Page 93 of Feast

Ika felt a twinge of anxiety at that news, but she felt relieved that Alyx really would help her through it. Rolf seemed slightly relieved too. But only slightly.

Alyx gestured toward Ika’s necklace.

“May I take a look at that, Ika?”

“Of course.” Ika lifted the ring pendant so that Alyx could inspect it in the firelight. After a moment, Alyx hummed and sat back on the floor, nodding her head and thinking.

“Well, I think I have some idea of how you got here,” Alyx said at last.

“You do?” Ika asked, feeling both excited and scared.

“I do.” Alyx looked at Rolf and then at Thusar and the others. “I need to speak with Ika alone for a little while. This is a very personal matter, and I think it would be best if I tell her by herself first. Afterward, she may choose if she wishes to share it with you.”

Ika expected Thusar and the others to complain, but they did not. They agreed immediately. Clearly they understood that this was a very sensitive personal matter. It was her identity, after all.

“Good,” Alyx said and took Ika by the hand. “Come with me, Ika. There is something I want to show you.”

CHAPTER 30

Alyx led Ika out of the tent. It was night, and the canyon was lit by dozens of campfires. The newcomers had been organized into smaller groups to be fed and provided with additional clothing.

Together Alyx and Ika walked to the very end of the canyon where the natural stone walls opened onto a dark prairie of grass that was rippling like water in the wind. The entrance to the canyon was guarded by several ukkur armed with spears who bowed deeply to Alyx as she passed.

Apparently these ukkur really respected and revered the First Woman.

They ventured out into the darkness until the sounds and light of the encampment faded. The sky was clear, and the velvety blackness overhead was aglitter with stars.

“Do you know your constellations?” Alyx asked. “I’m sure Rolf taught you, right?”

Ika nodded.

Alyx gestured toward a cluster of stars in the northern part of the sky.

“Then you know the abolith and hunter.”

“Of course,” Ika answered.

Rolf had taught her all the constellations when she was little, and she loved to look at them and name them off in her head, so she had no trouble now identifying the constellation that Alyx was referring to.

“Good, good. Do you see the star at the tip of the hunter’s spear? The bright one that glows like pale gold?”

“Yes.”

Ika had always held a special fondness for that star. Perhaps it was the color of it, she wasn’t sure, but for some reason she had always felt a special connection to it.

It seemed like Alyx felt that connection too. She stared at that pale yellow star with a look of nostalgia.

“That star is named Sol. From here it looks tiny, like a little sparkling jewel. But that is only because it is so far away. In fact, it is just as big as the sun that rises and sets on this world. Perhaps even a little bigger.”

Could that be true? Ika knew that the stars were far away, but if that yellow star were as big as the sun, then it must be very far away indeed. An almost unimaginable distance. The universe must be even bigger than Ika realized.

A few days ago, she would not have believed it. But now, after everything she had seen and learned, Ika would believe almost anything.

Alyx went on.

“There is a world that goes around that star. A world much like this one.”

That idea was more difficult for Ika to picture. A world going around a star? She struggled to accept that concept, but she chose not to interrupt.