Book One: Onnu and Pannu

Winds of Charon

Onnu didn't want to leave the pilgrims, but she'd been away from home too long already. She would have to fly up into the gases to refill her fire... sac? Flame sac? That wasn't accurate either, because it didn't store flames, only the materials to make them.
   She flew straight up from the Hold, now that everyone knew about Charon. There was no longer reason to hide how high she could fly. She didn't know how long she had until the great beast reentered their atmosphere, either. Brevity was her friend.
   She discovered something new, every time she floated in the bright ether Above. Today, it was a moon orbiting one of the middle planets nearby. The moon orbited a planet diagonal to theirs, in this odd celestial dance that prevented nightfall anywhere.
   They have true night, then. How do they know when Charon approaches? That must be unnerving!
   She had yet to figure out how none of the planets had a dark side. There were twice as many planets as suns, and yet, they were all perfectly lit, every time she observed them.
   I suppose we aren't supposed to be able to comprehend eternity, she thought.
   Her contemplation was cut short by Charon appearing on the planet across from theirs. It hovered between the surface, and the moon. She tried to estimate how long she had left, except the math didn't work out. There was no way it should be there, if it had been over their planet when it was.
   About the time she realized there had to be more than one Charon, the proof began to peek over their horizon.
   She dropped like a stone, praying she had enough gas to light their cook fires. If Pannu hadn't left for two... daylight cycles? They couldn't really call them days; they were too irregular. But if he hadn't left for that long, he wouldn't have sufficient gas to cook much of anything.
   The watch gryph was already bugling a night warning when her wings snapped open. She had enough time to land properly. This Charon hadn't decided that she was an easy meal, it seemed.
   "If ye need fire, come for it. We've not much time until the Maw passes overhead."
   They didn't all know what the Maw was, and not everyone understood her words, but they'd heard the new warning. They knew that sunslight was about to be replaced by the night winds. Any cooking or crafting they needed to do would have to be quick.
   The smiths, who mostly worked with smelted crystal dust, scales, bones, etcetera had fashioned a sort of forge with a door, while she was gone. It was chitin from some sort of beast, cobbled together with crystal dust "solder", and what fire Pannu had left, into a mostly airtight dome shape.
   One of the orcs had kept a fragment of flame alive long enough to light the forge this afternoon, but it was about to go out. They'd fitted the door just as it began to flicker.
   The same orc, who would later be known as Soot Forgeman, ran a bit of burning grass from the meat fire to the forge, slapped the lid on the whole burning mess, and rolled on the ground to ease his steaming hide. Orcs weren't fireproof, as ogres were, but they were quite fire resistant. That said, his chest hair would take some time to regrow after his heroic act--that could have waited until the morrow, though none would dampen his fierce joy by saying so.
   Soot seemed to find a certain kind of satisfaction in handling flames that elves and dwarves could not. Oh, a dwarf could tolerate cinders here and there, but an orc could hold a flame in their hand for ten whole seconds! An ogre could hold it as long as it would burn, but they were kind enough to let him have his Thing. As Clay had observed, everyone needed a Thing. If Soot wanted to be the one who made fire do what the craftsmen wanted, he was more than welcome to it.
   In the morning, Onnu had to face the questions of the kin at last.
   "Yes, I knew about the Charon. No, I didn't tell you. Even Pannu did not know immediately. I thought... You guys were doing so well, settling in and all, and I didn't want to lay this big, heavy weight on your shoulders. Especially you travelers, you had to hide from them for so long, and... I just didn't want to--"
   "Them?!"
   Her earflaps drooped. She tried to speak, swallowed, tried again.
   "Perhaps I should begin with the 'Verse, as we know it. I'd draw a diagram, except I still haven't wrapped my head around it."
   "How long have you been going up there?" dragonfriend asked. Mira was right, he was hurt. Onnu's eyes softened.
   "I'm sorry, I really am. It's a lot to take in. I barely understand it, how can I explain--"
   "You said 'them'," Pannu interrupted.
   "Right. Uh, well, there are fourteen planets that I've seen so far, and... Don't freak out, but there are seven suns."
   Nobody ever listened to "don't freak out." She knew that, and yet, she still wasn't quite prepared for the outcry.
   "If you don't want to hear the rest, we can go out to hunt," she shouted over the melee.
   Silence was slow to come, but it did eventually settle over the Hold.
   "It's all rotating in an odd dance, some rhythm I can't make out. I don't know how there's never nighttime, or the dark side of a planet, anywhere there isn't a moon."
   "You found a moon?" Firmen asked, papygrass in hand.
   "Just today, yes. It's around this one... no wait, maybe this one? I'm sorry, they all look the same on this diagram, and I don't know if we all change positions..."
   "So you really are still learning?" dragonfriend asked.
   She looked him square in the eye. Well, as close as she could, given that his entire body was roughly the size of one eye. "Yes, I am still learning."
   "You said 'them'," Pannu reminded her, his patience waning.
   She stood straight again. "Yes, so I did. I did wonder if there mightn't be another Charon, with the timing of our days. As slow as they move, how would it f...fly over all fourteen planets in a day? We would have much more sunslight per day than we do.
   "Today, when I was surveying the 'Verse, I saw one Charon across from us, and another just coming over the horizon."
   "So you learned not one, but two new things about this universe today, and you've been studying it for more than a month?"
   She nodded down at Todd.
   "How long is it gonna take to map it out, then? A year? Two? Ten?"
   "How long did it take humans to map out the Milky Way?" she countered.
   A ripple of unease spread through the crowd.
   "I come to you with incomplete answers, which was not my intent. And yes, I should have given what little information I had sooner. All I can say in my defense is that I did not wish to burden you with news of Charon until... Oh, I don't know. You've been creating, and crafting, and thriving! I was worried that fear would stall your progress."
   Silence weighed heavily in the Bowl.
   "If any of you wish to leave for another dragonhold, I will not stop you. I realize that your trust has been shaken this day. All I can do is apologize. We're all just trying to do our best, and... if my best was not... actually good... I will understand."
   She fought the tears of frustration that built behind her eyes. She would not use emotional blackmail to get anyone to stay. She turned and walked away, where she didn't see any kin, and let them fall while she waited for their verdict.