RHEN

by Charity Kelly

  Lilo frowned. “Don’t lie to me Alexa. We all know those trees don’t bear fruit.”

  Rhen took Alexa off his shoulders and put her down on the ground by her mother.

  “But they do,” Alexa said. “There were tons of apples in the tree that I was sitting in.”

  “Alexa, go to your room for lying.”

  “But Mom, I’m not lying,” Alexa protested. She turned to Rhen. “You saw them, didn’t you?”

  Rhen paused to think. “Yes, you’re right Alexa. There were apples in the tree, when I helped you down.” He turned to Lilo. “She’s not lying.”

  “But that’s impossible. Those trees haven’t bore fruit in a thousand years, not since Themrock was imprisoned,” Lilo said, sounding flabbergasted.

  “Let’s go check it out,” Reed said by her side. He was finished with his races for the day and had joined the group in time to hear about the mysterious apples.

  They walked back down to the waterfront to find that Alexa hadn’t lied. Not only was the tree that she had been sitting in bearing fruit, but the trees around it were too. Reed reached up to pull off an apple from the tree closest to him. He bit into it. “Wow, this is amazing. Have one,” he told the others, grabbing an apple for Lilo. Everyone, except for Rhen and Ceceta, started to pull apples down from the trees.

  “They’re the best tasting apples I’ve ever had,” Sage said.

  “I have to tell my parents. This is a miracle,” Lilo exclaimed. She ran off towards the castle, where her parents were now entertaining their special guests.

  “Why is Lilo so excited?” Ceceta asked.

  “Because it is a miracle,” Reed told her. “These trees stopped producing fruit the day that Themrock was imprisoned. The fact that they’re blooming again means he may have found a way to escape. He may be returning to us!”

  “Wow,” Ceceta said. “That would be amazing, if your Genister God returned.”

  Reed nodded, noticing for the first time that Giy Flowers had begun to bloom around the trees too. He smiled to himself as the others talked. This was the second sign that proved their God could be returning.

  As everyone continued to talk about Themrock and the trees, Rhen became bored, so he and Ceceta excused themselves to go back to the University.

  After they had left, the Wood Elf King and Queen arrived. When they saw the apple trees, they declared the day to be an elfin holiday. That night, the elves celebrated with abandon over the possible return of their God Themrock.

  Chapter 25

  Wood Elf Castle

  “You need to ride with Rhen tonight,” James told Reed, putting down his empty wine glass. “We have to talk to Ceceta to find out how many powers Rhen possesses. He’s off the charts with his water powers, music and healing. We need to know what else we may be facing.”

  “Tonight?” Reed groaned, rubbing his aching head. He’d been drinking, since the end of the jet bike races.

  “Yes,” Kate said. The Royal Family had been celebrating with the Wood Elves for a good part of the day, but they were now ready to refocus their energies on Rhen.

  “Fine,” Reed said. He downed the rest of his drink and rose to his feet. “Let’s go find them.”

  James waved towards his brothers and sisters to tell them it was time to leave.

  They searched for Rhen in his apartment and in the common areas of the school. Charlie took them to a dorm party, where Rhen and Ceceta’s friends were celebrating, but no one there had seen Rhen since the jet bike races.

  “So where to now?” Rachel asked. She threw her arm around Charlie and pulled him in towards her to give him a hug. Charlie laughed and Rachel reached up to tussle his dirty-blond hair.

  “Look,” Reed said, nodding towards the University’s main school building. Bosternd and Nk were just walking out the door onto the path that led to the Teachers’ Residence Hall. “Come on.” He jogged towards them, calling out, “Hey!”

  Bosternd and Nk paused, when they saw the Thestran Royal Family running towards them.

  “Hi,” Reed repeated, when he got closer. “I’m Reed, this is King James, my father Henry, my mother Kate, Lilly, Rachel, Sage, William and Charlie.”

  Bosternd and Nk remained silent.

  “We just wanted to meet you,” Reed said. “We know you’re friends of Rhen’s.”

  “It nigh a mee ooh,” Bosternd told them in broken Thestran. He saluted their out stretched hands. “No lng ere. Tac Rhen om fur olidy.”

  “Oh, you’re here to take Rhen home for that Warrior Holiday Andres mentioned,” James said. Bosternd paused for a moment as he thought about James’ words, then nodded.

  “You may have trouble with that,” Charlie told Bosternd, giving Nk a goofy smile. He had returned from Zorthan only a little bit sober. After the Zorthan Delight he had swallowed had worked its way out of his system, he could no longer remember why he had gone to Zorthan in the first place but he was really happy.

  Nk grinned at Charlie with an equally goofy look on his face.

  “We’ve been looking for Rhen for an hour,” James clarified for Bosternd. “We can’t seem to find him or Ceceta anywhere.”

  Bosternd reached into his tunic and pulled out a blue, metallic, circular disk that fit in the palm of his hand. Flipping it open, he watched as the two dials on the disk spun in circles. When they had settled, he said, “E dis ay.” Turning, Bosternd walked back towards the main University building.

  “What’s that?” Charlie asked, bumping into Nk to get a better look at Bosternd’s blue disk.

  “Ocaying devys,” Bosternd informed him. The Thestrans appeared confused. “A pek Nepchn. Ooh?”

  Again, the Thestrans hesitated in confusion. Charlie pinched his lips and repeated, “A pek Nepchn ooh.”

  “Charlie,” Rachel admonished. “Don’t make fun of his Thestran.”

  “Good,” Bosternd told Charlie in Neptian. “I’m glad you can speak Neptian. My Thestran is terrible. This is a locating device.” He held it up, so Charlie could see it. “Rhen gave it to me, when we fought the Dawpars. Their planet is always dark and we were losing the war because we couldn’t see anything. Rhen handed me this and told me to join him in two hours. Later, when we found Rhen, he was standing among hundreds of bowing Dawpars. They had surrendered their planet to him. It was amazing.” Bosternd shook his head with wonder and smiled at the memory.

  “Prince Rhen is amazing,” Nk slurred in Surpen, bumping into Charlie on purpose. They both chuckled.

  Bosternd smiled at Nk then turned back to Charlie. “Does anyone else in your family speak Neptian?”

  “We all do,” James told him. “I’m surprised you do too.”

  Instead of answering James’ inferred question, Bosternd said, “I’ve kept this device for times like these, when I need to speak with Rhen and no one can find him.”

  “We use the locating device a lot,” Nk told Charlie in confidence. Bosternd shook his head.

  “He can’t speak Neptian,” Bosternd told them, nodding towards Nk. “He said it happens to us a lot.” Turning, Bosternd continued down the hallway, following the directions the locating device was giving him.

  Charlie grinned and nodded at Nk. Nk laughed and put his arm around Charlie’s shoulders. Together they walked behind Bosternd, grinning like fools. Every now and then one of them would bump into the other one and they would both laugh.

  “Are they both…,” Lilly whispered to Rachel. She looked from Charlie to Nk. “Well, you know.”

  “I think so,” Rachel said while Reed shook his head with dismay at their condition.

  They followed Bosternd up to the astronomy classroom. As they entered the room, they heard a sigh from somewhere near the base of the room’s enormous telescope. Peering down over the seats, they saw Rhen lying on the floor with Ceceta straddling his hips. Before any of them could move, Rhen laughed and said, “You’re such a tease.”

  Ceceta giggled and dropped her body down on top of his. “I know,” she said,
giving him a kiss. Rhen wrapped his arms around her and rolled the two of them over, so he was on top. “No, no, no! I want to be on top,” Ceceta demanded. Rhen rolled them back over again.

  Silently, Bosternd and Nk stepped back, out of the astronomy classroom, into the hallway. They moved a few feet down the corridor and sat down on the floor to wait for Rhen and Ceceta to finish. The Thestran Royals followed their example, sitting in the hallway across from them, except for Charlie, who sat down next to Nk and fell asleep. No one spoke as they waited, pretending not to listen.

  Rhen and Ceceta kissed for a while. They heard Ceceta’s clothing swish as she sat back up on top of Rhen. “How many Universes are there?” she asked him.

  “Huh?”

  “How many Universes are there?”

  “Uh, 13,” Rhen murmured, reaching out for her.

  The Royal Family members looked at each other. They had heard from Lilly that Rhen and Ceceta believed there were thirteen universes, but they still couldn’t understand why.

  Ceceta slapped Rhen’s hands away from her. “And who’s the most powerful man in all of the 13 Universes?”

  Rhen chuckled. “Uh… me?”

  “You? Ceceta asked. “First of all, Rhen, I think that if—”

  “Ceceta,” Rhen said with a heavy sigh, interrupting her. “Do you want to talk? I thought you wanted to make out? It wasn’t me who insisted we come up here.”

  “I do, I do,” Ceceta said. “Lie down again. My mind is just mixed up tonight.”

  Rhen hesitated. “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing,” Ceceta said. “Go ahead and lie down.” They heard Rhen shift about. “Here let me relax you.”

  “I’m relaxed,” he told her. “You’re the one who’s not relaxed.”

  “I’m fine. Let me relax you more with one of my Neptian tricks.” They heard Ceceta move about. Rhen jerked, and a moment later, a red light poured out of the doorway to the astronomy classroom.

  Bosternd and Nk, followed by the Thestran Royal Family members, stood up to peer into the room. A bright red light was shining out of Rhen’s eyes. The light was so intense, it illuminated the entire room. Ceceta was sitting next to Rhen’s head, looking angry. She slapped him across the face and yelled, “Stop it.”

  The red light plunged back into Rhen’s eyes, disappearing. “What the hell! Do I have a sign on me today that says, ‘please slap hard’? Would you like to slap me again for fun? Maybe I’ll just have Narseth come back. He likes to dish out punishments.”

  “You were glowing,” Ceceta chastised him. “You know you’re not supposed to do that.”

  With a heavy sigh, Rhen sat up. “Whatever,” he grumbled.

  “You’ve been told not to use your powers,” Ceceta reminded him. She hesitated and then asked, “Rhen, you were just glowing red and today, on the lake, your eyes lit up in red. I’ve never seen you light up in red before. Why do you think you’re doing that?”

  Rhen shrugged, “I don’t know.”

  As Ceceta brushed the hair out of her face, she thought about Rhen’s red eyes. “Rhen, I think something might be wrong with you. You shouldn’t be glowing red. It’s just not right. We should talk to them about it.”

  Rhen rose to his feet and adjusted his tunic. When he was finished, he put out his hand to help Ceceta stand. “I don’t want to talk to them. It’s been nice not having them around. Come on, let’s go to bed.”

  Ceceta reached over and pulled down on the back of Rhen’s tunic, where it had been caught in his shorts. “Sorry,” she said. “It’s been an emotional day. I thought Aul was going to rape me.”

  “No one is ever going to touch you,” Rhen growled. He pulled Ceceta into him and lifted her face up with his finger, until their eyes met. “No one. You know that.”

  Ceceta sighed. “I guess I’m just tired of all the danger. We never seem to catch a break. I want to go somewhere, where we can live a quiet, calm life and all we have to worry about is making sure the colors of our clothes don’t bleed together on laundry day.”

  Rhen laughed. “Well…” he began, but he broke off, when he saw the concern on her face. “Ceceta, before we got married I warned you that life with me was going to be difficult. I love you more than anything in the Universe. But if you’ve decided you need a break from me, you’re free to go. I would rather see you happy than miserable.”

  “I know, I know,” Ceceta said, punching Rhen on the arm. “I don’t want to leave you… yet.”

  “Yet?” Rhen groaned. “Oh, God, I got a yet.” At that, they both laughed and started walking towards the door.

  Realizing it was time for action, Bosternd entered the classroom, pretending he had just arrived. He held his locating device in front of his face and appeared surprised to see Rhen standing before him, when he dropped it down. “Oh, here you are Rhen. The King sent us to see if you would like to come home for tonight’s festivities,” he said in Surpen.

  Nk sauntered through the doorway. He saluted Rhen before giving him a hug.

  Rhen smiled at his two best friends. It’d been a while since he had spent any real time with them, and he realized he would rather go to Surpen than home to bed. Before answering, he gave Ceceta a questioning look.

  “Go. Have fun. I’ll see you later,” she told him.

  “Thanks love,” Rhen said, bending down to kiss her.

  As Rhen was putting his arm around Nk to leave, the Thestran Royal Family walked into the classroom. Rhen nodded hello to them but kept on walking. When Rhen reached the door, he heard Bosternd call out, “I’ll catch up with you in a minute.”

  After Rhen and Nk had left, Bosternd turned to Ceceta. “Ceceta,” he said, keeping his eyes averted from her face. “You need to know your life is in danger.”

  “What?” she asked. She was surprised that Bosternd would break Surpen protocol by speaking to her.

  “I have a man in the King’s Guard, a good man. He’s told me that they have been given orders to kill you, when Rhen turns eighteen.”

  “And you believe him?” Ceceta asked.

  Bosternd nodded. “Yes, I do. He’s been giving us a lot of useful information lately.”

  “Who is it?” Ceceta asked.

  Bosternd shifted on his feet and glanced at the Thestrans before saying, “I don’t want to put his life in danger.”

  “They don’t understand Surpen. I need to know who it is.”

  After a brief pause, Bosternd said, “Jet Turner.”

  Ceceta smiled at the name. Jet was one of Rhen’s friends in the military. He had trained Jet, when Jet had entered the service. Rhen had always spoken well of Jet. There wouldn’t be any reason for her to suspect him of lying. “He’s a good man, very talented,” Ceceta said in Surpen, using Rhen’s words.

  “Promise me Ceceta that you won’t, under any condition, return to Surpen. Stay here on Thestran. The Thestran Royal Family can protect you here. Don’t let the Surpen King kill you.”

  Ceceta raised her eyebrows. Whatever the Surpen King had planned for her must be terrible or Bosternd wouldn’t be here. “Don’t worry Bosternd,” she said. “I promise I’ll stay here. Please go with Rhen. Keep him safe.”

  Bosternd hesitated, as if he wanted to say more, but then he changed his mind and left the room.

  “What was that all about?” James asked Ceceta, after Bosternd had left.

  Ceceta shrugged and walked towards the door. “It’s nothing.” She glanced with curiosity at Charlie, who Reed was struggling to keep standing.

  “It wasn’t ‘nothing’,” James persisted.

  “Just a little Surpen gossip,” Ceceta sang out, making her way out of the room.

  The Thestran Royals followed her out of the building. Before Ceceta could turn to walk to her apartment, Kate grabbed her arm and guided her over to a comfortable spot on the lawn.

  “Sit,” she said.

  As Ceceta lowered herself to the ground, she wasn’t surprised to see the rest of the Thestran Royal Family sitti
ng down on the grass around her. When they had entered the astronomy classroom, she had assumed they had been looking for her. Rhen had displayed his water powers today, which meant they’d have questions for her.

  “We haven’t spoken with you in several days because of the weather,” James began.

  “So, you owe us a lot of information,” William said.

  Ceceta laughed at William. “You’re getting greedy.”

  “No, we’re getting desperate,” Lilly told her. “Rhen’s almost eighteen. We need some assurance that we aren’t going to have a serious situation on our hands.”

  “Fire away,” Ceceta said in an off-handed way, although she was feeling rather tense.

  “What other forms of control does the King of Surpen have over Rhen?” James asked.

  “Like the King informs me of his plans,” Ceceta said in a snarky tone.

  James chose not to be insulted by her quip and said, “We understand you and Rhen have been playing music after dinner.”

  Ceceta’s face contorted with shock. “Who told you!”

  Kate shook her finger at Ceceta and said, “We have our ways.”

  Frowning, Ceceta turned on Kate. “You read my mind?”

  “No, not yours, Latsoh’s,” Lilly told her. She was still mad at her mother for abusing her mind-reading power.

  “Oh, you’re good,” Ceceta laughed out without humor. After a brief pause, she said, “Yes, we didn’t play tonight, but for the last few nights we’ve been playing a lot of music. It’s good for Rhen. He’s been opening up a lot more. I’m sorry you can’t join us.”

  “Why can’t we?” Sage asked. She had hoped to join them for their next session. She could play a mean oboe.

  “Because Sage, if the King finds out that Rhen’s playing music, he’ll be in serious trouble,” Ceceta said. She rubbed her temples, wondering why she had to keep explaining it to them. “The fewer people who know the better.”

  “But we can keep secrets,” William said. “Can’t we join you?”

  “No,” Ceceta barked. “How would you explain it to Rhen? Would you tell him that you were there because one of our friends broke his trust or would you tell him you read his friend’s mind without permission?”