Vaguely, in the back of her mind, she knew that they’d done something to her, something to create this situation, but it didn’t seem important, somehow, and she quickly forgot it.
But she remembered the stars. She knew she belonged there, not here, not in any planetbound existence anywhere. She would sit there, topside on the ship as it crossed the Gulf of Turagin, sometimes by sail, sometimes by steam, depending on the hex, head and forelegs propped up on some crates or a hatch cover, looking at the stars.
She chuckled to herself. They thought she wanted to go through the Well. Or maybe they thought she’d settle down and forget in this new existence. But the stars came out every night, and those she would never forget. It went beyond reason and logic; it was a love affair. A love affair now forcibly broken by circumstances, but not beyond repair while both lovers lived.
And now, as the sun came up, there was a shoreline out there. It looked green and pretty and warm; sea birds circled offshore, diving occasionally for fish and clams, then took their catch to rookeries in the hillsides overlooking the beach.
Renard came on deck, stretched and yawned, then went over to her.
“Not an unpleasant-looking place for an exile,” she said calmly.
He stooped down so his head was level with hers. “Very primitive. A tribal culture, not much else. They’re human—what we think of as human. But this wasn’t our ancestral home. They had a war with the Ambreza; the big beavers gassed them back into the Stone Age and swapped hexes, so it’s a nontech hex.”
“Suits me fine,” she replied. “Primitive means small population.” She looked straight at him, head to one side. “And soon your job will be done, and Vistaru’s too. They’ve built a compound for me to my requirements, with a fresh water spring and everything. Once a month a ship will drop off supplies in little plastic pouches I can open with my teeth holding them between my forelegs. There are hostiles and water all around except on the Ambreza side, and they’ll keep Zone Gates 136 and 41 secure. The primitives have been effectively tabooed from the compound. No risk to me, and no chance I’ll escape. You and Vistaru can go back through the Zone Gate, tell them all is well, and then try and find new lives or pick up old ones. I understand the Agitar are so pissed off at the war fizzling out that you’re some kind of hero.”
He was hurt. “Mavra—I—”
She cut him off. “Look, Renard!” she said sharply. “You don’t owe me anything and I don’t owe you anything. We’re even now! I don’t need you any more, and it’s about time you learned you don’t need me, either! Go home, Renard!” She was almost screaming now, and the look she gave him said it even more eloquently.
I’m Mavra Chang, it said. I was orphaned at five and again at thirteen. I was a beggar who became the queen of beggars, a whore when I had to be to buy the stars I craved, and I got them! I was a thief they couldn’t catch, the agent who snatched Nikki Zinder off New Pompeii and kept her and you alive until help could come. And against all odds, I reached Gedemondas and saw the destruction of the engines.
I’m Mavra Chang, and no matter what comes along, I will cope.
I’m Mavra Chang, bride only of the stars.
I’m Mavra Chang, and I don’t need anybody!
Appendix: Races Referred to in
Exiles at the Well of Souls
N=Nontechnological hex. S=semitechnological hex. H=high-tech hex. A parenthesis (for example, (N)) denotes a water hex. The addition of an M to the hex designation (i.e. SM) means it has what would be regarded as magical capabilities by those who don’t have them. Uchjin, the only hex in the North, has an atmosphere that’s mostly helium and other useless stuff.
AGITAR H Diurnal Males satyrlike; females reverse animalism of males but are smarter. Males can store and control electric charges.
ALESTOL N Diurnal Moving, barrel-shaped plants that are carnivores and shoot a variety of noxious gasses.
AMBREZA H Diurnal Resemble giant beavers. Used to be N until they beat the Glathriel in a war and swapped hexes with them.
BOIDOL NM Diurnal Giant sphinxlike creatures. Look fierce but are peaceful herbivores.
CEBU S Diurnal Resemble pterodactyls with prehensile apelike feet.
CZILL H Diurnal Asexual plants who duplicate; mobile by day, root at night. Pacifistic scholars with a huge computer center.
DASHEEN N Diurnal Basically minotaurs. Females are much larger and dumber than the males, but males need their lactose/calcium to live.
DILLIA S Diurnal True classic centaurs. Peaceful folk who hunt, trap, farm. Can eat anything organic but are basically vegetarian.
DJUKASIS S Diurnal Giant beelike colonies where citizens are bred physically and mentally for their jobs.
GALIDON (N) Giant, tentacled manta rays who are bad-tempered carnivores.
GEDEMONDAS N Diurnal Large, thin, hairy Apelike creatures with round feet and doglike snouts.
GLATHRIEL N Diurnal The ancestors of humanity; very primitive since the Ambreza gassed them back into the Stone Age and swapped hexes.
JIIHU (H) Large clamlike creatures with lots of tentacles, but they rarely move once full grown.
KLUSID N Diurnal Thin, delicate birdlike creatures in a land of great beauty. Atmosphere is much too high on the ultraviolet for most others.
KROMM (S) Diurnal Huge flowers that spin across their shallow swamp.
LAMOTIEN H Diurnal Small lumpy creatures who can imitate anything, even by combining to build bigger imitations, but can not change their mass.
LATA H Nocturnal Very small humanoid hermaphroditic pixies who can fly and have nasty stingers. Can also glow by secreting chemicals in the skin.
MAKIEM N Diurnal Large reptiles resembling giant toads who need some water daily though land-dwellers. Cold-blooded and have sex only ten days a year during one period.
NODI N Nocturnal Resemble giant mushrooms; thousands of tendrils drop from their “caps” when needed.
OLBORN SM Diurnal Resemble huge, bipedal pussycats with the ability to create their own beasts of burden.
PALIM H Diurnal Resemble great hairy mammoths with remarkably prehensile trunk with fingers all around.
PORIGOL (HM) Dolphinlike mammals who can stun or kill with sound.
QASADA H Diurnal Large ratlike creatures with long tails, whiskers, and hivelike communities.
SHAMOZAN H Diurnal These huge, hairy tarantulas like alcohol, melodic music, and games of skill.
TELIAGIN N Diurnal Great cyclopses; carnivores who raise their own sheep to eat and are bull-headed but not dumb.
TULIGA (S) Giant, rather repulsive sea slugs, neither nice nor communicative.
UCHJIN N Nocturnal Look like giant paint smears flowing down glass.
ULIK H Diurnal Great six-armed snake-men that live in a desert hex at the Equatorial Barrier.
XODA NM Diurnal Resemble four meters of praying mantis, and have a hypnotic way of inviting you to dinner.
YAXA S Diurnal Females who eat their husbands after sex. Look like giant orange-and-brown butterflies with hard shiny black bodies, eight prehensile tentacles, and a death’s head for a face. Visual system is quite different from Southern norm.
ZHONZORP H Diurnal Large, bipedal relatives of the crocodile given to dressing up like grand opera, capes and all, but are solid technicians.