And so Liana got to the Nuanderran oak wood much faster than she had ever expected, and in a weird twist of fate she had been forced to bring the three others too. She was exhausted from the dimension-bending and she didn’t have any energy to explain to them what had happened, but fortunately they seemed too shocked to ask her anything, and she vaguely heard Izabel ask if she was dreaming. She shook her head, and fell down on the woven chair. Inaya had been right that even without the circumstances of Kavanderra, travelling between worlds was very arduous and took a lot of energy from a human being like her.
Only now it started to sink in that they really could have died, in between the geography classroom and the chemistry lab. Not only had the alien guns been pointed at her, but the men had started firing at all four of them the moment that she left with her classmates. Seconds later and they would all have been dead, or at least paralyzed by alien weapons. Her heart pounded in her throat, but she still wasn’t alone, and she probably needed to explain a little more to the humans she’d saved too.
"Sorry, I have to sit down, I had to take you all through the worlds here, otherwise the STC agents would have shot not only me but all of you too." She said.
Izabel's eyes almost bulged. "Did you just do that? Did we travel to another world? How?" She couldn't finish her explanation, because suddenly both Inaya and Akhina were standing in the room with them, materialising out of nothing. Liana thought that Ellen would almost pass out, but she turned her attention to the owner of the place she was in now, because the ever so calm Inaya seemed upset now.
"What have you done? Why did you take these wild Oranderrans here without any warning?”
Liana had almost no energy left, but she tried to calm her down. She couldn't tell the whole story now, so she let Inaya share her memories of the past hour in Oranderra. Fortunately, this made her calm down a bit, and she looked somewhat uncertainly from Liana to her fellow students, who were still shuffling uncertainly. Liana herself had only just enough strength to speak.
“Should I have them blasted or zapped away by those maniacs? It was me only they were after. But they looked like they didn't care to shoot anyone who got in the way."
Inaya looked grave.
“They’re Oranderrans. And they are here in the oak wood now of all places. That is a very sensitive issue at the moment, very sensitive!”
Liana suddenly understood what she meant. The Battle of Kavanderra might have given herself the status of a valued "friend of Nuanderra," and more, but the Superior Tech Corp had given the rest of her kind anything but a better reputation in this world. The legends of the Gorchbolds had gained one more episode, and her kind hadn’t been exactly popular to begin with anyway. And now there were probably even more people -sorry, nawa- here in Nuanderra who now wanted to have nothing to do at all with beings from her world. And then she had casually dragged her classmates in here. But then again, they had almost been killed by that STC attack! And her classmates had been completely innocent in this whole situation. What could she have done? She got angry. Everything was so unfair! “I couldn't do anything else!” she shouted.
Her classmates had followed the conversation, uncomprehending, and cringed at the sight of Liana lashing out at the impressive newcomers. They had already had to deal with being attacked by strange men in camouflage suits, and then suddenly finding themselves in another world, in this quarrel between their introverted classmate and the impressive forest women who definitely had an air of authority over them was completely incomprehensible. Besides, no one of them had ever seen Liana angry! Even Akhina was staring at her now. “Do you know who you are talking to, little Oranderran? Councilor Inaya of the council of councils.”
This made her even more furious.
“I suddenly get attacked by armed idiots in camouflage suits who have bought their alien weapons to come and hunt me down in my own school. Because they’re still mad about the mission you forced unto me I suppose. Like being in a bad Hollywood movie. And you say I can't save my idiot classmates from the line of fire? Because of your stupid speciesism?"
There was a silence.
Everyone in the room was staring at her now, and she herself fell back into her woven chair. She had no energy for arguing, and even less energy for self-control, but now that she realised how she had behaved would rather crawl into the ground now. She knew she'd gone way too far, and it was hard to estimate Inaya's real place in this world. Would she now be banned for insulting council member Inaya? Her mind was spinning wildly again, and she looked in panic from Akhina to Izabel to Inaya.
Inaya had also sat down, and she had calmed down a bit. “Liana é, my friend from the other world. What you have done impulsively is indeed unheard of, and it goes against all the laws of our culture. No one really travels between the worlds so easily as you do. Hardly anyone can do that anyway. So that was a big surprise for us. But I understand what you have done and why, even if most here in Mirato-Kwoburuë would not understand it so quickly. The presence of these hmana-orr in the prevailing conditions is still going to be very difficult to explain. The council will be understanding, they have political insight, but not everyone here is as open-minded as the council."
Liana calmed down a bit too, but she still looked at her furiously.
“Did I really have to let them shoot innocent kids?” she repeated.
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Inaya shook her head in denial, and the seriousness of what had happened only now seemed to sink in.
“So the Superior Tech Corp attacked you, at your school, for no reason? With no warning? Did they find you so fast? On another continent of Oranderra? You said you suspected they had a home base on another continent.”
Liana nodded “I thought they operated from North America, and they found me in Europe in less than a week. That means that I am no longer safe in my own world for as long as they have the technology of your people and of the ancient aliens. They must have some way to track me anywhere in our world.”
Ellen and what-his-name-again still stood staring. Liana even thought he was staring a little too much, especially at the female Nummerfa. Izabel kept aloof, as if granting Liana and the impressive forest women their privacy. All three were clearly confused about their situation, and might even still be wondering if they were dreaming. Liana only now remembered that she might have to give them a little more explanation, but relapsed into her characteristic chaotic nonlinear style of communication that she had more in stress:
“Sorry that I had to take you to Nuanderra. The guys from Superior Tech Corp who were at school wanted to kill me with Kavand…, er, weapons from an ancient alien civilization from another world, and you were in the line of fire. I had to take you here with me when I escaped them, or they might have killed you too.”
The trio stared at her now, stunned.
“Oh, I forgot to mention, we are in another world called Nuanderra here. No other planet, another world. Think parallel universes and portal fantasy and all that. It's a world where there was almost no evil until recently, but we do see us humans here as demons. Especially men apparently. So watch out, what-what-your-name-thingy. And watch out who you talk to, some here are going to mistrust you or worse. But these two are friends. They’re named Inaya and Akhina. By the way, there are only a few people in this world who speak our language and most of them are now here in this room. And oh yes. They can have some sort of telepathy too if you’re able to receive it. See that they don't read your brain if you like your privacy.”
Ellen's mouth dropped open. "What on...?"
She sat herself down on another tree-root chair, still holding her boyfriend's hand tightly, who might not be the best emotional comfort human at the moment, since he looked even worse than her. Isabel stood up. None of the three was able to say anything now. Both of the Nummerfa kept silent too, and stuck to observing the situation without intervening.
"So it's real?" Izabel was the first to talk.
“Does any of this look fake then?” Liana said, waving her arms around.
“I’m afraid it looks very real, but it’s all too weird, and it seems that we have a problem if all of this is true.”
“You have a big problem indeed.” Inaya remarked.
“Yes, we’ve been attacked by weirdos in camouflage suits with alien guns.” Izabel said.
Inaya sighed. “More than that. The council of Nummerfa has decided with a narrow vote that the trouble with the Onnobolda is over in Nuanderra for now. And we won’t interfere with your world again. It has only led to problems, even before the baro-tentue. So you can't expect us to attack the Superior Tech Corp from Nuanderra. But as you said, as long as the STC is active, your world is not safe for you!”
Liana stared at her as the scope of the words slowly entered.
"And we? You, Lun, me? What did you ever say about Oranderra's friends? Can't we go search them like we did in Kavanderra and do something about them?”
Inaya hesitated. “That would be a bad idea for several reasons, the first of which is that the council doesn't want me to get involved as a councillor who is part of two councils. Besides, I'm still rather weak from what that weapon did to me in Kavanderra. I still don't have the strength I would otherwise have, and I might not be able to fold dimension myself without risk."
Liana looked disappointed. “And Lun? Where is Lun?” she asked.
“Lun has gone to a yam healers’ meeting that will last at least a week, with yam-healers of every people in Nuanderra. It would be sacrilege to disturb him there. Do you want to wait for him?” Liana nodded negatively and looked questioningly at Akhina?
"Akhina, you?" But she also shook her head.
"No I can not; I am not allowed to. And the forest needs me!”
Liana understood everyone, but suddenly felt alone. Inaya saw her friend getting a little distraught. She came a little closer, and spoke a little more quietly.
“The council cannot officially help you. But there is someone who can, and who wants to. If you still want to work with her, that Is. She owes her life to you, and she also has a score to settle with the Superior Tech Corp. When she hears what happened to you in Oranderra today she will definitely want to do something about the STC.”
Liana’s brain was working at full force, but it still took a while before she realised who Inaya meant. “Marah?” she asked incredulously.
Inaya nodded, and Liana wondered what the hell "doing something about the STC" might mean in practice. Was the plan now for her and one combative dryad warrior to defuse an American factory full of alien weapons? She didn't really see that happening.
“She has been warned that you are already back, and she’s coming here. She already has some plans ready I suspect, and she’s been gathering information too. In the meantime, we need to discuss what to do with these three stowaways here.”
She pointed vaguely at Ellen, who stared at her nervously and looked like she might pass out at any moment after checking her smartphone for the last time to be absolutely sure that this world really had no network. Next to her was the boy whose name Liana did not know, and Izabel, who had begun to show an interest in her surroundings.
“In the meantime, let’s explain the situation to your guests, and then we can see what will happen to them…”