The search for ideas, after he had explained to Ahir and Rolly what he wanted, was done here, in his rooms, to ensure that the Light's new residence would remain confidential until it was ready and secure. The Firsts had whole regions that were theirs, some were places humans had not set a foot in. And that was what Adam was looking for, not a place in which Firsts lived among the humans, but somewhere where they lived completely apart. He wanted a property in a region that was strictly the Firsts', in which no humans resided. Nor would all such properties fit—he needed a place that would effectively be a safe house, yet one from which Aelia could travel to be among her people, as she promised she would, and one to which she could always return safely and find some peace in, a sanctuary. And the same went for him. They would both find themselves traveling, dealing with the needs of the Firsts. And with whatever unexpected might occur, he thought somberly.
Perhaps more complicated, it had to be a place with unique protection parameters in that they had to be highly flexible and yet hermetic—without the need for added manpower. A place where the Firsts' technologies and his experience, his mere presence there beside Aelia, would be enough. The whole idea was not to have an army there around her. Ideally, it would house only the two of them. Almost peaceful, she had said about Aeterna. Almost peaceful because of its vast grounds, the feeling of nature, yet in it she was always surrounded by people watching her.
His brow furrowed. He would have liked to keep her here, at Aeterna. The place was a fortress, a beauty designed for comfort above the ground with a secure underground complex that had existed long before the Firsts had decided to build the great house. And as far as he was concerned, security was damn near perfect here for this woman he was set on protecting. But if he couldn't convince her to stay here, he would find a place just as good.
A couple of properties seemed close. They had good security parameters but were either too small or surrounded by too many people, and he was sure she would be restless there. And that, he knew from his experience both with people he had guarded and people he had targeted, was no less of a security issue. No, he wanted some place that she would feel comfortable in, that she would actually want to retreat to when she needed, and she would, increasingly so, as the pressure on her would increase. Some place big enough for her to be isolated and not feel she was cooped up in like a prisoner, and with some sort of a Firsts civilization close by, for a whole set of reasons. Yes, he knew what he was looking for, and he knew that he'd know when he saw it.
And he did. That place, right there on the screen. That was going to be their new home. Aelia’s sanctuary.
Seeing his reaction, Rolly was already pulling up data about the property and the area around it, something he assured Adam only the head of Aeterna's defense and security and a Protector could do for all Firsts locations. Other heads of defense and security could only access data about sites they were responsible for.
“I know this property very well,” Ahir jumped in with unhidden enthusiasm. “This is where I escaped to when I couldn't find you, after your parents were killed.” He took over replacing the images on the screen. “The entire area for hundreds of miles around it was purchased under human laws and classified as being under private ownership more than two centuries ago, and has since been maintained by us in its original state. It has a single village, the original settlement the Firsts built there. It’s small, but make no mistake, it is highly advanced. Its residents are the ones who maintain the entire area. They chose to live a simple life, and the village is effectively self-sustainable, although it doesn’t have to be, since Aeterna takes care to provide such areas with all the support they need. It is,” he said, flipping through the images, “one of the gems of the planet, and we assign great importance to its preservation. And, better yet, this is an area the humans have not taken take an interest in, and it is surrounded by an even larger region yet unexploited.”
Ahir zoomed in on the cottage. It was a cozy structure, built as two main wings joined by a spacious common living area. It also had a small single-level detached wing to house guests or perhaps household staff. Both main wings were slightly drawn back toward the trees and the boulder, while the common area protruded toward the lake. The detached wing blended well into the trees, away from the lake and beyond the main cottage.
“The cottage is actually quite far from the village, and the entire property it is on extends for miles around it. No one lives anywhere near there. The whole idea was to keep the cottage private and isolated,” Ahir explained.
Adam turned from the screen and looked at him, his brow raised.
“I should know, I was the one who had it built,” Ahir said with a wide smile.
Adam didn’t budge. That wasn’t what he meant. It was all just a bit too simple. Too apparently simple. One thing he'd already learned was that this was not how the ancient species that had to hide in plain sight among the humans, all the while protecting itself, did things.
Ahir chuckled and nodded to Rolly, and a smile passed Adam's lips. That was more like it.
The multilayered images that now appeared on the screen showed a complex deep under the village, and another, far smaller complex immediately under the cottage, with a long, narrow extension connecting the two below ground. While the Firsts had their main complex, with the control center in it, under Aeterna, and smaller-scale ones in its main communities worldwide, it also had dormant ones scattered across the globe. This was one of them, Ahir explained.
“Originally, only the underground structure had been there,” he said, “until the Firsts decided to build the village to signify to human settlers that the area was already taken and lived in, to keep them away. The choice had been to build the village above the larger section of the complex, away from the lake, because the location was the least disruptive to nature around it, since the village would include both homes and fields. At the time nothing had been built above the smaller, control center section, where the cottage now stands.”
He sighed, remembering. “That’s where I lived when I first went there, in that smaller, isolated complex. I spent I don't know how many days beside that lake. No one dared come near me until Neora finally came to take me back to Aeterna. I returned there about a year later and had the cottage built, and it became a sanctuary I could return to once in a while, to regain my strength by remembering the hope Neora instilled in me that you were out there, alive. I would take your grandmother there.” Sadness seeped into his voice. “The cottage was built with your return in mind. I thought we might need to take you away for a while when you returned, for you to recuperate.” He indicated the screen. “One wing would be where your grandmother and I would stay, the other was supposed to be yours. The detached wing I thought Remi would be in, he had just started with us back then.” It was easier to talk about it now, with Adam safely there, even with the lost years that would never return.
“Some years ago I thought the Keeper needed to get away, and that's where I took her, then and a few times after that, although not for a while now. I used the part of the wing my late wife and I always had, and Neora used the other. That's how I can tell you it would fit Aelia and you. Obviously with the Keeper there we needed increased security, so I activated the control center below, and that’s where the security detail stayed, too, along with Rolly. It's highly comfortable since it was originally designed for long-term stay.”
Rolly brought up the blueprints. The cottage had an access way down to the underground complex through an elevator that opened outside the control center, which the images that came up beside the blueprints showed was indeed a smaller version of the one at Aeterna. That part of the complex also housed an infirmary, a large space that was prepared for use as a residence for security teams or for a defense unit, if needed, and a separate space that was designed especially for the Keeper and for the Protector and his family. That, Ahir explained, could be found in every underground complex of the Firsts.
There was no direc
t access by vehicle to the cottage above ground, no roads. But that was because the underground complex had its own parking area, which was where the elevator from the cottage above descended directly to. The parking area opened to an underground passage that led to the only road to the cottage that could comfortably accommodate vehicles above ground, a couple of miles away.
“Is this the only access to the cottage?” Adam asked.
“It was the original road to and from that part of the underground complex. I never added others for security reasons,” Ahir answered. “But the village has its own private airfield, and there’s an underground passage from under the cottage directly to it.”
“The larger complex, under the village, was designed to comfortably house its residents for a prolonged duration,” Rolly remarked. “It’s still maintained by the villagers, although it hasn’t been used since the village was built, there has never been a need for that. The smaller complex, under the cottage, is the operational one. The passage between the two was technologically sealed when the cottage was built and the security classification of the area for several miles around it had to be upgraded because of its use by the Protector, and later by the Keeper. So, in fact, the road out and the road to the airfield are the only ways a vehicle can travel to and from the cottage.”
He was now showing on the screen blueprints of the cottage itself, and Adam was astonished at how perfect it was. He could work with this. The cottage was certainly enough. Aelia and he could each occupy a wing—each wing had, according to the blueprints, a spacious bedroom, a large bathroom and an equally large walk-in closet, and a convenient niche outside the bedroom that could perhaps serve as a private sitting area or a work area. The Keeper preferred the former in her stays there and Ahir the latter, he said. The use of the detached wing remained to be seen, simply because Adam wasn't sure. It could remain empty for guests, if they had any, he supposed. Both Aelia and he were used to taking care of themselves, and despite the fact that at Aeterna their every need was taken care of, and he understood that this was bound to be the case from now on, he wasn't sure either of them would want or need anyone to actually live with them.
Of course, that wasn't the only issue they'd have to deal with, he realized. This cottage had a great potential for being the peaceful, private sanctuary that Aelia needed, and he wouldn't mind that either. But the fact was that if he chose it they would be facing a new situation for both of them. Aelia was used to living alone, and so was he. And now they, virtual strangers in that sense, were about to live together in the same house. And this wasn't the great house of Aeterna. Adam looked thoughtfully at the cottage on the screen in front of him and found he had no idea how he felt about this.
His thoughts were interrupted by Ahir. “When the Keeper and I stopped going to the cottage, the underground complex was shut down and cleared again, except for the control center technology, which hasn't been replaced since. The cottage was simply left as it was.”
Rolly nodded. “And if you're serious about taking the First there, the entire security layout of the place will have to be reconstructed.”
“And enhanced,” Adam said. “We’ll replace the control center systems and reactivate it, it’ll be the power behind the cottage’s security. I want the technological layout to be good enough not to require the constant presence of a security detail.”
“She's got you there, Protector, that's a bunch of my people put together,” Rolly said with appreciation.
“Don’t take me into account either,” Adam replied to that sternly. “The starting point has to be enough to keep the First safe without the need for anyone who could actually get hurt, which would reduce her protection.”
Rolly understood what Adam was going for. “Right. I'll arrange for us to go there with the necessary techs.”
“Good. I also want a satellite on the place from this moment on, but not on shared time with anyone else. Nobody sees this feed unless they're authorized.”
“That I can do,” Rolly said. “You'll get full-time separate coverage that only you can access and that the unmanned systems at Aeterna and the cottage will watch. If there's an alert it will cascade, first allowing Mr. Kennard and myself access, and we can pass it on to field teams if needed. Only you and Mr. Kennard will be able to override anything at any given time.”
“You'll also need to refurnish and restock the underground complex, to be ready for the two of you if you need it for any reason, as well as for any security or defense teams you might have to call in if anything happens. And no less important”—Ahir brought up images of the inside of the cottage—“the cottage needs to be completely refurbished. It used to be maintained by a caretaker who lived in the village. His son has taken this responsibility some years ago, I believe, and he can continue to help you take care of the place, but everything inside needs to be replaced according to your preferences, yours and Aelia's.”
Adam nodded. Ahir was right. Before they would even begin to deal with the reality of actually living together, they needed to make the cottage their own. “I'd like to have a holographic projection of the cottage to show Aelia, in addition to the area’s images. She's not going anywhere near the place until I secure it and it’s ready for her to move to.” He contemplated the images he’d seen so far. “We'll put in place an initial security layout before work starts so that every single change being made there and every person who goes near the place can be monitored, and once it's ready—as in ready to live in—we'll complete the layout and run it. I'll try to get in several ways, see how the security measures react.”
Rolly and Ahir concurred.
Adam and Ahir continued to go over the information about the area, the village and the cottage, with Ahir filling Adam in from his personal experience. Rolly left them, his mind busy with what he needed to do. He should be worried at the prospect of the First leaving Aeterna to live so far away, he thought, in the middle of nowhere, but having Adam as Her Protector made him confident it would be fine. The man was something the likes of which he'd never encountered before. He'd never seen anyone adjust so fast, or learn so fast, for that matter. And he certainly wouldn't want to engage in combat with this guy—he'd seen the security footage of him and Semner.
But perhaps most of all, he remembered the day he first met Adam, when he had been prepared to attack Rolly's armed men for this woman whose real identity he did not even know.
Yes, he had no doubt. Adam Kennard would keep her safe.
It wasn't the night, it was the peace. It just happened to be available to her only at night, when Aeterna wound down around her, and she could withdraw to her balcony, be surrounded by the privacy of the hushed dark. While parts of the great house were still humming with activity even in the small hours of the night, those, the parts that dealt with security, she was oblivious to. The constantly alert control center was deep underground, isolated and unheard, and the security teams on call were in positions they could immediately be deployed from if the technological measures indicated a need. For all intents and purposes, despite the Firsts' advanced measures constantly trained on her, or perhaps because such means were available to them, she was alone up here.
A cricket chirped not far from her and she turned toward it, savoring the sound of this innocent life form in the peace around her. Sounds like these, like a chirping cricket or the rustle of leaves in the gentle breeze, or the sight of fireflies dancing in the rays of the moon on this unusually warm night, were precisely what helped her just . . . be. And being now meant an entire world, an age-old existence.
Tonight was so different, she mused. Different from the nights, the moments, that had been her life these days past. There were no questions tonight, no uncertainties or concerns. Just wholeness, and knowing that whatever was not yet there, whatever was not yet known, would come.
The cricket chirped again and she smiled at the peace it was reminding her of. All tension left her shoulders, and she leaned back and closed her eyes, letting hers
elf go beyond.
In his rooms, Adam was alone. Ahir had gone to rest. It had been a long, eventful day, and the old Protector no longer had the energy that the young Protector of the Light did. He was enthusiastic, as if finally finding Adam and seeing the coveted Protector and Light duality come to life in his lifetime was giving him new strength, but still, Adam worried about him. Both Ahir and Neora were up to the task Aelia had asked them to undertake, continue in the role they had served in until now, Adam was certain, but he was glad that Aelia and he would be shouldering the major worries.
His brow furrowed as he thought of his grandfather's role, the role the Kennards had always had in the lives of the Firsts. There was so much he needed to learn. He needed to know everything about the Firsts, everything past and present, everything that would have implications on their safety—everything he would have known had he grown up here, among them. And he didn’t have a lifetime to do that.
The Protector, he thought incredulously. Only weeks ago he was . . . He shook his head. He didn’t know what was more incredible. That or the fact that it was coming to him so easily, that he was absorbing it all so quickly. It was as if every piece of knowledge he was given had a predesignated place in his mind, as if it all belonged there.
No time to think about any of that now, he thought, focusing. He had work to do. Rolly had sent him detailed information about the cottage, the village, and just about everything around, above and under them, including the holographic images he'd asked for. He resumed going through it all, his mind already integrating security weaknesses and the capabilities that would be needed to close them. And that was before he himself would run scenarios.
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