Smallest of Gifts - Chapter 2
The beginning of the next work cycle was announced by the resonant chiming from the council hall. The light crystalline sound seemed to cling to the air, still cool and humid from the storm which now lay almost a plates length behind them. Already people were out in scores to begin the repairs.
The storm, as with them all, left destruction in its wake. Most of the towns wind shields had weathered the storm well, with only a few panels torn off or bent away at odd angles, though a few suffered more serious damages. One in particular had been completely destroyed. There was an array of lightnets set up on the leeward side of town that snapped into place during a storm, which helped to catch most of the materials that would otherwise be blown away, but the process of gathering it all back was still a long one, and naturally some of it was bound to get past. In addition to the damaged shields, many of the towns non-domed buildings were marked by the a series of scorch marks from the storms lightning, which left a very distinctive pattern in that which it struck. A small central crater, with a series of trails burned into the surface around it. Despite the damage, however, this had been a relatively mild storm. Further impressed upon because no one, at least in their small town, had been killed.
It was not all a bleak and blasted landscape people saw upon waking up, in fact the organic grasses seemed to welcome the violent mix of wind and rain. Whereas the crystalline gardens thrived, glowing with an intensity only achieved upon feeding on the energies released during the storms. The true visual treat, however, were the tiny spires of brilliant blue Phyric crystal which rose from some of the lightning craters. Each one, surrounded by a light mist as they evaporated back into the atmosphere, sparkled brilliantly. The mist clung to the air around them, as though completely oblivious to the wind, but those who worked nearby were careful not to approach too closely. For despite their beauty, in such a concentrated form, Phyric mist was lethal to organic life.
The Protectorates were also out in force, not only to oversee and aid in the repairs, but to keep the general populace at ease. There was still a murderer on the loose, and as could be expected, it put everyone on edge. A worker looking over his shoulder every few seconds tended to get very little done.
Protectorate Dyne was one such prate, making his rounds as normal when the sound of a woman shouting attracted his attention. The sound, muffled as it was, came from one of the few above ground civilian homes in town. The one in particular that now had his attention was owned by Dr. Ril T’lir. She was a rather high ranking, eccentric woman who moved to their humble town many spans ago. Clearly wealthy, she was more than skilled enough to make a place for herself in even the most prestigious of cities. Still, she preferred it here for reasons not fully known to anyone, and the town was happy to have a women of her skills tending to their needs. Without any delay he drew his sidearm and punched an override code into the consoled near the front door. With a sharp hiss the door slid open and he burst into the room, expecting the worst.
* * *
While the rest of the town was already out working on repairs as the sound of the morning chimes resonated through the air, within the T'lir household, Ril was making repairs of a more personal nature. At present, she was wrapping a bandage around her leg, cleaning the wound thoroughly as she did it.
Unlike nearly every other sane human, or organic lifeform for that matter, Ril loved the storms. Nothing pleased her more than to stand outside and watch a storm rage around her. From the wind tearing through her hair, to the lightning blasting craters into the ground, right down to watching the resulting splashbolts race across whatever surface was struck. She had been warned hundreds of times about the dangers, as it was common knowledge bolts sought out non-crystalline life. Yet she had always ignored them, although she did take various precautions, she was crazy, not stupid. An array of long energized rods circled her home, with several more mounted atop the house itself, protecting both herself and her home. Those had thus far proved the perfect defense against the storms. For what the array cost, it was expected to be among the very best.
That was, up until this latest storm. Ril had seen several bolts hit not far from her, but always before did the splashbolts strike one of the rods instead, discharging angrily into the air as they hit. Her friends had warned her that eventually something had to go wrong, much to her dismay, it turned out they were right. One moment she was watching a bolt hit the ground, half a dozen smaller arcs of energy branching out from the impact point and racing across the ground in various directions. The next moment, she was watching one of those bolts completely ignore her protections, and make its way to her. They aren’t supposed to do that, was the last thing she remembered thinking before everything went black. When she finally came to, the storm had passed, and she found herself laying inside her home, in a very uncomfortable position on the floor, apparently having been knocked quite some distance backwards by the blast.
Thus she now found herself on the floor, punctuating every bit of pain as she cleaned and wrapped her leg, with a variety of curses so colorful she could have made a freighter pilot blush. As if to only worsen her mood, one of the prates burst in on her and pointed his weapon at her. It was a simple stungun of sorts, but it was the fact of the matter.
He sighed and stowed his weapon, “By the Maker Ril, I thought-”
She narrowed her eyes and gave him a stares that chilled his blood, immediately he was aware he had made a grave mistake. The voice she spoke in was dreadfully quiet, but it said more in simple tone than all the screaming in the world could. “You will never mention that name in my presence again.” She finished wrapping her leg, having been at it for over an hour now and just wanting to be done with it. In her haste to finish, she overlooked a tiny crystal within the wound. Its deep blue color seeming to pulse in time with her heartbeat, and minuscule veins of the same color snaked outwards from it, slowly intertwining itself further into her flesh.
“I-I'm sorry,” he stammered.
Ril took a deep breath before continuing. “You're lucky I like you Dyne,” she said, her tone softening, but still retaining its edge. “Someone with my wealth and citizenry position holds enough sway over the local council to have you stripped of your rank for a time.” Dyne's face had gone pale with fear as the otherwise caring woman spoke. “I'm sure by now the media has blamed the victims condition on some new Cult weapon. And while my word alone may not be enough, I’m willing to bet there’s enough in your home to at least cause doubt…” Ril sat and let her words sink in before she continued. She did not, however, continue as he expected her to. “And that's why you need to be more careful!” She exploded, smiling broadly to the trembling man.
“I don't care whether you believe in your man made God or not, but there are many out there that aren't as understanding. Maybe in a more accepting city, but there's no love for the Cult here in the frontiers.” The cult had been relatively silent the past several spans, supposedly still licking its wounds from the last raid upon Xemyx, the most successful in countless spans. Yet it was a well known fact the cult liked to target the frontier plates back when they were still a looming threat. The memories of their actions in the past have long since made living a normal life for the normal believers, those like Dyne, quite difficult unless they hid their belief.
Dyne could do little but stand there, his mouth agape. “Breathe Dyne,” Ril offered helpfully, and he did just that.
“You are a cruel woman Ril.”
She smiled and tried to stand, her effort failing though. “I try, but you need to watch yourself, especially now. Up until the previous cycle people would have likely looked the other way, but now... Had you said that around someone else you might have been in big trouble. Probably at least suspended from duty until they can determine you've got no affiliation with the fanatics. Now, while you're standing there, could you give me a hand? Heads a bit fuzzy, blood loss, I think.”
Pulling her to her feet he asked, “What happened?”
Ril winced as she stood, and slowly hobbled to the door. “It's just a small,” by small she meant from ankle to hip, “energy burn,” and by burn she meant jagged tear. “A splashbolt decided to take a bit of a bite out of me. I'm fine, really.”
Dyne's eyes went wide with horror. “Is everything okay? You cleaned it well, right? You should get to a doctor right away Ril.” He spouted off almost frantically. “I've seen people die of phyric poisoning Ril, it's-”
“Dyne!” she snapped. “I am the resident doctor, remember? It's really not that bad, actually it's quite peaceful. Most of the pain people experience is imagined, what they believe death should be,” she paused in her speech and plucked an ornate blue crystalline cane from its perch on the wall. It was in fact a shard of stabilized Phyric crystal, polished, and carved into a myriad of intricate geometric patterns. For as deadly as concentrated Phyranine was, in a stabilized form it was harmless, and quite beautiful…not to mention extremely rare and expensive. “I didn't think I'd need this for a few more decades.” Ril muttered to herself as she leaned against the cane, then addressed Dyne once more. “You've never had to watch phyric poisoning claim a child, have you?” he mutely shook his head. “It's the most heart wrenching thing one could witness. Adults usually succumb to it screaming, more out of fear than anything. A child doesn't really grasp what is happening to them. I've said goodnight to many a child that went to sleep and never woke up.”
She turned to the door and with another sharp hiss it slid open. “Now, can we talk about something a bit less depressing? I've got a few things I need to take care of today.”
Dyne seemed more than a bit shocked by her statement and stood a moment even as she left, before hurrying after her. The two walked together for a ways, though neither said much to one another. Before parting ways she inquired about the Prates investigation, and was told that while Dyne was sure she would be called in to help, her aid was not yet required.
Ril’s errands that early day were extensive, she awoke to her com blinking wildly to get her attention, messages from what she would swear was half the town awaited her. The typical things all in all, mostly people shaken up by the storm with no real damage done, certainly nothing that she deemed an emergency. Still, she could not neglect her duties just because people as a whole were hypochondriacs. But…those could be done later, for the time being, she had a more important patient by the name of Rin to take care of. Dyne’s own duties called him away a short time later. She would have sent him off sooner or later anyway, there was something seriously wrong with Rin that she needed to figure out, and that would be hard with spectators. Although, she admitted, if his door were still locked, Dyne's override code could have come in handy. Even a disabled lock could be opened with a prates override codes, nothing short of physically breaking a lock could keep one out.
* * *
As Rin slept fitfully in his bed, a tiny pair of hands methodically made their way through his home. With hardly a sound made, Alaen touched everything there was to be touched, toyed with everything there was to be toyed with, and picked up everything that was not firmly nailed down. One such curiosity was a pedestal a bit bigger than Alaen’s hand with an infinitely fascinating blue button, which practically demanded to be pushed. Alaen, naturally, granted the buttons demands. A little dome of light snapped into existence over the pedestal, and she watched with considerable interest as a crystalline figure of a woman formed within it. She picked up the whole thing, examined it, poked at the dome, and noted a tiny plaque on its base reading 'Meyl O'nir'. Content with her examination, she sat it back down carefully, and again pushed the little button, which thanked her for her curiosity by dissipating the figure in a puff of white mist. The little girl, dressed in a shirt long enough to reach to her knees, then quietly moved on to a small table full of knick knacks. Despite her thorough scavenging of his home, she was terribly tidy about it all. Were one not to see her rummage through a drawer, they would never know she had done it at all.
To call what Rin's mind saw in its sleep a nightmare would have been an understatement. Time and time again the scene played itself out in his head. The two sons huddled close to their mother, trying their best to calm her. An irrational rage filled Rin, and in a great flash of light... His mind had finally had enough and he shot awake with a start, his eyes wild, breath coming in labored gasps, and soaked in a cold sweat. Slowly he pulled himself from his bed, trying to gather his tattered mind and keep some semblance of rational thought.
Or that was his intent. Instead he stumbled over something and wound up on the floor, grimacing in pain as he held his wounded hand. He nearly cursed his carelessness when he saw what he had stumbled over. There, leaning against the bed, Alaen sat staring at him with those dark eyes of hers. “O-oh, Alaen, are you okay?”
The little girl nodded, and went back to playing with the puzzle she had in her hands. Now where in the void had she gotten that? For the life of him, Ril couldn’t remember such a contraption. “Alaen?” She looked up at him, even as her hands still toyed with the puzzle. “Where did you get that?”
She smiled, "you."
He stared at her, and laughed. “I don't mean like that,” she looked at him questioningly. “I mean, where in my house did you get it?” he spread his hands and motioned around the room to emphasize the point.
The little girl looked at him a moment, then slowly her eyes widened with understanding and she silently got to her feet. It was about then Rin really took notice of how truly quiet she was, not only in voice, but every action she took. Even walking across his floor, her dainty little footsteps scarcely made a sound. Obediently Rin followed her out to the closet in his living room, where she pointed out a small box amidst the debris. He made a slight mental note to clean it one of these cycles.
“That?” He asked his tiny house guest, with a fair degree of surprise in his voice. The box she pointed out was thoroughly buried and probably could not have been gotten to, much less something gotten out of it, without moving the entire pile.
Her response was simply a silvery little giggle as she walked away, puzzle in hand. That was when he remembered that thing, he had gotten it spans ago and wound up tossing it in a box after a few months of sporadic attempts, all failed, to solve it. The puzzle itself was a small several sided morphic crystal, each side sporting a raised dot in the middle. If he remembered right, touching one of the dots altered the number of sides on each face, which in turn altered the adjoining faces, and so forth until the entire crystal had been reconfigured. The object was to make the whole thing nice and uniform, same number of sides on all faces, which was, needless to say, easier said than done as it involved figuring out how each alteration would alter the other sides. It seemed like a good thing to pick up at the time, but in practice Rin just could not wrap his brain around the sheer number of variables the puzzle required. At least he knew as long as she stayed so engrossed with it, she would stay out of trouble for a while.
Content she was going to be safe alone, as she apparently had been all morning thus far anyway, he stepped into his bathroom. His first order of business was to attend to his hand, which looked terrible, and felt even worse. He had cleaned it thoroughly the night before, and did so again as he stood there, so infection probably would not be much of a worry. At least he could still move his fingers for the most part, even if hurt greatly to do so. He would seriously need to get Ril to look at it more closely, he really did not like the thought of losing use of it.
It was not his hand that worried him though. He stared at himself in the mirror, his eyes clearly had the look of someone who had not slept well, but something else was amiss. He was smiling.
He had, by means unknown to him, obliterated three people, and here he was smiling? The very thought offended him. What in the void did he have to be happy about? The mirror, which had done nothing but what it was designed for, shattered under his fist as he slumped to the floor, his face buried in his hands. His mind rolled those thoughts around for a good while. Not only had those three died by his hands, but he had left a husband, a father, with the grief of what he had done. To know someone out there so casually snuffed out the existence of three people he loved so dearly. Yet here he was, the nerve to be happy about anything at all...
Gently someone tugged on his sleeve, and he looked down to see Alaen standing next to him, concern painted across her tiny face. He scarcely noticed that while he sat there, his finger nails dug deeply into his palms, and the pain slowly registered in his mind as Alaen took his now even further wounded hand in hers and looked inquiringly at him.
“It’s just a small wound Alaen, it'll heal.”
The little girl nodded, casually grabbed a small cloth, and carefully tended to his bleeding hand. She then looked up from her handiwork and smiled at him. Rin just stared at her, then with scarcely a thought, he pulled her close to himself. She looked into his eyes, love and adoration the only emotions present, and Rin could not help but avert his gaze.
“Please,” he spoke in a pained voice. “Don't do that Alaen.” She lowered her own gaze, and instead, hugged him.
“S-stupid girl,” Rins voice was more upset than angry. “I don't deserve this, you don't understand what I've done, do you?” It was a silly question, of course she did not, she knew not even what he had done, much less the sheer import of it.
“No Rin, explain.” Came a voice from the doorway. Rin snapped to attention and looked in horror at Ril. She stood propped up on an ornate crystal cane, and had her leg wrapped heavily.
“How-”
“She let me in,” Ril motioned to Alaen. “She's a very bright little girl, figured out how to undo your override with only a bit of instruction from me.” Her face took on a more concerned look as she looked him over, and noticed the cracked mirror above him. “It's much more satisfying to break something not made of Duracrys you know, at least then it stays broken.” Even as she spoke the mirror was slowly mending itself, the crystal growing to fill in the holes made and seal the cracks. “If you don't mind, I'm going to sit down, it hurts to stand for too long like this. I don't expect you'll keep me waiting long?” It was more an ultimatum than a question, although no amount of feigned annoyance could hide the concern in her voice.
Gently he picked Alaen up and set her on the floor. “Go on Alaen, me and Ril have some things we need to talk about.” Alaen said nothing, but then she rarely did, smiled, and walked off to retrieve her puzzle. Rin took a few moments to wash and properly wrap his hand, then went out to meet Ril.
“She's beautiful Rin,” Alaen sat contently against a small pillow she had claimed, and seemed completely absorbed in her puzzle. “But, who is she?”
“She calls herself Alaen.” The little girl silently looked up as she heard her name.
Ril turned to look at her, making the comment, “Alaen? It sounds more like a CD than a name.”
“Don't be silly Ril, she's only a child, she won't have a citizenry designation for a few spans yet.”
“I suppose, but that still doesn't tell me who she is.” She asked again, even as Alaen went back to her puzzle.
“I don't know,” he admitted. “I, um... I found her in the forest not far from here. She seemed lost, and the void knows what happened to her parents.” He tried to hide it, but Ril could see he was uneasy about the subject.
“We should probably try and find her relatives,” she saw his face darken at the suggestion. “But, we can worry about that later. Just what were you doing out there any way?” Rin's look changed very drastically, the emotions that flickered across it were unreadable, but they scared her.
The young man just stared at the floor. “I-it was nothing Ril, I just-”
“Don't you dare lie to me Rin,” she snapped, then her tone softened and took on a worried cast. “What's wrong?”
Rin looked down at the floor, his posture hunched over, the way someone does when they've simply given up.“The forests are so beautiful Ril,” he finally said after a strained silence. “Such a contrast to the dead feeling crystal glades... I suppose, I wanted someplace full of life in mind before I let the void claim me.” It wasn't so much the words, as it was the disconnected sort of voice that frightened Ril the most.
“You were going to, what, just throw yourself off the plate?” She felt ill as he silently nodded. “W-why? By the sky Rin, what could possible have been so bad?” She paused a moment to compose herself. “Everythings been going so well. Good job, peaceful life, friends, family-“
“Stop it Ril,” he said quietly.
“Y-you almost killed yourself, how-”
His voice shook as he spoke, “please...just stop Ril. I can't tell you, not yet.” He looked up and smiled fondly at the little girl across the room. “It's her fault I didn't go through with it. I heard her in the forest, just before I let go.” She was unable to pick out anything but pain from his voice, so for the time being she thought it wise not to press the matter.
Instead she pulled herself off the chair and limped her way over to the girl. “Couldn't you find her anything better to wear? And that hair, didn’t you comb it or anything for her? Alaen?” The little girl looked up at Ril, while Rin looked on, confused by the sudden shift in topic. “Shall we go do something about your hair and clothing?” Alaen gave Rin a questioning look.
“It's okay Alaen, Ril’s a friend.” Ril looked back and forth between the two of them even as Alaen held out her arms to her.
She just took Alaen's hand in her own, “I'm sorry Alaen, but picking you up might be more than my leg can take.” Alaen just nodded, and wordlessly accompanied Ril into the bathroom.
Rin lost track of how long they had been in there for, it seemed like an eternity though. He had always enjoyed his privacy, but right now it felt less like privacy and more like an oppressive loneliness. He tried toying with the puzzle Alaen had been playing with, but after the logic of several face shifts eluded him completely, he was reminded of why he had thrown it in a box at the bottom of his closet in the first place. He tried the vid, only to be greeted with an automated, “due to recent storm activity, all off plate crystream networks are offline. Local platewide news and reports can be reached via-” He grumbled as he flipped it off, news was the last thing he wanted to see right now.
No, that was not entirely true, there was one report he was interested in. The small screen flickered back to life as he found what he was looking for. “Plate wide the damage from this storm was minimal, the only significant problem was the ruin of the primary crystream node. Repairs are expected to take several cycles, until which all off plate communications will be cut off. We remind all inhabitants that while the crystream node is down for repairs, the standard mail ships will still run as scheduled, and most mailing fees will be overlooked until the node is back online. Those of you with personal crystream nodes are urged to share them with your neighbors in case of emergencies.” The voice giving the audio only report took on a more somber tone. “Reports are still coming in, but so far the storm has been blamed for the deaths of at least two people, and among the wounded so far are at least three confirmed cases of phyric poisoning, two of which we regret to report are untreatable, the third gave her arm to prevent further infection. We all mourn deeply the loss of these individuals, and hope for a quick recovery of those wounded.” The report then went on to list the names and locations of those people killed before repeating itself. The ones killed in the storm were bad enough, but those poisoned were worse off by far. Phyric poisoning worked slowly, taking weeks, even months, but the end result was always the same. He couldn't imagine what it was like living when you knew you only had a short time to live, and could simply die at any moment with little to no warning. Rin thought it curious that there was no immediate news about the murders, save the broadcasts last cycle, but it was possible the prates were trying to keeps peoples minds on the storm damage. With the primary node down, and three murders on top of it, people were liable to panic, so it was best to keep their minds occupied with other matters.
The door opened some time later, and Alaen daintily made her way over to Rin. His shirt was hardly recognizable anymore, it had been stitched, hemmed, and while the end result may not have been as pretty as Ril apparently tried for, it still managed to look cute. It was amazing what Ril could do with a needle and some thread, and she was fast on top of it all. Alaen’s hair had been washed, brushed, and as it hung loosely down her back, that odd sheen he had noticed the cycle before was even more pronounced, this time he was sure it was not simply water. “You look beautiful Alaen,” she beamed at him, and danced to where her puzzle lay. She then picked it up, looked at it, turned it over in here hands, then turned to look back at him. There was no glare, no pouting, no change in facial expression at all, yet somewhere inside Rin felt he was being chastised.
“Well, I was bored, so I-” She just wordlessly turned and stalked off to the far side of the room, taking the pillow she was sitting against with her.
Ril almost collapsed in a fit of laughter at the scene that had just unfolded. She sat herself down next to him, still giggling. “I've had three daughters of my own, and that is the strangest girl I have ever seen. She's terribly modest, too,” that took Rin a bit by surprise as he remembered the cycle before. “She hid in the shower to dress, and kept herself wrapped up the whole time. And that hair,” Ril voice caught somewhere between awe and envy, “it was an absolute disaster, but once I got it clean… It's so fine I was afraid I'd ruin it, it's heavenly to the touch. Oh don’t give me that look, it was the only word I could think of.” she added quickly at her use of the old cult word, meaning something akin to paradise if his memory served him. “The color too, it looks so plain at first, but the longer you look, the way it seems to shimmer in the light…”
“I hadn't noticed myself.” he lied, just wanting to see Rils reaction.
“It's a woman thing,” she replied shortly. “You wouldn't understand. By the sky Rin, I’d give my left leg for hair like hers, I've never seen anything quite like it. By the way, what does she keep in that little pouch? I can't even imagine where a child would get her hands on such exquisite crystal work, it rivals even some of my best pieces.” Rin was positive he heard envy in her voice that time. Ril did not exactly flaunt her wealth, but she was quite proud of what she had, and it probably felt like a kick in the pants for a child to have something that she had worked so hard to get. “She didn’t once set it down, even while she was changing, it must be terribly important to her.”
“I'm not really sure, she won't let me anywhere near it, and just ignores me when I ask about it.”
“Oh, she can talk? I've never known a child her age to be so quiet, but I haven't heard her speak a word. Even when she answered the door, she knocked on it instead of speaking, had I not seen her the day before I wouldn’t have known who I was even giving directions to. I wasn't even sure she was listening, I just kinda took a shot at it."
Rin nodded, his eyes going to where she sat, seemingly oblivious to the conversation about her. “She seems to do a good job without it though, but yes, she can talk. Although she doesn't do it often, and usually only single word responses,” he smiled slightly. “She's got a very melodic voice, and her laugh is probably the most soothing sound I've ever heard.”
Ril smiled even as she tried to make sense of the emotions that seemed to flicker across his face. “She's awfully fond of you Rin. She seems very apprehensive around me, but you, I see nothing but adoration in her eyes when she looks at you, as though you're the center of her existence.”
He smiled a joyless little smile, “I don't deserve that kind of love. I've been trying to think of what to do with her since I found her, there's so many people out there that could give her a better home.”
The look that fell across his face actually frightened her just a bit. “You're just as fond of her though Rin,” her voice was accusatory, as if to say he could not just throw away someone he cared for. Truth be told Ril knew if Alaen had parents out there it was their responsibility to find them, but for now it was a way through to him.
“I know Ril,” he said quietly. “She's likely the only reason I'm still here, I couldn't just leave her out there, but this-” He looked over at the little girl as she toyed contentedly with her puzzle, and buried his head in his hands.
Ril could do nothing but take her friend in her arms and try to comfort him. Even she, however, knew not what else to do. Something was tearing him up inside, and had nearly driven himself to end his existence, yet she could not even begin to imagine what could have driven her dear friend to such an action.
“I'm sorry Ril,” came Rin's voice quite some time later, “you deserve to know.”
“It's okay Rin, take your time.”
“It's not okay, none of it is. If I don't tell someone, it's going to drive me crazy. ...It wouldn't be fair to either yourself nor Alaen.” That particular part sent a chill through her, she could understand him caring for them, but he seemed to completely disregard himself.
He was quiet a moment, and took a deep breath before continuing. “Yesterday I had gone to see professor Jyn about something,” Ril shivered as an overall bad feeling suddenly ran through her. “He was running errands at the university, so I never did get to talk to him.” Rin reached up and toyed with the small pendant he wore. “I was about to leave when his wife saw this. She's a cultist, did you know that? One of the fanatics, it’s amazing she hid it as long as she did, probably for her husbands sake.” She just looked at him, those were pretty serious accusations to throw around, more so now that her existence had ended. It was considered terribly bad form to tarnish the memory of the dead, against local laws in certain places actually.
“I rather think she'd have struck me had her sons not held her back. She just screamed then, demanding to know how I could wear my sisters essence,” he fondly touched the small glowing crystal, “her soul like a mere bauble.” She winced. Rin cared deeply for his sister, and he never did quite recover fully from her loss. He gave an off kilter sort of smile as he went on. “She went on like that for a while, I don’t know why I didn’t just leave, I just know she had me so angry I couldn't even think straight. Everything after that is just blank, I came to and there was a dusty haze to the room, some ash, and three small crystals...” His voice remained eerily calm as he spoke, but he trembled violently in her arms. Of it all though, it was the laugh that scared her the most, as though every ounce of grief suddenly came crashing down around him. “I killed them Ril, I-I don't even know how, I never meant-”
“Shh…” she said quietly to him, holding him in her arms. Ril was not entirely sure what to make of the entire situation. On one hand, there was the sheer scope of the atrocity, friend or not, that he had done… Yet, he was still a friend, one of her few and dearest. She trusted him in what he said, that he honestly did not remember, but how he did it bothered her. To say she was torn between her duty as a friend, and that of a citizen, would have been a gross understatement. …In the end, however, friendship won out. She was privy to certain knowledge others didn’t have, such as the actual punishment for such crimes. Death was never a viable choice, but some of the punishments were worse than death could ever be. She would never wish such a thing upon him.
There was something else that bothered her terribly, and that was how he could have done it. Clearly he had no weapon handy, and most assuredly nothing that strong. It brought up the point of how one reduces three people to ash without making a sound, attracting attention, or even giving the target any degree of warning. That was if she believed the whole of his story, it did seem rather fantastical, but then he really had no reason to lie to her.
“The storm will help to erase any evidence. We're a small town, not many people to check. If they haven’t found you by now, it’s unlikely they will.”
He looked up at her with a bit of surprise amidst his stricken face, for all the sky he expected her to turn on him. He should not have, she was a close friend, and that meant more to either of them than anything…but in the back of his mind he still expected anything but this. How could she possible accept what he had done and just shrug it off the way she had? Reaching up, he unfolded her arms from around himself, “go Ril,” he said to her as he pulled away. “Just go,” he said again, seeing her ready to protest, his voice harder this time around. “I-I can’t deal with all of this, and you, just yet…please, just leave.”
Rin didn’t wait for a response, instead he just stood up and walked over to Alaen. “Alaen, would you make sure Ril gets out okay?” The little girl put down her puzzle and nodded, then as Rin closed the door to his bedroom, she walked over to the still shaken woman.
Ril sat for a few minutes unsure what to do, part of her wanted to go to Rin’s side, to help him in any way she could…and yet part of her knew he just needed to be alone at the time too. It took her a while before she figured out what part to actually listen to, and that was to listen to as he said and just leave. She for all the sky wanted to help, but she did not know how, and knew it would likely only worsen matters if she were persistent in nosing into something he did not want to talk about at the time.
Her mind was brought back to reality as a small hand tugged on her shirt. Seeing she got Ril’s attention, Alaen walked silently over to the ladder leading outside. Rin had, after all, only told Alaen to see her safely out, he said nothing about waiting. She sighed a moment, grabbed her cane, and hefted herself to her feet, putting as little weight on her damaged leg as possible. With one last glance at Rin’s room, she limped over to the ladder and grumbled, “if I survive the climb out, remind me to pay to have a lift installed.” Ril had not been paying attention at the time, for if she were, she would have noticed Alaen nod.
“Okay, after you.” Ril motioned up the ladder. Alaen simply shook her head and stood her ground. “You have to go first,” Ril insisted. “If I slip I don’t want you getting hurt too.” Still Alaen shook her head, her hair shimmering as it flopped around behind her, once again bringing forth that envious feeling within Ril. “It’s because Rin told you to see me out, and you can see me easier from below, isn’t it?” Just as Ril had expected, the little girl nodded. She made a mental note to tell Rin to be more careful what he tells her, as Alaen seemed to follow his requests to the letter.
Eventually Ril gave up and climbed up first, although the climb involved much grunting, groaning, and were Alaen not right below, cursing as well.
Pulling herself out of the hole, Ril seated herself momentarily on the ground, with Alaen joining her a few seconds later. As she sat and rested, Ril’s curiosity eventually got to her. The girls silence was driving her crazy, it was simply not natural, she had to hear her say something.
“Where are you from exactly?” Alaen thought a moment, then pointed down the ladder. Apparently she took Rils question a bit too seriously. “No no, I mean, before Rin brought you here.” This time she pointed north, to where the nearest organic forest was. Ril just rolled her eyes and sighed. The conversation was not going as she had planned. “Okay… How about before Rin found you?” Without a word, Alaen pointed up. Now that startled her, and the little girl simply nodded as Ril asked, “one of the plates above us?”
“Did your parents leave you here?” She shook her head, “relatives, a friend, complete strangers?” All received the same negative response. “So how did you get here!?” Ril was not sure what to expect from the girl, but she expected something, and was getting increasingly exasperated at receiving nothing. What she did not expect, however, was what Alaen did next.
Daintily Alaen walked over to the hole leading into Rin’s home, and very casually, stepped into it. It was only Ril’s quick reflexes that kept Alaen from falling to her death. Ril’s breath came in short gasps as she clutched the girl tightly to her, “you jumped?!” She scarcely even noticed Alaen smile and nod. “Never do that again, you hear me? You nearly gave me heart failure!” Alaen, however, just wriggled free from her and stood there as though nothing had happened.
Meanwhile the young womans mind reeled from the experience. She was sure now the girl was a runaway, or had suffered some sort of trauma severe enough to force her to make up such a story. Every child, and most adults, at some point, dreams of flying amongst the clouds without the aid of machinery. Alaen seemed to somehow think she actually could, and for all the sky was willing to prove it. Ril quickly decided to change the subject, fearing she might hit something the girl was hiding, and cause her harm.
Ril decided on something she should have asked in the first place, something she knew the girl had told Rin before, and could not answer with a gesture. “What’s your name little one?” Alaen just stared at her silently. “You know, what people call you?” Again she was met with silence, “what do your parents or family call you when they want your attention?” The exasperation mounted the more she tried, how in the void did Rin get her to say anything in the first place?
“You know what Rin calls me, right?” The little girl nodded. “And what I call him?” again Alaen nodded. “Those are our names. Now, what’s your name?” Silence yet again, it took nearly all Rils willpower to keep from screaming in frustration. Then an idea occurred to her, and she could not believe she failed to think of it earlier. “What does Rin call you?”
The little girl smiled at the mention of his name, and spoke in an eerily musical voice that caused chills to run through Ril. "Alaen."
It was only one word, her name, but it left Ril momentarily stunned, but she was hard pressed to say exactly why. “See, that’s your name,” Ril said as she regained herself. Alaen looked questioningly at her a moment, then finally nodded. “Now,” she said, testing to see if it actually worked, “what’s your name?”
“Alaen.” The little girl answered after a few short moments, much to Rils delight.
“Wonderful! Well done Alean.”
All this only left Ril even more confused. How did a child of Alaens age know her name, but not actually know it was her name? She answered to it, but did not seem to know its significance. Ril would have probably questioned her further but her leg was beginning to cramp up, and she knew she could not carry on her interrogation standing up. Pulling herself to her feet, Ril said, “Okay, I think it’s time I leave. Take good care of Rin for me Alaen.”
Nodding, the little girl simply walked over to the console near the door and punched a few buttons, effectively opening the door with a sharp hiss. She was quite a fast learner, Ril noted. Impulsively the young woman hugged her, a gesture that seemed lost on the child, and limped outside. The door closing again behind her, leaving Ril alone outside amidst the bustle of activity.
Eventually Ril made her way back home, but not without first being assaulted by everyone she came across, all suffering from a myriad of minor injuries suffered during the storm, and while making repairs afterwards. There were, needless to say, times when she wished she were not the only physician in town, and this was one such time. However, Ril was still professional about it all. She could not let her feelings get in the way when she was the one being depended on by so many. That did not stop her from keeping it all short and to the point though. Most of what she was shown were just little things, nothing a medistrip and some rest would not take care of. That which was a tad more involved, but not serious enough to require immediate on the spot attention, she passed on, telling the person to come back after she had had a good rest. No one protested that, as they had all seen her at some point or another working off too little sleep, and it was by no means a pleasant sight. It was not that she got careless when she was tired, just that her bedside manner went from nice and polite, to “sit still, shut up, and if you make any sort of noise, I’ll sew your mouth shut till I’m done.” The townsfolk loved Ril, but they knew by now her limits, and when she said she needed rest, they let her have it. They trusted her word if she said it was nothing serious, and knew she'd come in case of an actual emergency.
When Ril finally got home, her first order of business involved collapsing onto her sofa, and doing a whole lot of absolutely nothing. She had spent longer at Rin's than expected, and was feeling unusually tired, though that may just be emotional matters finally hitting her. Ril laid there for a while trying to make sense of things that simply refused to be made sense of. The simple fact of the matter was, none of it made sense. The young woman simply went about torturing herself over something she simply could not begin to understand. To kill someone, much less three, was among the worst of atrocities one could commit. Yet, for someone as kind as Rin to…not to mention the method. Nothing short of an inferno could have done what Rin described, and yet of everything she had heard, there was no mention of a fire, nor even a struggle.
Then there was the girl, Alaen. In all her travels, the thousands of patients she had seen over the spans, she had never met anyone like her before. Individually none of the traits would have stood at so much. The hair, the skin, her voice, the ragged clothing she was found in, and also that little crystalmesh pouch she had that was as exquisitely designed as anything Rin had seen. Then there was her personality, her peculiar silence, the way she clung to Rin as though every plate in the field revolved around him. Ril could also clearly see great intelligence in those dark eyes of hers, as though nothing in the sky escaped her notice. Yet at the same time, she seemed to lack very basic knowledge of things. Her name for instance, moreover, what the word name even meant. To top it all off were her origins. Were Ril to believe her, she had simply jumped from a plate somewhere above them and landed here. Even if she did not, she was still found alone in the middle of a forest. Admittedly the terrain around the forest was fairly safe, as most dangerous crystalline predators seemed to avoid them, it was clear she was not originally from nearby when she ran away. That left one of the other towns, and there was no way a lone child could have survived that trek, not out in the frontiers. Still, Ril thought as she eased herself to her feet, what if…
Once inside her office, she collapsed into her chair, laid her cane to the side, and directed her attention to her console. First thing she tried was the UCN, but to her annoyance, was only greeted with the message, “Due to primary Crystream node failure, all access to the Universal Crystream Network is down, we apol-“ Ril muttered and turned to more local news. She knew she should have invested in a personal node. It was more likely the girl came from here, the Aaryx plate, than anywhere else. Paging through all the reports she could get her hands on, she was unable to find any listing for a missing person matching Alaens description. Nor did she get any hits on anyone she felt could have been the girls parents. She would attempt to contact those missing a young girl later, just incase, but her instincts on these matters were usually pretty good. That ruled out runaway, or trip to the glades gone awry. As one of the newly colonized plates, everyone tended to watch out for everyone else, if the girl disappeared from any of the towns, someone would have reported it by now. Although, she reasoned, there were folks that lived away from the towns. It was entirely possible for something to have happened to one of those families and for no one to find out for several cycles. Ril cursed and kicked her desk with her good leg, frustrated at the lack of answers. Several trinkets fell from it after she soundly kicked it again while she was standing up, just for good measure. Directly out of her office, and into the bathroom, she stormed. What she needed was a warm bath, something to help relax her before she went and broke something expensive. Again.
The young woman seated herself on the edge of the tub as warm water filled it, and carefully began undoing the bandage around her leg. Again she cursed her own carelessness as she did, having doomed herself to weeks of pain and limping around until her leg properly healed. Made worse still since she was the most skilled doctor on the plate. Not the only one of course, but the best, and as such she was required to travel a lot. It was healing well at least, she thought as she began to clean the wound again.
Because of the jagged nature of the wound, and the way it wrapped around her leg, she first felt the anomaly before she was able to see it. A chill ran down her spine as her fingers rubbed up against something small and hard within the wound. Her heart skipped a beat as she probed at it with her fingers, hoping it to merely be a small stone or piece of debris she missed earlier. It was neither, whatever it was, was firmly rooted within her leg. Ril winced in pain as she grabbed hold of the foreign object with her fingers, and tore it from the wound. Blood ran freely as she stared at the dark blue crystal in the palm of her violently shaking hand. Frantically she let it fall to the ground, then using one of her fingernails, made a small cut in her leg several inches above the wound, a simple, albeit painful way to test how far it had spread. If she were lucky the initial infection would be slow moving and would not have spread too far. Her leg would have been a small price to pay compared to the alternative, but despair set in as she saw the blood from that small cut. Hands still trembling, she made another one at her hip, beyond the point where anything could be done. That wound too bled a deep purple, blood tainted by the Phyric crystal which was gradually overtaking her body.
A scream broke the silence. A cry filled with despair, hopelessness, and rage. How could this be happening? Why had she been so careless, she knew she had not properly tended to the wound that morning, and yet she ignored it. Of all the emotions running through her mind, it was the rage she chose to concentrate on. The little crystal she pulled from her leg broke apart under her as she came to her feet, a sticky blue fluid oozing from it. Over the sound of the work being done outside, no one heard the commotion coming from the T’lir house. She answered no calls for the rest of that cycle, and sealed herself within her home.
Broken trinkets laid scattered about where she had seated herself, as her rage ended, on the floor. Ignoring the small trickles of purple from her wounds, which in her rage, she had quite successfully made worse. She felt no other pain though as the infection spread. It was as she had told Dyne earlier, it was the fear that hurt, not the crystalline infection itself. The nail marks in her palm also bled the same purplish blood, its initial infection stage apparently spread through her at an amazing rate, she had never seen the initial stage spread so quickly in someone before. Without thinking she started running the whole process through her mind, from initial infection, up until the point of death. Death being the point in which ones essence, which was theorized to require an organic host, left the body, as the host body was no longer considered organic once completely overtaken by the Phyranine. She mouthed the word host body to herself and actually chuckled. Here she was going over the very process that was killing her just as a doctor would. “Old habits die hard…”
Ril held her hand up the light, and again smiled slightly. If nothing else, she would be able to hide it for a while. Despite its distinct blue color, the infection left ones flesh looking more or less normal. Unless, she thought as she saw the small specks of purple on her palm, someone saw her bleeding before she had a chance to tend to it.
A week? A month? She had personally seen one case where a full two spans passed before the victim finally succumbed to it. Ril could not help but wonder how long she would have before she was but another Phyric statue. The initial infection spread alarmingly fast, having overtaken her circulatory system in mere hours. That was, luckily, not necessarily a judge of how fast it would spread afterwards. One of the most surprising cases she had seen, the initial infection took four cycles to spread through the body, and a mere hour later before it killed the victim.
What was she going to tell Rin, was what her thoughts next occupied themselves with. If she was even going to tell him at all, that was. Rin had enough on his mind, did he really need to know this, too? She would have to tell him eventually, but when, and how? As a doctor she had broken unpleasant news to many a person, but this… It was so much different when it involved oneself. Her family she was not nearly as concerned about. In fact most of them wanted nothing to do with her. Ironic, she thought, since they were quite fond of Rin. Despite it all, she still joined her family on occasions, and more than once dragged Rin along so as to have someone present that did not hate her. Rin, for all his timidness, got along famously with them. Her oldest daughter was quite taken by him, actually, but Rin was oblivious. Most men were about such things.
That was a thought, Ril realized, her mind jumping topics yet again. Surely if she asked her daughter to take care of him she would have to at least consider it. She could not simply ignore Ril’s dying wish, could she? Then again, her daughter was much like herself, more so than she would ever admit to, and Ril was unsure if she herself would care for her last wishes if she were in her daughters shoes.
Ril shook the thought from her head. She had time, she told herself, there would be time for all that later. Wincing, she cursed herself again as she rose to her feet. Around her lay the pieces of practically every breakable object in the bathroom. To make matters worse, in her rage, she had not bothered to turn off the water, which upon filling the tub decided it was then going to try to fill the room. Ril just threw her hands up in defeat and gave up any attempt to keep the mess from getting worse, and let herself pretty much fall into the warm bath waters She figured she was going to have a hard enough time explaining it in the first place, so why start worrying about a little more water. Her bathroom was a little lower than the hallway, so it was not like the water was going to ruin the carpets.
Again Ril’s thoughts drifted to Rins predicament. She was sure by now that if they did not know it was him, they likely never would. The prates were usually swift and efficient about such things. Yet, the possibility was there, and that worried her. She was aware of the punishments, but not merely because of her rank. Most of it stemmed from experience, it was the reason her family had all bit disowned her, and part of the reason she was here instead of a more heavily colonized plate. It was not that she was not accepted, her exile was her own choosing. The punishments were never physical, physical wounds could accidentally result in death. No, the punishments were mental, those were the lessons that burned themselves into ones memory. Ril had served her punishment, and went on to lead the life she presently had, but the memories were still plain as day. The darkness was the worst of it, locked away in solitude, the glow of life gone, nothing but emptiness. She laughed when she heard of it at first, only children were afraid of the dark. But that, that went beyond dark, she would not have believed such a thing existed had she not been immersed in it herself. The mere thought made her shiver violently, it was not something she would wish upon anyone.
It occurred to her she would likely be called upon to examine the bodies, burned as they were. Her services would have likely been called on sooner, were it not for the storm, that tied them up dealing with overseeing repairs. Once they did get around to her, however, she would probably have access to the area too, and thus be able to destroy anything they might have missed that could lead to Rin. That was if they missed anything at all, the Prates were usually pretty thorough, and the captain would ensure that they went over every inch of the place, both inside and out. What he had done was horrible, but she could not sit by and just watch.\He was not even sure how he had done it, surely he never meant to, he couldn’t have, she kept telling herself…
* * *
Rin sat on his bed, his mind adrift within his own thoughts. This time amidst the nightmarish sights was the image of horror he saw in Ril’s eyes when he had told her what happened. She had done her best to comfort him, but the fact of the matter was, she was horrified by what he had done. Not that he could fault her, of course.
A tiny knock on his door brought his mind again back to reality. “Ril?” Something inside hoped that she had ignored his request to leave. After a few moments passed, he asked, “Alaen?” only to be answered with more silence. It occurred to him if it were Alaen, she had very likely nodded when he asked if it was her. Rin chuckled despite himself, “you can come in Alaen, there’s no need to knock.” Again he envisioned her nodding just before the door opened and she walked in, her puzzle still in hand.
Alaen stood a moment and looked around with a disapproving frown at the complete darkness. No lights on, windows closed, only the glow in the air to offer any sort of illumination. Without a word Alaen moved to the console near the door, and imitated Rin’s actions the previous cycle. Within seconds the room was illuminated by several now open virtual windows spread around the bedroom. Content to have banished the darkness, Alaen walked over to Rin and climbed onto the edge of the bed, then went back to playing with the puzzle as though nothing had happened.
Rin gave up at that point. Alaen seemed to have no idea what was happening, yet at the same time, she did everything in her power to distract him. It was never much, but it worked all the same. Due to how casually she did things, he was unsure if it was coincidence, or somewhere inside she knew he was upset and was consciously trying to keep him calm. One way or the other, it worked. He did not know why, but something about her mere presence was calming, as though she held some power over him he failed to grasp. Perhaps it was because she reminded him so much of his niece, Mayl, when she was younger. He had not talked to her much since her mothers death, not that she never tried, but he still blamed himself for it and was more often than not, unable to speak to her for long.
Something occurred to him then, as the chimes sounded, signaling dayend, and the beginning of the evening cycle. Through the windows people could be seen picking up their tools and slowly filtering home, to the bar, or any number of other evening activities. While those with evening shifts, were just getting ready to resume repairs. Rin pulled himself from the bed and walked over to the bedroom closet, illiciting a look of curiosity from Alaen. Naturally, by time he had the door open and was rummaging about, Alaen was behind him peering into one of the few places she had not ransacked that morning.
“Ahh, here it is!” Rin pulled a colorful book from a box and turned quickly back to the bed. Again, he stumbled over Alaen who had watched in such silence he had never known she was there. “…You’ve got to start warning me when you do that Alaen.” She just smiled, nodded, and hopped back onto the bed.
Rin walked over and gently pulled the puzzle from her hands. She did not resist, but looked at him as if to ask why. “It’s already evening Alaen, it’s about time you get some sleep.” He expected a protest, but instead she just nodded and lay quietly as he tucked her in for the night. Taking a moment to close the windows, he then sat next to her, and started to read from the book as he had done so often with Mayl when she was young. Her eyes came open as he started to read, and she looked up at him confused, seemingly unsure as to what he was doing or why, but closed them again before Rin could notice. Alaen was asleep in moments, and Rin followed not long after, the book still in his lap as he slept.
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