26. Zoning in

Next morning, they packed their things, had porridge with shredded blackberry leaves, and started their descent into the valley.

Winding down the slope, old road was barely usable. At some places it was even blocked with remnants of the mudslides. On others, it was cut through with ravines.

They paired up, helping eachother safely pass the obstacles, and then, Ivory had an epiphany.

To his left, Yax picked up Mani, crossing over fallen trees and rocks like it's nothing. Showing off their new relationship without thinking. Typical for both of them.

To his right, Cid supported Floreo, as Mani was not under his care anymore. Why did Floreo accept so smoothly? Usually, it was Floreo dragging Echo around. Uncharacteristic behaviour. What about Echo?

Ivory swiped his head around. There, Blaze was just helping Echo climb over a log. By casually pushing Echo's butt up over it. What the actual _ is that technique? Well, Blaze most likely thought nothing of it, but was Echo normally so..

"Ivory?" He heard questioning voice and looked down. Under the rock he used as vintage point, Jone stood with his arm stretched up to him "won't you come down? Let me help you."

Ivory automatically crouched, leaned on Jone's hand and jumped down. He stood next to Jone and realised that he had a nice view of his hair whorl. Why should I notice that? Why am I dizzy? He became aware of his sensory input filling him with impressions of his surroundings.

Calm down. In the back of his mind, a psychology section automatically opened up and provided him with references to emotional connections forming while people shared life endangering experiences. I did not ask!

Random info dump just swept over his mind. His brain struggled between files frantically offering data he did not ask for and reality. His muscles twitched and he started to hyperventilate. Focus! He squatted and hugged his knees in attempt to prevent himself from lashing out.

Jone noticed right away what's happening. He did not know the exact trigger, but he noticed Ivory being more quiet past few days. Now, he just kneeled down, careful not to touch panicked man, and observed his facial expression. Clenched jaw. Creased forehead. Sweat.

He swiped open his bag and pulled out thermos with hot water.

"Tea?" Jone basically whispered and saw Ivory nod, "Stage four?" And Ivory nodded again.

While Jone was still measuring exact quantity of tea powder, Ivory buckled down to his knees, his hands grabbing ground in front of him and long suppressed wailing sound escaping from his throat. That's stage five! Ivory was entering aggression overload way to fast.

He did not fumble though, Jone adjusted the dosage, poured powder into thermos and used it as a shaker to dissolve it as soon as possible. Unscrew the cup, pour the tea, hold it under Ivory's nose so he can inhale vapour first.

After a few deep breaths, Ivory grabbed the cup and downed it. Throwing it back at Jone he hissed "One more." Jone refilled and gave it back to Ivory, waving his hand at others standing and watching them, to get them to move out of the sight. Ivory needed to decompress and he could not do that while being stared at.

Yax whistled, and everyone followed him, leaving Jone alone to take care of Ivory, who was now sitting on his heels and entering meditation. They silently walked on untill reaching undamaged section of the road, then kept going for half an hour more. Only then they stopped for a break.

They got out their water bottles, where peeled roasted acorns were soaking in water to lose bitterness. Mani did not soak his portion, he needed his bottle for coffee. And he liked bitterness so he munched on acorns as they were.

No one made any comments on what happened, as they all knew Ivory long enough. For a while, Yax even kept triggering him on purpose as he found his loss of temper cute. But it was never like this before. It made Yax to feel like complete ass again. He really owes Ivory a lot.

Mani had no idea what was going on with Ivory, but he knew there were chips in his head, and that was enough info for him. He had a policy not to ask others questions he would not liked to be asked himself. He stood shoulder to shoulder with his Yak, and got rewarded with a nice side hug.

After 15 minutes, Ivory and Jone joined them, and they all just moved on as if nothing happened. Ivory was a bit pale, but otherwise seemed stable.

Soon, Mani pointed at a huge maple, towering over trees around it, shading them and stunning their growth. "Here starts the line. If we follow the maples" he showed another tree a bit further away, "they will guide us to the center of the complex."

"Let's first check if there's anything hidden under this one." Ivory said. "My database has notes of four cornerstones and one central hub that act as connectors for the powerplant to land on."

They looked around, but found nothing. Then Echo approached the tree itself and studied it "Trunk here looks folded," he said while tracing it's bark with his fingertips "like there's something inside."

"Could the tree eat the cornerstone?" Blaze asked looking up at towering crown of big leaves.

"No," Floreo said, "but it could grow around it and envelop it." Took time, but they all knew how long it passed since this spot was abandoned.

Mani approached the tree as well, and frequency of his beeping pendant changed. Everyone was a bit startled. They got so used to Mani beeping while walking that they completely disregarded that sound.

"Well, we will come back and take it down later." Yax decided. Shame about the tree, but station would squash it anyway while landing. They could actually use it's timber for their camp. Waste not, want not.

They moved on, followed the direction trees pointed at, and soon arrived to the huge stone obelisk, standing in the middle of a clearing. Trees were all around, but in a circle of some 100 meters around the stone, there was a grassy swamp that obviously was artificially made in some way.

Ivory studied his files "It was a concrete basin with water, prepared to cushion landing gear of the powerplant during relocation." He used a stick to test it, and air bubbled out of viscous mud under grassy top. "It seems it got filled with leaves that rotted in water." It stank, so he moved away.

Yax looked at the obelisk but there was no way to aproach it. "We will have to clear the mud out, to get to the middle." He looked around. Camping near this stinky pit would be unnecessary torture.

He turned north "We saw river passing on that side, let's make a permanent camp there first."

Jone agreed "We will be able to get water and fish out of it, and there should be greater variety of edibles by it."

They left the obelisk behind, and moved up the slight slope to the north. They were walking under maples again, and they soon found out that north cornerstone was just a bit south of he river they chose for their camping site.

Also, behind it hill was steeper, and they decided to climb up a bit to have a better view over their valley. Blaze was thrilled by the notion that they managed to find location of their new home already. Sure, it will take them a lot of time to clear it out and prepare for station relocation, but this place will be their new home.

River was not wide, it was cascading down from northern hills, curving and meandering, creating small lakes on spots where trees fell down and barred it's passing. They saw some small waterfalls and rapids, and found a flat space not far from one of such lakes under a waterfall.

They were expected to live here for as long it takes to move station over, so they dedicated some time to planning and decided to build wooden shacks as accomodation. They learned to connect logs while building a raft, so it should be doable. Making it partly burrowed would help shield it from environment, and it would take less wood.

"Four cottages," Yax said, he wanted some privacy with Mani after all "In a semicircle here, looking south. Open area for cooking and eating in the middle."

"Closer to the river, with earthen stove, and a roof over it." said Echo, as he was the main cook after all.

Floreo raised his arm and waved for attention "I want to room with Cid from now on." By his side, Cid just nodded in agreement.

Yax was a bit bewildered "Well sure, but who will then be with Echo?"

"I can share with Blaze." Echo said, still observing the spot for kitchen, not bothering to clear up what he can share exactly.

Blaze did not really care about such details "Sure, but what about Jone?"

Jone had a bit unreadable expression "It's actually best option. I am a med-tech, and all of you are fine. Ivory is my top concern, so this way I can do my job better."

Ivory thought about it, then agreed.That should be good. He still felt shaky, and Jone's professional expertise was proven already. There was still some buzzing noise, somewhere in the back of his mind.