Between Darkness and Light Trilogy (20 page)

“Who are you, Child? We do not know you.”
Her voice is like the whisper of leaves.

“I am Shi'ahn. I’m, we, my brother William
and I, are new here, we only arrived days ago. We are from
Shiral.”

“Shiral, I have not heard of it. Where is
this Shiral?”

“In relation to here? I’m sorry, I don’t
really know. This is all very new to me.”

“And yet you sing a devotional song to
us?”

“It is a song Mathair taught me as a child.
This place seems so much like home; the song arose unbidden. I am
sorry if I have acted inappropriately.”

“Who is your Mathair?” I don’t know if it is
my sigh or my expression, but she continues almost immediately.
“You don’t know, do you?”

“I was only a child when she was taken from
me; from us. The people called her ‘Beautiful Lady’ and that’s all
I knew her as aside from Mathair.”

“And your father?”

My voice becomes unexpectedly cold, “I never
knew him.” So many people ask that, and they all look condescending
when I reply, but not this woman.

“It’s alright, child, I understand your
plight.”

William finally reaches us, but our guide is
nowhere in sight. “Shi'ahn?” I glance at him, then address the
forest woman.

“This is my brother, William. William, this
is…”

She returns her gaze to me, “My name is
Fauna. Come, you are welcome here. Your brother may come as well.”
I glance behind her, looking for the great stag, but he is nowhere
to be seen. She takes my arm and leads us into the most ancient and
beautiful forest I have ever seen. The trees become very dense,
soon there is little to no undergrowth aside from the plushest
mosses I've ever had the pleasure to walk upon. They are also
strong, our passage does them no harm. When the forest canopy
occasionally opens up, the plants are amazing – exotic wildflowers
abound, as do so many other beautiful plants. The cleanest, purest
stream I have ever encountered runs through the forest, and as the
land is on a tremendous mountain, it forms astoundingly beautiful
waterfalls. Their mists give the surrounding areas a mystical look;
this must be the greatest forest in all existence.

My heart suddenly feels heavy as I realize
she has just led us back to the edge of the forest; Fauna looks
deeply into my eyes. “I believe, Shi'ahn, that you will always be
welcome here. I will inform the guard that you are to be allowed
unrestricted access unless I inform them otherwise. I do not
believe I will have to do that, though. You may visit as well,
William. It is refreshing to meet family members who revere the
land. Those in the Citadel are so caught up in their sciences that
the natural world means comparatively little to them. Well met,
cousin.”

Cousin? “Are we truly…” It's too late, with
her last words she backed away and somehow disappeared into the
forest. I want to follow, but William tugs at my arm.

“No, Shi'ahn, I think we are meant to leave
now.”

“But…”

“We have been without our guide for quite
some time now, I think it best we return.” He concentrates on his
crystal and returns us to the citadel. We've missed dinner, but
servants deliver plentiful meals to our rooms. As I finish mine I
hear a knock, on the inside of my door.

~~~

“Shi'ahn? Please excuse me, may we
speak?”

“Celeste! What are you doing here - inside
my rooms?”

“Avoiding Novanus' scrutiny. I know what he
has said to you, and I am sorry you had to experience that.
Generally we - those of Nebulaea's descent - stick together. I
don't understand what his problem with you is, but I want you to
understand that I do not share it. And, I'll admit, I don't want
him to know it. He is my elder, after all.”

“Are you then also bound to obey your
elders?”

“To a certain extent, yes, we all are.
Fortunately I don't have many. That's something you need to
understand, though. Novanus is my elder, but the Emperor is not.
That's one of the reasons he doesn't care for us, we are not as
completely under his authority as are his own children. We have a
choice as to whether we follow where he leads… or not.

“Yet Novanus is your elder, and he clearly
disapproves of me. Why are you here, Celeste?”

Oddly, she smiles. “I am not a child,
Shi'ahn. Novanus' directives are more like recommendations, to me.
You saved our lives – you truly did; I would not have figured out
the crystal trap on my own, for I was certain there was no escape.
You wouldn't give up, though, you insisted that we work away at our
problem until we solved it, and for that I owe you for not only my
own life, but for my Mother's. Novanus' directive to cast you aside
as unworthy pales in comparison.”

“You don't hate me, then?”

“No! I couldn't. Not privately, at least.
Publicly, however, I feel I must follow Novanus' lead. I am truly
sorry to do so, though – it's important to me that you understand.
For some reason, he feels it is of utmost importance that we
distance ourselves from you. He speaks as though it is not only a
matter of personal safety, but for the good of our realm. He is
rarely wrong – and so while I do not understand or agree with him,
I will, publicly, comply.”

“I see. So, in other words, I'm to stay away
from you as well.”

“Only in public! Privately, though, Shi'ahn,
I would be honored if you would think of me as a friend. As
family.”

I don't know what to say, she is the first
person here to, at least privately, refer to herself as my friend.
I hate secrecy and misdirection, but even to think of her privately
as my friend fills my heart with joy. “Alright, Celeste, privately
you are my family and my friend, but I will not speak of it
publicly.” I step forward and hug her, momentarily letting my
tremendous joy at finally finding family willing to accept me flood
my heart. I feel her surprise at the unexpected warmth that floods
through her as I hold her in my arms. I smile joyously, engulfing
her in the
harmonies
of my happiness. Her smile as she pulls
away is amazingly tender. Then it turns playful.

“If our deception begins to weigh you down,
think on this: my mind floods with mirth beyond measure when I
think that Mithridia, while attempting to kill one Nebulaean, let
the majority of the entire line slip through her fingers, because
she was preoccupied with you. That was truly cosmic justice.” Still
smiling playfully, she transports away.

~~~

The next day Joanna appears with a man, her
brother Johan, who offers us a tour of the Oceanside. We utilize a
transport device, and appear near the Imperial docks. This time I
get a better look at them – when we returned from our dubious
rescue mission we were a bit rushed and distracted. They are an
unusual sight, as I'm almost certain most of the docked ships are
actually meant for flight in space. I suppose that makes sense,
though, everyone here is so caught up in their scientific worlds
that I doubt many of them spend much time sailing for recreation. I
do see Gwenllian's ship Hiraeth.

“Where would you like to begin, my Lord and
Lady?”

I know where William would like to go, so I
beat him to answering; I don't want to go on a tour of ships just
now. “Wherever the waters are the most beautiful, if you don’t
mind.”

“Do you not wish to tour the city, my Lady?
There are many magnificent sights to see. The Temple of the
Bodhisattva is the most magnificent structure in all of the
universe, in my humble opinion.”

“I suppose that would be nice, but I wish to
see the water first.” I see slight disappointment in William's
eyes, but he takes it well.

“As you wish, my Lady.” He takes us to a
truly beautiful seashore; the sand seems very like the blue and
violet veined quartz of the citadel, and indeed the waves crash
against large boulders of similar stone off to the right. The water
is deep, deep blue, and sparkles alluringly in the light of the
great spire. Johan's smile proves that he finds the sight
magnificent as well, then his expression turns to shock as William
and I take off running into the water and frolic in the waves.

Finally I turn back toward the shore and
ask, “What about underwater – are there any noteworthy sights
there?”

“Many, I understand. The nearby coral reefs
are magnificent, and beyond I am told there are wonders beyond
description.”

“Really? Well, what do you think, William –
care for a swim?”

“We have no underwater gear, Shi'ahn.”

“Oh really, William – you should know that
isn’t a concern.” He smiles back, and I dive. I cast an underwater
breathing spell around myself, causing my exhaled breath to combine
with the oxygen in the water around my face to form breathable air.
I hear William follow me, and cast a similar spell around him.
Although there is not another splash, I hear someone swimming far
behind us – I trust whoever it is has their own method for
obtaining breathable air, and swim on.

The coral reefs are easy to find, and are
truly magnificent. We swim over their length, then I look to
William and project my voice just behind his ear, to the bone that
transmits sound so well. “Care to look for some of the wonders
beyond?” He nods, then mouths the word 'time'. “Don't worry.” He
nods again and I haste us slightly, enough to speed our progress
without making the water seem too slow to move out of our way. The
bottom of this ocean is beautiful – a great deal of rock is
visible, like the oceans of Shiral. It's majestic. Eventually we
come upon odd stone formations, no, I believe they are
constructions. One even vaguely resembles the Lunarium! I long to
swim into it, but just beyond it is a stand of plants of some sort.
The overall effect is much like a forest, and so I simply must heed
its call.

William takes hold of my arm and speaks to
my mind. 'I'm not so sure that's a good idea, Shi'ahn. This area is
obviously tended, and I haven't seen anywhere that the caretakers
might live. Until now. Barging into their home uninvited doesn't
seem like a wise move.'

'But I can hear it, William, it is a forest
– it calls!' I try to swim away from him, but his grasp
strengthens; he is stronger than he used to be. I hear another
sound then, someone else swimming toward us, it's Lucian. I turn
angry eyes to him and project my voice to his ear. “What do you
want, Lucian?”

His voice reaches us fine – though I suspect
he uses a device – the vibrations aren't quite right, as though
there is something in his mouth as he speaks. “To keep you from
making a grave mistake.”

“And why would you want to do that – you
haven't taken much care with my safety lately.” I do not disguise
any of my anger with him.

“Because, even though the Old One would not
let me take official responsibility for you, the Emperor wants you
watched – by me. You are developing a bit of a reputation for
finding trouble.”

William laughs, and since he's still holding
on to me, I hear his thoughts, 'He's got you there, Sis.' I shoot
him a disapproving glare, then turn back to Lucian.

“And what terrible mistake are you trying to
save me from now? What could possibly be so bad that you would
intervene to help me?”

“You have been lucky recently, Shi'ahn.
Those that you have approached uninvited have been family, and
therefore not likely to harm you for such a small offense – but
those who live in that forest are not family. They are also not
friends, they may delight in taking one of ours to do with as they
please.”

I remain defiant, “And you care
because?”

“I am here to stop you because the Emperor
would find it embarrassing for any of us to be taken by them.” His
words do not ring with truthfulness, and yet it feels right to heed
them.

“Fine. I suppose we should be returning
anyway.” Lucian moves as though to escort us back, but I'm not
about to travel with him. I nod to William, he concentrates on his
transport crystal and sends us back to the shore. Poor Johan still
waits for us, looking terribly worried. His expression of relief as
we walk out of the water is almost profound.

“My Lady! Lord William; is everything
alright?”

“Yes, we're fine, though hungry.”

“It's no wonder, you have missed lunch and
it is nearly time for dinner.”

I cast a drying spell over William and I,
and Johan's jaw drops. I look around us and understand, William
added a bit of light to the drying process, we are surrounded by
shimmering sparkles as the water evaporates away at a highly
accelerated rate.

“William!”

“Just having some fun.”

I first look disapprovingly at him, and then
expectant.

“Oh all right.” He transports us back to my
rooms. Just in time to dress for dinner.

~~~

We find ourselves seated next to Alma. Cas
is unusually absent from her side. During our discussion I happen
to refer to a ninebreath; her eyes snap onto mine.

“You know, Shi'ahn, you're going to have to
get used to the decimal system of mathematics if you're ever to
fully avail yourself of the true source of power in Lumina.
Everything here depends upon it.”

“Not everything, certainly. Your computers
must, at their base level, run on binary.”

“Binary? You mean, primitive,
electromagnetic-only technology? Hardly.”

“Well then, how do they work?”

“By careful manipulation of the dimensions,
of course. Four of them, to be exact. The four that tend to be the
most reliable throughout the Universe, on our side, at least: mass,
or physical space if you prefer, electromagnetism, gravity and
energy. Truly superior computers can switch over to the use of
alternate dimensions if necessary.”

She laces her fingers together, raises them
out in front of herself and cracks her knuckles. An odd gesture,
but in combination with her self satisfied smile, I assume she is
one of those who designs these superior computers. It doesn't make
sense, though.