Lethbridge-Stewart: Downtime - Child of the New World by Andy Frankham-Allen

Author:Andy Frankham-Allen [Frankham-Allen, Andy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-09-26T23:00:00+00:00

Nuba had tried to get him to eat something, but it was just too much effort. She at least made sure he had some water from a nearby lake. It was fresher than any bottled water he’d had back home. He’d joked that the people of Tsongkhar could sell it, but such an idea was lost on Nuba. Possibly because of her poor grasp on English, but maybe his coughing fit at the time hadn’t helped.

Speaking of Nuba… Displaying a sixth sense that Con was kind of getting used to, she entered the tent mere moments after he stirred.

‘How you feel?’ she asked.

‘Better,’ he lied, and forced himself to sit up.

The interior of the tent spun around him.

‘Good. You get dressed warm.’

Con noticed the clothes in the pile at the end of his sleeping space. ‘I’m fine, thanks.’

He wasn’t against getting changed – indeed the idea of removing the clothes he’d worn since the party at the bowling alley appealed to him. He never liked wearing the same things two days in a row, especially when he’d been sleeping in them.

But he wasn’t sure he could handle being out from under the yak skin cover.

Nuba looked him over, and leaned towards him to rest the back of her hand on his forehead. She looked at him sternly, and gently forced him to lay back down.

‘No. Not better.’

Conall smiled. ‘No, I’m not. But I need to be,’ he said. ‘I can’t lie here forever. People will be looking for me and Gordy.’

‘Safe now. Not moving until tomorrow.’

That was something at least. It seemed Tashi had spoken to Len after all. But Nuba still did not look happy about the compromise.

Con swallowed and, noticing his discomfort, Nuba ladled some water to his mouth. He sipped on it gratefully.

‘Tashi,’ he said. ‘Has he always been so kind to strangers? He seems like a good guy. You both do.’

‘All people welcome in Tsongkhar. Even Chinese.’

Con narrowed his eyes, uncertain if Nuba had attempted a joke then.

But there was something behind her eyes. He remembered what Tashi had told them last night, after Nuba had presented them with the khatag. To welcome strangers was one of the highest callings of the people of Tibet, kind of like how his mum always told him that it was important to be polite to adults, to especially be considerate of the elderly. It wasn’t just about culture, about manners, it was about being respectful to those with whom they shared the world. And that’s how it was in Tibet, as far as Con could work out. But still something told him things weren’t that simple, at least not in Tsongkhar.

‘Tell me about Tashi.’

Nuba eyed him a moment, then she smiled and sat down on the ground beside him. And she explained about her husband.

Her grasp of the English language was patchy, so Con listened intently, careful to pick up every word she didn’t say.

In his youth, Tashi had been a novice at the Monastery of Det-Sen, using his skills as a craftsman to help maintain the monastery.

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