“Where are we?” I murmured to Sark, who was still following our odd Threesome of guides and Baslik, who appeared to be in private conversation with Feed’lix. He was tapping the leather band around his wrist and I wondered what he was asking about it. My own band fit me snugly but didn’t bother me—it was neither too tight nor too loose.
“I’d say we’re in the middle of an extinct volcano. A really huge one,” Sark replied. “Look—if you can see through all the branches—see the sides? They’re sloping upwards.”
I looked where he was nodding and indeed, I saw grayish-brown sloping walls of stone which rose high above us. The light appeared to be coming from a vast, circular opening in the sky—no doubt the mouth of the volcano.
“Oh, it’s amazing!” I breathed, and truly, it was. I never could have dreamed, when looking at the craggy mountains we had landed by that any of them held this lush, secret world within it.
“Are you admiring our home within the mountain?” It was Tam’lah and I saw that she had dropped back a little to speak to us.
“Yes, indeed,” I said honestly. “It’s very different from the outside where we landed.”
“Ah, yes, to be sure it is. Though once, you know, our whole planet was as beautiful as our home within the mountain.” She sounded sad as she spoke, her bell-like voice muted with emotion.
“What happened?” Sark asked, frowning down at her with interest. “What killed the rest of your world?”
“Alas, our ancestors were extremely warlike—they made weapons that could devastate the entire planet and threatened each other with them,” Tam’lah said. “They grew more and more angry and at last two of the main factions made war upon each other, devastating our planet.”
“How did you escape?” I asked. “Or, how did the ones who were your ancestors escape the devastation?”
“This area—our home within the mountain—was a research facility.” Tam’lah made a sweeping gesture, indicating the entire hollow volcano. “It is a remote location—far from the ancient cities which now lie in ruins. My ancestors were some of those who were working here during that time—they were the only ones who survived—though not even they remained unchanged. For the charged dust particles drifted into the mouth of our home and came down to rest on them.”
“Radiation,” Sark muttered. “Then what happened? How did it change them?” he asked.
“Well, at first it seemed to make them barren,” Tam’lah said frowning. “No children were born to them for several years, though they were trying, and it seemed our race would die out forever. But then one of them—the greatest one of all—found that his body was changing. He was turning from a One-Tail to a Two-Tail. When he saw the changes, he was horrified at first, but then he realized the possibilities.”
“Which were?” Sark asked, raising his eyebrows.
“Well, he convinced A No-Tail and a One-Tail both to lie with him at the same time,” Tam’lah said.
“To lie with him? As in, have sex with him?” Sark asked, frowning.
“Yes, exactly.” Tam’lah nodded eagerly. “And this new Two-Tail was able to take the seed of the male or One-Tail and the eggs of the female or No-Tail and mix them together to form new life.”
“So…in effect, he became a new sex—a new gender that was neither male or female but a little of both,” Sark remarked. “Would this first Two-Tail’s name be PASS’lix? Your deity of fertility?”
“Yes, for from his sacrifice in becoming the first Two-Tail, our people flourished and grew,” Tam’lah said earnestly. “For the Two-Tails take no joy for themselves, you know. A One-Tail and a No-Tail may engage in sexual congress for the pleasure it brings them, but without a Two-Tail lying between them, they cannot bring forth new life.”
“I see,” Sark murmured.
I saw as well. No wonder they kept asking if Baslik and Sark and I were a “Threesome”—that must be the natural way their own society was structured. So it was probably odd to them that our kind of humanoids mated in pairs instead of groups of three.
“What about the rumors that you have all kinds of, er, plants and special water that makes people fertile?” I asked, needing to know if what Baslik had told me was true.
“We certainly have a most fertile home within the mountain,” Tam’lah said helpfully. “They say it used to be mostly barren in here, except for the buildings the researchers had built. But now it is filled with lush vegetation as you can see.”
She nodded at the trees and leaves all around us.
“Yes, it’s quite beautiful,” I murmured. She hadn’t really answered my question, but I wasn’t sure how else to phrase it.
“Since you are not a Threesome, which of the One-Tails will you be staying with, Lady Isla?” she asked me.
“With Sark!” I said quickly and at the same time the big Kindred said,