Loosening the Ties

  Eleven days remain until the raging heat of Ma-Oktava consumes all of us.

  The front door creaked open, and my eyes immediately found the figure entering.

  At first I thought it was Eralla. She has been visiting ever since the meeting in Aktoe, except for the past two days. It must have something to do with her family.

  But to my shock, it was Donttano. The elder of Machelte, the third village of Ma-Oktava.

  What was he doing here?

  “Sam-shat*, Aourine.”

  “Sam-shat to you too, Donttano.”

  He closed the front door behind him, walking toward the table in the center of my handmade hut; it was far away from everything and everyone.

  “What brings you to my humble place, Donttano?”

  “Ouubuutt sent me to check on your progress.”

  “Isn’t that Eralla’s duty?”

  He picked up a screw from the table, fiddling with it between his fingers.

  “No, she took the duty forcefully. We never made her your runner.”

  He carelessly dropped it on the table.

  Clung.

  “So tell me, how far are you to send the transmission?”

  “I need time. I am close though.”

  “Understood.”

  I watched with a sharpened gaze as he observed my place. My place wasn’t homey like other huts. It didn’t have rows of touki* lined up along the walls, overcrowding the space.

  Instead, my hut was crowded with pieces of junk made from the reliable metal found on Ma-Oktava from the spacecraft our ancestors used to travel here.

  A round table made from rock and mud clay, a shelf holding the small pot containing dried up tettara*.

  “Is there something you hold on your tongue?”

  I asked, keeping my head ducked. I turned the wuitu* slowly, feeling the metal resist before yielding. The bolt sunk deeper with each careful twist

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  “Observant.”

  I ignored his comment.

  “I am here to talk about Tig-eralla.”

  “What about Eralla?”

  The vibration traveled up my arm as I hammered down the roughed-up sheet of metal. This would have been easier done with heat from the lava flowing from the volcanoes, but they have been unstable.

  Risky.

  I wasn’t going to risk my life for these people.

  “You need to loosen the ties you have with Tig-eralla.”

  My fingers gripped the hammer instinctively.

  “And why must I?”

  “Let me ask you this: are you willing to settle down with her?”

  So that is what this is about.

  I put down the hammer on the table, turning to face Donttano fully.

  “You are not her Faa-a to tell me how I should deal with Eralla. And you are certainly not mine.”

  I watched as his claws twitched.

  “Of course. But as the elder, I have a duty to warn you.”

  “Warn me about what?”

  “Tig-eralla has a family to take care of. She has to stay with them and provide for them. You are not. You must let go of her. Make her let go of you. You two were never meant to be… together.”

  His words rang in my ears.

  You two were never meant to be… together.

  You two were never meant to be… together.

  He was right?

  When I leave this place, I want to explore the far beyond. Not to be tied down.

  Eralla.

  Would she accept coming along with me?

  No.

  She won’t.

  Distance would hurt less than watching her choose her family over me.

  ???

  Txetia Glossary

  Wuitu (Tok-key) — means “Screw driver”

  Tettara (Tet-ta-ra) — means Mushroom. They are long, tube-like slimy with a thick brown shell. The only source of food found in 317.

  Ma-Oktava (Maa-uuk-ta-va) — Local name for the planet. Also means mother lava.

  Touki (Tok-key) — means “bed”

  Sam-shat (Sum-shut) — means “hello”. A form of greeting on Ma-Oktava.