Madlands

13. The Rain Knows More Than the Mountains

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Mando wasn't much for paying close attention to plants and biomes, but he couldn't help but feel that Grey had undersold Rin. While it was true that it was, technically, "normal" in the simple fact that its biology was focused on the surface rather than underground, that surface was one of the most impressive he'd seen, and Pallis hadn't yet risen over the horizon.

The topography was plate rock, with vast plateaus broken up by sweeping valleys and more angular hills, but almost every inch that wasn't a straight vertical was sheathed in spongy moss, ferns, and lichen. There were almost no trees (in the region they'd landed, at least) but their absence was made up for by the "glass ponds"—hard, flat, and smooth areas where smooth, subterranean quartz-crystal of varying hues replaced the rock at surface-level. Nothing would grow on it, so they looked like softly coloured pools of crystal-still water until you got up close.

If Rin had been in the Core or Mid-Rim, Mando thought it would have been overrun with the rich and the pleasure-seeking. But here, in the far corner of the most arduous sector of the galaxy, it was dotted only with the occasional homestead, village, or herd of tri-horned sheep.

The final trial of their long voyage here had been a mental challenge more than anything—flying for over an hour through what was known as "Icaria's Halo."

Grey hadn't even mentioned it when she'd given him a run-down of the hazards that they would face along the route, saving its existence until they were almost upon it. She'd leaned in close, as if she was giving him a pep-talk: "There's nothing for it, you just have to keep going, even though it'll look like you're flying through a solid, yellow-white wall. And it'll feel like it's taking a lot longer than it really is. The Halo affects your perception of how time is passing. I didn't warn you because it's better if you don't have a chance to think about it too much. You might get disoriented, or tempted to turn back, but just stay on course and trust me and the chronometer more than your mind. Here we go."

Mando was still trying to put the memory of that eternal hour behind him. Even the impressiveness of Rin wouldn't have been enough to tempt the Coruscanti crowd through the Halo.

Hope you don't mind the trek. We'll be seen less as outsiders if we walk into town. Landing a strange ship on the outskirts of the village wouldn't make us any friends, and I figured you'd want to leave the Crest somewhere no one would stumble upon it—which meant the eastern ridge.

Makes sense. How much more daylight do we have?

Well, it won't be true nightfall for about six hours, but Pallis should rise soon, and it'll eclipse the sun within an hour after that. So, there's an extended dusk, but you can still see just fine and the business of the day continues.

When's the last time you were here?

In the village of Naida, never. On Rin... it's been a long time; maybe five years or more?

Know anyone here?

Not that I know of. Should only be another half-hour to the village.

Don't mind the walk.

Grey looked at him slyly. There was something unusual in his tone and a looseness in his gait.

You like it here.

Mando stopped, put his weight on one hip, and looked around.

Hard not to.

Her smile grew; she was officially giving up on ever fitting all of his completely incompatible puzzle pieces together.

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