the west for us to see. What we can see, are the constellations of Yurks. Who knows why they're called the constellations of Yurks?"
Jerry was suddenly a professor. I was sure the twins knew the answer. Indulging my laziness, I lay quietly looking up at the sky. I was surprised to hear Jerry's voice.
"In this case, it's really not important. The constellations of Yurks bear no impact on the Nashi. But, you never know. We're heading to the Faery. We don't know what importance the constellations might prove to have. Which is why I keep telling you, repeatedly, no knowledge is unimportant in runic archaeology."
The twins displayed none of their wit when Jerry was a professor. They were true students, ready to absorb every word of every lesson.
"Laden was the banished son of general Maurus of the mighty Buravayan army. He wasn't disheartened, however. He had always felt tied and restricted in the capital city, weighed down by the family prestige and the expectations placed upon him. He was never going to be a man of the army like his father or his elder brothers. He was always looking up, at the heavens. Convinced that there were many things hidden within the darkness of the night. Away from the capital, he felt free. He was comfortable living the life of a wandering hermit, eyes always looking up at the heavens. He was seventeen when he was banished. He was fifty four when he made a friend on the flatlands of Ciarra. The first person he'd met and spoken to after leaving Buravayan borders. He had forgotten home, forgotten people, forgotten what company felt like. And thus, it was a truly novel experience. The heavens told him that his end was near. He would soon be joining the same stars he spent his life looking up at. Knowing that, he passed along all that he learned to his friend before leaving. As fate would have it, that friend was Mura, the general of Ghayayli. The charts of the heavens Laden drew, marked safe passage to Buravayan. Armed with the knowledge, Mura led the army of Ghayayli on a campaign that won them the kingdom of Buravayan. The war would remain famous through history. Want to take a guess as to why the name, constellations of Yurks?"
I answered automatically.
"Because they were drawn on Yurk paper."
The collective gasps startled me.
"What?" I asked.
"Go on," Jerry said, beaming like he knew all along that I knew the story.
"Sure. Mura was in love with Zeera, the daughter of the chief of a village of the Yurks. As was custom in the Yurks, Mura had gone to ask Zeera's father for her hand in marriage. Having convinced the old man, Mura was returning with letters Zeera had written for him, when he met Laden. When Laden expressed the intention to pass on his knowledge, Mura offered the only paper he had, the letters Zeera had written him. Laden didn't read the letters. He only wrote on the other side of the papers. Since the charts were drawn on Yurk paper, they were called constellations of Yurks."
"It's a different story, how the marriage of Mura and Zeera brought about the age of red," Jerry said. "You do know what the age of red is."
This, the twins knew.
"Oh yes," Dia went first. "The Ashaki tribes of the central flatlands were united under the leadership of Wureyi. With Mura leading Wureyi's armies, the Ashaki conquered all of the flatlands and the south."
"It is said that rivers of blood flowed so wide, that all of the lands were painted red," Pratt continued. "So, the age of red."
Much later, as we were almost asleep, I felt foolish. We were in Ryirawra's home, sleeping between the same walls as she did all of her life, and we were discussing stories that had nothing at all to do with Ryirawra or the Nashi. Did anyone else realise this? Did Dia realise this?
But it sure was easy sleeping to the beautiful lullaby of the warm night.
Dia shook me awake. I almost screamed out as I opened my eyes. But was silenced by what I saw.