Chapter 32
She awoke to a strange room with white walls. A cool breeze, from the only window, was blowing through her hair. She couldn’t remember the spaceship having any windows. She tried to see something outside the window, but it was black, and there were strange chirping noises coming from outside. She realized that she was no longer on the ship, although she couldn’t remember landing anywhere, either. She sat up and noticed something beside her bed. There was an alien sitting there with his arms folded on her bed and his head resting on his arms. No, not an alien like the last ones, she thought, a jisbae. A boy about my age. She thought it strange to see a jisbae she didn’t recognize, when she knew that the only jisbae in existence were her family and friends aboard the ship. Thinking him a dream, she reached down and stroked his gold hair and pure white wings. I know I must be dreaming, she smiled as he stirred, but didn’t wake up, No jisbae has pure white wings. It’s just not possible. Even our leader only has cream and tan wings, not white. Knowing it was just a dream, the stranger’s presence didn’t bother her, like it would have if it was real, as she lay back down and fell asleep. The next time she woke up, she was in the same room in this dream as in the last dream, except that there was sunlight pouring through the window. She looked down, expecting to see the young jisbae, but he was gone. Instead, her parents were sitting next to her.
“Oh, honey,” her mother breathed, “Thank goodness you’re awake!” Her father said nothing, just beamed at her.
“Mother?” Tanya ninmisned, surprised that her mother wasn’t ninmisning too. She wiped the sleep out of her eyes as she focused on the unfamiliar room. “Is that you?”
“Yes, honey. I’m here. You’re father’s here, too.” She motioned to Tanya’s father. “The people here are called telblec. They’ve been very kind to us. Since they speak aloud, I’ve been speaking, too, rather than using ninmisn.”
“What happened? The last thing I remember is the ship going down in flames! How did we get here?”
“After we crashed, the telblecs rescued us.”
“Mom,” Tanya interrupted, realizing that this time she was, in fact, awake and not dreaming, “I had a dream. I was in this room with another jisbae! He was sitting right here,” Tanya motioned toward the other side of her bed, “and he was asleep with his head on his arms right here,” she patted the spot on her bed. “I know we’re the last of our kind, though,” she sighed. “He had gold hair and white wings. I wish I could show you. I’ve never seen white wings before,” she looked down, “but it was only a dream.”
A knock on the door made all three of them jump. Tanya watched the doorway as a young jisbae with gold hair and white wings stepped into the room. That’s him, Tanya thought as she stared at him, That’s the boy from my dream!
“May I introduce,” Tanya’s mother stood, sensing Tanya’s amazement, “Prince Orion.” Tanya just gaped at him, and Orion stared back, neither saying a word. “Prince Orion,” she continued, “this is my daughter, Tanya.” Still, Orion and Tanya remained silent. “You know, Tanya, Prince Orion saved your life.”
“Huh?” Tanya tore her eyes away from Orion’s to look at her mother.
“That’s right, honey. Prince Orion risked his own life to pull you out of the fire. The largretoi had been chasing us for some time. They shot at us, destroying our ship and causing us to crash.”
“What are largretoi?” Orion asked.
“Largretoi are an evil race. They enjoy causing mayhem and chaos. A largreto is large and fat. They stand about ten feet tall,” she stood on tip toes and reached her hand up as high as she could to give Orion an idea of how tall largretoi are. “They’re a sickly green with dark green spots on their back, head, arms and legs. Their arms and legs are tiny compared to their extreme body mass. They have tiny, beadlike eyes and a large mouth that holds hundreds of razor sharp teeth. They only have three fingers and toes, but they have very sharp claws. And they are the enemy of the jisbae,” she finished with a note of resentment.
“Why?” Orion was curious. He had never heard of other alien races.
“I don’t know,” Tanya’s mother admitted, sitting back down. “It’s just always been that way.”
“Oh,” Orion was disappointed at not receiving a real answer. He pulled a chair up next to Tanya’s bed. “Do you think that largretoi can ever be friendly?”
“I doubt it, Prince,” she replied, “If you ever met one, you’d understand.” Orion looked down, wondering what kind of creatures they were dealing with. All his life, he had been taught that lunimorves were evil, but when he took his first trip to Lunspae, he found out otherwise. Maybe the largretoi were misunderstood as well?
A rustling of bed sheets made Orion look up. He gazed into Tanya’s eyes and forgot all about the aliens. Pink, he thought, Her eyes are bright pink. He smiled at her.
“What is it?” Tanya ninmisned with mixed feelings about this boy who had been in her dream come-to-life. She didn’t like being stared at, and couldn’t help but feel intimidated by this boy, this prince. She knew that the title ‘prince’ was a higher rank than that of their own leader, who was only a chief. She also knew that catching the attention of someone of power was dangerous, and could mean trouble. She had to try to melt into the background.
“Hm?” Orion didn’t really hear her.
“What are you staring at me for?” Tanya shifted uncomfortably.
“Oh, um,” Orion thought fast. “I’ve, uh, never seen, um, pink eyes before.” It was the truth, but it wasn’t the reason he was staring. He blushed, kicking himself in his mind for stumbling over his words.
“Well, now you have,” she ninmisned more fiercely than she had intended, “so you can stop staring at me.” She turned to her parents on the other side of the bed in an effort to hide her pink eyes from him. She hoped that, without seeing her eyes, he’d leave her alone. Orion felt as if he had just been slapped. He got up and left the room without another word, which seemed to satisfy Tanya’s theory about hiding her eyes.
“That wasn’t very nice, Tanya,” he heard her mother say as he walked out the door. He hurriedly made his way to his rooms, where he hoped he could find comfort and answers to all the questions floating around in his head.
Where did she come from? Orion asked himself as he made his way through the hall. Why can’t I talk around her? I could at least talk straight when Kelia was around. Why not this girl? He reached his room and stepped inside. Why do I feel so weird around her? He slammed the doors shut. Why can’t I stop thinking about her? He turned around to face the large fireplace built into the opposite wall. Since coming back from Lunspae and conquering pyrophobia, Orion had the glass cabinet moved to another wall. He raised his hand and shot a couple of small fireballs at the dry logs, which caught instantly. He walked over and slumped on the couch in front of the fire, basking in it’s warmth. Images of Tanya kept floating to the front of his mind, no matter what else he tried to think of.
He wandered over to the room where he kept all of his secrets. He used to lock the door with a key to make sure nobody went in besides him. Since learning fysimae, he ignored the lock and key and used fysimae to keep everyone out. It was a simple shield, one that would prevent anyone but him to go through, which would feel like a brick wall to anyone but him. To Orion, the shield tingled a little. The shield glowed bright blue, the color of Orion’s aura and eyes. He had learned that, when using fysimae, the magic will glow the color of the user’s aura, which was the same color as their eyes. That means that Tanya’s aura is bright pink, too, Orion thought, smiling. He picked a blank notebook off a shelf and sat down on the hard floor. He began to write all about Tanya, and what he thought about her. He wrote about her soft, brown hair, her gently curving ears, her shiny, tan feathers, and her bright pink eyes. He wrote about how he had never known anyone quite that beautiful. He looked up at the picture of himself and Kelia. Nope, he thought, writ
ing his thoughts down, Even Kelia isn’t as pretty as Tanya. Finishing with thoughts of why she didn’t seem to like him much, and how he would win her affection, he closed the notebook and painted, with fysimae, Tanya’s name on the front. He replaced the notebook, got up, and left his private room and all his secrets. Tanya’s bright pink eyes haunted him the rest of the day, during dinner and training, and long into the night.
The next morning, he woke early and rushed to the hospital room to talk to her again, but she wasn’t there. He learned that she had been healed, and was resting in one of the many guest rooms with her parents. He knocked eagerly when he reached the carved oak door. Because these doors only led to a typically unused guestroom, they weren’t important enough to be made of ebonivy, ivory, or even gold. They still had gemstones inlaid in a swirling pattern. All the guest rooms were carved oak, mahogany, maple, dogwood, or pine, depending on the type of room. The servant’s rooms had wooden doors, too, but they were rather plain, with minimal to no carvings at all.
“Come in,” Tanya’s mother called through the door. She had a rather pleasant voice, and Orion guessed that Tanya’s would be the same. He entered. The room was similar to his own, but much smaller. There was only one chandelier hanging from the curved ceiling. There was no den, and only two doors leading to a bathroom and a bedroom flanked the wall. The fireplace didn’t take up an entire wall. Instead, it was tucked into a corner, with two large windows in the opposite wall. The couch, where Tanya and her mother were sitting was against the wall instead of in the middle of the room. Her father was relaxing in the recliner against the other wall. Realizing who had just entered, Tanya let out a sigh of irritation.
“I heard you were feeling better, Tanya,” Orion said cheerfully as he closed the door behind him.
“Yes I am,” Tanya had grown vocal cords so she could speak verbally. Her voice was more musical than Orion had expected, and it took his breath away. “So you can go now.” Orion completely missed the aggravation in her voice. He crossed the room and squatted beside the couch, right next to Tanya.
“What do you want, Orion?” she asked. Thrilled that she said his name, he didn’t even think to correct her by telling her that she was supposed to address him as ‘Prince’ or ‘Majesty.’
“I was thinking that after my studies today, I could take you and your parents on a tour of the palace.”
“No, thanks,” she said and turned away from him, remembering to hide her eyes so that he wouldn’t notice her.
“I think that would be nice,” her mother commented. “I’d love a tour. How about you, dear?” she asked Tanya’s father. He smiled and nodded his agreement.
“Well,” Tanya could see that she wasn’t going to get out of it, “can Lee come, too?”
“Sure,” Orion said, excitement bubbling inside him, “Who’s Lee?”
“He’s my fiancé,” Tanya said with a smirk. Orion felt as though he had been kicked in the gut.
“F-Fiancé?” he stuttered, “You mean you’re engaged to be married?” Orion was horrified. He didn’t understand why. After all, she didn’t seem to like him at all.
“Honey,” Tanya’s mother interrupted, “Your marriage to Lee was arranged when you were little. It was because there were no other young men on the ship,” she sighed. “You didn’t have a choice. Now that we’re here on Olhoe, we’ve found out that there are other jisbae. You don’t have to marry Lee, honey, you have a choice now.” She paused, watching Tanya think it over. “And the Prince is quite a looker,” she added slyly. Orion blushed.
“Mother!” Tanya exclaimed. “I don’t want a choice, I want to marry Lee!” Orion smiled to himself. If Tanya’s engagement was prearranged by her parents, then it wasn’t too late. He could show her that he was just as good as Lee, whoever he was.
No, I’m better! Orion thought. I’ll show her. I’ll change her mind. He looked up at the small, round clock hanging on the wall. Later, when I give her a tour. I’ll make her mine! “Listen,” he said, still staring at the clock, “I’ve got to go now, or I’ll be late. I’ll be back later for the tour.” He got up and left the room.
“Good riddance,” Tanya said under her breath. Orion heard her on his way out. Her words stung, but he was determined to make her like him.