Gratuitous Epilogue : Touchstone Extras (12 page)

Their other choice,
Karasayen, was a challenging prospect for a slightly different
reason. She was a first child of a powerful house, one which has
numerous survivors, and though she's by no means a nasty kid, she
is one very much used to being deferred to, to having her opinion
taken into account, and to assuming command. I remember very well
meeting her that first day of talent school, and really wishing she
wasn't commenting graciously on my kindness in taking on Sen's
servants. A real A-type personality, she was also one of the main
opponents of interface installation within the school, at least
until Rye's attitude changed her mind, and then she strongly
influenced people in the opposite direction. She's smart, and
strong, and rather fixated on the idea of being a
Setari.

And she also hasn't
been adopted. Alay told me that at the end of the school day when
all the adopted children are collected or head off home Kara very
clearly demonstrates how little not being collected bothers her.
Indifference underlined and oh, so painful. The fewer unadopted
kids remain, the more the fact begins to sting, and there are very
few unadopted kids at the talent school now – mainly older ones who
are nearly adults. Karasayen and Lianzrenar are both thirteen, and
I suspect Maze and Alay will be good for them in a lot of
ways.

I am always very
careful to keep an eye on any Nurans who come to Arcadia, to make
sure that Ys and Rye don't feel that their territory is being
invaded, and to ensure that no-one even momentarily considers
looking down on them. I'm not very fierce about many things, but no
matter what cultural expectations anyone might have, or how
traumatised they've been, I won't tolerate people treating my kids
as some kind of underclass.

No dramas, though. Rye
(who is just the sweetest kid) decided to take Lianz under his
wing, and Lianz revealed an interest in Rye's gardens (possibly why
Maze was so taken with him). They weren't exactly comfortable with
each other, but by the end of the party Lianz didn't seem quite so
stressed. Kara was a bit like Shar had been – and spent a fair
amount of time talking to him – staying in 'visiting dignitary'
mode except when startled. She does seem to be quite close to Alay,
though, and went rather pink during a private conversation, and
looked at least briefly happy. Sen didn't act overly concerned by
her – no hugs, but no flinching – so I decided to relax.

Sen's nightmares have
cooled down a bit, and her main preoccupation at the moment is
being a witch. I've subtitled a few Miyasakis for the kids, and Ys
repeatedly watches
Spirited Away
, while Sen is devoted to
Kiki's Delivery Service
, has decided she's a witch, insists
on being called Kiki, and keeps trying to ride about on a broom she
had Ys make for her. With requisite cat stuffed in a basket and
tied on the end. Tick-tock and Mip won't go near her any more, and
she likes nothing more than getting anyone with Levitation or
Telekinesis to fly her about on her broom 'delivering' things from
one end of the house to the other. It's hugely funny, and makes me
miss Ghost rather. Ghost probably would have ridden about on the
broom.

Twelfth and Third have
only been here a few days, and I asked Maze directly to assign Zan
plenty of bodyguard duty so I could see more of her. It's also a
good idea because it cuts down the way KOTIS Command likes to
overwork strong Telekinesis talents. I had a heap of fun showing
her around the island when she and Kiste arrived for their first
turn preventing me from Doing Evil.

I've spent a solid
chunk of time carefully watching Zan for any hint of how she was
feeling, but as usual Zan was not giving any of her inner life
away. Kiste was cheerful, and the rest of Twelfth seem to be in a
good place. I really like how they've changed toward Zan, how the
squad atmosphere is positive and comfortable. And Sen showed no
inclination to bring Zan cushions, which was good to
see.

I almost sound
disappointed that she's not miserable. Must stop myself from
fumbling attempts to set her up with someone.

I've seen less of Third
in the short time they've been here, but I think they're okay.
There's a streak of sadness, and of course without Eeli the dynamic
of the squad has changed significantly. I think both squads enjoyed
Rye's party a lot.

Another December

Merry Christmas

I got to do a
projection of my family this morning, and catch up on what's
happening back home. Thankfully some behind-the-scenes manoeuvring
has made the Crummies' Inquiry less invasive now that it's coming
to its end, so the question of bringing my family here hasn't been
publically debated, and a special (and very closed-mouthed)
committee can approve my projections without any suggestion that
everyone on three planets needs to know what I've been doing. The
Inquiry's recommendations won't be made public for a while, and
then the laws will be formalised.

Jules is getting so
tall – it's really disconcerting. He makes me feel like I'm a
stranger. I've been gone more than two years now, and I'm very
different inside my head, and home has become the place I used to
live. Kaoren knows enough English now to catch a little bit of my
conversation with my Mum, but not to have more than a disjointed
idea what we talked about. If the gate aligns according to
schedule, I'll be able to send a letter to Mum in February trying
to arrange Operation Move-to-Muina, and I wanted to discuss with
fake-Mum things I should tell real-Mum about in the letter. Whether
it needed to be a complete secret, how extensive the Move-to-Muina
invitation was, whether it was possible for anyone to 'just visit'.
Whether it was okay to bring our cat.

Then Mum floored me by
telling me Dad had gotten married! And I'm going to have a new
brother or sister in a few months. I am so not dealing with that. I
have a step-mother named Sharon. Mum didn't properly answer when I
asked what she's like, but, argh, I guess it means Dad's happy,
which is a good thing. I suppose I might meet her in a year and
bit.

Kaoren and I have been
starting to put together proper ideas for our wedding. Neither of
us are particularly traditional, or devoted to a particular image
of what the wedding should be like. I want to wear something
resembling one of the less over-the-top Earth wedding dresses, and
Kaoren is going to wear formal robes in colours complementing the
girls' dresses. He's very against me being blindfolded and picking
him out from a bunch of other guys, but does want to do the
exchange of patterned cakes. We both very strongly want to make our
wedding day 'adoption day' as well, though we haven't discussed
this with the kids yet. Basically, we want to have an additional
stage of the ceremony where we'll formally adopt them. And, after
much pressure from Sen, we're going to see about producing one of
these babies she's so keen on.

The idea having a baby
myself is pretty scary. Alay let me feel her daughter kicking, and
I had to restrain myself from making Chestburster comments, because
it just weirded me out having something which wasn't Alay moving
beneath her skin. Very normal and all that, I know, but
just...weird. Kaoren told me on his birthday that he's a little
nervous about having babies too, but more because even with all
Tare's technology, it's still one of the most dangerous things
women do.

My big amusement of the
moment is a new program from the same producers who are behind
The Hidden War
.
The Hidden War
will wind up after
this season – and all the kids except perhaps Sen are extremely
pleased about that because they despise the way they're being
depicted (they opted to not communicate more than their ages and
the scriptwriters – perhaps trying not to offend – came up with
these tremendously brave and noble children who are a little too
good to be real). But just as we're coming into the final throes of
The Hidden War
(next episode is the one where I get sucked
into the Cruzatch's trap), this new show has started called
Muina Ez
(
Into Muina
) which follows two settler
families (one from Tare and one from Kolar) from the acceptance of
their settlement applications onwards, showing all the minutiae of
what 'average' people are encountering when moving to
Muina.

It's interesting and
well-produced, and really gets the feel of the process right, I
think. But it's truly funny to me because of the way my family is
depicted. They don't get actors to portray us – or show images or
anything – just long-distance shots of Arcadia and the other
islands as this near-mythic goal on the horizon. Both sets of
settler kids are shown as completely fascinated by me and Lira and
Kaoren (and Setari in general), except for the primary heroine of
the story, who is fixated on Ys. Ys, Rye, Sen and Lira's
personalities and traits are better known now, and the primary
heroine of Muina Ez is this smart, slightly socially awkward
Kolaren girl whose head is stuffed full of stories of epic
derring-do, and Ys has been her hero since saving me after I
projected the dragon. She has a counterpart (and obvious future
love interest) in a brainy Taren boy and it looks like they're
going to play up Kolaren-Taren-Nuran culture clashes for all it's
worth. It's a fun show, and very informative about the settler
process.

Ys' reaction to the
first couple of episodes has been priceless. She's used to the
focus being on Lira or Sen, but Ys is definitely the mythic heroine
of this plot so far and she's trying to be infuriated but it's hard
for her to withstand such a high compliment. Lira teases her a
little about it, but not too much (most of the other kids on the
show are severely Lira-worshipful, which she's loving).

I probably shouldn't be
enjoying it so much. Being such public figures is a whole extra
strain on them, but so far the kids are handling it better than I
expected. The last episode had a long discussion about House Renar
and just what was going on inside it, and the whole issue with
Sen's parents – and even just who Ys and Rye's parents are too (a
subject too touchy for them to discuss even with me). All pure
speculation – according to Maze they're not going to present
anything as fact about us which isn't known as fact, but they're
certainly willing to argue through all the rumours. Both families
are based in Pandora (with parents with exotic jobs which mean they
get to visit other settlements) and the characters' absolute aim is
to get canoes and paddle to Arcadia – exactly as two Kolaren
teenagers attempted to just recently, except they don't want to be
intercepted by greensuits as the teenagers were. The show's
entirely produced and created here and Lira's very curious to try
and spot the actors whenever we go into town. Muina's gradually
accruing more and more personalities and celebrities, and famous
people from Tare and Kolar seem to be constantly migrating here. It
fortunately takes some of the focus off me and the Setari (although
a lot of the famous people are just as much Setari-fans as the next
person).

There's whole heaps of
rumours going around about my wedding plans now. All wildly wrong
except for the obvious guess about it being held on Arcadia.
Kaoren's parents will be coming back to Muina a little beforehand –
they've decided to emigrate, but to my relief don't want to be
based in Pandora. Arden's going to visit, but not emigrate as
yet.

Another January

Close Call

Sight Sight talents are
tremendously useful.

Since Maze and Alay
adopted, Alay hasn't been scheduled to be one of my minders, but we
do see her quite regularly. She'll drop in to chat (to me or to my
minders), or we'll see her when we go visit to view the latest
things Maze, Rye and Lianz have done to Maze's garden, or during
one of the school runs or at someone else's house. Still, it had
been a few weeks since I'd seen her – she's been travelling about a
bit less now that she's getting toward the awkward end of her
pregnancy. The weather's been tremendously hot and sunny lately,
and our shady pool is excellent for swimming on these really sunny
days, and the waterfall is always a favourite, so I invited Mara,
Alay, Ketz and Jeh to bring their kids over for a small swimming
party while Fourth and the combined non-pregnant bits of
First/Second were due to be off an on Ena mission. Sen of course
leapt on Mara and Alay to say hello to their babies. Babies are
definitely her favourite thing in the whole world (and she's
literally counting the days till our wedding and is expecting
Kaoren and I to produce one immediately).

Kaoren has been giving
Sen a lot of Sights training the past couple of months while she
struggles with Place, and also teaching her the ethics and social
conventions which have grown up around talents who can see things
people might wish to keep private. Sen, while a very joyful little
girl, is well-versed in harsh realities. I'm willing to bet she was
in no doubt about the enjoyment Kimirenar got from his treatment of
Ys and Rye, and Sight Sight can reveal all sorts of infections and
fatal diseases and cancers and things. Kaoren says he's seen
pregnant women and known that the child wasn't viable and there
would be a miscarriage, and it was obvious that Sen had seen much
the same thing. We've been giving her lots of tips about what she
should do when she sees personal information about someone –
particularly how to keep calm about exciting pregnancies, or what
to do if someone's sick or ill. Dragging someone into your bathroom
to ask if their secret is a secret is not the best way to go about
it. In the end, since anything Sen could see would probably be
obvious to Kaoren or Siame as well, we told her if her Sight showed
her something she wanted to talk about, she should check with one
of them before doing or saying anything.