Now more than ever, Alessia rushed to the forest each morning before leaving, and soon the winter would be coming. She wouldn’t be able to stay for very long out in the bitter cold, even though the lyra leaves never changed color, even in winter. The wind sometimes knocked them from their branches, and a few fell every fall, but for the most part the trees themselves stayed green throughout the year.
Alessia adored the beautiful lyra trees, the silvery-gold canopy as she gazed up under them, the pale green glow of the treetops on the horizon as she awoke each morning. They were strong. They needed nothing visible to survive. And they were beautiful. There were other trees, too, that were lovely. Sherin trees were hard to find among them, and lyra bore no fruit to quiet human hunger. Alessia’s father had said that they were studied across the Federation for this reason, the strange lyra trees that had ceased to bear fruit but which were thousands of years old. Many years ago, a law had been passed prohibiting anyone killing or cutting down a lyra tree since they were rare and could not be replaced. In fact, the Firien province was the only known province where there still were any lyra trees.
“I have to go now,” Alessia said, rising. “If I don’t hurry, they’ll shut the center, and we’ll have to wait three days for it to open again.”
“Good-bye–Alessia,” the woman called behind her.
Alessia never even stopped to wonder how the stranger had known her name.
* * * * *
Alessia thought she wouldn’t see the stranger again, but she appeared in the same place the next morning.
"Allariya Kaleena!" Alessia called out to her, remembering her favorite story, the one her father had read to her, which meant something like “best friends”. The woman laughed nervously as Alessia jumped over the stream and collapsed by her on the lyra log. Alessia looked at her, then sensed her hesitation.
"You didn't want me to come back here to see me after all, and you’re regretting you came?" Alessia guessed, looking up into the woman's unhappy eyes.
"No, I–I did want to see you, but I shouldn't have come–” she added mysteriously. “You see, I did want very much to see you. My name is Selerael.”
“Sill-air-ay-yel? Nice to meet you again, Selerael.”
“Well, thank you. Here, I brought you some more sherin fruit to replace the one I ruined." The woman Selerael added, holding out a beautifully ripe orange-red piece of fruit the size of a fist, then put it back on top of a basket full of sherin fruit. She handed the basket to Alessia.
"You aren't from the Elder Council?–no, you wouldn’t be," Alessia shook her head.
"Why do you say that?" Selerael was suddenly anxious.
Alessia picked up the largest piece of fruit from the basket and took a bite, wiping the juice from her mouth.
"They came yesterday after I left here, looking for me,” she explained. “Mother thought I was still in the forest, but I was hiding behind the transport vehicle they brought. She wouldn't let them inside. She screamed at them to go away. Even when they left, she wouldn’t stop. It was awful. I thought she was going berserk. I've never seen her act that way, not since—"
"The day your father died." Selerael nodded. Alessia turned and scrutinized her face.
"How did you know? Did you know my father?"
Selerael smiled secretively at her. "I can see him in you."
* * * * *
The tranquil blue moon Ishkur had overtaken the fiery moon Nanshe in the celestial race. Two long Seynorynaelian years had passed since Alessia first met Selerael. Alessia wouldn’t have forgotten her, even had Selerael never returned; Selerael did return, though, a few times each year.
Yesterday, two days after she appeared again, Selerael had hugged Alessia tightly before they parted. When Selerael released her, the older woman's cheeks were wet with tears, but she wouldn’t explain why. Alessia didn’t like to see adults cry and couldn’t help but try to cheer her up, but Selerael had insisted that Alessia should hurry home to her mother; the sun was setting, after all.
Alessia woke early the next morning, anxious to meet Selerael and give her the necklace she had made from the blue and purple stones that bordered the shores of Lake Firien. She hurried to the clearing, but Selerael wasn’t there. Alessia finally found her on the path to the clearing where it branched on her left, heading to the lake shore.
“There you are!” Alessia declared, spotting Selerael, who was sitting on the ground, just listening to the forest.
Alessia spent the afternoon swimming in the tepid waters of Lake Firien on the north shore, paddling about as Selerael watched. For a while, Alessia was content by herself. She found a weed floating on the surface of the water and tied it round her finger, pretending it was a bandage and that she was a soldier. But after a while, she wished Selerael would come swimming, too. After Alessia made several attempts at persuading her, Selerael finally consented to join Alessia, and they splashed each other furiously and played various water games.
Alessia and Selerael dried themselves in the blinding sunlight, lying on the bleached rocks stretched out like lounging sea creatures, then raced each other to the clearing in the forest, where the wild sherin fruit were just beginning to ripen. After an afternoon of games and climbing sherin trees, with Alessia climbing and tossing the fruit for Selerael to catch, they sat on the giant log in the clearing and drew pictures in the dirt.
When it was time to leave, Selerael hugged Alessia again tightly.
“Alessia, would you do something for me?” Selerael asked as they drew apart.
“What?” Alessia turned to her, uncertain what to expect.
"Tell your mother that you love her," Selerael said in a suddenly serious tone. "And show her that you mean it.”
“All right.” Alessia agreed, confused.
“Here–take this." Selerael added, gathering something from under the collar of her dark uniform, then pulled a chain from her neck over her head. She handed the necklace to Alessia.
“What’s it for?” Alessia wondered, taking it, her eyes still on Selerael’s strained smile.
“Wear it and it will bring you luck,” Selerael replied.
“What a coincidence. I have one for you, too.” Alessia said, withdrawing the necklace of stones she had threaded on a silver string. Selerael took the rough necklace as though it were the most precious object on the planet Seynorynael and hugged Alessia again. Alessia felt strangely gratified by Selerael’s affection, but at the same time, she was unaccustomed to it and stood woodenly in the embrace. A moment later, Selerael left Alessia sitting on the log in the clearing, gazing at an unusual, tear-shaped, lapis-colored pendant on a chain of interlocking silver rings. Alessia held it up and let the stone trace an arc through the air. It was the most beautiful pendant Alessia had ever seen.
Meanwhile, Selerael disappeared among the trees the way she had come.
* * * * *
When Alessia returned home that afternoon, the Council representative was waiting.
Alessia heard voices coming from their dwelling and stopped behind the door to listen. Peeking in through a clear screen to the front room, Alessia saw Nerena sitting quietly in the living area surrounded by officers of the Martial Scientific Force, forced to listen as a small council representative explained why they had descended upon Nerena’s home.
"...so what did you expect?” The representative seethed, inadvertently launching a few drops of spittle into Nerena’s serene face. “Did you not receive the messages?” He demanded. “Or did you think we only sent them as a suggestion? Did you think the Council would forget and leave you alone if you ignored them?”
“I had rather hoped you would.” Nerena returned in a defiant tone.
"Rest assured we only left you alone because until recently we had other matters to attend to.” The representative continued, now waving an admonishing finger i
n her face. “I'm sure you have heard about the return of the explorer mission we sent into space three thousand years ago. As you can imagine, the Council has been busy these past two years simply reviewing all of the new information they have brought us upon their return.
"You should consider it an honor that Councillor Marankeil himself is interested in the welfare of your daughter. Alessia Valeria Zadúmchov will become a high-ranking officer in the Martial Scientific Force once she completes her training. Would you deny her the chance to fulfill her family tradition? Your father, General Zadúmchov, won great esteem from the Federation Council before his tragic death last year."
"He told you about us, didn't he?" Nerena asked in a voice barely above a whisper, her eye straying to an image on the far wall of a boat, docks, and a summer dwelling by the sea.
"That isn’t the point.” The man shook his head. “You know the family tradition, that you yourself were always expected to join us. But you chose to reject your duty. Your daughter must have the chance to regain her honor for her grandfather's sake."
"I’m no fool, representative Bilka.” Nerena spoke up, a bit of old fire returning to her eyes. “You wouldn’t have come all of this way just to repay the loyalty of my father. General Zadúmchov forgot he had a daughter once she married beneath her, to an alien from an unknown world. And if my father the great Grand Marshall once loved me, he never held his granddaughter. He scorned Alessia. Do you think that I’m ignorant as to why you’ve come? For what useful purpose will Alessia be used by the Council?"
"You don’t wish your daughter to be abused, I can see it in your eyes.” Bilka surmised. “Know then that her status depends upon you and any information you are willing to give us. We know nothing of her father–perhaps as an alien, he managed to secure illicit passage to Seynorynael without registering in our files. But if he was born on this world, no record exits of him."
"So, you came from Ariyalsynai to Lake Firien for a half-race child?! Despite my birth and former rank in society, it makes little sense—"
"Marankeil is willing to overlook that Alessia is a half-race child." Bilka replied with exaggerated magnanimity. "It is common enough to be half-race, though as her father was an unknown alien, his status as a Firien off-worlder was far beneath that of our Federation brother races. Did you have your DNA artificially fused to make Alessia?”
“No, she was a natural birth.”
“Strange, indeed. That should not be possible, unless Alessia’s father’s race was close enough in DNA to combine with our own.”
“I don’t know.”
“And all of this is the reason I am here. Marankeil needs to know what precise race and planet the child's father came from. There are certain things we can’t explain. The medical center central computer reported that when your daughter was born, her replication unit count was higher than any known humanoid, and her blood showed high concentrations of certain immunity cells. While it could be that a mistake was made in the test results, other peculiarities have since surfaced, beginning with the incidents at the education center."
Nerena looked up, a bemused expression on her face, but said nothing.
"Has she not told you?" The representative shrugged and continued. "In three hundred years of effort, no one has been able to decipher the symbols etched on the ancient ruins near Lake Firien. I don't know if you've noticed the reconstruction crews that have been moving through this area recently, but the Council has authorized a development plan to rebuild a new spaceship out of the ruins of a starship buried out here. And of course, the education centers have been studying the territory across the Federation planets ever since the explorers returned.
"Then a few months ago, your daughter claimed to have figured out what the word was in the image she had been given. Of course the instructor reported the matter, expecting nothing, but unable to dismiss Alessia's claim. We have since learned why, but I'll get to that in a moment. It might interest you to know that a reply arrived in our regional government building from Marankeil himself.”
“The Council Elder Marankeil himself,” Nerena breathed.
"Selesta was indeed the name carved into that fragment." Bilka declared, meeting Nerena’s widening eye. “The name your child had given, or translated, if we can believe her. Marankeil has confirmed this to be a correct translation, through comparisons with what little we already know of the various alphabets of the ancients and other fragments of writing which have been left behind by them. And because of this, because your daughter was able to break the code of a previously unknown symbolic system of writing, at long last we know that the name of the ruin was once ‘Selesta’. Because of this, you see, we cannot allow her to remain here. She is privy to some semi-divine, secret knowledge—”
"Selesta," Nerena repeated, looking away, her expression unsettled as if the word were somehow familiar to her.
"An archaic spelling and pronunciation of our own word discovery–silista.” Bilka explained, gesturing with a wave of his hand as though he imagined himself to be surpassingly clever. “However, this is not the first time that your daughter has shown psychic unusual abilities, I hear. What was the word the instructor used?" The representative turned to one of the MSF guards.
"Proto-telepathic?" A hard-faced woman with ice blue eyes suggested. The representative smiled and nodded agreement.
"Yes, proto-telepathic, which isn’t to say telepathic entirely. This seems to be an early and rudimentary sort of telepathy as we know it. It’s what they call the people who always seem to know what someone is about to say, what they feel, even–yes perhaps even what they’re thinking on the surface of their thoughts. From what I've heard, your Alessia may be the most advanced proto-telepath we’ve ever encountered, and there have been many for thousands of years, with an especially high number of them here in the Firien province. Apparently, there were more of them in days gone by, and they were studied intensely for a time in the distant past, but over time, since there have been fewer and fewer of them, society has largely forgotten about them.
“In any event, in order to tap and develop Alessia’s nascent psychic abilities, she will be taken to the Federation Science Building in Ariyalsynai.”
“Ariyalsynai?” To Nerena, this was a world away. A world she had once known very well. Ariyalsynai was the capital of the planet.
“One of the returned explorer scientists of our last explorer mission is very interested in meeting her.” Bilka continued. “And I'm sure he’ll do everything to make Alessia feel comfortable in her new home–after all, our great scientist Fynals Hinev himself is a half-race man. They say his mother was Kayrian." Bilka paused. “Leena, take the guard and go find the child.”
Nerena's eyes flashed with dark intent. "You will not take my daughter from me!" Nerena screamed, springing to her feet and rushing to the door. Nerena would find Alessia, and they would leave, her face clearly said, even if it meant disappearing into the wild lands. From beyond the screen, her daughter Alessia sensed her thoughts, but the guards had anticipated Nerena's action, and followed her, grasping her by the arms and pulling her back to the interrogation seat. She struggled several moments with the strength of an impassioned mother defending her child, but the guards at last subdued her.
“You beasts!” Nerena spat at them.
Then Nerena wilted in their arms, her nose bloody and body bruised and exhausted. Her hair was wild and unkempt, and violet blood dripped from her nails. The guards dropped her roughly into the chair. Then one of the guards, a huge, barrel-chested man with a violet gash across his cheek, raised his hand to strike Nerena’s defenseless face. She made no attempt to dodge the blow.
Alessia couldn’t bear the sight. Instinctively, she tore into the house, making for the room to save her mother.
“Mother!” she cried.
She heard her own steps as though from a distance a
s she flung wide the door. The council envoy turned their heads to survey the intruder with sharp, cruel eyes. Nerena followed their gaze and met her daughter's eyes but quickly looked away, now wearing a face of shame and defeat.
His face I can see in her—and how it haunts me, Alessia thought she heard her mother say. In the chair, Nerena stifled a sob.
The guards stopped, regarding the child Alessia in wonder. Alessia's pale grey skin matched Nerena's skin tone exactly; between the color of their hair no one could tell much difference, though Alessia’s was slightly more silver. And the color of Nerena's sea blue eyes had been almost duplicated in her daughter, if not their expression.
But Alessia had her father's face.
It was a strange but interesting face. The face of the last colonizer of Enor.
Alessia didn’t like the way they were looking at her.
“Ah, at last the prey reveals itself.” Bilka purred, his eye running over her. Yet the representative was able to compose himself. “Take the girl to the transport.” He ordered, “and take the Grand Marshall’s daughter in to stand trial for interfering with a direct Council order.” Two of the guards nodded, moving to take Nerena’s arms.
"No!” Alessia cried. “Let her go," she pleaded, "and I won't fight you."
"My dear, you have no other choice.” Bilka’s tone was incredulous, as though he did not see that the child was in any position to bargain, but something in her expression, something in her eyes seemed to dispose him to be kind. “And even if I were inclined to humor you, I cannot release your mother until we are away."
“Let her go!” Alessia screamed suddenly, rushing at Bilka with fury. Alessia felt arms grab hold of her before she had taken more than one step. How she wanted to hurt him! she thought. How she wanted to fight, to make him leave them alone! If only she could, she would have forced him to leave. She would have defended her mother. And yes, she would have punished this man for hurting her mother! She would have gladly watched him suffer for what he had done to them!