Page 168 of Earthbound

Before Alder he had not been a religious man. Before Alder he had not been many things.

He had not known what it was to love. Or to lose that love just as quickly as it had burned to life.

‘Alder, drop that, it’s sharp.’ Golan jumped at the sound of the man’s voice, and for a fleeting moment he expected his Alder to appear from behind the burly man.

But instead of an ancient being, out toddled a child on newly erect legs. In his hand he held a fishhook. His father quickly confiscated it.

It took a moment for the theft to register on the baby’s face, and when it did his expression crumpled in distress.

‘Hey, come on now, don’t cry,’ Mia said. ‘Come and meet your Uncle Golan, he’s travelled a long way to see you.’

The child’s tear-filled eyes swung to Golan’s.

‘He’s called Alder?’ Golan whispered. He felt tears gathering in his own eyes.

‘Yes, and his brother, who is terrorising Farhan somewhere, is called Osei after Dart’s father,’ Mia said. The man who had to be Dart led Alder over.

Golan leaned on his cane and lowered himself to the ground. The child looked nothing like his Alder. His hair was dark where Alder’s had been light, his skin was a deep umber, where Alder’s had been freckled and pale. But there was a curiosity in his gaze that reflected his namesake.

‘Hello, little one, it is so nice to meet you,’ Golan said.

Alder looked up at him and smiled. And it was like the first time he had felt the sun on his face after years inside Mosima.

Golan began to cry. This in turn set Alder off.

Dart wrapped his arms around Golan, as Mia led the baby away.

‘I’m sorry,’ Golan said. ‘Have I frightened him for ever?’

‘He’ll be fine. He’ll see a shiny rock in a second and forget all about this.’

Golan let out a little laugh. ‘I wish I could see a shiny rock and do the same.’

‘I haven’t got a rock, but I do have something else for you,’ Dart said.

‘What?’

‘Follow me.’

—

Caperly was bigger than Golan had anticipated. Perhaps because it welcomed many of the human population, it buzzed and bustled with the energy of a very large city.

‘After Afa revealed the pathway behind the waterfall, we have discovered many more resting rooms set into the mountainside, which is good given how the town has grown,’ Dart said.

Golan struggled to keep up with him, his artificial leg in need of oiling. Dart looked back at him and grimaced. ‘Sorry, I’m so used to rushing around all the time.’

‘It’s all right. How goes the new collective?’

‘Politics,’ Dart scowled. ‘I hate it, but it’s the right thing–Caperly is home to too many now. The Nomads will still live life their way, but Caperly will govern itself independently so those who settle here, no matter their race, will have a voice.’

He led Golan around the side of a great waterfall, its spray creating rainbows in the sunlight that shone down from above it.

‘Just past here,’ Dart said. ‘Be careful of the steps, they’re new and a little rickety.’

Golan took his time, scared of what he would find at the top.

‘Go to Caperly, let my family love you like they love me. Live the dream we had, ‘Alder had whispered in his ear on that fateful day that he sacrificed himself.