Moonstone: Scene 9

Bb Major Malinconicamente

For one insanely brief moment after I woke up, I thought I was late for academy. I jumped out of bed and before I could rush through my morning routine and grab my classwork, I realized I was still wearing my remembrance ceremony clothing. My collarbone itched. Crap. At least no one was home right now. I didn't want to go all the way back over to the sun wing to bathe and change. Was there a Kyr-enabled DPU on this side of the house? I sat back down on Drendyn's bed. Ugh. Oh! My uncle's suite would have to have a Kyr-enabled DPU and wash room for his Flower.

I left Drendyn's room after first peering out the doors to make sure no one else was home. For a slight moment, I hesitated putting my hand on the latch to my uncle's suite. I knew he wasn't home, but the anxiety was still there. I closed my eyes and just walked in. Hmmm. He had changed his color scheme. For as long as I could remember, his suite had been basic greys, but now he had it colored with subdued but forceful hues. The Flower wash room doors were instantly obvious in the new color scheme.

I wish there were some non-fanciful clothing options for Flowers. I chose the least foofoo ensemble and hurriedly cleaned my mess from my uncle's suite. Since no one else was home, I was free to go into the family room and study or do whatever I wanted in one of the viewing units. I could catch up on my studies! I was excited to finally have some freedom.

I rushed into the family room and near single-mindedly went for my favorite viewing unit. I nearly tripped over Darkyn in the process. HELLFIRE!
"I was hoping to catch Drendyn before he went to academy."
"No, he left cycles ago."
Crap.
"Ah well, I will just wait to talk to him until he returns." I spun around and started walking out of the family room. Now what could I do?
"We found you, you know."
I stopped dead in my tracks and whipped around.
"What?"
"We found you, well, you and Drendyn. In the pod."

I walked over to where Darkyn was sitting in his ergolounge with all of his academy research materials around him. I knelt next to the bodyrest at his feet.
"Then it's true? The dream I had...?"
He looked away.
"Tryst and I were studying for our research entrance exams, so we couldn't attend the festival. We were studying in Xeven because my father was attending a diplomatic conference there along with other senators."
Tryst? Who was Tryst? Darkyn was in Xeven - the capitol of the Water race? I looked at Darkyn. He was so thin. His rust-colored eyes had lost their life and his blue-black hair didn't shine. How long had he been holding all of this in? Had he ever told anyone?
"Tryst Suiryoku is Arcson; he attended the remembrance ceremony."
Oh. The white one with the dark blue markings.
"We were studying in the main hall, when this pod just appeared. It must have traveled through the magnetways. We heard children screaming, and it took us a bit to actually open the pod. When we opened it though, there you two were, clearly distraught. Drendyn was screaming 'mother' and you were too young to do anything other than cry. I knew it was the two of you because of your fiery red-copper hair. I had never seen any Energy with that color of hair." He gave me an odd smile. Had I ever seen him smile before? Maybe that was his regular smile? He leaned forward and took out his lenses and rubbed his eyes.
"Kallus had attacked without the approval or even the knowledge of the senate or his constituents, but no one knew that at the time. The Arkh came running into the main hall to ask me where my father was, when he saw the two of you. He collapsed onto his knees and held his head in his hands. We all knew right then that Dryft had fallen, without even any reports. If the two of you had arrived by pod, there were no other survivors."
So it had been real. All of it. I didn't know what to think.
"Are you hungry?"
Actually, yeah, I was. I nodded. Darkyn opened his academy case.
"I have some spicy crap and bland crap. Which do you want?"
I had to keep from laughing a little. I'd never heard Darkyn speak so much, nor so candidly.
"A little of each."
He handed me a round flatbread and put a scoop of each on it. Real food. I wouldn't have cared what it was right then, I was so tired of the leafy Flower food. How long had it been since he'd eaten? I watched some shimmer come back to his silver skin. He leaned back in the squishy lounge.
"The reports started coming in after the redroids had investigated the loss of mesh-x data from the Energy regions. Lise had been destroyed and no survivors. Liox. Linden. Diode. Dryll. The city names kept pouring in, completely destroyed and no survivors. Kallus had waited until the time of the big festival, when all Energy race individuals would have returned home to celebrate. He had waited so he could wipe out the entire race in one massive blow."
He looked around.
"Want a drink?"
Was my cousin asking me to get wasted with him? Uhhhh.
"Come with me." He stood up and started walking out of the family room. Ok. I guess I'll follow him. I wanted to know more of what happened.
"Do you know how many diplomats had gone to the Energy dominion cities in preparation for the festival?" I followed him as he went into hallways I had never seen before. How big was this freaking house?
"Why were there so many diplomats at a festival?" He stopped in front of some glyphs that were not decorated. He pushed on the panel, and doors opened. My house has secret rooms? Hello, I've never *lived* here before. Hellfire!
"This was my mother's library." He went in. I felt awkward but I followed him. The library was dusty and had a faintly spicy scent. His mother had collected ancient, un-illuminated texts.
"It was the Snoellite festival. I don't think you've ever seen it happen, but there is one time when the three moons ring the suns and create the bright three-point star. Your mother would have presented you and named you and Drendyn during that time." He opened a set of panels below the fabric hangings on the back wall and took out some bottles.
"Why hadn't she named Drendyn before that?" I went closer to one of the walls lined with these unique texts. They couldn't even hold a fraction of what lumentexts could contain. I reached up and touched one. It was cool and bumpy to touch.
"I'm not sure. I think it had to do with one of their customs." He came over to the wall of texts I was running my hand over. He handed me a glass and drank straight out of the bottle. I swallowed mine. Nirvaise. I'd know that strong juice anywhere. I coughed and sputtered as my nose and throat were consumed in flames. Potent. He laughed.
"Not used to it, eh? I'm probably too used to it." He drank the last of the bottle and got another one.
"All of Tryst's brothers had been in Dryft with his mother, preparing for the festival. My mother, brother, and sister had also been in Dryft."
I shuddered.
"Dune, Dristenven, Kellan - all of their parents, and many many more had been in Dryft. What was left of the Air senate gathered as Kallus had broadcasted the "victory" over the Energy race, including the last words your mother ever spoke, and the sound of her dying. They condemned his actions and called him a traitor and insane. When Kallus heard their condemnations, he threatened to destroy the senate as well, calling them Energy-lovers. My father contacted Kellan's brother Aenin who was the navigator aboard one of Kallus' sky crafts. He found out that Aenin and many more warriors hadn't been told what they were doing, nor where they were exactly- only that they were doing a massive enemy practice session. My father had Aenin connect the mesh-x aboad the craft to Xeven. Aenin just kept repeating, 'Stars of Jarak! Stars of Jarak!' when he loaded the correct coordinates. Kallus had fed all of the sky crafts with false data, centered on Air's mesh-x controllers, and without any viewports, they had believed their data."
He offered me another glass of Nirvaise. Hellfire, how long had he been drinking like this? I handed him my glass. He filled it for me.
"My father took control of the senate and they enacted an order to remove Kallus from authority at any cost. He had Aenin randomly spread the mesh-x connections to Xeven to all of the sky crafts. No other dominion had any sky crafts, so the only way to take them down would be through the mesh-x. Dristenven and the Arkh of Xeven worked with the Arkh's mesh-x unit to find ways into Kallus' crafts. They took the crafts out of Kallus' control, with the exception of his command craft. The couldn't find any way into the command craft through the mesh-x. My father tried contacting Aenin to get control of the ship, but the last broadcast said everything. Aenin had killed Kallus, but not before Kallus had wounded him and sent the craft rocketing out to the stars. The craft imploded."
Darkyn lay on the floor, staring straight up with his hands under his head. His cheeks had taken on a dark grey hue. He was clearly affected by the Nirvaise.
"My father adopted Dune because he was Dristenven's brother, Dristenven became my father's assistant, and Kellan he adopted because of Aenin. You and Drendyn were adopted because you were our family."
"How did I become male? How did we get our names?"
"Those would both be because of me. Tryst and I knew that my father would *NEVER* have accepted a Flower in those times. With the help of the Arkh, we gave you a very precise living metal injection that "hid" your true gender. As for your names, I had overheard your mother telling my mother what she had decided - Drendyn and Leliah. I renamed you Tantrys."
I knelt on the floor next to him. "No one knew I was female after I was born?"
"No, only my mother - and then of course Drendyn, myself, Tryst, and the Arkh."
"How did you recognize me?"
"Your mother did post pictures of you, but she never said if you were male or female."
I felt very odd again.
"You've never spoken to me like this before... Actually, I don't think you've ever spoken to me."
"No, I haven't."
He turned his head and looked at me. His eyes were watery. He looked wretched and sick.
Why? Why now? Why had he chosen now to talk to me?
"Do you want to know the sick thing - the thing that really makes it unbearable for me, more so than anything else?"
There was more? What could possibly top having not only nearly your entire family murdered, but also knowing that an entire *race* had been exterminated?
"Kallus MAKI. *HIS* sons Jito and Kast are allowed to live, and their house is PROUD of Kallus. Kallus' brother Karius took over as head of the Maki family. In public they go along and condone him, but I know, I KNOW in private they believe he rid the world of WEEDS! My Mother was not a WEED and neither was yours!" He drank the last of the Nirvaise straight from the bottle.
My blood was boiling. I had never been so livid in all my life. I felt like I was on fire. I never knew I could feel absolutely *CONSUMED* by a loathing hatred for any one person. Kast Maki. I could feel nothing other than disgust. No wonder Darkyn never spoke.
"I wish I'd been able to save you from the Flower world forever, but I couldn't." He was wasted now.
"It's ok Darkyn. You did the best you could." What the hellfire else was I going to say, 'I wish you had too.' ...?
"No, you don't understand... now that you're a Flower, offers will come in for you... " He was too gone to speak out loud anymore.
Offers? From whom? For what? I suddenly felt anxious and sick. It wasn't good to feel so much in such a short period of time. I had to find out what he was talking about. I mean, I kind of understood how the process went and what happened, but not enough to make sense out of everything I now knew. I left Darkyn sleeping in the Library and went wandering around the house.

I finally reached the family room. I simply had to know all of what was involved in being a Flower.