The Lord of the Plains

by Sarah Chapman

Chapter 15

  Riley sat with Jillia eating lunch. They sat somewhat apart from the larger group. Riley wasn’t so much eating as watching and waiting for the right time to ask. It was the first time they’d been together since Jillia had shown Riley her home.

  Jillia took a bite, chewed and then swallowed. She looked up at Riley, a hint of that brittle smile in her eyes.

  Riley took that as her cue. ‘Do you like living in the dormitories?’ she asked.

  Jillia was silent for a moment. ‘I haven’t lived anywhere else.’ she sighed. ‘Yes, I do. I have my family all around me.’ She said as she looked towards the group of gemengs.

  Riley followed her eyes. ‘They are your family?’ she asked.

  Jillia’s eyes flicked back to hers. ‘Not by blood but yes, they are.’ she sighed. ‘I like it there I just…’ she screwed up her face and gestured towards the human children. ‘They don’t live like us!’ there was some temper in her voice though she was careful to keep it quiet.

  ‘Can you move?’ Riley asked, ‘if you had enough money?’

  That brittle smile. ‘No.’ That was all. That was all that was needed.

  She looked down at her lunch. ‘Do you have the rules hanging on your wall?’ Jillia asked, her tone said she knew the answer already. ‘They think because we’re gemengs we’ll run through the city killing everyone if they don’t control us. You know my parents and their parents were born here but I still have to do immersion!’

  ‘Did they shoot you?’ she asked curiously.

  Jillia’s eyes widened. ‘What?’

  ‘When I came into Astar they shot me.’ Riley explained. ‘It was a test.’

  ‘Oh-oh, no. No, they don’t test gemengs born here. Not usually. Not unless there’s a problem.’ she said, her face ashen at the thought.

  ‘Why not?’ Riley asked carefully, noting Jillia’s sickly expression.

  ‘What? Well, I guess they don’t think gemengs who have parents weak enough to come here would be a problem. My mum says it’s wild out there… gemengs kill each other all the time. That’s why they have to be careful about letting any in, because they’re all violent. She says new gemengs are always causing trouble.’ she eyed Riley somewhat carefully, ‘and if they have a broken arm at least if they cause trouble they can be taken care of easy. Gemengs who are born here aren’t like that. They aren’t… they aren’t violent like the ones outside. We’re civilised. We have proper names, not like the gemengs from outside.’

  Riley for her part, was not offended. She nodded to show she understood, noted it, and decided to tell Aerlid. This was something that would interest him.

  ‘Is that why some gemengs don’t have last names?’ Riley asked.

  Jillia nodded. ‘Yeah, if they’re from outside, or their parents are. Gemengs from outside don’t name themselves properly. I guess you have a name from your human parent?’

  ‘I guess so.’ Riley replied carefully. She wasn’t a good liar, and she remembered that Meilis wasn’t her real name, no more than Arntar was Aerlid’s real name.

  Jillia fell silent. She watched Riley for some time before asking, ‘What’s it like out there?’

  ‘Not many people.’ Riley answered after a moment.

  ‘Did you live in a village with other gemengs?’ she asked.

  Riley watched her, her mind working. She suspected that wasn’t what Jillia was really asking. She had lived in a gemeng village, once, and Jillia’s mother’s description wasn’t too far off.

  ‘Once. Most of the time we didn’t.’ Riley stressed the last part, not wanting Jillia to get the wrong idea.

  ‘How did they live?’ she asked, and there was something in her voice…

  Riley thought of that rundown village full of afraid and violent people. She thought of the yearning in Jillia’s voice. Then she thought of Aerlid.

  And so she lied. Not much, because she was uncertain of herself, and she wasn’t a good liar (she lacked the imagination). She had noted that Aerlid lied, though she didn’t know the rules of lying herself. She didn’t know when or how or what might come. If Aerlid had been here she would have asked him and gone with his judgement, but he wasn’t. So in the spur of the moment, with Jillia wanting something other than ‘it was horrible, I wanted to leave.’ Riley lied.

  So she told her of a place where the gemengs ruled themselves and lived in houses if they wished. And that was it. Riley was known for her strangeness so when she stopped there and looked at Jillia with a hopeless look Jillia accepted it.

  Jillia sighed, her eyes faraway. Then she shrugged and smiled at Riley. ‘You better finish eating, it will be time to go in soon.’ and the conversation was turned to safer waters.

  After that Riley remembered what Jillia had asked, and so she asked Aerlid after lessons one day.

  Aerlid had taken one of the chairs out onto the balcony. The shutter doors were tied open, the cool night breeze circling through their small apartment. He was looking out at the night sky and the skyline of Astar. It was a dark outline. Such a change from what he knew.

  ‘Am I part human?’ Riley asked, interrupting his reverie.

  Aerlid started, then turned to look at her in surprise. ‘Why do you ask?’ he asked, bewildered, though not unpleasantly so.

  ‘Jillia,’ Aerlid had heard of her and remembered her name, ‘asked if I was part human. I told her I had a human uncle.’ Riley paused then added, ‘she thought that was why we lived here.’

  ‘Jillia…’ Aerlid mused, ‘she’s a gemeng, yes?’

  Riley nodded.

  ‘And she thinks you might be part human because you don’t live with the gemengs?’ A slow smile was forming on his face.

  Riley nodded again.

  Aerlid turned back around in the chair to look back out at the sky.

  Riley heard strange noises coming from him and grew suspicious. She stood and walked around to face him.

  Aerlid was struggling to hide laughter. Riley was rather used to this response to some of her questions so she just waited.

  ‘Well?’ She asked after not waiting very long. She felt Aerlid could laugh after he’d answered her question.

  ‘You have as much human in you as any gemeng.’ he replied. He beamed at her.

  Riley was about to leave but then asked, ‘is that what I tell her?’

  ‘Ah, well…’ he was silent for a moment. ‘They didn’t ask at the testing centre, so I think it’s best to say you’re a gemeng. You can tell her what I said.’

  With an answer Riley was satisfied to leave Aerlid to his laughter and to get on with other things, like practicing her movements.

  ‘Aren’t you going to ask how much human is in a gemeng?’ Aerlid asked, looking at her over the back of the chair, his eyes twinkling.

  ‘How much?’ she asked, her voice devoid of interest now that she had her answer.

  ‘Oh if you’re going to be like that I won’t tell you!’

  Aerlid watched her go fetch her sword. ‘You’re the most incurious creature I’ve ever met!’ he called, his voice as bright as his laugh and the twinkle in his eye.

  Riley, again used to such responses, pleasantly ignored him.

  How they found out, Riley didn’t know. It had been about a year since Riley had shown Jillia her home. All that time, they hadn’t known, or perhaps hadn’t cared, yet suddenly in her last year of primary school, that all changed.

  Riley had been hearing whispers for days. Even so, she continued on as always. She heard Razra claim he didn’t have a signature, that he was a poor writer, whenever he was approached by human children.

  Then when she was walking past one of the whisper conventions, Lasann, a tall, accomplished human boy called her over.

  She approached, her manner slightly wary.

  ‘What do you think, Riley,’ he said, ‘we’re planning on sending a letter to the government about your situation but Mitar here seems to think you’ll do the right thing by yourself.’ he raised his eyebrows archly.
r />   Riley just waited, for they had explained nothing and how was she to answer?

  Lasann did not know her well and sighed, perhaps taking it as a sign of slow wit, ‘You live in what should be human accommodation. You should live with the gemengs. You are a gemeng, aren’t you?’

  Feeling better now she had something to answer she said, ‘yes. Is there a human who needs my apartment?’ she asked curiously. Visions of humans forced to live in the dormitories because she lived in her apartment paraded through her mind. They didn’t trouble her overly much.

  Lasann’s face coloured, Riley couldn’t see a reason for this, ‘it’s the principle.’ he said.

  ‘The principle?’

  ‘You’re a gemeng. The apartments are for humans.’

  ‘So Arntar would stay there?’ she asked.

  ‘Is he a human?’ he asked in exasperation.

  ‘Yes.’ pause. ‘Then why should I move? He’ll be there anyway, so why can’t I stay there too?’

  ‘That’s not the point!’

  ‘She’s a gemeng,’ a voice said, ‘you can’t expect her to understand!’

  There was a chorus of agreement.

  ‘It’s not right for you to live there!’ Lasann said, ‘do you think you should?’

  Riley paused, her eyes sliding over the group, noting. ‘If it’s wrong for me to live there, if gemengs may only live in the dormitories, then that’s where I’ll live.’ she said. Her voice was calm, but not casual.

  ‘So you’ll move?’ Lasann relaxed.

  ‘If the government feels I should.’

  Lasann stiffened, searching for an insult. Her green eyes met his calmly.

  ‘You should get your things ready.’ Lasann sniffed. ‘We’ll send the letter today.’

  When Riley told Aerlid what had happened he was furious.

  He raged through their tiny apartment. ‘They want us to move?! Those ignorant, hateful little brats!’

  Riley stood carefully out of the way as he stormed around, yelling all the while.

  He stopped suddenly, his attention back on Riley, ‘what’s wrong with you?’ he demanded. ‘Why don’t you care?’

  ‘I should be treated no differently than the other gemengs.’

  ‘And you think the gemengs should have to live on the edge of the city in giant shoeboxes?!’

  ‘No.’ she sniffed. ‘But I don’t think I should be treated differently.’

  Aerlid eyed her carefully. ‘I see. Well. And how was Razra about this?’

  Razra had been upset.

  He’d made all sorts of promises to come visit her and make sure she was ok. He’d told her he hadn’t signed the petition.

  When she’d asked what petition, she’d thought it had just been a letter, Razra told her Lasann had been collecting signatures from the rest of the school for the past week.

  All the humans in their class had signed.

  ‘He was upset.’ Riley replied.

  ‘Well,’ Aerlid said in a calmer tone. ‘We’ll see what the response to that letter is, if they even get one.’ he said, stressing the last part, telling Riley it was a false show of bravado, ‘we’ll fight it if they try to move us.’

  Riley looked at him calmly. It was her, not us. But she wouldn’t say that because that wasn’t a distinction Aerlid would make. It wasn’t really one she made.

  Riley was perhaps the calmest during the time spent waiting for a response. That wasn’t to say she was completely untroubled, a sliver of unease had worked its way into her heart.

  Aerlid kept up a simmering rage and frequently flew into tirades. He had tried to explain to her that living in a dormitory would be harder for her than she thought. They had lived in the forest, where it was just the two of them and the wild, and afterwards they’d had their own apartment. How would she deal with the lack of privacy, the crowding? This was where her unease came from.

  Razra was even more concerned on her behalf. Surprisingly, the gemeng children also expressed their desire to see her stay where she was. Previously she had been aware that some among them thought it unfair that she didn’t live in the dormitories. It seemed this attack from the human children however had fortified them. They wanted someone at least to have a little more than what the humans were willing to give.

  Riley avoided the other human children during this time. She had tried and failed to make friends. They thought the dormitories a terrible place to live, and they wanted to send her there? A different kind of harm than that in the gemeng village, but they tried to harm her anyway. So she was careful around them.

  ‘Do you know where you’re going?’ Razra asked her one lunch hour.

  Riley just looked at Razra, wondering if this was a question about her possible eviction.

  ‘I mean which field,’ he amended.

  Riley hadn’t thought about it. ‘No.’

  ‘No?’ He replied, surprised, ‘but they’ve been telling us about the different options all term! You haven’t chosen?’

  Riley hadn’t missed any classes. How could she have missed this? She said, ‘I hadn’t heard that.’

  ‘Well they tell us during immersion.’ Razra said, ‘I thought they did the same with you guys.’

  ‘No. Do you know where you’re going?’ Riley asked.

  ‘I’m not sure…not the military, and not farming. I have some time though, military is the only path that splits off next year. I think Lasann wants to go into government, perhaps even get onto the Council of Astar one day.’ He said glumly. ‘That’s why he organized the petition I think, no one else would have thought of it.’

  Riley was silent.

  ‘So where do you want to go?’ he asked hopefully.

  ‘Military.’ she replied promptly.

  ‘Space?’ he asked excitedly.

  ‘Space?’ she repeated.

  ‘You know, the moon! So we can all go live on the moon without any gemengs!’

  ‘I don’t think they’d want me in space then.’ Riley replied.

  Razra’s face fell. ‘Oh.’

  Riley noticed a change in the human children today. Her feelings were proven correct when Lasann came over to her, his mouth set in a hard line for a twelve year old.

  He shot a glance at Razra. He looked startled for a moment then scrambled to his feet and left, with a wave and goodbye to Riley.

  Riley watched him go before turning her attention to Lasann. She didn’t get up.

  Lasann spoke quietly to her, ‘you’re to stay where you are.’ he said stiffly.

  ‘You got a response?’ she asked after a moment.

  ‘Yes.’ the words barely made it past his lips.

  ‘May I see it?’ she asked.

  Lasann frowned at her.

  ‘I’d like to be sure.’ Rather, she thought Aerlid might like to see it.

  He pulled a crumpled piece of paper from his pocket and held it out to her. ‘Can you read?’

  ‘As well as you I suppose.’ she replied.

  He frowned even further. ‘Well read it here, I have to recycle it.’

  ‘I can recycle it.’

  ‘Hmph.’

  Riley flowed smoothly to her feet. ‘I’d like to show it to my uncle. He has been worried about this and it would put him at ease.’

  Lasann looked surprised but didn’t let go.

  ‘Please give it to me. If you don’t think I can recycle it on my own,’ irritation simmered in her voice, ‘I’ll return it to you.’

  Lasann paused, wavering.

  Riley felt an uncharacteristic spark of anger. It was a reasonable request, was it not? They had tried to have her thrown out of her home, and they wouldn’t let her have proof she was safe?

  The spark showed in her eyes. Lasann took a step back. He swallowed. ‘You’re a gemeng, you can’t touch me.’

  His fear unsettled her. Riley took a step back. She could take it from him. Easily. ‘Why won’t you let me have it? I’ll bring it back.’ she said, trying to keep her anger from her voice.


  Riley saw his eyes flick to something behind her. She turned and saw Ms Thrope approaching. Then she noticed most of the children in the yard were watching. She was startled. Had she been yelling? She didn’t think so. Why were they all watching?

  Unsettled, feeling she had behaved poorly without realizing it, Riley watched Ms Thrope approach.

  ‘What’s going on here?’ Ms Thrope asked, giving Lasann and Riley hard looks each.

  Lasann, relieved, said, ‘She demanded I hand over my letter. She won’t leave me alone.’

  Ms Thrope then turned her gaze on Riley. ‘Is this true?’

  ‘It’s about my home.’ she tried to explain, ‘I want to show it to my uncle, so he can stop worrying. I said I’d bring it back.’

  ‘What letter is this, Lasann?’ Ms Thrope’s hard eyes were back on him.

  He became a little uncomfortable. ‘It’s the response we got… about her going to live where she should. With the rest of the gemengs.’

  ‘I see. That sounds rather important to her and her family, doesn’t it, Lasann?’

  ‘Y-yes.’

  ‘I think considering the circumstances you should let her take it. You’ll bring it back tomorrow, won’t you, Riley?’

  ‘Yes, Ms Thrope.’

  Lasann handed it over to Riley, shooting her a glare at the same time. Without thinking, Riley shot him one right back.

  ‘Enough of that!’ Ms Thrope snapped. She gave them both another hard look and stalked back towards the school building. ‘Everyone, lunch is over, come inside now!’ she called. She waited by the door, surveying the yard like a hawk til everyone was safely inside.

  After classes were done Riley asked Razra why everyone had been watching.

  Razra was surprised, thinking the answer obvious. ‘Well we wanted to see what would happen. Lasann was super secretive about the response.’

  ‘Was I yelling?’ she asked, concerned.

  ‘No.’ he said. ‘Why? Do you want to practice yelling? I’m very good at it.’

  Aerlid read the letter over carefully. It was, he thought, a fairly stock standard response.

  ‘Thank you for your interest…’

  ‘Appreciate your concern…’

  The only section of interest was: ‘The current policy regarding gemeng children in the care of humans is not to separate them. Your concern over this matter is appreciated, but it is the belief of the council that leaving children with their family members is the most appropriate response.’ At this section Aerlid muttered, ‘I wonder how many gemeng children there are in the care of humans…Have you met any?’ Aerlid asked.

  Riley shook her head, ‘no.’

  Then, ‘Policy unlikely to change in the near future…’

  ‘Anymore concerns contact…’

  Signed, so and so.

  ‘Will we have to move?’ Riley asked when she saw he was done reading.

  ‘No.’ he sighed. After a moment he asked, ‘are you happy here, Riley?’

  Riley just looked at him.

  ‘I mean, do you want to leave Astar?’

  ‘Because Lasann tried to get us kicked out?’ the spark of anger was back.

  ‘Any reason, not just that.’

  ‘No.’ she said firmly.

  ‘Well, if you do, you’ll tell me, won’t you?’

  She nodded.

  It was in the last weeks of primary school that the gemengs were told what would happen to them.

  The immersion teacher halted class early.

  ‘At the start of next year you’ll all enter military training. Some of your human classmates will go with you…’

  He continued, telling them where and when they would meet, what they would need, what to expect. At the next split they would be joining the infantry. Most of the children in the class, including Riley, were twelve. She would be near thirteen though when she entered the military training program. They were told they could expect to enter service after about two years. The military training was very thorough in Astar, it was not a rushed operation by any definition.

  As they filed out of the classroom Riley went to Jillia’s side. ‘Did you want to enter the military?’ she asked.

  Jillia shrugged. ‘I always knew that’s where I was going, so I didn’t really think about it. Why, did you?’

  ‘Will we still see each other after school ends?’ Riley asked Razra one day at lunch. Tests were in a week. After that there would be a short break before she entered the military school.

  ‘Yeah! All the time!’

  ‘When?’

  ‘Um…after classes? On Restday?’

  ‘How will we know? You won’t see me during the day.’

  ‘Um…well, we can arrange somewhere to meet. Or you can come visit me. Or I can come visit you.’ Razra beamed. ‘We can go to the theatre! You can tell me if the weapons are really like the ones Jeitar and Molozor use!’

  Feeling she wasn’t going to get a clear idea of when and where they could meet Riley dropped the subject. She hoped his offer was genuine.