War of the Innocents

by Michelle Breon

  “And the aide’s family?”

  “They were released. Once we discovered the suicide bombers, we had a long chat with the aide. He cooperated fully and a group of soldiers was sent to help secure their release. Those who had held them have also been arrested.” He would not tell Angel that the wife was injured during the ensuing struggle. He was satisfied that she would recover.

  Joel changed the subject to her plans for the near future. Angel talked about spending time with friends, while Nik fell silent. All he wanted to do was to return to farming. He needed time away from everyone, time to think and plan for his future with Angel before he asked to sign the banaas again.

  Between several piloting lessons and visits from the various bridge staff, Angel and Nik rarely had a moment together alone.

  Once in orbit around Llanelyn, Joel used a personnel shuttle to go to the surface rather than the transporter. He stalled throughout the morning, landing mid-afternoon, as agreed to with Gillian, but not telling Angel or Nik he was stalling.

  Gillian, Mischka, and Mary met the shuttle at the usual landing area outside the village.

  After the welcoming hugs and handshakes, Gillian and Mary swept Angel away. When Nik tried to follow, Mischka held him back.

  “You are to come with me,” Mischka said in his intimidating tone of voice.

  Nik groaned.

  Joel smothered a grin. “Mind if I tag along?”

  Mischka headed for the Apaugalla Training Center, so that Nik would not suspect anything. The lunch area had already been arranged for a celebration, the pergola decorated in white ribbons. The women had worked hard since yesterday readying the area. Several elders from the other villages had already arrived to witness the wedding of the Cerato. Gillian would call when Angel was dressed and ready. Meanwhile, Mischka’s task was to keep Nik distracted.

  Nik grumbled all the way to the Training Center. After everything they had been through, he deserved at least a few minutes to go home and drop off his bag. Training could wait for once. As they reached the Center, Nik sighed and dutifully followed Mischka inside.

  The normally busy Center was empty and quiet.

  “Where is everyone?”

  “Out,” Mischka simply replied.

  “Is there more trouble,” Nik started, only to be distracted by a familiar figure walking towards him. “Dad?”

  Nik’s father greeted him with an outstretched hand, then pulled him in for a hug. “Fáilte dhachaigh, son.”

  “What are you doing here? You swore you would never come here.”

  “I’m allowed to change my mind, especially on days like today.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Come, tis time to get you dressed,” his father said, offering up the bundle he carried.

  “Dressed for what?” Nik asked, confused. He looked from Mischka’s stern face, to Joel’s barely concealed laughter, to his father’s smiling face. “What tis up?”

  His father cocked his head and stared at him, then glanced to Mischka. “Did they not tell you?” At Nik’s continued confused look, he explained, “Today you sign the banaas with Angel.”

  “What?” was all Nik could croak out when he found his voice again.

  Mischka started laughing, as did Joel. As his mirth subsided, Mischka said, “I thought twas fitting for you to tell him.”

  Nik’s father chuckled. “Come, let’s get you dressed.”

  Stunned, Nik led his father to the changing area. “What happened while I was away?”

  “Just after you left, Elder Gillian came to talk to your mother. Somehow your mother knew your feelings and agreed to this. The whole village tis waiting at the celebration area for you and Angel. We were told twas what you wanted.” His father looked at him strangely. “Tell me true. Do you love her?”

  “Aiy. I have for several years.”

  “Then tis why you changed Guilds?”

  “No, I did have the dreams I told you about. I could not bear to see Angel in danger when all I wanted was her. So I changed Guilds because of the dreams, to protect her.”

  Silently, the older man adjusted the shoulders of the new tunic. “While I may not approve of your choice, I am proud of you for making it. But I heard that the crisis tis over now?”

  “Aiy, though as Cerato, Angel will still have to travel. But not as often.”

  “Then perhaps there tis a way to do both jobs?”

  Nik contemplated what his father had said. Would he be allowed to work the fields and just retrain before her travel so as to accompany her? With the others now better trained, did they really need him? He would talk to Mischka later.

  “Your mother and I are both proud of you. Despite your personal desires, you did what you had to. You protected our leader, more than once if rumors be true. You stood beside the woman that you love, even when she did not know of your love. You have become the man that your mother and I always knew you to be.”

  Uncomfortable with his father’s praise, Nik merely asked. “Where is mom?” He needed time to consider the changes in his life when he married Angel today, time to figure out how to protect her, love her, and work the fields.

  “Helping the women folk to dress Angel.”

  Mischka entered the room and surveyed the bright blue tunic and dark trousers Nik now wore. The clothes were more Nik than the bodysuit the Apaugallas generally wore. “Gillian vidphoned. Are you ready?”

  There was no time for him to think the changes through. “Aiy,” Nik said more calmly than he felt.

  “Then tis one more thing.” Mischka cleared his throat. “Twas never my intent for you to be injured while protecting Angel. Your feelings for my granddaughter were obvious from the start. That tis the only reason I allowed you to switch Guilds, knowing that you would do whatever it took to keep her safe.” He held out a small soft bag, nodding towards it. “Take it.”

  Nik did as instructed. He opened the bag and dumped two rings into the palm of his hand.

  “These were made several months ago, even before you asked for her hand. They have been waiting for this day. Tis your destiny.” Mischka paused, then continued, his voice rough with emotion, “And hers.”

  Quietly, Nik slipped the rings back into the bag.

  “Come, tis time to go,” Nik’s father said.

  Joel joined them in the sparring area and together the four walked to the celebration area. With a quick glance to Nik, Joel decided that they needed something to talk about besides the boy’s impending wedding. “Mischka, I’ve always wondered what type of training the Apaugallas are given?”

  “Tis much like your own young soldiers. Tis self-defense techniques first for hand-to-hand combat.”

  “I’ve seen Nik’s knife. What other weapons do they learn on?”

  “Mostly knife and baton. Though they have several lessons on how to use whatever tis available, chairs, tables, dirt. Anything that will keep them alive. Once they master self-defense, they are trained to defend others.”

  “Are they trained to take a life?” Nik’s father gruffly asked.

  “No, we did not train Nik to kill,” Mischka responded flatly, though he smiled to reassure Nik’s father. While Nik had not been in the Guild enough years for those lessons, he was not sure what Ethan might have taught Nik.

  Joel contemplated Mischka’s choice of words and with a glance to Nik’s father decided not to pursue that any further. “Would you tell me about the training cycle? How often and for how long?”

  While Mischka explained the basics of the Apaugallas, Nik let the conversation wash around him. Most of what Mischka said was the truth, but Nik knew that the older Apaugallas were trained how to kill. He also knew that such knowledge would upset his father, since he, like his father, believed more in growing and nurturing life than in taking it. He did not want to consider what Ethan’s senior operatives were trained in, though he suspected Torvuld would become one of them.

  Nik did not want to endure the lessons in killing. He wondered if
he could skip those days in favor of working in the fields. He had known, much like the others in the Agriculture Guild, that part of the food they grew went to other worlds. He now knew the importance of such trades, having met the Krandul and Tuttenrock ambassadors. For from those trades of food and the friendship, came the necessary parts to keep the planetary defense shield in place to protect all the people. The “field hands”, as he had heard Tashi refer to the Agriculture Guild on more than one occasion, where just as important as the Apaugallas for keeping the people of Llanelyn safe. As were the Data Center Guild, for they monitored the consoles and watched over the planetary defense shields. Every job on Llanelyn was equally important. That lesson was taught early in a child’s life in school, but only recently had Nik realized the full meaning of that lesson, that the jobs were all connected in ways that benefitted the whole people, even if it was not obvious.

  Angel would not have to travel much for a long while. Thanks to the additional training with Ethan, Nik was well ahead of the other new Apaugallas in skills. He would only need to maintain his skills, and with the team to guard her, he might not even need to maintain his skills. Could he find time to work in the fields as well as train? He could focus on the fields when Angel did not need to travel, but focus on training a few weeks prior to a trip. Would Angel accept him as a “field hand”? Would Mischka allow such a schedule? And, should the worst happen, would he still be skilled enough to protect Angel?

  Across town, Mary and Gillian kept Angel distracted all the way home. Gillian had promised to allow the others to see Angel’s reaction to the news, though trying to hide her own excitement was challenging.

  Morgan met them in the living room, with Jason by her side. “Angel, it’s so good to see you.” They both hugged Angel. “You can tell me all about your trip later. I have something that I want to show you.”

  “And that’s my exit cue,” Jason said, grinning as he left the house. “I’ll be back in a little while.”

  Angel ignored his odd behavior and followed Morgan as her mother pushed her.

  Morgan went into Angel’s bedroom and picked up a white lacy negligee from the bed. “Why don’t you go try this on,” she encouraged.

  “Can’t I rest for a minute?”

  “Shoo. Go shower and try this on,” Morgan commanded.

  Angel sighed and accepted the white lacy negligee, then headed for the shower.

  Once Angel closed the shower room door, Gillian worked quickly to lay out her wedding dress. Angel had asked to be allowed to wear Gillian’s wedding dress when they discussed the ceremony before she left for the battle. Gillian had hoped that the dream would help Angel to survive the job she did not want to do.

  Morgan left to retrieve Nik’s mother, Sirvana, Alinda, Petra, and Kira from Gillian’s bedroom. Together the readied the dress, slippers, and headpiece. Morgan laid out her makeup while Nik’s mother retrieved the bouquet and flower circlet she had made earlier in the day. When they heard the door open, they formed a line in front of the gown, blocking Angel’s view.

  Angel walked into her room in the revealing negligee, then shyly covered herself with her travel stained robe when she noticed the larger audience. “What’s going on?” she asked.

  In response, the women stepped aside to reveal the dress laid out on the bed. “Mema’s dress?” Angel asked breathlessly. As she realized the implication, she squealed with girlish glee. “Today?”

  “The whole village is waiting for you,” her mother said. “Let’s see if it fits.”

  Several minutes later, Angel stood before her family and friends in her grandmother’s wedding dress and new slippers. Gillian lowered the white satin carefully over Angel’s head. The bell skirt fell to the floor, the luminescent roses woven into the satin winked in the bright light of day. The bodice fit snugly around Angel’s ribs and the princess neckline accentuated her bare shoulders. Morgan had applied her makeup, with a hint of glitter in her eye shadow and lip gloss.

  Kira settled the fresh flower circlet on her head. “Tis about time you and Nik settled down,” she whispered to Angel. “He has loved you forever.”

  “He told me,” Angel whispered back.”

  Kira stepped back and allowed Nik’s mother to step up. “Tis glad I am to have you join mi famiglia,” she said softly as she handed Angel the bouquet of fresh wild seren flùr, their white star shape forming a soft backdrop for the larger rhosyn buds. “Por suerte,” she half whispered, tears of joy forming in her eyes.

  Ignoring the law, Angel hugged her soon to be mother-in-law. “Danku.”

  Nik’s mother stepped away and Angel turned to her mother and grandmother. “How do I look?”

  “Boshquito. Nik will be speechless.”

  They heard a faint knocking on the house door. Sirvana left to see who it was and returned with Jason.

  “When you ladies are ready,” he started, but stopped when he saw Angel. “You look so much like your grandmother did on her wedding day. Turn around.”

  “Do you think Nik will like it?” Angel asked as she turned so that her uncle could see everything.

  “If he doesn’t, then he doesn’t deserve you,” Jason smiled at her. “I brought the hovercraft. We can leave when you are ready.”

  “Un minuto,” Angel said. She gently laid the bouquet on the bed. Picking up her dirty robe, she unclasped the broach and asked Gillian to clasp it on. “Nik gave this to me.”

  Gillian gently clasp it over one of the luminescent roses on the bodice, near her heart. “Ready?”

  “Aiy.” Angel carefully lifted her bouquet again.

  The women trouped outside to the two waiting hovercraft, both with the rain covers up to protect from the wind. Sirvana settled into the pilot’s seat of one and Jason took the other. Once Angel and the dress were settled, Gillian and Mary climbed into the backseat behind Jason and Angel. The rest settled into the hovercraft with Sirvana, with three squeezing into the back seat.

  Angel noted that the village seemed deserted. Everyone must already be at the celebration area, she mused. She hoped Nik had taken this surprise alright. After today, they would never be separated again.

  With the aid of the hovercraft, they quickly arrived at the celebration area. Gillian and Mary helped Angel out of the hovercraft and they settled her in a small pavilion that had been set up outside the area. Soon everyone except Mary had hugged Angel and left the area to find their seats.

  Gillian was the last to leave. “Be happy rosso coch.”

  “Aiy, Mema. I love Nik and he loves me.”

  “I know. Why do you think we allowed him to be your bodyguard?” Gillian smiled at her. “As your grandfather was mine.” With a last kiss to Angel’s cheek, Gillian left the tent.

  Angel turned to her mother. “Seems everyone knew Nik’s feelings but me.”

  “Aiy. Twas always obvious in his eyes when he looked at you.”

  “Amourité, Mama.”

  “Amourité, rosso coch.” Mary hugged her. “Now wait for the musicians to play before you walk across the dance floor to join him.”

  Angel nodded and Mary left the pavilion. She recalled that day in her office and knew that no one would stop them from signing the banaas this time. Excitement and eagerness coursed through her, along with the realization that later tonight she would experience all pleasure that Aunt Morgan had hinted at.

  She heard the musicians start tuning and left the pavilion, eager to see Nik. She waited just outside the light for the song she had requested. When she heard the first few notes, she lifted her chin and began walking towards Nik. As she turned the corner, she sought Nik, noting the surprise and delight as his gaze locked with hers. While the gathered crowd all knelt down, for Angel the rest of the world disappeared. Angel could only see Nik waiting for her to join him.

  Nik arrived at the celebration area and followed Mischka’s directions to join Tashi at the front. Nik’s father shook his hand again, then found his seat, alongside Mischka.

  Ta
shi grinned. “Twill be over soon.”

  “Not soon enough,” grumbled Nik, pushing his concerns for the future aside.

  Nervous, Nik scanned the crowd, acknowledging friends. Torvuld, Brok, and Tork sat at a table with three empty chairs and Ian, who sat close to Cecelia, holding her hand. Hichaam, Gunther, and Lurana sat nearby at a different table. Joel sat at a table near Mischka with Ryan, Steven and his daughter Ali. Nik saw his mother arrive and join his father. Angel’s Aunt Morgan and Uncle Jason arrived and joined Joel. Kira, Petra and her grandmother Alinda, and Sirvana arrived, the teenage girls joining their friends at Torvuld’s table while Alinda joined her husband Xiam and their family. A minute later, Gillian took her seat next to Mischka, soon followed by Mary. Nik realized that the only person missing was Angel, as the musicians began tuning their instruments.

  Nik looked to the opposite end of the dance floor where Angel would appear. She rounded the corner, instantly seeking him with her gaze. She smiled when she saw him.

  Never had she looked more beautiful than she did at that moment. Speechless, Nik knew his jaw had dropped slightly … and he did not care.

  Tashi leaned near enough to whisper, “Was she worth the wait?”

  Nik could only nod in silence, but he did close his mouth. Angel smiled at him then, with such a wealth of promise in her smile that Nik felt all his cares fall away. For one night, this night, he would live in the moment with her and not worry about the future.

  Tashi chuckled softly.

  As Angel reached his side, the musicians stopped and Tashi stepped forward to address the assembled crowd.

  “You may be seated. We have gathered here today to witness the wedding of our Cerato and to celebrate the avoidance of a war. To start the celebration, the Cerato has asked that the banaas be read aloud.”