Elysium Shining

by Terri Kraemer

  “There’s no one else at this stop if you want to tell me about it now.”

  “I still haven’t?”

  “No.”

  “You see, have you ever heard of royal markings?”

  * * *

  Soror Valide struck blows at both training dummies. Neither one was turned up too high, but having both made things better for her. She could take both. Her nerves depended on taking both of them.

  One of her sisters, a Ginserei one, walked into the room and said, “Only two dummies?”

  “You can always join them and make three,” Soror Valide said.

  “Some of us are uneasy, sister. You ran off without a word last week. When you came back you spent every day you could exerting yourself against these things instead of spending time with us.”

  Il’lyse screamed—it started deep down and worked its way out—and then roundhouse kicked the dummy closest to the other girl in the room, knocking it down even closer to her. She went on to punch the last standing dummy in the lower torso three more times before grappling it to the ground.

  She shot a glare at the other girl, who went wide-eyed and darted for the exit from this dark training room.

  Why did I bother going? What does that place even matter to me anymore?

  * * *

  “So what exactly do we do on a ‘day of transition?’” Zoey asked while eating a late breakfast with her mom, Dasos, and Tong-Chang.

  Bon’sinne said, “It’s another day, really. It’s treated like an extra day if a due date falls right beforehand, or similar if some event is planned for the day afterward. It’s meant to be a practice in leniency or patience at least twelve times per year, so that we Aelfs don’t become so stuck-up or callous like we were some seven or eight centuries ago.”

  “How does that work?”

  “Well, imagine having a deadline or starting date, as is the norm with life, and then you miss it because some little thing broke that takes all day to repair. By all rights we should take such dates seriously and plan accordingly so that nothing is done at the last minute, or nothing goes unfinished that is important, but sometimes we need the extra day. That includes those of us who are in charge of making decisions.”

  “It seems weird that you would dedicate a day between months for that instead of having a dozen of them with thirty-one days each.”

  “Save for that day extra? Yes, we considered that, but we remembered something most important about our people’s culture. We’re all lovers of art more than trade. It’s mainly for our alliance with other races that we strengthen the latter. If we want the extra day then, against the cold, infinite beyond, we will take that extra day to finish or get started with pretty much anything, or to slack off entirely.”

  “What would have happened if my classes started on the first of the month, tomorrow, rather than the next day?”

  “That probably depends on your instructor. I know a few like to play pranks on their students and say that everything has been canceled, and they have to re-register for that one lesson before the end of the day. The main office has a basket of carrot-flavored lollipops for the students who fall for it.”

  “Carrot-flavored?”

  “Nobody wants carrot-flavored sweets.”

  “Uhh... Carrot cake? Wow, OK, I need to figure out how to make that sometime. That might be hard if the nearest recipe is over thirty light-years away from here.”

  Everyone continued to stare at Zoey like she’d spoken an alien language that not a single one of them was prepared to interpret.

  Slowly, though, Tong-Chang raised a hand and said, “I might like that, I think.”

  * * *

  It was the morning ride on the trolley, on the second day of Femtemane, when Zoey reviewed her class schedule again. She had signed up for the classes herself about a week prior—using one of the course recommendations handed to her for three of them and then barely getting into the one optional class—but she had to double check.

  Today was the first of three days in the week that she had two classes – General Complements I and Martial Arts I. The first of them was a course designed to polish written and oral language, research and critical thinking skills, and basic history; all depending upon the students’ needs. The latter was her choice of physical education for the semester, and had the one slot left when she took it.

  Please, no one send super ninjas after me for taking your spot. I’m so sorry.

  In the two days between her main three, Zoey had Hoshi-Lacartan History and Geography I, and tomorrow she had her first ever job interview at a bakery within walking distance of the condo.

  As predicted, several people looked her way when Zoey walked into her first class at ten in the morning. She took in a deep breath of the air in the classroom and smiled before taking a seat somewhere at random. She ignored everyone she could, though one Aelf girl caught her eye.

  The mystery girl was the first person Zoey had seen, since leaving Earth, who dyed their hair a dark color or used ample makeup that reminded Zoey of the Goth girls she went to high school with. Some part of Zoey wanted to ask the girl about it, but then the instructor walked in, and the lesson began.

  He was a pink-skinned gentleman with three eyes instead of two. As his left and right ones sat a little further apart, the central one was in the middle of where his brow would have been if he had one. Suddenly, Zoey realized that this was the first time she had seen one without a mask covering his upper face.

  “Bottom of the morning to you all,” the instructor said. “Simmer down. Yes, you may notice that I do not check on your attendance like a few professors might, or how any of your instructors did while you were in public schooling. I do, however, examine your quizzes, your primary assignment that will be assigned later, and your capacity to ask for help or advice should you need it. These things alone will tell me plenty about how serious you are in coming here regularly. Now then, my name is Doctor Evrahn. Do you have any questions before we begin?”

  The class lasted its entire seventy-five minutes for the day. Zoey felt as though, despite her disadvantage from living so far abroad, she understood the material that was covered better than a third of the people in that room, if marginally. Doctor Evrahn nodded at her when she was able to answer the majority of one question about a short story they read today; all that she missed in her answer was rooted in an Aelfen history she did not yet know.

  She asked him where she might find the missing information, and he suggested a few books easily found in the library.

  Outside of the classroom the Goth Aelf called out to Zoey, saying, “Hey, wait up.”

  “Hello,” Zoey said.

  “You’re that Thalassas girl, right?”

  “It’s Zoi’ne. What’s your name?”

  “Zoi’ne, huh? That’s a unique name. You can call me a lot of things, but I guess Bu will do, for now.” Looking at her more carefully, there was some resemblance to her that Zoey couldn’t put a finger on.

  “It’s nice to meet you.”

  “You’re so nice, too. Well then, I wanted to know if I could show you a good time at some point.”

  “Thanks, but I think my girlfriend is more than enough of a ‘good time.’”

  “Oh well, I suppose we can’t win them all. If you change your mind then let me know.”

  Bu walked away, shaking her butt from step to step. Zoey shook her head and took off for the other direction. She was hungry, and there was a sandwich cart that looked more than appealing to her. The sandwiches were wrapped in a type of leaf that remained unfamiliar to Zoey. She bought one and took it to a bench that was built into a short concrete wall, with clover, a few trees, and a couple patches of flowers on the elevated terrace behind that wall.

  A few bites into her sandwich, Zoey caught something small and furry approach from the corner of her eye. She turned her head and spotted a cat, with long hair on its chest and front paws, staring right at her face from within arm’s reach.

 
It mewed.

  “Really now?” Zoey said.

  It mewed again.

  “Didn’t somebody already feed you?”

  Again it mewed at her, sitting this time.

  “I can offer head pats if you want.” Zoey took another bite of her sandwich without taking her gaze off of the cat.

  The cat cracked one last mew in her direction and ran off.

  Then she heard someone giggle from another direction. It was Tong-Chang, who then sat next to Zoey and joined her for what was left of her meal.

  “So have you met any cute boys yet?” Tong-Chang asked.

  “How am I even supposed to answer that one?” said Zoey.

  “I’m only teasing you.”

  “You mean like you did the last time I hooked up with anyone else?”

  “Yeah, you really reached for the stars with that one. I’d ask what got into you, but I think we both know the answer to that one.”

  “Tonny.”

  “Nope. Guess again.”

  Zoey huffed and shook her head at her girlfriend, and then took another bite out of her sandwich. She caught the light sound of Tong-Chang humming a tune. It was a short tune, and her attention seemed to be pointed down at her stomach.

  “Do you have any idea yet what you’re going to do about your baby?” Zoey said.

  “I’m still thinking about it,” said Tong-Chang, “or I’m supposed to, but I don’t know yet. What if it’s triplets, and they all have his face? Will I be haunted by that mistake so long as I live?”

  “That would definitely be complicated. We’ll come up with something, though. We have to.”

  Early into the afternoon, Zoey walked into her Martial Arts class and sat outside of the mat like everyone else was doing. At first she drew a few curious glances while people were chatting and waiting.

  Two people walked in from the back office. Zoey recognized her mom right away. The other individual was an older Ginserei man who had three strips of hair that ran down his chin. Touches of gray and white flowed with the black hair on his head, with the exception of the last few centimeters of the man’s ears; those were grey.

  “Rise, my students,” said the older Ginserei, his palms lifting into the air below his waist.

  Everyone who wasn’t already standing now did so, and everyone faced the two people in the middle of the room.

  “I see some of you are dressed already for your first lesson,” the instructor said.

  Zoey glanced down and saw the gi she was wearing at the moment. Her mom had lent her one without a word a couple days ago, when Zoey mentioned to her that she had enrolled in this class. Zoey had folded it and packed the gi in her bag so she could change before stepping foot in this wing of the gym.

  The instructor said, “That is good. The rest of you take note. If you take part in the Hoshi-Lacartan Academy program, or even if not, then dressing for the part of your intent is always good. But that is enough of my personal philosophy on such matters. Welcome to Martial Arts; One. Some of you will assume to become masters like my new assistant and myself by the end of the semester. You will be wrong. Some of you will assume that we will dive immediately into practical training. If you are wearing a gi, and you have set foot on a mat at least once in your lives, then you will be half-right.

  “I am Su-Jin Paen, no relation to the dean here; don’t be afraid to throw a punch at me on his account, when the time does come. My assistant is a former pupil of mine, and perhaps my better.” He paused to brush his shoulder with one thumb. “She will aid me this semester, and potentially take over for a few of my class times. I am well aware of the rumors that I am an old man on the cusp of retirement. To that, they would be right. My friend here is a promising candidate to replace me. I will let her introduce herself in a moment, but you will call her sensei as you do with me.

  “Now then, who here can answer truthfully, with a show of hands? Who among you has achieved the first level already?”

  In the crowd of students, less than half wore a gi. Two without a robe lifted their arms in the air. Many of the others who did wear a gi raised their hands. Zoey hesitated for a moment and raised hers, noticing a moment later that her mom was now smiling like a devious prankster, ready to spring a trap.

  [ 36]

  Everyone who claimed to have achieved that first level in their martial arts training gathered on one side at Sensei Su-Jin’s behest. The others made room for them and stood around other edges of the mat.

  Zoey’s mom took a step forward and said, “My name is Bon’sinne Thalassas. Some of you may have heard of me, and some of you have not. I am a former captain, now retired, from the Allied Peacekeepers. After a revolution of leaving that career behind me I decided it would be a good idea to help an old friend while I seek a new career of my own. You will find that I am not a pushover, not even to my own flesh and blood.”

  Earth to Zoey, your goose is cooked.

  “Now then,” Bon’sinne said, “we are going to be testing these fine men and women to see what they know. When we are done with this we will move on to our stretches and then give you all fifteen minutes to change if you have a gi handy. You will be expected to return here and stand ready then, whether you have a gi or not, and your lesson will begin. For many of you it will be your second one today. More on that as we continue. Are we ready?”

  Sensei Su-Jin asked the first student their name. Once he learned it, the instructor set his hand out toward Bon’sinne on the mat with his fingers all extended and joined. The student stepped forward.

  “Um,” this student said, “shouldn’t we be practicing on dummies?”

  “Dummies are for the next lesson in a couple of days,” said Sensei Su-Jin. “My assistant here will be limiting herself to the second level in skill so as to not hurt anyone.”

  “Only second, Sensei?”

  Bon’sinne placed her writing hand behind her back, smiled, and then beckoned wordlessly with her left.

  The student started with a spin kick to her right, but even Zoey could spot the lack of structure in the boy’s posture. Her mom flipped around and tapped the boy’s head with her left hand, causing him to fall. The dojo filled with hollow roars from the audience. The boy got back up to try another attack.

  He swept for Bon’sinne’s legs, but she stepped over it with all of the ease of someone going up a single flight of stairs.

  After that the boy went for a punch. Had he been faster, he might have caught Bon’sinne off-balance. Instead, she backhanded the boy’s punching arm and grabbed his other one in passing. She kicked the back of his leg with minimal force, and used her body weight to push down on her student’s back while still holding his arm.

  “Second!” the boy said. “I thought you were second level?”

  “Oh, I’m certainly higher than this, but I used up to the second level on you. As for your own performance, how long ago did you achieve the first level?”

  “Eight months ago.”

  Sensei Su-Jin clapped his hands twice, each sound thunderous as they struck one another.

  Bon’sinne released the boy and offered, without speaking, to help him up. This student returned to the sides with the rest of the class. The remaining first levels shifted uncomfortably except for Zoey.

  Their instructor must have seen this. He asked Zoey, “What is your name?”

  She said, “It’s Zoi’ne Thalassas.”

  Her name earned her a share of attention from around the room as though her rosewood hair and emerald green eyes weren’t enough to grab it before. Zoey could hear mumbles and whispers, but not a word of what was being said. Zoey swallowed hard. She could feel her own nerves creep up on her and try to swallow her whole; some corners of her mind picking up and getting ready to fly. What would the class think if she did that?

  One foot in front of the other, Zoey took her first pose. Both women stood in defensive stances, circling one another and each looking at the other with an inquisitive look. Who was going to go first? Why wasn�
�t Zoey breaking down? What was the real reason her mom was here?

  In an instant Zoey shifted stances and moved in. She caught a subtle twitch in Bon’sinne’s smile as Zoey lunged forward. Zoey took her mom’s hand and pulled with her right, and then she aimed her left for the shoulder. However, her mom must have anticipated this. Bon’sinne used her forward momentum to spin and roll against the punch. Zoey realized a second too late what her mom was doing as she felt a leg strike behind her own from the side.

  Zoey bent her knees and shifted her center of gravity down lower. Her mom’s leg swept from her calf up to her knee, and Zoey used this, or tried to, to catch the attacking leg with her own. Unsure of her success, Zoey used her arms to grapple her mom and either push or pull her down to the mat while in motion.