Child of Fire, Child of Ice-A Sci-fi Romance Series

by JB Trepagnier

  Chapter 42

  Isolde was grateful to see more faces from home, even if she didn’t train with the others. They had most of their school lessons with each other, so they were on friendly terms. She hunted with Finn sometimes, but they never talked about their training or what they were meant to do. She preferred it that way. She and Finn mostly pretended like they were two totally normal teenagers who hunted when they went out. For a while, she thought she had a crush on Finn and thought she would prefer him to Elan when all she knew was lies. She knew now she must have been pretty obvious and Fjola did something. Finn stopped hunting with her and avoided her after they both turned fourteen. She knew now Finn had gifts similar to Dasimah and he would bond with Karta. Karta would probably keep him in line.

  Now that the trials were over, she and Elan spent half their time trying to demand information from Tati and Soelva and the other half meeting with everyone trying to figure out the right way to break the news of the alliance. She’d lived in Avala her entire life and hadn’t been in Cendis that long, but she was actually starting to think these Cendian who burned people alive so they didn’t catch their evil were going to be more accepting of the alliance than the Avalians.

  They still hadn’t come up with the right way to tell everyone, but all the advisors on Avala thought she and Elan should be there in person when they did it. They could use her pod and it was big enough to take the Waljans on Cendis too, but what if they got there and the Avalian soldiers shot all of them? Elan showed her the Cendian armor and their laser guns would burn straight through it. They would have to say something to the Cendians about all of them not making public appearances too because Elan’s question and answer period had now become some social gathering where everyone was joking and laughing. The people liked seeing she and Elan were one of them and could get down or up on any level.

  Lusinda’s cousin was actually quite excited to hear about their gifts and why Lusinda and Palina had volunteered. The tests showed both Lusinda and Palina had certain mutations. It was standard knowledge that intelligence was part genetics and part environment, but they had already identified several of the genes that determined intelligence and brain function.

  All of the identified genes in both of them had mutated into something Olina couldn’t recognize. It looked like there were extra alleles on them that could possibly account for their mental abilities. Lusinda had a defensive gift and her extra alleles were different than Palina’s. Once that got out, everyone on Avala went to visit Olina. Isolde didn’t know what it meant, but they all had different mutations. Olina had no idea how to identify the mutation since only one person seemed to have them, but they all seemed to think that mutation made them the way they were.

  Olina only found one mutation in common among all of them and it was a major one. It affected most of the genes that made them human. Rather than talk about things no one wanted to talk about, like maybe they were something other than human now, they all just decided that was how they could control ice and maybe all their people used to have that mutation.

  Olina was begging her to at least get Elan to Avala so she could compare samples. Elan understood it wouldn’t hurt to get a DNA sample from him, but Galih looked at them like they were all talking about some sort of witchcraft when they were talking about science. Sometimes, she couldn’t help listening to his thoughts and trying not to laugh.

  He’d heard her explanations several times, but he still thought if he allowed Olina or another Avalian scientist access to his DNA, they’d make him sprout a second head or they’d somehow make his hair that demon red like the Dysdaimons. When he would start grumping, she would always change the subject back to Ragnis Crystal and how they would make the announcements.

  Elan thought they needed photos to show people it was truly a better place to live, but neither of them had been there or seen photos. They didn’t know much about it except the conditions were perfect. She lost it and unloaded on Viljar when he said he had several land photos from when faction members found it in one of the sturdier G19 airships. He informed her they found it after one of the scientists developed the blink drive that would allow them to go through the wormhole that both planets had been unable to explore before. The Avalians just didn’t have the right ships yet and the Cendians just thought it was cursed.

  Viljar started uploading photos to their COMMs and it was beautiful. It was like someone had taken the tall mountains from Avala and the greenery of Cendis and combined them. There were vast bodies of sparkling blue water, even some in the mountains. Blue and white water fell over the mountainsides into clear pools surrounded by shiny rock and tall twisted trees.

  “Has anyone been there building?” she asked.

  “Both factions decided not to. We thought it would be best to build together. Combine Cendian and Avalian work together so people wouldn’t feel out of place.”

  “There’s a palace there, little warrior. You just need to fill it. Houses are cropping up too,” Soelva said in her head.

  “Are you going to tell me how or is that a big secret?”

  “Your bond with Elan is powerful. More powerful than either of you know. The night you bonded, a palace formed from the slate in the ground. It’s bigger than the palace on Avala and Cendis. You will need to make windows and doors and talk about how you would like to furnish it. Your bond grows stronger every day. You and Elan are building houses and destroying them at the same time.”

  “What does that mean?” Isolde demanded.

  “Some of your decisions were not the right ones, little warrior. Elan should have stepped in sooner with Hikmat. One of you should have questioned Harja. If you had, you may have found out Halah’s location before he got close enough to kill all of you.”

  “You refuse to help us find Halah and the others, remember?”

  “Because the Dysdaimons as you call them have a choice. They might not like the changes they are going through and refuse to act. Much like you could have chosen to go home your first night on Cendis. They were not raised like the Waljans. They can refuse the changes too.”

  “How, when we couldn’t? Are we even human?”

  “Parts of you are. The mutations you are finding on your tests came from somewhere, but you will not get that answer until we are face to face. Focus on Elan and getting everyone to Ragnis Crystal. The answers to how you and Elan are creating houses lie in your genes. The Dysdaimons are not a threat right now and may never become one.”

  Soelva stopped talking like she always did when Isolde started asking questions she didn’t want to answer. Isolde announced what she had been told about the Dysdaimons and the buildings and houses sprouting up on Ragnis Crystal.

  “She said they are made from slate, not the diamond glass on Avala or the black rock here. The Avalians can put diamond glass in all the windows and maybe the Cendians can make hand carved doors for the interiors. Maybe the slate is up in a way we can put hatches with retinal scans on the exterior.”

  “What’s wrong with a key code?” Galih grumped. “I don’t want lasers near my eyes.”

  She found it funny at first, but Galih seemed to get in a horrid mood every time they started talking about Avalian tech and it was starting to irritate her. She put her hands on her hips and glared at him. “You’ve been pushing for this alliance since we were born. You thought all the lies were a good idea. Did you think we would get to Ragnis Crystal and it would be just like Cendis?”

  “I don’t like your weapons.”

  “The Cendian military who choose to come will be trained to use them and they will teach the Avalian soldiers a few things,” she yelled, throwing up her hands in frustration. “Don’t you want everyone trained in our big, scary weapons if the Dysdaimons choose to come for us?”

  “I’m sorry, Isolde. This has been a huge dream for the factions for so long and now that it’s finally happening, I want it to slow down so I’m acting like an idiot. Elan had a good idea while yo
u were talking in your head. I can tell when all of you are talking to your bond animals now. You zone out and don’t hear a single thing around you.”

  “Elan?”

  “We tell the Cendians the truth. Everything about who you are and what all of us can do. To ease them into it, we will tell them they know this first. We won’t have to explain our absence. We’ll say you are taking us back to Avala to announce the same thing to the Avalians and return any Avalian slave we have to their rightful home if they choose to go there instead of Ragnis Crystal. You’re going to tell the Cendians if none of your people agree to the alliance, you’re going to bring any Cendian slave home who wants to come.”

  “You can’t say some of that, Elan. You can’t say if the Avalians won’t agree to the alliance. Our people already don’t trust each other. You need to let me speak for my people. Tell the Cendians what they are really like. You know there will be both Avalians and Cendians who don’t agree. You need to say that and it’s okay if they don’t. Before we leave, you need to form some sort of government here like I do on Avala.”

  Elan saw she was a little frustrated with him. He walked over and pulled her into an embrace. “I was only shooting out ideas while you were talking to Soelva. We make these decisions together, like always. I wouldn’t have said anything without your input.”

  “I know that, Elan, but if all of us are thinking about it like addressing Avalians and Cendians like two different groups instead of talking to them like they are just our people, it’s not going to work on Ragnis Crystal. It’s going to be us and them on Ragnis Crystal instead everyone working together. We’re already going to be fighting that at first. You have to think of the Avalians like you think of me.”

  “I know, Isolde. I will once I’m there and start meeting them. You’ve made yourself at home here. Let me do the same on Avala.”

  She felt rotten and wanted to be alone with Elan. She was fussing at him for not talking about her people the way he talked about her, but he didn’t know them like she did. She was the only Avalian he knew except for COMM conversations. The slaves on Cendis knew nothing of them home. Everyone must have known because they sent Elan and Isolde on their way much earlier than usual.

  She pulled him to the hot spring, where they usually sat when they wanted to just talk. He put an arm around her shoulder and she snuggled into his chest.

  “I’m sorry. I’m just nervous about how everyone is going to react. And Soelva said we are destroying houses when we do something wrong. What’s going to happen when we get there? Are we going to cave someone’s roof in on their head because we make a mistake?”

  “I didn’t want to say anything in front of the others. Tati was whispering to me too, a little. Our bond is still forming. It wasn’t just that one night. Our nights talking about our childhood then making love for hours, it’s making it stronger. Ruling Cendis together, that’s doing it too. Tati said the ground there shakes when you get mad at me and almost immediately stops because we work it out. She said almost immediately after the ground shakes, a new building pops up. She said it won’t always be this way. You’ll know everything about me and I’ll know everything about you. We’ll be best friends and lovers. You’ll sort of be able to read my mind because you already know everything I like and I will be the same with you. Our bond will have finished and we’ll learn more about how we do these things. We’ll know how to control it.”

  “But Soelva said a house fell because we didn’t stop Karta and Atikah soon enough. That has nothing to with our bond!”

  Elan cleared his throat. “Yes, it does. I could feel you. How much it was bothering you. For all the reasons I should have stopped it, how you were reacting should have been up at the top. I think I panicked a little at seeing them in action for the first time and because it looked like they were enjoying it.”

  “We’re all allowed to be scared, Elan.”

  “You never are,” he said, tenderly brushing her hair off her forehead.

  “Yes, I am,” she said, climbing into his lap. His arms went around her. “We’re having twins, Elan, and they are supposed to be special. I’m petrified of giving birth and how we are supposed to keep them safe.”

  “You mean your Avalian scientists haven’t figured out how to make childbirth painless yet?” Elan chuckled.

  “No. And part of the reason I thought the bond was this huge trick to get us to have a mixed baby was that right after I was told about the bond, Jovin made me sit in on a birth. It sounds like it hurts worse than getting stunned with a laser and it went on for ten hours. She was screaming, panting, and there was blood everywhere. The poor nurses had to deal with her insulting them.”

  “Where was her husband during all of that?”

  “In the sterile room waiting for the baby to be cleaned and brought out. They were high born. They baby would have been taken away immediately to be cleaned then presented to them once she didn’t have blood on her. After they named her and had photos taken, she was carted off to her nannies. We don’t have to do that, do we? Have nannies feed them and raise them? We can build a nursery right next to our room.”

  “We can do whatever we want. And I don’t care how it was done before, I’m going to be there right with you while you’re screaming. You can squeeze my hand and insult me instead of the nurses.”

  She laughed at that thought. That totally wasn’t done on Avala. “You know if you’re touching me, you’re going to be feeling what I feel. Do you really want to feel childbirth, Elan?”

  “I actually think it would be a beautiful thing to share with you, though I imagine someone may look at us funny if we’re both insulting the nurses.”

  Isolde burst into giggles at the idea of Elan sitting next to her panting and screaming like the woman she saw. It wasn’t a huge secret they could feel each other, but those poor nurses. They’d have Cendian and Avalian insults being flung at them at once. Especially if it took as long as the woman she sat in on and she was having two.

  “You’re so beautiful when you get silly. Your whole body lights up and it feels nice touching you.”

  “You really don’t mind having two crying babies in the next room and you won’t be disgusted if I feed them myself?”

  “Isolde, there’s two of them and one of you. I’ll be in there with you rocking the other one to sleep or changing diapers. And if anyone has anything bad to say about you feeding them yourself, they can talk to me.”

  “Do you think we’ll always agree on everything so easily?”

  “Even if we don’t, we’ll talk through it and make it work.”

  She started tugging him out the pool and towards the bed. Soelva popped into her head and nearly ruined it.

  “A large medical facility just popped up on Ragnis Crystal. Your plan for your babies is the right one.”

  Isolde just ignored her. She didn’t want to think about magically appearing buildings and destroying things with her mistakes. This was Isolde and Elan’s time, where they could be together with no interruptions.

  Chapter 43

  They had prepared for all possible scenarios before they set foot on the platform for this arena. Elan had already pulled the military into a huge group and told them what he intended to say. Isolde spoke for the Avalians and showed them the photos from Ragnis Crystal. Elan hoped the arena went as well as the meeting with the military. Everyone on the military immediately jumped on board and wanted to get boots on the ground. They would be leaving Cendis with no military from the looks of it.

  Elan eyed his people, all their hopeful eyes waiting for his next announcement. They started to look uneasy when he said it was time for hard truths and hard decisions. Isolde whispered in his head most of them were thinking he was about to pass new laws that would take things away from them.

  “I am not taking anything away from you today,” Elan reassured. “I’m giving you a choice. Since the truce, there have been factions, here and on Avala, that have been w
anting our planets to work together. The Avalians developed a blink drive and a ship that was capable of going through the wormhole that is near both planets. The factions discovered what is through that hole. A beautiful, paradise planet we have come to call Ragnis Crystal. The night the Cendian and Avalian faction members went to tell our kings about it and push for the alliance, our kings and their advisors on both planets died. Sixteen women became pregnant on both planets.

  “The faction members took an interest in us. They hid our gifts from you. On Avala, they worried about what they would try to do with the children and on Cendis, they worried you would burn us out of fear. We all have special gifts. All sixteen of us you see up here have fire like the old Cendian warriors. We can do things with our minds. We are being guided by the bond animals our people used to have and they tell us the gods have a plan for us.

  “I’m afraid there was some deception involved with your queen. Please, hear me out before you react. Isolde is the Avalian princess and one of the sixteen special children on Avala. She can control ice and she has other gifts. Before you react and think of hurting her, consider this. She is here because she wants the alliance. She was instrumental in bringing down The Children of Fia, who wanted to drive Cendis into civil war. She was raised on Avala, but we’ve spoken of all the things she loves about Cendis. She is particularly fond of our spicy food.”

  The crowd actually started to titter at that. Was he winning them over? Isolde whispered to him to keep talking.

  “Isolde and I have a plan. Since she came here instead of me going to Avala, Avala doesn’t know about the alliance except for the faction and those that are special like her. You have a choice if you follow us to Ragnis Crystal or stay here, but Isolde and the rest of us will be going to Avala to talk to them about the alliance. Avalian slaves that are here, you have extra choices. You can stay here, come to Ragnis Crystal with us, or we will return you to Avala when we go and you can go home. We will be making the same offer to the Cendian slaves.