Page 42 of Blightfall

It was. “Epiphany” meant at once the dawning of a new idea and also the appearance of a supernatural being. I wondered which meaning they had in mind when they named this place.

“Any idea what those languages are?” I asked, holding the mesh of my pack in the right direction so Suki could see.

“My pin indicates they are Hebrew, Ukrainian, and Arabic, respectively,” Suki said. “None of which I speak, unfortunately.”

None of us did either, but at least we spoke one of the four.

We walked through the archway and found a crowd gathering on the other side. My heart picked up pace—had we been noticed approaching the city?

No, the crowd surrounded the wagon containing the caged tree creature, bunching so tightly that the barge workers had to herd people out of the path with their hooks while the wagon rolled slowly forward. For a moment I wondered if the barge crew was somehow under attack, but they didn’t look worried, and the crowd sounded excited about the appearance of the creature. They shouted and whooped, exclaiming in several different languages, including English. They paid no mind to the pruned tree pulling the wagon but ran alongside the cage, poking at the wild one with brooms, shovels, and sticks—whatever they’d had in their hands at the time.

“What are they doing?” I asked the others.

“We could ask someone,” Sadie said hopefully.

That did seem like the best course of action, and many people here spoke English, so we could talk to the locals without immediately standing out. “All right,” I said to Sadie. “Permission granted.”

Sadie’s eyes widened. “You want me to ask?”

“Who better?” I hadn’t wanted to bring her because she sometimes didn’t know when to be quiet, but now that we needed a spokesperson, she was the most natural fit.

Sadie’s whole face lit up, and she turned toward an old woman standing on the side of the road, speaking English to two young girls who might have been her grandchildren.

“Excuse me!” Sadie called. “We were just wondering where they’re taking the tree.”

The woman looked confused. “The scion?” she said. She had a thicker accent than others in the crowd, though I couldn’t place it. “It’s going on right away. They’re a bit behind schedule.”

Sadie glanced back at me. That hadn’t exactly answered the question, but it did indicate that if we lived here, we would already know what was going on. Pushing further would probably rouse suspicion.

“Thank you,” I called to the woman, and ushered my team down the street.

“A scion,” Nedd said quietly. “I wonder why they call it that.”

Alanik shrugged. “My pin translated it as a plant cutting, the kind you would use to grow a new tree from a small branch.”

“It’s also an Old Earth word for a noble descendant,” Suki added. “A descendant of the forest, perhaps?”

Those both seemed like plausible theories. “She said it’s going on right away,” I said to Alanik. “What do you think that means?”

“You know human culture better than me,” she said.

“It’s not helping me in this case. Suki, any insight?”

“None, I’m afraid,” Suki said, her own pin translating. “The English term is generally meant for going on a shift, yes? So perhaps she means they’ll put the creature to work as soon as they arrive.”

“It could also be going on a stage,” Sadie said. “Like for a performance. Maybe it’s going to be in a play. Should I try asking someone else?”

“Let’s just follow for now,” I said, “and see where it goes.”

We’d entered the city along a main thoroughfare lined with shops—booths made of the same purplish wood as the forest—selling clothing and tools, fruits and vegetables, meat and grain. I recognized the barrels of rice, though there were several bushels of a stalky plant I wasn’t familiar with. One shop had shelves of toothbrushes and soaps. Another had many racks of clothing for sale, all pushed out into the street.

The shopkeepers mostly kept to their booths, though they, too, raised their fists in salute and shouted toward the wagon as it passed. An array of plants grew in planter boxes and stone pots, with some types situated in the sun, and others in the shade.

I didn’t see a lot of advanced technology, though there was a larger shop selling radios. The road was lined with electric lights, but the road itself was cobblestone and most of the buildings were made from wood rather than steel.

“It’s like stepping into the past,” Sadie whispered so only we would hear. “With wooden buildings and wagons that roll on wheels.”

“Old Earth didn’t have walking trees,” I replied.