Chapter Forty-Three

I stared at the ceiling, listening as voices argued in Syldran. This time, I was fairly sure I was in Rel’s apartment, but another several voices had been added to the argument. Grimacing, I carefully sat up and waited to see if my head spun. When it didn’t, I carefully got to my feet, summoned clothes, and hastily finger-combed my hair before making my way out of the room.

Most of them failed to notice me walking toward them, though Ciheri immediately began trying to turn their attention my way. I shot him a small smile, before walking straight up to Rel and declaring, “I’m hungry. What’s for breakfast?”

My ‘sudden’ appearance left Jysel and Zafir struggling for words, but Rel, Casair, and Aldiner were quicker to react.

“You shouldn’t be on your feet yet,” Casair stated, taking a step toward me.

“Maybe she needs entertainment?” Aldiner suggested slyly, striking an alluring pose. “Maybe I—”

“She said she is hungry. It’s simple as that.” Rel shot Aldiner an annoyed glance.

“Your arguing woke her up,” Ciheri murmured quietly, slinking closer to me when Zafir and Jysel gave him foul glares. He didn’t stop until he was ‘hiding’ behind me, the sleeve of my robe clutched in one hand. “Glare all you want, it’s true… You’re loud when you’re upset…”

Rel motioned for me to follow him. “Here, come sit—”

“Now that she’s awake, we won’t be staying,” Zafir interrupted, his voice harsh. “I can’t keep our superiors off us for much longer. It’s for the best that she—”

“For the best ?” Jysel snapped. “It’s merely a means to an end—and an unreliable one at best.”

“What is reliable, is what the humans will do if we try to take Elara off world,” Ciheri spoke up in exasperation. “Until someone cripples the resonance weapon, and Citomy’s interests move elsewhere, we are just as stuck as Elara for options.”

“Tch, to think a cult would be freer than us…” Jysel muttered bitterly.

Casair crossed his arms over his chest. “Zafir, you can tell she’s not recovered enough to give a report. Stop pushing.”

“The humans don’t understand the… delicacies of the mind,” Zafir argued, turning to challenge Casair. “Nor do they believe in giving a mind time to recover. I wish we could take a measured pace as well, but we simply cannot. They expect her to begin working again tonight, and I quote, ‘unless the Syldrari have done something to her.’”

“‘Tonight’ is in four hours!” Rel exclaimed. “Are they trying to get her killed?!”

“We know at least one person in the Imperator’s circle wants this project ended. Who is to say there aren’t others?” Zafir rubbed his temples. “You have people with the know-how to shadow her. If you’re so worried, give them orders to keep her safe. Meanwhile I will continue to do what I must to keep her safe from the humans.”

“While I appreciate the concern…shouldn’t the focus be on saving the other queens?” I asked, watching as most expressions in the room turned to discomfort. “They’re easier to save than me. It’d be more productive—”

“That isn’t your decision,” Rel stated, turning to look at me, his expression unreadable. “Furthermore, we have enough hands to focus on saving both.”

I stared at him for a moment, then glanced to Jysel, who was fidgeting and appeared a little…lost. “And you have sufficient protection from the queens you have been saving?”

“…no…” Jysel hesitated before seeming to resolve to give me an answer. “I’ve lost several men to the queens we’ve rescued already. We had hoped more of them would be reasonable, but we have had to tranquilize most of them to protect ourselves. Their behavior is largely the reason we have handed them over to our contacts in Syldra.”

I released a small sigh and crossed my arms. “In that case, I can sort of understand why you’d prefer to focus on me, but…”

“Don’t tell me not to.” Jysel turned his back to me and promptly left the room.

Casair groaned, his shoulders slumping. “I’m sorry ‘bout him, Elara. I’ll see if I can talk some sense into him.”

Zafir opened his mouth to say something to Rel, but he was met with a firm, “No. She is having breakfast first—I already prepared something, as I knew you and the humans would be unreasonable.”

“Mmm… Do they have a tracking device on her, though?” Aldiner came and leaned against my left side, peering at me curiously. “We could just hide her somewhere.”

“I believe trying to ‘hide’ her is what led to her being caught in the Resonance Incident. So, no.” Zafir took several steps toward us, his expression dark as he glared at Aldiner. Then, he looked to me, his expression softening. “Elara, how are you feeling after having rested?”

“Like I have a ‘pod’ of Syldrari fighting to make my decisions for me,” I answered sarcastically, shooting him a sharp look. “But really. If I have trustworthy people shadowing me, I’ll be fine. I don’t want to have to use queenly powers to subdue someone for execution again. I can deal with combat killing fine, but that…and…his victim…”

Ciheri’s grip on my arm tightened as he leaned into me. “You did the right thing! And…and is it executing that sub-Syldrari that upset you…”

“…or his victim?” Zafir sighed, pressing his fingers to his temples, his expression conflicted. “That was something no one should ever have to see, let alone experience. You did the right thing.”

“Even though people’s limbs and bodies are replaceable?” I muttered irritably.

“She was not wealthy enough for replacements, and the empire’s mental healthcare system isn’t equipped to help someone work through the trauma of being eaten ,” Zafir snapped, momentarily losing his cool, before slumping. “Honestly, where does Citomy find such horrendous…”

While Zafir was muttering to himself, Aldiner and Ciheri took the opportunity to lead me into Rel’s personal kitchen and over to a table where they both sat down to my sides.

“You’re sure about this, Elara?” Rel asked softly as he plated some sweet-smelling food.

I considered my answer for a moment. He didn’t sound like he was questioning my decision, more like he was concerned if I was okay with having no choice in the matter. In which case, he deserved a proper answer. “Considering the repercussions for disobedience would harm more than just me, yes. I have to consider the safety of my team and Zafir too.”

“Is that so?” Rel glanced back at me.

“Mmm… ‘Aliens’ and ‘hybrids’ aren’t the only people they’ll reprogram and enslave,” I answered after a moment. “Zafir is in danger of being reprogrammed into a sex slave and sold off too—they’ve no doubt realized he’s pretty, and he’s alluded that he’s at risk. If he’s removed, the project may be shut down. If it isn’t, there’s still the concern of who would take his place.

“I’m not sure if the others are aware of how important Zafir’s safety is to ours , but I think I have a decent grasp on it.”

Rel bristled and shifted to look back at me. “They’ll do this to everyone ? That’s…”

“There were human prisoners and slaves where Elara rescued me from, too,” Ciheri interjected softly. “They just care about power and control over others. If they find you attractive, they’ll sell you to brothels or similar to provide ‘services and entertainment.’ If you’re too troublesome, resistant to their drugs or have the wrong reaction to them, they’ll force you into fighting rings or find some other way to use you.”

Rel sighed as he carried over some sort of cold porridge to me. “I’ll go find people to follow you. Those animals Citomy freed shouldn’t be underestimated.”

“Hey,” I caught the dejected man by his wrist when he started to turn away. “I’m confident that, if ‘saving’ me is what you want to do, then you’ll all figure out a way to do it. So, for now…”

“For now, let you and Zafir do what it takes to keep you, you . Right?” Rel sighed quietly, his glow shifting between grey, pink, blue, then finally settling on cyan. “We’re here if you need support.”

With that, Rel wandered off somewhere, leaving me with Aldiner, Ciheri, and Zafir. After a moment, Zafir joined us and sat down across from me at the kitchen table. He looked exhausted, but still tried to crack a small smile when he finally looked at me.

“I tried to convince our superiors to wait…” Zafir murmured quietly. “They are not well-informed on the matters of the mind. They believe…that you should be fine. You may have to pretend that you are. When humans sense what they believe to be weakness—”

“I know, Zafir. There’s only so much that can be done when you’re dealing with them, and they’ve been wearing you down.” I gave him a small smile. “Let’s focus on what we can do, instead of what we can’t. Something has to give if we’re going to deal with what Citomy’s done—and we need to figure out why she did it. And…”

“What is it?” Ciheri asked worriedly when I fell silent, my eyes narrowing.

“What do we know about Citomy’s current motives?” I asked slowly. “We know she tried to sell Rel and Jysel to me, and we know she appears to be trying to gain leverage over the imperials for some reason—putting them into debt by selling her sons to me may have done just that.

“But that plan fell through. How else could she make the Imperator indebted to her? By ‘saving’ them from an outbreak of Syldrari criminal activity. When my team continues to fail at stopping these animals, the project will be in danger and so will the empire.”

“I…I have to make a call!” Zafir shot to his feet, pulled out his communicator, and left the room.

Aldiner sighed heavily, resting one elbow on the table and propping his cheek against one hand. He watched me for a moment before pointing at my food with his free hand. “If you’re not gonna eat that—I will. Or do you require being handfed now, Your Majesty ?”

“ Mine .” I pouted, pulling my bowl away protectively. “And I don’t need to be fed. I can take care of myself! …mostly.”

“Maybe we should entertain you then?” Aldiner grinned devilishly at me. “I’m a great dancer, you know. We could take a break from all this serious talk and—”

“Maybe she prefers the ‘serious talk?’” Ciheri countered, leaning forward in his chair. “Elara is very inquisitive and intelligent! I’m sure—”

“She is. But that doesn’t mean she doesn’t need a break now and then.” Aldiner glanced to Ciheri, then back at me. “Being in work mode all the time isn’t gonna get anything done quicker. You should take a breather ‘til it’s time for you to go to work. Clear your head, center yourself, and all that.”

“I don’t exactly know how to…uh…” I leaned back a little when Aldiner leaned forward to peer at me. “What?”

“Your eyes. For a second they…” Aldiner frowned and stood up. “I saw your eyes—your real eyes—for a moment. I’m going to go get Zafir.”

“Uh…” I blinked after him, then looked to Ciheri when he tugged on my sleeve.

“If it’s happening more, we’ll have to ask Jysel and Zafir how they hide their appearance from the humans, because you may have to start doing the same.” Ciheri paused and tilted his head, examining me. “Are you sure you’re okay? If you need to talk, I don’t mind.”

“I just…it’s hard to quantify the kind of behavior I witnessed,” I answered him after a moment. “It’s… Sub-Syldrari? Subhuman? I’m not quite sure what to call it, but it’s so incredibly opposite of what I expect from Syldrari, that I just don’t…”

I grimaced, feeling a tinge of nausea.

“Mmm… Just like with humans, Syldrari can be ‘ill,’” Ciheri began carefully, his expression contemplative. “Usually, the environments we’re raised in help avert such problems—but there are always people who, no matter their upbringing, are just…wrong.

“And… I haven’t seen the report, but some of our worst criminals are people who were kept or raised by certain queens. That man could have been made that way by a queen. Some of them…some of them have a twisted idea of how to exert control over their clan. I’ve heard rumors, but…”

“Yet queens remain revered…” I muttered bitterly. “Why? Because Syldra is a utopia compared to other species’ homes? Or, is it merely because of the natural power they hold?”

“Ah… It isn’t all bad!” Ciheri exclaimed quickly, clinging to my arm, his expression one of immense worry. “It’s a small minority of queens who are bad people. Really! It’s just they’ve risen to the top because of how much power they have, and their willingness to abuse it. Someone like you…someone like you would be able to defeat them with more training. Your potential—”

“Is that so?” I raised an eyebrow as Ciheri clamped his hands over his own mouth and flushed blue.

“Please forget I said that,” Ciheri whispered between his fingers. “They…they don’t want knowledge to hurt you. U-um…”

“Ciheri, it’s okay,” I reassured him with a smile. “Even with that kind of information…I can’t actually do anything with it yet.”

“At least someone is being reasonable today,” Zafir remarked with a sigh as he and Aldiner reentered the room. He gave Ciheri a tired smile when he started to apologize. “It is fine. Just…be more careful in the future. We don’t need Elara getting any ideas she won’t come back from.

“Elara, have you finished eating? If what Aldiner said is correct, then I need to give you a quick examination to determine if a more powerful disguise is in order.”

“Yeah, if I eat anymore, I’ll puke because I had too much ,” I answered with a nod. “You think the dissonance might have accelerated again?”

“It is possible that stress sped it up by several stages—I won’t know until I check, but I should be able to determine if its speed has remained increased, or if it has returned to a slower pace,” Zafir answered as he conjured a large black trunk and began rummaging around inside of it.

While Zafir worked to find his instruments, Rel returned, looking a little more relaxed.

“I’ve given orders to my best to tail Elara, and have advised many more to keep an eye on her team as well. We’ve also increased our own patrols, as the loose criminals are likely to prey on the Syldrari Sector and its borders.” Rel gave Zafir a questioning glance as he moved past, but continued talking, “Depending on how deeply Citomy is behind this nonsense, the criminals may have been told to make it appear that our sector is to blame.”

“Would they obey even if they weren’t ‘bound?’” I frowned at him.

“It depends on what they were offered in return for their obedience, and how well they were persuaded. A queen of her power doesn’t have to claim someone to control them.” Rel shook his head, disgust briefly washing over his face. “It is a shame that her mentor instilled such poor values in her, and that she is continuing the custom…”

“Speaking of mentors, I’ll get to work with my research.” Ciheri gave me a quick hug before rising to his feet and giving me a bright smile. “I’ll find everything I can about how to control and harness your power, Elara. Then, you won’t need to worry!”

I watched him dart off, then turned my attention to Zafir and Rel. “Why do you all seem to have such faith in me?”

“Because actions speak louder than words, and because we can tell your disgust with the status quo is genuine,” Zafir answered, pulling a glowing disc out of his trunk.

“And you treat all the sexes with the same amount of respect,” Rel added, before giving me an amused smile. “Though, you do clearly have your preferences, seeing as you’ve befriended mostly Lun’iri and Sol’iri thus far.”

“I’m still a little fuzzy on…” I tilted my head when he laughed and grinned at me.

“It’s good to know you aren’t picking and choosing based on what you find visually or physically appealing.” Rel gave me a mysterious smile and then turned his back to us, busying himself in one of the cupboards.

“Yes, well, if we start counting our blessings now we’ll never stop, and Elara will miss her duties,” Zafir interjected dryly, approaching me with various devices, including a pair of strange gloves with glowing bits along the palms and fingers. “You can remain as you are, Elara. This will not take long.”

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