Chapter Nine

[REL POV]

With some training, she should do nicely… I thought back to Elara as I stepped out of the shower. Then, shook my head. I couldn’t let myself think of a queen too frequently, in such a way. She was inexperienced, as I had expected…and I was relieved to see it. If she hadn’t been, it would have indicated the humans hadn’t behaved as well as they claimed.

Inexperience was something I could help her with. The psychological damage that would have come from abuse was not.

“Oh-ho? And here I was going to ask if you needed some help with your problem.” Aldiner walked through a nearby wall, hands linked behind his head and a sly grin on his face.

“I’m capable of finishing myself, thank you.” I walked past him with the intention of sleeping. “Elara is still struggling to understand our culture. Satisfying myself with one of you… I think it would upset her.”

“I was joking,” Aldiner groaned. I glanced back in time to see him roll his eyes. “I know, Ciheri knows, everyone knows we gotta be careful with her, alright? Eesh.”

“Then why are you here?”

Aldiner rubbed the back of his neck. “We uh…have a visitor downstairs. He’s asked to speak with you and Jysel. He’d like Zafir to be present too.”

Eyeing Aldiner, I summoned more appropriate clothing before reaching out telepathically to my twin. Jysel, I need you to join me at the cafe. Bring Zafir and Casair. Aldiner’s contact wants to talk.

Without a word, I moved out of my apartment and down the stairs to the empty cafe. Aldiner quickly followed, leading me to the main area. The Lun’iri waiting there made me bristle.

Elara’s description had been right, but how had she seen through the monochromatic noise we had been met with? He was the spitting image of one of the Abyss Father’s closest allies—a man long believed dead; his clan wiped out.

“This better be good.” Jysel stalked out of an adjacent room, his angry pace slowing as he took in our ‘guest’s’ appearance. This isn’t right.

We can’t let his appearance shake us. It could be a disguise. I crossed my arms over my chest as Casair, and eventually a disheveled Zafir, appeared. The glance I shot the latter caused him to shrink within his researcher’s garb. “Well, what is this about?”

“I wish to discuss what I discovered in the minds of Elara and her teammate, Aisu,” the green-eyed Lun’iri answered calmly. “What I saw there… I don’t believe in keeping that manner of information secret as ‘leverage.’”

Jysel grunted. “What should we call you?”

“Y’serdyn, if you must call me something. That is my title.” The so-called priest shrugged one shoulder, then turned his attention to me. “Elara warned you?”

“She did. I haven’t had the chance to discuss the matter yet.” I narrowed my eyes at the priest. “What is it you came to tell us?”

“Aisu’s mind held the answers to what clan they originate from.” The priest’s words hovered in the air as we each remained uneasily silent. I needed to know more about Elara’s past, but to learn it from an extremist…

Jysel stepped forward. “What about it made you want to reach out to us?”

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

“Because a clan like that should never have fallen.” The priest’s eyes narrowed into a visage of contempt. “And poor, sweet Elara… Her mind could only be so blank for one of so few possibilities.”

Calm down, I warned Jysel. “We’re listening, but what do you want from this exchange?”

“Nothing. I refuse to sell this information. Instead, I give it to the right hands freely.” The Y’serdyn nodded to me. “This planet belonged to the Abyss Father. The clan that settled here was a unique one he had cultivated. With more queens appearing throughout his fleet, he knew it necessary to protect them.

“Seeking out the finest warriors, the Abyss Father made a clan dedicated to producing and training royal guards. This planet was gifted to them as their home and base of operations due to its relative proximity to their other work.

“Elara, Aisu, and their team trained together to become Royal Guards. I’m not certain why…but Elara was both different and the same in Aisu’s memories. Kind, fierce, and driven by her beliefs. Yet…she didn’t fit in with most of the others. She behaved much like someone who had been abandoned.”

“An orphan?” Casair suggested, earning a couple looks. “What? Exploring new parts of space is dangerous, right?”

“It is possible.” The Y’serdyn nodded. “When she was discovered as a queen, her friends became her royal guard and together they were moved to a different part of the planet while she learned to control her abilities. But…her reaction was not what the clan leaders expected. From here, Aisu’s memory indicates they were kept in stasis for an unknown period of time.

“Upon waking, their clan was gone, and humans had begun building the empire. Elara woke with her memory damaged—she was a husk of herself, knowing only that she was a queen, that Aisu and the others were guards, and that humans didn’t belong on this planet. Her psyche was so seemingly destroyed that her guards considered killing her out of mercy.”

I clenched my fist and forced my breathing pattern to remain even. Everything about him indicated he was telling us the truth, but the implications were overwhelming. Another clan could have wiped hers out. Her clan, or a rival one, could have destroyed her mind. An unknown enemy could have interfered. “What else?”

“Elara’s mind has been reset multiple times. Fifteen, by my estimate.” The Y’serdyn looked away, his lip curling in distaste. “Someone tried to silence her and this clan of Royal Guards. Aisu’s memory of the ordeal is too damaged to determine the culprit—but it wasn’t the humans. It predates their arrival. How the humans acquired them, I couldn’t say, but I doubt it was an accident.

“As a show of good faith, I’ve recorded everything I learned from their minds and saved it for Zafir to analyze. In a significantly less…painful way. You can watch, rather than experience.”

“Less painful?” I prompted, watching his face twist with anger and distress.

The Y’serdyn took a moment to gather himself. “Looking into Elara’s mind is…agony. It has the feeling of someone who has been failed by those around her time and again. The structure that should house memories of a full life is empty, abandoned. Yet… I think what devastated me most was her acceptance. She doesn’t mourn her loss, question what might have been, or wonder about those who were once close to her. She believes that, before the Resonance Incident, she was utterly alone. And she simply…accepts it. I find it heartbreaking. She is surrounded by those who were her closest friends, and she has no idea what they’ve done for her—or the guilt they feel for failing to protect her.

“Their friend no longer exists, yet they remain with her because their sense of duty and admiration for her persisted through the damage their minds received. Their clan, and the Abyss Father, failed them. If he returns to this planet and discovers what happened to the royal guards—”

“He will find nothing but a molten shell of a planet,” I snarled, the reverberations from my voice cracking several floorboards around us. “We will find—”

“Rel, Jysel, no!” Ciheri protested, stepping in front of me. “Elara would be upset if the nature here was hurt. We can get rid of the humans some other way!”

The Y’serdyn released a soft sigh. “I am willing to work with you to evacuate from this planet if you need it, and should I find more information about her and her clan I will give it to you freely. As you have positioned yourselves to be her allies, you deserve to know what happened to the last people to take such positions.

“You and Jysel have immense potential, Rel. I pray that you are able to coordinate and join with Elara, even if it means you must flee Syldra’s government.” The Y’serdyn rubbed his chin, examining us. “With you as part of her court…perhaps this cycle she’s been trapped in may be broken.

“Now, I should return to my ship before they realize I am missing. My followers aren’t aware that my interests in this planet have changed.”

The Y’serdyn passed Zafir a small package, then disappeared in a flicker of green light, leaving most of the room dazed.

What was he implying? Jysel demanded, rounding on me.

I sighed softly, accepting there would be no sleep before work in the morning. We can discuss it after we give everyone new orders and they leave. We can’t risk being overheard.