Kal's Fall
By
Aaron Frale
Copyright 2014 Aaron Frale
"Why do I look different?" Kal'Da'Hak often asked her mother.
Her mom would smile and say, "You are blessed by the Earth Mother."
Kal never felt very blessed. Her bones had the strength of twigs compared to her earth brothers and sisters. She was a good length shorter, and her torso was thin. When the river swallowed the Te'Cek family home, the village came together to build them a new one. The young always did the heavy lifting of the stone and wood, but Kal was believed to be too fragile, so she was left to weave rope for the roof with the elders. The worst thing was that her skin was the lightest shade of green to have ever been born. Most of her earth brothers and sisters had vibrant green skin with blue, orange, or silver hair. Her skin was light green, and her hair was black. She looked like she was sick even though she felt fine. The oddest part was her eyes, the deepest blue like a crystal clear lake. None of her people had blue eyes.
In the woods, Kal would lift stones and logs. While she could not lift as much as her earth brothers and sisters, she could still do it without breaking her bones. The myth of her fragile bones came from various accidents in her youth. The children would use stone balls during sport. While the stone ball would bounce off the others leaving minor bruising, the same ball would shatter Kal's ribs. Her fragile nature made her feel like an outsider, always stuck just watching the activities or being given lighter duties typically reserved for the elders.
The villagers always treated her with respect. Even though she felt alone, she never felt unwelcome or unwanted. Everyone in the village looked out for one another, but Kal felt that she could not do her part and look out for them. Once, a cart smashed the leg of one of her brethren, Wek'Ri'Ket, and she could not lift it. By the time she found help, Wek had lost too much blood and joined the ancestors with the Sky Father. No one blamed Kal or doubted her sincerity. They believed accidents were the will of the gods and not the blame of Kal's birth. Despite the comfort from her fellow villagers, Kal felt guilty. Her birth-blessing was more of a curse. She would always be the weakest of the village.
Kal also knew she was different beyond the limitations of her earthly form. Most of her earth brothers and sisters had fathers, but she did not. Her mom always told her that her father had died in the Teristaque invasion. Kal's father left the tribe to fight in the war while Kal grew in her mother's womb. The Teristaques won the war but left Kal's village alone because they were interested only in Mother Earth's metal, and Kal's village had none. Despite having never met or seen a Teristaque, Kal imagined her father dying in a great battle and fighting to the last breath. She didn't tell her family about her visions of war. Violence was abhorred by the tribe and was used only as a last resort.
Aside from Kal's fantasies, all that was left of her father was an insignia; a patch from his uniform, it featured a fierce bird swooping in, poised to attack, and strange lettering in a language unfamiliar to the tribe. The Teristaques were feared and hated by all. Legend said that there were other tribes from the stars that had followed the Teristaque fleet to Kal's world to help fight the invading force.
It wasn't until her sixteenth season, and her first real encounter with a star species that she would come closer to finding out the fate of her father.
_______
Kal pushed hard against a giant felled tree. Most of her earth brothers and sisters could have easily pushed the tree, but Kal pushed with all of her might and the log barely budged. She wanted to push the log down a hill, onto a pile of logs and rocks at the bottom that she had collected from the woods. Kal planned to build a cabin by herself. She had collected a fair amount of building supplies and even snuck a few tools from the commons.
Kal liked her trips into the woods, and no one seemed to notice she was missing. In the woods, she was free to do as she liked and she was never asked to perform the tasks of the elderly. Kal started building the cabin as a way to display her strength to the tribe, but still she sometimes thought about never returning. This day, however, her mind was on the log, knowing the cabin would never be finished if she couldn't get the materials down the hill. She had dragged the heavy tree trunk a long distance only to get it stuck in a rut near the top.
She pushed, pulled, yanked, and even tried to dig the log out of the rut, but it was too heavy. The rollers she used to pull logs long distances would not work in the rut. For heavy objects, the tribe would put rollers on the ground, then would push or pull the objects to their destination. For several people, the task was steady and always flowing. A few of the young would pull and an elderly, or Kal, would dart back and forth taking a roller from the back and putting it in the front. For a single person, it was slow going. Kal would push the log, move the rollers, and push the log some more. It was slow, but Kal was determined. And now she was thwarted by a rut.
"You know, that's easier with two people," a voice said from behind.
Kal nearly jumped out of her skin. She had been alone in the forest every afternoon for almost three weeks and had never seen a soul. Behind her, to her shock, was a star species! The being was strange, with thin twiggy arms and a small chest to match. It had tan skin and brown hair, and even Kal stood a good six inches taller. The being was definitely one of the star species, but even so, Kal couldn't help herself. She reached out to touch the thing to make sure that it was real.
"Ok, ok," the star being laughed. "I get it. You've never seen a human before."
"HU-MAN?" The clunky word did not roll off her tongue. "You mean star species?"
"Right," The HU-MAN looked down at a device on his arm. "The translator doesn't have the word human. Call me Oliver."
"All-LIV-ER?" Kal had trouble making the words.
"Ah hell, just Sarge. The folks back in my service days used to call me Sarge."
"Sarge," Kal pointed to him and then pointed to herself. "Kal."
"Thank God for small favors, a local who has half a brain. You couldn't spare some of that jerky, could ya? I'm mighty hungry, and I don't know what's good to eat or what will kill me on this planet."
Kal looked at the jerky in her belt pouch. She almost never ate the jerky anyway, even though her mom always insisted that she should bring it during her hikes, so she gave the entire amount to Sarge. The HU-MAN was very grateful. He devoured the jerky, and a unique friendship was born.
_______
The next day, Kal brought food from the commons, and in exchange Sarge offered to help build the cabin. Over the next couple of weeks, he traded labor for food. Sarge had all sorts of questions and seemed particularly interested in learning survival skills for her planet, especially what trees and herbs were good for mending wounds. She taught him how to live off the land and in exchange, he told her about the universe. Sarge seemed to be obsessed with fair trade, a foreign concept to Kal since no one from her village would ever let anyone go hungry, and they shared their knowledge without expectation of gaining something through trade.
During the first few weeks of their friendship, Kal realized that Sarge did not have a home. She caught him sleeping in a nest under a tree like a wild animal. She resolved to give him the cabin when they finished.
They talked as they built. She taught him her words, and he taught her his. The words she found the most interesting were about space. The universe was bigger than she could imagine, with more stars in the sky than those she could see. Around every star were planets. Most were without life, but there were also many worlds like Kal's. The universe was teaming with tribes, so many it would be impossible to meet them all.
When she listened to Sarge speak, Kal felt like she understood her father for the very first time. Every other person in her village felt like they fit in and had a home. Now she realized that her father was probably just like her and did not fit in either. He was the only person from her village to fight in the Teristaque Wars, which she never understood, but if fighting in a war meant getting a chance to see these other worlds and tribes then she could understand the allure.
_______
On the day the cabin was finished, Sarge began to pack his bags.
"Where are you going?" Kal asked.
"You don't have any more work, so I think it's time to move on," Sarge said. "Got to put food on the table somehow."
"You don't have a table."
"Don't rub it in," Sarge said as he started towards the woods.
Kal chased after him saying, "I bring you food because you are a being, an Earth child like the rest of us, not for your work!"
Sarge laughed, his laugh loud and free in the open air. "Oh, is that how it is?"
"Yes, this house is also yours because you are part of the tribe."
"I got nothing to trade for a house."
"I already have two homes, my home in the village and this one. You have no home, so naturally the house should be yours."
"I don't know how it works here, but where I come from, you