Leenovoo 19, 9665
Dearest mother,
What joy, and what heartache, both at once! I have been to Ae’gura, and to Bevin — the main part of the City remains closed. The damage wrought by the madmen — the sunken ships, the faded lake — is there still, but far more is the damage wrought by simple, implacable time. Entropy is the English word for it — how all falls to disorder if not tended, and D’ni has not been tended for more than 250 hahrtee. Just for one example, the Cavern has been subject to earthquakes — cracks are everywhere; a roof support at the Library has fallen; the end of the Tokotah alley lies in ruin, blocked off by barricades that the humans have erected. And animal noises are audible, in the far distance (no animal that I recognized — a strange, chittering sound). All is crumbling; all is but a shadow of its former glory. I had been prepared for things to seem… smaller… than when I was last here, as a child, but not for this.
And yet… there are people here, dozens of humans, some of whom adopt what they believe are D’ni ways (I am reminded of an event among the humans called a Renaissance Fair, that presents a sort of stylized version of history for entertainment) and some of whom bring human customs down from the surface. There is a voice in the back of my mind that says I should be offended by this — you may well be. Perhaps I have lived among them too long for that. In any event, it is… strange… to view D’ni through this distorted lens. And yet, having been but a child when I was in D’ni (and having, to be frank, paid too little attention to my history lessons) I am not sure how accurate a correction I could offer.
And there are things that even Nartahl would acknowledge wondrous. Hanging from my belt is a small linking book, unlike any I have encountered. When you use it, it travels with you! It links to a place called Relto — true to its name, an island in the clouds. Each of the humans here has such a book, and for each it links to a similar but distinct place, only accessible through its particular book. Like a cliff house in which you can pull the ladder up after you — a completely secure Age! (I believe you can rest assured now about the Kedross book; it sits even now on a shelf in the hut on my Relto.) The humans are also extensively using the communications network and devices that were just beginning to be set up when the Fall hit (they call the device a “Ki,” for reasons I have not yet learned).
The manner in which I acquired the book was curious.
I arrived in Carlsbad and was directed out into the desert to meet a human named Zandi. His father, as I understand, was among the first humans to rediscover the Cavern 25 hahrtee ago; the father having died, he now owns the land. His home is quite modest, a metal caravan at the foot of a volcano (this turns out to be the outlet of the Great Shaft, though that is not how I entered D’ni). Between the caravan and the volcano is a fissure called the Cleft, into the sides of which rooms were carved many hahrtee ago — this was the childhood home of a D’ni survivor named Atrus, the subject of the fictionalized stories I referred to in the last letter. It was into this that Zandi directed me, saying that “she” had “left a message for me.”
“She” was Atrus’ daughter, Yeesha — the message an imager projection. She is a madwoman — a visionary — equal parts compelling and frightening.
She is also, it turns out, the Writer of the Relto book.
She speaks of water flowing again in the desert, of the Tree growing, of new life in D’ni. She offers a quest — “no, a request” (in English, which she speaks in the message (after a brief start in D’ni), there is something of a pun in this phrase) — a journey through Ages for unspecified purpose, probably mystic. The first part of this quest — or request — leads to a hidden cave, seemingly empty and yet filled with the sounds of winged creatures, drawings glowing blue on the walls. And a book: the Relto book.
On Relto, a hut with bookshelves and a wardrobe inside; on the shelves, a linking book to Bevin, and a book of quotations from the Regeltavok of Oorpah (translated into English) in what I suspect is Yeesha’s writing. In Bevin, a link to Gahreesen and the Ki dispenser, and with the Ki, access to the Nexus…
… and thus to Ae’gura.
More Yeesha magic: Certain links elsewhere (such as the one to the Nexus) cause the appropriate books to appear upon your shelf in Relto. Also in Relto, four pillars containing linking books for the Ages of Yeesha’s quest. I believe I will forgo that for now.
I must leave it at that; there are things I must tend to now, details of the settling-in. These letters will reach you soon, and I will shortly follow (the Relto book having obviated, or at least deferred, the need to create my own linking book). Until then, I remain,
Your devoted son,
Naron
