INITIATION ULTIMATE, Chapter 14.2: Narrated by Saphara

Saphara is adjusting to the Initiations with the help of Rede Arwain. Then, Talaimai offers to take both her and Attenti to see his job...

Rede, Attenti, and I kneel in the plateau dust, making a circle around clusters of berries.  "Quiz time.  I want you to recite the names of these berries to me," Rede instructs Attenti and I after our short lesson on the type of berries in the Initiations.  "I'll point to them, and you say the name."

"Me first," Attenti insists.  "I'll go fast."  Rede points to a collection of blueberries, then looks at him expectantly.  "Vaccinium Cynoccocus," Attenti says with seriousness.  "Rubis Occidentalis.  Rubis Fruticosus."

"You think you know everything, don't you?" Rede says, annoyance hidden beneath her calm tone.  She points at a grape.

"Vitis Vinifera!"  Attenti sings proudly.

Although Attenti's know-it-all attitude is bothering Rede plenty, she maintains her patience.  "Can you tell me what this is?"  She points to a more foreign-looking fruit that she hasn't taught us yet.

"Yellowberry?  Err... Pinkberry?  Purpleberry?" Attenti guesses, bubbling with enthusiasm.

"You fail.  Saphara's turn," Rede says with a sweet smile that boils Attenti's blood and makes red rush to his cheeks.

"You are an irritating person!  I'm going to talk to Taleeh...still can't pronounce that...but you know who I'm talking about!  Bye!"  He storms off to Talaimai's tent, throwing the flaps open to rant.

"How again did you end up in a team with him?" Rede asks me once Attenti is out of hearing distance.

"We saved each other's lives right as we got into the Initiations," I explain.  "If not for him, I would have probably been shot for sleeping through drop-off, and if not for me, he would have fallen off a plateau.  He's really not that bad as a teammate, though," I say, defending Attenti.  "I couldn't have found you and Tal without him.  Why do you keep picking on him?"

Rede's gives me a look of surprise.  "Picking on him?  Have you seen the kid?  I swear he intentionally tries to get on my nerves."  We both watch as Talaimai drags Attenti out of the tent by the collar of his shirt and orders him to stay outside.   "Maybe I do like picking on the know-it-alls, too," Rede adds evilly.  "You said you knew Cruinneas Bradshaw, right?"

"Yeah, I know him," I nod.

There's an dark glint in Rede's eyes when she speaks.  "He used to be a little bit of a know-it-all, in a nice sort of way.  Not annoying, like Mister over there," she gestures toward Attenti who has yet again walked into Talaimai's tent.  "Tal and I would tease him all the time, and he was so fun to tease.  He'd turn the conversation in our faces, and the joke would eventually be on Tal or me.  He was like a cousin to Tal and I.  So yeah, it's just fun."

"Does Tal still joke around with you?" I ask, trying to get to know what my brother is like.

"Not really," Rede says with a bit of disappointment.  "He's changed a lot in his time here.  After his second year, I don't think I would have recognized him to be the same person, other than his looks.  But there's the little moments that I love, moments when I can get a glimpse of the young, fun Talaimai that I used to know.  They let me know that there's still hope for him out there, hope for him to be a boy instead of a man all the time.  He's just sad now.  Sad, tired and serious."  There's a bittersweet look of longing etched in Rede's features when she says this.  She looks down at me and smiles.  "So I guess it's your turn for the berry quiz, right?"

"Alright," I agree.  "Blueberry, raspberry - black raspberry!  Blackberry, grape... and I don't know the rest of them."

"That's okay," Rede tells me, gathering up the berries into a basket.  "These were the easy ones.  I'll teach the harder ones to you tomorrow.  You remember how I showed you that water purification?"

"Yes, Messenger..."

"Okay then, quiz tomorrow to see how much you remember."

Talaimai finally comes out of his tent, jogging over to Rede and I.  "I'm heading down to the wall," he informs Rede.  "Do you want to take the kids down to watch, or should they stay up here for the night?"

"Uh..." Rede pulls Talaimai to the side, where they talk in sharp whispers.  Attenti watches their discussion from the shade of Tal's tent, jotting notes down on his pad of paper.  I call for him to come, and he does so with excitement.

"So, as you can see, it's getting quite dark," Talaimai tells us, frowning.  "My Vice can't wait forever, so it's time for me to do my job by the wall.  I'm giving you the choice:  You can either stay here and get some rest, or you can come with me and Rede to observe.  If you stay and rest, there is food in my tent, and I've already rationed it into pouches; you are allowed to have only one for dinner.  If you come, you must be prepared to see things that may terrify you and change your outlook on the Initiations.  This is the time when the Cantiko come out, and they may or may not attack.  If they do so, there will be shooting.  There will be blood.  Sometimes, people are snapped up by the beasts before the beasts are shot down, although rarely.  If you come, you must go where I tell you to go, and stay out of the way.  There will be no messing around, understand?  And absolutely no looking into the creature's eyes."

"Yes, sir," Attenti and I say, glancing each other's way and smiling when we realize the coincidence.

"So, who is staying?" Rede asks.  Attenti looks at me, shaking his head.  "So you're both going?" Rede confirms.

"I know I am coming," I verify.

"Same here," Attenti affirms.

"It's your choice," Talaimai tells us, "but I'm not saying that I approve."

***

When we reach the wall, the first thing I notice are the tall, wooden shooter's stands that are only about three feet shorter than the wall itself.  The stands are positioned right by the stone wall, and both males and females wearing black bandannas stand at the top of each.  These are the Shooters.  Most of them have rifles balanced on their right shoulders, and those who don't have rifles carry bows.

Talaimai climbs to his place at the top of a tall tree that overlooks the wall.  Rede tells us to climb up behind him, and shows us where to sit so that we won't disturb anyone.  "I'll be off doing my Messenger duties," she whispers, "but if you stay here, you should be safe."

It has been barely thirty minutes after Rede has disappeared when an alarmed voice cries out, "Cantiko!  Cantiko spotted at two o'clock!"

"Right four, give your men the command to prepare their weapons!"  Talaimai orders to his Regulators.

"Prepare your weapons!"

"Right five, give your men the command to prepare their weapons!"

"Prepare your weapons!"

"Right four, give your men the command to aim and fire!"

"Right four, aim!  Right four, fire!"  The sound of shooting fills the night.  I climb up my limb to get a better look, and something dark collapses into the water of the beach.

"Cantiko group sighting at eleven o'clock!  Left one through five, give your men the command to prepare their weapons!"

"Prepare your weapons!" five voices cry out.

"Left one through five, give your men the command to fire at will!"

"Fire at will!"

Finally, I get a glimpse of the creatures that my brother is commanding his people to shoot at.  When I see them, my blood turns cold.  No, these can't be...

Author's Note

A grape is a berry! It really is! I didn't know that before looking up scientific names, did you? Maybe it's just common sense knowledge that I haven't been let in on!