Rock samples.

I’ve finally found a moment of peace in the chaos of the last few rotations and what do I do with the quiet? I’m trying to understand these bloody rock samples. As well as the two sites I helped explore, Kine had his Forest experts search and record the other sites so I had plenty to work with. He’d even arranged for me to have all the equipment I need and my own virtual lab, which was brilliant. I never had such sophisticated stuff at my finger tips before. But so far, I wasn’t getting anywhere.

Well that’s not true, I’ve figured out 172,000 references that don’t match the rocks. So that’s something I guess. The mineral and chemical make up of the samples was, so far, unique. I couldn’t find anything to match in the records and at this rate, it wasn’t looking good. Which meant I needed to do something risky... Bef0re I could talk myself out of it I hastily put together a message and, careful to ensure security, sent it on the private Myath network. Hopefully I’d get a quick response. Something told me that we were quickly running out of time and I wasn’t even sure what the problem was yet...

Securing my work and samples, I left the VR lab and stretched out my stiff muscles, arms arched over my head and tail flickering. Once we’d finally left the Healer’s Hall, we’d had an impromptu but extravagant party for Seth who still maintained the new form. It was rushed but Lazot was planning a more formal celebration in his House so everyone can celebrate. Despite all the time he spends here in Kine’s House, he still managed to give House Greer the attention it needed and Seth was spending more and more time there. I had a feeling that soon, Seth would make House Greer his home and I’d see less of him. It will be hard but he needs to find his place here and spend time with those of his age. It wasn’t like I was going anywhere, we’d still have plenty of time together and I wanted him to have the childhood that had been taken from him. Staying with me wil1 not help him grow.

Lost in thought I wandered my suite of rooms. I wasn’t used to the quiet and it reminded me of life before Kine. Even then, Dad and I or, later, Seth and I would travel alone between the many Myath groups, problem solving and information gathering. It was an eerie feeling. Quiet always used to mean we had to keep moving, always on guard, short rest periods. Now, quiet meant stay stil1 to stay safe. Call for the guards. Nothing ever stayed the same but the last few orbits were giving me whiplash.

I was alone in my rooms because, this morn, Kine carried out the raid on House Kuthar and arrested everyone on site. Apparently, after Lazot had given his testimony, the Icanthie leadership had detailed a plan to deal with the problematic House and Kine would be there to ensure compliance and the safety of every0ne involved. Personally, I don’t trust my Aunt or most of her enforcers, especially if she had more Banished, so I’d insisted that Kine take my guards. It was a fight but I promised to stay at the mansion. As long as I didn’t leave, the mansion guards could protect me.

It all felt slightly surreal. My biggest fear, the individuals responsible for k1lling my parents, are going to be shackled, at least for a while. No more assassination attempts, coup de ta or threats of violence. All my life I’d been wary of the other races, always on edge and ready to fight or flee. Trained to never freeze and never take unnecessary risks. Never get to close. Then Kine takes me in and our bond accelerated our relationship even before we realised we were cousins. He and Mathias protect me and give me guards but I’m still on edge being in The Capital. I may know how to take care of myself but no one can take on an entire city.

I’ve only just started to settle into the idea, or rather the reality, of having close kin again. It’s no wonder my emotions are a little confused. I think it’s going to take a while f0r everything to settle again. I’d only just gotten a handle on raising Seth and fully stepping into the role of a Myath leader and that had taken two orbits!! So here I was distracting myself from Kine’s raid and the quiet by looking into the environmental anomalies that are accelerating in frequently.

Realising I'd been wondering aimlessly in circles, I glanced out of the window and noticed for the first time how dark it had gotten. Kine should be back soon, depending on how many were in House Kuthar. Despite how much I wanted to contact them and find out what was going on, it’s better not to distract them but I hadn’t heard anything so far. I hoped they were all okay.

I grabbed a snuggly blanket and opened the doors to the balcony. Being inside so much was odd and I loved to watch the skies so it had become a habit to spend the evenings out here. It was a beautiful night. Now I had access to the atmosphere schedule, I knew when to expect rain and cloud. Tonight was ideal, clear skies and a warm fresh breeze, perfect for star gazing. I could spend ages out here.

And I did. Only when it was getting a little too cool did I start to stir and take in my surroundings again. Sometimes, when you looked up and there was nothing to interrupt your view, it felt like you could zoom in and the darkness would just swallow you. Vertig0 kicked in, making you feel like you were falling upwards. Like there was something out there calling you and pulling to them.

So when I came back to planet, I was surprised to find myself being watched. My little bird was back, sitting on the balustrade. I smiled and slowly sat up, getting closer to him.

“Hello again little bird. What are you doing here?” I asked gently.

He cocked his head to the side to look at me, then jumped down from to the balcony floor. Before I realised it, he shifted and I was looking at a familiar man. Standing quickly, a wide smile on my lips, I wrapped him in a hug.

Thellip huffed and gently squeezed me back. Avaness were all deceptively strong, their flight muscles translating across all their forms, so Thellip was always very careful when interacting with others. Not that anyone ever really saw an Avaness these days, they stuck to their archipelago, the only land outside continent. Thellip was the only one I knew.

“What are you doing here? I didn’t expect anyone so quickly. Are you well? Is everyone well? What news?” I fired off questions at him but, realising that he couldn’t answer until I shut up, quickly calmed myself. This was dangerous for him and I needed to keep my head but ohhhh it was so good to see a familiar face. “Sorry Thellip, it’s just so go0d to see you.”

“Sierra. It’s good to see you too. We have all been concerned.” Though he had always been a bit stoic, he felt very deeply and, if you really looked, you could always see it in his eyes. He was a good friend. “I have two messages for you and will take back whatever missives you desire.”

He immediately sent me a mental package with a message from Namada and I absorbed it as Thellip reached into a little carry pouch to extract a storage container. The message was concerning. Namada and her group had encountered more severe flooding and had met up with another Myath group that carried news of more falling debris and crash sites. Namada asked if I could confirm whether there was a crash site near The Capital and if I had found anything.

This was becoming more and more serious. The Myath travelled the entire continent of Planet so this phenomenon wasn’t just local. But what was it and why was it suddenly becoming a problem?

Thellip caught my attention by gently touching my arm and, when I looked round, handed me a small package. It was cool to the touch and when I opened it, I realised why. They were DNA archives. Seven little pipettes holding so much data, better than any digital means of storage. Just what I needed.

“Thellip, do you have time to stay? I need my lab before I can give you any kind of message for the others.”

Though he hesitated, he nodded and followed me as I turned and headed to my work area. I could understand his reluctance. Though not a Myath himself, he had lived among us almost his entire adult life and had taken on our habits. He had no way of knowing who we’d meet or how they'd react and, from his earlier comments, my people were wary of my new position and situation.

At the lab, I ignored the VR interface for now and headed towards the DNA sequencer. I needed to extract the data and set up a search for my samples. Hopefully the Myath archives would find a match and I could get some idea of what was going on.

“How did you get the archives so fast? I barely requested them.”

Thellip continued his close inspection as he answered me, likely gathering as much intel as possible to relay to the Myath leaders.

“They were already on their way to you before you made the request. I only intercepted your message as I neared The Capital. When Namada met up with Tacca’s group and realised the problem was larger than we first thought, she ordered all our archives to be sent to you. She hoped that you could use them to find answers but Yula was reluctant to send it. Some of the leaders are worried that the Icanthie will learn too much about us and don’t want the archives in their hands.”

I sighed. “I understand but not all of them are bad. The problem is knowing who to trust and who will target us. Yula always was far more paranoid than the rest of us. I’m surprised her group has lasted this long. She won’t let them anywhere near settlements and the wilds just aren’t safe enough to spend prolonged time there. She probably thinks I’m locked up in some cell, being used to hunt the rest of the Myath.”

The was a pause in the conversation as the sequencer beeped.

“... Are you?”

I looked back at him and found a sardonic smile on his lips. He shrugged self consciously.

“Sorry Sierra. I think I know the answer but I had to ask. Are you being held against you will or used to hunt the Myath?”

I just stared at him incredulously before snorting a sad laugh as I dropped into a comfy cushion.

“I get it. They need to make sure the Myath aren’t in danger. I’m not a prisoner. I actually have blood kin from my Dad's side here and they care for me. They care about me. Mind you, some of Mum's kin tried to kill me so... As for hunting the Myath, no one’s pushing me for information and the little I’ve spoken about is more lifestyle stuff. You know, no Healers, being hunted, that kind of thing. It’s not much and can’t be used to find us. Don’t worry about that. But...”

“But what?”

“You might want to start a discussion about whether or not you're willing to work with some of the Icanthie. The King is thinking about reaching out and starting a dialogue. He knows it’s not going to be easy but he hopes to start by writing us into the law, protections and rights.”

Thellip just stood there speechless as I busied myself with extracting the archives and setting up the search. When he still didn’t speak I hurried on.

“It’s way off, just ideas for now but he’s passionate about it. He’ll want to make it work eventually but I suspect that it will be a long project. Besides, we have to deal with House Kuthar and this environmental issue first. There should not be flooding of this level when we have climate and atmospheric control systems...”

Thellip didn’t say anything else but I could tell he was trying to compile everything he was learning into a report for the Myath leaders. So I left him to think and focused on finding answers in the archives.

Despite the vast amount of information contained in the timely package, the search through the archives went quickly. The sound of the alert beeping had me rushing over to check the results.

“What did you find?”

“What?” The question just blurted out of me and I stunned myself a little. I was not a blurter. “That makes no sense.”

“Sierra! What is it?”

“I’ve found a match for the samples I collected. It says they are from the moon...”

“What?”

“Yeah I know, but that’s what is says. Someone named Apollo brought back rocks from the moon. My samples are an exact match to those rocks.”

“Thats got to be a myth right? Is that all there is? There must be more.”

“Nope. These records are old and there’s barely anything from that far back. The data’s fragmented and incomplete. You know what it’s like.”

Thellip was losing his legendary stoic cool. “Sierra, this can’t be right. No one has ever been to the moon. No one leaves planet.”

“Well not now but we have no idea what happened in ancient history. So much was lost or destroyed after the catastrophe. I’m only telling you what I’ve found. The problem is, it’s not much...” I sighed and hung my head. “I'm gonna have to go back.”

Thellip took a hold of my shoulders and looked into my eyes. “You can’t Sierra. You know you can’t. You barley got out last time and things have gotten much worse since then.” I tried to argue with him but he continued before I got a word out. “There are other records. The other races have archives too. We should at least try those before we contemplate going back there. Right?”

I rocked on my heels, trying to decide what to do.

“Okay. I know you’re right but if the other races records fail, I will go back. We have to fix this Thellip or it’s only going to get worse. I can feel it...”

***

Thellip left soon after with the DNA archives safely wrapped in their cooler.

“You made sure to clean it all off right? There are no records in the Icanthie systems?”

“It’s fine. I used an isolated processor with royal coding to run the search and overwrote all the commands. No one can see what I did and even if they could, nothing of my original work was left behind. All I did was put a duplicate of my findings on the Myath network. Everything else was scrubbed. Promise.”

After he’d gone, I still hadn’t heard from Kine, Mathias or their team and I couldn’t sleep, so I decided to read through some of my private archives. Things I’d written or found when I got a chance to look at ancient records. Sometimes I even got ancient music clips. I think I like them the best, each one a tiny glimpse at real people from the long lost past.

Linger not long my sweet flower,

Ere the waters cool and sup the heat from thy gentle cheek.

Sweet love nurtured in gentle hands,

Lasts not long ere it face the tyrant world.

Yet ne’er to blossom to fullest bloom,

When gentle hand becomes gilded cage.

What then canst do, sweet flower love?

I never found the whole thing. I don’t know who wrote it or when and I’ve no idea what it’s about exactly. But, to me, it speaks about a struggle to care for someone without smothering them. There are so many more and that’s just what I’ve recovered, all of them talking about the same things we struggle with now. Almost like nothing has really changed. The same struggles, the same hopes, the same love. When I read them, I think about the nature of words and language. Communication.

I’ll never know who wrote most of this stuff, their race their gender, their age. But it didn’t matter who wrote it, it still speaks to me. It’s as if words have magic. Most are lost to time and no one will ever hear them or know them. But some are preserved in heart and mind and history. I guess that means we have to be careful about what we say or record. Once uttered, they cannot be unsaid, for good or ill. Wisdom is guarding against words and knowing when to utter them and when to stay silent...

Secrets. Again I am bound by secrets. Words I cannot say for fear of what they will lead to... but it might not be bad right? There are so many ways to communicate but, in the end, they can still fail. Why? Why is it that sometimes, nothing gets through? Maybe it’s not what I say, but who I say it to.

I lay back, my mind running around in the sleepy, dazed way of those almost asleep. Where things come together and make sense until you wake up and realise it’s all lost again. A yawn cracked my jaw my eyes drooped, too heavy to stay open anymore and sleep dragged me into her gentle embrace just as I thought I heard and gentle whisper...

“Sierra.”