Origins of Hope
Page 18
“Oh, OK,” Zander said, disappointed. Even though he had been the only one to see the rope, it wasn’t cool like transmuting or levitating things. Who cared about seeing things wiggle? “I talked to Xen—Xenith Lucian—about it since my friends didn’t know what was going on, and he said ‘The Purpose’ is supposed to show us what we’re supposed to do. I don’t get what I’m supposed to do.”
“The Enduring isn’t supposed to be very clear about it,” Mato said. “What you saw will make sense later on, but for now will be confusing.”
Well, that sounds dumb. “Why?”
“So you will remember it,” Mato said, his dark brown nose twitching a little. “Yours is a little different, since The Purpose showed you what you can do, rather than when or why.”
Zander made a face. “But that just seems weird. I can’t fight bad guys by seeing people wiggle or an invisible rope.”
Mato blinked quickly, and Zander almost thought Mato looked a little afraid before the Kath’laka smiled. Zander definitely imagined it; Mato was the biggest alien he met, with big fangs and claws, and there was no way he could be scared of anything. “You never know Zander. Just keep that in mind, all right?”
Zander sighed heavily. “All right, I will.”
“Thank you,” Mato kept his smile, but this time looked like he meant it. “So, you mentioned Xenith. You two getting along?”
Zander grinned. “Oh yeah; he is really nice and has been helping me. He is really cool! He can tell when I’m sad or happy and he cheers me up. His friend Nentok and Qianii are really nice, but they like to argue a lot,” Zander said. “I didn’t know friends could do that and still be friends.”
“As long as it isn’t mean or done a lot, people can bicker and still be friends,” Mato smiled. “Both Nentok and Qianii are from cultures that like to debate, but they still care about other. Does it bother you?”
Zander remembered how the three of them argued, and while they said things like ‘You’re a jerk’, Xenith always grinned, Nentok had this weird huff that meant laughter, and Qianii’s fins fluttered, which was like a smile. It differed from his dad yelling, at least. “They still were nice to each other and don’t yell, so no, it doesn’t.”
“That’s good,” Mato said, with ears perked and gentle brown eyes. “I’m glad that you found a friend in all of them.”
“Xen was the first one who talked to me,” Zander said, “and after he cheered me up I started playing with the other kids in my class. I’m not teased here, either,” he added, remembering his time on Endeavor that felt so long ago.
Mato nodded. “Aorírdal is meant to be a family, and while we can disagree, we don’t want other people being bullied. I’m glad that isn’t the case for you, but remember that no one, not even our friends, remember that.”
Zander wasn’t sure what Mato meant, but he silently nodded. “OK.”
Mato turned his head to the door before his eyes slid back to Zander’s. “I have a few more kids to talk to, but feel free to come back any time, Zander. My door’s always open.”
“Sure,” Zander said, standing up and placing the puzzle box in the basket. He enjoyed talking to Mato, even if it was a little confusing. “My friends asked if you could get them out of class.”
Mato chuckled heartily as he got up, his bones creaking. “Learning is very important, but I need to talk to Efrik and Quath soon. Don’t tell them that yet,” he winked, and Zander winked back. “By the way, Zander, did something else happen?”
“In the Purpose?”
“No, before that.”
Zander paused, wondering what Mato could mean, before he remembered his scrying attempts. “Mm, no, not really,” he said automatically. He didn’t know if he could get in trouble for it, but just in case he would, he should probably not say anything.
Mato sighed, but when Zander looked at him Mato, just had his usual friendly smile on him. “All right then,” he said.
Just as Mato showed Zander out, the doors opened smoothly to reveal a Krshk in a tight environmental suit, tentacles flexing rapidly as they scuttled on the floor. Ears perked, Mato looked down to the Krshk scurrying across the floor into the office. “Krian Hrshk, you could have just used the tanks.”
>>Don’t feel like it and wanted to take this baby out for a stroll,<< ‘Hrshk’ said mentally back in English, hoisting himself gracefully on the desk. The environmental suit covered every part of Hrshk but was translucent, his deep orange skin and bright blue eyes looking around in multiple directions. At Zander’s stare, Hrshk waved a tentacle at him. >>Greetings, human child!<<
>>Uh, hi, Krian Hrshk…<< Zander waved back, completely surprised.
“This is Zander Dušánek.” Mato looked pointedly to Hrshk, who didn’t catch the look.
>>Zander, the small human child. Won’t be small for too much longer, since humans all shoot up like trees. Don’t tell Lelich Nel I said that; they might try to drown me. Have you told them I can’t drown? It’s impossible, and believe me, people have tried ‘for science’. And seriously, why do people think it is a good idea to drown Krshks in the water? Absolutely mind boggling. We’re hosting a seminar on that, right?<< Hrshk’s skin changed from orange to blue to red, and back to orange. Zander found him fascinating to watch and to listen.
Mato laughed. “No, no, I am taking it seriously,” he said when Hrshk turned a shade of burgundy. “But since Lelich Nel has yet to make any such threats—”
>>Oh no, I can tell with the way they sway,<< Hrshk said, swaying himself. >>They sway like this when they are fine, but they do this when I’m around,<< Hrshk went from a gentle sway to a violent shiver. >>I know they're the only Trellis Selyn around here, but I looked it up. Trellis do that when they’re annoyed.<<
“Annoyance doesn’t mean Lelich Nel wants to drown you—”
>>Ah, HA! I knew they found me annoying!<< Hrshk cried, his skin turning yellow. Zander had never heard someone sound so happy figuring out someone was annoyed with them. >>Where’s my datapad, I need to update my notes on Trellis behavior...<<
“First, let me say goodbye to Zander before we continue this conversation,” Mato coughed, but it sounded like a laugh. “We don’t want to take up too much of his time.”
>>What? He’s still—<< Hrshk did a little jump back when his eyes landed on Zander. >>Oh my goodness, I am so sorry. How rude of me. Yes, I apologize for rambling; please go play a lot with toys and expand your mind—it is very important for human children during this developmental stage to—<<
“Hrshk.”
>>Right right right right right, sorry. Good—day?—<< Hrshk’s eyes swiveled to the nebula as if he could tell the day cycle on the station, >>— to you. Please play a lot and build strong neurons!<<
“Uh, OK...” Zander said, hesitantly smiling. He never had an adult tell him to play this much, but he wouldn't argue. “Good day to you, Prior—I mean, Mato and Krian Hrshk.”
“Bye!” Both Mato and Hrshk waved him out, and the door slid shut behind Zander. Still smiling, Zander headed to the lifts, heading back to class to join his friends.
∆∆∆
Later during their playtime, Zander finally had time to tell the other kids about his meeting. With artificial sunlight streaming down from the ceiling with wide room walls mimicking a grassy hill, the kids climbed obstacles and jumped around on actual grass as teachers had a picnic watching them. Efrik turned to Zander as they went for their usual spot away from the teachers.
“So, were you able to get us out of class?” Efrik asked. As a Rym, Efrik already stood taller than Zander, with blue markings on his red tinted face.
Remembering what Mato said about keeping meetings quiet, Zander replied with, “Uhm, I don’t know.”
Efrik frowned, his mouth opened to show gritted teeth. “But I said to—”
Quath the Kath’laka, standing taller than either of them, put his paw on Efrik’s head in reassurance. “Hey, we still might—”
“Stop touching me, Quath;
I told you that was weird.” Efrik whacked Quath’s large hand off his head, rubbing where Quath had touched.
Quath’s large grey eyes looked at the floor and his ears drooped in embarrassment. “Sorry, I didn’t think it was—”
“Cuz you don’t think, you just act,” Efrik hissed, stomping away. “That’s all the Kath’laka are good for. Come on, let’s go to the slides.”
Zander paused, frowning after Efrik. Maybe he should have said Mato would get him out of class, so Efrik wouldn’t have gotten mad. “Are you OK?” Zander asked Quath, lightly tapping his bicep as they followed Efrik for the slides. Quath towered over Zander, so he had to reach up.
“Y-yeah.” Quath rubbed the back of his head, his eyes still downcast and his ears pulled back. “I shouldn’t have touched him. I keep forgetting…”
“Maybe Efrik’s having a bad day,” Zander offered. The other kids moved hastily out of the way at the sight of Efrik stomping over. Or maybe a bad week?
Efrik probably was having a bad day, since after a few minutes of going down the slides Efrik and Quath were laughing together, though when Quath would move to put his hand on Efrik’s head he snatched it away with wide eyes, then lightly smack his own hand. Zander wanted to tell Quath that it was OK to make a mistake, but he would just get yelled at by Efrik. He just made friends, and it would be stupid to lose them. Besides, no one was perfect. Efrik was still better than his other bullies and his dad... even if it wasn’t by much sometimes.
∆∆∆
Three small figures faced each other, sizing each other up. The room looked blurry, and the only one that stood sharply in focus was a human girl with jet black hair with her back to him. A Lyre Selyn, ash colored skin with black patterns and orange flowers, sat on a bed and looked between the human girl and a short Levan. With green scaly skin with very wide shoulders, the Levan spoke to the human, but something garbled the sound, the language alien.
The Lyre Selyn froze for a moment, saying something, and waved her hand behind the human girl. The human turned while the Levan looked in the same direction, and Celes’ violet eyes met his—
“Dang it!” Zander cried as his room came rushing back to him. They scrying seemed to sap him of the rest of his energy, and he flopped backward onto his mattress, rubbing his face. A full minute of scrying this time, and it was getting a little easier every time he tried, but it still took a lot of effort.
Rolling over on his side, he huffed in frustration; the vision confused him. He had scried successfully three times. The first was what he believed to be in the town hall on Endeavor; the second a fleeting glimpse of her somewhere with many aliens and a human man that looked familiar, and now this. Who were those two aliens? Did she leave Endeavor? Why was she there? Where was their dad?
Frowning, he wondered if he could ‘talk’ to Celes through scrying. He couldn’t send net-mail to her—he already tried—but he wanted to figure out what was going on.
He hugged a pillow closer, before someone knocked on his door. Xenith was early. Zander leaped out of bed, tossing the pillow back onto his bed with rumpled sheets, and opened the door to reveal the nineteen-year-old with a simple grey shirt and dark pants.
“Hi Xenith!” Zander said brightly, hoping that Xenith hadn’t ‘heard’ Zander scrying moments before. “You’re not wearing your sash?”
Xenith chuckled and looked slightly embarrassed. “Yeah… Tok said it was a bit much when he caught me wearing it over my PJs.”
Zander laughed, half out of relief that Xenith didn’t catch him scrying, and half at the image of Xenith parading around his room in a loose shirt and pants with a fancy sash. “You wore it with your PJs?” He asked, rubbing tears of laughter out of his eyes as he exited his room, the door shutting behind him.
“Yeah…” Xenith gave him a mock scowl as they headed down the hallway. Several other kids Zander’s age hung out in each other’s rooms with the door open (the doors automatically stayed open when over two people were in a room until the kids reached a certain age), some of them waving to Zander and Xenith as they passed. “He didn’t knock either, just came in while I was doing this.” Xenith started marching, his knees raising to his waist and his back stiff and straight, one arm across his body and the other on his hip. At Zander laughing hysterically again, Xenith gave a dramatic sigh. “Hey, if you were me and waited for this moment for years, you’d be marching around, too.”
“Not in my pajamas!” Zander snickered, following him as Xenith rolled his eyes.
They chatted on their way to the crowded cafeteria. The bipedal species meandered the lines while Krshk zoomed in their water tunnels, and the Omni floated lazily in their glass environments. Once getting their food, Xenith led them to the third story balconies away from the crowd.
“Nentok and Qianii aren’t here?” Zander asked as they set their trays on a table against an empty Krshk tank, looking around. Other than an adult Iaiedal sitting with two younger Iaiedal several rows down, no one sat on the third balcony with them.
“They ate earlier; they are talking with Mato about their visions from the Purpose ritual,” Xenith said, sitting down across from Zander.
“I talked with Mato about mine earlier today, too,” Zander said, taking a bite of his roasted vegetables. Normally he hated vegetables, but after Xenith swore they were delicious, he gave it a try. "It was weird.”
“The wiggly stuff and rope?” Xenith asked, and Zander nodded. “Did he say what it was? You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to, but I know it was bothering you.”
Zander contemplated his food as he speared an orange leaf that tasted like lettuce. He would tell Xenith anything, but he didn’t know if Mato helped him fully understand it. “He said that The Enduring showed me what I could do. I just thought it was weird, since I thought it had to do with what we’re supposed to do.”
“You wanted something cool, like riding on a megalodon and shooting fireballs from your hands,” Xenith smirked.
“Exactly!” Zander huffed. “That would be cool, fighting bad guys like that…” He remembered the look of fear on Mato’s face when Zander had mentioned fighting bad guys. “Uhm, by the way, is Mato afraid of anything?”
Xenith’s brow furrowed, plucking a roasted tomato into his mouth. “What makes you say that?”
Zander told him about his conversation with Mato, and Xenith frowned.
“He hasn’t said anything about being afraid of anything, but…” Xenith paused. “I dunno; everyone is afraid of something, even Mato. Who knows; maybe he’s still scared of the dark.” Xenith didn’t sound convinced, and he looked worried as he took an absentminded bite of his food. “But I have a quick question for you about the Purpose ceremony.”
Zander cocked his head to the side, chewing on the orange leaf. “What?” he asked with his mouth full.
Xenith shifted in his seat, looking around before lowering his voice. “You were on the balcony, right?” At Zander’s nod, he continued. “Did you happen to see me, Tok, and Qi?”
“Uh huh!” Zander grinned. “You guys looked so cool! I liked Nentok’s wings, and Qianii looked so pretty! What was that hat called again that you wore and threw?”
“I don’t remember.” Xenith waved the notion aside. “Thanks, though. When you saw the wiggly stuff and the rope, did you see anything in between Tok and I? Something that didn’t connect to someone, or wiggly stuff, but a person wasn’t there?”
Zander stared at Xenith, confused. Xenith looked worried, but Zander didn’t understand why. Casting his memory back, he remembered how everyone wiggled together, the ropes connecting them. He remembered looking down at the graduates in passing. “No, I didn’t see wiggly stuff with no one there.”
Xenith sat back in his seat, heaving a sigh of relief. “That’s good, at least…” he said, taking a moment before he resumed eating his salad.
“Everyone had different color ropes, though,” Zander added, picking up a round blue fruit, popping it in his mouth.
“Yeah. Sometimes people had the same color ropes connecting to each other; it looked like a rainbow.” Making sure he got the people right, he added, “You had a rope to Nentok, Qianii, Mato, Krian Hekla, Lelich Syvwkh, and me. It was purple.”
Xenith dropped his fork, staring at Zander with wide eyes. Zander stopped eating, shocked, and Xenith snatched up his fork in a pretense to look calm, but he still looked surprised. “Are you sure those were the people you saw connected to me and you?” he demanded, leaning in and sounding grave.
Zander blinked, nodding. “Is… is that bad?”
Xenith leaned back, huffing out a sigh. “Did you say that part to Mato?”
“No.” He paused, watching Xenith’s face changing from worried to confused to frustrated. “Was I supposed to?” he asked quickly, hoping that Xenith wouldn’t get mad at him.
“I don’t know,” Xenith said, poking his food with his fork. “I’m not mad at you,” he added when Zander hung his head. “Sorry. I just…” he stopped, rubbing his face with his free hand. “I didn’t tell you this part, but during that vision I saw? Six little lights had floated up to me, and they—I think—represented all the people you just mentioned.”
Zander frowned. “That is really weird.”
“Yeah, it is,” Xenith said, pinching in between his eyebrows. “I will see if I can talk to Mato again. He probably knew about this…” he muttered darkly.
“If he knew about it, why didn’t he say anything?”
“Because he is a clairvoyant. They are taught to reveal nothing concrete about the future and to be as confusing as possible.”