The next day (Thursday, June 2, 2022) Aqrabuamelu compound; Flushing, Queens, New York, United States

Henry Jindal-Witten was an accomplished man in a family of very accomplished people. When he had moved to New York from London to pursue his acting career thirty-some years ago, he had no idea that he would end up being a professor of anthropology at Columbia; that his children would be succcessful and driven, that he would have, what he considered, a pretty ideal life. Like most parents, he feared for the future that his children would inherit. But that had taken a turn he had never expected and his dear Eesha was at the heart of it.

So he told her he just wanted to follow her around for a day and see what she was doing. She smiled a bit and said it felt like “Bring your dad to school” day, but agreed.

She was so busy she hadn’t even really noticed that she was only sleeping two to three hours a night. But Henry and Navneet both had. Whatever had happened to his daughter, she was riding it hard, or it was riding her.

He went to bed early that night and got up with Eesha at four a.m. They took a quick ride to midtown where they met Tommy Xu. He was an urbane, handsome man with slicked back hair and a touch of gray at each temple wearing an absolutely lovely three piece suit. He had shaken Henry’s hand, and Henry watched as he and Eesha seamlessly switched between magical theory, physics, and then finance. There was mutual respect here that made him reconceptualize his daughter — the realization that she was truly an adult now.

On their way back, Eesha mentioned that Tommy Xu was actually a dragon and was older than humanity. Henry, after an internal dialog where he made himself just accept it, suddenly had a spasm of professorial curiosity, he wanted to go back and ask so many questions. What anthropologist wouldn’t?

The moment they got to the compound, Eesha changed into her workout clothes, and they went to the gym. After being couped up for a couple of days, Henry walked on a treadmill while Eesha started loading weights in the squat rack.

Harish had mentioned that Ella seemed pretty strong. But Henry had almost fallen off the treadmill when he saw Ella put plate after plate on the bar and start squatting. It was physically impossible. And she was doing it for reps.

Afterwards, she took him to the commissary. There were large tables in neat rows, filled with various Aqrabuamelu in military fatigues of various countries. When they arrived, they all stood up and saluted Eesha.

“As you were…” she said, her voice commanding. It was a tone Henry had never heard from her before.

She leaned over to him and confided, “I can’t get them to stop. They used to all kneel on the floor every time I walked in, it was too much. This is the best I can get.”

Eesha refused to jump the queue as they waited in line. She loaded up on vegetables and multiple non-descript sealed meal trays. “Military rations and veggies. We can earn regular food if we score a hit on Zaidu. I haven’t managed one yet. By the way, he is a total jerk, so just ignore how abusive he is. I do.”

Out of curiosity, Henry picked up one of the sealed meal trays as well. When they sat down to eat, he wrinkled his nose in disgust. They were terrible. Eesha ate two whole trays doggedly and finished off his tray as well.

Henry remembered seeing Zaidu at the medical facility when Eesha had been hurt, so seeing him again was no surprise. Zaidu sniffed at seeing Henry, but Henry just found a corner and stayed out of the way. Eesha made quick introductions to the squad again, some of which Henry had met before.

Davcina was tall and willowy and genuinely enthusiastic about everything. Adrahasis reminded Henry of a younger version of Arcsa. His shoulder length hair was tied back and he had high cheekbones and a severe face. Tauthe was slightly shorter than everyone and a little bit curvier, emphasized since she had started showing her pregnancy.

They began with mad, spirited runs through the hallways. Henry couldn’t come close to keeping up, but he watched as Eesha whipped around corridors and dodged various obstacles with a grace that was unreal. Truly unreal he realized, much like her strength, she was moving faster than anyone had any right to be.

After, they began unarmed combat. And he saw why Eesha was stuck eating military rations. Zaidu was merciless, and the way they fought brutal.

Davcina went up first. She bounced lightly on the balls of her feet before the start was called. Her first attack was a quick kick at Zaidu’s thigh, who let it bounce off. She followed that up with a low leading punch, using her long legs to drive forward into range. Zaidu stepped forward and inside of her punch, bringing up his knee to her face. She blocked the knee with her other arm and managed to grab the knee.

He instantly stepped forward hard, driving his weight through on his trapped leg, forcing it through her grip and forward. Now that he was closer, he wrapped his arm around her head, trapping the leading arm with her neck. And then he deliberately kicked his other leg back, pulling her down to the ground hard. It was over.

“Next time when you grab a leg, recognize it can act as a lever for either side. Don’t let me have balance.”

Davcina stood up and had a huge smile on her face. Apparently that was success in this arena.

Eesha was up next. They both stood in their fighting stances, paused. Waiting. Eesha fainted a step forward but it wasn’t enough to get Zaidu to react.

It was quiet.

Then Eesha skipped in and threw a low sweeping kick that Zaidu just managed to lift his leg over. He converted the leg lift into a push kick that landed on Eesha’s hip and caused her to stagger back.

They were back to their stances but this time Eesha began slowly circling. When she moved, Henry almost missed it. She did that small skip step again, and lifted her leg, but this time it was a feint, and she put it back down to the outside of Zaidu’s stance and launched an elbow at his face. He got both his arms in front to block the elbow.

Eesha stepped back and launched a cross with the same arm at Zaidu’s face. He went low and slipped on the inside and then he drove his head straight up at hers, clocking her on the chin with his forehead and sending her back to fall down.

“More rations for you,” he hissed.

Eesha got up quickly, spit some blood to the side and then saluted smartly and merely said, “Yes sir” Somewhat muffled by her mouthguard.

The others took turns, and even despite Tauthe’s condition, Zaidu had no hesitation in firing a hook right at her head which he managed to land. She had managed to land a knee at the same time and they both staggered back.

Then they went to the range.

“These are the rifles we took from the enemy. They will be issued to the US military in the next few years. High velocity, armor piercing, low mag count. Make your shots count.” Zaidu’s voice was low and intense.

Eesha put her target all the way in back, shouldered her rifle and took shots without a break. Her motions were well practiced, and she changed out magazines quickly and efficiently. Henry, back in his acting days in London had played a SCO19 officer for a short-lived series, and the producers had brought in a retired SAS officer to show them how to look professional. Eesha looked professional. Firing like a metronome and then reloading without missing a beat.

“Check this out, dad!” Eesha excitedly showed her target which had very tight groupings mid-chest and head. Henry had sudden deja-vu of Eesha bringing crayon drawings to him in first-grade with the same excitement. Zaidu glowered but didn’t say anything.

“Its very nice, dear.”

Training finished, Henry followed Adra into the locker room, and then promptly turned around and walked out. The locker room was co-ed and had big central shower where Davcina and Eesha were currently cleaning off.

Eesha emerged from the locker room in those linen robes everyone seemed to favor while toweling off her hair. They went up to the roof of the compound where there were some gardens and a view of the Manhattan skyline. Eesha sat down and patted the bench next to her and leaned her head on his shoulder. He put an arm around her like they used to do.

“Hey dad, you know you don’t need to follow me around. This is all pretty boring.”

He looked at her, she was looking to the skyline, ignoring the chill morning air. Her eyes were crystal white on white, with only a dark limbal ring. She was his daughter.

“I like it, I want to know what you do… So what now?”

“A bit of free time. I usually go see the children now.”

So they went to see the children. The room they were in was similar to the one he had been staying in, but the walls had been painted in a variety of colors and there were shelves of toys on one side.

“This is a crèche, where the young of the Aqrabuamelu often stay. They communally raise their children.” Eesha told him. “Many of them are thousands of years old and have had human children multiple times. They are really good at parenting, seems like practice definitely helps.”

Oddly enough, Harish was there with the children. He was sitting on the side of the room while talking to the younger Seb. They were talking about video games.

Alicia was trying to hand knit yarn.

And Sally? She was a vibrant teal with dark purplish red markings colored lizard with bright red eyes. Alicia had apparently given up on keeping it secret. And she was clinging to a wall trying to make a yo-yo work. Eesha had said she was a Nüwa, a part dragon hybrid. She was pretty cute and very much a child. After a while she started drawing with crayons.

Henry remembered when Eesha had been five. She had always been serious. Never stopping, always asking why things were the way they were. Sally was far more playful. She was restless and kept climbing the walls, literally, and would play strange games and sometimes talk in a different language, one none of them understood. Eventually, Alicia got out some dolls, and they engaged in a lot of imaginary role play.

“You know that the tutors will be starting soon?” Eesha asked.

“School? I think I would like that.” Alicia said reflectively. “But I wish there were more kids here.”

“Seb, you will be taking courses with Alicia. Until we can get you both into a regular school.”

Seb looked up, this was news to him. “Uh… I got to train and all.” He looked nervous.

“Tough luck.” Eesha was merciless.

“But before that starts, can I ask both of you a question,” and Eesha pointed to Alicia and Sally and to the floor in front of her. They both reluctantly came and stood there. Sally’s tongue darted out, and she licked one of her eyes.

“I know I haven’t asked. Is there somewhere either of you have family? Do you want to go home?”

Alicia got quiet and a bit pale. “My dad died. And my mom… she had said Tom was going to be my new dad. But he wanted to play games I didn’t like.”

And Henry watched as Eesha’s eyes became hard and flinty. She took a deep breath. “Okay. I don’t think you ever have to see Tom again. Don’t worry about that.”

“How about you Sally?”

“I miss my mom.”

“Where is she? Do you want to see her?”

Alicia jumped in, “I found Sally alone in an alley. She was eating out of the garbage. It was totally gross.”

“So where were you before the alley?”

“Dunno. I was home and my mom gave me the ring and said to hide with humans. There were these strange gray and black creatures hurting us. She told me she would come back through the tunnel right after me. She never did!” Sally stomped her… foot? And then crawled up the wall to a corner to sulk.

“Well, let’s see what we can see. Alicia, Sally, lets go find that alley this weekend. Maybe we can find out what is going on. Plus, get out of here for a bit. Sally, you will have to wear your ring when you leave, okay?”

“It itches. No!”

Eesha looked stumped for a moment. Henry whispered to her, “Don’t hesitate to use bribery.”

“If you keep your ring on, I’ll get you ice cream, deal?”

They walked back to the commissary chatting.

“Dad, I am sure you guys are already sick of being here. We need to talk about what to do now.”

Henry heard the unspoken with you tacked onto that sentence. But he let it slide. He didn’t know either.

“What happened to the house?”

“Still a crime scene for now. Your names are being suppressed though I can’t guarantee it will hold forever. We are trying to craft a story that makes you guys out to be innocent. Current favorite is you stumbled onto a terrorist cell by accident and they attacked the house. But it kind of sucks as a story… Zana has a bunch of ideas though.”

“So… what does that mean?”

Eesha looked at him, “It means you guys can’t go back there. At least for now. It may be time for you both to take a sabbatical.”

Henry knew that was coming. Navneet knew as well. But it was hard hearing it nonetheless.

“Harish is out for summer anyway having graduated. Mom… she is tougher. I doubt she will agree to stop seeing patients.”

“Your mother has always been on a mission to save people.”

“Let me think about it. But maybe a suggestion?” Eesha thought for a moment. “How would she feel working out of that medical facility I was stuck in? It is well guarded and owned by the Aqrabuamelu. They were thinking about making it a luxury health resort, but also a place where Aqrabuamelu could go when they are wounded. And… I think there will be lots of wounded soon.” She looked dispirited as she said that. Henry didn’t know what to say.

They ate lunch in silence. Eesha picked up a several MRE packs and consumed them mechanically.

“So you need to get a hit on Zaidu?” Henry asked, wanting to change the direction of her thinking.

“Yeah… I sometimes get close. But I just never quite manage it.” She smiled. “On the weekends, I go eat at home or at a shelter where I volunteer with Jade, so it is just during the week. But now it is just the principle of it.”

“So home is at Charlie’s?”

“Yes, how strange is that,” she mused. “Did you know Charlie’s dad is super rich? Like billionaire rich? Her and Adra are dating? He won’t let her see his true form though, he says she will be scared. Xu won’t show her his either.”

After lunch, Eesha and he went back to the quarters, where Navneet was sitting, reading some medical journals and working on her next submission. He kissed Navneet gently on her head so as not to distract her and sat down to nap while Eesha pulled out her computer and started reading physics. Harish came in later and pulled out his phone to play games.

When he woke up, Eesha was gone, she had left a note

Dad, I had to go to the holding cells. You wouldn’t be allowed there. Be back in a bit…

Ansheth was working on a poem in honor of Belatsunat who had led him to the truth of God. But it was gibberish, his mad mind unable to truly put together the rigor of the alexandrine form.

Red leaves floating away on the river current

The cold invades into the nature’s bones

The white covers and creates austere, serene beauty

But the trees are bitter for what lies underneath and for what was taken.

Ella heard the declaimed words outside of his cell, but she was deep in thought, following his thought patterns and comparing them to the Aqrabuamelu guard standing outside the holding area. There were similarities in the lattice of magic that bound their minds, but the Aqrabuamelu’s tangle of magic was far more complicated.

Perhaps the largest difference was how it involved the prefrontal cortex. The rigid formations in the drow were quite different than the more subtle lines that intersected nodes in the Aqrabuamelu’s mind. Ella’s hypothesis, and this was just the barest hint of one, was that the Aqrabuamelu had been left free to think and thus lived in a state of constant cognitive dissonance between belief and intellectualism.

The lattices attached directly to the motor and sensory cortexes and there were even what looked like a kill switch in both the drow and Aqrabuemelu attached to the brainstem. That one was obvious and easy to find for her, meant to be easily activated by Ekerri or his heirs. and there were several threads that disappeared into the distance for the drow. when she checked the Aqrabuamelu, she saw similar threads connecting them to one another.

Ekerri’s versatility with magic was impressive. Whereas the infertility of the Aqrabuamelu was a delicate string that went from cell to cell, knotting around each chromosome in the body in one continuous strand. The magic that controlled their beliefs was a series of independent connections, creating a secondary network between neurons and parts of the brain beyond just that of axons and dendrites.

She could rip it all out. But she could not be certain those connections weren’t necessary. It would be taking the risk of something very like a lobotomy. When she compared them to a human brain, her brain in partricular, it seemed that the conventional connections between parts of the brain were somewhat less, as if the magical connections had supplanted them or caused the physical connections to atrophy from disuse.

It was a puzzle, and Ella felt like she understood enough to know she didn’t know enough.

Henry watched as Eesha came back to the room, gnawing on a ration bar. She waved hi and then sat down and pulled out of the bunk locker a long wrapped package which turned out to be a long dagger.

Henry wandered back over.

“How did it go?”

“I am trying to solve a couple of puzzles and I feel like I didn’t make much progress. I… I want to free the Aqrabuamelu and one of the drow, they are another of Ekerri’s slave creations. I was down there studying how to do that. Didn’t make much progress.”

She called over to Navneet, “Mom! Do you know any genius neurologists or neurosurgeons that wouldn’t mind being kept by the Aqrabuamelu after consulting on a magical problem? I could probably have them paid a lot to put up with it.”

And so Eesha explained what she had found with the drow and Aqrabuamelu, how they were held in thrall by Ekerri’s magic and how she was going to free them.

“Won’t they turn on you if you do that?” Henry asked.

Ella nodded no. “I don’t think so. I just think they should be free to choose, you know?”

She nodded to the table where the long dagger sat, “This is my other puzzle.” When she unsheathed the blade, Henry couldn’t help it, despite his goal of being nonjudgmental, a quick indrawn breath gave away his nervousness. The blade shimmered with the same prismatic crystalline look Ella’s eyes had. The dagger made everything else around it seem pale, bland in comparison. But as he stared at it, his vision started to blur, the image of the blade almost seemed to break apart into facets. He felt a bit nauseous.

“Can you put that away?”

Ella sheathed it and sheepishly looked at them, “Sorry. Everyone tells me it is super unpleasant to look at. It looks like a dagger to me unless I try and see it’s magic, where it is like a black shadow or darkness.”

Both Navneet and Henry blinked their eyes to clear their vision.

“This is…” and Ella said something in a strange foreign language. “or in English, the Dagger of Mists and Veils that Pierces the Firmament. Dagger of Veils for short.”

“Why does it look so… vivid?”

“You noticed that too? Magical things just have this extra added reality to them. Like you suddenly realize everything you have been seeing was just a picture of the real thing. It is weird. Here, watch this.”

Ella stood up and her eyes started glowing. The crown formed on her head. Her clothes began to change, turning into a gown. And she became more real… more present. Just as she had said.

She held the effect and then let it go.

“Weird, right?”

A bit later, Davcina and Tauthe came over to the room.

They spent the time whispering to one another and laughing like they were thirteen year old girls. But it made Henry feel better, even here Eesha managed to make friends and not work.

Then Arcsa came in and asked Eesha, Navneet and Henry to talk.

“I’ve asked our High Priestess and Zana here to ask discuss your options.” Arcsa said. His shoulder length gray hair was neatly combed back. He had a tweed jacket with honest to god patches on the elbows and a light v-neck sweater underneath in a rich red.

The High Priestess, Major Khouri, stood in her US Army uniform.

“The official story will be that our Doctor here was targeted for treating one of a terrorist cells targets. A white supremacist terrorist cell drove from rural Pennsylvania to make the attack but it was foiled when someone spotted them carrying weapons and tipped off the police. They engaged into a firefight with the terrorists and all of them were killed.”

“Now there are two options. In the first option, you were killed. You would be set up with new identities and live new lives. We would be able to get Harish admitted to his college under a new name. We would maintain roughly the same amount of protection relying on anonymity to keep you safe.”

“The second option, you can have survived, but you will live a much more protected life. Multiple guards living with you, bulletproof clothing, rescue drills, etc. We would most likely arrange to buy the entire block you live on to secure it and your workplaces would be have to be guarded as well about as extensively. Harish would also have a full detail at school.”

“Like the president’s children?”

“Far far more. We would essentially move the entirety of our California based soldiery to be nearby, at least a battalion.”

“Well, you make them both sound so appealing.”

Eesha had stayed quiet while her parents were told this, her hands tight in her lap. She didn’t know what to say.

“You can also stay here instead.” Ella said. “I know it is rather spartan. But, but… I am sorry.” She was not going to cry even if this was her fault. Her eyes glowed slightly with I shed tears.

And Navneet, whose idea of comfort was a nod, actually reached out and pulled her close into a fierce hug.

“We will change our names,” she said, looking at Henry for confirmation. He nodded acquiescence. “Do we keep our careers?”

The High Priestess smiled, “Yes. We can employ you directly Dr. Jindal-Witten. And we are happy to work with you, Professor, to find something.”

Henry reached over and grabbed his wife’s hand and squeezed. “I think we might go west. Ella told me earlier today that this would happen. If we reinvent ourselves, let’s do it all the way.”

Eesha held onto her mother, her eyes bright with tears.

Navneet looked down at her daughter, her free hand running through her daughters hair.

“I’d rather we didn’t die. I had always talked about going to do a stint with Medecins San Frontiers. Let them think I went to do that. Henry, you are on field research for a year or two.”

“That is fine,” the High Priestess said. “This will not be forever.”

“So do we get to pick new names? I always fancied myself more of a Lakshmi.”

Henry muttered to his wife, “I think I was the lucky one.”

Navneet’s eyes sparkled a bit as a new horizon opened up to her and she realized she was excited. A new start, a fresh start. It would be an adventure.

“We can figure out the details later, please make sure you sleep on it. Once we head down a path, we won’t be able to change it.”

Later they sat around a pizza carton on the table with Harish. Ella sat and stared longingly at the pizza but kept picking at her military rations.

“So… this will be like witness protection?” Harish asked.

“Seems like it.” Navneet said.

Eesha didn’t say anything. The guilt on her face wouldn’t be assuaged and for the fourth time she asked, “We can figure something else out. You don’t have to do this. I will make it right.”

Her mother looked at her with an altogether unfamiliar expression. Not the jaded amusement and sarcastic tough love that she normally evinced, but just unalloyed contentment.

“Eesha. I don’t think you understand. For me, this is a gift. A chance to reinvent myself. You know my mother was a bitter woman, her family separated by partition and violence. And I… I found myself turning into her year after year. I hated it. And now? Do you know what the other Indian doctors called me at the hospital? Dr. Seera! I don’t want to be the tiger that bites everyone and now I can leave it behind.”

Her eyes sparkled as she looked at her husband, “I am going to be a vapid Los Angeles bimbo! An air headed trophy wife. Something fun and, and… liberated!”

Henry looked over at his wife and realized he didn’t know her as well as he should. “And us?”

“I can’t be a trophy wife without a successful husband to make the other wives jealous.” She leaned over to possessively hold his arm. Then leaned back self consciously.

“Ok. I need to work on it some. But Eesha, don’t worry about us.”

“Harish?”

He looked at his mother who was glowing and bubbly and not severe at all. His father who gave him a shrug and a half smile.

“Call me Gabriel.” he said tentatively, and then nodded firmly, “Yep. Gabriel.”

“Oh Harish!” Gabriel, the name of Harish’s childhood friend who had died in a hit and run years ago.

“I think I need to think on it more myself,” said Henry. “Plus we will need a new last name too after all.”

“Smith?” Harish ventured as a joke and they all gave it a bigger laugh than it deserved.

“Hey… did you guys know there are amazing baths here?”