Beneath the Twin Moons of Haldae

by Angela Yseult

  “You wouldn’t need more.” Brink’s voice held no trace of doubt. “Our doctors analyzed the cells left on the injection needle and identified the sickness. They made a specific cure and we can give you enough to immunize the population. Their children will inherit the resistant strain.” Her lips curled in an almost teasing grin. “Or should I say, your children?”

  Zaren’s cheeks felt very warm all of a sudden.

  Could she really do this?

  The memory of Kris’ smile, beaming when Elea had started getting better, attempted to pierce those lingering clouds of doubt.

  Chapter 14

  The Circle

  Sleeping in an actual bed, even if the mattress didn’t adapt to Zaren’s body for maximum support, felt delightful after the past few nights spent on the ground. Even with so many questions bouncing through her head, with excitement flowing through her like blood, she fell asleep only moments after Kris had showed her to the room and left her there, after he had repeated yet again how grateful he was for her help with Elea. His beaming smile was the best thank-you gift he could have offered Zaren.

  When Zaren awakened from a dreamless sleep, muted light was shining through the shutters covering the windows. She sat up, disoriented for a few seconds, trying to figure out what had woken her. Another soft knock on the door gave her the answer.

  “Yes?” Zaren said. When she realized the translang was still on the floor next to the bed where she had left it before lying down, she repeated the word in Kris’ language. She wished she knew more than a few simple words.

  She was still tying the translang around her throat when the door slid open and Elea peeked in.

  “Hello. Can I come in?”

  Zaren smiled. “Of course. How are you feeling?”

  Elea was smiling when she entered. If the previous night she had been pale as death, her cheeks were now pink, her eyes gleaming with life.

  “I feel so much better! I was sick for such a long time, but the past few days were really bad, I couldn’t get out of bed anymore. I thought…”

  A shadow passed through her eyes. It was obvious what she had thought: that she would die. It must have been hard for Kris to leave her and go to the woods for his final shift, as he had explained. Zaren was even more grateful for the time Kris had spent helping her now that she knew.

  “I’m glad I could help you,” Zaren said softly, and she really was.

  Elea seemed to waver a little on her feet suddenly. Without thinking, Zaren held her hand out to her and drew her to sit on the bed.

  “I guess I’m not as strong as I thought,” Elea said with a small shrug, then reached out to touch the translang with a finger. “What is this?”

  “It helps me understand your language.”

  Piercing blue-gray eyes that were exactly like the wolf’s—like Kris’ eyes—peered at Zaren curiously. Elea touched Zaren’s arm, where the fabric was torn, then her hair.

  “You come from very far, don’t you?”

  Zaren had told a lot to Kris during their journey, pushed by some sense of obligation since he had helped her so much. She wasn’t sure how much to tell this child, though.

  “You are very smart,” Zaren replied noncommittally.

  “Mother and Father used to say so all the time,” Elea said, grief flickering over her features. She looked around, now wistful. “This was their room before they died.”

  Zaren’s throat tightened, and she could only let out a quiet, “I’m sorry,” but she didn’t know if Elea heard her.

  Elea had risen from the bed and crossed the small room to stand in front of a wooden chest almost as long as she was tall. She lifted the lid and rummaged inside for a few moments. When she turned, she had clothes in her hands, a short-sleeved tunic and a long, wide skirt.

  “Would you like to change clothes?” she offered.

  After having spent the last few days in her travel suit, the thought of getting out of it was heavenly. Zaren quickly pulled on the clothes while Elea waited with her back turned. The fabric felt very soft against Zaren’s skin, woven so finely she could barely see the threads.

  Just as Zaren finished tightening the string that held the skirt, a soft knock echoed in the room, and Kris pushed the door open.

  “There you are,” he told Elea with a smile before looking up at Zaren. “There’s food if…”

  His voice trailed off, and he blinked twice, the sliver of a frown pulling at his brow. Zaren felt very self-conscious suddenly, and she tugged at the skirt a little awkwardly.

  “Elea said I could wear these. Is that… is that all right?”

  After blinking a couple more times, Kris nodded. “Yes. Of course. I just… It looks nice on you.”

  His face reddened as he finished. Elea laughed, and turned a grin at Zaren. Somehow, Zaren’s cheeks also felt warm suddenly.

  The three of them had just sat down at the table when two quiet knocks on the door announced a visitor. The same woman Zaren had seen leave the previous night—a neighbor, Kris had said—entered without waiting for an invitation to do so. Her gray hair fell in a long braid over her shoulder, and her face was heavily lined.

  “Elea!” she exclaimed at once, rushing to the table and resting one hand on Elea’s shoulder, the other on her forehead. “You shouldn’t be up! Come, you need to be in bed.”

  She tried to help Elea to her feet, not listening to Elea’s claims that she was fine, her gaze and reproaches turning to Kris instead.

  “Don’t you know better?” she said with a cluck of her tongue. “You may be a man now, but you are acting like a child!”

  For the first time, she seemed to notice Zaren’s presence. Her mouth fell open and her eyebrows climbed high on her forehead.

  “Who are you?”

  Zaren looked at Kris, silently asking what she should say. Kris grimaced and answered for her.

  “This is Zaren,” he said slowly. “She is a friend.”

  “She’s a medicine woman!” Elea added at once. “She healed me!”

  The woman’s expression was still surprised, but now a hint of fear was creeping through.

  “A medicine woman?” she repeated, unconvinced. “But no medicine man or woman has ever cured the sickness. And what is that thing?” she asked, gesturing toward Zaren’s throat. “Where are you from? You are not from this village, are you?”

  Zaren touched the translang with a finger. “It will not hurt—”

  The woman shrieked and all but jumped back. “Witchcraft!”

  She stumbled backwards until her fumbling hands found the door handle. She threw it open and ran out before Kris, could talk to her or hold her back.

  Kris closed the door. When he turned to look at Zaren, his expression was very grim.

  “Zaren. Listen closely.” Walking over to her, he clutched the top of her arms and squeezed gently, as though to underscore the seriousness of his words. “You’re going to be brought in front of the Elders. I will ask to talk for you, but when they question you, do not tell them you saw me shift. Do not let them realize you know about shifting. It’s very important. Do you understand?”

  Fear took hold of Zaren, but she tried not to show it. “I’ll be very careful about what I say,” she promised, her voice wavering a little.

  Next to him, Elea frowned. “Zaren healed me,” she said, sounding confused. “Why would they question her?”

  “She’s a stranger,” Kris said quietly. “You saw how Lili reacted. They might question you, too, and if they do just say you don’t know anything, all right? Promise me, Elea.”

  Elea huffed quietly. “Of course. I’m not an idiot.”

  He squeezed Elea’s shoulder before looking back at Zaren. “The less you tell them, the better. I’m not sure what—”

  Loud banging on the front door interrupted him. The next second, four men walked in. Judging from the way they were dressed and the weapons they carried, they were soldiers of some kind. Guards, Kris called them, as he hurriedly told Zaren no
t to be afraid, and that he would see her soon.

  Zaren kept his forced smile in her mind and tried to retain her calm as she was led to the center of the village, while people gawked at her from the sides of the road. The guards led her inside a large building, then to a small room that couldn’t be anything other than a cell. All she could do was wait, and try not to be too scared.

  * * * *

  With hurried words, Kris told Elea to stay behind. Just the previous night, Elea had been too weak to even sit up. He didn’t want her to leave the house now—he didn’t want her to tire herself, but also her sudden recovery would raise enough questions without flaunting it for all to see.

  He quickly changed into more formal clothes, putting on an embroidered tunic that left his arm and the new tattoo there exposed. He would have needed to go to the Elders that day regardless, to be recognized as a grown man—as one of them. At least, he ought to be able to talk to them before they interrogated Zaren. Maybe he would be able to make things easier for her.

  He reached the circle building at the same time that Elder Sarly did. Kris pressed his hands to his chest, bowed lightly, and said on a formal tone, “I request to talk to the Elders.”

  Sarly eyed the tattoo on Kris’ shoulder, and his hand rose to rub absently at his own arm, where his tattoo was hidden beneath cloth. The design was a bird, Kris knew, though he had never seen Sarly in his animal form.

  “I see you accomplished your final shift at last,” Sarly said gruffly. “About time, too. You can talk to the Elders later. A stranger was found in the village.”

  Kris nodded. “I know. I brought her here.”

  Sarly’s eyes widened until they were as round as his mouth. “You? How could you betray—”

  “I did not betray our village,” Kris cut in, allowing his tone to reflect the outrage that a member of a First Family would be accused of betraying his people. “And I will talk to the Elders now, as is my right.”

  Sarly’s expression turned sour, but he couldn’t deny Kris’ request. Sarly led the way to the Elders’ chambers, and as Kris followed, he could only hope that he knew what he was doing.

  * * * *

  As they ran away from the village, Zaren kept expecting to hear the sounds of pursuit coming after them. How long would the guard really wait before he had to give the alarm or risk getting into more trouble himself?

  Try as she might, though, she never heard a thing, and when they reached the gleaming edge of a lake and stopped running, Kris said they would spend the night there.

  “Aren’t you afraid your people will find us here?” Zaren asked, readjusting the earpiece of the translang, which she had taken off while running.

  “If they come this way, we will hear them long before they’re close enough to see us,” he said, and the words that came out of his mouth were just as toneless as the translation spoken directly into her ear. He had been in a somber mood ever since they had stopped to rest a little while earlier and she had told him she would soon leave the planet. “How long until your people arrive?”

  Zaren had been wondering the same thing while they ran. She couldn’t be sure, but she didn’t think it would take much longer.

  “Maybe a few more hours?” she said, uncertain. “It will probably be best if we stop moving. They’ll find me more easily.”

  Kris nodded and looked away. “Then it’s decided. We’ll stay here until my people or yours find us.”

  Before she could add a word, he shifted to his wolf form and trotted away. Zaren sighed. She should have told him about the rescue mission earlier. She wished she had told him. Maybe she wouldn’t feel like she had betrayed him if she had.

  Coming close to the edge of the water, she washed her face and arms. She longed for a shower, but the cool water was vivifying, and the afternoon sun was warm enough that her skin dried in only moments. Looking around, she couldn’t see Kris or the wolf, but she hid behind low bushes to change back into her travel suit. They’d almost left the village without it, but she had insisted Kris go get it from his home before they ran.

  Feeling a little lonely, she sat down on a large flat rock next to the water. The stone was warm under her hand, heated by the sun, which slowly glided toward the horizon, accompanied by the two moons. She had checked the beacon, and it wasn’t working.

  She was beginning to suspect that the moons were to blame for the malfunction of her equipment, as her instruments all seemed to fail whenever they were up. Maybe they caused some magnetic dissonance? It was hard to tell without any instruments, and besides, it wasn’t her specialty. She was just glad that the translang was based on an altogether different technology and that it hadn’t stopped working as well.

  The sky was visibly darker when Kris came back, carrying fruit for them to share. He sat next to her on the rock, and they ate in silence until Zaren had to say, “I’m sorry. I should have told you earlier that my people would come for me.”

  He shrugged lightly. “I should have guessed they would. I just hoped…”

  He didn’t finish. Zaren wanted to ask what it is he had hoped. She thought she already knew the answer, and she didn’t know how she could possibly reply.

  It was a long moment before either of them spoke again.

  “Zaren…” Kris waited until she turned her face toward him before he continued. “Why did you come to Haldae?”

  This, at least, Zaren knew how to answer. “To learn,” she said. “I wanted to know about other people, see how they lived. Learn their language.”

  Kris looked puzzled. “But you’ve barely learned anything.”

  She couldn’t help but smile. “I learned a lot. You taught me a lot about your people and your planet.”

  “Are you going to tell your people?”

  He was frowning now, and she thought she knew why. He had shared secrets with her. Things he clearly should not have told an outsider.

  “I will not tell them anything you told me,” she said. “You have my word.”

  She would have to lie when she returned home, but she was ready to do it. It was the least she could do for Kris.

  “You wanted to learn…” he said slowly, thoughtfully. “You could learn a lot more if you stayed here. With me.”

  Zaren’s heart tightened. She had tried very hard not to think of that possibility. It was much too tempting.

  “Kris… I can’t.”

  “I will be an outcast now,” he said as though he hadn’t heard, his eyes back on the lake in front of them. The sun had set, and only the faint light of the moon still played on the calm waters. “Everybody must know by now that I helped you, and I won’t be able to return to my village or see my sister. I’ll be lucky if they don’t hunt me down.”

  “Are you saying you regret—”

  “No,” he interrupted her very quickly, and took her hand, squeezing softly. “Never. You saved Elea, and I’ll always be grateful. But I thought…” He paused, and his expression softened, turning almost shy. “I thought you would stay with me. I hoped you would.”

  As soon as the translang murmured the translation of Kris’ words into the shell of her ear, Zaren knew she had guessed right. But then, she had known simply from the way he was looking at her, from the way his fingers had slipped between hers.

  He liked her.

  He more than liked her.

  And she liked him—more than liked him—in return.

  “I wish I could stay,” she murmured back, wishing that the translang would speak as softly as she did rather than in the same, even, almost-impersonal tone. “Believe me, I really do. But my people are coming, and they won’t let me remain here.”

  She shouldn’t have been there at all, but that was too complicated to explain to Kris now, and she didn’t want to spend that much time on something that, in the end, was irrelevant, especially since she didn’t know how much longer they had.

  “Then…” He hesitated, looked up at the sky for a long moment, then at the lake for even longer, and fin
ally turned to her. “Then let me come with you. Show me your world.”

  She wondered what he had seen during that moment of reflection, what was going through his head. Could he even begin to imagine her world when he looked at the stars? Was the lake, this clearing, a special place for him on Haldae? Could he really understand what it would mean to choose between the two? To leave everything he knew, everyone he loved, family and friends, and…

  And he had already chosen, hadn’t he? He had left his village at the risk of becoming an outcast—and he had done it for her. He hadn’t hesitated, or at least, he hadn’t showed it, not for a moment. It made her feel even guiltier for having to abandon him like this.

  “I wish you could come,” she said, speaking past the heavy lump in her throat. “But my people…” Her voice broke. “It’s just not possible.”

  He looked so lost for an instant that she could hardly bear it. Leaning toward him, she pressed her mouth against his and kissed him softly. He froze against her, then closed his eyes and kissed her back.

  The kiss didn’t last long. It was tender and bittersweet. They both knew nothing could possibly come of this. And indeed before the night ended, Zaren was leaving Haldae.

  Chapter 15

  Leaving

  Haldae’s two moons, Teira and its identical sister Louan, disappeared beyond the horizon. Without their pale glow lightening the sky, more and more stars were appearing, reflected in the calm waters of the lake. The night air was growing chilly, but Kris didn’t feel the cold, not with Zaren’s warm fingers wrapped around his own, not when her head was resting against his shoulder.

  They hadn’t said a word in a long time. There really wasn’t anything more to say. Or maybe there was so much that Kris didn’t know where to start.

  A sudden noise startled Kris, and he jerked forward, rising to his feet at once to look around. It was almost like music, low and regular, to the same rhythm as a heartbeat. It seemed to come from the medicine box Zaren had been carrying around.