See? She smiled at me. I knew you were smart. Now what about the other series? The one they never made enough shows or movies of, where the people take ships to trek and explore through space?
I had been wrong about how hard it was to pass the time. The beautiful, curvy latina woman in front of me soaked up information like a sponge, then squeezed it back out all too happily, gushing over all the things she loved about my world’s art and stories. Hours passed without me even realizing. When she finally paused to take a couple breaths, I looked up and noticed that the sunset was slowly painting the sky.
“Hey, Via?” I asked the dazzling nerd-girl. “Can I ask you something?”
“Um, sure,” the woman said carefully, suddenly shy again. “Is everything okay?”
“Fantastic, actually,” I said as I smiled at her. “Everything’s fantastic. But I’ve been thinking about how hard you try to speak my actual language, instead of using the translation magic. Does it have anything to do with how much you love the stories of my world?”
“Yeah,” she said shyly. “That’s… that’s part of it. My primary body put a lot of her curiosity into me when she created me. Because this world has so many hidden islands...” she swept her hands out at the ocean around us. “And so much to discover. The people here often move from island to island, so I have to travel a lot to keep track of them. She wanted me to enjoy doing that, and she wanted to enjoy doing it through me. So she put her own wonder into me, her own desire to discover new places and the stories that were hiding in their histories. It just didn’t work the way she thought it would.” Her voice trailed off in a mumble. “She didn’t expect me to love all the things she does. And now I have to avoid sharing too much about them with the people here, because they won’t understand them. I have to be relatable to them, so that they can come to me with their problems. If I’m,” she paused to take a breath. “If I’m too weird, they’ll have a harder time approaching me. Think certain problems are beneath my concern, or are alien to me, when they actually can’t handle them on their own and need to come to me for help.”
“Does that last bit come up a lot?” I asked, wincing when I realized I interrupted her, but finishing the question anyway. “Is there a lot they can’t handle on their own?”
“No, that’s the thing,” Via insisted. “They’re usually a happy bunch. When they’re not going through Tumults, most of the islanders live really satisfied lives. They get along with their friends and families. If there is a really big problem, like a food shortage or too many dangerous beasts lurking around, they’re usually able to fix it by just moving to another island. But every now and then, something does happen, like a massive sea monster or a strange storm around their current island, and they need to know they can come to me or a Challenger for help.”
“Huh,” I said, as she watched me nervously. “I never thought of it that way. You and Stell’s other Satellites are under a lot of pressure to be certain things for your worlds.”
“We are,” Via confessed in a rush. “And there’s no one to really talk to about it when Stell isn’t around!”
“Did the other Challengers listen?” I asked, feeling a little angry at a bunch of guys I’d never met before. “I know they’re not around for very long, but it seems like they’d at least want to know more about you guys, and talk about Earth.”
“It rarely comes up,” Via said bitterly. “They were nice, but they were never here for very long. They would pop in once or twice during their training, and then it would usually be a rush to handle the Tumults. And when Stell got… older,” she said, an edge coming into her voice. “She began worrying about certain… scenarios developing. So she began making more boundaries between us and the men and women from other worlds. Especially the men,” Via sighed, covering her face. “Everybody but Merada suddenly gained a bunch of rules they didn’t really understand how to follow, probably because Stell wasn’t sure how to make them work herself.”
“I hate how understandable that is,” I said with an ironic chuckle. “Because on Earth, we don’t really understand boundaries either. We just know we need them, so we put them up, even if we don’t always know when we need them, or how many we need.”
“That must be crazy!” the beautiful sun-kissed woman shouted. “For your whole planet to not know how courtship’s supposed to work! The people on my world make it look so easy!” Via realized she was getting worked up, and sighed again. “Then again, I probably shouldn’t be talking about this. Stell would go nuts if she found out.”
“Perfect,” I said with another chuckle. “It’s good for people to go a little nuts every now and then. Especially nerdy goddesses.”
She turned her head to give me an annoyed look. Then she arched an eyebrow, much like Stell or Guineve would do whenever I said something stupid on purpose. She kept it going for another five seconds before laughter cracked out of her mouth. After a couple of chuckles, she sighed and started to say something, but started laughing again before she could actually speak. She tried one more time, laughed even harder, and then gave up trying to speak and rolled onto her side, clutching her stomach as she roared with laughter. I leaned back and waited for her to finish, enjoying the sound and feeling immensely, smugly happy over the fact that I had made her laugh so much.
Was still a stupid line, Teeth grumbled.
It worked, didn’t it? I shot back. And didn’t you want us to court her, anyway?
Well, yes, Teeth said, exasperated, but do you have to be so painfully corny about it?
Yes, I said firmly, as Via continued to laugh. Yes, I do.
Eventually, Via’s chuckles died off, and she sat back up.
“You’re lucky I needed that,” she said, wiping the tears out of her eyes. “Stupid lines like that should be mocked repeatedly and openly. In every language.”
“Rewarding my flaws with more attention?” I winked. “I’m down with that.”
“You are impossible,” Via sighed. “But at least you have a nice ship. You owe me another ride when we get back.”
“Fair enough,” I said with another shrug. “Can I ask you something else, though?” she nodded. “I get that you love learning languages, but why doesn’t your translation magic automatically convert your words into English?”
“Ugh,” Via muttered. “That issue. Stell’s translation magic works best when her Satellites are at least mostly fluent in all the languages they speak, and I’m still very much learning English. It’s the most recent language of your world that I’ve tried to pick up.”
“It is?” I asked, surprised to hear. “Why are you just now learning it?”
“Because your people waited so long to write stories and movies about people flying cool ships through space,” she shot back playfully. “If your people wanted to be first in line, they needed to work harder to get a girl’s interest, no? Anyway,” she continued, getting serious again. “It wasn’t a problem at all before, because most of my other Challengers didn’t speak English at all. I’ve only had a couple, and they spoke either Spanish or Portuguese. Those two are probably my favorite languages.”
“Figures,” I muttered, but not really blaming her. Even English-speakers made fun of English. “Bet you’re learning Japanese now for the same reasons though.”
“Close,” she said with another smile. “I was lucky, and started learning that one back before they started making their own magic pictures…” she trailed off, staring at me, before speaking in the mindlink.
Anime! She shouted triumphantly. You call them anime! Another victory! Even if just calling them animations doesn’t make a whole lot of sense!
I let her have her little celebration, before moving the subject back to a more serious matter.
“You know, I get your and Stell’s concerns, but I don’t really feel like the real you, the real either of you, is that dangerous.”
“What?” she said, instantly sounding cautious and guarded. “What do you mean?”
“I m
ean,” I began, suddenly feeling a little awkward myself.
Don’t try to fix her, something said inside me. She won’t appreciate it.
But that was the whole point. She didn’t need it.
“I mean, you’re really great,” I pressed on. “I get being cautious about releasing knowledge from Earth, and you don’t need me to tell you how to do things, but I’m glad I got to see this side of you. I’d have missed out if I hadn’t,” I admitted, reaching into the mindlink and lowering the guard over my own emotions. “So, thank you. You didn’t have to risk this part of yourself with me.”
“I can’t help it,” Via confessed, trying not to sound upset. “I keep thinking I’m supposed to hide this stuff, even though there actually isn’t any rule about keeping Earth a secret. But I don’t know how, and this part of me keeps leaking out and risking all the things I just told you Stell and I are afraid of.” She bit her lip, looking at me carefully. “And right now, you’re telling me that’s okay?”
Ouch, I thought with a wince.
Had no one really affirmed these things about her? Let her cut loose without judging her?
Maybe they had, I realized. Even before my injury, and with probably the greatest parents in the world, making myself known had been hard. There was always this fear in the back of my mind that people wouldn’t like or understand me. And all it took was for one person to react badly to something I was excited about to make me start worrying about whether my hobbies or interests were really okay and not a bunch of Very Bad Things. I had gotten a number of reactions like that in the small community I had grown up in. Dad had taught me that was normal, though, and that the only way to get through it was to keep risking, because being mocked for who I was every now and then would hurt less than having to always hide who I was.
But Stell’s parents never had the opportunity to teach her that, I realized. And even if Via had gotten a host family like Merada had, would they have necessarily known how to handle the part of her that loved the knowledge and stories of Earth? Even if they did, would Stell have equipped Via to know how to let them teach her to be confident in herself?
If so, I sure couldn’t teach her either. But I could do my best to accept her for who she was.
“All I know is that the things you’re shy about sharing are all things I love,” I said frankly. “And if this side of you was so dangerous, then your world would have already been doomed long before I showed up.”
“You don’t think this is doom?” she asked in a defeated mumble, looking back down.
“No, I don’t,” I replied. “And I don’t think your world got to this point because you mismanaged yourself. I think you were given an unfair hand, one where a host of problems were all dropped onto you at once without warning. I think that instead of having a bunch of people helping you when you needed it, you were constantly sabotaged every time you tried to make things better, and by enemies you didn’t even know you had. And I know what that feels like,” I continued, leaning forward and maintaining eye contact with the beautiful, overworked woman. “Because the exact same thing happened to me. For years. And I had been keeping secrets, especially about visiting your world. But I still lost everything. It didn’t matter what I did.”
I kept my mindlink open as I finished, so that Via could see my emotions, as well as my memories concerning the times I was shamed, disabled and kidnapped, in case she was able to draw any helpful parallels to her own situation. At the same time, I shared a memory of something Stell had told me, at a time when I had poured out my own worries:
“I can’t be the one to complete you, Wes. But I can be the one to remind you that you’re already whole.”
For a moment, neither of us said anything. We just sat there, foreheads pressed together, and realized how much we had in common, how even with all the danger and madness that had just happened in our lives, the little things still found a way to hurt. The sun continued to set in our peripheral vision, painting the sky in orange and red, even as it slowly sank beneath the watery horizon.
It will be night in a few minutes, Via whispered over the mindlink. I will be busy then, learning where we are and trying to take us somewhere safe. Did you really mean everything you said?
In answer, I kept the wall around my feelings lowered, letting them continue to flow through the mindlink. Something about them made Via flinch in shock, but whether it was pleasant or unpleasant, I couldn’t tell, because she quickly raised her guard over the emotion.
I want to continue this conversation later, she said, her tone carefully neutral. Is that alright?
Sure, I replied, feeling a little nervous myself now, especially since her tone had changed. I’m not in trouble, though, right?
Hmmmm, she sent with a grin. Good question…
I laughed in relief over her joke. She flashed one more dazzling smile and began walking to one of the benches in our damaged ship. She flipped a latch I had never noticed on it and turned the board over, revealing it to be a hidden storage compartment.
“That’s clever,” I said out loud.
“Thanks,” she replied, pleased. “I try to be. Give me one moment to find what I need.”
“Sure,” I replied, as she leaned over to rummage through the supply chest. I looked away to try and be a gentleman, to Teeth’s frustrated regret.
What are you doing? She’s right there!
Exactly, I replied, pretending the wood grains along the ship were super interesting. Do you want me to spook the gorgeous, nerdy latina that is just now getting over her shyness around us?
Ugh, Teeth groaned. Human-ish courtship is so stupid! If she was a dragon, we could stare at her tail all da—
“Found it!” Via shouted as I kicked Teeth back into my subconscious. “I knew I packed extra canvas in this ship!”
“Really?” I asked, finally turning around to see her holding a small square of cloth. “That doesn’t look like it’s going to be enough…”
I trailed off, as she unfolded the square three times, then three more times after that, before shaking it out. She was now holding a sheet that would serve as a small, but functional, sail for our boat.
“That feels like it should have been impossible,” I noted slowly.
“You’re welcome,” the shapely sailor said as she flashed me another confident smirk. “If you’re really impressed, though, you can do me a favor and help me attach it to our mast. The stars should be up by then, so we can set sail as soon as I get my bearings.”
“Yes ma’am,” I replied as I took part of the sheet from her. I was a far cry from the master sailor this woman was, but I was still proficient enough to tie and patch new canvas. “Speaking of the mast,” I continued as I began to climb up the pole. “How is it even still standing? We were literally flung across the ocean. Oh,” I said a second later, recognizing the tiny magical symbols scribed into the wood. They were a far cry from the caravel’s elaborate glyphs, but the word reinforce had been written in at least two Earth languages, and probably a half dozen other ones native to the Oceanfolk.
“I know I don’t look it to an Earthborn, or even a native Oceanfolk,” Via replied, pulling out a new line of rope to help attach the sail. “But I’ve been alive for centuries. I have a whole lot of hobbies I’ve told you about, but most of my focus has been on learning two things: ships and magic. The survival of my world has depended on my helping Challengers with those two fields, in addition to handling Challenges without one of your people present. I’ve done my best to find every useful trick there is,” she added as she tied a knot together with movements I couldn’t even follow. “But the fun thing about sailing and magic is that there’s always more to learn. Maybe the next time you turn your head, I’ll know even more tricks,” she teased, somehow tying another knot without my noticing.
“Well, the rules say you’ll have to teach me at least one out of every three,” I said with a grin, finally finishing a knot of my own. “It’s part of the Challenger tax. Believe me. I
totally looked it up.”
“You and your goofy lines,” she chuckled, pulling on a rope to make sure it was straight. “That’s okay, though,” she said mysteriously. “I’ve already got some tricks in mind. I’ll show them to you later.”
Wait a minute, Teeth spoke up again. Is she saying she wants to—
I have no idea, I replied. We won’t know until she’s ready. And for all we know, this part of Stell may just want to be friends.
Teeth grumbled some more about ‘stupid human courtship.’ I tried to consider whether ‘human’ was the correct term for Oceanfolk or Starsown Satellites, and eventually gave up and ignored him instead.
“Is this good?” I asked as I finished tying what I thought was the last knot, near the lower part of the mast. Via gave the line an experimental tug and nodded in satisfaction.
“Yeah,” she said, thumping the wood affectionately. “This poor thing took a heck of a beating, though. I’ll probably have to retire it whenever we get back.”
We did a last minute check on the craft for any new problems, then we lowered the sail and went back to waiting for night to fall. I brought out some food I had stored away in Breaker so that we could have a late dinner. Via was grateful. She had her own food stored away, but hardtack ship biscuits were never anyone’s first choice.
Despite her earlier words, she still didn’t bring up whatever it was she said she had wanted to talk about later. I didn’t press, especially when she began looking up at the stars that were slowly appearing in the sky.
“Hmm,” she said as she chewed, staring at one constellation that had just finished coming into view. I had no idea which one it was. Recognizing the different night skies on all of Avalon’s sister worlds wasn’t something Stell had time to train me in, and Astronomy was one of the few skills I hadn’t bothered to raise much.
“Yes, that’s it. I know that one,” she said after swallowing. She turned her head to look over the starboard side of the ship. “And if I see the Great Fish rise over there, I’ll know exactly where we are.”
Lighting Distant Shores (Challenger's Call Book 4) Page 47