The Elementals Read Free

unspeaking.
    Byth was asleep before his head was pillowed on his arm.
    Kerish shivered in the night and wrapped her cape more snugly around herself. She wished Kesair would come back and talk to her. Kesair was always so practical, so reassuringly full of common sense. But she seemed oblivious, sitting up there in the prow alone.
    The night lasted for an eternity or two, then faded into a dull grey day. The sun never penetrated the clouds. The sea looked cold and sullen. And terribly, terribly vast.
    Kesair came awake abruptly, surprised to find she had been asleep. Her muscles were stiff, her joints locked. When she tried to move she felt like a plant that had been frozen and would break rather than bend. She got to her feet slowly, holding on to the side of the boat.
    When she stood and looked back at the others, she saw their faces turn toward her as flowers turn toward the sun. They sat waiting for her to tell them what to do next.
    Seeing them waiting like that was a bit of a shock. I have to say something positive, she thought. They need it. I need it.
    â€œWe’ve passed safely through the night.” She sounded pleased. “Perhaps we should offer a prayer now.”
    â€œA prayer?” They stared at her. Kesair had not been known as a fanatic before. Religion was unfashionable, an outmoded superstition. They believed Man was supreme in the cosmos, a belief Kesair had seemed to share. Before the catastrophe.
    â€œI wouldn’t care to pray to any deity who would let this happen to us!” the woman called Barra said angrily.
    A murmur of agreement rose from the others. On their faces, Kesair read a threat to her newfound authority. If she tried to force the issue they might reject her.
    She shrugged, and changed the topic to the distribution of food and assignment of tasks. After an uncertain pause, the group reverted to obedience. It was already becoming a comfortable habit. They were silently relieved that the embarrassing suggestion of prayer had been dropped.

    Day wore on, became night, became day again. And again. They sailed this way and that, found no land, no people. Nothing. More and more, they simply drifted. It did not matter.
    Social conventions were abandoned. Men and women openly relieved themselves over the side. Quarrels sprang up. The people were nervous, irritable, and apathetic by turns. Friendships were formed one day and broken the next.
    Their food stores dwindled. The sea waited.
    Byth droned on and on, listing an increasing catalog of physical complaints. The formerly brisk and bustling woman called Leel began sleeping the day away like a creature in hibernation.
    Staring morosely at the sea, Ladra swore at the water bitterly, continually. He was inventive with profanity. Against her will, Kesair found herself listening to him. Once she laughed aloud.
    He turned toward her, scowling darkly. “What are you laughing at?”
    â€œNot at you. I was just enjoying your use of the language, that’s all. You’re very original.”
    He gazed at her for a long moment, then went back to cursing the sea. But after that he seemed more kindly disposed toward Kesair. That night when the food was distributed, he ate sitting beside her.
    From his place opposite them, Fintan noticed the change in Ladra’s attitude. He realized he was looking at Kesair differently himself. Before the catastrophe, he had paid her no attention. Women outnumbered men in the colony and he had always had his choice, which did not include Kesair. She was too tall, too fair, and he liked small dark women. More damning still, she was a loner. She did not seem to need a man. Fintan, who liked his women dependent, had ignored her. She was an exceptionally good weaver and did her share of the work, and beyond that he had no interest in her.
    Before.
    But now … he could hardly ignore the one person who had been able to take charge when he and the other surviving men were weary and