Chapter 11

"... for I swear to you, males will speak again!" -- The Teachings of Gran Ch .12 Line 23.

A few days after Dahra's symposium, Lissa had decided to stay and teach at the university in Fahr. She had been offered positions at other colleges, with higher pay, perks, and positions of leadership, but Fahr was her home. She grew up climbing on the plaza's statues and playing in the parks, among the wogbols. In her eyes, all the other universities she visited seemed second best.

Besides her friend, Atelan had stayed on Fahr. She had stayed on the island working for a construction company, instead of a more glamorous position, so she could be near her. It would be unforgivable for her to leave Atelan after she had sacrificed for her.

While Atelan was a portaler, she was not a very powerful one. She was limited in the distance of her portals. It would take her several days of exhausting short distance island-hopping for her to reach the closest of Lissa's other job possibilities. But while she was limited by distance, Atelan was a master at short distance accuracy. Even better than Dahra.

Just a few days after the healer guild's historic meeting, Dahra decided to take a day off from her research in the shelter, to help Lissa move in to her new faculty apartment. Housing was at a premium near the plaza, and as Lissa had been stuck in same student dormitory room she had lived in while she was a student, she was elated to finally make this move.

When she joined the faculty, Lissa had applied for faculty housing and was put on a waiting list. Faculty housing was on the top floor of the four story student dorms that surrounded the plaza. They were designed for the childless teacher who wanted to be close to the campus, and to save her money. They were very popular with the faculty. The apartments were similar in design to the college dorms, except that the main living area was larger, and each had a separate kitchen, dining area, and bathroom. Students, on the other hand, all ate at the dorm cafeteria and each floor shared a communal bathroom.

Dahra portaled over to Lissa's old room precisely at nine, and knocked on the old graffiti-stained door. Lissa answered. She was wearing an old pair of brown shorts and a loose-fitting tan tanktop. Dahra was wearing an old pair of green pants and an olive sleeveless knit shirt. Both were ready to go to work.

"I'm so glad you could make it," sighed Lissa. "All my old college friends have left campus, so I had no one here I could ask to help moving."

"Couldn't you have asked some of your pupils?"

Lissa paused a moment to consider. "I suppose I could have, but I didn't want them to feel obligated. And if they had, I might have felt indebted to them."

"I doubt that would happen," said Dahra.

"I suppose so, but these are still my first classes. I don't want to screw things up."

"Understandable.

"So," said Dahra, "can you take me over to your new apartment? Then I can know where I'm portaling."

"Sure," said Lissa as she sprinted toward the door. "It's on the top floor of the next dormitory to the west."

"The one across from the computer science museum?"

"That's the one."

"I can portal us to it's main entrance," said Dahra, but I've haven't been inside that building for at least a year. We'll have to walk the rest of the way."

"You know, Mom. My friend, Atelan, can portal to any dorm room door on the plaza. All you have to do is give her the building and the room number."

"Hey," protested Dahra, "if you were a master mover you wouldn't need my help lifting. I don't criticize your limitations as a mover, so please don't criticize mine as a portaler."

"Sorry," said Lissa. "She does have a problem with duration. She can only keep her portals open for a few minutes. You're much better in that regard."

"And don't you forget it."

When they walked into Lissa's new home, Dahra took a quick tour of it, looking for anything that would make it unique from all the other rooms on this floor. On the ceiling of the living area was a faint brown stain, probably water damage, that was shaped like the island of Grabbel. Dahra stared at the stain for a few seconds, closed her eyes, visualizing it, and then stared at it again.

"Ready to go," said Dahra, finally.

"And you'll be able to get us back here?" asked Lissa.

"Unless there is another faculty apartment that has that same shaped stain at the same location, which I doubt, we shouldn't have any trouble."

Dahra portaled Lissa and her back to the old room and picked up the first piece of furniture to be moved, the bed. Normally, it would have been awkward for just the two of them to carry such a massive item, but Lissa's mover ability acted as a stabilizer and another half person lifting.

Dahra kept the portal open during the move, so the move became as easy as transferring each item from one room to another.

"So," said Lissa conversationally, as they lifted a box of clothes, "did you hear about the big healers' vote three days from now?"

"Yeah, Krinan told me. Did you know she was instrumental in getting the vote delayed?"

"I know. Gusva told me."

"Oh yes!" said Dahra. "Your engineering friend; how is she?"

"A lot better, now that she's graduated. She has a great job working for a company on the space program."

"Is that back on line again? I thought they had hit a technological brick wall."

"They had," said Lissa, as she picked up an end table, Dahra carried a lamp. "But one of your ancient texts had a neat new way to reclaim oxygen from exhaled carbon dioxide, for underwater exploration. She is working on adapting this for space travel.

"Anyway, what do you think about this big vote at the healers' guild?"

Dahra put down the lamp in the new room, sat down on a chair, and rubbed her temples. "To tell you the truth I was surprised that the idea ever came up, let alone be taken seriously. I thought the motion, if ever raised, would have been immediately rejected, with screams of 'Blasphemy! Blasphemy!' rising from the audience."

"To tell you the truth, Mom, it is partially your fault."

"Huh?!" said a startled Dahra, raising her head from her hands. "How do you figure that, Lissa?"

"Well before your big find, healers viewed their job as a sacred duty. 'Caring for the males until they wake, ' and all that.

"But when they went to your symposium or read your book, for many, their attitude changed. They found out what males were truly like two hundred years ago. Now, more and more healers are seeing their jobs as a necessary chore. 'Keeping the males alive so we can live, ' is a more accurate description of their attitude, today. And eliminating all non-virile males is a logical extension of this attitude."

An hour of keeping the portal open had passed, and Dahra had a massive headache. Not a normal headache, created by stress and fatigue, but a portaler's headache warning the individual that their ability was about to fail. That was ten times worse. "I have to close the portal, Lissa," she cried.

"Just one more minute, please," said Lissa, as she carried her last box through. The portal closed right behind her. She sighed and sat next to her adoptive mother on a box containing clothes. "Whew, that was close."

"It's been a long time since I had pushed my endurance that far," said Dahra. "I'm beat. It will be at least four hours before I'll be able to portal again."

"What do you need to do to recuperate?"

"Rest, water, and food," said Dahra, reciting one of the first lessons taught to young portalers at school.

"You can rest here," said Lissa. "And I can find a glass in one of these boxes and get you some water." She searched through her boxes until she found the right one, pulled out a glass, and got water from the kitchen.

Lissa scratched her head. "Now for food. It's almost lunch time, where to get some food... I know! there's a place that sells roast fowl, carry out only, just a few blocks from here. I'll run down and get us some."

"You're a good daughter, Lissa," said Dahra.

"You helped me out by portaling for me. Turning a day-long task into a one hour one. It's the least I can do."

After Lissa left, Dahra leaned back, sipped her water, and thought about what Lissa had said. Was this change in attitude about males really her fault? If so, she needed to start writing her next book, the one that compared what was learned at the shelter to what was taught in the sacred writings.