Sanguine

Chapter 1

Two long forelimbs wobbled like giant knobbly spider’s legs, giving less than satisfactory stability. A long pause helped to establish some sort of a connection with tangled back legs, but they were still stuck on the ground. Unsteady confusion warred with impatience to move.

I laughed as the newborn zebra foal heaved herself up and staggered once again to all four feet. She looked so unsure of herself, leaning on the tree, her dark coat still damp and crimped. The tired mare stood by, head down and sweat still dripping from her flanks, so I scratched behind her ear and soothed her with my humming. Giving birth looked exhausting, and animals couldn’t even use the juice of the Living Fruit to ease the pain, poor things. I would rub her coat with a hay wisp once she’d rested, she would like that. The newborn filly looked at me with large dark eyes. She was going to be fun to play with over the next few weeks.

Flopping myself down on the grass, I stretched my legs out in front of me to enjoy watching the foal discover the world. She discovered her mother’s milk first.

‘Welcome to Eden, little Hollie,’ I said in a soft voice, as she twisted her neck up to nuzzle her mother’s teat. ‘I’m Lainie, and I will be your host for this introduction to life on planet Earth. Please avail yourself of the refreshments you see before you, and don’t hesitate to ask any questions.’ Hollie ignored me, which I didn’t mind.

The Garden was becoming cooler at night again as autumn came closer, but late foaling wasn’t a problem in Eden. There was always plenty of food, and even winter here wasn’t particularly cold, unless you went up into the mountains. I’d explored the mountains a few weeks ago now—or was it longer?

Glancing up toward the majestic peaks, I tried to pinpoint how much time had passed since I’d made the trek. There had been much more snow, so at least as far back as early spring. I remembered wishing for my snow gear, which was unusual. I rarely thought about things I used to own anymore. They were from another life, and the details were hazy. Chocolate I remembered, and Vegemite crumpets. Even though there were even better tastes to be experienced here, I still missed those. I remembered people, too. It made me sad. They were all dead now, except for one.

Hurried footsteps disturbed the quiet sound of suckling as someone pushed through a thick stand of feather-hedge on the hill behind me. Beltana was laughing, pelting down the slope carrying a large purple fruit in each hand. Two? Why two? She piqued my interest, so I got up and bounced after her, and it only took a few minutes to find what she was planning to use the fruit for. Not far from the base of the cliff, I could see a crumpled heap of sticks and large fronds. Dallmin. Again. Sure enough, tangled in the pile was a sanguine mess of torn flesh, bent limbs and lifeless staring eyes. I shuddered. Even after all this time, my initial reaction was still one of horror. A vague memory of another blood-soaked scene flashed through my mind, but like other nightmares I suppressed it quickly.

Beltana ripped away the skin of the purple Living Fruit with her teeth and tilted Dallmin’s head back. His neck was broken so his head flopped too far, his pale tongue protruding from his dislocated jaw. She opened his mouth and squeezed some juice into it and within moments his neck jerked straight and I noticed his feet twitching. She arranged his limbs so he looked more comfortable and soon I could see his chest rise as he took a gurgling breath. Beltana laughed and poked in a stub of sharp bone that had broken through the skin on his wrist. She was getting covered in blood, but didn’t seem to care. She squeezed a bit more juice into his mouth then began to rub some of the fruit peel over his wounds. Skin meshed and I could see bruises flower and then fade almost as quickly. Dallmin opened his eyes and sneezed out a spray of blood, which popped his jaw back into place, so then Beltana held the fruit to his lips for him to take a bite. Limbs twitched as his broken bones knitted back together. His hip gave an audible snap as it relocated. Yawning, he sat up, wiped the bloodied dark hair out of his face and reached for the Fruit. She handed him the other one. He bit into it, grinning at us, with bright purple juice running down his chin.

‘Awesome!’ he said, laughing.

Why had I ever taught him that word? A soft growl rumbled under my breath.

‘Dallmin,’ I muttered disapprovingly. I don’t know why I bothered; he had no concept of disapproval, but it made me feel better.

He gestured to the top of the cliff and I nodded.

How far? I signed.

Longer this time, still not enough.

The wings you had were not strong enough. Why do you keep trying?

Because I haven’t flown yet.

It was the second time that month he had plummeted over a hundred feet to the ground. Surely he could remember enough pain for it not to seem fun anymore. Stunts like those were usually the domain of the very young. I had been told that the novelty wore off by the time people reached a couple of hundred years old or so. Dallmin was apparently older than that, so why was he so obsessed with flying? It was my fault. Mine and Noah’s. Maybe if we had packed up the hang glider faster, he might not have seen it. My shoulders slumped. It wouldn’t have helped. He’d undoubtedly seen us in the air, which had made him come to investigate when he saw us land. It wasn’t like we’d had any other options. Still, no real harm done. He was having fun.

Chapter 2

‘Theresa Ashbree, get off that step-ladder,’ Noah commanded.

‘Seriously? I’m less than two feet off the ground,’ his wife said, turning in his arms to glare at him. ‘And don’t call me Theresa. It makes me sound like a nun.’

‘A nun? You mean one of those women God has set apart to serve humanity? Well, we wouldn’t want you to be mistaken for one of them. Your role is much nobler than that, Tess.’

‘Shut up, Noah. You are so full of it.’

‘Yeah, I know,’ he said, tangling her silky black hair through his fingers. It behaved like a living creature with its own tactics for binding the two of them together, but Tessa shook it free before he could get properly ensnared. The oriental elegance of her slender frame made him feel like he was holding something far too refined for his calloused farmhands.

‘Why don’t you go and take your health and safety audit out to Skinny Paddock instead?’ she said, stepping down from the ladder. ‘There’s a bit of iron sheeting from some old shed sticking out of the ground—’

He kissed her to stop her talking and she melted into his embrace, dropping the new curtains, forgotten, onto the floor.

‘Oh!’ she exclaimed a second later, pulling away.

He felt the blood drain from his face. It was far, far too early … but she grinned.

‘He liked that,’ she said, her face lighting up like sunlight on fresh snow.

Together they looked down at her growing abdomen, then she took his hand and placed it on the side of her baby bump, and he gasped as he felt something brush against his fingers. A real person. Just there. Moving and alive and made of human.

‘No more ladders for you, Tess, seriously,’ he chided, but his attempt at a stern tone was undone by his inability to hide his smile when the baby moved again.

‘Now look who’s being overprotective. You’re such a bully,’ she complained, hooking the curtains with her foot and flicking them up to avoid bending over. She dumped them in his waiting arms so he obediently reached up to hang them in the window. He didn’t even need the ladder.

The last time these curtains had been changed was when he was just a kid. Lainie had nicked the plastic sword he’d been given for Christmas and he’d been trying to steal it back when she’d caught the tip of the blade in her old pink curtains and torn them right down the middle.

He and Lainie had enjoyed many good childhood adventures in this room, but now it was time to move on. Tessa had redecorated pretty thoroughly. Back when it had been Lainie’s, the walls had been covered with maps of Middle-Earth, Westeros and Skyrim. With a shelf full of show-jumping trophies, a huge bookcase and a generally messy accumulation of Pop Vinyls, it had taken his wife a long time to clear everything out. Lainie had even kept the monster truck he’d made out of Lego. He’d snatched it out of his wife’s hands as she’d started to break it up. Tess had just smiled, put the truck up on the new shelf, and told him he didn’t have to help anymore. Noah had been incredibly relieved. He knew Lainie wouldn’t have cared about the clear out, but it still felt like it was a betrayal. Lainie’s aunt, Lily, who had generously moved into the farmhand’s cottage to give him and Tessa the house, had assured them that Lainie would feel honoured that her room would soon become home to the new baby.

His eyes lingered on the view from the window where the low hillside blocked his view of the untouched bush beyond. What he had assumed for years was all state park, he now knew was in fact owned by Lily and Lainie Gracewood. The cleared area they farmed was only a small section of the whole property, and the remaining portion would never be cleared if he had any say in it. His name might not be on the title, but he belonged to the land, body and soul. It was his true home, and he was born to serve it. There was a precious secret cradled in the heart of those untamed hills. A dangerously addictive secret. Even now, he yearned to drop everything and go back to Eden and tell Lainie about the baby, and yet knew he wouldn’t. Not now. Eden called to him too strongly. The last time he’d gone to visit her he’d only intended to go for a day or two. It had turned into a week and a half. By the time he’d returned, his mind was so out of sync with the world that he had shown up naked at the door at four am, serenading Tessa at the top of his voice. It had taken a few days for him to adjust before she had let him go into town. Lily hadn’t stopped laughing for a week, but Tess had been very quiet. The sort of quiet that meant she was terrified and didn’t want him to know. When he’d pushed for an explanation, she’d admitted she was worried he would be lost to Eden the same way they had lost Annie and Lainie. And deep down, he knew her fear was not unfounded. How easy it would be to just let this world go. No more chores, no meetings, no struggling to wake up in the cold and dark to start the day’s work … no worrying about whether the next sales would be enough to keep the bank off their backs. Far too tempting. So he had promised himself he wouldn’t leave her again unless it was urgent, especially in her current state.

The jingling of the front gate chain caught his attention. He craned his neck around the window and caught sight of the corner of Liam’s ute as it pulled into the driveway. He smiled and began fastening the remaining hooks as quickly as he could. He hadn’t seen his brother since the wedding. Both his older twin brothers had finished their university degrees; Caleb had gone to London, while Liam had taken up contract work in the mining industry in Western Australia. He tried not to judge him too harshly for that. It was good work and it paid brilliantly. He’d work ridiculous shifts for several months at a time, and then come home for a few weeks for a break. This was his first trip home for a while.

Liam let himself in and entered the room just as Noah was finishing up. ‘Nice work, bro. Love the rainbows. Do you wake up every morning with cherubs flying out of your—Oh, hey, Tessa.’

‘Baby’s room,’ Noah grumbled, pointing to the bassinet in the corner while Tessa laughed much harder than was necessary.

Liam seemed chuffed at her reaction, and hugged her. ‘How are you, Tess? How’s my favourite nephew doing?’

‘Your favourite? What hasn’t Caleb told us?’ she asked.

‘Nothing. I expect many more to come, that’s all. This one will always be my favourite though.’ He smiled at her belly.

Liam had sung a victory chant when Noah had told him it was a boy—as if it was somehow his doing—but had been a bit miffed that they weren’t expecting twins.

‘We’re fine, Liam. When did you get in? And how was the trip?’

‘Arrived this morning. Trip was bloody long. Two days to get to Kalgoorlie for a one-day stopover, then another three across the Nullarbor and back to here. I love my ute but I’m thinking it’s finally time to leave her here, buy a new one for WA and fly between like everyone else does. I’ll miss her, though …’

‘A shiny new ute, Liam? Careful, you might start developing a taste for chai tea next,’ Tessa laughed.

‘Only if it comes with a twist of lemon,’ he replied seamlessly.

‘I’ll see what I can find for you,’ Noah said as they all headed to the kitchen, ‘but I think we only have river water.’

‘Water? Seriously? What’s happened to you? First you replace your twenty-first birthday party with a wedding, you don’t waste any time starting a family, now you only have water in your fridge? Are you sure you’re an Ashbree?’

Noah froze, panicked and speechless.

‘There’s always a tinny in the fridge for you, Liam, don’t worry,’ Tess interjected, distracting Noah’s older brother from noticing his overreaction.

Noah hadn’t told his family that Harry was his real father. His mother had kept it secret from them and he’d decided to respect her choice by not revealing the truth after she died. Lily had agreed. His mum, Sarah, was already pregnant with Caleb and Liam when her Guardian traits had become obvious. She had decided to honour her commitment to their father, David Ashbree, despite the powerful bond that she developed with Harry Doolan during the pregnancy. Even Lily had had no idea that Harry was Noah’s real father until the bushfire, when Noah himself had discovered he was a Cherub. Lily had advised Noah to talk to his mum about it, hoping she would admit the truth. Sadly, she’d decided to keep her secret instead. Both Harry and Lily had chosen to respect her decision at the time, but it had led to tragedy. How different would things be now if his mum had told him the truth from the start? Then again, what would the truth have meant for the rest of his family? They could never have been told everything. Even now, he had to keep secrets, and he hated it. He wished he could live like his ancestors did, when it was accepted that some stories were not to be shared with everyone. Ironically, that would have allowed him to be more honest with his family than he could be now.

Noah sat down at the kitchen table, content to let the other two bounce around the latest gossip. Tessa caught Liam up on the most recent local footy betting scandal, while his brother told stories of the colourful characters in the mining communities in the Pilbara. The industry was booming, and Liam was reaping the rewards. Noah remained relatively quiet. Eventually Liam left for home, after offering to help around the farm whenever he was needed. Noah was genuinely grateful. He and Tessa were helping Lily to run the farm in return for a share of the profits, but he was still studying Agricultural Science part-time online, and with Tessa now banned from heavy duties, the jobs were beginning to pile up. Any extra help would be welcome.

After his brother left, Noah helped Tess put the finishing touches on the nursery. They hung a mobile above the bassinet, which had four smiling, fat, winged babies that floated around each other. They glowed in the dark and played a happy tinkling lullaby. Tessa seemed to think they were hilarious.

Chapter 3

I was feeling restless again. Perhaps I needed to travel—it had helped in the past. Meeting new people was always wonderful but I still felt so lonely sometimes.

Morning sun filtered through the glossy leaves and into my sleeping space, creating a warm hazy glow. The branches above me stretched apart a little to let it through. Amongst the leaves, pale mauve flowers yawned at the sun. I loved this tree. Wistfully I traced my finger down the edge of Bane’s face. The photo was beginning to fade, it hadn’t coped well with the damp air. If only I hadn’t let it get so crumpled the first time I had come here. What would I do when it was too damaged to look at? It was already so hard to remember details. I knew I was losing memories of my earlier life far too quickly. Like a bookshelf with open ends, the faster I grabbed at the new experiences that Eden offered and stacked them on the shelf, the faster my memories toppled, unremarked, from the other end in order to accommodate them. Sometimes I tried really hard to remember, but all I had were disjointed bits and pieces from my childhood. Often they didn’t make sense and I would realise I was remembering scenes from a TV show or a book. Even the real memories felt like they weren’t mine. Except for Bane.

Closing my eyes, I remembered the time he’d crashed the tractor into the fence post in the lambing paddock, and the time I’d put the rubber snake in the shed and scared the kajeebies out of him. I remembered him playing the old piano in our lounge room, complaining about how out of tune it was. With a deep breath I let myself remember the feel of his arms around me when we’d danced at our graduation, when the other girls had glared in open-mouthed astonishment. I even remembered the surge of jealousy I’d felt when he and Tessa had gone for a walk alone to talk about Guardian business. Although jealousy had no place in Eden, I still remembered how it felt. The memories hurt, and yet I couldn’t make myself let them go. How easy it would be just to eat the honey-sweet Living Fruit again and forget the pain. Perhaps then I could move on.

I’d monitored the Trees of Life carefully after I ate the first time. The one I’d eaten from had wilted at first, terrifying me so much that I hadn’t been game to go near one again despite the urgings from my new friends. Thankfully it had soon recovered. Then came the day I’d joined in a game of running with the herd of giant lizards. What a thrill to race them along the valley like we were part of the pack. They were one of the few herds that us two-legged creatures could almost keep up with. Except that I’d caught my foot on a rock and fallen so badly I’d fractured my femur. Not one lizard had trampled me, but I’d been in enough pain that I’d let someone feed me another piece of Fruit. Although the Tree that time had barely shown any ill-effects, I’d still made a pact with myself to try to avoid the more dangerous activities from then on.

The Trees were the source of Life in the Garden. Their protection was one of the reasons humans had been exiled from the Garden in the first place—that and the fact that it would be a very bad idea for corrupt humans to be able to live forever. Keeping the Trees safe was the main reason Cherubim had been assigned to keep the tainted from returning, so it seemed ironic that Annie and I were the only ones who could damage them. Deep down I knew why, but I didn’t like to dwell on it. I’d figured out that there was only one sickness that my mother and I suffered from that no one else here did, and that was shame. Living Fruit was never designed to deal with that. All it could do was help me to forget the things that caused it, and so I’d embraced the forgetting—except that I was still reluctant to risk eating again. It was so tempting though … If the Fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil had tasted half as delicious, then I could see why everything went to poo all those years ago. And the taste of it wasn’t even the most tempting part.

It no longer worried me that I couldn’t remember arriving in Eden. Noah and Annie had told me not to worry about it and I had seen Dallmin in pain enough times to know I probably wouldn’t like remembering what had happened to me anyway. A few times, when I’d first arrived, Noah had tried to convince me to cross back to Nalong, but I was too scared. I already missed Bane so much that it hurt to breathe sometimes. If I saw him again I would have no hope of letting him go, and I had to. I knew that. He was dead. Like everyone else I’d left behind, the patterns that his soul made were tangled and unable to grow properly. A clean break was best for both of us, so I’d forced myself to let him go when I had the chance.

Distracted by the feel of something tickling my cheek, I brushed it with my fingertips. It was wet. There was a shiny teardrop on my finger. The Trees were producing red Fruit this month. I had been told it was especially good for feeling peaceful when it was red. Perhaps I had forgotten enough now that I could try it without poisoning the Trees. I looked at Bane’s photo again. It was getting harder to decide what to do.

The food preparation area was a central location for our community. Each of the trees here were as tall as a mountain ash, and they were bunched together along a flat patch of the valley floor. A canopy of thick branches formed an impossibly convenient roof that never ceased to challenge my year twelve biology training. How did all the branches start at such a consistent height above the ground and intertwine so neatly? And given that they did such an incredible job at keeping most of the rain out, how did the tree roots get enough water? There was a stream flowing through the centre of the natural hall, so perhaps that helped the trees in the middle a bit.

I was still craning my neck upward when my mother slipped her hand into mine and tugged me into a welcoming hug, saving me from inadvertently hugging one of the tree trunks instead.

‘Annie,’ I greeted as I breathed in the scent of her hair. I had never accustomed myself to calling her ‘mother’. She looked to be my own age—perhaps a few years older—and hadn’t been around throughout my childhood. She’d moved to Eden when I was four years old, and I’d only found her again when I finished school. Getting to know Annie Gracewood was a delight and a privilege, but she felt more like a long-lost sister than a mother to me.

She let me go, smiling, and led me to where she’d been sitting and shelling peas, so I sat down next to her and grabbed a handful. It was a relaxing thing to do. The feel of the crisp shells popping open to reveal the tiny baby plants inside was strangely addictive. I liked peas. They were innocent. They suited Eden.

‘Someone’s coming,’ she told me in English. ‘Can’t you feel it?’

We didn’t often speak English unless we were talking about the other side of the Boundary, so I closed my eyes and tried to concentrate. There was something tenuous … a presence, approaching from the north. Not from across the Boundary, but from within Eden—and not a threat. I didn’t understand. Usually I only felt someone’s presence if they were too close to the cave, so I could go and distract them from being too interested. Even then, it never felt anything like the urgency I used to feel on the other side if somebody came too close. I’d been wondering whether that meant we shouldn’t stop people crossing over if they really wanted to go. There were no rules in Eden. No right or wrong. If someone had a desire to do something, then I desired it too. Conflict didn’t fit here.

‘How can we feel someone so far away?’ I queried, selecting another handful of peas to shell.

‘We can sense other Cherubim, if we pay attention,’ she explained, juggling four peas at once and then tossing them one by one into my open mouth. ‘So this person approaching must be a Cherub.’

Something felt very wrong about that but I couldn’t quite put the pieces of my memory back together enough to know why it disturbed me so much. I pushed into the discomfort. It felt important to remember and after a minute of thinking hard about it, something clicked. ‘Two Cherubim in each generation only,’ I insisted.

‘That’s right,’ she agreed, ‘and yet we are both here.’

She was messing with me. Making me figure it out.

‘So this Cherub is of another generation?’

She nodded, with a soft laugh, and refused to elaborate, so I just continued to shell the peas. I would find out soon enough.

Music that was full of the soothing energy of the autumn sun echoed throughout the Garden. Everyone played or sang. I was learning to play a flute-like instrument and was slowly improving. The others were very patient with ‘Shaky-Tune Lainie’, considering they’d all been practising for centuries. All of them indulged me like a child learning the recorder, except they never tried to find any lame excuses not to listen. My dancing was a bit better. I was no longer in the least bit worried about how I looked in front of others, which made it much more fun than ever before. I spun and skipped and twirled and laughed, even throwing in some gymnastics my new family had taught me. I wasn’t quite as daring as they were though, because I couldn’t afford to get seriously injured. The few times I had hurt myself I’d needed solitude to recover so I wouldn’t be pestered by people offering me Fruit. They always got so confused whenever I refused to eat.

When the music twisted into an even more rollicking tune, I joined in one of the more organised dances. This one had steps I had learnt. It was extremely complicated, which was what made it so much fun. We swapped partners every couple of minutes and sometimes someone would think of a new sequence and we would all madly try to learn it, laughing at ourselves when we got it wrong. As Dallmin swung me around I noticed someone new out of the corner of my eye. He had light hair and pale skin, which was a little unusual for this valley, although not unheard of. Remembering what Annie had said about someone new arriving, I tried to feel if he had some sort of an aura that I could perceive with my cool preternatural Cherub-detector. All I had to do was focus on his vibe while keeping up with the slide-step-and-spin tempo shift while changing my grip from my dance partner’s shoulder to his elbow … Luckily Dallmin caught me before I hit the floor.

The newcomer was not the person I’d been sensing, but I was still curious. He watched me with sparkling blue eyes as he tried to learn the steps. Although quick on his feet, he wasn’t just trying to learn the newest variation but the whole sequence at once. I giggled as he spun the wrong way, colliding with us in a predictable misstep. Both Dallmin and I gripped the stranger’s elbows and guided him out of further harm’s way by keeping him moving along with the fast-paced flow of dancers. Dallmin placed my hands around the man’s waist and then demonstrated the steps for him again. The visitor looked pleased with himself when he got it right in the next progression. Dallmin nodded and then grabbed hold of Annie’s hand as she swung past us and she spun into his arms with a laugh. I danced with the stranger through another sequence, but when it came time to swap partners again the guy didn’t let me go. We stopped dancing and I blinked at him. He kissed the inside of my wrist in a formal greeting, and then led me from the dance floor. Curious, I followed him out. I liked meeting new people.

Heading away from all the noise, the stranger took me up to the top of a grassy hill where we sat and looked up at the stars.

‘Pallano,’ he said in a sweet husky voice, hand to his chest.

‘Lainie,’ I replied, still puffing from all the dancing.

Narrow path? he signed.

I looked at him in confusion.

‘Lainie,’ he repeated. Narrow path.

I had no idea my name meant anything, but ‘narrow path’ seemed appropriate for the way my life had funnelled me toward my destiny. It made me smile.

‘Pallano?’ I asked, drawing my knees up.

It means new moon, he signed, pointing to the moon. It wasn’t new. It was almost full. Again I wondered how much time had passed since I had come here.

Still catching my breath, I lay back and stared at the stars. They looked the same as they did in Nalong. All the familiar constellations waved at me happily. I guessed that meant we were still on Earth, or some alternate version of it, anyway.

You dance well, Pallano said with an adorable smile, watching me with an open expression as I pretended to watch the sky.

Thank you. It’s fun. Would you like to go back and dance some more? I could teach you, I signed.

He shook his head. I would like to talk to you some more.

Propping myself up on one elbow, I tilted my head at him and waited for him to speak first.

You were not here the last time I visited this valley. Are you a new child or did you come from far away? he asked.

It was a common question. For people who lived for such a long time it was unusual to meet someone new unless they travelled very far.

Both, I guess. Sort of. How was I supposed to explain? I didn’t try. I haven’t been here for long, I replied. I had learnt early on that even Annie was still considered a fresh new arrival, despite well over a decade of residence. My short time here was nothing. Has it been a long time since you were here last? I asked.

Not really. I travel a lot. I follow the moon shadows.

Moonshadow? Like the Cat Stevens song? A giggle escaped my lips as I had a sudden vision of him dressed in hippie clothes. Maybe I could tie-dye something for him. Composing myself quickly, I had to ask. What are moon shadows?

With a gigantic grin he lay back and pointed at the moon again. That is a moon shadow. Watch closely, it is beginning.

I mentally kicked myself for being so slow as I stared up in wonder. The moon wasn’t almost full, as I had first thought—it was completely full, except for the shadow that had been creeping over its surface as we talked. Pallano had come outside to view a lunar eclipse, and his timing was impeccable.

Sometimes this world casts a shadow on the moon, and I think it is beautiful. This valley is one of the best places to see them, so I watch many of them from here, he continued. He crossed his fingers behind his head.

How did you know it would happen tonight? I asked. The calculations for predicting eclipses were seriously complex, as far as I knew.

Pallano shrugged. There is a rhythm to them. Not difficult to work out. You just need to pay attention for a few decades and you will soon see the pattern. In forty-five more season cycles the glow-star will visit again, and in just two hundred and four more cycles the sun will be completely shadowed. I will return here for that one I think.

Oh. Right. Long lives. Still not used to it.

He turned to me with a cheeky smile. When you watch the sun shadow, hold some Fruit. Last time I watched, my eyes burned and I ran straight into a Tree trying to find some. It was pretty funny.

When I watch. In two hundred and four years’ time. The next total solar eclipse. Oh boy.

For a long time we just lay there as the moon slowly deepened to a reddish glow. I had read once that the dustier the Earth’s atmosphere was, the deeper red the moon would appear, and that a volcanic eruption prior to an eclipse would make it redder. Were there any volcanoes on this side of the Boundary? Or did the volcanoes on the other side still affect the moon we were seeing now? Would pollution on the other side affect the atmosphere here in any way? What would happen if the people here ever discovered space flight? Would they pass through some Boundary in the sky and not be able to return? And why did my brain always wander off on these weird tangents?

Pallano leant on his elbow watching me, not the moon, and I started to feel strange. Not uncomfortable, exactly, just unsure of what to do. I never questioned the motivations of anyone in Eden. Everyone here was completely trustworthy, but something was making me … nervous?

With a twitch of a smile he picked up a lock of my untidy hair and tucked it behind my ear. His touch came with a sudden flashback of Bane doing the exact same thing, and I sat up so rapidly that I nearly knocked him out with my elbow. Pallano looked amused, probably wondering what new game I was about to suggest. My heart was beating a million miles an hour. He smiled again, showing his dimples, and I stared back in confusion. He would be fun to learn about. Why was I so uneasy? I didn’t enjoy feeling like this. It was messy. So I stood up and left him alone on the hill and ran toward my sleeping tree. With a last glance back, I saw him watching me. His expression was wistful, but not hurt.

The streamlet meandered toward the river, calling me to follow it, but in my usual contrary fashion I headed upstream instead, keeping my attention on the lush vegetation growing near its edge. Some little tug made me want to see the dead Tree. I’d first seen it another lifetime ago and it hadn’t changed. Its willowy branches had all broken off, leaving a silvery trunk and a couple of jagged limbs, making it look like a trendy freeway sculpture. As always, it made me shudder to think that if, as a Cherub, Annie’s few slips into temptation had killed this one Tree so quickly, then what damage would a single tainted human do to the species? If it was possible to have nightmares in Eden, that would have been mine.

Annie had stopped eating the Living Fruit once Harry had told her that she had caused the damage. Nothing was worth that, not ever. No one in Eden ever suffered from Annie’s sort of malady. Her ailment came from events that could never happen on this golden side of the boundary, which was why us ‘outsiders’ were the only ones who could sicken the Trees like this.

Abstaining from the healing power of the Fruit had been hard on my mother. Too often I’d found her sitting by the river, hugging her knees and holding back tears so the others wouldn’t see. I’d done my best to comfort her and hoped maybe I’d helped a little. Over time, the music of the river had lost its sadness, as if her grief had been washed away. The Tree had not recovered.

An unusually wise part of me suggested that maybe she needed more than the Fruit to heal her. Maybe she needed to work through her grief before she could move on. Perhaps that was what I needed too. If I’d been on the other side of the Boundary I probably would have been advised to seek professional counselling. Not that I would have been able to talk about Eden to anyone. Even here I felt uncomfortable talking about the other side. Except with Annie. And I didn’t want to talk to her about Bane because she still struggled to even think about the Guardians. I would have to find someone else.

My hand trembled a bit when I laid it on the smooth hard trunk of the dead Tree. It looked lonely, like me. It had no leaves and yet still had its own stark beauty. My memories of Bane were the same. They were addictively beautiful, but could no longer bear fruit.

A few days later I received one of the biggest surprises I’d had in a long time. Annie and I were sitting against a tree eating lunch, watching Hollie learn to canter in circles around her patient mother and less patient fellow herd members,