Suddenly, I was on the ground, unable to move my limbs.
This is unexpected, says a voice. An ordinary Cu’enashti already. I suppose we shouldn’t be surprised, seeing how quickly the Bhavashti grew.
I try to see who is talking, but I can’t even sense anything. I’m alone in my own head with a voice. And it isn’t a friendly voice.
Where’s your Chosen? the voice asks me.
As if I’d tell you that, I reply.
Ah. Your n’aashet n’aaverti. You’d die before you told me. And your death wouldn’t matter because you’d just grow another branch. Well, it doesn’t matter anyway. Carry on.
My senses return. I sit upright, on the cold concrete of the garage floor. What the hell was that?
Wait – I know what that was. I remember reading about it. The same thing had happened to Whirljack.
It was a SongLuminant.
The SongLuminants are capable of projecting their consciousness into the bodies of animals and taking the reins. It doesn’t work so well on Cu’enashti emanations, though, because our drivers are located in our trees, and the SongLuminants can’t seem to get a handle on that. The best they can do is to interfere with the mothman’s control of its body, putting us into a frozen state where they can enter our mental space. But it isn’t quite telepathy; they can’t read our minds.
When the SongLuminant entered my mental space, I was the only one there, and so it mistook me for “an ordinary Cu’enashti.” As opposed to what they were looking for – Ashtara, a Cu’enashti with an unbelievable 44 emanations.
And then I get it: Ashtara has a plan. I’m under cover.
That’s what Rivers meant when he said that I couldn’t trust Tara or him. Any human can be possessed by a SongLuminant. In fact…Rivers had been possessed by a SongLuminant at some point. He was talking about it with Suzanna at the gala.
An enormous wave of relief sweeps over me. My current isolation is not because something is wrong with me or the other branches. My current isolation is because there is a SongLuminant here. Why?
It makes sense that the SongLuminants would’ve gone to Nightside. If anything has scared them in the billions of galactic rotations they’ve existed, it’s the Denolin Turym. But why the hell would they care about Shambhala? It’s just a bunch of farmers and their trees. It’s a normal exploitation galaxy – the Combine gave it to Ashtara. The use of the natural nul-energy rips to cultivate nau’gsh is a little unusual, but not particularly significant to a species which dwells exclusively under the massive oceans of Sealeesh.
Maybe they’re just nosy. It would figure. SongLuminants like to know everything about everyone.
No, that isn’t it. I can feel Ashtara prodding me to worry about it. I can feel him prodding me to remember.
What’s a Bhavashti?