Early the next morning--before seven--Jake woke up hungry, so he searched and stalked a nice roebuck for breakfast and enjoyed the warm desert morning on his rock (a flat granite stone big enough to support him and give a commanding view to the East) in front of the cave.

At noon everyone appeared in the Dining Hall. Lunch had been set for the other members, but Jake declined to eat in respect to his earlier meal and their scanty supplies. The seating arrangement wasn’t planned or arranged, and he found himself sitting next to Volgelson and Rachel. Nacomi sat with her family a little further on, and past them were Shyla and her mother. Across the way Serena stood politely next to their parents, and next to them were the Brissons. Stacey’s mother and father and three sisters made a group at the far end of the table.  

“Have you had a chance to look around?” Jake asked politely during a brief pause in Volgelson’s meal.

Volgelson swallowed rapidly and cleared her throat.

“It was illuminating. You were right to be concerned about the lack of water. The snowcap of the mountain is gone and the reservoirs in the mountain itself are very low. There are huge basins at the base of the mountain, apparently for waterworks, but they don’t have enough to supply even a tenth of the people that we have now. If we can resupply the river, we might be able to channel some water down into the mountain to refill them, but for now we are stuck with what we have.”

Jake nodded. “Tom, Stacey and Mausi left fourteen days ago to follow the riverbed as far as it may go and see if they can get the river flowing again.”

“Well, good luck to them.” Volgelson commented. “And that lets me scratch that item off my list; I had been about to suggest an expedition to do just that.”

“Tom would have more success.” Jake pointed out. “He is a water fairy after all, and thus has a special affinity that lets him sense water even underground.

“So what’s your next step?” Volgelson asked curiously.

“I don’t think we will talk of that just yet.” Jake replied courteously. “It will be covered at the council when we’ve finished eating.”

“Council?” Volgelson asked curiously.

Jake nodded. “We will have council to lay out the next steps to set up the colony.”

Jake looked down the length of the table and saw that most of the company had already cleared the platters and drunk most of the water or wine in their goblets. Feeling that the time was right, he got up and spoke.

“Friends, we have much to talk about; councils and advice to give and take to fully map out our decided course. Before we can complete that task, however, (and here he grinned mischievously) we have a good deal of washing up to do!”

There was a chorus of groans at that; small wonder that people that owned automatic dishwashers found hand-washing their dishes time and time again to be wearisome and vexing. The Brissons, not having any idea what a “dishwasher” was, except as a title for a servant in the kitchens, did not complain nearly as much as the Humans.

“I know,” Shyla laughed. “Why not a song to cheer us up?”

She fumbled a moment at her side and then triumphantly held up her music player. The others cheered as she turned it on and stared at the little screen in despair. “Noo!” she cried. “The battery is dead!” All the others looked over her shoulder to see for themselves.

“Well, it was bound to happen sometime.” Jake consoled. “And eventually we should be able to get it up and running again. We will have to make do without electricity for many long weeks ahead, but eventually we will have it again.”

“And, where electricity may fail, simple voices will have to do!” Rachel laughed. Then she broke out into a song. She had a good voice, deep as a standing pool and gentle as the flowing river. The words were bright and cheerful, and everyone hummed along as they gathered the plates and bowls and things and took them to the kitchens to wash up.  




O! Fair people of the land of green; in desert lands there springs a stream; of water pure and wholesome cast; to slake our thirst and water the land at last.

We shall go or we might stay; who can say, who can say; Though the darkness lies all about; we shall face it strong and stout!; With shining sword, the dragon’s roar, or Mighty spell of lore; shall stand and guard the fences of home; while the waters splash and foam!; Around mountain root and mountain heart; there our people shall have their start; with heart of gold, and courage bold; we shall become as elven-lore foretold.

The promises of peace and hope; shall not unwind like some old rope!; Our pledge is firm, for good we yearn; until at last, the darkness shall pass; a faded memory left forlorn.




Jake listened as they worked; though he was useless at cleaning dishes he started the fire that boiled the wash-water. When the dishes were clean the dirty, soapy water was set aside to be carried outside and given to the trees. Nothing would go to waste here.

“I have not heard that song before.” He remarked as they filed in towards the First Hall.

“Indeed.” Rachel told him as she strode easily alongside his flank, her hooves clip-clopping on the hard stone. “I made it up as I sang it; I thought it to be rather pretty.”

“It was.” Jake agreed. “It tickled something in the back of my mind. A memory or something. I’d like to hear more singing.”

“You will.” Rachel told him seriously. “True, these tough days will not last forever. Yes, we will have to do without electricity, computers and other things for a while, but music never needed such things anyway. Whether through voice or actual instruments, we will have music filling this place again.”

“I suppose we will.” Jake replied hopefully, imagining what the city would be like when filled with light and music and laughter. Could they dare hope to accomplish so much?  



Jake settled at the head of the table, his head moving side to side as he stared down the long row of people standing, laying or sitting depending on their preferences. He took note of the various expressions as he attempted to judge how each would act or decide during the meeting.

“Well,” He began. “I know we’ve all been very busy these past few weeks; some of us do not yet know the full score of what has been accomplished. I would ask that every team recap what they’ve been doing to bring us all on the same page.”

Hermione, Stacey’s youngest sister, stood up like an over-eager first-grader. Her excitement made several people smile at her obvious enthusiasm while the rest of her team looked on with exasperated fondness.

“My team had the task of cleaning out the houses and other places down below.” Her nose wrinkled slightly. “They were only a little smelly and dirty, but we used what rags we could find and a few brushes we managed to make from the plants outside in the desert. We have about ten houses done and a couple of actual mansions.” Her eyes sparkled at the word, she’d never seen such places before and the memory of such splendor obviously overwhelmed her, as made obvious by her next comment. “They were huge!” she squealed. “I could hold my entire school in there! They were amazing, so much gold in the walls and on the decorations and things!”

Jake exhaled sharply to gain everyone’s attention. “That worries me a little.” He admitted. “There is so much gold here that it will be very easy for people to pick it up and take it. I use the hoard here as a bed, but it won’t leave the mountain should the dwarves ever return. We need to keep the hoard safe as per the original agreements, or we might lose control of the entire city.”

“Is that really an issue?” Volgelson asked, frowning. “The dwarves, from what you say, were already disappearing when they gave up this...city...to the dragon. Plus, it’s been over three million years. I’m fairly certain that they aren’t coming back.”

Jake smiled while the others laughed. “I don’t doubt you are right.” He explained. “But as you might have noticed, this place is infused with magic. We don’t yet know the full scope of the spells laid here; will it allow us to continue to live here if something of the dwarves is stolen? Or will we find ourselves consumed by some horrible monster of the netherworld? Or, and this is the option I foresee, will it simply lock us outside, unable to return? Who can say? I would not care to test either theory.”

Volgelson shook her head but didn’t say anything. The others murmured back and forth a little, but there weren’t any further counter-arguments forthcoming. Jake sighed. “It is a concern, and we will have to impress on people the significance of the problem is all I am going to say on the subject. Please continue.” He turned back to Hermione.

“Um, well, we have them cleaned out and ready for people.” She said much more subdued. “So, um, we can house maybe a hundred people? Preferably less.” She said hurriedly at a look from her mother.

“That sounds reasonable.” Jake smiled. “That was good work, all of you. Thank you.” Hermione blushed and mumbled something unintelligible as she sat down.

Rachel cleared her throat to gain everyone’s attention. Her hair draped over her shoulder and her tail swished lazily behind her as she gave her report.

“We (she indicated Serena, Brian, Nacomi and their respective families) have been busy laying out the apparent boundaries of our magic forest. It is, as we expected, limited in its spread from the pool. Those that sprout too far away uproot and walk closer, so there is an unusual density at this time near the water’s edge. Evidently, a small aquifer is leeching out from the spring, accounting for about two hundred additional acres of current growth. Beyond this range, if not sustained by Serena directly and unable to move themselves, begin to wither and die immediately.”

“Yet our needs will be greater than this,” she went on, despite the concerned looks of her audience. “We have plotted out a much larger forest to shield us from prying eyes, and laid out places for fields to grow wheat and barley, vegetables and other crops, and looked at supplying it with water. What we have come up with is this.”

From a small bag at the floor she pulled out a hand-drawn map and laid it across the table so everyone could lean in and study it. Jake craned his neck a little and observed the fine workmanship that went into the design. He immediately spotted a canal coming from the bend in the river and dug in such a way as to seem natural in origin, moving towards the base of the mountain before spiderwebbing into finer creeks that eventually covered nearly sixty square miles in widely spaced creeks, ponds, pools and streams.

After several minute’s silence in which everyone had a chance to study the map, Jake raised the point that was on everyone’s mind.

“This seems rather ambitious. You count on a lot of water making it down the river to the canal, which remains to be seen, and practically diverting the whole supply to the forest, which could prove risky if anyone uncovers the source and decides to follow it to the mountain.” He rumbled.

“I do intend on diverting nearly the entire supply of water.” Rachel said. “We obviously don’t want it simply following the natural riverbed all the way past towns and such--they might wonder as to why the river is suddenly flowing again and why it doesn’t dry up. If we have a full diverge into the forest, that will be enough to supply nearly all of the canals, assuming a flow  equal to that of, say, the Nisqually River. There may yet be other untapped pools and sources of water that we can bring back to refill our meager reserves here, or bring to the surface with Tom's magic.”

The scope of Rachel’s suggestion concerned Jake. The amount of effort that would be involved would be huge, and their supplies of tools remained woefully inadequate. He said as much.

“Plus we won’t be able to use the vehicles and heavy lifters of our own time.” He ruminated. “One issue is fuel; there simply isn’t enough as we saved only what was in their tanks. They were spent getting here, and only one of them was for the type of work that you are talking about either.”

Rachel nodded. “It is a big project,” she admitted, “and I don’t expect we shall be ready by the time Tom and Stacey return, one way or another. However, it is possible to achieve at least this much...,” she reached over and with her finger traced the main canal and three smaller fingers. The entire distance would be more than a mile, Jake estimated roughly. “...within four weeks, assuming a workforce of about a hundred people and your strength.” She said, looking at Jake.

“You shall have it,” Jake told her, “but not the hundred laborers. Perhaps twenty-five would be more reasonable. There aren’t going to be that many available for just one project.”

Rachel bit her lip, looking down at her map, trying to figure out how much she could accomplish with just Jake and a handful of people.

“We might be able to accomplish the main trench.” She said at last. “I guess it all depends on how long Tom and Stacey and Mausi are gone.”

“I talked to Mausi before they left.” Jake told her. “She thinks it will be about five weeks on foot for them to reach the mountains and begin their search. Tom thinks he might be able to redirect water in as little as one week, and they left two weeks ago today. So I would expect that we have about three weeks left in which to work.”

Rachel grimaced but stayed silent, her full lips moving in a uncontrolled fashion from the intensity of her concentration.

Shyla stood up from her seat in the far corner of the table with a smile. “Well, I guess that leaves my team last.” There were some smiles at that, but no laughter.

“So, my team went down to the basement of the city, as I guess you could call it. Deeper than the vaults where we were kept, deeper than any of us had been before.” A look of awe came onto her face. “Those dwarves really knew how to build! The scope of their waterworks is beyond anything I’ve ever seen and I’ve been to some of the ones we had for our cities and smaller towns during field trips and things, but nothing like this. Most of the drinking water comes from two reservoirs, lakes really, that are carved out of this immense cavern. One is higher than the other and connected via sluiceways built on one enormous ramp that handles the flow of water to turn enormous waterwheels connected to the pumphouse. The wheels would power great pumps to push the water through piping in the walls and up to the upper reaches of the caverns. As you might expect, they had enough here for hundreds of thousands.”

A grimace crossed her pretty face. “Unfortunately, it seems that as the millennia passed, the sources of water for the reservoirs dried up or got redirected, so they in turn dried up. There’s maybe six inches of water in the bottom of the first one and two inches in the lower one. Not sure how we can get new water down to them though, they are really deep, like below the ground level outside.”

“What about hoses and pumps?” Jake asked.

“It would be a bloody long hose. We’re talking miles to get it down all the corridors and things to the reservoir, and hundreds of pumps to keep it flowing steadily.”

“It seems to me that this matter is what requires our most urgent of attention.” Serena said sweetly. Her hair rippled as she shook her head, cascading down her white shoulders to the silver dress she wore. “If we cannot repair the waterworks, we may as well abandon our attempts to use the city to house our people.”

Everyone looked at one another grimly. Still no one spoke.

Brian looked at Shyla. “What method did the dwarves have set up before? Surely they didn’t have one underground aquifer supply that much water for all their needs at once...”

Shyla nodded. “You’re right. There are several pipes that lead into the upper lake. We don’t have anyone small enough to thread their way inside or a camera, if one could be found with the length to reach, but we suspect it leads to the summit to absorb yearly snow melt from the surface.”

Jake puzzled about that. “That is strange news to me.” He admitted. “When I first came to the mountain, to the best of my knowledge, this place did not exist. There were some shallow caves that I took a nap in and played with the statue given to me by Roland. It was then the door appeared and we uncovered this place. Our theory at the time was that the fortress existed in a different mountain somewhere in the world and the doorway was connected to it by magic or perhaps a completely different universe entirely. Now it appears that this mountain has become the dwarf city. How is this possible?”

Rachel shrugged helplessly. “The only rule that we’ve been able to uncover about magic is that it has a flair for the dramatic.” She explained apologetically. “Why things are the way they are, why they change the way they do, even what the purpose that magic has for what it does, has escaped our understanding.”

Jake sighed. “Well the fact that the mountain has apparently become the permanent home of the dwarf city explains many of the problems we are currently facing--a mountain in an alternate reality would not lose water like we have, at least I don’t think so. We shall have to keep that in mind when we plan our defenses.”

Everyone glanced at Volgelson who met their stares levelly. She nodded approvingly. “I’ll draw up some plans.”

“Excellent.”

He looked back to Shyla. “What else can you say?” he asked.

“Just that some of the wheels have gotten damaged over the years. It seems that the dwarves sheathed their wheels, or perhaps forged them, out of a copper-ish material. Its sound, but they’ve turned green over the ages.”

“How long will it take to repair the wheels?” Rachel asked.

“Depends. How many people can use a forge?” Shyla asked bluntly. “If we can get some good craftsmen, then it won’t take too long at all, maybe a couple of weeks. If we have to train them to use hand tools, then much longer, and it won’t be as good as the original dwarves.”

“Well, that’s all right, we can work with that.” Jake said easily. “We will only be able to do our best.”

Volgelson shrugged. “There’s clearly a lot of work that needs to be done to be ready for full habitation. How many people can we realistically start with and not go hungry, and yet be able to accomplish all the tasks that need to get done?”

The answer to that question will not be easy to find, Jake thought grimly. He listened as the debate shifted to the number of people that would be required to start farming and prepping the land for full use while still having enough people to ready the canals. “We cannot have one without the other!”  Rachel insisted.

“It is your project,” Jake said. “And we will allocate as many resources to this as possible. But what should the final shape of the project be? What crops will we grow and where? And, most importantly, how will we hide such an enterprise from any that wander in this direction? We must answer these questions, and quickly if we are to have any chance of peace.”

“What about terracing the outside of the mountain?” Stella piped up. “I’ve read about the ones at Machu Piccu and in China. Surely we can do something like that here?”

Jake immediately shook his head. “Terracing the mountain would be an instant giveaway that something is living at the mountain. Nor do I see the need for it. We have a relatively low population and can make do with several fields and orchards hidden inside the forest, plus the bounty that the forest will provide for us; roots and berries, fruit and game. There should be no reason for a while to advertise our existence.”

Everyone frowned for a while as they digested Jake’s thoughts. At last Volgelson said, “What about sunlight? Most crops that I’m aware of can’t grow in the shade. That will leave large sections of the forest wide open and easy to see, especially from the air.”

“Leave the threat of air discovery to me and Serena.” Jake advised. “With the appropriate efforts on our behalf, we can make it impossible to fly anywhere near the mountain.”

Annabel raised her brow. “Why would that be an issue? No one born without wings can fly.” She stated unequivocally.

Volgelson glanced at her with a smile, as did everyone else. Jake shook his head.

“You are wrong. It is possible to fly without being born with wings. Man built machines that enabled him to fly. They are all gone now, but believe me when I say that it is possible.”

The brissons had politely skeptical looks on their faces, but remained silent. It was clear that they believed it to be impossible to fly unless one was a bird; but Jake didn’t have time to prove them wrong or right. He would take Annabel aside later and point her in the right direction in the library so that she could study the books herself.

“Terracing the mountain may happen years or so down the line, when there are sufficient people living at the mountain to warrant it.” Serena said gently. “But another concern of mine is going to be the natural desire to use living wood to make our fires and heat our homes. These trees are going to be part of my wood, infused with my magic and thus given intelligence and alertness beyond that of normal forests. They will become aggressive and dangerous to anyone that hurts them or their charges. We must impress on people not to cut or wound any living wood.”

“If the trees monitor themselves that could be the end of it after one or two attempts.” Brian ruminated grimly. “But just to be safe, perhaps we ought to establish a ranger corps to patrol the forest and aid you in keeping people safe from their own folly.”

“They would also provide an invaluable early-warning system to our forces.” Volgelson jumped in eagerly. “If they are actual rangers, and not like the park rangers of our old world.”

Serena shook her head. “Not everything we do should have military uses.” She pointed out.

“Perhaps, in this world we’ve found ourselves in, it would be best to be more aggressive.” Jake said slowly. “We’ve seen from the pool that this world has many demons, many dangers ahead for us. We cannot live like we did before, where dangers are comfortably far off and therefore unheeded.”

“Try living in Detroit.” Shyla grumbled. “There was danger a ’plenty on those streets.”

“True, you had much to fear from your neighbors and other social predators,” Jake agreed. “But I am talking armies here, forces arrayed against you that hate your life and the way you live it, because it is not their own. We had forces fighting in deserts against such threats, but they were across the entire world. We only heard about it as short, five-minute stories on our televisions, much less as movies or dramas that emphasized heroes and left the truth in the dust. We had much less personal contact with the war than our forefathers ever did, because we never let it touch home again. It became part of our everyday, which proved more deadly to us than any enemy shelling of our cities ever did.”

“What do you mean?” Rachel asked.

“How many stories did you see where soldiers returning from the desert had curses hurled at them? How many mothers seeking to bury their sons and daughters had to endure ridicule and jeering from a handful of malcontents that got more screen time than their loved ones who sacrificed their lives to keep them safe? How many soldiers coming home snapped at the pressures of those around them and were shown time and time again until it seemed like anyone who ever put on a uniform was a rabid dog on a leash waiting to go on a killing spree? Our armies were demoralized, withdrawn, cast adrift from their neighbors and friends. Even before we were turned I read several reports that detailed the growing segregation between our warriors and their families and the rest of America. Most lived in towns or communities where every neighbor was a soldier or had a soldier member. Few had ever been exposed to anyone who wasn’t, and when they did they found only mocking or those too ignorant of their world that they couldn’t communicate with each other.”

Jake paused a moment to judge the effect of his words. Volgelson nodded grimly the whole time he’d been speaking, while most of the others had been thoughtful. Only Shyla and her mother looked unconvinced.

“Your right, brother.” Serena said softly. “I hadn’t thought of that and I should have. I withdraw my earlier comment.”

“Now, wait just a moment. There were plenty of soldiers in our community, but we ain’t none.” Shyla’s mother protested. “They’s just like anyone else, and none o’ them got treated better than us, or worse.” She added defiantly.

“Were they?” Jake asked quietly. “How many of them were invited to your social gatherings? How many got preferred treatment for jobs? How many were viewed with sympathy when war wounds below the skin manifested? How many came to their aid when they were in trouble?”

Shyla looked trouble while her mother just shook her head angrily. Jake felt it would be best to leave the subject alone.

“Regardless of how things were before, the demons and their allies are not far different than religious maniacs; they are very powerful, cunning, and utterly without mercy. The main difference in them is that they are all united, they are far stronger than any one of us, and they have natural weapons that none of us possess. We will be hard-pressed should any attack befall us here, so...” he sighed heavily, anticipating resistance. “I should suggest that, regardless of age or occupation, everyone in the colony should train with the rangers and soldiers, become proficient in gun-work, but also sword and shield work as well.”

Volgelson frowned and spoke before anyone else could, though only just beating the swelling form of Shyla’s mother.

“Why sword and shield? Guns are far better and more capable of hitting targets farther away.”

Rachel and Brian answered first. “Because gunpowder, or at least the ingredients to make it, is apparently rarer in this time than our own. Obviously, with time and effort we will be able to produce our own, but in what quantities? How will they work on magic creatures and how will we be able to guarantee kills close up? Demons are going to be hard to see in the dark, and our soldiers won’t have access to night-optics like they used too, making long-range duels difficult at best.”

Volgelson grimaced. “I’d forgotten about that.”

“There are plenty of reasons why you should have.” Rachel assured her. “And I guess that brings us to something important that we wanted to bring up anyway.”

Brian coughed politely to gain everyone’s attention.

“In our search through the mountain,” he said slowly and clearly. “We have uncovered some of the dwarven workshops. Most appear to be on the scale consistent with that of family shops--small one or two-person operations at most and usually sets of specialized tools depending on their preferred craft; whether they were bell-makers, wheelwrights, etcetera.” He paused a moment to take a sip of wine from the golden goblet in front of him before resuming.

“There are two forges that we have found that speak of a communal area. They are, as one might expect, very roomy, and could smelt several tons of metal at once. They appear to have a variety of burning methods, from an oil smelter to coal to wood.”

Serena’s head came up nervously.

“We don’t plan on using wood.” Brian assured her, “but rather the excellent coal seams that are in the mountain. It seems the dwarves used part of the seam originally, along with silver and a strange copper-like metal that we haven’t been able to identify yet. There are considerable mines in part of the mountain.”

Jake shook his head. “This mountain is bigger than I thought it was. It holds an entire city, water works, subterranean lakes, mines, roads, tunnels, mansions, palaces...is there anything that this mountain doesn’t have?”

“Gardens.” Rachel said with a smile. “In all the city there isn’t any place for gardens of fruit or vegetable. There are places we have found, and used, that are act like freezers or refrigerators to keep food cold and unspoilt for long periods, so I think it is safe to say that what they could not import or hunt for themselves they imported from their other cities. There may have even been farms and such on the original mountain. That would support my theory that, originally at least, the city existed elsewhere than here and only by leaving the door open for so long has the city become a permanent meld into the mountain.”

Jake nodded thoughtfully. “So, it seems we have come across just as many mysteries as we have solved.”

‘And more crop up all the time.’ Serena said.

“Still, I think I can tell where Brian is going with this. Reopening at least one of the main forges and gathering what craftsmen we can there would be essential for us. Especially in the making of tools that we need, like shovels, hoes, and swords.” He said the last a bit sadly, but it passed faster than a summer shower.

“But that will mean pulling more people away from the irrigation project,” Shyla pointed out, “and in patrolling the perimeter and city.”

“We can use a few of Volgelson’s soldiers at first. They have the training and experience necessary to maintain order.” Brian’s father suggested. “Others can begin work on the forges and irrigation efforts, since those seem to be the most pressing needs. With the right tools we can start on farms and farm equipment to run them.”

“Don’t forget the tools from our time that I’ve managed to save.” Jake rumbled.

“I hadn’t.” the man told him. “That will help in putting a small group, say twenty people, to work on tilling the ground and getting it ready for planting. How that can be accomplished and what times are best I don’t know, other than early spring is a good time to plant flowers.” He admitted. “When is a good time to plant corn? Squash? Other staples we are going to need to survive? I doubt we’ll ever have steak again,” he paused and his eyes turned wistful a moment, “but we can start herding deer for meat and perhaps our friends here can acquire some sheep for meat and wool?” his eyes turned to the brissons. “You have garments that are made from silk and cotton, but you also had a wool sweatshirt I saw you wearing down in the basement.”

The Brissons frowned uneasily. “That was a gift from Moldra-ka.” Gavin explained. “She’s one of the lamba people. I don’t think they would want to come and live here.”

Everyone glanced at each other in surprise. “I...see.” Brian’s father said slowly. “Well, I guess that ends that notion right off the bat.

The confusion in their eyes was obvious, but no one had the heart to explain about the principle of livestock. Or was there?

“I’m curious,” Jake asked Gavin. “What manner are the creatures your people eat? The canines and felines of my time were carnivorous after all.”

“We have what your books call pigs and wild boar, although they are much larger than mentioned in the book, if I’ve converted your units of weight correctly.” He added with a frown.

“I wouldn’t be surprised. And frankly, I would have expected them to have evolved a little bit.” Jake said philisophically.

I wonder what gave the sheep and evolutionary jumpstart like the rest of the Brissons. They don’t have combat features that would be of use back then. Perhaps someone was desperate? He figured that mystery, like so many, had been lost to time.

“This might be easier if we could find a way to discover the history of the people we’ve saved.” Asbiorn rumbled. “I know no one bothered to take a census of what we had beyond their rough numbers.”

‘No one had time,’ Serena defended. ‘And we were only expecting to be asleep for two hundred years or less to outlast the radiation poisoning.’

“I understand that, and I agree with you. After all, I was there myself. But now that circumstance is going to hamper our efforts.”

“Perhaps.” Rachel said slowly. “But we can take a look at the gear each person had with them. While it won’t be much, perhaps they can give us clues as to what the people did before and we can release them based on that.”

Brian looked up. “Perhaps we can do better than that. Serena said she could sense living creatures inside the crystal from a distance...what if she laid her horn against the crystal? Perhaps she could use her ability to read the minds of those trapped inside? Then we could know for sure.”

Serena shivered delicately. ‘I don’t like using my ability like that. Other than healing purposes, I never want to violate a person’s privacy like that.”

Volgelson had a stunned look. “Wait, she can read minds?!” she asked incredulously.

“There’s a great many things my sister can do,” Jake explained. “Some of which we are familiar with, and others we don’t know at all. Just as soon as we think we have a handle on her limits, something happens which shows us that those were no more than paper chains. But would she be willing to do something of that sort? It doesn’t sound like she would want to, at least of her own free will.”

Brian nodded. “We’ve done it a lot in the past because we’ve had no choice, our very survival depended on being secret. The same goes for our friends here when we bound them to oaths of secrecy. But now that it is actually a convenience instead of a necessity, I think she made the right choice. We shouldn’t force our will on them.”

“Right.” Nacomi agreed. “Just because the trail is hard does not mean we should always choose the easier path, the rewards are never the same.”

“Well, I’m not sure what rewards will differ, as we are after the same thing, but we should have a full census done on exactly the number of people we have, what their gear appears to contain, and then make decisions on who to release based on that evidence and the colony needs.”



The council continued far into the night, but the rest of the meeting had been simply devoted to working out logistic problems with their attempts and giving rough timetables for the job. Jake agreed to release Volgelson’s staff to begin the knotty problem of cataloging the colonists, with the aid of Shyla, Jake and Asbiorn. The others would see to laying out the initial groundwork for the canals and repairs to the dwarven waterworks.

When the meeting at last broke up, they could feel the kinks and knots of every protesting muscle and felt the pain of empty stomachs. Jake watched the crowd file towards the kitchens in the search of something to eat, while Serena hurried out the door to find what edible plants she could. Jake followed her, though he had no intention of eating a salad.

Bidding her good-night at the door, he took off into the night sky. He reveled in the clearness of the evening; every star looked jewel bright and the moon! Close enough to touch and full to bursting it seemed.

The desert floor below seemed laid bare, no shadows stretched forth except by animals and plants moving around, making them relatively easy to spot.

After dinner, he stretched his wings with a last patrol of the desert surrounding the mountain. It seemed very stark and desolate. Rough shadows at the base of the mountain showed the extent of their fledgling forest. Jake hoped that their efforts would pay off, and that Tom and Stacey would find water soon. He wondered how they were doing, and what adventures they’d been having without him.