Impossible Dreamers

Chapter 14 (twil-deg): A new sort of eruption

'I'm worried,' Liana said. Her hair floated above her face like a cloud. It made Herago also feel worried, but he didn't know what he was worried about. This was not the first time Herago had felt like this with Liana.

They had taken a break from the practice for Megtwillow, which Herago had thought was going well. They had the broad outlines of what they were going to show. They just had to find a way to end it.

'Liana, you were worried about not having something to show. We've got something now, and I'm sure everyone will think it's really good. Well, maybe not everyone. But most people. What are you worried about now?'

'It's not the showing. It's something else.'

'What else?' Herago asked.

'Something is happening,' Liana said.

'Happening?'

'Yes. I don't know what it is, but I don't think it's good.'

'Something to do with Megtwillow?' Herago asked. He wished Liana wouldn't bring up these puzzles.

'No, not Megtwillow. I don't think so. Maybe.' This, Herago thought, was no help.

'What is happening is that our showing is coming up in Twil weeks. No, less than Twil. Dak. Just over dak weeks. We've got to work on our showing. Everybody is looking forward to it. And we still have a lot to do. But we can do it. We can do something really special. That idea of yours about the "sag Impossible". I think I've found a way to make it work. But for this, I'll have to let you in on the secret, so...' Suddenly there was a loud sound from one of the mountains in the distance.

'There,' said Liana, 'I knew there was something wrong. That mountain.'

'Greblara? What about it?'

'I don't know,' said Liana.' There's something about the sound it's making. It's been sounding strange all week. Yesterday it sounded like it was in pain. Today it sounds like it's trying to... I don't know what... Speak to us about something.'

'Liana, mountains can't feel pain. And they don't speak to people.'

'I know it can't really feel pain. But it seems to be complaining about something. I feel sorry for it.'

'Liana, you can't feel sorry for a mountain. It's just rumbling, like it does every day. You shouldn't be worrying about it. We should get back to work on our showing.'

The mountain rumbled again, and Herago listened hard. Actually, there was something odd about the sound, but Herago couldn't quite put his finger on what it was. 'It's just...' Herago stopped as the mountain once again cried out, and this time there was definitely something pitiful about it.

'It's gurgling! It's never done that before,' Liana said.

It was true. There was a sort of a gurgle in the sound that Greblara was making. Herago tried to remember if he had heard it make that sound before. He was fairly sure he hadn't. It was unusual. But unusual things did happen occasionally, and sometimes you just had to live with them.

'It doesn't matter, Liana. We need to get on with the showing work.'

'Of course it matters. Greblara erupts every other day. Then yesterday, when it was supposed to erupt, it didn't. And today it did. And now it's just started gurgling. Something is happening,' Liana said.

'I suppose it's just slowing down a bit. That happens sometimes with volcanoes.'

'How would you know that?' Liana asked. 'How many volcanoes have you seen? When did you get time to study them?'