Broken Wings

by Melanie Nilles

  He paused, and Raea noticed the silence. Cris stood unmoved, until Leksel looked up. At that, he moved again.

  ["I never forgot her, but doubted I would see her again. About a turn of Lis later, a message came to me, asking me to come alone. I went, suspecting a trap, since the quarters were in the sector known for the most rebel activity. She was waiting. She wasn't sure she had the right person, since security's tight on all Shirukan records, but she had asked around and eventually learned my name. After a little research, she felt confident enough to send the message…]

  ["I never loved anyone. Shirukan are encouraged to satisfy sexual needs but never with the same person twice. Bonding is strictly limited, and genetic matchings are assigned. But our liaisons grew more frequent and we started taking risks to be together. Within a year, we had bonded.]

  ["But we were discovered. She came one night to warn me that my life was in danger. They'd intercepted a message planning to use me to get to her and the rest of her group. I had to leave all I knew behind. By then it didn't matter. For most of that last year as a Shirukan, I didn't put my heart into what I had once been praised for excelling at. I didn't want to. Korali was right. She showed me the truth and how wrong Shirat Marin was about Keepers, and she showed me files outlining plans to take over all Inar'Ahben with timelines and details, including plans for capturing a certain Crystal Keeper on Earth."] His eyes focused on her.

  Raea's heart stopped. This went far beyond her.

  ["But apparently that failed,"] he said.

  ["I had help."] From Elis. Her beloved Elis. Leksel described feeling for Korali like she felt for Elis. She would return to him, but she couldn't dwell on it. For the moment, she didn't want to think about home. She wanted to hear Leksel's story. ["What happened with Korali?"]

  Don't stare at me like that. Man. He had a way of staring right through her as if he could see inside her head. She hated that.

  ["She showed me I was in trouble and I knew I didn't have a choice. But I knew if I was in trouble, so was my family. I sent a message to Cris to meet for dinner, but I sent one of Korali's friends to meet him. I knew they'd be watching him, and probably expecting me. I didn't reach our parents in time. They'd already been locked away."]

  ["So, you joined the rebels then? What happened to Korali?"] The answer clicked the moment she asked, and she was sorry she did.

  Leksel's jaw tensed. He closed his eyes and pressed his forehead into his fists propped up before him on the table. ["The group split. Many didn't trust me. Those who stayed felt my experience as a former Shirukan would help them succeed where they had failed.]

  ["But I didn't know everything. I didn't anticipate my former colleagues' determination. It happened a little more than a year ago. I told her it was too risky, but she never listened. They shot to kill. One shot to her wing made flying difficult. The second…"]

  Leksel's eyes pinched shut. His jaw trembled from the restraint, but the tears wanted to flow. Raea saw it as he unclasped his hands and traced a line from his lower ribs up. ["Split through her here,"] he said through clenched teeth. He finished his line pointed up through his jaw. ["It happened so fast, she didn't suffer."] He swallowed hard in the silence.

  From the counter, Cris spoke in a quiet voice. ["It took four of us to hold him back."]

  That she could believe. He barely stopped in time to save Cris during their fight. And now he fought to restrain his tears. The Shirukan were good at ruining lives. ["I'm sorry you lost her, especially like that."] And if they were bonded…Didn't Nare say bonded partners shared pain and pleasure? He probably felt her pain. That's how he knew she didn't suffer. Her stomach twisted into a sickening knot.

  Cris scraped something in the pan. ["This would be so much easier if these islanders had processors to mix and cook everything."]

  Footsteps halted at the doorway. ["Let me do it."]

  Kayan stepped in to take over, dressed in leggings and an open-backed top. With a smile, Cris joined them at the table. ["Gladly."]

  ["You two eat. We'll leave as soon as you're done. We've imposed on this family enough, and I want to get out of Imperial territory."] Leksel rose but stopped by Kayan. ["Thank you for all you've done."]

  ["It's our part to save this world."]

  He left without another word. Raea had suspected he might have had some sort of fighting skills, but she had never thought he was the kind of person to fall in love. He never showed it, maybe because he still mourned, but kept it buried inside. And her Starburst marks probably reminded him of the woman he loved. That couldn't be easy for him.

  After her experience, she thought all Shirukan were monsters.

  But Leksel wasn't Shirukan, at least not any more. They'd ruined his life and his chance for happiness, as they had for Elis and her.

  Raea looked up at Kayan. These "islanders", as Cris called them, seemed untouched by the misery of the Shirat Empire. ["I'm sorry if we were a bother."]

  Kayan smiled. ["No. It gives us hope to know there's one less Starfire shard in that machine."]

  Yeah. Raea shuddered at the memories the Starfire had shown her during the battle with Pallin. Worlds exploded and living beings died. The Starfire would never allow itself to be misused. As much as she hated the trouble it caused, she couldn't let the Shirat Empire claim her shard.

  __________

  Go West

  Raea looked back at the island and the family working among the tall stalks bearing the spores. Kayan had sent a few with them to eat in flight. Leksel and Cris had made room in their packs for a few each, but those packs were narrow backpacks that fit snuggly in the space between wings. Not much room to spare in them.

  The island had drifted out of sight from Naviketan. Open sky beckoned them to the next island. They had a ways to go, though, to escape Imperial territory.

  Leksel studied a hologram projected from the device in his hand. Raea flew beside him, but not close enough to see the details. They needed room for their wings not to hit.

  The steady winds carried them south and west, the longest route to Starfire Tower, but the easiest, according to Leksel. Long flights were always easiest with the wind, which rarely changed from its normal patterns. At some point, they could expect to find a straight west current.

  They flew over a lower altitude island much larger than the one they left. Machines and rounded, artificial structures dotted the surface, which must have stretched over five miles across. A smaller island drifted above them. Islands everywhere!

  And Inari. All colors, alone and in groups. They even passed a squad of Shirukan in the distance. Leksel ordered her and Cris into a tighter triangle formation behind his point position. To her relief, the real Shirukan didn't divert from their course.

  Still, Leksel led them on. Raea didn't breathe easier until the other Shirukan disappeared on an island below.

  In the distance, another city loomed darkly against the bright sun. They avoided it and continued flying, until Cris complained.

  ["Leks, can we rest? I'm not used to this much flying. Besides, being used as your fighting dummy didn't help."] He turned aside to her. ["No offense, Raea. You did a great job with the healing."] His voice reached her clearly on the tri-comm attached to her cheek.

  ["None taken."] She was just glad it had worked, but as she discovered, healing wounds didn't improve endurance. ["I could use a rest too. How long have we been going?"]

  ["Almost two hours,"] Leksel said. ["We're coming up on a small island above. We'll rest there."]

  They followed him, although she could have done without the winds shifting every forty or fifty feet and threatening to throw her like a piece of paper. Cris lagged a few feet behind her, but they all reached the island above, a smaller island than the one they had left that morning. This one couldn't have been more than half the size, if that.

  A couple families flew above it, circling a cluster of flying creatures with nets.

  Raea touched down near the edge of the island, watching the a
ctivity. ["What're they doing?"]

  Cris landed next to her. ["Netting something. I'm not sure. I can't see clearly."]

  ["They've seen us."] Leksel spoke with a tone of caution.

  Too true. A woman and man glided down, while two other adults and a few adolescents tied off the net full of winged creatures thrashing to escape.

  The man wore a simple brown coverall, his black hair tied back. For a moment, Raea pictured Elis, but this black-winged man didn't have the purple eyes or the lanky height. He was Cris's height with an oval face and dark eyes.

  The woman's green eyes narrowed, her hands on her hips and her pale green wings out of sight behind her. Neither looked happy, but her stare pierced Raea like a spear. Clearly not supporters of the empire and the Shirukan.

  Leksel stood unmoved.

  ["What do you want here?"] the woman said.

  Raea swallowed. The snap of the woman's voice stung.

  Leksel's wings lifted slightly behind him, but relaxed again. In a level but firm tone, he said, ["A place to rest for an hour. Nothing more. We're not here for trouble."]

  As if anyone would believe that. The three of them were dressed as Shirukan, not exactly beloved by anyone, from what she understood.

  ["We're traveling."]

  The woman's eyes narrowed, piercing them with suspicion. ["One hour."]

  ["We appreciate it."]

  The woman's eyebrow arched, her cold glare melting with the slight lift of the corner of her mouth. She gave a nod and tapped the man with her, before taking flight to rejoin the others, who landed with the net on the opposite end of the island.

  Leksel lifted his wings in a relaxed posture.

  ["What was that about?"] Raea asked.

  ["Shirukan are known for demanding whatever they want."] His voice quieted at the end.

  Hearing that hint of something piqued her curiosity. ["Did you?"]

  His cheek muscles twitched, and his wings shifted behind him. Without a word, he strode away.

  His lack of an answer made her more curious to know what he could have done yet afraid to know the truth. Raea looked from him to Cris for an explanation.

  Next to her, Cris shook his head and shrugged. ["Some things he refuses to talk about to anyone. We're probably better off not knowing."]

  Cris was probably right. But maybe Leksel felt guilty for what he did as a Shirukan. She wanted to believe that. She wanted to trust Leksel, but he made it difficult when he refused to talk.

  They followed him to a patch of brown plants speckled with tan. Not dry, as she expected, but soft and curled like a tangle of vines. She saw nothing green or vaguely familiar to what she recognized as healthy vegetation on these islands but sat down with the men onto a pleasant surprise. The thick curls of vines cushioned her seat.

  Leksel and Cris removed their packs and pulled out the food they'd brought.

  Raea took the two spores Cris handed her. ["This is it?"]

  ["It's enough. We should be out of Shirukan space by tonight if we stay on the Tashei current. We'll be safe to rest in a free city, where Keepers are given all they need."]

  If that was the case, why did they pretend to be Shirukan? Obviously the people on this island didn't like them. ["Why didn't you tell these people?"]

  ["They'd talk. News could reach the Shirukan,"] Leksel said.

  Good point.

  ["Eat and rest. We need to keep moving. We've been lucky so far."]

  Raea eyed the fruit in her hands, or what looked like fruit. Searoot spores. The connotation from her biology class studies made her shudder. Yuck. Spores usually came from fungi in a two-part reproductive cycle. Why would she want to eat giant spores?

  Cris wiped the juice shining from his chin. ["What's wrong?"]

  ["I…haven't had these before. On Earth, spores aren't exactly a good thing."] Even bacteria formed spores to withstand poor conditions.

  Cris chuckled and held up the juicy spore where he'd bitten into it, revealing a hint of darkness at the center of the orange-purple flesh. A seed? ["They're good. Give it a try."]

  It looked good, and this was a different world, one whose resources her body was made to consume. Raea took a small bite of one of the two in her hand. Sweet, but a watered-down sort of flavor. And different. She had never tasted anything like it. ["It's good."]

  Cris forced a quick swallow. ["Told you."] He finished his first spore and set the dark seed core aside.

  Raea ate her first spore and tossed the seed away.

  ["Don't."] Cris hurried to retrieve it.

  ["Why? It's just a seed."]

  He sat down and set the seed with his. ["Drop them back in the ocean."]

  ["Why?"] She'd seen half a dozen islands during their flight. There seemed an abundance of searoot islands.

  Leksel offered her a bottle of clear water. ["It takes a few dozen spores to grow enough roots to lift an island. Without the islands, we can't survive."]

  ["How do the seeds grow in the ocean?"] She flipped the cap on the bottle and took a swallow. Just like the water at the island home. She'd never tasted water as clean as on the islands. Not a surprise, since they collected fresh water from the sky. No chemicals or special treatment. Only fresh, unaltered water.

  Cris finished his spores and stretched his wings around his shoulders. With a smile and a sigh, he laid on his back, letting his wings fall beside him. ["They're spores. Inside grows a sprout. It eventually burns its way out with an acid produced in the leading tip. In the air, it'll dry up and harden and die. In the ocean, it burrows into the rock, growing as it absorbs nutrients. At a certain point, it stops releasing its acid and grows outward along cracks and fissures and loose sediment, expanding and filling with gas as it does. It tangles with hundreds of other roots and eventually the shelf they burrowed under breaks loose and rises to the surface."]

  ["Not all sprouts settle on rock to burrow within. They don't anchor and often die before settling, or are eaten by other creatures. It can take hundreds of seeds to produce enough sprouts to lift an island."] Leksel added his seeds to the pile, but didn't lay down. ["Rest. I'll keep watch."]

  Since the fight last night, he had changed. Raea noticed it. Maybe it was the softer tone of his voice. It had lost some of the sharp edge. Or maybe it was the way he respected Cris. Or maybe she wanted to see things that weren't there.

  No. Something about him had definitely changed for the better.

  Raea took a few more swallows and handed the bottle back to him. They gave her a biology lesson she wouldn't soon forget. Inar'Ahben was unique and intriguing and she wished she had time to learn more.

  She lifted her wings out beside her and laid back on the springy carpet of vines. Not quite her bed back home, but comfortable. She relaxed and let her wings drop. A cloud shaded the sun. They were pretty high too, at least a mile above the ocean probably two, if she guessed right.

  That whole world was a wonder. Elis had told her only a little about it, but it must have been ordinary to him. Earth was to him what this was to her—alien. But she liked this. It was different but familiar in some ways.

  Raea closed her eyes. No wonder Inari adjusted to life on Earth so easily. The cultures were similar. Or was that a product of Inari visiting Earth and returning frequently throughout human history?

  Whatever. She liked it. That was all that mattered. Maybe when the Shirat Empire was gone and the Starfire no longer threatened—as if that would happen, but she could hope—she could come back here with Elis.

  Elis...A few days had passed since she was taken from him. What was he doing? She should be with him, training and flying and just being together. Her whole body longed for his closeness. She'd felt empty since asking him for time apart.

  She needed him close to her more than anything, and he wasn't there. He'd want her too. Oh, God. Her eyes burned, even shut. Worry and grief choked her. Raea sniffed and wiped her eyes. She had to return soon. These quiet moments let in too much pain.

  Opening her ey
es alerted her to Cris and Leksel watching her. ["I'm fine."] As if. She missed the best thing in her life. Leksel's story about Korali had struck a chord with her about bonding. If a hardcore Shirukan could change for love and defend his bonded mate to the point of needing four people holding him back from attacking those who killed her, she had nothing to worry about with Elis.

  She had known all along that he would love her the rest of her life. And she loved him. She couldn't see herself with anyone else.

  Leksel looked away, but Cris still watched her, his hands behind his head.

  ["Really."] No, not really. He didn't believe her either by the expression on his face. ["I just want to go home…to Earth."]

  ["Why wouldn't you like it here? I can't imagine."] Cris smirked at Leksel, who acted like he didn't hear.

  She took the hint, but that had nothing to do with her feelings. ["That's not it."]

  Cris wiggled into a comfortable position and dropped one hand to his chest.

  ["It's dangerous here."] Leksel watched the families with their catch near the buildings a ways off. ["For Keepers. You're safer on Earth."]

  Seriously? He seemed to understand.

  Cris closed his eyes. ["You're no fun, Leks."]

  ["Get some rest."]

  No argument from her. Raea closed her eyes and sank into the cushion of plants. After three days, she felt like she'd known the two for months. What would happen to them after she returned to Earth? She couldn't help but wonder.

  One moment, the wind rushed across the island, broken by an occasional unfamiliar sound, like insects buzzing. The next, a gentle nudge on her shoulder pulled her from hazy memories drifting through her mind.

  ["Wake up."]

  What? Elis? Where was she?

  No. She opened her eyes to Leksel kneeling over her. Inar'Ahben. Raea blinked and sat up. The searoot island. She'd fallen asleep. ["I didn't think I was that tired."]

  Leksel stood up. ["Ready?"]

  Cris gave her a crooked grin and clicked the strap for his pack at his waist.

  ["Yes. I guess."] She rose to her feet and shifted her wings. A little aching from lying on her back—or maybe from flying so long that morning—but it would work out with more flying. At least, she hoped it would.