The wind was howling over the habitation again that night. Both Aryna and Allison had once again stayed with Robin until she fell asleep. Oozie was curled up next to her and the little girl had her arm draped over the nargle. The two teenagers quietly left the room. Apiyo was in bed and asleep they were on their own and their exam didn’t start until mid-afternoon so neither needed to go to bed early. Allison was getting the cold shoulder from Aryna since their argument outside of Robin’s school. She’d have to explain the kit version of Raghar she had sitting in stasis inside Bit. She reasoned that Maria couldn’t possibly expect her to keep this secret from Aryna, she was a mind reader.
The day was warmer than usual, only in the -10 C range. So Apiyo hadn’t lit a fire, but the temperature had dropped substantially when the wind picked up. Allison was arranging the logs to start a new fire and she glanced up at Aryna who was on the couch continuing her essay research.
“Do you want to make some hot chocolate?”
Aryna pondered for a few moments.
“Alright.”
Aryna stood up and started going about heating some water up. Ten minutes later they were sharing a blanket on the couch and sipping hot chocolate in front of a roaring fire. Allison looked down at her cup and stirred the whipped cream in with her finger. She watched the little bubbles spinning near the center. She sighed and consciously turned off the mental static she’d learned to just have on naturally by this point.
“I’m not supposed to say anything to anyone. When I was missing… I was actually in the past. I time travelled by accident. It was… a long time ago and I ended up on Qual’sa and I met your mother.”
Aryna blinked.
“You are telling the truth. How? How long were you trapped?”
Allison shook her head.
“Like I said, it was eighteen months, but I chose not to come back right away. Maria was ready about a day after I got there. It was quiet there. I could think. For the first time in the last two years I could stop, breathe and listen to myself think. Here there is so much noise. Alliance-Net, school, training, missions, mom, Tyler… The league. I wanted to learn how to breathe.”
Aryna smiled.
“And you did. That is what I’ve been trying to tell you!”
“I know, I know. Look, this was before you were… you. She took me under her wing, and she taught me so many things.”
Aryna scooched closer.
“I knew you would get along with her. I just knew it. I always wished you could meet her. She seemed infinitely wise and infinitely patient.”
Allison took a drink from her hot chocolate and looked at the ceiling of the habitation then her eyes drifted to the fire. The house was silent save for the howling of the wind outside and the crackling of the fire.
“I wasn’t going to tell you this because I didn’t want to upset you, but if it was me, I’d want to know. Aryna, I was on Qual’sa just as the civil war was starting. I met the leader of the Ne’qual’sa. I actually killed her… once. Look, your mom, was ancient, she was the first Qual’sa to evolve beyond a physical form. Your Aunt… she’s more like your twin sister Aryni was the second. Aryni hated Aryna, Aryni killed your… mother. Your mother made clones of her original body, she called them shells. Once they wore out, she’d hop to the next one. You… you are one of those, but she died when she stopped the Sal’nash so now you’re you.”
“I… I do not understand. How could that be, I remember being a small child.”
Allison shrugged.
“Look, the shells were all copies of her at your age, or around your age. Raghar was the same. Apparently once you… once Qual’sa are energy beings they can’t interfere with the physical realm, its forbidden. So, to keep the Qual’sa from fighting each other she kept herself trapped in physical forms. Aryni was trapped and she escaped and used your mother’s shells too. I killed her once, but then she took over another one and I managed to chase her off. She was scary… is scary. I don’t know if what you were told about where she is now was true, but neither can come back into the physical realm without taking you over. Though your mother said she was dead by now… I don’t know. It is confusing but your mother told me you are safe now. So, I have no idea.”
Aryna stared at the fire in silence for a long time, eventually she sighed.
“I see why you did not want to tell me. My mother lied to me about a great deal.”
Allison nodded.
“I think… I think that might be why you’re having so much trouble. You were told you get all of your predecessor’s memories. It was not quite a lie, your mother would have remembered her entire life, but she was part-incorporeal you are not. So maybe you’re not capable of handling all that she was.”
Allison put her mug down and wrapped her arms around Aryna.
“I am really sorry I have been so weird. You are identical except she was an adult. So, when I look at you, I see her, and I have known her a lot longer than I have known you. My brain is being weird. I know the version of her I knew has been gone for a hundred thousand years but… its hard.”
Aryna leaned into Allison’s hug.
“If she could read your mind, do you think she shared so much with you because there were lessons, she wanted me to learn from you?”
“She could have picked someone better that’s for sure.”
Aryna smiled.
“Sister, sometimes your only choice is the best of a list of terrible choices, and in this case the list was one.”
Allison snickered.
“I think you’ve been going to high school for too long because that was some serious shade.”
Aryna leaned her head against Allison. Allison leaned her head on Aryna’s.
“I do have good news. I have enough samples and genetic information that given time and money we can rebuild the Qual’sa biosphere. I have one of your data drives with the most complete collection of art and music your mother could provide to me.”
Aryna smiled.
“I understand now. I was worried about my people’s culture, and she told me that I did not have to worry, she had taken care of it. I was frustrated that she never told me how. She entrusted it to you. The friend that was like a sister. That is the real hair clip.”
“Sorry for lying about it.”
Aryna patted Allison’s thigh.
“No, I understand now. It is all very clear. You have done my people a great service.”
Allison shrugged.
“We’re still missing a hundred thousand years of the art and music.”
“It did not change much. Qual’sa are a very stagnant people. We like what we like. Mother liked things that way. I understand why now. Change created wars that killed many people. When I see the other races now, I realize we had reached our pinnacle and mother kept us there. Humans are so very far from their pinnacle and the League is in decline. What do you plan on doing with all the things my mother gave you?”
Allison shrugged.
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“I don’t know. Aunt Maria told me that it was my mess, and I had to pay to clean it up. Eyre said she was working on sorting something for me. I think… I think they’re doing something about it I don’t know what, but I do have a gift for you we need to somehow explain to my mother…”
Aryna looked at Allison.
“Is it from my mother?”
“Yes, it has fur very similar to my hair.”
Aryna’s face brightened.
“Raghar? She sent Raghar?”
“I think it’s better to say she sent a clone of Raghar… he really can’t tell the difference between her shells. When Aryni tried to kill your mother Raghar wasn’t sure who to help. So, he’ll be loyal to you, but he’s still a kit. She gave me a young version of him. He and I got along very well.”
Aryna was almost vibrating she was so happy.
“Oh, when can I have him?”
“Whenever I guess, but what do we tell mom? She kind of tolerates Oozie, I don’t know what she’ll do about two of them.”
Aryna tapped her chin.
“I do not agree with lying. However, we could tell her that a cache of Qual’sa genetic samples were found and that one was a nargle, no one knows how to take care of them, so they asked us to take care of him.”
Allison bit her lower lip.
“That could work, and when Eyre has to call her about taking a quarter of my trust fund out she can use that as an excuse saying, that I found it and asked her to help me monetize it? I know it is awful but everything in the Alliance costs credits, so I’ll need to make credits to do whatever with it… if that makes sense.”
Aryna smiled.
“Well, I can tell you what to work on growing first. Mom did not know much about our plants but there was a healer at the palace who taught me all about what should be used when. Oh, and berry wine. That would sell very well, and I would love to have some.”
The two girls snuggled together as the wind howled outside and Allison who had been struggling with the cone of silence enforced on her by Maria was more then happy to gush about everything she saw and did on Qual’sa with her self-declared sister.
The dead of night gave way to the early hours of the morning and the only light in the living room was the glow provided by the embers that remained of the once roaring fire. Allison yawned and swore under her breath before exclaiming.
“Ugh! I need to drive Robin to school tomorrow! I should go to bed.”
Aryna gave her a tight hug.
*****
Over the next week Allison was tightly wound all over again. Trying to remind herself of lessons she had learned a year and a half ago so she could do well on her exams, took up her waking hours. Any concerns she had about what would happen with the Qual’sa repository she was sitting on were forgotten in the mad scramble not to get herself grounded for life by having anything less than excellent marks. Her mother came from a family where such things mattered a great deal.
In her experience if you did not get high marks, you would not be able to go to any form of post-secondary education and thus anything short of the best was unacceptable. While merit did have a lot to do with where someone ended up after high school, because truly brilliant people would get scholarships to the best schools. Who you knew and money also had a great deal to do with acceptance. Her Aunt Maria had a dozen or more doctorates and literally wrote the textbooks on most of the advanced sciences. In the twenty-first century her name would have been spoken with reverence right beside Hawkings and Einstein. In the thirtieth century Maria was the science superstar. She was more, she was able to put her scientific discoveries into practical use with unsurpassed engineering skills. It was widely believed that her being made president had set science and engineering back decades because she was busy wasting time with politics. So, to say Allison would be able to do anything she wanted for education after high school would be an understatement.
None of that mattered because Apiyo was still stuck in twenty-first century Kenya with some of her expectations. So, if Allison did not do earth-shatteringly well on her exams she was going to regret it for a good long while.
She wrote the exams, but she couldn’t have told anyone how well she did. Her last exam was history. This was the one she was most nervous about. She and the teacher were not on good terms and there was an essay involved. Her shock when she went into the exam room and the one who was handing out the exams was the headmistress. The headmistress addressed the class.
“Hello everyone, Mr. Mohammad unexpectedly had to end his tenure here. During a standard review of your classwork, we noticed some issues with the way your grades were assigned. We know he had set certain expectations for the exam; We will maintain these to the best of our ability; However I should note that if you answer according to the text book, you will not be penalized. Those of you who were at the school at Yellowstone for the fall semester will be provided with the exam your instructor originally prepared for you. Good luck everyone, you have three hours.”
Allison wasn’t about to worry about how she’d gotten this lucky. She dove into the exam with far less dread than she’d expected. This was it, then just her essay for religion and she was done until classes started in the last week of February.
*****
You can safely stop here, below is just some random world building in the form of an essay written by Allison.
The Dread Pirate Enid Aurelius, by Allison Wanjala
Enid Aurelius was a vampire. Her life spanned over a good portion of recorded human history. She was many things and many people during that time. A chieftain’s daughter, a Roman woman of high standing, a noblewoman, a saint, a pediatrician, a fighter pilot, an investigator, a student. What is never mentioned is that she was a pirate of the high seas.
It was 1671 and a representative of King James II and the British Royal Admiralty tacked a proclamation in the Bahamas. In very wordy text it named one, Red Scourge, Terror of the Indies as a wanted woman for disruption of legal commerce, shipping and murder. A pirate. (See holoattachments for interactive holoscan of declaration in original text). There were others posted by the East India Trading Company and the Spanish crown.
The Red Scourge at the height of her piracy was in control of a small fleet of ships. Three. The Highlander, the Rosealie and the Maria.(EA) The first ships lost to her piracy were those three ships.(EA) As it was over a thousand years ago and we have had the Grey happen in between hard records are difficult to find. The estimates were that she had scuttled between one hundred and fifty to two hundred ships in her twenty-year career as a pirate.(EA) Calculations have estimated in today’s funds that she cost the crowns of Spain and England between seven to eight billion credits.
It is estimated she started her career as a pirate in, or around 1670. She operated with impunity until 1690 when she suddenly passed her small fleet on to her second in command, a former slave named Jabari.(EA) It is believed she found the concept of slavery offensive and began her piracy as a way to disrupt the slave trade. The only ships listed in the proclamation were slaver vessels. It is unknown at this time why she stopped. Her last public appearance in Port Royal was during the yearly ball hosted by the Pirate Lord of the port. After the evening of the ball, she was never seen again.(EA)
In the proclamations she was described as a woman with red hair, and that she was of Scottish descent. Enid Aurelius was of Scottish descent. In every recorded interview or broadcast where Enid Aurelius spoke in basic, or English a distinct Scottish Accent could be discerned. We have many images depicting Enid Aurelius that show her with red hair.
Enid Aurelius was an outspoken advocate for the ending of hard labor in the System’s Alliance prison system. She equated it to slavery. She said: “Under no circumstances should anyone be enriched by the labor of another without fairly compensating the laborer.” (See ‘Interview with an Empress, her thoughts on the society of the WTO’, Echo Valdez) This disgust with slavery can be traced to her adoptive father in Rome. He refused to keep slaves. (MIA) So the Red Scourge’s motivation to primarily target slaving vessels is another indication that she and Enid Aurelius were one and the same.
A painting entitled the Red Scourge was commissioned in 1687.(EM) The painting in question clearly depicts Enid Aurelius in a white blouse, breaches and knee high boots. In her hand is a black blade that would be best described as a longsword that is identical to the descriptions provided by many sources. (see Holorecording of painting, attached to essay)
In conclusion, it appears that all evidence from available sources that Enid Aurelius and the Red Scourge were the same woman. The painting, the description, her well documented disgust by slavery are all proof of this fact.
Sources:
(EM) – Eyre Aurelius – Interview - Contemporary of Enid Aurelius and present the East Indies for part of the period. – Allison Wanjala
(MIG) – Maria Isabella Aurelius – Interview – Sister of Enid Aurelius, present in Rome during Enid Aurelius’s childhood – Allison Wanjala
(CIDM) – Collected Interviews of the Dark Mother, Enid Aurelius – Church of the Dark Mother - 2899
(POHS) – Piracy On the High Seas – A history of human piracy – Mills & Roth - 2778
Allison, your essay is well written, well thought out and insightful. I applaud your use of primary sources who were contemporaries of Enid. I caution that interviews may not always be acceptable in academic Essays. Your instructors may wish to dispute the validity of the information. However, both of your interview sources are firsthand accounts, in which case they are acceptable. Unfortunately, you did not complete the assignment. You were asked to provide your personal feelings on the information you discovered and how it changed your relationship with the Dark Mother. I understand sometimes students keep multiple copies of essays for editing purposes, so I am sure the cause of this is simply that you sent me the wrong file. I have until the end of the day on Sunday to submit your final mark for this semester. If you send me the complete file by that time, I will be happy to include that mark. I understand that your relationship with Enid Aurelius likely creates a lot of complex feelings about her. You are a good student, so I know that did not interfere with your ability to complete this assignment.
I am so sorry, here is the right one.
My feelings on Enid Aurelius are difficult. As I have only recently found out, she is my biological mother. I have heard a lot about her, and almost none of it was good. When I found out she was a pirate I was really upset. When I found out her motivations were to free slaves and cripple the slave trade it made me question my opinions of her. I am not sure how I feel about her. I do not think I will ever be sure. I am sure if she were alive, I would be very conflicted on whether I even wanted to meet her, let alone have a relationship with her. This knowledge did not change my relationship with the Dark Mother. If they are the same, the Dark Mother is a myth created from the best parts of Enid.
Your mark will be available on Monday. I must say, as a Ordained Sister of the Dark Mother, I am dismayed that you referred to the Dark Mother as a myth, I thought you had gotten past your doubts this past semester, please, if you need guidance in your faith do not hesitate to reach out to me. Good luck and enjoy your post-exam break.