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They came out onto a clover-covered hill, and the tower disappeared behind them. The tale about the past that Cursory had begun telling was postponed for a time, as the wind and sky got her attention.
Her body was longing to fly, her mind was seeking something simple and clear. The steel string of anxiety and concentrated will that was Cursory's guide all this time while saving Gentle, now that the goal was achieved and the obstacle removed, has coiled into a loose twitching spiral in her heart.
Cursory could no longer stay these countless black tables, silence and the void, which was always less than three steps away. She knew now that the void is there — somewhere, in a direction unknown and impossible, but never too far.
Her native sky and ghostly shine of White Moon at Her zenith awaited her. Yes, Solid Line warned that the countdown could not be stopped, and that it might not be worth wasting time on unnecessary flights. But it just meant that she should fly faster, and faster she was. Cursory barely had the patience to wait for Solid's shopping list drawn out of thin air, and the caution to ask her not to use neon greens in writing. She thought about inviting Pink to fly with her on her back, like Solid before, so as not to lose Gentle Touch again, and even turned to her to offer that. But the hairs of her coat that stood on end when Cursory met Pink's eyes hinted that it might not be the best idea.
She read this list once she took off to wings. Angular sharp letters with unexpected and incorrect connections and obvious mistakes, and if the mysterious 'black bar pi-e' likely meant ‘blackberry pie’, then why was the second word underlined as it is done when numbers are written to distinguish them from similar letters? Almost every sixth line remained simply incomprehensible: 'zhen', underlined and in a frame? Porcelain wall? But two-thirds of what was written was parseable.
She could return and ask Solid about that, but then time was of importance, and she wanted to fly. On top of that, it was the word puzzle to solve, and more interesting than crossword ones.
While the landscape beneath was sliding away to White Moon's Ascent, she enjoyed the view from above. Each and every one of the many unique winding trails between the hills, meandering shallow rivers, and small settlements of no more than nine buildings, was a sight for her eyes. This detached but alive part of Metropolis was an infinite times better than the insides of the tower.
It was alive, to put it simply; the tower was the domain of Death itself. Fitting for Black Moon, but still.
The remaining third of the list she finished off meticulously, line by line, like a crossword puzzle, while the body caught the willful air currents to ride — there was no time to glide and rest, so she poured her strength into wingbeats. At this limit, any random movement of a feather could add or subtract speed. She had no time to spare.
She just needed to get some air and feel like a living pony in a living world.
At full speed and full power the flight took a slice and a third. The same amount for purchases in the central stores of the sector. A part in bags, another part — to pay extra in silver for synthesis and urgent delivery on an aviette, the third part had to be dispensed with: either there were no synthesis formulas for it, or Cursory had nothing to cover for it. The incomprehensible lines turned out to be spices, outdated modifiers, and rare teas from the distant ascent of the White Moon — however, some have remained a mystery or ambiguity.
Returning, she was not too afraid of losing her ponies again, but still smiled to herself when she saw them — not quite where she left, but on a nearby hill, nine throws away from the invisible tower.
Around them were limestone columns, large enough to be seen from the air, in a regular hexagon, so Cursory, assuming magic, made a landing a little to the side. Solid Line went to her, stepping out of the contour, and Cursory eyed her warily: either it just seemed so, or the unicorn was skipping steps while walking, appearing ever closer without all the necessary movement. Solid Line’s cat remained on Pink’s shoulder.
“Well, how are you doing here?” Cursory spoke first, “I bought almost everything you asked me to, but it would be nice if you’d learn to write again.” While rude, it was true.
“No need for that,” Solid replied. “I write well enough. We talked with Pink, and I would really like to listen to you now in order to be cleansed. Your voice is similar to the voices from fairy tales, with which the protagonist of the tale is called to the forest. This is a qualified summary estimate of the net effect.”
Cursory blinked, “What? And what are these columns?
“I tested my non-lethal containment capabilities against Pink and found them laсking. Regarding the first question: I like to see and hear you. I want to participate in the placement and arrangement of the products you brought with you, as well as in their preparation, to make your work easier, and I am ready to hear your story further,” the unicorn said smiling, if only a little.
Cursory asked with caution and care, "I think your speech was more smooth and natural in the tower?"
“The scenario in the tower was mostly scripted in advance,” Solid Line replied.
Cursory did not immediately realize that there would be no follow-up; she was looked upon, attentively and without emotion; Solid Line was waiting for a new input. Six beats later it dawned on her, “Oh, you want to help me! Sure, I agree to accept your help. Help me set the table.”
Pink joined them without a request and, fortunately, did not go out to meet the aviette that had arrived a slice later. Dividing the responsibilities three-way: the hearth and security on Solid, the fire on Cursory, and the cooking itself on Pink, focused and serious but rhyming verses one after another, they assembled a place for a snack. Then they sat in a regular triangle around a checkered tablecloth with warmed salads, sweets and hot tea.
Cursory continued from where she left off.
“Maybe in your times it was not so, but for us, the unbound age does not ask if you want it. It... it comes as a mark. It came to me like this: I woke up immortal and flew out of the house. I knew I could crash, but I didn't care. I did a triple dive from the very clouds to three steps from the ground, and it was... okay. As if I was tumbling on the floor, or rolling out of bed. Death was near, but it could not touch me. I knew that I had to say goodbye to my parents, but I barely got myself into a state to write a letter, and ended up with a single line. I was just not up to it. It's such a small thing. It didn’t matter,” Cursory realized she was blushing.
Solid Line nodded and commented, “You are describing the standard condition of an unbound, adjusted for their expectant following choice of a Moon. My emphasis was that others were utterly lacking in facilities to process my concepts and ideas and provide any meaningful reply, so I went silent. In my time the age had exactly this effect too. It was so for me, for my aunt and for my grandparents three times removed. If it's hard for you to speak about, you can skip this part.”
Cursory leaned forward, “Three times removed, you say? But not for your parents and grandparents? So, I hope I am right and you had your ways to skip it. Had you?
The unicorn nodded, “Correct, the options being: to skip it and to have it. No issues for me either way. What would you say, Pink?”
Pink turned her head to Solid Line, “What? Of course no probs! It's fun up to the stars in your stomach, nothing can make you afraid, and your whole boring life is thrown from head to hooves, and then back around! I, if anything, went through it twice! More tea?”
Twice? Cursory shook her head. She's lying again, as she should.
Solid Line nodded, “So you have no strong opinions about this topic either.”
Cursory bit a bun, then went after a clue, “Can you both then tell me how in your times you were skipping the unbound age? Now it is almost impossible, if only by a medical agreement. But the healers rarely agree. It’s a normal process. Normal, usual and expected, so doctors have the right to not interfere in it if they don’t want to. They could give a few advices on a patient's own direct request, but rarely more than that. I don't know what White Moon was thinking when She said it into the world…”
Solid got up on four legs and bowed her head, almost pointing at Cursory with a horn, “Am I parsing you correctly in that you can't miss it at all? It infers freedom of choice. Doesn’t it?”
Cursory didn't answer right away. The question was difficult, but she replied quietly, “That's why I'm asking. Gentle Touch knows, I think that unbound age should be put to rest by Moons’ silence. Probably the same as with those green sigils of yours... They compel too. They had me compelled, and I am not okay with it."
“This is completely different,” Solid shook her head.
“No, it's the same. It’s alike to what is between Gentle and me, too,” Pink admitted quietly.
Cursory opened her eyes wide. Is she on my side? And… “What’s going on between you two?”
Pink waved her hoof, “Later. Now it's your turn, not mine. Speak on. I bet there will be drama and tragedy and we will comfort you because you are a good pony and the past is in the past,” she grinned.
Solid Line said in a neutral voice, “You don’t have to. If we exchange our songs, it will be just as good.”
Cursory pricked her ears, “What are you talking about? That song of yours…” Cursory moved her hoof in the air, “...for a jaunt, is that how you call it?”
“About this song too,” Solid answered, “But I once had square nine and six songs, jaunting is but one of them, and your capacity is hardly less than that. You just don't know all your songs yet.”
"I have no magic songs, I'm sure!" Cursory tried to correct.
"But you do have," Solid Line stated, unconcerned.
“Well, that won't work,'' Pink wedged in again. “What about the party unity? It is a really important thing to be open, and give or take your hugs freely. If we are a team.”
Cursory withheld an angry reply, but could not resist a facehoof: the obscenity of the proposal itself was not helped at all by the scorn in Pink's voice.
Having eaten two more buns, she continued, “So. In our sector there was a rally point for unbounds. In the old school, in the gym and surrounding facilities. I didn't go there. It would mean acting like a normal pony. I immediately went to the ocean which I wanted to visit then, nine ranges away. I was not in a hurry, you see. I had my destination. I have burned down the store on the way and signed up for the library.”
Pink asked innocently, "Not the other way around?" but Cursory squinted at her, making a silent warning, and a joke went incomplete. However, the pie had to be left for later.
“So, anyway, there were ponies who had found me. Less than a luster later there were four of us, and two lusters later I knew with whom I was then and with whom I wanted to stay forever. We were friends, as far as it is possible for unbounds. Through robberies, hospital stays, and erratic way to White Moon’s Descent, we moved on, towards the ocean. Forgive me that I withhold the details, I still don’t... when you’re an unbound, you know and don’t know that this is forever, but it will end soon. It’s an eternity, but you can’t recall much, but...” Cursory winced.
"Like a great feast or a life. The feast is near," Pink said quietly.
Cursory did not object, only twitched her ear, and continued, “The curators came to us. Then they weren’t yet forbidden by the word of the White Moon. One of them, small one... well, like Solid here, and with a rat-like face — a medium, of course, not the curator himself — he said that he knows how to keep us unbounds forever, but we will have to run errands for him for a lot of rounds, seven and then seven more. And then we'll be free. I still wouldn't be free now if I agreed then.”
“You still aren’t though,” Pink noted, and for once it was said without a hidden thorn.
Cursory Streak nodded, “Maybe. Anyway… We made a meeting, quarreled, fought and made up, and then I told him that he could…” Cursory glanced at Pink and grinned, “There are foals around, so I can’t quote.”
“You are a foal compared to me!” but it seems that Pink was not offended.
“He said that I will pay for this denial, as everything has a credit that is due,” Cursory said.
Solid nodded, “Yes, we also have met the curators. That motto was different then, ‘everything is a trade’. Our leader agreed to their proposal.”
Cursory snorted, “Really stupid move, but to each their own.”
“It worked out in the end. Our curator treated us as a valuable resource, not to be pointlessly wasted. Nopony died and the contract was short but generous.”
“They always seem generous,” Cursory grumbled, but continued, “And then, no later than nine cycles since we declined the offer, Rapid Fire went to 7-S, and then he never returned.”
Gentle looked up for Cursory Streak eyes and gasped, “I feel for you... He was probably a friend, since you still recall the name, through both thresholds of unbound age?”
“Well, no issues. It's a long time ago,” Cursory smiled. “He was cute, but now I’m more into mares anyway, and... but that's another part of the story. Should I continue?”
Solid Line nodded, Signal flowed to the ground from Pink's back, clinging to her fur, and went to Cursory. She got up on her hind legs, and nuzzled her muzzle under the pegasus’ wing. Cursory helped her up.
“You haven’t even begun to tell what the Black Moon has to do with it,” Solid said. “So I ask you to continue.”
“Haven’t I?” Cursory raised an eyebrow. “But yes, it is uneasy to recall even now. Even after ‘Guiding Starfall-TX’. I was there…”