Astra

Chapter 4 - Through the Fires of Life

Chapter 4 – Through the Fires of Life

Life is such an ephemeral thing. I was always reminded of this on my visits to Tận. The fiery surface that is completely untouchable. The heat that radiates through the surface of black rock that can split anywhere at any time is intense. Constant hydration is a necessity unless you were of pure Tậnian blood. Only the people that were born to the country were able to withstand the terrain for prolonged periods of time.

I was always relieved that we would touch down on the carefully built platform outside the palace, the platform had a base of arian as it was the only substance that once hardened would not remelt under any conditions. All the buildings on Tận had foundations of arian but there are very few buildings on Tận.

The locals are for the most part nomadic. They live on barges with wheels and bases of arian. The wheels are for when they feel a need to pull the wagons that house them around, and the bases are for when the magma flows up out of the ground and creates rivers across the surface of the planet. They harvest arian during these magma flows. Keeping it liquid until the final form for that batch is determined and cast.

Tậnians eat everything roasted besides Rojo, the red hand-sized berries that grow on their planet. These berries are the best of everything. A single berry contains enough nutrients and energy to keep a person alive for two days. The only thing that they do not contain enough of is water, water must always be imported from Dŵr or if there is a party to be had the water comes from Iậ so that it remains cold.

Roj are the most interesting of fruit. They grow, flower and produce fruit in just five days, but the fruit takes another three days to mature. Roj plants are the only plants that grow on Tận and they are fertilized by Silve, giant bird-like moths.

Silve have wings like birds and body of a moth. They are black with red undersides to their wings. Silve are night dwellers and are only found on the dark side of the planet. They live their entire lives in the air other than when they hang on the plants to eat the flowers of the Roj plants. They mature their babies in pouches just over their feet. Silve live for about three months before they find a channel of magma to dive into. No one knows what causes them to have this suicidal urge but it is supposed that it is necessary for population control on some level.

We were landing at night on Tận it was always advisable as fewer eruptions occur in the cool before the sun rises. We touched down without incident and hurried to the palace before the heat caused us to dehydrate too much. I had the other of the Fyddin Captens with me, Caron, who was from Dŵr and so very susceptible to dehydration. I had hoped to spare Caron this trip to Tận but unfortunately it had not be possible for him to join me on Iậ as his sister was sick when I needed to leave.

We entered through the big doors made of Roj wood intricately carved and seamlessly glued so that the doors appeared to be one piece of wood. The palace on Tận was nothing like as grand as the one on Iậ. Tận had ash storms every few weeks and so the palace was not only smaller because of the foundation necessities but also very squat. It consisted of a throne room that opened directly onto the path to the landing platform, some dozen bedrooms, a kitchen and a study for the deliberation of serious matters.

The palace was built of offchar, a black stone that was found everywhere on Tận, the offchar in the throne room was carved and inlaid with arian. It was beautiful but nothing to top the glass of Anadl, the ice column of Iậ, the greenery of Ddeaer or the bubbles of Dŵr. In fact Tậnians cared nothing for status, the conditions on their planet are by far the harshest in our system and they are more concerned with daily survival than any other thing.

Tậnians are fiercely loyal to the land of their birth and will not leave this land for anything short of an impending doom. I was not expecting too many Tậnians to join the Fyddin. There were a few in every generation that did join but they were generally loners and kept to themselves to a large extent. Tận was also the least populated planet in our system. The conditions were just not ideal for life of any kind to flourish.