The sound of that song echoed in my mind. Suns are up. Our seventh day begins.
Ryee pulled me off the cot and into his lap. Ne think, Ay, ne think. He held me tightly against him. How is it you can speak S’ai? King Marel’vanrah taught me, and Ishmarel, through Fa. Many Zheien diplomats died, to attempt it. Ahstam could ne save them! Fa needed Pas after a few mins of speech to An Shen, Master Diplomat of the Unified.
The ethereal sound of it echoed in my mind, but my body shuddered again. Yellow sparkles dripped from my arms. Died? Why?
S’ai is seven spoken languages and seven telepathic ones. The burden on one’s telepathy is more than trading with a hundred items at a time! I beg, ne think! Look at how thin you are!
My hand looked skeletal. A hundred items? I struggled with five in Areon’s net. As you trade, you contact people telepathically who might want your items. Those who earn TS Status are expected to trade ten. I counted 50 items as I watched Ryee trade, and that did not seem to tire him.
Pas wept. Feed her.
He waved up foods and I tasted many that Pas insisted I needed. His loud thoughts suggested I had regen. From mere thought of this language?
I heard snores from across the room. Ossy snores. So does Vonn. In the skylight, Ye~ rose and spilled purple light on us. Ryee had bruises on his face, and I startled.
Ne think. I cried too much. Pas—
I can heal this. I blinked, and Ryee’s face was pale, but smooth.
What happened? Did Ossy hurt you? Oh, I shook with anger.
Ossy fell off his cot. Jumped up, mouth open wide. Then he saw me. “What did you do? She’s dying, and you hurt her! I’m calling—”
Vonn took my arm. His brown eyes filled. What happened?
Citsa stared at him and slapped Ossy’s arm down. “That Xchou will end us!”
“What Xchou?” Then Ry’nao warned him.
Pas’ ennead sent healing into me, and I relaxed.
I reached my legs down. Ryee grabbed my arm. “Ne move.”
“Why? I feel rested.”
His hand shook as he let Pas check my points. Sobbed, as he did so. But, when Pas saw the back of my head, he relaxed. She is well.
“What is wrong? Are you all right, L—” Not supposed to say that! I hesitated, my fingers a centimeter from his face. Dropped my hand! These memories, it is like I married him, then I must feel as I did when we first met? Oh, I cried. Papa will disown me!
Vonn took my hand. “Come, let us work.”
Ryee followed, tears in his golden eyes also.
Derees sighed. “Oh, is not fair!”
“What isn’t, Jons? Another insane one for the Hospital.” He and Citsa laughed.
Cevit Ion sent warmth up my arm. Take of our strength. You are nae alone in this.
I nodded. We ate in silence. If Ossy and Citsa can see through the privacy screen, we have none.
All my friends had questions for Cevit Ion. He had no answers. Even Ry’nao had none. They warned me not to answer any.
Thoughts of Earth gave me hope. I felt happy, people walking on sidewalks that resembled our walks in Eicken. Free to laugh, to cry, to live!
And, the trees! Huge ones green in summer and bare in winter. Snow! Spring and blooms in many shades and shapes, far more than in Eicken or even Kleideu!
Every yard along the sidewalk had a row of bushes for privacy, Laura said. Green and beautiful. With spider webs that gleamed in the sun, and a variety of brightly-colored, black or brown spiders waiting for captured flying ones. Or crawling ones. Earth has 5 million species of insects, and only one million is identified. How our tech will help them!
As I mixed, I thought of them.
Ao~ watched. Did you travel much, with your parents?
I laughed. Just to Kleideu, but this place is called Earth, where our colony came from long ago.
Earth? It is beautiful. We all enjoy these memories.
Laura has a garden behind her house. I loved walking in it. She grows vegetables. Okra has fruit that is fuzzy. Squash, very broad leaves. Two kinds. Zucchini with striped, long fruit. Yellow crookneck. Green beans that must have the ends broken off for cooking. Eggplant, which is purple and she soaks it in salt water to take bitterness from it and fries it in oil with a crispy crust. Bell peppers are mild and taste delicious with meat fillings.
And, flowers I saw on my ancestor Olin’s table. Petunias are soft, fluted, with bright colors. Four o’clocks which open in late afternoon, daily! White with redviolet stripes. Roses which smell sweet. Marigolds smell terrible but have beauty. Sunflowers are the tallest of Laura’s, with blooms the size of my head, but ours are much larger. Yet, we export them and not one grows as large as in my home. They are the size of Laura’s flowers. She would call ours tulips like the ones in her garden. Butterflies flew all around the flowers, and bees. Flies worried us.
We enjoyed sunset. Pink skies and sometimes purplish clouds. Our sunssets lack these brilliant hues! The white clouds reminded me of ours. As did the blue skies. Areon is barren compared to Earth’s buzzing insects! There are millions around every house, there!
After sunset came mosquitoes that bite. Midges that flew near our eyes. Moths gathered around lights. Beetles bounced off them. And, my favorite, lightning bugs that glow greenish yellow but do not bite. Neither do butterflies, that leave after sunset. Butterflies that hovered around Ryee as if he, too, were a flower. At first, Laura tried to shoo them away until I asked her to let them stay. They pleased my husband much.
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Husband?
My face burned. I saw us married, on Earth. Ao~’s happiness tingled on me!
I kept on, because I felt strong when I thought of it, of Ryee and I enjoying Laura’s garden. But, as I thought of these flowers, I saw patterns in molecules. Ao~ brought his friend Huih to listen. He creates animals and plants that can walk, as helpers to people.
Ah, Huih! Did you have Decision? Did your fa say yes?
His delight tingled on me. O, you are Adia, who convinced Fa to let me work here! Ea yeo! My work pleases me greatly. As trader, I could ne convince any trader of Areon to trade with me. He sighed and it rumbled on me. I need Fethermore as food for the B~ea.
There are some in the Tunnels, here. I showed him a map of them. Take M’Naga with you. Fia swarm in large numbers. We saw thousands of gray fur balls moving and it looked like the whole floor crawled. I felt sick.
O, Be~a can fly me over them. He showed me how he wore a thick coat for their scratchy feet to grab.
What do they look like?
I wish ne to frighten you.
If I marry Ryee, I must see all manner of frightening species. Please, show me.
He remembered walking in the Tunnels. Lifted an arm and wished one to come.
This was a sixlegged creature with pointed clear wings. Three parts to her body. A head with two huge faceted eyes, black. Jointed antennae twitched on the black head. Wings joined the round thorax. Black abdomen, long with a sharp stinger at the end! I felt sick. But he reached his twinfingered hand and patted her between the eyes. She cocked her head and enjoyed it. They are telepathic?
Nests that looked like jewels dotted the top of the Tunnels. Each held a hundred grown Be~a long as my arm. Babies ate the purple sand. Their nests, also made of it.
I lost my fear of them. They had simple minds, but loved him because he did not fear them.
They enjoyed his giggles, flying him around in the Tunnels!
You should modify your clothing former so you do not fall out of the coat! I saw him fall and he was injured. But, I asked him to see Be~saech to prevent it.
Be~saech was shocked that he went in the Tunnels alone! You should take one with you—
One will be unwell when he sees—
I shall ne fear them, after seeing this memory. Did you know there are traps in the Tunnels, that Bisillipians made? This man ran to Huih and embraced him.
I showed him all the traps, many that he did not know about, and how to disable them. One kind of trap created fia. I showed Huih how to alter it to create gelsai, a harmless animal.
Be~saech wrote the prog and executed it. I saw the flood of gelsai, a sixlegged furry animal with pointed ears and an angelic expression. They came in many colors, and sand did not bother them. However, they climbed the fabric ramps and pushed open the hatches that led to Tunnels. A line of them went to Oshfah and people rushed to pick them up! Some went to Noh~La and the people there were also very happy!
Many of them stayed in the Tunnels and found rations stored there. Many of these rations spoiled so they ate just spoiled ones. A few grabbed packages of the rations and brought them to soldiers. Soldiers?
Oh, Ay, these are ne to leave Ye~. They watch for operatives of Eriganh, since he is near. I relaxed.
Other gelsai found plants growing and brought leaves to people. These were plants of Ye~ that no one knew about.
A gelsai went to Pas. He stared at the yellow and blue leaf. Smelled it. Ea ea! This is yllis andontis! His happiness tingled on all of us!
That gelsai, a silver one, led scientists down to where she found that. One chamber had live yllis plants. A plant so rare that one leaf, if someone found one for trade at all, could cost a world filled with minerals. Ye~ had a hundred chambers of these plants! Three leaves brings a painless regen and can heal much!
Another chamber had live vek ea plants. Be~a fertilized and pollinated these plants and many more rare ones. It opened into a series of a hundred chambers as did the yllis ones.
Vek ea is a miracle herb! Remedy to many poisons, including slaver herbs! Pas’ excitement tingled on me!
Other chambers held animals unknown to ScSv. Docile ones enjoyed contact with the Yeff scientists. Containments protected them from the fearful ones, but all became docile when they touched their minds. Some of the traps I told Be~saech how to disable hid the Tunnels from tech. Now people can port into them and explore all these new resources!
Pas’ delight tingled on us! Gelsai brought him leaves and he gave vek ea to Basopah and his family. They returned to Ye~ broken because they had to be stationed diplomats on Gowa. Enemies gave them slaver herbs. Most of them sat and stared.
Healers brought tens of people at a time to Pas’ Chambers, in the purple building. They filled every bed and he had to fab more! Ryee’s shock came to me, how many of his people had terrible disabilities from slaver herbs and injuries. All of these stayed in the Kings House or in people’s homes, as servants, or for healers to give care.
He crushed leaves of vek ea in their faces. All the dust went in with their breath. But, they froze in place. Worried families held them and their sorrow shook Oshfah! People rushed to Healers’ Chambers!
Pas raised his arms. “Listen to me! They ne died! Vek ea does his work, and very soon, we see how this herb helps them!”
“But my bae ne breathes!”
“He shall. Listen to an old healer.”
Gelsai came in a steady line and dropped more leaves into neat piles. In Noh~La, they also brought leaves. Some fed the giant Lorg~er there, in many corrals. They appeared like the dog figurine Maia had in her room, but taller than men! Black fur and long, sharp teeth! This is where bastrips come from? I shuddered.
Men shouted and shoveled one pile of leaves into the corrals. Lorg~er ate them and bellowed. After they ate they were much less vicious.
Basopah looked up. “I am home?’
Pas hugged him. “Ea, my son, you are home.”
Beside him, his son shuddered. “Eja fae ne, one gave me—”
“Ne think. Now you ne crave more, ea?”
He giggled. “My hands feel! O, Fa, I wake at last!”
Ryee’s fa ported in. “O! Miracles!”
Pas laughed. He gave it to many others who came.
Basopah knelt and wept. “O, I dread it but I must return—”
“Eja fae ne, that I send any of you back! Ne, you shall all have work here, in safety! Cevit Ion agrees that ne of you suffer such a fate again! Ne bow, my friend, but lie on this bed. Such mind pain!” Eanne~ went to each man and woman, and all the children, to hug them.
Pas waved a thin mattress under the diplomat and bent it. “I have relief for you. This herb is yllis andontis that heals more than I can with all my enneads. When you feel mirth, sleep. He is much like nesfa. Eat, and sleep.”
Ryee wept as he mixed for me. “Basopah, able to speak? O, Ay, thank you! All of our people thank you!”
“Look at the baby! He’s not even a man—”
Berto’s anger shook me. Slopfah, you would not know what a man is. You cannot even love a woman!
That’s not true!
Citsa shoved him and he fell into his chair.
Ryee turned a striking orange and Berto spent five mins straight apologizing to him in Zheien!
At the same time, all of us laughed. The horrified expression on Ossy’s face! I am wicked, but I saved the holo.
Derees laughed. Just wait until my next research holo for the journals!
Vonn nodded. I saved many.
Both of them looked horrified! Waved up screens and got busy.