by Isabel Wroth
~Did you do that? Aley asked with a curious lift of his brow.
~I unraveled the shield of energy protecting the city, but I didn’t shift the sand. I can feel energy beneath my feet. I believe there is a self-cleaning protocol hardwired into the streets. A technological way the Oahir were able to keep their roads clear of the constantly shifting desert.
Satesh stepped closer to her, his gaze sweeping back and forth ahead and around them for any signs of danger, his thoughts focused suddenly on throwing her behind him and ordering the mercenaries forward at the smallest threat.
~We aren’t in any danger.
~Well, your elders are impressed. No, don’t look back. They’re sure this is all you’re doing. No reason to enlighten them just yet. Aley’s voice was tight with reproach, Satesh having shared the elder’s misplaced blame with him, and then had an ally in his outrage.
Neither of her Chosen had made an effort to conceal their dislike for the three Matavei and hadn’t them an overabundance of compassion.
Ilaria knew they understood what Nishaba, Ilum, and Ibi were going through, but because they had placed the blame on Ilaria for not completing her mission sooner, neither Aley or Satesh were feeling very forgiving.
They walked beside her, the elders behind them, and more of Satesh’s mercenaries brought up the rear. Every step Ilaria took, the more she tuned herself to the natural hum of Shazerah, the more she felt like she had come home.
It was a strange place, that was certain, but it felt…good. Right. Yet something in the appearance of the city wasn’t quite as she remembered.
As they climbed up the third flight of stairs, with three more to go before they reached the top, Ilaria was very grateful Aley had insisted she continue her swimming and strength training, even though she felt much stronger and steadier on her feet.
She knew the city had lifts and transports to carry them up and down, but until the power source was activated inside, Shazerah would remain asleep.
The city stretched out along the entire base of the mountain. Ilaria had to crane her neck to see the highest level, a pair of smooth stone towers stretching halfway up the craggy surface.
Between the two towers was a wide, grand entrance with four pillars so thick ten men couldn’t circle them and touch.
From her earlier exploration of the city, she knew at the top of the pitched roof, high above them where the pillars held up a balcony that stretched from one side of the main tower to the other, there was an opulent room where the reigning kings and queens had come out during festival days or for their coronations.
She could picture it so perfectly in her mind that she inadvertently shared it with Aley and Satesh both.
~Looks like the perfect spot for our new bedroom, Satesh declared, leering at her with a suggestive waggle of his brows.
~I concur, Aley responded, staring upward while his thumb continuously moved over the back of her hand in loving sweeps. But it will be difficult to get inside with the blast doors engaged.
The blast doors. That was it. A solid sheet of metal sealed every window and door. It hadn’t been that way when she had come here only a few weeks before.
The doors had stood open, the wind billowing the gauzy drapes through the windows, fallen leaves skittering across the floor.
“The city is vast, but it appears to be sealed. It could take days to search for an entrance into one of the lower levels,” Ilum commented, wandering forward to the large metal door in front of them.
It was almost too simple, letting her energy flow outward toward the same flat gray barrier, passing through it to find the power source.
She barely had to brush up against it with her curious thoughts before every single one of the doors groaned as they began to rise.
Stale air wafted out from inside like the giant building was giving a deep exhale. It would have been comical, the way Ilum jumped back in surprise, his arms wind milling to keep his balance.
Ilaria was unsure which startled Illum more. The sudden rise of the doors, or the hologram that shimmered to life in the center of the now open portal.
Ilaria frowned to see a white skinned, white-haired male in vibrant blue robes, with beautiful blue derma-glyphs. He was older, but he looked to be the same species as the male lying in Jalu’s stasis pod. The hologram looked unerringly at her, smiled warmly and gave a low bow,
“Welcome, She Who Travels.”
Ilaria sat on a cool stone bench inside a long since dead garden, watching Commander Nishaba circle the hologram of the Oahir male.
He said his name was, Jyaan, programmed to wait for Ilaria’s arrival and to assist her in any way she required. Thus far, no matter who had posed questions to the hologram, Jyaan hadn’t answered anyone but her.
He just stood there patiently, a calm, serene expression on his face, a gentle smile twisting his lips, looking nowhere except at her.
The litany of Nishaba’s questions grew louder and more repetitive, as though shouting at the hologram would be the key to making it speak. Ilaria finally lost her patience and snapped,
“Commander, clearly your interrogation is not working. If you would allow me?”
With a frustrated hiss, Nishaba waved his hand imperiously and ordered her to get on with it. Satesh stood up from his casual pose where he’d been leaning against the pillar behind her, towering near a half a head taller than Nishaba.
His anger lashed about like a sandstorm, stinging her flesh with heat and tiny nips of pain. Aley lay his palm on the back of her neck and immediately the intensity ebbed, sharing the backlash of Satesh’s fury so it didn’t hurt as bad.
“You may be Ilaria’s elder, but you do not command her. If you speak to her in that tone again, you will regret it.”
To diffuse what promised to be a volatile situation, Ilaria asked Jyaan how he knew they would be coming.
The hologram spread his arms to indicate the vast garden that no doubt had once been the heart of the city.
“Long ago, a traveler came to Oahir.”
The hair on her arms began to rise, and before Jyaan could name the traveler, Ilaria knew.
“His name was Tau’tatemjalu. When he appeared to our empress, Dharani, he told her Oahir was changing, and soon would become inhospitable to our people.
“He made predictions which came true in order to prove himself an ally and found the people a new world in which we would continue to thrive, but it took the death of millions before Dharani agreed to leave.
“Tau’tatemjalu helped us prepare, and he told us our great cities would not be abandoned forever, that someday a people just like the Oahir, displaced and forced from their home would seek refuge here.
“Other travelers, like himself, and lost souls saved at the hands of a grieving brother.” Satesh jolted like Jyaan had reached out and sank his fist into Satesh’s chest. “Shazerah has been waiting for you, my lady. You, and your people.
“My function is to guide you throughout the city, answer your questions, and help you bring life back to Oahir.”
“I thought you said this planet was abandoned two thousand years ago?” Ilum contested, his surprise and confusion plain as day on his face. “Jalu was the first Matavei to travel the etheric plane successfully, but that was only eleven hundred years ago.
“How could it be possible for him to converse with a species gone well before he had even entered his stasis pod?”
Ilaria looked to Ibi, who was frowning so hard her brows were drawn together in one long line.
“Jalu has been adrift longer than any other. The first time he was called back for his Awakening, he asked to be immediately put back to sleep. He told his Steward that he needed more time but wouldn’t say what for.
“The power of the universe does not flow in one direction. It is an ocean with tides that ebb and flow, currents that run deep beneath the surface. It is shocking, but not impossible.”
“What is?” Nishaba demanded, still giving Satesh a baleful glare.
“The only way to know for sure would be to wake him. I will need the other Stewards,” Ibi looked to her, and Ilaria could still see, still sense the hint of misplaced hatred. That Ilaria was here and Ibi’s son was not.
Ilaria did not look away from the other female, she did not lower her eyes. Ibi was suffering, and there was nothing Ilaria could say or do to soothe the loss of Ibi’s son.
All she could do was continue, fulfill her mission, and live. Ibi would either choose to grieve and find a new purpose, or she would continue to steep in her bitterness. All Ilaria could do for herself, was the same. Grieve the loss of her people and continue her mission.
“When I was Awoken, and Aley told me what was in store for me, he offered me death. My Awakening was so violent, so terrifying and painful, I considered it.”
Aley squeezed her gently, Satesh retreated from his stare down with Nishaba to come and sit beside her, taking her hand to press a kiss to her fingertips.
“Jalu appeared to me then and told me he had seen my future. That I could not die if I wanted our people to live. He showed me a vision of this place. When Satesh liberated us from Myst, I was drawn to Oahir, and for a moment Jalu appeared to me again.
“Just for a moment, but it was long enough to know whatever work he is accomplishing, he isn’t finished. Jalu is the oldest, strongest, most experienced traveler among the Matavei. I believe he will make himself known to the Stewards when he is ready to rise.”
Ilum gave a dismissive wave of his hand, his sharp blue gaze touching on all the dead shrubs in the garden, his tone empty of everything but practicality.
“We need not concern ourselves at this time with waking the travelers. We need to be able to feed them first. This garden appears to be large enough to meet the necessary nutrition requirements, but gathering seeds, finding a water source, growing the food and cultivating it will take time and labor.
“Our priority should be to secure the city, restore its power source, and ensure we have food and water to sustain every inhabitant five times over before we consider waking anyone else.”
“That won’t be an issue. By this time tomorrow, the garden will be able to more than provide enough food.” Aley stated confidently, making Satesh choke back a laugh, and Ilaria roll her eyes.
~A bit ambitious of you, Aley, Ilaria teased silently.
Aley gave her a sidelong look, his red-gold eyes dancing with sensual certainty,
~Ambitious? You can’t keep your hands off me, love.
“I was not aware you possessed powers to return life to what is dead,” Ibi snapped rudely,
Now it was Aley who rolled his eyes. He leaned over to press his lips to hers, giving Ilaria the vibrant glow of his sexual energy. When he drew away her skin tingled as though a layer of regeneration gel had been brushed over her.
Ilaria opened her eyes, and the dead, brittle petals of the flower she had plucked from a nearby shrub were now soft and plump.
Ilaria smiled and let her cheek rest on Aley’s shoulder as she spun the flower in her fingers, watching the light play across the stunning red spears.
“Aley cannot return life to what is dead,” Ilaria murmured, tilting her head back to smile up at him, the glow of love she felt burning inside her echoed in the wink he gave her.
“He and Satesh both give life to me, energy, love. I haven’t had time to learn to channel it with precision and as a result everything around us…Awakens. The garden will bloom again, and I can sense water deep beneath our feet.
“A great, flowing river of it that would take thousands of years to drain. If there are channels within the fortress to move it through, we will have both food and water aplenty.”
As if to punctuate her words, Satesh kissed her throat, and another fission of power rolled from within her.
The river deep beneath the sand rose up as though it had been waiting for Ilaria’s call. Up through the rock and rubble, up through the bones of those long since turned to dust, up through the dry wells, surging higher and higher, until every fountain in the fortress overflowed.
At first, the water was thick and black with decades of rot, dirt, and decay. But slowly it cleared until the soft sound of tranquil trickling filled the garden. One kiss. One loving caress and the world around them began to bloom.
“Jalu has truly fulfilled his purpose to our people,” she murmured, able to feel the echo of his presence even now. Deep in the stone, a whisper on the wind, a shimmer of light that flashed across the floor.
“Oahir will be our home. We will make it thrive. Not just for ourselves, but to honor those who came before.” Ilaria turned her face into the gentle breeze that blew through the atrium, peace settling around her like a warm blanket.
Jalu’s approval? She hoped so.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Satesh~
Night had long since fallen, his body was heavy with sensual exhaustion, but there was an empty spot beside him where a warm, beautiful body ought to be.
In the darkness, Satesh could see Aley sprawled on his back, his face turned away, the arm Ilaria had snuggled into lay outstretched towards him.
Satesh sat up, his muscles giving a minor protest as he stretched and looked around for that warm, beautiful body.
It was the glow of her skin illuminated by moonlight that finally drew his gaze. Ilaria was utterly and perfectly nude, leaning forward with her arms braced on the stone rail of the balcony, her heart shaped ass thrust backward, her long, shapely legs crossed at the ankle as she stared out into the desert beyond with her chin in hand.
He sat there a moment, simply lost in absolute appreciation, marveling that somehow such a stunning creature had given her heart to him.
So much weight rest on such slender shoulders, and it was his honor to help Ilaria bear it. He eased from the bed, careful not to wake Aley, and padded silently across the room, beneath the stone arches that now housed his collection of fission crystals.
Ilaria had lovingly displayed each one, having carefully placed them in little niches with reverent hands. Though the stars they had come from where now long gone, their last light was preserved, flickering gently in the dark.
Satesh hadn’t looked at the crystals once since learning of his brother’s deaths, and in her quiet, understanding way, Ilaria had brought them out once more and stood by him, holding his hand while their light and the memories washed over him.
His brothers had died to bring Ilaria and Aley into his life, and were he to be given a choice, Satesh knew he could never willingly choose one pair over the other.
But as he joined Ilaria on the balcony and pressed his lips between her shoulders, wrapping his arms around her while gazing out on the rolling sands that constantly shifted with the tide of the wind, Satesh could only hope Shahin and Sorosh would understand his thankfulness he did not need to choose.
“Aley and I must have done something wrong if you can walk without assistance,” Satesh whispered in her ear, feeling her smile. “What draws you from our bed at such a late hour?”
Ilaria hugged his arms around her, and her head fell back into the cradle of his shoulder with a soft sigh.
“We have seen the turn of two seasons since our arrival. Between the garden and the efforts of your people and mine, we have food and water aplenty.
“Everyone is settling into a routine, flourishing, healing. Oahir seems to be tailor-made for all of us,”
“It does,” he agreed softly, rubbing his lips back and forth across the hollow behind Ilaria’s ear.
“I was finally able to connect with one of the other travelers,”
Satesh hummed, rocking her gently, basking in the feelings of happiness and relief she shared with him.
Every one of the Matavei who were not travelers had been Awakened. Without a
reason to say why their bodies had mutated in their hermetically sealed stasis pods, the travelers remained asleep.
None of the elders or scientists at their disposal had been able to say why, but as one who had been so changed, Ilaria had been relentless in her pursuit of discovering the reason why.
She spent hours each day meditating, her mind adrift in search of Jalu or one of the other elder travelers while he and Aley waited for her to return.
“You discovered why you and the others changed,” Satesh said, unable to keep his pride to himself. She was such a marvel, his Chosen.
“I traveled for far longer than was intended, and though I explored so many worlds, I always felt apart. Different from those I studied, unable to relate until I met Cassie.
“I recall the surprise on her face when she learned I was alien. ‘You look so human,’ she told me, and not long later, I wanted to be.
“Her species is unique among the many others I encountered, and as she described what it felt like to be human, as she told me all she had suffered, and I watched her overcome what seemed like insurmountable odds, I found myself wishing I was as strong as she was.
“I knew if I had even half as much bravery and resilience, I could fulfill my mission and save my people.
“Today I found Calia, the female who transformed into the Charinos. She is seen only by a male, one she loves very much.
“As a Matavei, she would never be able to survive on Charin or mate with the one she loves, so her desire to be one of them has somehow allowed her body to change. She willed it so, and I imagine the others are the same.
“I spoke to Ibi and the stewards. We will wake the travelers one at a time and help them through their transition. They will be ambassadors, allies, friends to the other worlds out there.
“Calia’s mate wishes to be present for the ceremony. I told her I would ask if there were any Dhjana ships close by—”
“I will send one immediately.”
“Thank you,”
“Of course.” Satesh didn’t try to pull her back to bed, enjoying these stolen moments when it was just the two of them. He welcomed Aley as a friend and a brother, finding solace in the Issite’s constant and unwavering acceptance.