RHEN

by Charity Kelly

  Charlie smelled his flower and smiled. “Ahh, I feel so peaceful now. It’s definitely the same flower I smelled at the last elfin festival. It’s like catnip for elves.” He stared down into the flower’s blue center. “I wonder what would happen if you smoked one?”

  Reed smacked Charlie on the head with his hand. “Imbecile.” Shaking the flower he was holding at Sage, he said, “This should not be blooming. Something is either terribly wrong or….”

  “Or, something is wonderfully right,” Sage said. She smiled in a wistful manner and drifted off towards the school building. “I love Themrock,” she hummed to herself. Reed watched as Sage stopped walking, her body tensed and she turned back towards him with round eyes. “Oh, Themrock!” she yelled.

  “Shhh,” Reed hissed. He glanced around at the school’s grounds. Everyone seemed to be in for the night.

  Sage marched back to Reed and stuck her finger in his face. “Are you trying to tell me that you think, that you think that… that Themrock is back?”

  Charlie laughed, but Reed nodded. “No, way,” Charlie said.

  “No way is right Charlie,” Sage said. She paced around them, cradling her flowers. “I mean, we all know that Themrock promised to return to us one day, but if he’s back, why hasn’t he contacted us? He would’ve told us if he was back.”

  Reed grabbed Sage by her forearms to stop her pacing. “Sage, think about it. The Giy flower only blooms once a year. The only other time it will bloom, is if Themrock is present. How could I have found blooming Giy flowers, months before the festival, if Themrock isn’t around. He must’ve been walking through the woods before I arrived. As soon as I noticed the flowers, I ran into the woods searching for him. I would still be there now, if Rhen hadn’t of gotten bored and asked me to bring him back.”

  “No,” Sage yelled. “There must be another explanation. If Themrock was back, he would’ve contacted us. He wouldn’t be hiding from us.”

  “Did you see anyone else in the woods around you?” Charlie asked, sounding rather sober.

  “No,” Reed told him. “Rhen and I were the only ones on the jet bike path tonight.”

  “And the flowers just showed up?” Charlie asked.

  “I stopped my jet bike to talk to Rhen, and after we had gotten off, I noticed the flowers were everywhere,” Reed told him.

  “So, you think Themrock was in the woods before you arrived,” Charlie said.

  “Yes,” Reed said. “That’s the only explanation for the Giy flowers.”

  “Cool,” Charlie said, a goofy smile appeared on his face as he bobbed his head. He lay down on the grass and placed his Giy flower over his nose before closing his eyes.

  Sage started to argue with Reed. She was positive Themrock would’ve notified them if he had returned. After fifteen minutes of fighting, they agreed to disagree. They made a pact that none of them would mention the subject of the Giy flowers, until Reed had gotten additional proof that Themrock had returned.

  As Reed and Sage headed home, Charlie leapt to his feet with grace and ran into the Wood Elf Forest.

  Chapter 23

  Elfin University – Student Dining Hall

  When Rhen and Ceceta walked into the student dining hall the next morning, they noticed the tables had been squeezed together on the right side of the room to make space for a stage. Musical instruments were stacked in cases along both sides of the stage and Professor Dewey was tapping the stage microphone to get the students’ attention.

  “We recently received an anonymous donation that will make it possible for you to have music during your meals. Also, as a part of this donation, every student will now be offered musical instruction. All students are now required to take at least two semesters of music to graduate. Mr. Orisco, our highly-acclaimed music teacher, will oversee your instruction. Mr. Orisco, would you like to say a few words?”

  A squat man with unnaturally, poufy, brown hair approached the microphone. “Thank you,” Mr. Orisco said in a high, nasal voice. “This is a day of new beginnings. You must consider which instrument you would like to learn. I will be visiting your classes today to assign each of you an instrument and to give you your class schedule.”

  After Mr. Orisco had stepped away from the microphone, four students mounted the stage to perform. They gave their classmates nervous glances while opening their instrument cases. By the time they were ready to perform, Rhen was half-way through his bowl of bloodworms. The classical composition they were asked to play was much too hard for them and everyone winced as the students’ instruments squeaked out the notes.

  Tgfhi chuckled and smacked Erfce’s arm. “Look at Rhen,” he whispered.

  Rhen had covered his ears with his hands and he was leaning over to lick the last few bloodworms out of his bowl.

  Ceceta bent over to whisper to James, who was sitting beside her. “Andres was furious, when he saw Rhen on that jet bike and then hugging Reed. As usual, I went to bed as soon as they sat down to talk, but last night, they had an argument and it woke me up. I was just walking out of our bedroom to check on them, when I bumped into Rhen, who was coming in to go to sleep. He told me he asked his father not to visit us at school anymore. Rhen got a chance to sleep so things should start to improve.”

  “We noticed he was more alert and talkative during fight class this morning,” Reed said. “He even made a few jokes, which he hasn’t done in three weeks.”

  Ceceta nodded. “Just a little bit of sleep makes all the difference.”

  Reed laughed. “I have young children Ceceta. I know all about lack of sleep.”

  “Keep us informed of his progress,” James said.

  “Don’t worry,” Ceceta told him. “I will.”

  A few minutes later, the classical piece ended, when one of the student’s instruments groaned in protest and shuddered to a stop. Ceceta giggled in response, causing Rhen to burst out laughing. He tried to stop himself, but couldn’t, so he rushed from the room hiding his face behind his hands to quiet his laughter. With vehemence, Mr. Orisco banged his walking stick on the stage for silence, but no one paid any attention to him; instead, the students left the dining hall following in Rhen’s footsteps.

  Later that morning, Mr. Orisco entered Rhen and Ceceta’s classroom to assign the students their instruments. After he had spoken with every other student in the room, he sauntered over to Rhen and Ceceta. His face looked pinched, as if he’d been sucking on lemons. He was a handsome man, but years of scowling weren’t helping his appearance. “Well,” he said in his nasal voice. “Have you decided on which instrument you will be playing?” He was planning on denying Rhen the opportunity to play the instrument he wanted as punishment for this morning’s outburst.

  “None,” Rhen said, without looking up from his textbook.

  “It’s the University’s new policy,” Mr. Orisco informed him. His finger tapping the silver handle of his black cane. “You have to play an instrument.”

  “I am Surpen. I do not listen to, nor do I play, music. You can tell the Headmaster that we refuse. I’m sure he will understand.”

  “No, he won’t you baboon. There are no exceptions to this policy. None.”

  Rhen, who had been staring at the pictures in his Women in Intrauniversal Politics text book, closed his book and stood up. He was almost double the height of Mr. Orisco.

  Reed and James were attending Rhen’s class that day. They glanced at each other with concern as Rhen stared down at Mr. Orisco.

  Suddenly, Rhen cried out, “Uuha, uuhaa, uuha,” imitating a baboon. He scratched his head and belly and jumped up and down.

  Reed and James watched as Mr. Orisco’s face turned red and his body began to shake with rage. “You are uneducated and unworldly. You are nothing more than a savage.” he yelled. “Music is the pathway to enlightenment. Without it, you will always remain a stupid, base worm. You have just lost the opportunity to learn from the Universe’s best music teacher.” With that, Mr. Orisco drew himself up to his full hei
ght and marched from the room.

  After he had walked out the door, most of the students began to laugh. It took the teacher several minutes to get her class to quiet down.

  Rhen flopped down onto his seat and leaned over towards Ceceta. “Did you hear he called me unworldly?”

  “That was funny.”

  “Do you think he’s ever been off Thestran?” Rhen asked.

  Ceceta shrugged. “I have no idea.”

  “Don’t you find it odd that most of these students have never been off Thestran?”

  “There’s no reason for them to leave,” James said from behind them. “By the way, nice animal impersonation.”

  “Thanks,” Rhen said. When his teacher was helping a student on the far side of the room, Rhen leaned over towards Reed and James. “You two travel a lot, don’t you?”

  James smiled. He couldn’t believe it. Rhen was talking to him. “Yes,” he said. “We travel for business and on vacation, but we prefer to stay here, it’s our home.”

  “Oh.” Rhen was silent for a moment. “I’ve traveled a lot for someone my age.”

  “Yes, you have,” Reed said. “War takes you to places you wouldn’t normally go.”

  “That’s the truth,” Rhen said, turning back to listen to his teacher.

  Later, during lunch, an upbeat classical piece was played on the piano by one of the gifted musical students at the school. Rhen absentmindedly tapped an interesting rhythm to go along with it while he ate. When the girl was finished, she was treated to a round of applause.

  A young boy appeared on the stage next, carrying his new trumpet. He blurted out a terrible rendition of a song that everyone knew. Wincing, Rhen covered his ears and put his head under the table. After ten minutes, he couldn’t take it anymore. With his head still under the table, Rhen stood up, but he miscalculated how far under the table he was and his head and shoulders lifted the table into the air. Rhen jerked his body backwards and the table slid off him, crashing to the ground and sending plates and glasses to the floor. The trumpet player stopped in the middle of his song and frowned at Rhen.

  “Sorry,” Rhen said with a half-smile. “It was an accident.” Turning, he walked out of the room as fast as he could to escape. For a heartbeat, the dining hall was silent, and then everyone started to laugh as they also rushed for the exits.

  Professor Dewey, who had been attending the performance, grimaced and chased after Rhen. “Rhen, Rhen,” he called out, when he saw him walking towards the Teachers’ Residence Hall. Rhen paused by the stairs to the entrance. Professor Dewey ran up to him and stopped. He leaned over, panting, as he tried to catch his breath.

  “Are you alright?” Rhen asked.

  “Yes, sorry. Just needed a moment there. Listen Rhen, you must stay until the end of each performance. Every time you leave, the other students feel they have permission to leave too. It’s disrupting things.”

  The Headmaster watched Rhen’s eyes widen. “I… I can’t stay,” he confessed. “They’re just too awful.”

  “Yes, yes, they are,” the Headmaster said. “They need practice and we must let them do it. Please don’t leave the dining hall again until after they are finished, alright?”

  “Yes, sir,” Rhen said with reluctance as Ceceta and his friends arrived beside him.

  “Thank you, Rhen,” the Headmaster said. “I knew I could count on you.”

  After Professor Dewey had left, Rhen turned to Tgfhi. “What am I going to do?” he asked, sounding desperate.

  Tgfhi laughed at the look of horror on his ‘hero’s’ face. He could face down blood thirsty armies, but when forced to listen to poorly trained musicians, he fell to pieces. “Hey, you shouldn’t be too upset,” Tgfhi said. “Ceceta told me you got out of having to take music lessons from him. You’re both very lucky.”

  “I’ll say,” Latsoh said. “I asked Mr. Orisco if I could play the guitar, but he gave me the oboe.”

  “He gave me the violin,” Erfce told Latsoh with a groan.

  “I asked for the drums again and he gave me a kazoo,” Tgfhi confessed with a frown.

  “What about you Crystam?” Ceceta asked.

  “She’s the teacher’s pet,” Latsoh said as Crystam looked embarrassed. “She asked for the piano and she got the piano.” Erfce and Tgfhi made fun of Crystam, until she slapped out at both of them with her hand. Sometimes it was good to be beautiful.

  That evening, Ceceta sat down in the dining hall with her friends and various members of the Thestran Royal Family. About ten minutes later, as the students’ performances for the evening were about to begin, Lilly asked, “Where’s Rhen? Is he skipping dinner?”

  “No,” Ceceta said. She glanced about the room. “I don’t think so. He went to the bathroom and I thought he’d meet us here.”

  Just as Professor Orisco was announcing the performers for the evening, Rhen walked into the room wearing the jet bike helmet that Reed had given him the day before. Several students laughed at the sight of him. Without looking up, Rhen sat down at the table across from Ceceta and started to fill his plate with food.

  Reed tapped Rhen on the shoulder until Rhen turned to look at him. “Don’t you like the students’ performances?” Reed asked with innocence. Rhen shook his head. “Does that help?” he asked, pointing at Rhen’s helmet. Rhen smiled and nodded.

  When the first performance began, it was truly awful. Soon everyone wished they were wearing Rhen’s helmet as he sat smiling at them, oblivious to the hell they were being forced to endure.

  Later, when Reed was teaching Rhen how to ride his jet bike, Ceceta and the others sat outside on the school’s lawn, laughing at the fact that Rhen had worn his helmet during dinner.

  Ceceta was surprised, when she saw Kate and Henry walk out of the University building towards them. Henry would come by once a month to sit with Rhen for a few hours of ‘bonding’ time, but she’d never seen him here with Kate.

  “Hi, Ceceta,” Kate called out in greeting. “I heard the students’ musical performances today didn’t go over very well.” Ceceta laughed and everyone started to give them the rundown of the day’s events.

  “Watching Mr. Orisco and Rhen during our Politics class was the best,” Ceceta told them. “It was like having a dog catcher, who’s hungry for power, tell a seasoned king that he can do a better job.”

  “Do you think, if we keep this up, he’ll crack and play some music for us?” Kate asked.

  “Definitely! It’s the best way for you to break through his Surpen hide. Did you find out what the punishment is for breaking Debrino’s Code against playing music?”

  “Not yet,” James told her. “It’s harder than we thought, to get a copy of Debrino’s Codes.”

  “So,” Lilly said, changing the subject. “What have you got for us today?” She was ready to learn more about her little brother.

  Ceceta sighed. She was tired and didn’t want to talk about Rhen. “I don’t know, what do you want to know?”

  “What’s Punishment Island?” Rachel asked.

  Ceceta turned a pale blue as her dark eyes grew very large. “No,” she said quietly, shaking her head. “I can’t tell you about it… I… I can’t… I’m sorry.” She lowered her head down onto her bent knees. It appeared as if she were about to cry. Crystam and Latsoh moved over to rub her back and everyone was quiet while she recovered.

  “Tell us how Rhen stopped that Zorthan robot,” James asked. “None of us could make a dent in it, yet he just looked at it and it fell apart.”

  Ceceta’s friends didn’t know what James was talking about, so Lilly filled them in. Ceceta didn’t want to tell them the answer to that question, so she played dumb. “I don’t know how he stopped it. Do you have any other questions?” She was hoping they would say no.

  The Royal Family was getting frustrated with Ceceta, but they were afraid to push her too hard. They needed her on their side. They didn’t want to alienate her. “If he can read your mind, can he read ours too?” Sage asked
. She wanted to know if his mind reading abilities were limited. He already had healing and phasing powers. It was hard for her to believe that he also had the power to read minds.

  Ceceta had already given them this information, so she felt safe talking about it. “Yes,” she said. “But he doesn’t. Rhen feels it’s inappropriate to intrude on people’s personal thoughts. If someone asks him to read their mind, he will, but he won’t do it without being invited.” She beamed with pride adding, “It’s very noble of him, don’t you think?”

  Everyone nodded, but Charlie looked perturbed. “Well, that’s stupid,” he blurted out. “If I had the power to read people’s minds, I’d never stop. What a gold mine.”

  “Then it’s a good thing you don’t have that power,” Lilly said.

  “It’s a good thing you don’t have any powers at all, you imbecile,” William said. Charlie retaliated by throwing grass into William’s face. William jumped on top of him and the two of them wrestled like children, until Henry told them to stop.

  It was quiet after William and Charlie’s outburst. Rachel lay down on the ground and stared up at the starry sky. “Most mind readers are oracles too. Is Rhen an oracle?” She wasn’t sure why she was asking. Rhen had three powers. For him to have four powers would be, well, crazy.

  “Yes,” Ceceta told her.

  “Hell,” James said under his breath. How many powers did Rhen have?

  “But,” Ceceta said. “He doesn’t use that power. He doesn’t like knowing what’s going to happen next. He prefers to be surprised. He blocks that power. In fact, he blocks it so well that when other oracles are around him, they find their powers are blocked too.”

  “I knew it!” Erfce exclaimed. “I knew it was something like that.” Ceceta gave him a confused look. “Sorry Ceceta, but that’s the reason why I started hanging out with you guys. I needed peace of mind. I was going crazy before, with everyone’s futures assaulting me. Rhen gave me the peace I needed to learn how to keep my powers under control. It’s wonderful to be around him. Simply wonderful.”