The Sister Paradox

by Jack Campbell

  The unicorn turned its head enough to roll the other eye in my direction. “Well enough, but manners are manners.”

  Kari looked suddenly embarrassed. “My pardon. The fault is mine. White Lady of Eveness, this is my brother Liam. Liam, this is White Lady of Eveness, who has been like unto a mother to me these fourteen years.”

  Oh, man. Kari had been raised by a unicorn? That might explain a few things. “Pleased to meet you,” I said slowly.

  “Are you?” The unicorn walked a couple of steps closer to me, bending her head so that the point of her horn came to rest against my forehead. I realized that all that she had to do was lean forward and I’d be in for a lot of hurt. “I do not know you, Liam, brother of Kari, not as I know your sister.”

  I swallowed and spoke very carefully. “Yes, but Kari is my sister.” At this point, I wasn’t about to question that issue.

  “So she is.” The unicorn raised her head, removing the horn from its resting place uncomfortably near my brain. “Why are you here?”

  I pointed at Kari. “Because she made me come here.”

  “That is not why you are here. Why are you here?”

  “She made me come here! Just ask her!”

  “Did she put the Sword of Fate to your throat and compel you to march with her?”

  “Uh…no. Not exactly.”

  Kari smiled at me. “Liam often makes jests, White Lady. He is so good at them that sometimes I do not even realize he is jesting!”

  The unicorn didn’t seem impressed by that, either. “An unusual skill but one of doubtful use. You chose to come here, Liam, brother of Kari. Why?”

  “Because…” I gave Kari an angry look, remembering our argument in the woods. Kari just kept smiling, apparently sure this was another one of my jests. “She did make me come here. Not with that sword. But she was coming and if I didn’t come along she’d be alone so I had to come, too. She said she needed my help.” You’d think a unicorn could understand that.

  Well, maybe you wouldn’t think a unicorn could understand that. I guess it depends on what you expect from a unicorn.

  This one lowered its head enough to tap my forehead again very lightly with that horn. “Liam, brother of Kari, anyone can hold onto things of little value. Such things go nowhere, for no one cares to take them. But to hold onto something of great value requires strength of will and clarity of purpose, to grasp and to hold tightly when all the world seems to be working to take that thing of value from you. Can you so grasp and hold the true treasures of your life, no matter how hard the task?”

  It turns out unicorns talk like that a lot. If you ever meet one yourself, you need to remember that, because you’ve got to be careful how you answer. I learned that, too, later on.

  I took a minute to puzzle out what the unicorn had said, and then shrugged. “Yeah. I can do that.”

  “Think carefully on that answer. Do you speak truth as you know it? Would you vow to live up to it?”

  I felt like I was back in school, being quizzed by Mr. Weedle, and not liking it. Maybe I’m a kid, but I’m not a child. “Uh, yeah. Yes. I’d vow that.”

  “Hmmm.” The unicorn backed off a step and turned her head to look at Kari. “Daughter, do you truly trust this one?”

  Kari gave me that very serious look of hers. “Yes, White Lady.”

  “He does not seem strong.”

  “Oh, he is much better than he seems! He guarded me well in his world, warning me of its dangers and bringing me to my honored mother. I do believe he can be trusted.”

  “Hmmm,” the unicorn repeated. “He does not look it.”

  “He is my brother!”

  Who wasn’t feeling all that great at the moment. Here I’d tried to walk out on her earlier, and all the time I’d been thinking Kari was weird and brainless because she didn’t know much about my world. Okay, I still thought she was weird, but so far I’d turned out to know even less about her world than she’d known about mine. Truth to tell, Kari had been acting suspiciously smart since we’d headed for this Elsewhere place. Her only blind spot seemed to be me, as if she believed the brother she’d never met just had to be the greatest thing going.

  On the other hand, the unicorn wasn’t pretending to think much of me at all, and until you’ve been put down by a unicorn you don’t know what a put down is. But Kari was standing up for me. The sister I didn’t have thought enough of me to argue with a unicorn. You’ve got to admit that’s special. Or maybe unusual. But it’s something.

  White Lady looked at me. “Kari means much to us all, Liam, brother of Kari.”

  “Yeah, well, she’s my sister.”

  “And what does that mean to you, Liam, brother of Kari?”

  What did that mean to me? Fighting off a pack of ravenous wolves together had been sort of a bonding experience, but there weren’t many wolf packs to worry about in my neighborhood. It was all very well to have Kari giving orders in the Forest of Doom, but I already had enough people ordering me around back home. And Mom had taken Kari’s side in an argument five minutes after she walked in the door for the first time! So, I still didn’t want her coming home with me and spoiling my perfectly good life.

  But I couldn’t very well say that while Kari was standing there beaming proudly at her brother and defending me in front of her friends. I’m not perfect, but I’m not that big a jerk.

  White Lady was watching me, waiting for an answer to what having Kari as a sister meant to me. “I’m still figuring out what that means,” I admitted, which was partly true since I was starting to think that even if Kari never came home with me it might still be okay to have a sister in another world. If I had to have a sister, having her in another world seemed like a good arrangement.

  My answer seemed to be the first thing I had said which pleased the unicorn. “I am grateful to have a truth from you rather than glib words, Liam, brother of Kari. You face challenges, and at such times truth to others, and to yourself, means more than any other quality.”

  Kari nodded. “I am certain that Liam understands that, White Lady. He jests with me on occasion, but in the end he is always true. I have not known him to be false in any way.”

  It’s funny how hearing someone say really nice things about you (when you don’t think you really deserve those nice things), can feel a lot worse than having them say bad things about you. I started to wish that Kari would yell at me some more so I could get mad at her again.

  One of the other unicorns, a stallion who seemed pretty laid back for a unicorn, nodded his head and horn at me in a friendly way. “Liam, brother of Kari, I am Revek, Bane of Wolves. I saw that you did acquit yourself well against the wolves even though you lacked a sword.”

  White Lady shook her mane, gave the stallion a look, then focused back on me. “Yes, Revek. He lacked a sword. Where is your sword, Liam, brother of Kari?”

  White Lady sure had a way of focusing on uncomfortable details. This seemed like a bad time to admit I didn’t have a sword, but I opened my mouth even though I had no idea what I was going to say. Before I could say anything, Kari grabbed my arm and started talking. “His sword was taken from him by the evil Lady Meyer of Hillcrest.”

  A murmur of surprise went through the herd and the stallion blurted out, “Taken?”

  “Yes!” Kari insisted. “By a ruse, just as she succeeded in temporarily taking the Sword of Fate from me.” Another murmur of surprise, mingled this time with outrage. “She asks to see the blade, with false courtesy, then attempts to keep it for her own. And after she takes their swords, the evil Lady Meyer suspends her victims!”

  “Suspends?” Revek gasped. “That sounds ill.”

  “Yes,” Kari agreed, “though Liam spared me the details while we were in his world.”

  Everyone looked at me, expecting some comment, so I nodded quickly. “Yes. Being suspended is a bad thing. It’s the pits.”

  “The pits!” Revek shook his head in disbelief. “This woman suspends her victims over pits! Sa
y no more, Liam, brother of Kari.”

  White Lady hadn’t stopped looking at me. “And yet Kari managed to recover her sword.”

  Kari jumped to my defense again. “He selflessly aided me in escaping the grim fortress of Hillcrest, and then in recovering the Sword of Fate instead of seeking his own blade.”

  Did Kari really believe that was what had happened at my school, or was she deliberately putting things in a way that would make me look best to her friends? Maybe she was doing the same thing here that she had done when we faced the wolves, guarding my back and counting on me to guard hers when she needed it, even though I couldn’t think of anything much I’d done to make her believe I was all that great a guard. Strange as it seemed, I was starting to wonder if maybe Kari figured that her brother naturally deserved that kind of support.

  As for me, I was beginning to wonder just what I had ever done to deserve that kind of loyalty from anyone, let alone a sister I had never met before today. Maybe I ought to think about trying to repay that loyalty. Annoying or not, Kari seemed like a decent kid, and she had been real nice to have around when the wolves were after us. “I’m here to help Kari,” I said. “And I’ll do whatever I can, I’ll fight however I can, whether I have a sword or not.”

  “Well spoken,” Revek applauded. I was liking that unicorn stallion more every minute. “I only regret that when all is set right here we will not be able to assist you in rendering justice to the evil Lady Meyer of Hillcrest.”

  Kari raised one fist. “Liam and I shall bring her to bay! She will rue the day she embarked on her path of repression! Her rule shall be ended, the gates of Hillcrest shall be flung open, its dungeon emptied and her victims set free to live in peace and joy!”

  I was starting to worry about what would happen in the unlikely event we both did end up back in my world and Kari ended up enrolled in my school. I mean, I was still sure that wouldn’t happen, but what if it did? It didn’t seem too likely that she and the evil Lady, that is, Principal Meyer would be getting along very well. Especially if they tried to make Kari sit down filling out circles on standardized tests crammed with whatever trivia we had been force fed to produce better standardized test results. If that didn’t make much sense to me, who had grown up with it, I couldn’t see Kari just accepting it.

  No. From what I had seen of her so far, it was way too easy to imagine Kari doing a Joan-of-Arc thing and leading an army of students in a siege of the teachers’ lounge. Home schooling. That would be the ticket for Kari. Mom wouldn’t mind once I explained the alternative.

  If Kari did come back with me, which she wouldn’t. Right? Who would leave a herd of unicorns in a beautiful place like this to live in the suburbs? She would stay here, and I would go home to be the only kid in the family again. Win-win.

  But now White Lady swung her head again to point with her horn across the meadow. “The Archimaede awaits, Kari. It tells us time grows short, but we cannot assist you from this point onward. You must hasten and the two of you must do so alone.”

  Kari gracefully went to one knee, bowing her head toward the unicorn. “My eyes and my heart joy to this meeting and sorrow in this parting. Grant us your well wishes on our journey, White Lady of Eveness.”

  If a unicorn can be said to have a tender expression on her face, White Lady did as she looked at Kari. “You shall always have those wishes with you, my spirit daughter, no matter where you must go.”

  “But—” Kari’s voice choked for a moment. “If I must never see you again—”

  “The choice is not ours or yours, daughter of my heart. Return in time and we may hope for farewells before you leave forever.”

  Leave forever? No, that couldn’t mean, like, leave. As in leave this Elsewhere place. They had to be talking about Kari leaving these unicorns and going somewhere else in Elsewhere. Yeah. Because they obviously didn’t have phones or chat here, so moving somewhere else would mean not being able to talk to each other all the time anymore. Which was why they sounded so sad.

  But what if it did mean Kari was leaving as in leaving? Where would she go? Home with me? No. That’s obviously not going to happen because…

  What if she is? What if I have to share the rest of my life with a sister? A sister who was raised by unicorns?

  No. Won’t happen. Can’t happen!

  The unicorn White Lady looked at me and I didn’t get any tender vibes at all. I once again got the uncomfortable feeling that she was reading my thoughts. “I send my heart with you, Liam, brother of Kari, for your keeping, though I sense little welcome in you for her. Know this. Fail her, and you shall fail yourself as well.”

  I wasn’t sure how to answer that, and I was unnerved by White Lady figuring out how I felt about Kari, and I was pretty sure that if I tried to do Kari’s kneeling thing I’d fall over and look like an ultra-maroon, so I tried to bow to the unicorn. All I could think to say was, “I’ll do my best,” which doesn’t really mean anything, but usually sounds good. I followed as Kari stood up and began jogging across the meadow in the direction White Lady had indicated. The unicorns all stayed behind. When I glanced back I saw them standing, watching us.

  Kari didn’t say anything, lost in thought, so I stayed quiet as well while we crossed the meadow, concentrating on my breathing as I matched her pace. It wasn’t easy, even though she was weighed down with that sword and I wasn’t. Kari would be a shoo-in for the track team at Hillcrest.

  I had to watch my feet as we ran through the high grass, but I caught glimpses of the wider world as we ran. Vast mountains rearing up to one side, an ocean or some other big body of water occasionally visible some ways to the other side, and up ahead a small river that gleamed in the sun. Everything seemed impossibly bright and sharp, which I suppose is how things are when there’s not a lot of pollution in the air. Birds chirped and swung by, their colors so brilliant they almost hurt my eyes, but Kari waved them off, her face still somber. Aside from the rhythmic sounds of our breathing, the only noises I could hear were our feet swishing through the grass and an occasional sharp cry of what sounded like a hawk overhead.

  Finally, just when I was about to admit I needed to rest, Kari slowed to a walk. I stumbled to a walk as well, trying to keep from collapsing in the grass.

  “Forgive me,” Kari said in a low voice punctuated by long, slow breaths brought on by the run. “I am somewhat saddened, as you see.”

  “Um, yeah,” I managed to gasp back to her while I tried to catch my breath. I never claimed to be good at talking about feelings. I’m a guy. Besides, there hadn’t really been anyone to discuss feelings with. But, for some reason, seeing Kari depressed like this bothered me. I mean, why should it bother me? I didn’t know her. Did I? Maybe she was growing on me. It was increasingly obvious that Kari was tough as nails as well as good with her sword, and she had this irrational belief that I was something special. As sisters go, that wasn’t a bad combination.

  Kari sighed again. “I shall miss this world.”

  Miss this world? Oh, man. “Um…why don’t you stay?” I managed to get out between wheezing for breath.

  She looked away. “There is only one choice.”

  Talk her out of it. Hurry! “Because of Mom? She’d be disappointed, I guess, if you stayed here, but once I told her about White Lady and how much you liked it here—”

  “You do not understand. I am grateful that you are trying to help, but you do not understand.”

  The girl could not take a hint. “Really, Kari, if you want to stay—”

  “My wants are not the issue! I cannot think of myself!”

  “Why not? I mean, seriously, what’s wrong with focusing on what you want?”

  She turned to stare at me. “This is an ill time for a jest, my brother.”

  “But if you don’t want to come stay at my home, I wouldn’t mind—”

  Kari shook her head. “It is nice that you care for me enough to want the best for me, but it cannot be.”

  I hoped that she di
dn’t notice my flinch when Kari said that bit about my caring for her. How could someone saying you were good make you feel so bad?

  This was going to ruin everything. Why had I only now confirmed that she was definitely planning on coming home with me once our quest was over? Okay, maybe I should’ve cleared that up a little earlier. I suppose you think that you’d have done a better job of managing things if the sister you didn’t have showed up at your school with an enchanted sword and roped you into a bunch of challenges in another world.

  Fortunately, Kari was absorbed in her own thoughts and didn’t notice the emotions that must have been showing on my face. I didn’t know how I could have explained them without hurting her more, and she already looked really unhappy.

  I tried to think through my life to understand how she must feel, and kept ending up with big blanks. Sure, I’d had a few disappointments, but only on the scale of not getting a certain video game for my birthday or not getting to go to a party. Had I ever missed out on anything really important? Had to give up anything really important? I glanced over at Kari, remembering the way Mom had looked at her. Shocked and stunned and upset, but also…also happy. I’d seen that. I hadn’t wanted to admit it. “Kari? Mom is really going to be happy if…I mean, when you come home.”

  I’d said it. When you come home. My life was officially over.

  She smiled a little. “Thank you, Liam. I must remember that in the other world I will still be among those who love me.” Then she balled her hand in a fist and rapped my shoulder again, much more gently this time, clearly including me among those who she thought loved her.

  Oh, man. I looked away and shrugged, hoping she wouldn’t see through me, feeling like a total jerk. “You’re, uh, not so bad. Sometimes.”

  “‘Not so bad’? This is a compliment in your world?”

  “Sort of.”

  “Then you are sometimes not so bad yourself, Liam,” Kari repeated solemnly. She pointed to where the river bank met the meadow not far ahead. “The Archimaede awaits.”

  I followed Kari as she worked her way down the river bank and toward what looked for all the world like a huge beaver house. In front of the beaver house sat what looked for all the world like a huge beaver, its head easily six feet off the ground, holding a branch in one hand as it chewed on the wood.