The Lord of the Plains (19 page)

‘I got the tickets!’ Razra yelled at the top
of his voice.

With screams and laughs most of the children
rushed over to Razra. Riley watched in consternation. She was
learning rapidly the moods of her colleagues, still, she wasn’t
sure if these were good screams or bad.

She made her way over to Razra to ensure he
was ok.

‘Take me, take me!’

‘Oh please, let me come!’

‘We’re going together, right, Razra?’

Riley absorbed these things but they meant
little to her. Razra was standing in the middle of a group of
children looking triumphant. Seeing this, Riley stopped. Everything
was fine.

‘Shut up! Just tell us who you’re going to
take!’ A boy even larger than Razra commanded.

The rabble died down and Razra looked around
a bit sheepishly. ‘Well…Marilia already gave my Mum money so she’s
coming.’ Then he glanced towards a boy Riley knew he didn’t like
very much. Mainly because this particular boy was rather more
accomplished than Razra and Razra’s mother was rather taken with
the idea that he would make an excellent playmate for Razra. Razra
had told her these things. At length. ‘Teztar, you get to come too,
and Leina.’

Riley was rather impressed at Razra’s
mother, though she didn’t know her. Clearly, none of the three he
had picked had been his choice, yet even without this mysterious
mother looking over his shoulder Razra was sticking by her
commands. Very impressive indeed.

‘Well, is that all?’ the big boy asked
belligerently.

‘I haven’t decided yet.’ Razra said, his
tone uncharacteristically meek. It seemed the bigger boy coupled
with his mother’s choices had cowed him.

At that the cries from the other children
began with renewed vigour.

Seeing that all was well, though Razra
didn’t look particularly happy, Riley went back to her lunch
spot.

As the day ended Riley strode, with legs
swinging, over to Aerlid. She was happy. That swinging, impractical
stride was a clear sign of joy.

As she approached Aerlid, Riley spotted a
large group of children gathering around one woman. Riley slowed
her pace. Razra had many brothers and sisters, and this woman had
many small two legs that appeared to be her own. Riley had observed
that at going home time the human children gathered around the
large two legs that belonged to them, not their teachers. The
gemeng children, on the other hand, gathered around each other.
Perhaps this woman with the many small two legs was the formidable
Razra’s mother?

‘What are you looking at?’ Aerlid asked her
curiously as Riley watched.

‘Maybe Razra’s mother.’ Riley replied. Then
she asked, ‘how can you tell if someone is someone’s mother?’

‘Well, they might look similar.’ Aerlid
said, amused. ‘Why?’

Riley observed the lady carefully and
compared her to Razra. ‘I think it’s Razra’s mother.’ she said,
though it would be useful for Razra to appear and walk towards one
of the large two legs so she might know for certain.

Riley began walking towards her then stopped
and looked back at Aerlid. ‘Is it alright to watch how she manages
the small ones?’

Aerlid’s eyebrows rose. ‘Perhaps it would be
best not to.’

Disappointed, Riley deferred to his greater
wisdom regarding all things except cats. They turned away.

As they were leaving Riley heard a wail from
behind. She stopped in alarm and looked back. It was Razra, running
towards them. This concerned her greatly as this was an unusual
occurrence for going home time.

Perplexed, Riley waited until Razra reached
them. He rested his hands on his knees, panting hard. ‘Why are you
leaving so early?’

‘It’s going home time.’ Riley responded. She
didn’t know what ‘so early’ meant, so she noted and ignored it.

Just then Razra noticed Aerlid. Quickly he
straightened and stopped panting. So quickly in fact, Riley became
suspicious of how out of breath he had been.

‘Hello, sir. I’m Razra Lesian. It’s nice to
meet you.’ he stuck out his hand in a very polite manner.

‘It’s nice to meet you too, Razra. I’m
Arntar, Riley’s uncle.’ Aerlid smiled.

Instantly Riley felt a moment of indignant
jealousy, clearly Razra had been hiding his greeting skills from
her. This was not how he behaved in school! And for Aerlid to be so
impressed!

Riley turned to Aerlid, ‘is that how I
should greet people?’ she asked, her tone clearly showing her
feelings.

‘I think your greeting is fine.’

Razra was used to Riley’s strangeness by now
and did not react to her question. ‘I’m sorry for bothering you,
sir, I just had a question.’ he said in that manner Riley felt was
clearly fraudulent.

‘Of course, it’s no bother at all.’

Razra turned to Riley, a grin on his face.
‘Do you want to come to the CTA?’

Riley looked at him blankly. She had been
blindsided, and it was not a question she was very familiar with.
Yet it was not nearly as bad as ‘What do you think of Astar?’

Razra beamed, as usual taking silence to
mean whatever he wanted it to mean. ‘Meet us outside tomorrow at
two o’clock!’

Then he turned to Aerlid, suddenly a model
child again, ‘is that alright with you, sir?’

Aerlid was struggling to contain his
pleasure, Riley, invited on a playdate! Still, he managed to ask in
a calm and dignified manner, ‘Where is the CTA?’ He said it ‘C’,
‘T’, ‘A’, unlike Razra who called it ‘ceta’.

‘My Mother is just over there, sir, if you’d
like to ask.’ Razra pointed and Riley was satisfied to note that
she had been right. The woman with the many small ones gathered
around her was indeed Razra’s mother.

‘Thank you, I’ll go speak to her, and yes,
Riley can go.’ With that Aerlid walked over, and Riley wondered for
a moment if she should warn him of that woman’s great
formidableness. But Razra was talking to her and the moment was
gone.

‘It’s the new Jeitar and Molozor show! They
just changed it last week! I’ve been waiting for
ages
! Mum
didn’t take us to the last showing, I had to ask Fann’s friend’s
older brother what happened!’

Before Razra could keep going, because Riley
knew he would, she interjected, ‘that’s not how you behave at
school!’

Razra, startled, said ‘well he’s old. You
have to treat old people nice.’

Riley was silent as she processed this.
After a moment she had interpreted it as you treat more powerful
and potentially dangerous people with respect to ensure they don’t
attack you. Then, with this in mind she was instantly ashamed.
‘Yes, I understand. Thank you very much for inviting me.’ she said
earnestly, hoping to make amends.

Razra beamed, ‘well, you don’t interrupt me
all the time. And I know I can count on you if Jeila tries to steal
my spot if I go to the toilets.’

Razra resumed his previously interrupted
tale with gusto and they walked over to his family and Aerlid.

Riley realised he actually
wanted
her
to come to the theatre with him. She beamed, and her legs began
swinging again.

The fact that it was called ‘The Children’s
Theatre of Astar’ might have led one to believe there was more than
one theatre in Astar. Perhaps, for example, an adult’s theatre. But
this was not the case. There was a Screen, much more expensive than
the theatre, but it was not a theatre. There was only one theatre
in Astar, only for children- as it was a frivolous exercise after
all, and it was referred to by all as ‘ceta’.

Riley was very concerned about going to the
theatre, what if Molzolzor was there? Aerlid had tried to explain
he wasn’t real, but this was something very difficult for her to
grasp. So, Aerlid was coming with her. He was thrilled at the whole
prospect.

The CTA was on the opposite edge of the city
to their home. So it was a long walk to get there, though that was
of no concern to them. If anything, the walk calmed Riley down. She
was too busy gazing up at the giant buildings to think about
Molzolzor. Aerlid, too, was impressed. As they went further into
the city the streets were more often paved and the buildings
increased monotonically in height. The only place he had ever seen
anything like these towering monoliths was among his own people.
How was it these humans could build such amazing structures yet
still couldn’t come up with anything better to eat than cave
mould?

The centre of the city was filled with
people. They all looked efficient and busy and took little notice
of them. It was very bright, the sunlight striking off the
reflective surfaces of the buildings. From further away, not right
below, Aerlid could see many of the buildings had constructs on top
of them. He couldn’t tell what they were from this distance and as
he got closer to the buildings the angles hid them. He would have
to ask Keila.

Then they were in the centre and the
buildings started to decrease in height. It was disappointing
indeed to walk away from Astar. The CTA would have to be very
impressive to top it.

Eventually they came to a neat, one story
building. ‘CTA’ was painted along the top in big block letters. The
entrance was a pair of double doors. Outside these doors two men
stood, one on either side. Aerlid spotted Razra and his family and
went and stood with them, on the left. How was it, he wondered,
everyone knew what was playing here and when? Did they come and ask
these men? The man whose line they were in was taking tickets and
people were going inside. The tickets were bars of the lovely
stone, which counted as money, marked with chalk. In the other line
people were buying tickets. As he watched the man began turning
people away.

‘There’s no more room in this viewing.’ he
called in a carrying voice above the queue, so he would not have to
repeat himself. Then he began reiterating the schedule. Some people
left, others stayed to buy tickets for other shows. Aerlid had
already paid Razra’s mother for his and Riley’s ticket. Due to the
distance the CTA was from where most of the people in their school
lived some of the parents came and bought many tickets and shared
them with the other children who wanted to go.

Their line moved forward a large jump as a
sizable group of people in front of them went into the theatre all
at once. Then it was their turn and they were past the ticket
checker and through the double doors.

Inside was a single well lit room. A few
chairs were in the front, though most people would be standing. In
front of the row of chairs was a clear space. On either side of
this space were barriers to hide what was behind. That was perhaps
where actors might wait for their turn to perform.

The children, barring Riley, seemed to know
the routine. She was whipped from his side and taken down near the
front of the theatre. Some of the older children stayed near the
back. Razra’s mother gestured for Aerlid to follow her and he and
the other parents joined her and headed to the back of the
theatre.

The room was filling up quickly. Everyone
did the same as Razra’s group. There was some shuffling around of
people already present, as everyone tried to ensure everyone else
could see. Then it was done and the crowd stilled.

A man, the ticket checker in fact, walked
out from one the wings and onto the centre of the performing area.
He solemnly observed the crowd. Then he opened his mouth. ‘Last
time Jeitar and Molozor saved Astar from Molzolzor…’ he went on for
a short time.

Then he inclined his head and vacated the
stage. A person came out from the other side dressed in military
clothes. ‘Hurry, Molozor, we have to get there before they do!’

‘Coming, Jeitar!’

Aerlid started in surprise as a giant furry
thing barrelled out of the wings, following Jeitar.

It took Aerlid a moment to realise it was in
fact a human dressed in so many animal skins it looked more beast
than man.