“Hey.” Wesley tapped Alora on the shoulder. “Steven told me last night he’d had an epiphany.”
“Is that a serious injury?” asked Kaevin. “Did he go to your healing house?”
“No, Kaevin. An epiphany is…” Alora’s words trailed off as she caught Kaevin’s gaze. He grinned, waggling his eyebrows.
“Kaevin!” She whacked him playfully on his arm. “Don’t tease me like that. What was his epiphany, Wesley?”
“He thought of a metal that might transport. He says you might be able to move bronze—it doesn’t have any iron in it. He searched the Internet and found some sources for bronze knives and bronze arrowheads.”
A metal that would transport? Kaevin's mind raced with the possibilities.
Alora twisted her mouth. “Surely the people in Tenavae would know if you could transport bronze. Raelene would know.”
“What is ‘bronze’?” asked Kaevin.
“Don’t tease me again, Kaevin.”
“No, seriously… I’ve never heard the word before.”
“Didn’t the Bronze Age come before the Iron Age?” Wesley asked.
“Maybe not in Tenavae.” Alora tapped her fingernail on her front tooth. “We’ll have to check it out when we get back… if we get back.”
Sensing her fear, Kaevin gave her hand a firm squeeze, and she returned a half-hearted smile.
“Did you hear me?” Arista’s insistent voice broke in. “I was explaining what I learned of portals. The inside of a portal transforms according to your expectations. So you must leave your fears and worries behind.”
“What on earth are you talking about?” Alora asked. “That doesn’t even make sense.”
“Nordamen’s been inside a portal before. The passage was so tiny, they could barely wriggle through. One out of their group panicked and fainted. They dragged him back outside and left him behind, and when they re-entered, the passage was wide enough to walk three abreast.
“Not knowing the distance inside the portal, the leader was worried darkness would fall before they could reach the other end of the portal. They had no way of knowing how long they marched, but Nordamen said it felt as if they walked all day. Upon reaching the end, the portal opened onto a sea with no land in sight just as the sun was setting. They abandoned the exploration quest and returned through the portal. But after only a few breaths they’d already reached the portal opening in Tenavae.”
“Okay, that’s just bi-zar-ro.” Wesley leaned forward to talk over the seatback. “How could it be longer going out than coming back?”
“Really?” Alora’s tone dripped sarcasm. “You think that’s the bizarre part of a portal between two different realms?”
“Oh… you have a point,” Wesley conceded, settling back in his seat. “I guess the existence of two realms is old-hat to me now, just like transporting. I have to say your way is lot better than Star Trek. I wouldn’t relish having my molecules disassembled and reassembled.”
Once again Alora and Wesley shared some private joke, only understandable to Montana natives. Attempting to conceal his irritation, Kaevin whispered, “What’s ‘Star Trek’ and ‘molecules’?”
She pursed her lips to one side. “I can’t even begin to explain it. It’s one of those shows we watch on TV, but it’s science fiction.”
“I don’t like science.”
“No, not like science at school. It’s… uhmm…. Wesley, how do I explain sci-fi to Kaevin?”
Wesley squinted as he scratched his short scruffy beard. “Sci-fi is about crazy, impossible stuff that might happen at some point in the future with scientific advances, but it’s not real. It seems like magic, but the people doing the stuff have a scientific understanding of what they’re doing.”
“Ah… I understand. It’s like electricity or this vehicle.”
“No, this is real, not science fiction,” Wesley responded.
“It’s science fiction to me.” Kaevin turned away, the matter settled in his mind.
*****
The snow-covered landscape of Yellowstone prevented easy access to most of the park sites, including Imperial Geyser, where Wendelle had appeared with Alora sixteen years prior. The hired snowcoach took them part way, and Uncle Charles had secured a backcountry permit, albeit not one that allowed legal camping anywhere near Imperial Geyser.