Chương 35: Chapter 34: Fear of Insects

Upon finishing the last of the roots and helping Nyssa set the table, the women began to trickle into the dining hall, taking their usual places. The porridge steamed in wooden bowls, carrying that aroma of cooked grain that served as the daily prelude to every morning. They ate in silence, as they did every dawn, the only sound being the scrape of spoons against wood and the occasional murmur of brief conversation.

Then came the collective prayer, words of gratitude to Aelthra that Selena repeated with her lips while her mind wandered toward other territories. Time flew. Before they knew it, Anya was already at the gate, seeing off each woman with that small, personalized ceremony that was her trademark. Selena received her "May the Flow guide you, little one" with a tilt of her head and, as soon as her feet touched the dirt of the path, she broke into a run.

Kaela was walking ahead, her petite but determined silhouette cutting through the first passersby of the morning. Selena caught up to her, panting slightly, but before she could utter a word, the tanner turned around and smiled. It was a different smile than any Selena had seen before: complicit, confident, as if she knew something the other did not. —I know where we're going— Kaela said. Without further explanation, she took off toward the banks of the stream. Selena followed.

They ran through alleys and dodged people until the landscape opened up, and the vegetation grew dense. A few minutes later, both were wheezing at the edge of the water, doubled over, air rushing in and out of their lungs in a ragged rhythm. Selena finally spoke, her voice broken by the run. —I thought I'd have to ask you again. She looked up at Kaela, who remained crouched beside her, searching her face and looking into her eyes for that spark of partnership she so desperately needed.

Kaela only gave a measured laugh, a low chuckle that required no theatrics. Then she stood up, stretching her arms above her head like a cat shaking off sleep, and said. —You're obvious, missy. You hunt for every clue. Yesterday's lead ended at the stream, and here we are— She paused, her dark eyes scanning the surface of the water. —Well then, let's see if it's worth the risk to keep going. She bit her lower lip in what seemed to be a gesture of doubt. —Though I don't think you'll find the heretics.

After all, they don't usually show themselves near any town. Selena shook her head. Determination, that cold force she had inherited from the man of the earth, filled her chest with a certainty that required no proof. —I'll take the risk— she said. —It's better to fail than to live without knowing. Kaela looked at her for a moment, as if weighing something internally, and then nodded. Without a word, she set off, following the bank of the stream. They walked.

The sun climbed through the sky, relentless, until it reached its zenith and bathed the world in a white, blinding light. The heat grew more intense with every step, but the shadows of the trees bordering the path offered a relative coolness, a grateful relief that allowed them to press on. The vegetation became thicker, wilder, as if the town were being left behind not just at a distance, but in essence. It was halfway through the journey when Selena noticed it.

The color of the river, which had always been an earthy brown for as long as she'd known it, began to change. First, it took on a darker hue, as if someone had poured ink into its waters. Then, gradually, it turned black. A deep, absolute black that absorbed light instead of reflecting it. The water looked dead, petrified, a mirror of liquid obsidian. They left the town entirely. The last of the adobe houses fell away, replaced by rougher, more primitive flora. And then the smell arrived.

Acrid, penetrating, and so intense it seemed to have texture. It smelled of urine, of decomposing waste, and of chemicals that Selena's nose recognized as something deeply toxic. The smell of the tanneries. This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. On the horizon, massive structures took shape like skeletons of wood and stone.

Huge sheds where skins were dried, vats where they were steeped in lime pits, and outbuildings where leather was cured in baths of tannin and urine. The heavy stench was omnipresent, an invisible shroud covering everything. A few minutes further on, the sound changed. The birdsong that had accompanied the entire trek with its vital clatter vanished almost completely. Silence fell like a slab, broken only by the murmur of the black water and the crunch of their own steps on the hardened earth. And then they saw it.

A black cave opened in the side of a low hill, its mouth a hole of shadow that seemed to swallow the midday sun. From its interior flowed a small trickle of water, just as black as the stream, joining the main current with a barely audible whisper. It was as if the earth itself were bleeding ink. Selena and Kaela looked at each other. In the tanner's eyes, Selena saw a mixture of fascination and fear, that ancestral dread of the unknown that lives inside everyone.

They nodded at the same time, a silent gesture of agreement, and approached with caution. Step by step. Selena's heart beat hard, but it wasn't fear. It was expectation; it was the certainty of drawing close to something important. When they reached the entrance, when the darkness of the cave was only a few meters away, they saw them. Glass jars hung from ropes tied to rocky outcrops. Inside them, tiny insects moved slowly, their bodies emitting a faint, pale, ghostly blue light.

It was a cold light, like that of fireflies but more intense, more ethereal. The jars pulsed with it, creating a rhythm of clarity and gloom that was hypnotic. Will o' the wisps, Selena thought, and a silly, almost childish smile spread across her lips. This was different, this was biological engineering, applied knowledge, proof that someone here knew how to tame nature for their own ends. She stepped closer to one of the jars.

At the top, a syrupy substance of a dark amber color dripped slowly inside, feeding the insects. It was a system, a design, a way to obtain light without the need for candles or torches. The wonder and ingenuity shone before her eyes with the same intensity as the insects in their glass prisons. Selena turned around, looking for that same fascination in Kaela's face, that same determination she felt. But what she found stopped her cold. Kaela's eyes were clouded with doubt.

Her arms were crossed, held tight to her body as if she wanted to make herself small, to protect herself from something. Her breathing was shallow and fast, and her pupils darted restlessly, scanning the shadows that danced beyond the light of the jars. Selena knew. She knew with a clarity that stung. It was the fear of heresy. The fear of one who sees others burned for thinking differently.

The fear of one who believes in the Church of the Eternal Sap, who has nursed its teachings from the cradle, who knows that what lies in this cave —these insects, this light, this knowledge— is sin, is deviance, is a fire waiting to consume bodies. It was the weight of centuries of control resting on her friend's shoulders. Selena approached her. Carefully, with the delicacy of one who knows they are treading on ground that is both sacred and mined.

When she spoke, her voice was soft, so soft it barely disturbed the silence of the cave. —Kaela. The tanner looked up at her, her dark eyes searching Selena's with a soul-wrenching urgency. —I won't force you to go with me if you don't want to— Selena continued. —Don't fight yourself just to help me. Kaela swallowed hard. The movement was prominent, a lump rising and falling in her throat.

Her expression of surprise at hearing Selena's words was obvious, as if she hadn't expected that level of understanding, that liberation. Then, with a visible effort, she tried to act brave. She squared her shoulders, lifted her chin, and adopted a defiant pose. It was pathetic. And it failed miserably. —I... — Her voice wavered, broke, and she tried to compose herself. —I believe in Our Lady Aelthra. But I don't tremble for this. She was lying.

Her voice betrayed the tension, the fear running through her body like a cramp. Then, with a turn Selena didn't expect, she jerked her chin toward the jars hanging above them, their blue lights pulsing in a hypnotic rhythm. —I'm afraid... of the little blue bugs. Her face twisted into a grimace of genuine disgust and apprehension. It wasn't an act. It was real, visceral, the reaction of someone facing their deepest phobia.

The answer was so unexpected, so far removed from everything Selena had imagined, she had prepared speeches about faith, about heresy, about fear of the stake, but no, no, it wasn't that, that a clear, liberating laugh burst from her lips. It echoed in the cave, bounced off the rock walls, and mingled with the blue light of the insects. —The bugs! — she exclaimed, still laughing, tears pricking her eyes from the hilarity. —You're afraid of the bugs!

She took Kaela by the arm in a gesture of companionship, squeezing it affectionately, feeling the tension in her friend's muscles. —Come on— she said, her voice a warm whisper in the gloom. —I'll guide you now. I promise, the bugs won't eat you. The teasing was affectionate, an acknowledgement of her friend's absurd phobia. Kaela, her face still flushed with a mix of embarrassment and relief, gave her a light nudge in the ribs. It was a soft blow, without force, more a caress than a punishment.

But she did not let go of Selena's arm. On the contrary, she gripped it tighter, her fingers sinking into the fabric of Selena's dress, anchoring herself to her like a lifebuoy in the middle of an ocean of darkness and blue light.