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The next morning, Cho awoke with a headache. She’d tossed and turned in her sleeping bag all night. It had kept her warm, but with so many people crammed into the small root cellar, they had all slept shoulder to shoulder. She’d worried she might roll onto Trini or the woman on her other side during sleep. And the nausea triggered by the reek of volcanic ash wasn’t helping any.
Around four, she’d woken up needing to use the restroom, thanks to the tea she’d drunk. It had taken her some time to wade through everyone and back.
In a tired stupor, she ate fish cooked with berries that Kierama, Inksuuk’s wife, offered her and Trini for breakfast. Cho accepted a small portion, not sure her stomach could handle much. Nor did she want to consume the Nuukimak’s limited resources. She and Trini had both brought plenty of travel rations. The thought of the energy bars worsened her nausea, so she packed the food away.
Trini devoured hers, the stench not affecting her appetite. Cho wanted to hit her.
After eating, Trini left, heading north to check out their route and send out a few of the scouts.
The Nuukimak packed up as much of the cellars’ contents as they could store on their long sleds. Cho offered to help Ahnai, Kierama, and Taamaruq, so Ahnai set her to packing garments in duffle bags and backpacks from Space City. As they worked, she also recognized travel rations among the Nuukimak supplies. She wished Space City had left behind the PSA field shelters that self-assembled.
“What is this place you’re taking us?” Ahnai asked her as she folded fur blankets.
“The thorneway?” Cho asked.
“Space City.”
Cho pondered this for a minute, wondering how to explain it to the old woman. They walked and rode sleds as their principal forms of transportation. Had they seen any of Space City’s ships during their first visits to the planet?
“It is enormous. Many of our buildings are taller than dozens of your homes stacked on top of each other. And you won’t believe the number of people who live there.”
Ahnai nodded simply, but Kierama’s eyes widened and she paused in the middle of stuffing wooden dishes into packs. Cho wondered if she should tell them they needn’t bother bringing all this stuff. It would only slow them down. Space City could provide all they needed, but something told her that might offend them.
“If you have so many, will your leaders accept us?” Ahnai asked. “You must take care of your own.”
“We have all that we need and more,” Cho replied. “And plenty of room for you. All of you.”
She grimaced at hearing her words. Instead of generous, she felt guilty, as if she was at fault for having so much when the Nuukimak were losing everything.
“And we can return when this is over?”
Cho blinked, not having thought that far. The volcano’s eruption darkening the skies was no small thing. How long would it last? Days? Weeks? Longer?
And because of the volcanic spew raining down on them, how many plants would wither and die from lack of sunlight? How many animals would freeze or starve to death? It might take years or decades before the Nuukimak could hope to have a normal life here again. She didn’t know how to voice these concerns, but the old woman had stopped to study her, waiting for a response.
“Space City will bring you back whenever you are ready,” Cho said.
This seemed to satisfy Ahnai. At least she returned to packing without further questions. But Cho couldn’t stop dwelling on it. What if this was a major extinction event, like the meteor strike that had wiped out Earth’s dinosaurs? What if the Nuukimak could never return? She knew that Space City would help them find a new home, but what would that look like? Space City had the space to provide permanent homes to the Nuukimak. But it was so different from the simple lives they now lived. Would they find a new planet?
What was it like to wake one day to find your whole world devastated by a natural disaster? Yet the Nuukimak bore it without complaint. Very matter-of-factly. Perhaps they didn’t comprehend the impact to their lives yet? Except, how could they not when perpetual darkness had replaced the daylight? If it weren’t for the second thorneway, Cho would’ve curled up in a ball on the ground in despair.
“Grandmother, come quick. Tigua is leaving.” A boy hustled into the cellar and straight up to Ahnai. He wore a leather facemask over his mouth to block the inhalation of ash outside.
“Leaving where, Panuik?” Ahnai asked her grandson.
The boy, almost painfully thin, shrugged bony shoulders. “Inksuuk told me to get you.”
“Atak, save us,” Ahnai muttered as she bustled outside, slipping on her own mask.
Curious, Cho raised her suit helmet and grabbed a pair of full duffle bags. She carried them outside and loaded them on top of a bin on a sled. Pale blue and purple feathers adorned the heads of the sleds. The colors contrasted nicely from the dismal gray ash covering everything.
Thin dogs with ribs showing yapped around the sleds, bristling with energy. They fought over the little scraps tossed to them. At least they weren’t snarling at her today.
“What is this about, Inksuuk?” Ahnai approached her son and Tigua, who led large, caribou-like creatures into place to pull a full sled.
A quick scan of the creatures with her contacts told Cho they were touvak. They served the Nuukimak like horses on Earth. The touvak had gray and brown coats of fur, and most possessed grand racks of antlers.
“Tigua plans to take his family to the winter grounds,” Inksuuk answered through his facemask. Every Nuukimak outside wore them.
Beside them stood the woman who had served tea to Cho the previous night. She held a crying Elsapi in her arms.
“Tigua, this is unwise.” Ahnai unhooked a touvak from the sled.
“It is the rest of you who are unwise.” Tigua finished hooking a touvak into place in front of the sled, then strode over to Ahnai. But rather than cross her for the other touvak, he put his hands on his hips. “Heading to the winter grounds, away from Cupuen, is the safest decision. Yet you want to go neither away from it, nor to the side, but directly toward it.”
“Our winter grounds won’t be any safer,” Ahnai said.
The touvak behind her brayed and attempted to retake its place with the other. Ahnai snapped her fingers, halting it.
“The winter grounds aren’t far enough away. Nowhere we can reach is safe from Cupuen.”
“So those girls say, but I won’t risk the lives of my wife and child based on the outsiders’ claims.” Tigua was rigid, hands in fists at his sides, but he spoke calmly, even politely, to Ahnai.
“I won’t give you my blessing to split from us,” Ahnai said.
This caused Tigua to grimace, but he replied, “Save your blessing for your family. They’ll need it.”
This seemed to take Ahnai aback. She stepped aside, letting Tigua retrieve his touvak and return it to its place in the sled line.
“Tigua,” Inksuuk began. He paused, waiting on Tigua to finish and turn to face him. Tigua crossed his arms, lips tight in a thin line.
“Once we find the passage to Space City, I’ll come to the winter grounds. Make sure you’re safe.”
“May the gods keep your family safe,” Tigua said.
“May the goddess protect your path,” Inksuuk answered, moving away from the sled.
Tigua motioned to his wife, who moved to a rail on the back of the sled with the still crying Elsapi. She set the girl down upon their belongings and wrapped her in a great blanket of dark orange fur.
“Please, wait,” Cho called to Tigua and the mother. “Don’t do this. Come with us for your daughter’s sake.”
Cho thought she detected a little worry on the mother’s features—drooped mouth, distressed eyes—but she didn’t respond. Neither did Tigua. He moved alongside the touvak and whistled as though she’d said nothing. The pair of touvak hauled the sled forward while Tigua jogged beside them. Two dogs bounded around him.
Tears to match Elsapi’s own blurred Cho’s vision. Tigua’s stubbornness might cost the little girl her life, unless Trini’s projections were wrong. But Trini seemed confident that heading to the thorneway was their only real choice.
Why couldn’t she be stronger like Trini? She should demand they listen to her. She should take the little girl from them, do whatever it took to save her life. Instead, all she did was watch as they left.
Cho raised a hand to wipe the tears from her eyes, only to have it bump against her helmet. She hoped Inksuuk would have the opportunity to find them after they’d reached the thorneway. Hoped things wouldn’t have already gotten too bad to find them.