Katie woke up on Monday morning on her own, a rare sight. She was a late sleeper and usually, only her fifth alarm or the end of a nightmare, a frequent occurrence since the accident, could rouse her. This time it was excitement. She lay in bed for a bit, replaying the previous day and thinking of what today might bring. She doubted it could get as exciting and odd as the day before, but she would have claimed the same yesterday morning, only to be catastrophically wrong.
Soon the energy brought by the desire to tackle the day was too much and urged her out of bed. She went through her usual morning routine, washed up, dressed for school, and packed her backpack. Only much slower due to ceaseless pain, a reminder of the impromptu adventure of yesterday. Her left leg hurt the most, its joints were no longer able to support such rigorous activities. As if that wasn’t enough, she felt sore muscles all over her body. Her right leg, her arms, and even her back, all complained from the smallest action.
She used to be fit and lean, always full of energy, ready to tackle just about any activity. However, the sedentary lifestyle that her injury and depression encouraged had added quite a bit of fat to her now weaker body. She hated the person she saw in the mirror but the energy and desire to do something about it just weren’t there. So instead she ignored the issue hoping, without hope, that in time she would get that vibrant girl back.
On the way out of her bedroom, she picked up her cane to reduce some of the sharp pain each step shot through her spine into her brain. It had been months since she had it in hand. The day before she ignored or hid the familiar aches, a feeble attempt to feel normal, as well as make a better first impression on the cute boy who now slept mere feet from her. However, she knew that pushing through the pain like that only extended its stay, so the cane came out as she headed downstairs.
In the kitchen, she found her grandparents in their usual places, her earlier waking evened out by the slower going.
“Morning,” she greeted. “What do we have for breakfast? I am famished!”
“I bet you are. After all the excitement of yesterday you must…” her grandma began only to cut off when she saw her sitting down and propping her cane on the chair. “How’s the leg? Does it hurt a lot?”
“No more than back in spring. In a day or two I won’t need the cane, I promise. Tony’s rehabilitation exercises have made me stronger. “
“Alright. Just don’t push yourself.”
“I won’t. Anyways, breakfast?”
“I thought that since our guest needs lots of protein to regain the prodigious physique you extolled yesterday, I might make us bacon and eggs.”
“In industrial quantities, it seems,” teased Katie in turn but her watering mouth made no protests to the anticipated meal.
The breakfast went as usual, mostly silent, only today it felt different to Katie. Her grandma was distracted, adding unnecessary steps to her morning routine. Sometimes murmuring to herself as she prepared food for her family and unexpected guest. Her grandpa wasn’t reading the newspaper, instead staring through the window at the mountains. As if he could see the black spot of the crash site, concern etched on his brow. Katie herself was extra quiet too, her own mind busy with thoughts about her project of teaching Melar their language.
Soon the time to leave for work and school arrived.
“Katie, could you take the boy’s breakfast upstairs?”
“Sure grandma,” Katie responded as she got up.
“Don’t lock his door. I’ll be here and I want to see what he will do.” Chimed in Steve.
“I’m sure he will act like a perfect gentleman. I think he is the first person that ever bowed to me.” She added placatingly as she left the kitchen.
When Katie opened Melar’s door she was greeted by stillness. He was lying in bed, his alabaster hair and skin contrasting with the colorful sheets that hid most of his form. Only his rising chest betrayed that the skeletal face was a person and not a corpse. She observed him for a few moments, finding it hard to reconcile the memory of his hurt self with what lay before her. Not only the lack of wounds but his visage. In some ways, it was more disturbing than the bloody but strong body of yesterday.
She realized she had been staring for too long and quickly left the tray and rushed back downstairs.
Soon Katie and Emily were sitting in the car, driving down the path that linked to the main road, which in turn led north to Missoula. Their house was remote, and it took over half an hour to get to town, but she liked it. The peacefulness contrasted starkly with the city life she had enjoyed before, yet another sign of the changes in her personality.
The drive was spent in silence as well. Emily drove and considered all the implications of their new housemate. Katie in turn browsed the internet in search of ways to teach a language. She wasn’t making much progress though. Most advice was common sense. Start with simple words and ignore the complicated grammar in favor of expanding the lexicon. Use pictures or physical objects for definitions, or activities when going for verbs. Simple really. Yet she found the task daunting, despite what she believed to be a remarkable performance by her impromptu student the day before.
As they neared the school Katie’s grandma broke the silence, “You coming to the hospital afterward as usual, right?”
“Yea. I still want to see mum. Visiting Tony wouldn’t hurt either.”
“I thought your leg was mostly fine,” Emily asked concern bleeding in her voice.
“It feels mostly fine, but I reckon a second, professional opinion, would help alleviate my and your worry.”
“Good. What about school? Anything interesting today?”
“Just a test but I am so overprepared I feel no anxiety about it.”
“I am glad that school is going well. I would like it if you had more friends though. You were so popular back in California.”
“Trust me, that level of popularity is behind me. My grumpy personality tolerates only a handful of equally grumpy people.”
“And who might those be?”
“You, Grandpa, James, and me. That is plenty for me. Besides thanks to the lack of friends, I am a straight-A student.”
“I guess college is just as good as high school for forming long-lasting friendships. There is still time to cure the grumpy out of you.”
“Nah uh. No way. I like grumpy me, she is funny.” Responded Katie as the car stopped near the school parking lot.
“In a caustic way. Anyway, have a great day and I’ll see you in the afternoon.”
“Bye, Grandma!” Katie shouted as she slammed the door and started towards the school.
She weaved through the throng of over-excited students, not due to the classes of course. She ignored the gossip as she passed clicks and small groups. Even if she listened in, as she used to in her old school, she wouldn’t get most of it. She was so out of the loop that it felt almost like the first day at school. The faces were familiar but the people behind them weren’t.
The morning went as usual. Class after class, a test that she blew through like it was nothing, then finally lunchtime. Instead of the school cafeteria, she went outside, her homemade lunch in hand, straight for the small hidden corner she and her friend James called their own during lunchtime. He was there already, sitting in his wheelchair, eating, and watching something on his phone.
“Morning J. How’s life? Ready for a run?” Katie greeted. The inside joke was delivered with practiced ease and pulled his attention to her.
They had bonded over their disabilities, back when they were freshmen, the only two in school with wheels. Back then he was a veteran with the wheelchair while she was a newbie, still too early in her rehabilitation to stand. He took pity and helped her get more comfortable with her situation. Something Katie still felt grateful for. He had helped her when she needed it, without making her feel less than her past self. Something that was a problem for her to this day.
Back then, the running joke was funny but these days Katie felt that it no longer brought the same mirth to her friend. The joke coupled with her walking around, seemed to rub him the wrong way. He never said anything. He never would. However, she had enough social skills to see it when her mind wasn’t preoccupied with her usual brooding.
‘I should probably figure out an alternative. He wouldn’t suggest it or make the effort,’ She thought.
“What's up with the cane K? Did you fall from heaven and break a leg?” her lunch partner asked with a somber voice and googly eyes at the same time.
“10 out of 10 for trying. 3 out of 10 for originality. 7 out of 10 for delivery. All in all, solid performance.” Katie responded as she carefully sat opening her lunch bag.
“Now that you are no longer in danger of keeling over, can you tell me the gruesome story of you tripping in bed and hurting yourself?”
“Hahaha.” She intoned, mockingly, but the joke made her smile. James wasn’t a funny guy, but all his silly attempts still worked every time in uplifting her spirits. “I didn’t fall in bed, although I am now kinda curious how it would work.” She moved to bite out of her sandwich realizing she had an important decision to make that she had failed to foresee.
‘Should I tell him? I am sure he won’t tell anyone but that doesn’t mean him knowing won’t cause problems. What if Melar refuses to heal me and Mom because of it? That is the most important thing. I am sure James would understand.’ Her mind made and feeling the pause stretching too long despite her lunch cover she searched for a believable response. ‘Best lies are half-truths.’
“I didn’t fall from heaven or my bed, just from my legs onto the ground. I was on my usual mountain walk yesterday and decided to push myself by jogging on the way down. That plus a tumble after stumbling and voila. It doesn’t really hurt that much but the cane would help reduce my recovery time.”
“Alright. Seems silly for you to try and run downhill but then again if I had legs, I might have done the same.”
“But you have legs,” Katie responded before catching herself.
“Ahhh, when did they appear? I swear I had none this morning.” He even started poking them as if testing if they were real.
“Sorry, that was hurtful. I didn’t mean to say it. I’ve been distracted today.”
“It’s fine. Didn’t expect the heckle so it was a great opportunity to test my mettle and quick thinking.” He easily returned.
“Wow. You are going at it today, huh?”
“I need practice with my stand-up comedy if all else fails. I bet my wheelchair jokes will lead to a successful career.”
“What, MIT and computer sciences are too boring for ya?”
“Sometimes the bugs bug me too bugging much. See what I did there?” he asked with a grin while wagging his eyebrows. Seeing Katie’s unimpressed face, he quickly moved on. “Anyway, MIT is though. You won’t catch me counting my chickens before I buy them.”
“You mean hatch them. I think you need a distraction, or you will continue with the bad comedy.”
“I take great offense at that.” Katie knew he didn’t, and his immediate question only confirmed it. “What do you have in mind?”
“I was listening to some guys on my way to class. They were talking about aliens and movies, and how communicating with them can’t be as simple as they make it out to be. It made sense to me and got me thinking. How would you approach teaching English to someone who has no knowledge of it and there is no way to communicate in any other language?”
“Oh, easy. You start with simple nouns that can be easily attributed to objects. Then you move to verbs. Simplify the sentence structure, no need for them to know about a, an, and the, and such. Nor about nuances like gerund and to be and whatnot. You could probably ignore pronouns as well. Once they have picked up enough words to differentiate between them you start adding things, like say adjectives. Simple.”
“Damn, I hate you sometimes. I have been thinking about this all day and here you are synthesizing all my thoughts so easily.”
“Don’t be too hard on yourself. I watched a movie where most of that is implicitly in there.”
“Really? Which Movie?”
“Arrival. It's exactly what you are talking about. A bunch of aliens come to Earth and a language professor is sent to teach them English so that the government and the world can figure out why they came to our little ball of blue.”
“I think I hate you a little more now…”
“Hahaha, love you too.”
The rest of lunch went by in a flash with more joking and chatting. When they split to go to classes she turned her mind back to his advice. She was grateful but ultimately disappointed. Katie had hoped her genius friend would have some grander idea. Instead, he gave her basically the same advice as the articles and her own common sense had.
‘I guess the process isn’t the hard part. It’s doing it that is hard. Then again, judging by Melar’s performance yesterday, that won’t be much of a problem.’
Soon, school was over, and she headed towards the bus stop and the hospital. Once there she headed straight for Tony, her physical therapist, the route familiar after two years of walking it. When he saw her limping and relying on her cane, he immediately rounded on her, excusing himself from his current patient.
“What did you do again? Was lying in bed over spring break not enough?” his disapproval palpable in his voice.
“I did some trekking as you’ve suggested. Only, I felt strong enough to rush on the way down and after a stumble twisted myself a bit. Came to see if I’ve done more damage than it feels.” Katie quickly explained.
“Come, let’s check you out. Honestly, if you weren’t my prettiest patient I would have given you to another doctor. You are too much trouble.”
“What, no cute seniors around?” she asked as she lay on the bed and moved her leg as per his instructions, answering ‘Does it hurt like this?’ several times. Still, their banter kept on, for they both knew it made the semi-intimate and frightening process much easier.
“Ohh there are some. If you can imagine them thirty-plus years younger, but my imagination is weak, hence why I am not an artist. I much prefer pretty things right before my eyes than in my mind.”
“If I didn’t know better, I would think you are flirting with a minor.”
“I would never flirt with a miner! They are all dirty and burly.”
“Nice save.”
“I will take it and move on to serious stuff. The leg seems fine. You seem to have simply over-exerted yourself. Same as last time. Use the cane until walking hurts no more. Meanwhile, reduce movement as much as possible. After that, we will work on adding strenuous activity bit by bit to ensure there is no permanent damage. Seriously though, this will delay your overall recovery by a few weeks. Was it worth it?”
“Honestly, yes,” Katie affirmed with a smile, thinking of the possibility that waited at home. To Tony, she said, “I got to run so fast wind pulled my hair back. For a few glorious seconds, I was running like I used to.”
“Then you were rolling.”
“Like a stone.” They both laughed and after agreeing for her to call him and schedule their next session, he returned to his patient and she moved towards the mental ward, where her mother was looked after.
Katie’s grandma had been working as a nurse in the hospital for nearly 30 years and had climbed to the highest level. Thanks to her expertise and relations with the chief of medicine she got a bit of leeway. For one, Rachel, her daughter, got to stay in the hospital’s psychiatric department permanently. As well as being scheduled for only morning shifts so she can spend more time with her family.
Thanks to that the trip to her mother’s room took only a few minutes. However, as usual, before entering Katie sought out a nurse, spotting a familiar face behind the main desk.
“Morning Camila! How have you been?”
“Oh, hey Katie. All is well. Work, you know. You? Your leg okay?” she asked when she spotted the cane.
“Yeah, just twisted it a bit. Will be back in top shape in no time. How’s mom? When was the last she had visitors?”
“Close to an hour now. Same as usual. Had a bit of a disagreement about the lunch but that too is usual when we have tapioca pudding. She really hates that flavor,” Camila offered with a smile.
“Great. I’ll be with her if you need me. Take care!” Katie waved and headed for her second home.
“See you later, dear.”
When Katie reached the door, she knocked and entered. Inside she found her mother in bed watching TV. She had the same auburn hair as herself and many of the same features. Slimmer and less endowed than Katie but the same height and limb-to-torso proportions. Only their eyes were truly different, deep blue like Steve’s, instead of brown like Katie’s.
The room wasn’t anything special. Smaller than her own but with a private bathroom and everything her mother needed. A desk with a notepad opened on a half-finished drawing as well as a few of her favorite books in a corner. Her bed was on one side of the room, with a small cabinet where her clothes were and a TV on top of it.
“Morning Rachel. How are we today?” Katie greeted with a sunny smile.
“Who are you?” her mom asked.
“I am Katie, and I am here to keep you company and help you with anything you might need.”
“That doesn’t answer my question!”
“Think of me as a volunteer who likes helping others. Today is your lucky day and you get my company for a few hours.” Katie answered, ignoring the edge in Rachel’s voice. She pulled a chair next to the bed, “What are we watching?”
“Just some sitcom I have never seen before.”
“You know what I like about sitcoms? You don’t need to have watched the previous episodes to enjoy the current one.” She answered, almost as if following a script.
“Yeah, that is why I picked it over the movies on the other channels. This memory problem is very annoying.”
“I understand. I am sure that you will get an improvement very soon.” She placated her, hoping to avoid the thorny subject.
Due to her mother’s condition, certain protocols were established to improve her life and that of her caretakers. Those took quite a bit of time to figure out and lots of mutual suffering, but the results were an almost peaceful existence for both parties.
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Since her long-term memory was reduced to almost only the last half-hour, they had begun treating her as a child. Someone who needed to be carefully looked after with any unnecessary dangers and troubles removed. Thankfully some skills like speech, reading, and writing were still available to her, allowing at least for communication to exist. Still, in some ways, those brought problems of their own.
In the very beginning when the diagnosis wasn’t as set the family and doctors had tried to help Rachel regain some of her functionality. They openly told her who they were, and what was going on. They even gave her a diary to try and keep track of things and create a system for herself to rely on when her memory inevitably drifted into oblivion.
Unfortunately, that had unexpected adverse effects. After a few weeks of constant struggle, she became suicidal. Four failed attempts later they found the reason in her diary. There, among the pages she had carved a small space that was meant for reasoning. Due to the lack of memory a lot of her thinking was repetitive, restarting along with her memory. By understanding her condition over the span of a few weeks she had managed to come to the conclusion, that her affliction was permanent. She was an intelligent woman who used to be a doctor. Some of that knowledge and understanding came to her in the form of intuitive understanding.
That realization left her feeling more dead than alive. After all, what is life if you cannot remember what was and imagine what could be? Most of her half-hour of living was spent in trying to comprehend her situation, going through the notes of her previous selves. That is when she had concluded that she was in purgatory, neither dead nor alive. A state that was a burden not only to her but to her family and especially her daughter. After weeks of scribbling, she had decided that they were suffering more from her current state compared to her simply being dead, hence the suicide attempts.
After that, the diary was gone and when she asked about her situation everyone consoled her with loving lies.
“You had a head trauma yesterday, and your long-term memory is a bit impaired. You can remember only for half an hour before you forget. Don’t worry, the doctors say you will be healthy again within a day or two.”
This calmed her enough to let her focus on transitory pleasures, like her drawing, or books and TV.
Another such protocol was the number of visitors at a time. One was best and two were all right. Any more and she became fearful and erratic. Males were worse, so when Steve came to visit, he was always accompanied by Emily who came in first to prepare Rachel.
They rarely told her they were her family. She knew that she should remember them and know them, due to the meaning the word ‘family’ held. When they shared that bit with her, she was either doubtful or became hyper-focused on them and her situation, making things worse. If instead, they claimed that her family had just stepped out, she remained calm and mostly pleasant company, if her doing her own thing counted as such.
Finally, when the half-hour passed and she inevitably forgot who and where she was, simple information was best.
Katie watched the episode but kept an eye on her mom, her mind ready for what was soon to follow. Then she saw it, her sharp eyes following the actors on screen suddenly lost their focus. Within moments she changed, and an anxious look deforming her beautiful face.
Katie didn’t wait and jumped to her mother’s help with a delivery she knew by heart and a gentle touch of her hand.
“Hi. You are alright, no need to fear. You are in the hospital. You had a head trauma and have trouble with your memory. Your name is Rachel, and I am Katie. I am here to help you feel comfortable.”
Then followed the usual questions but Katie quickly reassured her and got her to simply enjoy the end of the sitcom. When that ended, she offered to read to her, and Rachel readily agreed. A small blessing was that she was even more agreeable due to her lack of memory.
After the second cycle of confusion and appeasement, Katie withdrew and focused on other activities. She still stayed in the room but other than calming her mother in the early minutes of the memory loss, she left her to her own devices.
Katie hated that weakness within her. She found it hard to bear the sight of her mother forgetting her over and over again, even when she didn’t know her as her own daughter. However, she knew that if the places were reversed Rachel would have endless patience with her. Still, she remained in the room, both as a punishment for herself and to ensure at least those first few new minutes were less stressful.
Katie spent the rest of her visit on her language research. First, she watched the movie James had suggested. It turned out to be a lot better than she expected from an alien movie. She found the idea that the language you think in shapes your perception of reality very interesting. She wondered if she learned Melar’s language, that sing-like melody she remembered from yesterday, there would be a change in her own perceptions.
Ultimately as entertaining as the movie was it offered little in terms of advice, only affirmation of what she had already concluded. Then, she spent her time preparing a list of instructions for herself when she taught Melar, as well as a list of words in order of importance to learn. By the time she was done with that, it had turned 18:00 and her grandma came into the room.
“Afternoon Rachel. How are you doing today?”
“Well, I guess. I’ve had Katie here to keep me company. She is a lovely young lady. Have you met?”
“Yes, we have. And I agree, she is the best girl I know. You are in good hands. Katie, how are you doing? All is well?” Emily’s last two questions weren’t really about Katie but about Rachel. A code they had made to ascertain her state without her realizing it.
“You know, same as usual, nothing to worry about. However, I need to go. There is a bookstore nearby I want to visit.”
“Alright. I shall see you later.” Emily offered as Katie packed her bag and left after saying goodbye to her mother, with a gentle squeeze of her hand rather than the hug she so much desired.
The trip to the store was short and she busied herself inside while waiting for Emily to finish her own visit with her mother. She grabbed what she needed and then browsed the books until finally, she got a call from her grandma urging her to come out.
Soon they were together again and on their way home. When her grandma finally pulled into their driveway Katie dashed, limpingly, into the house and straight upstairs. After tossing her bag in her room she went to look for Melar and was caught by surprise by his empty room. A spike of panic shot through her.
‘Did he leave? Where could he have gone?’ she wondered as she rushed down the stairs and into the kitchen. Just as she was about to ask her grandpa, who was watching TV, she spotted the boy through the back door. He was lying peacefully, the last rays of the sun turning his white hair golden. A sigh escaped her lips only for a chuckle to make her self-conscious about it.
Steve, who had heard her pounding up and down the stairs was looking at her with a cheeky smile.
“He has been lying there since this morning. I was thinking about inviting him for lunch but decided that if he was hungry, he would join me. Might want to shake him awake for dinner. I doubt your grandma would be as accommodating as me.”
Katie went to the boy and when she got above him, he suddenly opened his eyes. She stared in the two liquid pools of gold, first finding her own reflection, and then something else deep within. It took her a moment to place it but then she knew.
‘I know those eyes. I’ve seen them too many times in the mirror. They speak of terrible loss. Yet there is strength in there too. That is unfamiliar. How can he have both? I didn’t think it possible.’ She mused, only to get pulled into reality by him getting up.
“Hi! Sorry to disturb you, I just… Well, wanted to say hi, and maybe we could work on your English? I have been working on a concrete plan, on how to go about it, all day long. I think, bar a cute professor of languages, I can get you up to speed in no time. Well, not no time but who knows, soon enough? You up for it?” she talked only to receive a calm and collected, but immobile face. ‘He doesn’t understand you stupid. So what? Do I just start and hope he follows my lead or… Or what? No other ideas come to mind.’ After a few more moments of indecision, she began the lesson she had envisioned in her mind.
She started by rehashing their names and the words from yesterday. Then just like in the movie, she began walking around.
“Katie walk,” she said then stopped. “Katie stand,” then with a bit of a struggle sat on the ground, “Katie sit”, then lay down, “Katie lie,”. With a bit of effort, she got back up, heavily relying on her cane until two bony hands helped alleviate some of the burden.
“Thanks,” she said with a smile and then pointed at him, “Melar walk.”
To her surprise and delight, Melar repeated the words and began walking, only to continue the mimicry unprompted. Like so the two of them acted out and spoke simple words. She taught him many words that she thought would be useful in their day-to-day coexistence, like ‘follow’ and ‘wait’. Soon Emily called them to dinner through the open kitchen window and she used one of them.
“Melar follow,” Katie said, to which he smiled. When she cast a glance to see if he did, she got captivated for a moment by his white hair swaying with each step, thankfully the ground was even, and no shameful falls transpired.
The dinner was almost done, and it was time to set the table, that was Katie’s responsibility. So, she took that as an opportunity to teach him some new words as well.
Dinner was uneventful albeit different than usual, instead of three, four sat around the table. Instead of the usual conversations about their days, almost all the attention was on their guest.
Melar was courteous but ravenous. He quietly listened when they offered to teach him another word while the rest of the time he ate almost as much as all of them combined. By the time he was done, his belly was visibly pushing on the pajama top, and the usual leftovers were gone.
“I don’t know if you have the mind for it but let’s see if we can get you to learn some more. We’ll be in the library. Melar follow.” She commanded and headed for the stairs.
“Yes. Melar follow.” He replied getting up, but before following her he spoke, “Steve, Emily, Thanks. Melar. Thanks.” Giving them a small bow and only then following after her.
“I didn’t teach you thanks but I guess you understood it from earlier. Your rapid improvement makes me hopeful we can sit down and have a chat about you one of these days.” She chatted at him as she picked up her backpack and went into their little library, which overlooked the road that led to their house.
When they entered the room, she got busy pulling out the few items she had bought only to see him going for the bookshelves, eyes full of wonder.
“Yeah, my grandma must have been a librarian in a past life.” With a light tug on his sleeve, she got him to sit at the desk and then wrote all the words she had taught him in a large heavy notebook, speaking each in turn so he could make the connection between their written and spoken forms.
When she offered him the notebook and pen, he stared in confusion at her and then the words. Finally, something clicked, and he began scribbling across from the words. Quickly he began filling the space after each of the words with an uninterrupted squiggly line, full of turns and loops and patterns, that Katie couldn’t make heads or tails of.
‘Is this his language’s script? It is almost as incomprehensible as those aliens' writing! Couldn’t Melar’s people use letters like normal people???’ As she watched him scribble across the final few words, she finally came to accept a lingering suspicion. ‘It is definitely going to be quicker to teach him English than for him to teach me his language.’
So far Katie had taught him everything she had set out to do and then some. She even taught him the simpler plural form of words. However, her curiosity about his ability to memorize pushed her to begin the following day’s lesson, the numbers from one to a hundred.
Using the usual kindergarten strategy, she drew small circles and wrote the number that corresponded to their count. Like before he quickly picked it up and before long, he knew the numbers too.
“Okay, this is enough for today. I haven’t prepared anything else. I guess tomorrow will be another day of figuring out what words to teach you. Let’s go. Melar follow.”
“No. Melar stay.” He countered, disagreeing with her for the very first time. When she turned to look at him quizzically, he got up and went to the bookshelves and began pulling books and leafing through them. For nearly 10 minutes he did so and slowly pulled ten books out of the shelves and placed them onto the desk.
“Melar words?” he asked mimicking her own questioning tones from earlier. Which prompted Katie to cross the room and examine his choices. To her surprise, he had picked two children's books full of illustrations but quite a bit more text than the alphabet book, as well as the full series of Harry Potter.
“Hmm. Interesting choice. Melar words books?” She tried to ask and to her delight, he responded with a resounding yes. “Alright, but then you will need a dictionary. Wait.” She looked through and quickly found the latest edition they had and added it to the pile. “Dictionary. Now. Melar follow. Take books.”
“Yes.” He readily agreed and with some effort picked up the heavy stack. Katie helped him with a few and soon left him in his room after wishing him goodnight.
‘I am starting to get spooked,’ she thought as she brushed her teeth. ‘This speed of comprehension is not normal, even for a genius. Are his people that much smarter than us? Is that why their language is so weird? They can process it while I am sure we would find it difficult. So instead we came up with letters? I really hope Grandpa is wrong and he doesn’t turn out to be a huge danger.’ Such dark thoughts colored her mind as she went to bed, worry and excitement mixing up in a blend perfect for a nightmare.
Melar sat behind the desk on his chair and opened the first book of pictures. He had learned a lot of words that day, many very useful, evident from the first conversations he had had that night. Still, he felt that his progress was too slow, and since he still had a bit of energy left, he pushed himself some more.
‘So nice of her to buy me this notebook. My memory is solid, like a steel trap, but it's easier when I have somewhere to jot down what I’ve learned so far. I am sure my learning will speed up. I won’t slack though. The sooner I can converse as smoothly as them the sooner I get more options in this confusing world.’
Like that another 2 hours of studying passed for Melar. He went through the two picture books, pulling unknown words, and then browsed the book she had given him, the dictionary. He quickly recognized its purpose and tried to simply learn words directly from it.
At first, he was ecstatic but soon he sobered up as he realized the complexity of learning words like that. Each word he checked had several and sometimes dozens of new unknown words as a definition. He diligently added them to his growing list of words to figure out the meaning of but by the time his energy reserves dried up, he had figured out only one word that way and he wasn’t even sure if he understood it correctly.
‘In the end, learning through a story is far easier. I wasted a bit of time but it is fine. I will surely make progress as long as I keep working on it. With some help from Katie, I will learn some of those words and then like a ball of yarn, I will pull on the thread and unravel this whole language. I have learned far more complex things, and this slight obstacle will not deter me.’ With his resolve reaffirmed he tiredly stood up and went to turn off the lights.
As he started towards bed, the night sky pulled on his attention, and an idea streaked across his mind like a shooting star.
‘I am an idiot!’ With that thought echoing in his, arguably empty skull, he quickly made for the door of his room. Just before opening it he stopped and listened. For a few minutes, he remained motionless examining every tiny sound, even using the trickle of new soul energy to boost his hearing. When he was sure that no one was awake he quietly sneaked outside and stared at the sky.
‘I know the stars of both hemispheres in my world. If I find enough familiar constellations, I should be able to figure out on which colony’s planet I am!’ Excited by the possibility of figuring out a key piece of the mystery he found himself in, he began circling the house examining each cluster of stars.
Sadly, each step, each look, and each twinkling dot on the black canvas of the infinite brought him only fear and confusion. Until he no longer could stand on his feet and deny the obvious, crumbling on the same spot he had enjoyed during the day. The contrast between his current and earlier feelings was just like night and day. One dark and hopeless like a starless sky, the other full of hope and exultation in life.
‘I am… I am… I am nowhere near home! If I was in a nearby system at least some of the patterns would be familiar. Instead, I see only similarities born out of my desire to see them. If I am not horribly wrong, which I doubt, I am somewhere far, far away from home. Maybe another galaxy? But that should be impossible!’ after a few moments of disbelief, he thought sourly.
‘Just as interstellar travel in a dimensional orb should be, yet here I am. How did I travel so far away? Why did I get here?’
Melar’s mind was in disarray and the troubling feelings filling up his mind, tightening his chest, were a new experience for him. He had never felt so lost, confused, and fearful, not even as a child. That thought sparked something in him and memories started flooding in. He realized that even in his earliest memories, he always had someone to rely on, his father. To show him that reality wasn’t as bleak as his childhood mind had made it out to be. It was natural for the young undeveloped mind to experience and escalate the smallest emotion into colossal proportions. However, the steady and firm guidance of his father had always grounded him in reality.
With a fierce slap, he snapped out of his downtrodden mood.
‘He isn’t here. And I am no longer a child. I knew that one day I would have to walk alone and rely only on myself. He has been preparing me for that moment since I could talk. In fact, I didn’t expect to see him after joining the army or the royals, maybe never again. My circumstances have changed but that fact hasn’t.’
Those thoughts finally gave him enough strength to drag himself to bed, shedding his clothes so as to not dirty the sheets. Safely tucked away in bed he breathed and calmed himself bit by bit. He knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep without reaching a decision, so he began considering his situation. Only to find it wasn’t as bad as he had initially imagined, just like back in the distant past.
‘Sure, my goal to avenge my mother and my family is most likely impossible but my desire to grow my cultivation and sourcery hasn’t changed. Who knows, if I reach the level of the Emperor, I might be able to get back and have my vengeance. Which means that nothing has really changed. Recover my strength. Repair my cultivation. Learn the language and about this world. Once that is done, I will think about my next steps. I can’t plan any further without ample information about my new environment. And through all that, my ultimate goal still stands. Become greater than I am today. Always aim towards bettering some aspect of myself. Never linger. Never falter. Never. Back. Down. Always forward.’
With his mind made up and steeled against the upcoming adversity, tranquility settled into his mind and soul, his body naturally following suit, relaxing.
‘I am exhausted, might as well have a good night's sleep.’ Was the last thought before drifting peacefully into the embrace of dreams.
He naturally woke up at the crack of dawn. For a few moments, he listened for movement, finding that he was the first to wake. He got up, dressed, and went back outside on the lawn.
‘To strengthen the body, I will start with the katas my father taught me. Once I can execute the whole sequence to the highest difficulty, I can consider myself fit enough to face any challenges.’
Without further ado, he began the practice. Slow and steady he moved from one form to another. Gentle and precise like flowing water in a preordained path. He quickly reached a point where his moves became jittery but kept going, knowing that only by pushing himself would his body accelerate his strengthening. Soon he could not go on and slumped on the ground, breath heavy, brow sweaty.
It was then he heard clapping. Emily and Katie were both looking at him from the kitchen window, applauding him. They said something he didn’t understand but their faces spoke loud enough to know it was some kind of positive comment, so he smiled in return.
He got up and joined them for breakfast. Starting a new day.
Like so the days passed. Melar exercised twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening. With each day he felt his strength coming back bit by bit. All thanks to his efforts and the ample food he was given. His bony visage began receding, giving way to a healthier appearance. His muscles too kept growing and regaining their past form.
He cultivated during the night and a bit during the day. He found solace in the familiar practice, a stark contrast to all the novelty around him. The first sphere of his soul was done within the week, and he began working on the second sphere of his Mind cultivation, which would now take the role of his first. He chose not to weave any spell matrices since he found better use for the limited energy he had. Besides, without proper connections between his soul, mind, and the spell itself, it would be next to useless in combat. So, he focused on preparing the foundation on which he would later build up his arsenal again.
Most of his remaining time he spent studying their language. During those times he consistently boosted his mind through sourcery to accelerate the learning process as much as possible. He used the books and dictionary, slowly piecing out the story and the nuances of every new word. Often, he looked for help from the members of the family, Katie the most, since she was ever eager to help. Every time she smiled because he had improved made him want to work harder. In time, as his vocabulary grew, he began exploring the rules of the language, its grammar as they called it. He was soon able to converse about the day-to-day stuff and understand much of what they said.
One part of learning the language he didn’t expect but quickly found to be highly valuable was all the common knowledge he needed to properly grasp certain words. That was because the words had no direct translation to his own language due to the lack of that specific object or action. For example, the word ‘skyscraper’ was strange and foreign until he saw the colossal towers these people built.
Two other words gave him quite the confusion and later on, surprise and wonder. They were ‘electricity’ and ‘science’. It turned out that these people didn’t have sourcery to bring light into a dark place or heat the cold water for a shower. Instead, they used science as the method and electricity as the fuel for those wonders.
For a while, he was enraptured with the discovery and all of its far-reaching consequences. However, then he came to two troubling realizations as part of that discovery.
First, if no one knew of, or used sourcery in this world, then he would be forced to either rely only on his own energy generation or find a way to get assistance from the natives. The former would mean his path to ascension was a foregone conclusion. The latter meant he would need to change the way he did things completely. Change who he was for who he needed to be, to achieve his ultimate goals.
The second realization was even worse than the first. A world full of life like this one, especially intelligent life, is meant to be filled with ambient soul energy. Energy that through some effort he could access. Energy, that in his world was fully under the control of established sourcerer families. However, here he could not sense any such energy, which was baffling to him and went against everything he knew about sourcery.
Still, he knew there was nothing he could do about either for the time being. So, he didn’t linger on those concerns and chose to focus on achieving his first goal, full recovery, and preliminary information gathering, before tackling these new challenges.
What little time he had left, after all the other activities, he spent helping the family that had so generously invited him into their home. Emily and Katie quickly included him in their activities, like cleaning and cooking. Meanwhile, Steve took some cajoling. In the end, he too gave in and from time to time called Melar to assist in his workshop, where he shaped wood into masterful furniture.
A few times over the weeks, Katie attempted to ask him about himself and where he came from, but he always answered the same, at least in meaning.
“A person is complicated. A world is complicated. When I learn more words, I will tell you all. Write questions if you want. Let me see them. I will prepare answers for when the time comes.”
He knew that there was a reason why they allowed him the warmth of their home. There was something they thought they could get through him. What it was he didn’t know and chose not to think about. They deserved proper compensation for all their assistance. However, he wanted to get his bearings before he offered his help.
Finally at the end of the month, one week after Katie stopped going to school, and four since his arrival, he felt ready enough to take the next step. That began by approaching Katie on Sunday morning at breakfast.
“Katie, how about you and I go on your usual trek? I am strong enough now and won’t delay you.”
“Umm, sure. What brought the sudden desire?” She asked before stuffing more pancakes in her mouth.
“I think I know enough of the language and of your world to have, The Talk.”
“The talk?” she asked still chewing, confusion marring her face, until realization struck. “Ohhh, you mean THE talk. Okayy. Why the trek though?”
“Before I tell you about me, I need to learn what happened when you found me. I need to SEE where you found me. Are you up for it?”
“Hell yeah. I gotta say I am excited to finally get some answers. Visiting that place, not so much. But for you, no problem.” She eagerly agreed.
“Steve, Emily, I would prefer if you were present for said talk as well. How about during and after dinner we sit down and learn a bit more about each other? All of us have been respectful of each other’s boundaries but I think it's time you got some answers, as should I.”
“What would you like to know? I am an open book.” Katie jumped in as Emily started answering.
With a soft chuckle, Melar responded, “I’ll ask you tonight. So, does the plan sound good to everyone?”
“Sure it does! They have nowhere else to be!” Katie again jumped in, cutting off Steve this time.
“Could you let us speak dear?” Emily scolded half-heartedly.
“Sorry.” Katie shrunk into her chair, her cheeks coloring.
“Yes, that would be fine Melar. As my polite granddaughter said, we have no other plans for tonight.”
“Great! I will be ready in 10 minutes. Just let me finish …” Katie began only to cut herself off with a large bite of pancakes.
“There is no rush. I bet you would be even more impatient after the walk when I refuse to tell you anything while we wait for your grandparents.”
“Ohhh,” She grumbled with her mouth still struggling to chew on the way too large a bite.
A round of laughter from everyone else only made her laugh in turn, spitting some of the precious food, which in turn brought more joy into the kitchen.
Soon the two were packed and ready, leaving the back door and the safety of the house for the dark forest. Katie took the lead not knowing that the all-too-familiar trek had a deeper meaning to it. That first step was like no other she had ever taken before, for it started a domino effect that would bring cataclysmic changes into her life. Or maybe the domino had already been kicked and she was simply falling as fate had ordained.