They had a day to build a ladder up to the sky. From what Aris had predicted, the solute would be within the vicinity of the giant Gate. Even if she was able to move it, Ral would assume it wouldn’t be much more than a few paces from the Gate’s threshold - putting the location he would have to strike at eight stories high, at least.

  Any heavy wood was immediately disqualified as they needed to be able to transport it. Ideally it could be deconstructed but then reassembled at the right location. Mikol scouted out a suitable tall building close to the center of the Heart with a spire that nearly reached five stories tall. If they managed to start at the top of the spire, they could easily reach the required height. It would be difficult to climb to that spot with heavy equipment on top of fighting any Unseeing steadily trickling into the area.

  Their ‘ladder’ would be much better if they had more than a day to build it, but everyone could see the giant Gate in the sky opening more like an eye. Soon, the eye would be looking down on them like a giant peering down at insects.

  He and Rask lashed together flexible bundles of reed. Yepla was able to procure large amounts of it in a short amount of time, which led Ral to believe they had a stash of it somewhere on the docks. The idea was to further lash them together into a flexible pole of sorts. They had a small prototype by mid morning and tested it by the docks.

  “We hold this end,” Rask said, motioning to Verne. “And you climb to the other end to weigh it down. Then we haul you up to fling you forward.”

  Ral did as he was told but the prototype was only the length of three men. It bent as he clung to the top, the two men holding the bottom. With a grunt, they swung him forward and launched him into the water.

  “I need to go up!” he shouted as he paddled his way back to the dock. “Not forward.”

  Gloved hands reached down and to Ral’s surprise, Mikol hauled him out of the water. He muttered something in Yscian, quiet enough so other people couldn’t hear but Ral thought he heard ‘stupid actions’ mixed in there.

  “I can swim, you know,” he said, amused.

  Mikol was silent. It only just occurred to Ral that such a large body of water was strange to the desert dweller.

  They added more segments of reed onto their ‘ladder’. Then they secured the bottom to one of the beams of the dock. The added length made the ‘ladder’ curve down under its own weight but not enough for Ral to reach. He climbed up the ‘ladder’ and it sagged under his weight until it touched the ground. But the stiff flexibility of the reeds gave it tension and Ral found he could push off the ground and the ‘ladder’ lifted him into the air.

  “Not enough tension,” Rask muttered.

  They added a wooden wedge to the beam at the bottom, tilting the ladder forward. It was much harder for Ral to climb atop of it. He hitched a rope to the top end when he finally grappled his way and it dangled down for Verne and Rask to pull down, curving the ‘ladder’ down to the dock sharply with Ral balanced at the end.

  Rask shouted a countdown and they released him and he was launched straight into the air. The air whipped past him as he tried to angle himself to go up. After a certain height, he started dropping and he deftly twisted to safely land in the water. He broke through the surface whooping.

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  “This one’s it!”

  They checked the integrity of the reeds, then did a few more trials. Ral was able to time his jump to give himself even more height.

  “A break,” Rask huffed after five or six jumps.

  “Also, Ralos, how are you going to land without the water?” Verne asked. As expected, the Sekrelli looked unfazed by the strenuous activity. “We won’t be by the docks when we put this to plan.”

  “I can land, but I don’t fancy getting into an accident during the test runs,” Ral lied. In reality, he hadn’t planned that far. He only had thoughts of being able to reach the solute if and when Aris revealed it in the sky.

  Everything else had to be an afterthought.

  They had enough materials to make more segments. For the rest of the day, they simply practiced and tried to make the ‘ladder’ work in several directions. With the combined manus abilities, they were able to adjust height and location of where Ral could end up in the air - on top of that Mikol coached him on the side and Ral was able to gain even more variation on where he could go while in the air.

  “Find the moment of stillness,” Mikol muttered to him. He indicated the top of the arch when something is thrown in the air, the moment when the upward trajectory turns downward and the object starts falling. “Then the Somas theory of stillness also applies. Try.”

  They practiced until the sun started setting, then carefully packed up the materials and segments of the ladder so they could be transported easily.

  When they were ready to return to the meeting room to eat and rest, Ral had dried off and was feeling particularly good. It was a strange feeling and he felt a little guilty feeling good, especially when Gates were ripping open and monsters were swarming the Heart.

  But things were working out. The barricades were holding up, Aris was awake, their ‘ladder’ worked and they had a plan ready to go. Things were no longer as awkward with Mikol. For a brief moment, he allowed himself some optimism. When he went inside the room and saw his twin sitting there by the fire, looking more haggard than ever, he knew that he had to be the one to be optimistic.

  He sat down beside Aris and gently took one of her hands in his. “Everything’s ready,” he said, smiling slightly even though she couldn’t see it. “We’re going to be alright.”

  His sister, ever the pessimist between them, turned her gemstone eyes towards him. Ever since admitting to her deeds that gave her those eyes, she’s stopped hiding them.

  “Tomorrow will be another clear day as Gardlo says,” she said. “You’re not going to like this but I think we should start tomorrow. We are running out of time.”

  “So soon?”

  “If it rains or the giant Gate becomes obscured by any low clouds, we would have a difficult time. No, it must be a clear day,” Aris clutched at his fingers. “Ralos. It’s going to be difficult. We might fail. And… I have a suspicion the Parts don’t care much about our lives. Even if we do succeed it may be at a price.”

  “We both knew this for a long time. You needn’t remind me now, at the cusp of putting our plan to work.”

  Her mouth pinched slightly, the way it does when she has something to say but finds it difficult to. Ral waited patiently, amused. “You have someone waiting for you now,” she finally said. “I wouldn’t blame you for being angry that there is no other way. Or even if you want to back out.”

  Ral patted her hand. “Rask sure didn’t fling me in the air so many times today just for me to quit,” he laughed. Aris didn’t find it funny. He fondly looked at her impassive face - the moon to his sun. The pessimism to optimism. He would die alongside her if it meant it fixed everything and she knew this. “You have someone waiting for you too. And we have each other to put up with for the rest of our lives. We will survive this, little moon.”

  It felt like she looked at him despite not having eyes. She squeezed his hand back, nodded, and spoke in a voice she did so many years ago that made him believe every word she said. “We will survive this,” she agreed. “I’ll make sure of it.”