The Vanished Birds by Simon Jimenez

Author:Simon Jimenez
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2020-01-13T16:00:00+00:00

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Outside Sartoris’s tent, Nia listened to Ahro play his flute by the dying bonfire, wondering where the time had gone. It had just been morning, and now it was night—now the stars were out, and the birthday was almost over. It wasn’t long ago that she had discovered her first gray hair, above her right temple. It wasn’t long ago that the young man who now sat beside her was a boy. He no longer fit in Kaeda’s one-shouldered robe. Where had the time gone? The young man played a high note, a calm smile on his lips.

She shut her eyes.

Remember this day.

The moment was done. It was already a quaint snapshot, ready to be discarded for more useful memory, stronger regrets. That was how her mind worked. It was so hard to remember the good things, pushed out as they were by the fear of troubles to come. Here before her was proof that time was moving, and quick. Here was this child who had already survived so much, but was still naïve about the way of things. Here was a small fire that must be nursed.

“Did you like it?” he asked, when he had finished the song.

“I did,” she told him.

He smiled.

Shield the fire from the wind. Feed it with old branches. Time was slipping, and he needed to learn the important things, learn them before it was too late.

That was the night she decided the lessons would begin. Plans formed in her mind as he continued to play. She would teach him how to negotiate a contract, how to come out of a trade with the advantage. The crew would train him in their fields of expertise. Vaila would show him the cursory basics of flight, enough to lift off and land without too much damage. Royvan would teach him how to tend to physical wounds. Em would outline for him the organs of the ship and the art of rudimentary repair. Sartoris would continue with his generalized lessons of galactic life and history. And Sonja would teach him how to protect himself from harm, with violence, if necessary. She decided all of this in the space between his songs, told him none of these plans, not yet, for she did not wish to stress him on his birthday. Instead she nodded for him to play once more.

“The happy one,” she requested.

With a grin, he obliged her.

Tomorrow the lessons would begin.

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