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KALON
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Chapter Sixty-Six: Kula Huk Ben Katom
Galactic Quadrant: Darna Quadrant
Ruling Government: Talum Merchant Federation
Solar System: D-447
Planet: Ora
Location: Daska City
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It has been three weeks since we found the Arasha woman. The first few days were difficult, sifting through the dead, and seeing the entombed looks of horror on their dry sunken faces. With each one that passes through the flame, there is a kind of relief that flows into me, almost as though their spirits are thanking us. Perhaps it is only my imagination.
Over the last weeks, Luna has shown me other rhythms that Maka can take. It has left me speechless on a few days, somehow I feel that there is something deeper to it that she has yet to share. There was something she said in passing once, something about boundaries that can be broken. When I asked her more, she became quiet about it, often changing the subject. I can’t tell if it is because she isn’t supposed to say, or if she doesn’t want to discourage me from knowing that something deeper exists, something she thinks I will never be able to grasp. Perhaps this boundary she hinted at is what lay in the depths of the endless seas of my dream world, if I break past it… what will happen? Why did the horned woman not let me look deeper?
The black box, or as Luna called it… the Cursed Edict, has been strangely silent of late. Though I have asked her many questions in the last few weeks, there is not much more she knows about it. Each time I ask, she gives me a wary look, as though she fears I may try to take it from her. I still wonder about the horned woman in my dreams that resembles Luna. I attempted to write out what I saw in the dream so that I could show Luna, yet every time I tried to scrawl it… something else would appear after the horned woman’s hand took mine and forced it to write a single phrase in the old tongue… Kula Huk Ben Katom.
The hand follows the tongue in silence
Despite the warning, I do not feel malice from the horned woman. It is strange to think about it. So far as I can tell, she does not appear unless I try to reveal her existence, or I am in dire need. Perhaps she is an ally, perhaps she is a demon, no better than the being swathed in darkness. Only time will tell. Until then, I will carry this truth alone, and try to glean more from the madness it may bring.
My feet trudge through the icy walkways, almost all of them cleared of bodies now. I had not accounted for Luna’s physical prowess, it has not taken as long as I thought to clear the city’s main sections. We have both agreed that we do not have time to search through every part though, she was resigned at first, but after some time she said she understood. It seems to give her peace as well, bringing honor to the dead. Though Luna nor I will admit it, we still search for the girl Riza. Despite myself, I have been clinging to the faintest of hope.
In the last week, we have accomplished much even though we rarely speak. This is not her intention, but mine. She frequently tries to get me to speak more, but I don’t know how to move past her seeing me in such a state after we found Riza. Even Arrum only saw me that way once, after my mother died. On top of all of that, she is too… kind. Wearing down at my defenses every day, soon I fear that she may breach them.
“We could use that, for the broken shuttle,” Luna says to me, pointing to a tool usually used for removing laser cutter cores.
Nodding to her, I grab it.
“Still avoiding conversation with me?” she asks, her voice soft on my ears, striking chords in my heart.
I push the feelings away. There is no time for this, and no hope in it either. She is a Master, I am but the dirt beneath her heel. When we leave this place, she will remember that. She will discard me as all the others have.
“You know,” she begins, moving towards me “Talking about it does help.”
“There is nothing to speak of,” I say to her, the coldness in my tone makes her face scrunch up.
“Of course.” She says, standing in my way now as I try to leave to search the next room “Because you don’t feel, right?”
My eyes do not meet hers as I try to move by her. She shifts to be in my way again.
“It hurt.” She says, blocking my way once more “It really hurt for Riza’s story to end as it did.”
She will not let me pass.
“To see her dream unfulfilled, to hear of all she loved being taken,” Luna says, tears welling in her eyes.
“Move aside,” I say, still unable to look her in the eyes.
“Not until you speak.” She says.
“I have spoken.”
She grabs me by the coat pulling me closer, barely a breath from each other’s face “You cannot live like this… always holding it in. Open up to me, release it all. You do not need to suffer as you do.”
Her eyes plead with me. Anger rises as I fight against the relief she wishes to give. Swatting her hand off me.
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“Release it?” I ask, clenching my jaw, “It is all I have left. I need it.”
“Need it?” she says, looking at me with… pity.
“It is all that moves my legs, all that brings me towards my goal.”
“Your goal?” she asks me, the pity rising in her, causing my anger to soar.
Pulling out the plasma cartridge I found near the Arasha woman, I push it into her palm “To find those who took her dreams away and end them.”
She pauses for a moment, looking at it in her hand before she looks up at me.
“What then?” she asks, moving closer to me again, trying to touch my arm endearingly “When you have finished that goal, what will you do?”
“I will find the brothers, Haki and Daki, they are enslaved because of my inability to protect them,” I say, gritting my teeth.
“They are why you want to go to Tarvashal?” she asks.
“Yes, and for Riza,” I say.
“Say that you do free them, say that you do get your revenge, what then?” she asks, her hand trying to grab me softly, I pull away from it.
“I…” words do not follow, I had not even given it thought. Only vengeance fills my thoughts of late. Obsessively so.
“Do you not have a dream of your own?” she asks me.
My eyes blink at the question, it rolls in my mind. Do I have a dream? I have never had time to think about it. My hands have never been as idle as they are this last week. Constantly I was thrust from one thing to the next, always trying to survive… a dream. What would I dream of? Looking down at my hands, I unfold them slowly. What could these hands dare to dream of? No, I should not dream, it is…
“Why are you so afraid?” she asks me.
“Afraid?” I say, almost offended “I am not afraid.”
“Then dare to dream.” She says, pulling me into a hug, I try to pull away but she is stronger than me “If not for yourself, then for the girl Riza. That is how you can honor her.”
Her words… they strike a chord in me I have not heard since I was a boy. Should I dare to dream?
“Do not fear what you can achieve.” She says, her embrace is so… comforting.
“What is your dream?” I ask her.
“Someday I will…” she stops, the words catching in her throat as they did before.
She does not fight me as I pull away now. Looking at her fumbling with her words. After everything, she still does not trust me.
“I will continue working on the shuttle,” I say, she reaches with a hand to stop me but I shrug it off.
She has ruined the moment. Reminding me of our uncertain alliance. Reminding me of the lack of trust between us.
“Kalon.” She says weakly.
Turning to her, I wait for an answer that does not come. Regret for turning fills me as I muster the strength to leave with the rest of my pride.
***
I work on the damaged shuttle in the hanger bay of the city. The same one that the Arasha woman used to come here. It is heavily damaged though, by another ship's weapons I would guess. The large scorch marks across it tell me as much. It will not be long until it is ready to test though. We managed to find a small amount of Etherium to power it using the notes from Riza’s journal. Some of the Clans here were very wealthy. It is strange to see so much discarded. Whoever searched the city after emptying it did not know of Kuwathi tricks for hiding things.
The conversation we had about a dream lingers in my mind. What would I dream, if I dared to dream? Would it really honor the girl? Looking at my hand once more, I look upon the deep callouses and the scars that etch them. These hands were not forged to dream. They were forged to survive.
Behind me, I hear the dragging of metal against the bay floor. Sliding out from under the craft, I see Luna is the source. She drags a left-behind stabilizer. This craft's was purposefully damaged. Scooting myself back underneath, I do not engage with her again. It is better like this. Now we can focus.
***
Three more days have gone by, little being said between us. She has tried a few times to speak, but I do not reply unless I must. She still shows me the rhythms, though now they have changed to be more somber, like her mood. We have finally repaired the shuttle as best we can and are prepared to leave. Though, I am not sure if it will make it to Tarvashal, or if we will continue to journey together after we arrive. Something lingers in me for her, some kind of regret that forms as she glances at me from time to time. Perhaps I am being too hard on her. Trust may be fluid among her people. So much doubt swirls in me. Stealing glances at her, I can see she wishes to speak more but is respecting my wishes.
“The hatches are closed?” she asks as she fidgets with the display.
“Yes.” I say, looking at her now “Do you need to check it?”
“Why, I trust…” she trails off, looking at my expression, her jaw flexes as she says “You are very difficult sometimes.”
“Truth is the foundation of trust,” I say quietly.
She looks at me as though mulling over what to say.
“I have heard that before. My grandfather used to say it.” She says finally, looking at the console, and punching in commands.
“A wise man,” I say. Still bitter, despite not wanting to be. I don’t know why I am so offended. Why should I care if a Master trusts me? Why does her not trusting me make my heart hurt? It reminds me again of Nevari, her betrayal still has not released my heart, despite it being nearly a month since it happened.
The shuttle loading bay door begins to grind closed. There is a rushing around us as the Etherium drive turns on, swelling the air with Maka before sucking it back in greedily to create a force field around the instruments, allowing them to function against the Netheric maka. I wonder how they work, I will have to take one apart someday. Gravity distorts as the craft’s weight is dispersed and the thrusters begin to compensate for the irregular waves coming from the engine.
“It’s not pretty.” She says looking back at the crudely wired engine that sits in the cabin “But I think it will do the trick.”
It is strange to look out from up here, sitting next to her in the front of the cabin. If someone had asked me if I thought a Master and a Kuwathi could work together for survival in such a manner… only a few weeks ago I would have thought it impossible. Yet here we are. One could even say that now, despite the chasm between us, we are thriving.
The craft lurches upwards into the air, and the small opening from the large hanger bay doors blinds me with light. We soar through the crack between them, in the air, in defiance of gravity, meeting the sunrise as it crests the horizon. It is beautiful, though as I steal a glance at her once more, I realize it pales in comparison to her. A buzzing from the comms brings me back to reality. A voice soon enters it.
“Attention Arasha vessel X-Three-Nine-Four-Two-Seven-Y-Eight. This is Delta One, Federation space command for planet Ora. Your flight permit is ten years expired and you have not submitted a flight plan. State your intentions, over.”
Ten years? Then the Arasha woman and the girl. It happened ten years ago. I remember the Sage told me they were very strict with permitting, needing to update them weekly to prevent Kuwathi from stealing crafts and rebelling. It is illegal for me to even be on this craft unless there is paperwork for my sale. I am not a freeborn citizen. If they inspect us, I will surely be sold again. My heart begins to beat faster in my chest as I turn to look at Luna, her eyes glance back to mine. It doesn’t seem she knows how to respond. Sekat.
She gives me a look, one I have seen many times from others, but not from her. It means silence must follow. Her hand slowly reaches toward the comms panel.
“Delta one…” she begins “This… Arasha… X… Mechanical… Comms failure…”
Her hand pulls away slowly.
“Arasha Vessel, your comms appear to be malfunctioning. If you can hear me, send your flight plan.” The voice says, sounding skeptical.
“Slagging hells.” Luna curses, moving her hand through the display she whispers to herself “What would Kotina do in this situation?”
“Arasha Vessel, failure to comply will…” the voice trails off for a moment as Luna sends them a file through the interface “Flight plan received. Do not disembark your vessel when you arrive in Tarvashal. We will send a team to come and clear you.”
Luna breathes out a sigh of relief, giving me a worried glance.